Graduation Day!

Yesterday was my last day in chemo!! I even got a graduation certificate from the nurses. It was very cute.

It's so weird to know that I'm done with chemo. Even though it was only 8 sessions of chemo, it's been part of my life for the last four months. It feels fantastic to be done. And, the next thing is surgery. My surgery isn't scheduled yet, but I'm expecting it to be somewhere right around the beginning of August.

I met with my oncologist and my plastic surgeon this week, so I have a little more information about what's coing up next. About 4-6 weeks after surgery, I'll start radiation for about 7 weeks. And it looks like I'll be getting radiation every day (Monday through Friday). It won't require that I miss work as it won't take more than about an hour out of my day. I'll probably just go at the very end of the day so that, if I have any discomfort, I can just go home and rest afterwards. And, a few months after that ends, I'll get my reconstruction.

As for the surgery, it looks like it's going to be out-patient surgery. I expected an overnight stay, but it looks like that won't happen. In some ways, that's encouraging. It means that the procedure is simple enough that they are not concerned about complications. On the other hand, it feels like major surgery to me and it would be nice to have a little hospital time to deal with it before they send me home. Fortunately, I'll have a lot of friends and family around to help me deal with it.

It looks like I'm going to get my IV port removed before surgery, though. Though the Lovenox (the blood thinner I've been self-injecting) has improved the situation, I do still have the clot. And, it's pretty much going to require the removal of the IV port to get rid of it. So, I should be getting that out within the next couple of weeks. I'll keep you posted on that.

I know it's been a while since I've posted. (I've had three members of my family contact me in the last 24 hours just to make sure I'm okay since I hadn't posted in a while.) I am doing quite well. That's actually part of the reason I haven't posted. It seems like there hasn't been a lot lot post lately.

I've been really focused on the movie I'm making this summer, and it has really been a blessing. It's given me a place to focus my energy this summer. Most of the time, it's hard for me to forget for 5 minutes that I have cancer. But, when I'm on the movie set, cancer takes a back seat. I get to forget that I have it. Even if I'm not feeling all that well when I show up on set, by the time I leave, I feel great. The adrenaline starts pumping, the excitement takes over, and I forget that I'm feeling poorly.

Since the end of May, I've been spending at least twice a week on location filming. I also usually spend a couple more evenings during the week planning and preparing for each shoot. But, when I go in for my surgery, I'm going to have to take a couple of weeks off. However, filming is going to continue without me, so I'm really going to miss it. I'll probably only miss about 3 days of shooting, and I've scheduled small scenes for those dates so I don't miss much. But I'm definitely going to miss it and wish I was there. That will be the hardest part of my recovery, actually. Again, fortunately I'll have plenty of friends and family around to help me deal with it. :)