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Day 133

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    Day 133 - Wednesday, February 20, 2019 - Number of days from Infusion 1 to Infusion 20.  Like one of my favorite EDM songs by No Mana called "Over and Over" - that has been the pattern of my life for 133 days, a pattern of repeated tasks every week to put my body through chemotherapy treatment.  I've grown to live with it you might say.  It's the first part of treatment, the first hurdle, 20 side affects long including death.  It all fell into my lap - I walked out of Infusion for the last time, hugged my nurses and I couldn't hold anything back, my eyes flowing with tears.  Tears of celebration that I just accomplished this and tears of this struggle with life and treatment all at the same time.  What kept me going?  All of it and especially People.  Prayers and the shear gratitude of others, the internal will to fight on, to Hammer On.  The other moments, all equally important; 384 miles of driving trips from home, 40 vitals, 17 blood lab tests, 20 infusions, 6 scans MRI, PET, CT, Xray, Echo just to name a few, pains, laughing, sleepless nights, mediations, etc.  But it was really the people that formed my Cancer Team that I'm going to celebrate from my memories of Chemo.  Like how I was born a Sibley and Edwin who draws my blood has been there for 40 plus years and knew my delivery doctor.  How Marissa pointed out that if I fill my mouth with ice during AC treatments, it decreases the chance of mouth sores.  Or how I showed Elana how easy it was to hook up Nintendo to the Oncology TVs in the patient rooms and Alexus helping me muffle the call station in a pillow so the Nintendo wouldn't be so loud, Alex said, "well we have never had anyone hook up a gaming system before, I love it."  Countless wellness talks with Jackie, learning about micro losses, and how hard energy takes a hit, and helping me in the darkest days feel like bright sunshine.  Extra water, warm blankets, pillows are just pushing the Benadryl last so I could play a little more Nintendo before falling asleep, all the little touches that go a long way.

By the Numbers:

AC - 2 months October and November
T - 3 months December, January, February

Day 133 - Done

Day 134 begins the next stage, "the in between" leading up to Surgery.

Entrance to Medical Oncology - Last Day

Day 1 - First Day of Chemo
Day 133 - Last Day of Chemo

Last Chemo


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