The Last Day of Radiation

SIX WEEKS OF RADIATION -FIVE DAYS A WEEK ...it's over, over, over

I know it's been a while since I've let you all know what's going on. Today is the last day of radiation (July 28, 2009). It's the last and 33rd radiation treatment, yea. For the last six weeks, five days a week. I've have got up like going to a job and climbing on to a radiation table to be zapped. I usually walk into the the doctors office around 8:50 and I am usually out by 9:12AM. The nurses are all very nice, the office and exam rooms are also nice and I must say it has not been bad at all. My skin did burn. The skin actually looks burned, it is dark reddest brown and in some places the outer layer of the skin has burned until it has turned pink. They give you a cream to help with the burn. I also used a natural aloe vera plant. A friend of my counsin's let me know about the aloe vera, she told me to mix the gel from the plant with the cream from the doctor. The two don't mix very well so in the end I just rubbed the gel from the plant onto my skin and layer it with the cream from the doctor. The nurses tell me that my skin has held up very well. I wonder what they see, but then I have nothing to compare it with. According to the nurses they see much worst. I was told at the begining that radiation can make you fatigued. I worked out everyday after radiation, I also ran outside, but now that I am at the end I am actually fatigued. I can do everyday stuff but anything that required a lot of energy wears me out. So now in two weeks I will see the onocologist for a prescription for tamoxifin which I will need to take for the next five years.

My hair is growing back. I have a small afro. My hair is coming back in with some grey and it is extreming curly. I put a little wave cream on it at times in an attempt to make it lay down but that only lasts a few hours. I don't like it, but the good part is that it is growing and for now it is wash and wear hair. I look ten years older and I feel 20 years older. I move slower and my body aches all the time. I am also now having hot flashes that make me feel like I might pass out from the stifling heat, I break out in a sweat and even my knee caps sweat. The doctor saids it will get worst on the tamoxfin...all things considered I am still here!

The treatment for breast cancer and I suppose any cancer is no fun. One has to be strong and focused to get through it all and the realization that things will NEVER be the same is daunting. People ask me what I have learned from this experience. Sometimes, I think I've learned to destress, the things that used to bother me don't any more. My faith in God is stronger and my faith in people as a whole has diminished a great deal. I take nothing for granite and I look at the world as if it is a picture and I'm outside the picture. I understand being alone. I'm thankful for my many and wonderful blessings. I'm thankful for my life.

Other parts of my life have remained the same. Family, Friends, Trails, Tribulations, they are all still there I just view them differently. My finances have been shot to hell, mortgage not paid, no phone, no cable, Refrigerator gone out, car note not paid, you name it. However, I know I am blessed and I'm not stressed. It wil all work itself out. As they say you know where you been just not where you're going. I wonder at times where all of this will leave me and then I realize if I live long enough I'll find out!.

That's it for now. I'll update you after my last treatment today at 9AM.

Holla