Last round of chemo - CHECK!!!!!

5678dance

Hello everyone, It has been a few weeks since I have been out here. I have been tired, sick, fatigued, busy, and oh yes ............... HAPPY!!

Last week, on Tuesday to be exact, I finished chemo # 12 of 12! I cannot believe I made it all the way through! I was so ready to give up around #8. Even though I had kept a positive attitude through most of it, I had reached the pit of despair after developing a blood clot, a hospital stay for a small bowel obstruction, another hospital stay for a fever of 103, and general fatigue & tummy aches. Some of you were so kind to me during those times, offering me advice on how to make things go a little easier. Craig with his Magnesium Sulfate trick, a few others with Nuelasta tricks, gave me the strength and courage to continue. Now it is all over! At least that part.

Now we wait. I get a baseline PET scan in a couple of weeks, and then start my three month bloodwork, scans & onc. visits. I KNOW I HAVE BEAT THIS!! (stage III colon cancer, 90% blockage & two lymph nodes affected. dx'd Nov 09) I feel it in my heart! Thank you so much to all who have helped me through this!

My name is Kathi also. I just read the post of the other Kathi who was doing her naked happy dance! Some of you may remember that I teach dance for a living. Just two days ago, I went into the studio and taught two dance lessons. I was on cloud nine!! So happy to get back to something I love! I'm keeping a light schedule for now, but am thrilled to get back to "normal" whatever that is! LOL

Thanks again for all of the love and support I have gotten so far. I'm not going anywhere, so will still be around to report in and to check on all of you.

Big Hugs,
Kathi

Sundanceh

Kathi:)


How wonderful, Kathi! You really walked the walk as they say...glad I could walk a couple of times around the block with you:)

Looking forward to nothing but good news from here on in - you've really done an incredible job - you did your 12 oxy's, which is 4 more than me and you've walked away from it with good results. I'm so proud of you and wish I could have been as strong.

Thanks for your update and your first 3 lessons are FREE, right? LOL:)

-Craig

Jaylo969

Yay!
Congratulations Cathi. Thumbs up for making it through to #12.

Best wishes for future good reports.

-Pat

5678dance

Sundanceh said:

Kathi:)


How wonderful, Kathi! You really walked the walk as they say...glad I could walk a couple of times around the block with you:)

Looking forward to nothing but good news from here on in - you've really done an incredible job - you did your 12 oxy's, which is 4 more than me and you've walked away from it with good results. I'm so proud of you and wish I could have been as strong.

Thanks for your update and your first 3 lessons are FREE, right? LOL:)

-Craig

Craig:)
I have to admit that I did not do all of the oxy. After #8, the palms of my hand were numbing. At first just the finger tips, then the full fingers, than the palms. My onc switched me to folfiri for the last 4 treatments. He was afraid the neuropathy would be permanent. As of right now, only the finger tips down to the first joint are numb.

I actually wish I could have kept the folfox. I was used to those side effects!! LOL Folfiri made me nauseaus, made my tummy ache, thined my hair & gave me diarreah. But NO MORE!!

Yep, first 3 lessons for you are free! DO you have two left feet? I can make one right! LOL

5678dance

Jaylo969 said:

Yay!
Congratulations Cathi. Thumbs up for making it through to #12.

Best wishes for future good reports.

-Pat

Thanks!
Thanks Pat! It was the worst roller coaster ride I have ever been on, but it will be worth it if we killed the beast!

AnneCan

Congratulations, Kathi!
Congratulations, Kathi! Good for you for making it through your treatment + for getting back into the dance studio. Craig said you have "walked the walk", now you can "dance the dance"!

Kathryn_in_MN

Hanging tough
Congrats for hanging tough and finishing. I can relate, and know how hard it gets to keep going when you have one problem after another on chemo. In a few weeks it is very likely you will look back and think you just had a very bad nightmare, and will be so relieved to have awakened from it! I figure I gave up one fall/winter/spring for a lifetime of NED. So worth it! Even with a few ongoing issues, the feeling of being done with chemo and having a clear PET scan is incredible. I'll be watching for good news from your first scan soon.

A little advice from someone who doean't take her own advice too well... do not push yourself too hard, too fast right now. Your body has had months of trauma, it will take months to recover from it. You'll start to feel a lot better pretty soon, and it is so easy to want to be back to "normal" quickly, but patience is in order.

Enjoy feeling better and better each day, knowing you don't have to go back to get knocked back down as soon as you are getting better this time!

RickMurtagh

Dance
Kathi does a happy naked dance for anything, even when her cat sneezes. She keeps putting them up on Youtube and Youtube keeps taking them down, but if you keep searching every day I am sure you will see one of them even if only for a short while.

Isn't it wonderful finishing chemo?! What a great milestone! Congrats!

HollyID

Kathi, what excellent news!!
Kathi, what excellent news!! Please, take it easy and don't over do it. Like Kathryn said, you've been through hell for 6 months. It'll take a while to get over that.

Love and Hugs

Holly