One year ago.....

It's late at night, sweet hubby has gone to bed and I'm here hanging out with my girls.  One year ago I was about 3 weeks post hysterectomy after having a bleeding incident over Labor Day weekend (thank goodness for that).  I'm just about to have the first anniversary of my first chemo (carbo and taxol) November 19, losing my hair beginning December 3, thinking that I'm going to die from UPSC (1a), sooner rather than later.  Then I learn shortly after Christmas, beginning in January, I will be having a total of 38 radiation treatments, 32 pelvic IMRT and 6 brachytherary.  To say that I was overwhelmed does not begin to describe how I was feeling.  I was an emotional mess, no one in my family ever had cancer, I always went to a gynecologist yearly beginning at age 18, my husband and I had been retired for 3 years and had so many plans.  But, like we all have done, I began to do what I had to do.  I just began......surgery, chemo, radiation, each one got done.  I also learned along the way that, while cancer is scary and life changing, it also brought such special people into my life.  The nurses and care staff after my surgery, the nurses in my infusion center, the nurses and radiation staff in the radiation oncology department were all so caring and well trained and personal, they will always have a special place in  heart and are my friends for life.  Even the lady in the coffee shop in the hospital that we passed every Monday through Friday for 38 trips to radiation, was on my care team.  Her smiles and words of encouragement will never be forgotten.  Human kindness still abounds, it just never makes the news.  My husband has been my strength and my rock throughout this entire journey.  He has been my biggest cheerleader, taxi driver, cook, bottle washer, laundry person, house cleaner, etc., you name it, he has done it.  My friends and family have taught me the meaning of true love, I can never begin to repay them.  I am so grateful for this wonderful format for so many things, first of all is the tremendous amount of knowledge that is here.  I sought and found the answers to so many questions from hair loss to neuropathy to hair regrowth to how long someone keeps her port.  I'm so thankful for each and every one of my sisters here, you have all contributed so much to me and anyone who reads this board.  I'm so thankful for the knowledge that you share.  I don't have much to contribute in the way of information about different treatments or studies, if I post anything, it's usually about hair or the beach, but everyone responds as friends.  You are all so important to me and every other woman traveling this road.  God bless each and everyone of you, may you all live your best lives, cancer be damned.