It’s over! Tom’s chemo treatments are finished! “Bye-bye” chest port. “Bye-bye” chemo pump. “Bye-bye” superman shower cape. “Bye-bye” extreme tiredness every other weekend. Bye-bye hot flashes, power surges and sleepless nights.
A CAT scan is scheduled in two weeks and on October 20th, Tom will see Dr. Danzo to get the results from that and find out what his “new normal” will be like. He has heard from the nurses that there will continue to be plenty of blood checks, CAT scans and colonoscopies. No flu shots until his immune system gets built back up.
There were twelve 48 hour treatments over a period of 22.5 weeks and Tom was able to complete every one of them. What his friends and family saw over this period of time was a brave person who kept his sense of humor and positive attitude throughout. He listened to his doctors, nurses and wife (some of the time) and followed orders; going to bed when he was tired, drinking lots of water, using hand sanitizer a lot to lessen exposure to germs, limiting his exposure to direct sunlight, not going to Loon’s games or trying to golf when it was rainy and cold, and laying low during chemo week-ends.
He will have had 24-plus acupuncture treatments; one more on Monday. They helped. He never suffered from nausea or mouth sores; two ailments that many who have this form of chemo often experience. His blood count numbers remained in the “good” range so he never had to miss a treatment nor did he ever develop a blood infection. (Knock on wood.) He finally got his hemoglobin counts back to normal range and they haven’t been there in a really long time. He has experienced some neuropathy in his hands, feet and mouth, again not as noticeable as many patients and we’re hoping that as the chemo wears off, so will the numbness in those areas. He won’t hesitate to have acupuncture again if he needs it to lessen any lingering side effects.
So Tom’s “journey to healthy” continues; he has gone into some pretty deep valleys, but he has climbed out and is still standing—stronger than he was before. He may seem to be walking a little slower, but it’s only because he wants to “stop and smell the roses” along the way. Tom is having fun driving a school bus again and when he came home the other day commented, “I can’t believe they actually pay me to do this job.”
Thank you to all of you who have helped to “hold up and lift up” Tom and Peg through this “journey”. Your words of encouragement and advice, your phone calls, visits and cards and your prayers have helped so much. One more favor, please pray that the chemo did its job and killed all the cancer cells. Thanks.
Listen closely now, I’m sure you can hear the singing.
