Six

Finally.

Last "hard" chemo will be tomorrow. I cannot tell you how excited I am to close the book on this chapter of my journey.  I know I will have 6 to 8 days of feeling like crap, but it will be worth it.  After tomorrow, I can officially give taxotere and carboplatin the bird and end our relationship.

But, this journey is still far from over.

After tomorrow, I will still have 6 more rounds of herceptin every 23 days.  I will still have to go the chemo center, but this drug is a "nice" drug and the powers that be tell me it is "easy."  They assure me that herceptin is not causing any of my gross side effects.  I hope to God they are right.  If my calculations are correct, my last herceptin will be at the end of June.  I'm 99% sure, that I will book our vacation to start the next day. Even if I am out of vacation time, I will be leaving to see a beach.

Next step, I will then go on Tamoxifen for the next 5 years or so. This is the drug that will block estrogen and progesterone receptors.  I have heard the side effects from this lovely drug vary far and wide.  I am hopeful that I will do well on it with few side effects.

At some point, I know I will also have a revision for my Foobs.  The girls have healed nicely, but we need to do a little tweaking.  I still have room for a third Foob, so I would like to get that fixed up, and maybe add some cleavage to the mix.  I have another follow-up with the Plastic Surgeon later this month.  But, no surgery will be done until I am back to normal Kim size (versus Kim on Steroid and Chemo Size, that is like Super-Sized Kim).

Well, at least step 1- "hard chemo" will conclude tomorrow, while the breast cancer journey will continue for the next five years.  Geeze.

I'm having mixed emotions, about all this.  Round 5 went pretty textbook for me, until I developed a cold.  I'm not sure if it was a cold or upper respiratory thing, but damn, it's been going on a week now.  The germ has been passed through all 4 of us.  Connor, just developed a cough, Jeff had a full out infection with fever, CC's morphed into a nasty ear infection, but me, just a long drawn out cold.  Which sucks since these "cold days" were supposed to be my "Kim feels awesome days." Damn it!

This is one dull blog post. Typing it, the words even feel flat.  I think it's the dread of today is the last "good day" before the spiral.  Again, I've been prepping for the spiral. All the laundry is done, food is purchased for the week, and I've got all the Valentine's stuff ready for the kids.  Come Monday, all bets are off when I am in the hole.  I hope to be coming back out of teh hole by Wednesday.  Fingers crossed.

We did complete the Frozen 5K I hoped to run.  I will say, I ran more than I thought I would, and the kids even ran more than I thought they would!  I was so proud that my family made me a priority and joined me on the run.  I think I was the only bald lady there!  Here are a few pictures from that.

A Flying Pig that Skates

Jeff corrected me, it is a Cyclone, not "Hey Look, the Tornado Guy!"

Ceese and me

The kids have officially retired the jogging stroller after this run.

See that pink coat up there in the distance, that is CC. Connor is in the red sweatshirt.

In this together.

 Since things went well, I have 2 more 5 k's planned for March.  I'm using them as stepping stone races to get me to a 14K in September.  That is my goal race, then I should be back to my normal running self.

So, if you have made it this far... Cheers to chemo #6!!!!!