one last entry from the big green chair

Well, here I sit in the big green chair, one more time—mask on, fighting back the gagging reflex, but thankful for God’s grace. Barring a future recurrence, this is my last time to sit here for chemo-therapy. God has been good to see us through to this point.

Three months ago I literally hit a moment when I really didn’t know if I could make it to this point. This particular chemo regimen started out bearable and got worse over time. Even though I know how crummy I’m going to feel for the next ten days or so, I’m so thankful that this is the last, and I’m prayerful that I will never have to come back to chemo.
I picked up my CT scan report yesterday and there was no significant news to report. The original large mass is now 1.3cm—probably just small scar tissue says the doctor. The last PET scan was perfectly normal, so there’s no need for a post treatment PET scan. And now that chemo is over, we can proceed to discuss radiation. We have an appointment Tuesday with a radiologist in Hollywood. I’m praying radiation won’t be necessary.
Pastor and Mrs. Chappell met Dana and I at Panera Bread before chemo today. I drank a Jamba juice and enjoyed the fellowship for the hour. It definitely beat thinking about treatment. I’m thankful for our Pastor and his wife and their encouragement. We are also very happy for the birth of their first granddaughter yesterday!
I’m told that this sort of chemo will require about a three month recovery before I feel “back to normal”—so the summer is coming at the perfect time. After the initial sickness of the next week, I’m very much looking forward to that recovery process. Some time in the next week or so I plan to write a post regarding the future possibilities. For now, I will need blood work every three months and scans every six months to monitor whether this cancer stays away.
I almost wrote a post of “things I’m looking forward to” but it was too long. A few of them—I’m looking forward to family time with good health, taking Dana away some time soon, shaking hands with our church family again, working normal hours once again, growing a little bit of hair, eating a regular diet, losing the ten pounds of steroid weight I’ve gained, exercising again, not spending so much time in bed, generally feeling better, not giving myself shots any more, not taking so many pills all the time, not having so many body pains, and this paragraph could go on and on, so I will stop.
So, as these medications kick in, I’m going to sign off before I write something that really doesn’t make sense. More later. My blood counts are good, pomp and circumstance is playing, and commencement from chemo-university is under way. My name will be called in about three hours. The graduation will be awesome, but I can already tell you, the hang-over is going to be a killer!