BELL RINGING!

So I went in for brachytherapy and took all the radiation staff some goodies. I made some cupcakes and I made some teal cancer ribbons out of fondant to go on top of them. I also made some chocolate covered apple slices, and then just threw a bunch of other goodies in a bag because I ran out of time to do the rest of what I had planned. I bought some thank you cards and wrote them some personal notes and gave them out. I wish I would have taken pictures, but I didn't have time.

Turns out, it was my last Brachytherapy session! I don’t have to have the last one on Monday because my body responded so well. This session took a little longer than normal because they had a medical student come in and so they were talking about the whole process and showing him everything & explaining what they were doing (and why) as they did it. He’s the one you’ll see in the group photo. Yep, I told him to jump on in the pic with us. Anyway, my treatment itself was longer too since it was my last one, and then when it was over, Dr. Outlaw went up in my vag to cut the stitches and remove my Smit Sleeve. Apparently I’ve been spelling it wrong. When she told him what it was called, he repeated it and she said yep, Smit, S-M-I-T. Like Smith without the H. Dang it! I’m not going back and editing all the previous posts though.

I also asked Angel if they could tell me now exactly what stage the cancer was. If you recall, I had asked at the beginning and Dr. Scalici told me it was probably a 1B or 2A, but she couldn’t tell just yet for whatever reasons (I forgot) and I just never remembered to ask again. So Angel went and had Dr. Outlaw come tell me and show it to me on a diagram exactly where the tumor was and everything. Turns out it was a stage 2B cancer. How about that.

After that, we went out to the radiation lobby and got to ring the bell! Hardly anyone was there because it was after 4pm by then, and they leave early on Fridays. I tried to get Zoey to ring the bell with me, but she wouldn’t. I'm attaching photos. Please ignore the weird lumps in my hair. It’s super thin now because chemo caused a lot to fall out, so after laying flat on my back for hours for the treatment, it tends to look wonky. Also ignore how pale I am. Brachytherapy does that to me. My color is already back, mostly anyway. Zoey refused to be involved in any of the pics.

I’m happy my treatment is done, but I’m not happy to be done there. It's bittersweet. I've really come to love these people. I'm normal there. I'm not looked at all pitiful like I am by other people. I'm not 'the girl with cancer' when I'm there because everyone there has cancer. But I’ll be back there soon, as a volunteer in the radiation department, and I’m super excited about that part. That’s all the info I’m giving out about that. I don't want to jinx anything, plus it'll be tricky getting timing right as well as a sitter for Zoey. I'm sure by now everyone is tired of keeping her daily.