My Last Radiation Treatment!

I lay on the table today, tears forming in my eyes as I thanked God for sustaining me through 35 radiation treatments and a simulation. I looked up at the stars painted on the ceiling and praised God. Just as He knows how many real stars are in the universe, He knows where any leftover cancer cells are in my body. I confidently prayed that He would either use these treatments or His own hand to take care of me. He has gently walked alongside me during these long months of diagnosis, biopsies, surgeries, chemo, and radiation. I still have several months of Herceptin infusions before me, but the hard part is over. And it's all finished before Christmas.

He determines the number of the stars

and calls them each by name.

Great is our Lord and mighty in power;

his understanding has no limit. (Psalm 147: 4-5)

Today, after my final radiation was administered, Janeth and Nicole let out a loud cheer. (I thought until today that Janeth's name was Janet.) They came in and presented me with a Certificate of Completion. It was signed by the technicians,  nurse, and Dr. Hunter. They all wrote nice little notes.  For instance, Nicole wrote: "Congratulations Linda! It was a pleasure to be part of your treatment team and to get to know you.  I wish you all the best and will continue to keep you in my thoughts and prayers. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Take care and God bless :-) Nicole." Nicole was amazing throughout my time here, sharing about her little boy or asking me questions about my life. I will miss seeing her and Janeth every day.

Dr. Hunter wrote: "Congratulations on the successful completion of your course of radiation therapy. I feel genuinely privileged to have participated in your care and wish you all the best! Warm regards, Michael Hunter, MD." I saw him for my last appointment during treatment last Wednesday, and I'll see him one more time in January for a follow up. As his writing revealed, he is an incredible doctor, and I've been privileged to be his patient. My treatment will now be passed back to Dr. Kohn, who will quarterback all my followups from this point forward.

Going back to the certificate, all the pictures included on the certificate were items Nicole and Janeth and I talked about during treatment. They knew I home schooled, so they included teacher pictures. I usually had a book with me, so there's a picture of a stack of books. In one conversation about bike riding, I mentioned riding in the STP (Seattle to Portland) bike ride. They put that on it. My favorite is the picture of women hanging out and drinking coffee, because now that my daily treatments are over, I might be able to squeeze in a chat with friends over coffee again. Nicole wanted to make sure I saw the words, "Good Job!!!" ;)  It is our little joke, of course, from the time she forgot to tell me I did a good job and they made up for it every day afterwards. I was touched by their thoughtfulness throughout my treatments, and this was frosting on the cake.

As I left, Janeth told me to take home a little tree. A former patient donated them for all the current patients. Here is it, nicely decorating my front porch.

Tomorrow I visit my ophthalmologist to get my tear duct plugs removed. Before that, I'm going to celebrate the end of this part of the journey with a few friends over brunch. On Wednesday, Walt's mom arrives for Christmas. Then on Thursday I see Dr. Kohn and receive my last Herceptin of this year.  They were able to move this appointment up a day so that my family could make an impromptu trip to Lake Chelan for a few days. We'll be back home on Christmas Eve because we don't want to miss our church's Christmas Eve service. It'll be busy between now and Friday, but I can't wait to be in Chelan and just relax. This will be the first get away for Walt and I since this all started, and I will savor every moment of it!