July 4th

July 4th may be the day before my next surgery (this will make number 4 for those of you counting along at home), but that's not going to stop us from enjoying the kick-ass fireworks display our neighborhood puts on every year.

Well worth the HOA fees.

If you can't think of a better way to celebrate your independence, 

c'mon out and join us! (Email invite to follow.)

What did you do yesterday?

Did it rhyme with meeting General Colin Powell?

Good, good, good..good vibrations!

The other week, I mentioned Dr. S had me scheduled for a hysteroscopy and I asked you all to send me some good vibes while I'll snoozed my way through the procedure. Short story... you all are awesome, 'cause you're good vibes worked and everything is a-okay! 

The slightly longer story is slightly more graphic, so if that's not your cup of tea stop here at this gratuitous adorable baby pic...

... 6 months old and already half as tall as me. Clearly no blood-relation ;-)

For the rest of you, here's the scoop on the 'scope...

Chemotherapy can potentially send a pre-menopausal woman (as opposed to a pre-menopausal man?) into early and permanent menopause. I'm unsure of the rates and the likelihood - one doc when I was first diagnosed said it was 50/50 (like I couldn't have come up with those odds on my own) - and I'm up to my eyeballs in research for an Ethics class (lethal means restriction in suicidal clients, anyone?), so we'll just go with 50/50 on the whole menopause thing. Amenorrhea during treatment is very common, and can take anywhere from 6 to 12 months post-chemo for a cycle to return. If it's going to.

At roughly the 6 month mark Dr. S (OB/Gyn) wanted to take a little look-see and ordered an ultrasound. The first one showed some ovarian cysts and some endometrium hyperplasia. After a minor freak out on my part, we waited a month and followed up with another ultrasound. The cysts were a lot smaller - suggesting they're going away on their own, as they frequently tend to do. But the second ultrasound still showed the hyperplasia. Which can be an indicator of a small handful of things. One of things it can be is pre-cancerous. So it's a really good idea to take an even closer look-see. 

That all brings us to last week's procedure. Caught up to speed now? Good! So this week I had the follow up appointment with Dr. S to go over what she found - or didn't find - while I was knocked out. She had some awesome news, and some let's-wait-and-see-news. 

First, the awesome news. No signs of uterine cancer! Woohoo! Combine that with a clear pap (screening for cervical cancer) and an a-okay CA125 (blood test for ovarian cancer)... this gal is still foot loose and cancer free!!!

Now, the let's-wait-and-see-news. While Dr. S was all up in my bidness, she said I look post-menopausal. Meaning, the ultrasound images were quite deceiving. What looked on an ultrasound like a very thick endometrium (seriously, you could have stopped at the baby picture up there), IRL is actually quite thin. Evidently this is one of those times when you don't want to be told how thin you look. This trompe l'oeil is likely a side effect of the Tamoxifen. Now all of that is contradictory to hormone blood tests that are all systems go. 

So what does that all mean? Your guess is as good as mine! It could be my system is still shell shocked from all the crap dumped into this last year. And it's just taking a little while to get back to pre-chemo normal. Or it could be that this is part of the post-cancer new normal. But for now, it means we wait and see.

Kinda Crazy. Kinda Awesome.

I have to share something totally wacky with you all. Yesterday was my 18th and final round of treatment (more on that in a minute). In honor of, I rocked my Stupid Cancer shirt to the infusion center, and shared a pic with them on their Facebook page. Which they then shared with their 78K followers...

... and here I am, less than 24 hours later. With 58,621 "likes", 504 "shares", and 973 comments. They weren't kidding when they said it'd go viral. So thanks for all the internet love!

UPDATE: I received a message from Stupid Cancer that mine was their most viral photo ever. Viewed over 4 million times, with 450K likes, 6K comments, and 3.5K shares. Not too shabby.

Now, more on Final. Infusion. Ever. By some wild twist of the universe, not only was yesterday my 18th and final treatment, by it was also the one year anniversary of my very first treatment. 

See, here's I am with nurse Lynn May 31st 2012

And here we are one year later. Don't we look fabulous?

The center didn't have a customary end-of-treatment bell to ring... so I improvised with and iPad app. Sure am going to miss these ladies. The chemo... not so much.

Mom was there to keep me company...

...and take me to lunch.

Then I came home to this...

...and these. What can I say? He's a keeper.

Make it a great Saturday, friends!