Radiation Done and Christmas

I am happy to report - RADIATION IS DONE!!  I finished on Tuesday, December 23rd - just in time for Christmas!  I can't think of a better gift!  No more stickers and permanent marker marks on my skin.  No more traveling to the Cancer center 5 times a week and sometimes on weekends.  I got to ring the bell for being done with radiation - which felt great!!  While I am not "officially" done with the chemo treatment side of things, it feels good to be done with the daily radiation.  And I am not actually getting any chemo treatments that have side effects - but there is one drug (Herceptin) that I have to take every 3 weeks for one year, so that will not be done until May.  It is because of the type of cancer I had (Her2-nu positive) and it is given through my port (IV med) - so I am not "officially" done with treatments until May.  But at this point, there are no side effects so it feels like I am done.  I will take it!  

I was lucky - my radiation wasn't very deep since all the cancer was gone at the time of my surgery.  It takes a few days after the last treatment for all the radiation to come to the surface, so my skin is still "burning" but it hasn't been bad.  I am lucky, in a way, that a big part of my radiated skin is still numb from my surgery, so I think the spots that would hurt I can't feel.  One small spot on my collar bone is red and feels like a bad sunburn.  

We had a good Christmas!  The twins and Dave were sick the week of but by Christmas most were feeling better.  Here are a few pictures I pulled off my phone:

Christmas Eve with my boys!  They actually went to bed by their choice shortly after this picture was taken!  They were so excited!

 

 Last year they started this and continued this year - sleeping in the same room on Christmas eve.  They are in Aiden's room, but it was Landon's "turn" to sleep on the bed.  They look real tired, don't they??

 

Christmas morning - I have better pictures on my camera but haven't pulled the pictures yet. These are their "the flash is so bright" faces!  Patiently waiting for Dad to say it was clear to come down!

Opening their stockings.  They always do that first.  We tried a new routine this year - they opened presents one at a time (not all - just took turns with each present).  Aiden got a little impatient at times, but overall it worked really well.  Things lasted longer, we were able to focus on each boy, and they got to see what they each opened!

Love this picture of Aiden.  Great Grandpa Young and Loretta got the kids all watches this year.  Aiden loves his and wore it all day the day after Christmas!

It was a great Christmas season - so much to be thankful for!  Bring on 2015!!

Radiation Almost Done!

Christmas is coming, which I can't believe.  This year flew by!!  But the good news...radiation is almost done!  In a way it's gone quickly, but I am going to be really glad to be done driving to the cancer center every day!  It was right what they told me - radiation is easier than chemo for sure, but it gets tiring by the end because you have to go 5 days a week.  So far I've handled it well - my skin is starting to pink up and just today I've had one spot where some skin has come off.  Hopefully it doesn't get too bad.  My final treatment - Tuesday, December 23rd!  :)

Let's see - what else have we been doing?  My bestest friend Kathy and I took a road trip to see her daughter play basketball in Ohio.  It was great girl time and I'm so glad I was able to go! 

 

We had Christmas with my family on Saturday, December 13th.  It was a little earlier than we all would have liked but everyone was flexible with my radiation schedule.  (I had treatment on Sunday the 21st).  We had a great time and it always goes by way too fast!  Here are some pictures...it was a pink Christmas as they all wore their pink shirts for me so we could get a family picture!  Not a Christmas we will forget!!  It was neat seeing all the pink!

The kids and I hanging out.

Grandma and Shelby - how sweet!

Grandma and Grandpa got all the boys, including Richard, a Minecraft shirt.

Shelby LOVES Landon - or Dandon as she likes to call him.  She hung out next to him for quite a while and kept giving him the sweetest looks!  Landon is very patient with her - it's so cute!

Then, on Monday the 15th - Aiden came to me right as they needed to get ready for the bus and said "can you pull this tooth out?"  I'm thinking - I can't get this out before school, but I did and then he says "can you just pull the other one out, too?"  It wasn't as ready but had twisted a bit so it was bugging him!  I got both teeth out in less than 5 minutes and he didn't even flinch!  His first two teeth!!! 

 

 Bring on the holidays and end of radiation!!!