I am done!!!!

Well, today was my last day of Taxol chemo. I am SOOOOO glad it's over! I was very emotional this morning but now I am just happy and proud that I was able to get through this drama of my life!

When we finished the chemo drip was finished, I was in the room with the nurse, my husband and another chemo patient I had just met, and when the automatic pump beeped to let us know the chemo was finished, we put on Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and shook our booties and screamed, "Wooo Hooo!" It was great! Everything else that I was worried about last night went out the window!

It is amazing what the human body is able to withstand. I never could have expected this, and I still don't know the lesson from this, but I know that it is over. My kids and husband bought me a bunch of balloons and that was the celebration I needed! Okay, maybe I'll throw a big party at the house and invite anyone who wants to come...as long as they're willing to shake their booties!!!

Today is the Greatest!

Well, okay, so I'm writing this before midnight, but I'm already thinking it's tomorrow ('cause I am usually asleep by now!) I am SO psyched that tomorrow is my last chemo treatment!!! I never thought this day would come and now that is has, I wish tomorrow were already over!

Although I will still have to go every 3 weeks through next summer to have an IV medication delivered, and I still have the final implants to be put in, I don't think I have ever dealt with anything as challenging as these past few months! I am feeling myself starting to cry because I am finally getting over the crisis mode of getting everything taken care of to this complete daze of what I've been through. I don't even think I've had time to process it all. Now, as I try to tackle that challenge, I know I need help!

Wow, I thought this blog was going to be all about how excited I am that I will be finished with chemo, but what I am really finding out is that I am emotionally spent. I am very proud of what I have been able to withstand, but, HOLY CRAP! I had cancer. I didn't feel anything, and one day, my life changed! I know it will eventually get back to a more normal functioning, and I still know that things could have been so much worse, but, HOLY CRAP! I had cancer!

Okay, okay, gain composure. Go to bed. Tomorrow is a big day of sitting and falling asleep and I still have to wake up in the middle of the night to take my pre-chemo medications. Wait, I think this overwhelmed feeling has been replaced with tears of joy because it is over tomorrow and now I just have to get my hair back. Did I mention before how much I HATE not having hair???

Would Health Care Reform Deem My Mammogram Necessary Before Age 40?

Today, President Obama spoke to the AMA about Healthcare Reform. I agree that something needs to be done about healthcare. My husband lost his job in November. His company covered our health insurance through January 31st and COBRA kicked in on February 1st. Unfortunately, our 18 month old daughter had to take an ambulance ride to the emergency room on February 1st and, to the hospital, it looked as if we weren't covered by insurance. The ambulance ride bill was $1,800. The unisured patient discount was $1,500. We were officially charged the difference. However, once COBRA did kick in, the insurance company paid the fee and we did not pay anything. No one can argue that the ambulance ride uninsured charge and discount demonstrates a breakdown in our system, however, this same February, a new doctor sent me, 37 years old, for my first mammogram. She didn't feel anything, she just thought I should have a baseline mammogram. They found something so small it couldn't be felt, but after my biopsy was performed in the office with results back to me 30 minutes later, I was told that I had breast cancer. I made the decision to have a bilateral mastectomy and was able to find a surgeon and have the surgery 6 weeks later. Now I am undergoing chemotherapy.While I understand that President Obama's plan places an emphasis on preventitive care, most doctors don't send their patients for their first mammogram until age 40. My oncologist and cancer surgeons both told me that my cancer was fast-growing and could have been a much more dire situation if it had it been been detected a year, much less three years, later. Who knows whether my doctor would have felt comfortable sending me for the mammogram when she did if she had to worry about penalties for "unneccessary tests." Who knows whether those people, like me, who do not fall into a "high risk" category would be allowed to go for such tests before age 40? I want my doctors to feel comfortable sending me for any tests they deem important, whether an insurance company or the governement feels otherwise. This doctor and this test saved my life and to me, that is very necessary.