Radiation and more

I finished radiation! December 22, 2016 was my last radiation treatment, and Finn helped me ring the bell again (he also wanted to eat it).

It was an extra special Christmas present to have radiation treatment completed and have that chapter of my life over with. It was the last step in the traditional treatment for my particular flavor of cancer, and that is a damn good feeling.

Alas, it will not be the final step in my treatment. I have decided to participate in a clinical trial for triple negative breast cancer. This trial involves chemo again, but I don't yet know which one I'll have. I'll be randomly assigned to one of two groups within the next week or so. One group receives an oral chemotherapy drug called Xeloda (capecitabine) and the other receives one of the platinum salt drugs, either carboplatin or cisplatin. My oncologist tells me that both drugs will be easier to tolerate than what I've had before, and I should keep my hair this time around. I'll note that I'm not particularly concerned about my hair; I just mention it because it's the first thing many people ask. While I like my new curls, and it's nice (and warmer!) to have hair again, I kind of liked the super low maintenance and ease of being bald.

We had an excellent Christmas. We had Mass at our house Christmas Eve, and Santa visited us later that night. We went to Kevin's parents' house for Christmas Day, and then we packed up the car and headed out of town towards NC. We stopped at a hotel after about three hours and drove the rest of the way to Oak Island, where we spent several days with my whole family. It was the first time we met my brother's son Kellan, who is 12 days younger than Finn, and the first time we've all been together since March and since Finn and Kellan were born. We then drove to Charlotte for a couple more days, and Finn cut his first tooth on the drive there. He was a little screamy until it broke through, and then he was fine. While in Charlotte, we also got to see my best friend for her daughter's 3rd birthday party.

We returned to Maryland the night before I had to return to work, but Kevin was able to take another day off, so he and Finn spent the day together.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for lots of snow in the new year.