02-My Last Chemotherapy Treatment-Ringing the Bell – Invasive Ductal Carcinoma-Triple Negative Breast Cancer Diagnosis

I thought I would be able to update you all more, but the last seven months have been INSANELY EMOTIONAL. There are just no amount of words to describe it.

However, after nearly five months of Triple Negative breast cancer chemotherapy, today I finally got to ring the bell to signify the end of chemotherapy treatment. 

I could not be more grateful to the Lord, and my Care Team of doctors, nurses, and techs for getting me to a point where I can move on to the next step of getting rid of this cancer that has temporarily taken residence in my body.

But man, shout out to my family, friends, and my co-workers for holding me all the way down, thus far! 

My chemo sitting buddies, the home visits, the company through my six-day hospital stay, the calls, the texts, random/special food and juice prep, store runs, my children being my stair-runners, making sure I have every essential imaginary to be comfortable. 

EVERYTHING everyone one of you all do and have done for me is appreciated down to my entire soul!

And when I say Edward, my husband, has fulfilled his, “in sickness and in health” marital vows to the fullest, I absolutely cannot express that he has been absolutely SERIOUS about taking care of me and has not missed one consult, appointment, or treatment.  

Not one step has been missed in making sure I am taken care of. I say to him often… THANK YOU! He says back to me, you do not have to thank me. There is not anything else I was supposed to be doing. This is what I am here for. Even still, THANK YOU! 🥺❤️

So, after 16 chemotherapy infusions, countless days of being sick, and what seemed like a never-ending hospital stay, my treatment plan for chemotherapy is over. 

I move on to surgery, next month, to remove the area where my tumor existed. I chose a lumpectomy, where a portion of my breast is removed, as opposed to removing my entire breast (mastectomy). Then, several rounds of radiation will be necessary to clean-up the area.

The results from my pathology report will determine how many radiation treatments will be necessary. I am a researcher, so I have been preparing myself for this part, and I am very anxious about the number. 

However, I am going to do my best to focus on surgery and recovery, for now. Recovery should be approximately 2-4 weeks. My doctors say everyone is different and could be more or less. As mentioned before, I have not been able to update as much as I would like to, but I hope to be back during surgery recovery to let you all know how I am doing. I appreciate everyone for checking up on me and my progress!

If you are going through breast cancer treatment or are mentally and physically preparing to do so and have any questions, feel free to give me a shout. 

I have documented everything along the way, for my understanding, and in hopes of helping the next person.