Just 6 more Radiation treatments

Today I'm thankful for...
Getting closer to the end of winter and the snow season
A weekend with the whole family together
Making new friends
Lulu only days from finishing her radiation treatments

Lulu has only a total of six more radiation treatments left. Tomorrow she will be traveling to UCSF for the last whole week of exposure to cancer killing photons. Lulu has been talking about the final six treatment most of the weekend. Not that the radiation has been anywhere close to the difficulties that the chemotherapy caused, like the extreme tiredness, nausea, or the hair lose; however, she has been experiencing some fatigue and forgetfulness. It's hard to figure out what causing the short term confusion? Well, we're all hoping that it's short term? The doctors have told her that the fatigue many times is accumulative during the various treatments that a cancer patient endures. Lulu's wondering if and how long it will be for her to recover the strength and energy that she once possessed? Then there's the weakness in the right arm. Lulu's been going three times a week to the physical therapist to help her with the strength and tenderness in the right arm and shoulder. She says that the therapy has been very helpful in the mobility of the arm, but the discomfort continues. I think that Lulu is experimenting with her new life with cancer, and isn't quite sure about all the details as of yet? It's like starting over; what will she be able to tolerate, how will her arm be one year from now, and will she have difficulty with retaining information from now on? Lots of questions, and not so many answers. In time it will all work out, but waiting to get there is testing her determination.

After the radiation treatment there's still other treatments for Lulu. For the next five years Lulu will be taking oral chemotherapy drug (Tamoxifen ) to prevent a recurrence of the cancer? Then the hormone replacement drugs. There's the second surgery to replace her "expanders" with the breast implants (sometime at the end of the summer or early fall)? Also, the experimental blood treatments in which we don't know a lot about yet. Most of these should be finished in Reno, with minimal appointments needed in San Francisco? (Though we'll miss some of those trips to the big city). Whatever Lulu needs to do to protect her future we will face together and beat this dreadful cancer. We can only think about the future together with her being cancer free. Nothing else is acceptable!

At the end of this week, Lulu and I are going to be taking the kids to SF for the last weekend before the last treatment of radiation. We want to have a mini family vacation together celebrating the end of this phase of her breast cancer battle. We are planning on going to the Jelly Bean factory in Fairfield, the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate park, and the Wax museum and Ripley's Believe It or Not. (the kids have been asking about that one). I really wanted to take the boys on the BART train as they love trains and I'm sure would be an adventure riding the subway under the city? When we return on Tuesday we'll have a family party to mark the end of the last 9 months of craziness. (I hope that the next nine months will have a normalcy that we haven't seen for a while)?