Monumental May Day

He did it!! Jarod officially finished his last treatment of chemo today May 24 at 12:00 pm! Marcy came up and drove both Jarod and I to our last day day of treatment. Dr. Filip had the path report back from all the tests from Friday and everything was fine! He scheduled an appointment for us on Thursday June 10 for his follow up. That day we will then schedule the CT scan and his port removal. He told us we will get the entire post treatment schedule on June 10 but that the first three months he will be monitored monthly, then it will go to every 3 months for the first two years. After the 2 year mark he will only need to see him every six months and after after the 5 year mark it will be a yearly checkup!

Although we will still have a lot of appointments and check ups over the next two years, it is a huge relief to have this part of it, the chemotherapy treatment behind us. 12 weeks from the time he was diagnosed we have under gone 2 surgeries, 9 weeks of chemotherapy which consisted of 4 chemo drugs, 6+ anti nausea meds, and at least 3 other medications to help with sleep, and anxiety and in just the last 72 hours have over come an infected abscess and true excruciating joint pain. Going on less than 4 hours of sleep almost nightly for almost 3 full months Jarod and I are able to look back on this journey and say we did it!

It's almost surreal when you think about the obstacles we faced, and the amount of time, and every second of every day balancing work, home, bills, family, friends, and battling for Jarod's life; we just did it. We took it day by day and there wasn't any other option. You get up, you show up and you do what you need to do to get through the day, and then the night, and then the week, then the weekend, and then you start it over and you just keep going.

Friday when we were at the hospital, just a few days before I had written about how we were so blessed with only one treatment left and there was such a positive feeling and then 48 hours later I found myself sitting in the exact waiting room in the hospital I had been in when Jarod had gone for his very first CT. Before he was even diagnosed I sat in that waiting room outside of radiology worried, stressed, scared, and knew without yet being told what was going on. After that CT we walked over to Dr. Filip's office on a Thursday after all the other patients were gone and nurses were finishing up and he sat us down and told us that Jarod had cancer, that was 12 weeks ago.

12 weeks to most goes by in the blink of an eye, life moves so fast with work, school, friends and family, holidays, vacation, obligations and relaxation to most 12 weeks is a moment, but for us it's been a year. Sitting in that same waiting room, in the same chair I thought about what we had done, how far we had come and much it took out of us and I'm not sure how we've done it but we are SO close to the end I'm not going to look back.

We made it and 72 hours later here I am, at home with Jarod and chemo is behind us. We aren't looking back and we aren't hoping to go back to who we were or where our lives used to be, we are focused on moving forward and redefining ourselves and our lives post cancer.

Each experience we have prepares us for the next, the problem is we never know what the next is going to be. There is a quote that says, "You cannot control the wind, but you can adjust your sails" I think that's exactly what we did with the help of all of you who have supported us. Thank you.