Ringing the bell

It is such a small thing, but was such an emotional moment for me to ring the bell to signify the end of my radiation yesterday. I held the tears back until we got in the car then I couldn't hold them back. I had mixed emotions going through my head, but overall they were happy tears. It is just nice to have that phase all done. As crazy as it sounds I will miss my radiation therapists, they always had a huge smile every day to greet me. They made the whole experience that much easier with their positive attitudes. They were all my age and were so nice and went out of their way to make sure I was fit in for my treatments if I wasn't feeling well and wanted to come early. I now call them friends and will make a point to pop in and visit them from time to time. They truly are the unsung heroes of radiation!! I brought them a gift basket to show my appreciation and let them know that 2106 (my machine) team rocked!!

Overall my radiation side effects have not been as bad as I had expected, but there were still bad days and good, but I feel like attitude has helped alot with my journey thus far and I plan on keeping a positive attitude about all of it. I have appointments next week with 3 different surgeons and then will make the final decision about what to do as far as surgery goes and set a date for it. This will be yet another huge decision for me, because my top priority will be to not have this cancer come back, but at the same time be able to live as active of a life as I did before the cancer. I have alot of living left to do, and want to know that I did everything possible to decrease the chance of recurrence.

With all this said,  I am going to try as hard as I can to get my normal life back until the surgery occurs, it might be a few weeks before I have my energy back and these radiation effects fully wear off but I look forward to a few weeks of my new normal!! If I feel good enough I might even go on a vacation.

Please pray for my mother who will be having a colonoscopy this Thursday. She has Crohns as well and I insisted that when I was done with my radiation she get a scope to make sure she was healthy. She has been my rock throughout all this and I need her well to be there for me. So even though she is dreading the infamous prep, lets hope its only good news from the doctors for her, so we can have some peace of mind about her. 

Ringing the bell in my new favorite shirt!!!

My gift to my amazing radiation team down in the basement!!!