Saddle Up And Ride

Hello all. I am so sorry I haven't written in over a month. You are all probably bored of reading about this stuff anyway. But if you are still tuned in, here's what's happening.


April 21st was the last chemo... thank goodness! I made it, thanks to everyone! There were a few times in the last couple of weeks where I felt a little achy but overall, my body did FAR better with that chemo than the first. It felt great to leave that day, knowing I didn't have to show up for it the following week. I do miss the nurses.. they are a special breed of people and they treated me with so much kindness.

On the radiation front, I begin tomorrow. Since I last wrote, I made a connection with a radiation doc from Mass General/Exeter Hospital and sought a second opinion from him. I just wanted to hear that radiation is done with success to people with my set of circumstances (i.e. expanders/metal ports, etc...). Mom, Chase and I drove to Exeter NH and I met with him and it was a very positive meeting. He reaffirmed what I knew and said he has had very good results. He also knew my medical oncologist from way back, which was a nice connection. I then met with my plastic surgeon and radiation oncologist at Dartmouth so we were all on the same page. THEN they had to readjust some measurements they took, so that set my start date back a week... not so fun. This put a damper on my beach week with my Dad. Of all the things that have happened this winter, this was by far the most disappointing. I was REALLY looking forward to a week away from all of this. But such is life and plans change. No beach week for me this June, maybe later this summer. A minor setback, but I am over it (sort of).

So far this week has looked like this: yesterday (Monday) I had my medi-port taken out. Remember, it's that button looking thing that's been in my chest since December, where I got my treatments. That was exciting, and there were some extremely entertaining patients in there, AND they gave me those nice, "can't think of anything but happy thoughts" drugs. Today was intro to radiation day, with a set of x-rays. Tomorrow is the real deal. One of the tech's asked me today what music I wanted to listen to because they have XM radio in the room. I said, "Look, I have a 5 year old and an almost 2 year old, so it is RARELY my choice. So, as long as Hannah Montana doesn't come out of that speaker, I'll be happy with anything!" So, another countdown begins, with the ending date being June 22nd.

Other news: I have begun working a few shifts here and there at Keeper's. I have sold my half of Keeper's to Danny (my business partner) so I am more "per Diem" actually. It is a good solution for all of us. I am really excited for Danny to take Keeper's to the next level. He will do well, I know it. He also knows I will do anything I can to help him. As for me, working a few nights a week has been great!

I just swallowed the first of 1,825 Tamoxifen pills this evening. That sounds terrible. In other words, for the next 5 years, I have to remember to take this every day. It is a hormone therapy drug that will continue to decrease my chances of recurrence. So if you see me around, please remind me. Only 1,824 to go.

Sadie, Jason and Chase are doing great. This has been a winter and spring of never-ending coughs and runny noses, but we are hopefully in the clear. The weather has been great (by that I mean we haven't seen snow in almost a month), we have tilled the garden and the kids LOVE playing in the dirt. Life is good.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for everything. I love you all!

Ash