Done and Not Quite Done

We've made it through the 6 week "boot camp" of chemo and radiation. What an exhausting experience. The Radiation Department has a bell for when treatment is done with the following inscription:

Ringing Out

Ring this bell
Three times well
The toll to clearly say
My treatments are done
It's course has run
And I am on my way

Jill rang that bell louder than anyone ever has! People came running from the next building over thinking that it was the dinner bell! It was AWESOME!
So we're done...well, not quite. She gets a month off then starts back up with the chemo therapy for 5 days/month. This will last at least 6 months. Yeah, that sucks. But, at least its a pill which can be taken from the comfort of our own home. At least it's 5 days/month and not every day.

Things we're looking forward to:
Solstice running race!
camping
a normal appetite
no more nausea
hair (although all I can do is hope)
driving
that bottle of champagne we got for our anniversary
going back to work
scab falling off

Things we're dreading:
speech therapy
more chemo
more nausea
the unknown

The picture from the previous post

For some reason the Google Blogger site wouldn't upload this picture so here it is. Bill, find out who's responsible for this problem and have them fired!

Two More Days

The six weeks are almost done! We have to go down for two more days of treatment as the first day was only a "block test" to ensure that HAL was calibrated correctly and then we had Labor day off. We both cannot wait for this to be over and resuame a "normal" life again. What is a "normal" life anymore? I'll start working back in Flagstaff, meaning that I can ride my bike to work and runing at lunch again. Jill will start working again after a few weeks of rest and recovery. But is that what "normal" is all about? Going back to work? How will this change our lives? How has this changed all of your lives? We know that one person has decided to quit smoking, and another has increassed their treadmill workout. How else has this influenced everyone? Jill and I have realized how important our friends and family are. We can now appreciate the collective efforts of those who love us.
Find what you love and do what it takes to spend as much time as possible doing that.
Stay tuned for Tuesday when Jill has her last radiation treatment. TWO MORE DAYS!!!

Look at Her Go

Jill has been showing her strength each day with daily bike trainer sessions and weekend running. The doctors gave her permission to do both as it would help maintain her energy levels and the fact that she can't do any physical damage. Jill's ability to be doing this is a testament to her healthy and active lifestyle for all those years.
This is not to say that chemo therapy and radiation has been easy by any means. It's been the most difficult thing that either one of us has ever have and hopefully will ever have to go through.
We have one week and 2 days left and all the love and support we have received from our friends, and family has certainly made this difficult time that much easier.

Radiation

The Varian Linear Accelerator http://www.varian.com/us/ is a truly amazing machine. It's name is HAL and not only can destroy a tumor in only 6 weeks, but it makes a darn good double frappachino mocha late (non fat, dairy free of course) . I half expect Jill to be beamed to the Starship Enterprise after the treatment. Radiation has come a long way in the past few years with the most important inprovements in the imaging guidance and the ability to pinpoint the treatment within 1 milimeter (that's 0.03937 of an inch for those of you not familiar with the metric system). If I was a radiation oncologist I could do a much better job at explianing this, but what I'm trying to say is that its really really neat stuff.
The treatment starts with Jill parking in the front row of the Mayo Clinic with her special "I'm a Radiation Rock Star" parking permit and getting checked in with Grace who is the second sweetest lady ever (our mothers take the top spot) . Then we go to the waiting area and discuss the art work on the walls and cheer on those patients who just received their last treatment. Then the radiation techs come and bring Jill back to HAL where she puts on the Waffle Face Mask which leaves a waffle pattern on Jill's cheeks and forehead. The Waffle Face Mask is fastened to the table to ensure that her head is in the exact same place every single time, otherwise you'll end up like President Skroob from Spaceballs when he got beamed (you'll have to rent it cause I couldn't find it on youtube). After all adjustments are made they throw on some tunes for Jill (Van Morrison) and go into the control room. She gets 9 treatments with HAL moving to a different angle each time. During the treatment Jill is meditating and flushing the tumor out of her body. The entire treatment cycle takes about 10 minutes. The longest part is getting everything set up. After that we say good bye to Gloria and I head off to work and Jill heads home for a nap and a bike trainer ride.

Hair Part 2

The hair on her head is falling fast
At least she doesn't have any on her ass

Hair Schmair!

We're 4/6th of the way through chemo and radiation and the treatment is starting to catch up. The hair is starting to fall out and nausea is setting in, but enough about me this is about Jill. She's still riding the bike trainer every day, going on short runs in Flagstaff and maintaining her positive attitude.
The chemo therapy and radiation treatment are starting to take their toll. She's now losing her hair and is having to take more than one anti-nausea pill per day. Her energy level is still good, and appetite is OK.
It continues to amaze me that the chemo therapy is a pill from and that patients are trusted with a months supply just sitting there in a cabinet or on the counter. I always thought that chemo was something that needed to be strictly administered by a doctor, but it's now no different than Viagra. Radiation on the other hand, is a whole different beast which will be covered next week. Stay Tuned Jill Fans!