FINISHED!... for now

Last radiation treatment is over and I took the last chemo pill this morning too. Woohoo!! 42 day treatment course is OVER. I brought home the mask to have Charles' sister "art up" and donate to a charity that auctions them off and sends money to head and neck cancer charities. The office gave me a "cute" diploma for finishing. It's not one that any strives to achieve, but it was cute all the same. I took in some fruit and veggie platters for the staff as a thank you. Then we went out to lunch again. We also have a movie rented for tonight. It does feel like a weight lifted off my shoulders to not need daily appointments or an alarm set to take medication in the morning. I'm DOWN to only 2 required pills a day now! I think tonight, I'll shave down the hawk (gasp) just so that my hair has a fighting chance of all growing in at the same rate now that the main irritant will be gone.

The next step is scheduling the next rounds of oral chemo. It'll be 5 straight days of pills and then 23 days off. That will be 6 rounds of 4 weeks cycles. I am going to push off starting by a week so that I can avoid taking it during Thanksgiving and Christmas, so the first week will be November 4th. My next follow-up MRI will be end of November and then every 3 months after that.

I've updated the care calendar through the end of the year. I've put on some requests for meals and help with the kids during chemo week and the weekend after. It is hard for Charles to keep up energy and activities when I'm in bed all day. If you want to help, take a look and sign up for something:

https://www.carecalendar.org
Calendar ID: 151231 
Security code: 7678 

I'm not sure yet how I'll react to the higher dose meds. It's hard to tell if my current side effects are from the chemo or the radiation, so I don't know which ones will completely dissipate as time goes on or will return with the maintenance chemo.

I'm going back to work at least part time a week from today. I'm really looking forward to getting back into it. I miss the adult time and want to get back to my "new normal" as quickly as possible. I haven't decided if I'll be wearing my wig most days or if I'll rotate out other things. It takes more time to put on than a quick hat or wrap, but it at least would be stable for coworkers to see daily, especially the new ones I haven't even met yet!

So for this week, I just get to rest up, try to nail down a good sleep pattern, and deal with the emotional side of all this. Fight or flight response is wearing off and I'm not sure how to deal with it yet. Then I get to go visit my parents solo for the whole weekend. That's right, moms, I get a weekend away sans kids. Sleep in a king bed to myself with no one barging in at 7am, no having to get meals and snacks on the table, no changing diapers. And my parents are awesome, so we will be sleeping, eating, and getting massages. Oh yes, be jealous.
FYI and for my own records, here's the start of chemo weeks:
November 4th
December 2nd
December 30th
January 27th
February 24th
March 24th