I'm Done!!!! Woohoo!!!

I'm finally finished with chemo. I didn't think I would see the day. It has taken me a few days to update my blog because I have had some sort of food poisoning the past few days. Not fun!!!

My mom was here for the week to help me out and it was so nice to have her here. My poor sister Alison was also in need of her since she just got her tonsils out. Ouch...I can relate since mine came out 2 years ago. It hurts but is so worth it.

My friends Cori and Mary Ann showed up at chemo and we had a little graduation party. They brought cake, balloons, flowers, a candy bar poster, a diploma, a gift basket full of yummy smelling goodies, and the best part was the homemade cap. I cried when they walked in and it was so great to know that I am done with chemo and have such great friends who love me.

Thanks so much for the party. Here are some pictures from the eventful day.

Mike even snuck away from work to join the festivities.

Here is Mary Ann with the poster. How clever!!

Here is the yummy cake. Strawberry mousse filling with cream cheese frosting!!It was a great day although I felt bad because the lady next to me receiving chemo was getting her first treatment for colon cancer. Luckily I gave her a bunch of hints and things that worked for me to get through it. Cori and Mary Ann even got her address so that in 6 months they can send her a diploma too. I am so glad to be done although I'm sure it won't hit until next week when I would have gone in for the next treatment. I don't have to go back till the end of February and that will just be for a blood test. Yeah!!!! I still remember around treatment #5 thinking there was no way I could do all 12 treatments and here I am. I know that it is because of the encouragement I received from those around me. Thanks so much to you all.

One more to go!!

Only one more chemo treatment to go and then I will be done with all this yuckiness. I didn't think I would ever make it. The holidays for us have been pretty low key. We had a huge snow storm for Christmas and so we stayed home and hunkered down where it was nice and warm. In the afternoon a lot of the neighbors were out with their snowblowers digging out. We have gotten so much snow and it has been soooo cold. We heard on the news last night that it was -7 in Highland. Here is a picture of Mike digging out our front walkway yet again the day after Christmas.

New Year's was pretty uneventful for us since I had a treatment that week. It was my birthday on New Year's Eve and I was in bed at 8:30 p.m. I didn't even make it to celebrate the new year in NY time. Mike just reminded me that I was like a lot of people who were recovering from late night festivities...I just laid around and felt yucky on the 1st.

I'm feeling pretty good which means I will have a good week and then my last bad week starts next Tuesday. My mom was going to come for this last treatment but I talked her out of it since Mike was going to be home all week and off work. So she is going to come for the last treatment. Mike has been so patient and helpful. I don't know how I would get through this without him.

We officially got our new callings yesterday. Mike is a Deacon's advisor and I am the R.S. transition specialist for the YW (low-key calling...but fun). I will miss the primary kids but it was a perfect time to change since our kids were all moving on to a new class. Mike will be going on monthly campouts with the scouts. Glad I won't have to be going...especially in the winter. Their first campout is this weekend. What troopers!!

I did watch a full football game and cheered on the Utah Utes as they played in the Sugar Bowl. It was an exciting game and since Mike is a Ute, I figured I could put my BYU allegiance aside for this game. They were the underdogs and came out victorious. We noticed that the announcer's were pretty biased towards Alabama and were scurrying to find things to say when Utah came out with such a big lead at the start. Who would have thought that I would enjoy football so much?...my brothers would be proud.