It is OFFICIALLY DONE!!!

The last Herceptin treatment was on Monday, March 7th (the day after my birthday). To celebrate, my dad took me and my sisters to Orlando for the week before(my sisters came down on Thursday-Sunday) to celebrate. That's a whole other post, but I had a really fun time and am TOTALLY in love with Hogsmeade at Universal Studios. I also got some amazing pictures of Disney characters in Topiary form and butterflies from Epcot's Garden Festival. I got to spend a day with one of my best friends from HS who lives down there and his lovely wife who is just adorable and sweet! I got to run around the parks with my dad who is an amazing sport for going on roller coasters with me, and my sisters...who whined most of the time, but it was good to see them.

So, back to the whole 'IT'S DONE!' thing!

Monday, 3/7 was the last Herceptin treatment. I got to talk to the oncologist for a little bit and she told me to make an official appointment for a '3 month checkup' in April. Of course, I left my water bottle there...meh. But that was done! I then got to schedule the port removal! That was scheduled, after going back and forth due to other appointments, on Monday, 3/11.

I went for my yearly checkup to my PCP on Wednesday and we chatted about it and she was very glad I was done as well! I can't imagine that it's easy for any physician to give such news and she even gave me her home number the weekend I was diagnosed if I wanted to talk and she would send me emails every now and then to check in. I appreciated it. She looked up my bloodwork -- aside from being anemic (no surprise there) everything looked good *knock wood*! Yay! On an unrelated note, I agreed to pay for/have a blood test done that would test non-anaphylactic allergies to 96 foods. It might be nice to see what could have been giving me my tummy issues for the last 25 years. I should get those results next week or so.

On Saturday I went for my second-to-last Echo (I hope)...one more in 3 months to make sure that the Herceptin didn't mess up my heart. Then, on 3/11 I went in to get the port removed!!! They had a really hard time getting an IV in (which is why I had the port in the first place) and ended up having to use my hand and some Lidocaine (I always think of Iocane) and topical numbing agents to get the stupid needle in. The surgeon asked if I wanted to keep the port and I told him he could burn the thing. Now I'm sore but port free!!! It's done!!! Afterwards, I made my appointment in April, said goodbye to my Oncology nurse and promised to come visit and even ran into the Social Worker on the way out! I did ask her for the name of a therapist and she gave me one...I need to give her a call. But it's done!!!

This morning, while my hair was still wet, I realized that the sides were now long enough to pull back with a bobby-pin...or in my case, a decorative bobby pin. Before, I could just stick the pin/clips in and they'd mostly stay, but the hair is actually pulled back!! That was actually really pleasant to discover.

So, it's DONE!!! I sincerely hope I never have to go through this again! Ever!