Last chemo completed today!

My white blood cells were just high enough to be in the normal range today, and I was able to get my last chemo treatment completed.   Yeah!  Hopefully starting that little bit higher will help me to not go so low countwise this time.   I will still have to be careful about going out and being in big crowds the next couple of weeks since it is still flu season, but that light at the end of the tunnel is really bright now.   I am just so happy to be able to say that chemo is done for now, and hopefully, for a very long time!

The tumor marker tests were repeated today, and I should get those results on Friday.  That blood was taken before my chemo today so that could still fluctuate in the weeks after chemo as well.    We will also be doing another PETscan in two weeks.  Hopefully, we'll have a pretty good picture of how things are looking before my hysterectomy on Feb. 5th.  After that, I will be put on one of the aromatase inhibitors drugs to suppress any hormones that could still be produced through adrenal glands, etc.    If there are still tumors in the liver, the AI could also reduce the size, but it just works a bit slower than chemo does.

I asked the nurse today about how to expect certain things to take after this last chemo.  I knew that it could take 3 months for hair to start regrowing, but I was surprised to hear that it might be up to 6 months for things to start tasting normal again.   I am excited that once my white blood cell count comes back up after this chemo I will be able to eat raw fruits and vegetables again.  I have never craved salad as much as I have these last few months.  While they had said that you can eat it on your high white blood cell days if  you wash it with wash, etc., my white blood cells have been on the low side so much that I have been pretty nervous even to wash & eat salad at home.  The days I tend to crave it the most are of course my low days when I can't eat it even at home.  So, if you see me stocking up on lettuce at Publix in about 2 weeks, you'll understand why.

In the next few weeks if you could keep me in your thoughts and prayers for the following things, I would appreciate it:
1. that  I stay well over the next 2-3 weeks and my white blood cells come back up to the normal range so that I can have surgery as scheduled on 2/5.
2. that my  tumor markers show a decrease preferably to the normal range.
3. that my PETscan will show a decrease in size and/or the standardized uptake value (how bright/active the tumors show up) again preferably to the normal range.

Thanks so much! I hope everyone has a very good week!