TREATMENT FINALLY DONE!
Hello, friends and family. I am posting what I hope is my last blog update in a long while; as Jeff and I look forward to a hopefully uneventful 2008. Also, please forgive me for copying largely from an e-mail that Jeff crafted and sent to some of you. He described our situation perfectly, so I figure, why reinvent the wheel? :-)
My last radiation session was on Tuesday December 18, concluding my Cancer Part Deux treatment of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. I am tired but relieved to be done with this ordeal once again. We had a fun and relatively relaxing holiday with the kids, friends and family, and I am feeling more like my old self each day.
As always, we are very open to discussing my treatment, next steps, the future, etc., so please don't ever feel uncomfortable about asking us anything. On that note, although my doctors weren't thrilled that the cancer came back so quickly and aggressively, both they and we are hopeful that we've knocked this cancer on its ass for good this time.
As for the future, I am signed up for a lifetime of PET/CT scans, etc, but Jeff and I have to remain bullish that they will always be clear. These scans will be every 3 months for the next year, every 6-months for years 2-3, and most likely yearly moving forward.
The analogy we like to use to describe our situation is that we know that we will be living with an elephant in the room for the rest of our lives. We are comfortable acknowledging his presence and letting him know we're o.k. with him hanging around, however, we will not let him intimidate, dominate or scare us into not living our lives to fullest. We start this effort with a belated 10-year anniversary trip to Paris in January! I then will return to work (part-time again) on January 29 and look forward to resuming my "normal" life.
Thanks to all of you for the countless calls/emails of encouragement, dinner drop-offs and babysitting help. We love you all very much and wish you Happy New Year!
As always, we are very open to discussing my treatment, next steps, the future, etc., so please don't ever feel uncomfortable about asking us anything. On that note, although my doctors weren't thrilled that the cancer came back so quickly and aggressively, both they and we are hopeful that we've knocked this cancer on its ass for good this time.
As for the future, I am signed up for a lifetime of PET/CT scans, etc, but Jeff and I have to remain bullish that they will always be clear. These scans will be every 3 months for the next year, every 6-months for years 2-3, and most likely yearly moving forward.
The analogy we like to use to describe our situation is that we know that we will be living with an elephant in the room for the rest of our lives. We are comfortable acknowledging his presence and letting him know we're o.k. with him hanging around, however, we will not let him intimidate, dominate or scare us into not living our lives to fullest. We start this effort with a belated 10-year anniversary trip to Paris in January! I then will return to work (part-time again) on January 29 and look forward to resuming my "normal" life.
Thanks to all of you for the countless calls/emails of encouragement, dinner drop-offs and babysitting help. We love you all very much and wish you Happy New Year!
I may post a picture from Paris just to make all of you jealous, but until then, au revoir.
Love,
Shannon
posted by Shannon Fallick at 8:43 PM
1 Comments:
Hey, Shannon! Great to hear you are finished with your treatments. I tried calling you at home today but I may have an old number. You look great! I hope you and Jeff had a great time in Paris for your anniversary. I celebrated my 60th with many friends in France last September. It was a blast. I saw Rosemary the other day - she brought Brendon to one of my little league umpire clinics. She's always asking about you. Life at PH is the same only employment law has moved more into class actions (that's where the money is). My best wishes and prayers go out to you. Love, Richard
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