I'm An Aries, But I Have Cancer.

'Twas the Night Before Christmas...

I meant to post a blog a long time ago, but I've been very distracted with holiday preparation. And by that I mean, I went to my aunt's house and slept on the couch while everyone else baked Christmas cookies. I swear, once you tell people you're battling cancer they're all like, "Oh, sweetie, please don't strain yourself!" and I'm all, "Oh, my cancer hurts. I shouldn't leave the couch. Would you mind making me hot cocoa?" Okay, let's get this update started...

Last time I wrote, it was before my fourth cycle had started. Now, I'm nearing the end of my fourth and last (hopefully, forever) cycle. Finishing the first week of the cycle was quite the struggle. I only had one week between my previous full week and the fourth cycle's, so there wasn't much recovery time. In other words, the side effects of the chemo had a much greater effect during this week of treatment. Rather than feeling nausea and fatigue set in on Thursday, I felt it on Wednesday. I was noticeably more tired than usual and felt overall more crappy. By Friday, the nausea had gotten pretty bad, BUT it all worked out for the best. I almost vomited in the treatment center and the nurse saw me and talked to my doctor about giving me more anti-nausea medication. SO, I spent the rest of the day and all weekend feeling a lot better. After I finished treatment, my dad brought the car to the door so I wouldn't have to walk to get to it, we high-fived and then I cried pretty much the entire ride home. I was so happy to be done with weeks like that. My family took me out to all-you-can-eat pizza and wings to celebrate! It was embarrassing how much I couldn't eat, but the pizza still tasted great. So I have no regerts. See what I did there?

The following weekend was spectacularly eventful. I went to my aunt's house on Saturday to bake Christmas cookies, and like I said earlier, I put a lot of effort forth in making sure those cookies were baked! My aunt probably won't vouch for the work I did, but that's okay. She's probably bitter because my batches tasted better. On Sunday, two of my friends worked in a visit to my house on their way home for Christmas. I don't get to see them very often, so it was awesome being able to spend an entire day with them. They also bought me a tshirt of a tiger wearing a sweat band that says, "No regrets". It's incredibly fitting, in more ways than one.

On Monday, I had my second bleomycin day. The appointment was changed to Monday because Tuesday was Christmas Eve and the center wouldn't be open. So Monday was my second to last day of treatment and MY LAST DAY at the Radnor facility. My last day of treatment will be in Center City in Philadelphia because I have an appointment with my surgeon whose office is closer to that facility. My friend, Julie, and my younger brother, Mikey, and my mom came to treatment with me. It went by a lot faster having people to hang out with, not to mention, my friend's mother surprise visited me during treatment. At the end of my treatment I said goodbye to my nurses. That was really hard, because my nurses were awesome. I had a really good relationship with both of them, but really bonded with one of them over sushi and Always Sunny In Philadelphia. In fact, I just called her to see what her thoughts were on my white blood cell count and eating sushi today. My mom made both of them Egyptian food to thank them and I hugged both of them goodbye, but what really made this last cycle a little easier was that the nurse, Kathleen (who I talk to about sushi), started tearing up. She said it's always hard when patients leave because of the relationships that are built. I was really touched that Kathleen liked me enough to cry. I thought I was just that annoying kid in the background who wouldn't stop talking about sushi and watching The View at too high of a volume.

Christmas was splendid. I GOT A MOUNTAIN BIKE. AND A FRENCH PRESS. I also had an awesome time with my family. My mother unexpectedly said a very heartfelt pre-dinner prayer, so obviously, I cried (the cancer made me soft), but it was really nice. It's been a very difficult year with everything going on, and though we're thankful for the lessons learned, we are all happy for the year to be over. I have a good feeling about 2014.

I guess that pretty much sums up the update. I should probably leave you all with a picture or something.