Counting down and getting close to home!

7490 Brompton, Apt. 442
Houston, TX 77025
713-660-7816
donshnell@sbcglobal.net

The picture on the blog I gratefully found from a couple of weeks ago. One of those roses and most of the carnations are still alive and keeping me boosted! (See the arrangement over my shoulder in last night's picture; that's what's left of last week's flowers.) Tonight's picture was back when I could wear a shirt with buttons; the buttons aggravate my itchy chest, now, so I stick with t-shirts. I didn’t bring many t-shirts! I need to write a book to prepare women for this experience, but it’s different for everyone, so that probably isn’t such a great idea. There is a site called Breast Cancer Stories and many women who are experiencing breast cancer are telling their stories there. I think I’ll stick to that site. It’s been a big help to me and I hope I can be a big help to others who go there seeking support.

This time next week we plan to have the car packed except for our towels, our sheets, our memory pad, toiletries and the cooler with the food from the fridge. We are really so ready to be at home! I packed some stuff from the kitchen that I know we won’t use. I love this!

Tomorrow is my last day of regular radiation. Next week they will only be concentrating on the site of my tumor and positive nodes. That means those red marks that stick out near my neck can begin to fade. After next week I can scrub my chest! I’ll be so happy to do that. I’ll love to stand facing the shower and let the water run down my front. Little things become big things when you can’t have them, anymore! I’ll be so glad to get home to ALL my t-shirts, too. It’ll even be fun to get home and relive the experience of shoes with toes in them! I’m so blessed that the neuropathy in my feet and hands is gone and I have all my feeling back with no pain and no medicine. I consider that to be a huge blessing and answer to prayer because that is one of the side effects of chemo that doesn’t always go away. I sure thank God for the ability to use my fingers and wear shoes with toes. (I never liked shoes with toes and I never liked hair; God has sure taught me lots of lessons, just beginning with these!)