It's All About the Journey...

Or is it? I don't know but it sure sounded good when I wrote that to a friend in Texas who just read all this yesterday. This is what I wrote in response to her reactions on reading the blog for the first time:

"It's really all about the journey and how Nanc and I have learned to live in spite of it all. It becomes part of who you are when you're in the middle of it and if you try and deny that, I think it makes it much tougher. The people who have impressed me the most are those patients who can do that. They have a life beyond the cancer but cancer is a big part of it when you're in treatment. "

So we had a visit with Dr. Leuchter today. (That's him on the left as if you couldn't guess.) I was comparing our first visit to his office and how intense and scary it all was. Here we are, 3 months and 4 treatments later and the feeling in the room today was so much lighter but no less serious. There is such a different bond there between patient and doctor and patient and nurse having endured all that has been endured up to this point. It's the shared experience, the shared journey that is the cement of those bonds. And it's also what allows the laughter into the discussions now.

I was also thinking of how strong Nanc was today, how well she's doing this week, and how she really has become even more of a fighter and survivor of this disease....

So, round 5 next week, 5 of 6, 4 down and 2 to go. Leuchter did say today that 5 and 6 can be tough mentally because you're so ready for it all to be over. I think Nanc will do great. She is so much more prepared for all of it than she was even 3 or 4 weeks ago. I promise to keep you updated.

We also talked about the neuropathy and that it can take up to 6 or 12 months to subside. He keeps reminding Nanc that he treated a concert pianist using the same protocol and she is performing full time. He seems to think she'll have no problem with the keyboard.

We also got to see Jen - Dr. Lang who dropped in half way through the appointment. It was really nice to see her as we hadn't seen her in a few weeks. Nanc was recounting that horrible weekend around the holiday a few weeks back. She got a few sentences in and started tearing up just thinking about it and didn't want to talk about it anymore. It's done now and we are moving forward...

xoxo