Final

     I'M DONE!!!  That is now the first thing that pops into my head whenever I'm not thinking about much, which is probably a lot.  The end of chemotherapy seems as unreal as the beginning.  All of the sudden my whole life changes again, but I'll probs like this change much better than the one in August.  This change means progress.  It means getting back to some kind of normal that I was once used to.  It means being as energized on the outside as I feel on the inside!  Wahoo!
     Finishing definitely makes me reflect and think about the start.  I was so scared at first.  That turned into several different emotions along the way of course...now, surprisingly enough I'm back to being a little scared.  What do I do now??  My life isn't nearly as dramatic anymore!  I have to move on and move forward instead of being frozen in time, worrying about chemo every day.
     So, the day of chemo number 12 finally arrived and I was jumping for joy.  I hopped right out of bed at 7:00 in the morn so we could be up there by 8:30.  Our plan of action for the day was to have Pop drive me up there, then Mom would come up later and take me home so Dad could ditch me for work.  As luck would have it though, this was the day that it rained ice, so Dad stayed the whole time.  I can't say I was pleased about this two hour delay getting to the hospital because I kept freaking out thinking I would have to cancel chemo, what a travesty that would be.  NOTHING was going to keep me from missing my very last chemotherapy, not even ice roads and ten car pile-ups.  So finally we got to Huntsman an hour behind, but at least we were there and thank goodness they don't seem to care that much about sticking to the scheduled time.
     We scurried up to clinic 2C bearing gifts for the wonderful staff, then made our way down to infusion for the LAST time.  I followed a nurse back to the same recliner I sat in my first time!  How special is that?  Carlee came down and my nurse started the poking.  I plugged my nose and didn't puke!  Too bad I didn't learn that trick a while back...So after being viciously stabbed with that needle, there was no blood return.  That means doing all sorts of tricks to try and get it to work.  I sat, layed down, coughed, stood up, put my arms in the air like I just didn't care...I was basically a dog obeying my masters command.  To get blood return.  After all that, plan B got put into action, and along came poke number two.  The nurse scrubbed so hard for that poke I thought my skin was going to rub off.  Finally after doing a couple more tricks, saying a prayer, and getting like ten gallons of saline and heparin squirted in me, we were good to go.
     Aryn came down and brought me some excellent end of chemo gifts while I was starting to get loopy from the Ativan.  I resisted as long as possible so I could chat, but drugs always win and I was off to sleep.  The 12th time pumping that gunk in me began.  When I finished, a whole bunch of the nurses came over and sang me the chemo finishing song!  I remember hearing it my first day of chemo and wishing for the day that it would be me they were singing to.  It was finally my turn!  They gave me the best certificate of completion I think I will ever have and sent us on our way.  Aryn and Pop helped me out, I'm pretty sure I was bawling, but who knows why.  Then we headed home.
     It feels so amazing to be done with chemo!  Two weeks til I get scanned, then hopefully I can get my port taken out and be home free.