Few things can compete with completion. Not to be too alliterative, but we are arriving alive, complete with chemo and terribly tired.

Anna made it to Friday with the usual grace and patience that I have come to expect from her. We have been looking forward to the last treatment from the first, and at times we have even discounted it as even counting towards the total. The truth is, for me, this will be the hardest.

Anna has fought to keep this whole treatment in check and has done well. It has built and built, and pushed and pushed until she was ready to break at times. However, never, not once, did she let this break her. I have watched as chemo has ravaged her body, taken her hair, squashed her energy and rattled her emotions. Each day, I watch and I struggle. As her husband, her protector, I want nothing more than to take the pain, take the struggle away but I can’t. We have arrived at the end and the compounding side effects will be their strongest this time.

This is going to be the hardest round for me because it means we are done with the fight. The fight keeps us moving, it allows us to focus negative energy at a “thing”, an opponent. Now, we are done, and we wait. Waiting is the hard part for me. Anna does ok with it until we get really close, but for me, the long wait till our last all clear is hard.

Anna will have a PET CT scan on the 24th of March to confirm the absence of cancer we expect. Dr. Kaplan has indicated that we have every reason to see clean scans but the test will still bring anxiety.

Anna is healing well after her treatment. Aside from built up fatigue, the symptoms seem to be about normal or perhaps even a little lighter this time around. Her spirits are up and there is a new light in her. Knowing that she wont have to get in the ring with Chemo again is giving her a new energy. We are talking about the next months and year, instead of the next few days and week. The next steps for us will be without cancer and that is a path we are excited about.

I cant say that I will be writing more here as often as I have so far, but I will continue to update as Anna heals and we get back to normal.