My dear friends,
Yesterday I was admitted to day surgery to get my port removed. It was a wonderful time of celebration for Dave and I but I was surprised by the response of the doctors and nurses that celebrated with us. You would think that this simple, routine procedure would have been just another one in a day of out-patient surgeries. I realized that they were genuinely happy for us and they saw this as a milestone in my recovery process. I decided I wanted to keep the port since it has been a part of my life line these past 15 months. It has served me very well throughout all of my infusions and blood work. I have one more infusion treatment of Herceptin and one more echocardiogram and then I can rest for a few months. That is music to my ears. We have a celebration trip planned with friends and we plan to take all of the pink cancer bracelets worn by family and friends and deposit them (we will cut them in half first) into the ocean.
On another note, I decided to join the Breast Cancer 3 Day walk in October. The walk consists of 20 miles per day. I have started to train by walking as much as I can each week. I am limited in how much I can tolerate because the Herceptin drug that is killing my cancer has also done some damage to my heart. But I am determine to go as far as I can. My sweet sister from Florida decided to join me in this walk so I will have a partner in this endeavor. We will sleep in two man tents at the end of each long day and join the throngs of other people at the mess hall and porta potties. Sounds like fun, huh! It will be an honor for me because all of these couple thousand people will be raising $2200 each to help fund breast cancer research. What an honor! Pray for me to continue my training through the blazing hot days of summer. I do have a treadmill but it isn't the same as walking on terrain.
God continues to be faithful,
Joni