ring the bell

10/27/23 Final Infusion

Friday, October 27, I rang the bell to celebrate the final chemotherapy infusion of my treatment plan. The whole team cheered, and I may not appear super excited, but behind the mask, I'm stoked. 

Post-infusion Plans

I've told more than one person that we've figured out how to survive the worst of it just in time for the end. Isn't that how it works? My sister Debbie flew in as the final support team. I had an open order for IV fluids to prevent the dangerous blood-pressure drops, meals planned, and white-cell booster shots scheduled. Of course, nothing ever really goes as planned. 

Survival Week

You know what they say about "the best-laid plans of mice and men...." The week started out slow and gradually tipped into all the regular symptoms (see previous posts for details), with some nuance. Merissa was exposed to Covid at work, so we had to pivot our plans for team support at the end of the week, as well as to adjust a family contingency to attend Merissa's fire academy graduation. Some change-of-season symptoms had us all masking up at one point. Ultimately, nobody got sick—knock on all the woods and all that.

To complicate everything, the new "surprise side effect" showed up by day 5: IV fluid retention. What was supposed to be helpful started causing problems. By the end of the week, Rick took me in to my final appointment for fluids, and we declined them. The Oncologist thought the new retention issue was more problematic than pushing oral fluids. I'd already made it through one night of low-low blood pressure (77/61) pushing KinderLyte and Salt Stick tablets without a crisis or an ER visit. So we checked out without any treatment on Friday. 

Let the Healing Begin

What I learned from that extra 4th week between Infusion 5 and 6 was that my body would start healing sooner than later. My skin began to heal, stomach settled, appetite increased, my hair started growing again, and even my taste started to recover—I had two days of normal-tasting coffee for the first time in five months! Infusion 6 immediately crashed all that progress, but I remain optimistic for the near future and the promise of a good cup of coffee. 

The Out-of-Work Elephant

Let's talk about my job. Officially, my role has been "eliminated" as part of a larger company-wide layoff, and I guess the way around my protected medical leave is to make my return-to-work date also my last day of employment. I have started the search for an attorney to manage the next steps. Until now, my priority has been to survive the last cycle of chemotherapy. 

Truthfully, I am not a huge fan of this job-loss scenario. I've never been "let go" from a job before, and it's baffling even without all the cancer-medical-leave complications. Best case for me would still be to go back to my job as Senior Technical Writer in three weeks. All the Survival Weeks put together should have landed me at work on Monday 11/27 with a full pre-medical-leave plan already completed and a full back-to-work plan ready to launch. 

The most tragic (ironic?) part of this is where I am let go from my job while out on protected medical leave for breast cancer treatment during Breast Cancer Awareness month. (Cue Alanis Morissette) Even if it's all legal, it's a super shitty thing to do to anyone. 

You can help if you've experienced a layoff. Email me your thoughts and experiences through the link up there in the top right corner of this blog. ↗️

You've Already Helped

Thank you, each and every one of you. You've given me so much. I've received your love, gifts, support, prayers, donations, phone calls, messages, emails, cards, stories, jokes, books, letters, and kindness. You are dear to me in ways I could never have anticipated. I can only hope to be able to return the support in kind whenever and wherever I am able. 

Thank you for being part of my life. You are seen, appreciated, and loved. To quote one of my heroes, "without this, there is nought." ❤️

Onward!

Sherri

fierce love to you

 

 I wished a way might be
 My Heart to subdivide—
 ‘Twould magnify— the Gratitude—
 And not reduce— the Gold—

  ~ Emily Dickinson, from "without this— there is nought"