Really quick update

I sent this email out at work to give them a quick update.

just wanted to give everyone a quick update on my health.  I will be finished with weekly treatments on September 19!!!!  After that I will go back to 3 week breaks between treatments and will only receive one medicine which is NOT chemo.  There are no physical side effects so my hair will continue to grow and grow!  Speaking of my hair, I have not worn my wig since June 27!  As soon as I had enough hair to cover my scalp I shoved that thing on a shelf in my closet. 

This morning I saw one of my first grade students from last year.  Here is the conversation we had (remember I teach English as a Second Language).

"Hi Stephanie!  It's Miss Quinn."
With a confused stare, "Is you cut your hairs?"
"I did, does it look good?"
"No."
She never did have a problem sharing her opinion!  At least she is honest and it made me laugh.

I had an MRI on my back about a month ago.  The area was still too inflamed from the radiation to show too much change, but nothing is worse.  My lymph nodes are back to normal size and I will not need surgery to remove them.  In a few months they will radiate them to make sure there are no microscopic cells floating around ready to cause another problem!  I will have more scans in Oct. and Nov. but at this point my all my doctors are happy with my progress.  They think things are moving along as expected and they feel we will see more of a change (as in the cancer is shrinking) once the "injury" from radiation has had more time to heal.

As I was driving into school this year I thought back to last year at this time.  I was in so much pain and had no idea why.  I could barely get out of bed in the morning and never slept through the night without heavy pain medication.  I can now carry my son all over the house, push his stroller and do normal things like grocery shop.  We ordered my new car so that I can have a car seat in the back and begin taking Hudson to daycare myself again. 

Thank you for everything you did last year to help me through the tough times.  I never thought I could handle something this difficult, but the support of colleagues like you made it possible.  I am looking forward to this new school year and the opportunity to work with only Kindergarten and first grade for the first time! 

Once the 5K is over I will hopefully have more time to write more blogs.