The bell has been RUNG

FINALLY on Monday the bell was rung. Baby Chang helped ring the bell signifying the end of radiation treatment. Afterwards I celebrated by coming home and going to bed, no champagne yet that will have to wait until after the feeding tube comes out.

I have been told MULTIPLE times that now is the hardest point mentally. It will be about 10 days before any pain starts to subside and even longer for my stamina to return.

For now I'm content celebrating the end of treatment and beginning of the rest of my life. I forsee many naps in my near future. In fact I'm off to bed now...

Mom Chang Kicked the Wall

Literally, Friday morning rather than celebrating my Mom was kicking the wall in frustration. As we were getting ready to head for the final radiation treatment my phone rang. Immediately my stomach dropped. Disbelievingly I listened to the technician tell me the machine was down and there was a chance it wouldn't be back up today.

Sure enough the machine did not come back up on Friday. So I'm still waiting for the final treatment. Here's to keeping my fingers crossed that they've figured it out and Monday I'll be ringing the bell...

Home Sweet Home

I was sprung this morning from the hospital right into radiation. Which means FOUR more treatments. The doctor has continued to remind me I have a long road to go still. All of which I knew but I think it is a good thing to be reminded each time.

I'm still using the feeding tube now attached to a pump that runs for 24 hours a day. It's not as bad as I thought being that it's helping stay ahead of the naseau curve.

Today I have felt better than I have in many weeks so we finally got something right. Now if we can get through Friday with no set backs life will be good.

Silence isn't always golden

Well as you can imagine chemo kicked my butt again. Things were looking okay on Monday and even Tuesday seemed like things would be tolerable. By Wednesday I was back at the oncologist getting pumped with fluid thanks to the inability to keep anything down. They were ready to admit to the hospital right then and there but luckily Papa Chang got them to reconsider. We switched up some medications and agreed I'd be in the office Thursday and Friday for fluids.

Seemed like a great idea at the time. By Friday I was willingly checking myself into the hospital. Today is Sunday and I'm still here. If tonight continues to go well I'll be checking out in the morning in time to go to radiation. Checking out with a new accessory. As you know I had a feeding tube put in two weeks ago. Well, to finally get things under control they've added a pump to the tube so I am fed continuously for 24 hours. Seems to be working. The upside to this is that I don't have to smell the formula so I get to imagine my stomach is full of pepperoni pizza or steak! The downside of course is being hooked to a machine 24/7 that comes with it's own sound effects and a pole! Not a stripper pole get your minds out of the gutter... This isn't permanent but may be around for a few weeks. Then I'll get the stripper pole it's supposed to be a great work-out.

Counting tomorrow there are five radiation treatments left. FIVE!!!! That means I can count down on one hand and by Friday it will be over. As you can imagine I'm only a little excited. I know I won't be back to myself by Saturday but at least I won't be bombarded with poison on a daily basis.

Lately the question I've been asking my Doctors is how do we know this has worked or in other words how do we know it's really over. I have been assured that everything is showing remarkable improvement. In a couple weeks I'll head back to the ENT to have some scopes done, then a few weeks later a CT scan, then is a few months a PET scan. After the PET scan they will be able to tell if I'm in remission which everyone seems to think is a foregone conclusion. The word cure won't be official for five years. So get ready for five more years of Chang posting...

So for now I'm going to ask you for your continued thoughts and prayers over the next week. One milestone at a time is how I'm going to focus my energy for a while.

Thanks again for all the love and support it is felt whole-heartedly here in Texas.

Two Weeks to Go

I finally get to post good news!!! On Monday the Radiologist said my scans all look good and the tumor(s) has shrunk dramatically!!!! Also on Monday I found out that I had 13 treatments left to go. So as of today we are down to TEN! Two weeks from today will be the final treatment.

This coming Monday is the final round of chemo. They have decided to change the type of chemo because of how badly I reacted to the last round. It still won't be easy but it shouldn't be quite as bad.

The light at the end of the tunnel is beginning to get a little brighter. The downer is that we don't really know how long it will take to overcome the side effects. Just like everyone reacts differently, they heal at different rates as well. Ringing the bell will signify the end of radiation and I'm not sure what will signify the true end.

A few milestones will be:
1. No more nausea medication.
2. Removal of the feeding tube.
3. No more sore throat.
4. Skin that doesn't feel like a snake or look like a bad tanning bed experience.
5. Taste returns to normal.
6. No more cough.
7. Saliva that doesn't feel like slime.
8. No more dead cancer cells coming out of my nose.
9. I can pick up and play with Baby Chang for more than five minutes at a time.

Here's to the end it can't come fast enough!