My Cancer Journey

March, 2026 Had my third post treatment checkup. We needed to fly to Bangkok again as many oncology tests are not available in Lao PDR. This is 15 months after my last treatment, 2 years and one month since the partial mastectomy and I was considered NED (No Evidence of Disease), and 2 years and 7 months after diagnosis.  One month or so leading up to the appointments are nerve-racking, and I get increasingly stressed the closer it gets. Here is a fairly comprehensive list of my feelings/difficulties - Waiting Preparing  Nerves  Brain fog Headaches - has it metastasized to my brain? Moody Weepy Noticing Jittery  Chills Stomach problems Nausea Anxiety Hyperventilating  No focus  Stressed Short Edgy Angry Worry Snappy Difficulty concentrating  Agitated Sad Exhausted  Self absorbed  Scheduled tests - Blood tests Mammogram Ultrasound of abdomen Ultrasound of breasts Bone density test Follow-up visit with oncologist - The doctor is kind and thorou...

My last cancer treatment was December 17, 2024. It was a relief to be finished and not have to go to the cancer center every three weeks. Three months later, March 17, 2025, I had my first post-treatment appointment with the oncologist. At that point it had not been enough time for me to process everything yet, and my brain was not back to functioning completely (it is still not fully normal), so I was happy to see my wonderful doctor and have my blood drawn without having to stay for an infusion. The tests all looked good. Craig retired in February and we had been thinking about what to do. Our children are grown and have their own families. They all live a few hours from us. We love them enormously and love spending time with them, but felt we needed some time to ease into retirement. We had been talking about serving a mission for our church and thought this would be a perfect time. My oncologist gave her approval, so in the beginning of May we got off an airplane in Vientiane, Lao ...