Three Times...

...is not a charm. Yes, I did it again, and this time it was my fault. Thurday, I was driving the rental car home from the hospital, and as I was turning into my very own cul de sac, I got distracted and began watching what was going on in our yard. I hit a Cadillac Deville that was coming the other way. Thankfully the elderly gentleman who was driving maneuvered almost completely out of my way, and we got away with just scratched paint on each of our cars. But I sure felt stupid. He was pretty mad at first (and I guess I don't blame him - I was mad at myself), but when I started crying, he calmed right down and apologized repeatedly for not being quick enough to get out of my way. Now that's backwards.

We had a damage waiver on our rental vehicle, so the insurance stuff, again, is going smoothly. If I mail in my fine, it will be reduced by quite a bit and the points on my license will be reduced from three to one. There are so many traffic violations in a city this size, they pay you not to come to court. Where I grew up, you could only get your fine reduce if you showed up for your court case.

The next day was my last radiation treatment! We loaded up the whole family, and while I held my breath and used the assistant brake pedal on my side way too much, we drove down I-25 one last time (at least the last time for about a month). The nuns have a graduation ceremony for each patient on the last day of treatment. I'll try to post pictures later. They provided me with a cap and gown and had me march around the waiting room while Sister Marie played Pomp and Circumstance on her tape player. I even got a diploma. Then Sister Marie told me I had better not ever come back, except for check-ups. I wonder if she has a fine for violating that rule? They did give me one last rule. Check-up appointments must be made for the morning hours when they will be in the waiting room.

I move on to five years of hormone therapy now. I'll be taking a daily Tamoxifen pill. That will reduce my chances of a reoccurance another few percentage points. After the surgery, my reoccurance chance was about 70%. Now, with the radiation, chemo and hormone therapy, my reoccurance risk is about 40% over the next ten years, so it's come down quite a bit, although its still high. We will certainly appreciate your thoughts and prayers.

I'll continue to post - probably about as often as I have been. Our lives will be full of happenings. It couldn't be otherwise with seven growing children and at least one accident prone adult. I plan to post a series of pictures of Gilead from his birth till now so you all can enjoy his progress with us.