Toast To Life!!!

My oncologist let me know that as far as he's concerned, I'm cancer free. This of course came as amazing news after 10 months of difficult treatments. He feels that our current treatment plan is still a good one and I will not require any more major treatments, such as radiation. So, as Tricia continues to remind me, that means that we're both coming out of driving through the mountains and now we're going to kick into cruise control while we get through the foothills.

The next 9 months will be filled with treatments of Herceptin every 3 weeks at the hospital and continuing on with further minor surgeries for my reconstruction. As well, I started the oral drug Tamoxifen today. I will take this daily for at least the next 2 years. But, all of these things are really nothing in the grand scheme of things.

I am starting to let myself get very excited about what the future holds. I plan on returning to work in July, we have some family vacations in the months ahead (yes, I get to leave Calgary to somewhere other than Regina) and continuing to get my body back to normal. My hair has started to sprout back through and the range of motion in my right arm is slowly getting better.

I now need to turn this blog post over to an oscar "thanks" of sorts. There have been so many people that have helped me get through this. I'm sure that anyone reading this has done something to make this easier for me and for that I will be forever grateful. I need to give extra thanks to certain people that really were my rocks for the past 10 months.

Obviously Ryan put up with a lot and was amazing, my mom who basically took the year off to come and help us many times and made sure that Talyn kept smiling and Tricia who listened to my every complaint and could provide real perspective on how she continues to marvel us all with her spirit. Chad, my internet researcher and general funny guy and my dad, who always took my call to listen to what I needed to say and Talyn's other grandparents were also great at providing any support they could. My great friends, Erin, Jill & Mireille, who knew how to cheer me up or just listen when I needed it. The many people at Long View, who are basically my second family, kept me grounded and helped me to see the light that I would get to, once I got through the tunnel. My boss Don especially had some great perspectives and always knew the thing that I needed to hear. I hope one day that I can learn this gift and help others. Finally, to everyone else that I didn't mention, you know who are. You made me smile when I really needed to and that has gotten me through to today.

Tricia has always used the term "Toast to Life" throughout her difficult journey and it has really taken me until today to completely understand what she means. Please use my rollercoaster as your momentum to continually Toast to Life. Don't wait until tomorrow - go on a great trip, eat the chocolate cake today or buy that amazing dress. I know that I will be!