Monday was my final radiotherapy treatment, which means that apart from the Herceptin treatment (second one is due this Friday) I'm through with my cancer treatment!
I feel relieved, of course, and glad that it's over, but I can't say I feel over-joyed. That's because end of treatment doesn't mean the end of the cancer road, and I'm not certain when or even if that end will be. Perhaps in 5 years when I'm through my remission period. If there is no recurrance of cancer within that 5 years, then my risk of recurrance drops back to normal, due to the type of cancer I've had. However, within those 5 years, my risk is significantly higher - I don't have numbers from my oncologist, but from research I've done, I'd estimate that there is between a 10-20% chance of recurrance. That may not seem that huge, but if I do have recurrance, it will almost ceratinly be a spread (and so terminal), rather than another dose of breast cancer. This means I'm likely to become a total hypochondriac over the next few years, worrying about every single ache and pain and cough.
Radiotherapy treated me fairly well. My skin never got worse than being slightly red, and I just need to be careful not to expose it to the sun for the next few weeks. I am now feeling quite tired, altough thats just as likely to have been from having a very busy weekend - we went to Stratford upon Avon to see my old theatre chums performing at the Courtyard Theatre (they were amazing). It's started me thinking about starting up a creative hobby again, if not theatre then maybe something musical instead.
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