It's not just raw fish...

The dragonfly is a symbol of happiness, renewal, and new beginnings.

As I sat there satiating my taste buds with bite after bite of raw fish it slowly began to sink in. I was done. I moved from "I have breast cancer" to "I am a survivor". Sushi symbolized the end after a four month doctor imposed moratorium on raw fish. No more chemo. No more cancer. I am well.

My sweetie was there that pitiful day I heard those three little words "you've got cancer". His arms held me. He was my strength whispering in my ear that everything would be OK while I cried. He will always be my strength when I am scared. I will always hear his voice and know that everything will be OK.

After what seemed like a lifetime in one moment and a minute in the next, we celebrated its finality. Together over spicy tuna and salmon nigiri. The only thing left to do was smile.

Done with chemo!

To listen to the song I was singing Click here! Thanks Jodi!

(Right click on the link click "open in a new window". Click the "play" arrow in the right hand box, just right of the album cover.)

It didn't even really hit me until I was leaving work Tuesday that Wednesday would be my last chemo treatment. After 4 months of poisonous injections into my body, restricted diet, nausea and vomiting, and one good week out of every three -- I finished yesterday!

I realize as I look back over the last four months that I haven't spent much time in my life. My life became doctor's appointments, information gathering, and outpatient infusion. As I move forward I contemplate "now what"? A lot of people people I've met have made monumental changes after their lives were affected by cancer. Case in point: the Susan G. Komen foundation, a promise between sisters to knock out breast cancer forever!

For me it is all the small stuff along the way. It is those simple little changes in my life that when added together make it spectacular -- noticing sunsets, smiling at strangers, holding the door open for people, spending time with my sweetie and my friends, one random act of kindness a day (thanks Jody!), saying "yes" because it means a lot to the other person and saying "no" to be kind to yourself.

As I move into the radiation phase of treatment, the last phase of my treatment, I may put some edges along my life path and add some new turns and twists, but I can say for sure I'll always watch the sun rise and set in whole new way.

A very HUGE THANK YOU! to Nina my chemo nurse that took such great care of me!