The End

First off, I feel the need to apologize. I have been slow about posting. Sorry:(
BIG NEWS: I am 100% done with all of my treatments. So, now the cancer is not only gone, but I am done having to fight it too! Thursday morning I walked out of the cancer on top of the world knowing that I would never have to set foot in there again, (at least not for a treatment, I will only be returning for check-ups and in comparison those are incredibly easy).It feels great knowing that at least for now I am done with cancer. The technichans were so sweet about me finishing too. They had a certificate of completion printed up for me and everything. I got to keep the mask they used for my radiation treatments as well. I am not quite sure what I want to do with it tho. My first thought was to destroy it, but now, after thinking a little bit more about it, I like the idea of turning it to some sort of souvenir. If you have any good ideas on how to do that please send them my way.
Unfortunately, I didn't make it out of my radiation treatments unscathed. As predicted by the doctors, I got my sunburn and bad. In fact, at the moment, I look pretty funny. There is a line almost right down the middle of my chest and on one half there is what looks like a terrible sunburn and on the other is my,lets go with, ivory (it sounds better then pasty ) white skin. The burn goes across the one half of my chest and all the way up my neck ( everywhere the radiation treatments went). With each day the burn gets a little bit worse. As a result, Aloe Vera has become one of my best friends. Not to worry though I can handle it. A few summers ago I was stupid enough to go tubing down the salt river without putting any sunscreen on my legs and boy did I pay for that mistake. Sure my legs looked a little red when I got off the water, but the next morning when I woke up not only were they RED, but they were swollen to twice their usual size. My knees were nowhere to be found. I couldn't walk. I sort of shuffled or waddled instead. Some of my friends made a joke out of my handicap giving me the nickname Happy Feet and almost everyone ( I am talking friends, coworkers, family, and I am sure even a couple of strangers) got some sort of embarrassing picture or video of me trying to do even the simplest of things like putting my socks and shoes on. You see, at the time, any task that required bending my legs in anyway was practically impossible and I looked like an idiot even attempting them. I tried turning to the doctors for some relief or even just a tiny bit sympathy but they just laughed and said "What do you want me to do? It is a sunburn." My suffering lasted over two weeks. The burns on my legs turned into the nastiest things I have ever seen in my life. They were blistered and oozing and red and swollen and just plain gross. Anyway, my point in telling you all of this is that if I can somehow survive that sunburn I know I can make it through this burn, or any burn for that matter, despite how uncomfortable it is. Nothing,, and I do mean nothing, will ever beat the horribleness that was that sunburn. SPF people! That is what it is all about. Lesson learned.
Oh, I forgot to tell you about my trip to see Dr. Bhalla. Surprisingly, it was actually really nice to be back in his office because this time everything was different. I was done. I wasn't sick any more so everyone's attitude towards me had changed, or maybe it was my attitude that had changed, but either way everything about the atmosphere was new. It was peaceful and positive and upbeat. I didn't feel so weighed down and bothered anymore. I really liked seeing everyone again especially my chemo nurse Dianne. She came running over to give me a big hug and she told this story of how she had this guy throw up on her just a few day prior as she was flushing his port with saline and it made her think of me. I told that I wasn't sure I liked the idea that every time some one threw up on her she would think of me, but I guess that is just the way it goes. As for the more important stuff however Dr Bhalla informed me that my blood work looked great and that from now on I will only need to see them once every four months and each time before I come I will need to have a cat scan and blood work done just to make sure that the disease is staying away.
It is strange to think that from now on my life will be basically normal again. These last several months have been hard but wonderful. I have learned and grown so much. There is no way I would ever change anything about what I have had to go through. I am truly and honestly grateful for it. To me it is just more proof that my Heavenly Father really does know what he is doing. He has a much better understanding of what we need and even what we want then we do. Thank goodness for that!
Now, I could lie and say that I will be still posting fairly often, but I know the truth. With this whole ordeal being over I probably won't be posting ever. As you may have noticed by my already infrequent posts, blogging isn't really my thing. I am never sure of what to write. At least with cancer I had a subject to start with. Now, I have nothing. So I think this is the end for me. Please do keep in touch tho thru facebook or email (mckenna.hansen@gmail.com).
Love you all!!!!!

Kenna

10 Down, 10 To Go :)

So, I have officially made it half way through my radiation which means I am just 10 appointments away from the end! I am super excited because from then on all I have is check-ups...hopefully. As I have mentioned before in previous posts, my recent goal has become prevention. I don't want Hodgkins to come back nor do I want to get any other kind of deadly or life altering disease, cancer or otherwise. I am proud to say I have been hitting the gym practically every morning for the last few weeks as a step towards living a new kind of lifestyle where Cancer and other fatal illnesses are less threatening, but there are still a few things I need to change around if I want to be truly successful. I'll get there, I promise, it is just hard to change everything at once and I don't want to loose motivation so I am taking one step at a time.
Now being half way through my treatments, however, just as the doctors predicted, side effects have begun to show. The best way to describe it would be a sunburn inside and out. My skin has taken on a reddish tint and has become a bit sensitive wherever I have been treated and my throat has become "inflamed" in the same way. What that basically means is that it hurts like heck to swallow anything. The pain starts in my mouth and goes all the way down too the pit of my stomach. It is really similar to what I was experiencing when I first started chemo minus everything tasting like metal. Luckily, today when I went in the doctors were able to give me some mouthwash to help with the pain. The mouthwash is able to numb my throat for an hour or so every time I take it so I am able to eat. The funny thing about this is that my swollen throat also causes me to get the hiccups really bad and quite often. A few times it has been slightly embarrassing. Let me just tell you it is really hard to try and talk to customers when every other word you are hiccuping. Ha ha. I look like such a dork. Oh well, it has become a joke between me and a couple of my coworkers. Hopefully the mouthwash will be helping with that too.
Anyway, I decided to have the radiation technicians take some pictures of me in my mask to give you guys a better idea of how my treatments work and just to have for my own personal record. I felt so awkward going in the room today holding my camera thinking that I was weird for wanting pictures, but apparently most patients ask for a few pics because before I could even finish asking them they new exactly what I wanted and were more then happy to do it. In fact, they almost had it down to an art. They new exactly how to have the lights and what shots to take. Ha ha. I posted a few of the pictures they took below. As you can see I look lovely in my mask. I do get to keep it once my treatments are over :). The big gray thing that is hanging over me is actually this really fancy hi-tech machine that not only gives my pin pointed treatments but takes X-rays as well. During my treatments, it is able to rotate around me so the doctors can get the perfect angle. Of course it is also the obnoxious thing shoots off the green lasers and makes all of the noise too, but it is pretty cool huh?




Alright, I think that is all I have for now. Next week I go in for my post chemo check up with Dr. Bhalla though. I will be sure to let you know what he says.

Ttyl.

Kenna!