Hello all, what was hopefully my last chemo ever is officially done! And thanks to friends and family, it was a LIT day. Chemo honestly dragged a bit, though it was made more tolerable by another round of Katz's for lunch.* As we finally closed out my last moments at the drip, we took some photos to commemorate the occasion. Here is the shot of my nearest and dearest, the ones who have been closest to me throughout this process and who've seen all the ups, downs, and in betweens. Collectively, they kept me company at every chemo and helped me vomit in a bucket and forced me to go on walks and cooked for me and drove me to appointments and made sure I was hydrated and held me when I felt so damn weak. Here they are, the exceptional Stahl-Golod clan:
Love them all so damn much. I also very much love Sharnée, my chemo nurse who has kept me smiling throughout many infusions:
To make me feel all the more special, a bunch of my nurses came in to shower me with bubbles as a farewell:
They said that every bubble is a wish for healing 😍. It was a bit of a strange thing saying goodbye to them. Sharnée told me she hoped to never see me in the chair again, but did encourage me to stop in to say hello when I go shopping at the Atlantic Avenue Target. These beautiful women made this process so much less painful, and I officially mean it when I say that nurses are truly the salt of the earth. Once we said our goodbyes, we all piled into the car** to head home:
To my great surprise, when we got back to my apartment, I walked into a veritable surprise party:
Stan greeted me at the door, and Katie and Joe danced around in the shark and lion suits, respectively. Martina was cracking up in the corner, who, I should note, inflated ONE HUNDRED BALLOONS with just HER OWN BREATH:
There were also amazing donuts from Doughnut Plant, which Martina decorated with fuck cancer/bye chemo phrases in many languages:
We sat outside for a bit and enjoyed the donuts in the late summer weather:
Then Martina and Stan had to head back to work, so Katie and I went for a walk while the boychiks played literal HOURS of Mario Tennis. Like I hinted at, they all truly made this last chemo lit. And my tea that accompanied the donuts carried a message that certainly holds true for me these days:
Thank you friends and family, for keeping me sheltered through this first, brutal phase of treatment. Words cannot express how grateful I am for each and every call, text, gift, package***, and visit throughout chemo. I'm SO happy this phase is over. Onward.
*Really treating my body like a temple through this cancer process.
**Except for dad, forever the martyr, who took the subway so the rest of us could be comfortable.
***They have just kept coming! From this past week, a big thank you to Megan, who sent some of her favorite reads all the way from Berlin, and to Vince, who sent G and I some delicious swag from the spot he manages in Venice Beach, CA.
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