Despite a rough way to wake up I had a gift and two cards ready for him next to his bed for when he woke up. Once we got him all settled in again he opened up his gift and started feeling better. Then, our amazing nurses and doctor came in and sang with cupcakes they had made for him, sparking grape juice for a champagne toast (in foam cups - classy!!), a card from the team and a funny picture. Ironically, the younger sister of a friend and bandmate of Tom’s from highschool was one of our nurses. She went into her brother’s vault of photos and had some funny embarrassing photos of Tom from his younger days. I know I’ve mentioned this many times, but we have gotten quite close with a lot of our nurses and doctors so it really was so overwhelming and kind that they all coordinated a celebration and even baked for us.
We were on target to leave at 2:15 based on his final drip of medicines. 2PM felt like an eternity away – the celebration with our nurses helped pass some time and then I knew that some of Tom’s family was planning to surprise him with a quick celebration. They came up with some cupcakes and visited for about a bit which was a great way to celebrate his birthday too – and help pass more time! I curled up in the tiny hospital bed with him for the final 20ish minutes as we stared at the IV pole and painfully watched the IV drip. Then….it beeped…and we could not have been happier. Back on September 16 we never thought today would come, and then suddenly our lives are a blur and we are here. Our nurse was ready to go, got his port needles out and we got the heck out of there after a few more goodbyes.
We were both crying by the elevator and cried most of the way home – we aren’t ashamed to admit it. It’s the strangest, most overwhelming, confusing, exciting feeling in the world and it was like our minds froze and didn’t know how to react. As we got home and kissed the floor we had a giant stack of cards for his birthday/end of chemo in addition to some other gifts and packages. We actually didn’t open them right away because we knew they would be quite overwhelming. We cleaned up – yeah for normal sized showers – and got ourselves situated and then spent time opening all the love :)
In regards to his health, Tom’s blood did not look good today– his white blood cells (the ones that fight infection) are the lowest they have been this entire treatment which means he needs to steer clear of crowds, handshakes, kisses and general contact. Our doctor was very clear that we need to be very careful as he rebounds this time and gets ready for surgery. Tomorrow we will be back at the doctor for his booster shot and then he will be laying low and trying to recover. I really don’t think it has hit me yet that chemo is over, but I actually don’t think it will sink in until we don’t have to go back in three weeks.
I am so so so so so so so proud of Tom – this hasn’t been easy – though he made it seem that way. This is just part one, but based on how he crushed part one, I have so much confidence that we will be ready to beat part two. More to come tomorrow…