My, oh, my ... December sure was a blur. I came close to posting a quick update or three these past couple weeks. Instead, I took naps. Lots of naps. Good for me, huh? I needed that rest and then some. So ... here's what's new with me:

• Bell's palsy was a big fat bummer that was harder on me than chemo (no joke!), but it's mostly over; I have about 95% of my smile back, my right eye is blinking normal-ish-ly again, and the pulsating ear pain (related to the inflamed facial nerve that caused the BP) is mostly gone.

• My doc says my speedy turnaround bodes well for 100% recovery from BP.

• I'm done with chemo!

• Once Bell's palsy hit, my oncologist declared that eight treatments of taxol was enough (vs. 12, which I'd been scheduled to get).

• I got my chemo "port" out today. Glad I had it while I needed it; it made it easier for the chemo drugs to get in me and do their thing. Glad (very glad) it's gone now.

• Sean and I met with my radiation oncologist today and learned all about the next phase of my treatment: six weeks of daily zapping that will begin in mid-January, once they map out exactly where and how the radiation machine will zap me.

• Next Monday, I'll go in for a two-hour session where they'll position me and the radiation machine with crazy precision, then take all kinds of measurements they'll use to do the calculations that will tell the machine what to do for each of my 30 radiation sessions.

• It'll take about two weeks (TWO WEEKS!) to do all those calculations. That just blows my mind.

• I'll be getting radiation on my chest wall, the area under my arm where they took out all my lymph nodes and on the lymph nodes below and above my collar bone, since those are the closest lymph nodes to the ones that got removed when I had my mastectomy.

• Six of those lymph nodes had cancer in them, which is the main reason I'm getting radiation therapy. It's like scorching the earth — burning any possible trace of cancer that might still be lingering inside me.

• Each session will last about a half hour.

• I am not super pumped at the prospect of making 30 trips to and from Capitol Hill over six straight weeks; I'll get over it.

• Love this statistic: The radiation therapy I'm getting will reduce the risk of cancer recurrence by 70 percent. Nice.

My mom and brother have been visiting for the holidays. It's been great to have them here. We've done a whole lot of lying low — saw The Force Awakens together. Star Wars was the first movie I ever saw in theaters. I was 3 when it came out in 1977. So seeing the latest iteration with Mom, Frank and my kids was a treat. Now, with just two days left in this shitbird of a year, I'm looking forward to a happier, healthier 2016. Cheers to that, right?

#CaringBridge #cancer #Bellspalsy #chemo