July 25th

We made it!! Yesterday Andrea & I did the 5km Race for Life - jogging a little and walking most of it. We finished in 39 minutes & were pretty exhausted afterwards! But it was a great experience and the atmosphere was amazing. Everyone was dressed in pink and there were some great outfits - pink wigs, bunny ears, bright pink ballet skirts and even the dogs were dressed in pink!!

There were over 1600 women running / jogging / walking and each had their own story or reason for joining in. Everyone wrote their reason on the back of their T-shirts and it was very touching to read them as we walked along.

Thank you SO much to everyone who sponsored us - so far Andrea & I have raised just over £300 between us. There's still time to donate if you would like to:

Thank you to Andrea for coming with me and for raising all that sponsorship & thank you to our cheerleaders and photographer - Dave & Marilyn:)

Feeling a bit stiff today :(

July 20th

On Sunday we celebrated our first wedding anniversary. What a year!! Getting married, moving country, moving job, moving house (twice) and going through breast cancer. Certainly not what we expected from our first year of marriage but it's fantastic to out this side of it and to be fully recovered. We had lots of reasons to celebrate this weekend & had a lovely time away in Hampshire & down on the South coast :)

Thank you so much to everyone for your cards and texts and to Ashley & Nicky and Tommy & Heather & girls for the beautiful flowers :) We have been SO spoiled by everyone's thoughtfulness throughout this year - THANK YOU!

Health-wise, I'm feeling well but I'm still really tired - I can sleep for 8 or 9 hours and still wake up tired, which is really not like me!

July 16th

Andrea & I are planning to do the Race For Life in Swindon on July 24th. Race for life is a fund-raising event for the charity Cancer Research UK. They run events all over the country where women can walk, run, or jog 5 or 10 kilometres & raise funds for cancer research.

Over the past 8 months, I have benefited hugely from the research that has gone into breast cancer over the last number of years but there are lots of other cancers where there is still not cure. I have been so fortunate and would like to help in my small way to raise awareness & funds for others less fortunate.

If you would like to sponsor me - you can do so online by clicking on the Race for Life link above. This year I'm only going to walk as I'm not sure I'm up to running just yet....mind you I'm not sure I would have been able to do it last year either!! But my aim is to be able to run 5k by this time next year :)

July 13th

It's been over a week since treatment finished and it's still not sinking in that it's all over!! I've been feeling really tired over the last week - maybe the effects of radiotherapy or maybe the last 8 months catching up on me! My skin has started peeling but apart from that I've been doing really well.

hank you to Claire for the fabulous Congratulations balloons you sent on Saturday - they brought a huge smile to our faces :) It was lovely to see Howard & Esther this afternoon....thank you for the coffee & fabulous cake :) And thank you to everyone for your best wishes, texts, emails & blog comments. We so appreciate them all!

July 9th

It's the end of my first week since treatment has finished & I really don't think it's sunk in yet!! No more chemotherapy, surgery, radiotherapy.....it feels too good to be true! It's been so much a part of our lives for the last few months.

My skin is quite red but hasn't been too sore & I'm told it should start to improve from now on. Apart from that I am feeling a bit tired and need more rest than normal but I've been told to expect that too. The doctor told me to keep using my arm to build up strength & keep it mobile long term, so I've been washing the car, cleaning windows, washing the floors... and have lots of ironing lined up for next week.

But it hasn't been all housework.... Marilyn & Andrea took me out for a meal to celebrate on Tuesday evening, we went to see Betty & Maurice & also had a lovely day out in Bath yesterday!

Really looking forward to seeing Dave this evening - he's on his way home from Morocco right now :)

Day Two Hundred & Nineteen (The FINAL day)!

FINISHED!!!

Exactly 8 months to the day since I was given the news that I had breast cancer, my treatment is finished!!

Today has been a really good day!! Marilyn & Andrea came with me to Oxford for my final radiotherapy session. I saw the doctor & she was very happy with me - she said that my skin will continue to react for the next 7 to 10 days but after that it should start to improve. She will see me in August to check on my progress & make sure everything has settled down but says she expects everything to be fine. Then my next check up is with the surgeon in November!

We stopped off at Ann & Alan's on the way home from Oxford, sat in the garden enjoying the afternoon sunshine & had a fabulous cream tea :) Thank you Ann & Alan!! And Thank you to Marilyn & Andrea for coming with me & for the beautiful flowers. All that's missing today is having Dave here to celebrate with - he has been such an amazing support over the last 8 months and has been there beside me every single step of the way. It's just a pity he's not here for the final step but is working hard in Morocco :(

I really can't describe how I feel right now - elated, relieved, ecstatic that it's all over and most of all thankful : )

Thankful that the outcome has been so good, that every single part of my treatment has gone the best we could have hoped for, that I had the most amazing team of people caring for me all the way through and especially thankful for the overwhelming support we have had from friends & family over the last 8 months.

THANK YOU!!!

Thank you doesn't begin to express the gratitude that we feel but we just want to say a heartfelt Thank You to each and every one of you for sharing this journey with us. Thank you for reading this blog, for your love & concern, for your calls, texts, emails, cards, flowers, gifts, visits and especially for your prayers, without which we wouldn't have got through the last few months. I realise more than ever through this experience that every day we have is a gift from God & I thank Him for the way that this has all turned out & for His love, comfort & healing day by day. I have also learnt so much about friendship and am totally overwhelmed by the incredible love, kindness, thoughtfulness & generosity of our friends and family.

But this is not the end....I will keep updating the blog to let you know how we are and what we're doing over the next few days, weeks & months. In the meanwhile, all I can say is...

HURRAY!!

Day Two Hundred & Sixteen

I can't believe it's Friday already and I now have only ONE treatment left....on Monday it will be all over!!

Treatment has gone well this week and the last 4 sessions have been much quicker as they are just boosters to a specific area. I'm still doing ok with travelling and not feeling over tired but it was great to have Colin & Ann drive me to Oxford and back yesterday. It was lovely to have a break from driving and I really enjoyed catching up & having lunch with them :) Thank you so much to both of you! And thank you too to everyone who offered to bring me if I needed transport - thankfully I felt up to driving everyday and was able to make my own way. Peta & Charis, the audio books really helped to pass the journeys over the last month - Thank you!

My skin is quite red and freckled from the radiotherapy but it hasn't been sore or blistered so I'm very grateful for that. Looking forward to resting over the weekend and spending some time with Dave as he has to go back to Morocco again on Sunday :(