the big day

So we dropped the boys off at school and headed straight to the donut shoppe this morning (Heaven Scent if you live near me and are dying to know).  I took my time picking out the donuts cause we didn't have to be at the office until 9:30 this week.  We ended up with a box of glazed and a variety box as well as chocolate covered strawberries for the staff.  Carried them to the car and got settled so they would be safe on the drive into Chesterfield and were on our way.  We chatted about our assignment from Dr. P.  Decided we would plan to go to Chicago for a weekend in December.  Glad to have that assignment finished and looking forward to actually following through with it.

We parked in our usual spot and carefully balanced our boxes of goodies as we walked toward the entrance.  I walked in first and saw out of the corner of my eye that were several people standing inside the door and they were holding a banner....with my picture on it....that came from my garage....that was made for the walk that we did a few weeks ago.  I was so confused as to why someone had that banner....duh!  Then I realized exactlly who was standing there surrounding the banner.

Somehow Brian was able to keep this surprise a huge secret to me, and these wonderful people took time out of their busy early morning to surprise me and celebrate my last big chemo day with us!  I can't tell you how much I love them.  Each of them has been a huge support in many different ways.  All of them have shown us Christ's love many many times. 

There were tears on my part, of course, as I hugged each of them.  I am so thankful to Joe for praying for us before we had to leave them and go upstairs to begin the treatment.  Love this picture of friends surrounding me as we all shed tears during his prayer (thank you Rachel for capturing this).

 I wanted to take all of them upstairs with us to spend the whole day with us.  That would have been so much fun!!!  We love you guys and cannot thank you enough for being there today for us.

Once we got to the office I was so excited after the big surprise that it was nearly impossible to be sad today.  I thought I would be, knowing that I might not see some of these ladies again, as they may not be on the same 3 week cycle as I will be on anymore.  But I just really enjoyed so much this time with them.  There were two new people in the room today.  One man, one woman.  I often wonder if we ladies scare the men sometimes.  There are not as many of them in our little beauty-shop-like chat room, but I think they hold their own pretty well and I always enjoy our conversations with them.  The woman that was new today said she guessed she would be taking my place now and asked if she would be able to fill my shoes.  Oh yes, that will definitely not be difficult!  She was very sweet and I look forward to getting to know her also.

I'm hoping the donuts stay fresh for tomorrow.  I think by the time we got there and got out of our office visit and actually into the treatment room that it was getting closer to lunch time but hopefully everyone enjoyed them anyway.  They were definitely better than the cookies would have been :)

So Dr. P did not ask us about our assignment.  Maybe he's waiting for the follow-up when he releases me fully from chemo.  I'm glad we have an answer for him and that it's an answer that we really like and are looking forward to.

We were able to get pictures with almost all of the friends that I had met in the treatment room and all of the staff except for one.  You know how I love pictures.  I typically like to be behind the camera, but I allowed Brian that role today and he did a fabulous job.  I even found out that one of my nurses has a Nikon, too.  I'm going to have to chat with her about that.  I love photography talk.  Always learn so much from others.

And a very special treat was that one of the nurses that has been on maternity leave came in with her little guy today.  He is adorable!!  Made the day even better to get to see her and the baby.

Then we got home and I took a little nap (I ended up not being able to fall asleep until 5:30 this morning, which meant a whole hour of sleep last night - I was exhausted this afternoon).  The doorbell rang twice.  The first was the UPS man bringing us a box of goodies from my mom and dad.  Then it was a delivery of flowers from my Apple Tree Academy girls

Aren't they bright and beautiful?  I guess I was still a little groggy from my nap, because I totally dropped and broke the vase and the flowers and water went everywhere :(  Sorry girls!  Brian and I fixed them up into another vase and they are making our kitchen table beautiful now.  Thank you for remembering us today!

Great day.  Great end to a chapter in the journey.  Great beginning to the next chapter.