Tristyn completed his last round of radiation yesterday and now his cancer treatment is complete. To say that we are excited is an understatement! Cancer didn't have a chance against his strength, determination and positive attitude. So proud of him. Some final radiation photographs. In the first photograph, you can see how happy TJ is that it's his last session. You can't finish Cancer treatment and not celebrate! We had a little party at home to mark the occasion. What's next for TJ?Tj's cancer treatment may now have come to a completition but unfortunatley the doctors visits have not. TJ has to get a review next month and a PET/CT scan in August. He will need to have 3 monthly visits with his oncologist for the next twelve months. This is then reduced to every 6 months for a year and then to once a year for a few more years. If the cancer hasnt returned after 5 years (Fingers crossed) then he will then be classifed as CURED. Yay!! Five things we have learnt from this experienceThere are so many things that we have learnt during this experience. The list seems endless but here are five of them: 1. There are compassionate, empathetic, caring people out there Sometimes the world can seem like a dark and desolate place and there are many people out there that are not so nice to each other but dont give up on humanity because good people with kinds hearts do exist. I know, because we experienced first hand how loving, kind and generous people can be, especially when times were tough. 2. Gratitude We've always been grateful but even more so now. Here are some of the things we are grateful for:
3. Don't sweat the small stuff I know it's such a cliche term but it's so true. There are so many more important things to worry about other than 'The guy who served me coffee forgot to put sugar in it. FML'. Instead of being angry and bitter about the lack of sugar (even if it tastes crappy) be grateful that you could afford to buy a coffee-you're not going to die from lack ot taste. Stressing out about small things like that isn't even worth the anger or frustration. When facing Cancer, or when someone you love is facing Cancer, most other problems seem small. Stressing about little things is nearly impossible to eliminate but it can be managed. 4. Find time to do what you love- One of the things that my son loves to do is play PC games. In his spare time when he wasn't having cancer treatments he would play online with his friends. Not only was he having fun socialising and interacting (even though he wasn't necessarily face to face with them) but he was also distracting his mind from thinking about the fact that he had cancer. It was like a moment of escapism from the daily cancer grind. I should probably take this opportunity to put a plug in for my son ;) Not only does he play PC games but he also streams himself playing games so that other people can watch. If you're a gamer or your child is or you like watching people play games (I know it sounds kind of stalkerish but its actually fun. lol) then please feel free to check out TJ's twitch stream: www.twitch.tv/nitris He will be able to do a lot more streaming now that he hasn't got appointments to attend :) 5. Don't be afraid to ask for and accept help- We are a military family. Both my husband and I left home and joined the military when we were both young. We haven't had any family live close to us in nearly 23 years. This is due to constantly moving due to military postings. We have had to rely only on ourselves. We never had babysitters to look after the kids so we could go and catch a movie or anyone to drop and pick up our kids from school for us because we were running late. I'm not looking for sympathy because we both chose this lifestyle. We have just learnt to adapt and work things out for ourselves. This is why it was really hard to accept help when people first started offering it to us when TJ was diagnosed and probably why we are also so extremely grateful to have received it. In the end my husband and I knew we needed it. We couldn't do this alone. Sometimes it's okay to break down the walls, let people in and actually ask for help and accept it. And that's it folks for now. x
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AuthorHi, I'm Tj's Mum; Zoie All Blog Entries
August 2018
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