51. Goodbye, Portacath!
January 17, 2023
Update. Today’s milestone: portacath was removed this morning. Woohoo! Recall that the portacath was placed back in May 2022 so that I could avoid having an intravenous line (IV line, or IV access) placed at every session for chemotherapy. Since IV access will not be needed at regular, frequent-ish intervals anymore, my medical oncologist and I discussed it was time to say goodbye to the disc-shaped thingie in my chest wall. We agreed that it could wait until after the holidays. Technically there’s still one holiday, the Lunar New Year on January 22, but in a way getting the portacath removed before the Year of the Rabbit 
is good timing: I can start MY year without this implanted medical equipment.
For now, this ends The Adventures of Doreen since all the cancer treatment related stuff is done. DONE. If this were a book (maybe in the future, as some people have suggested) – it ends here! Whatever happens next will be for the following book, hahaha. I will still need surveillance for cancer recurrence: every 6 months for now, then eventually move to yearly surveillance. The next series of medical tests is in April 2023.
Moving forward, here’s hoping that we will see less of Doreen the Breast Cancer Mascot 
and more of Dave the Travel Pig
