Chemo complete – She’s amazing.

She’s done it! Last week Kirby finished her final chemotherapy treatment. This brings to an end over 20 weeks of AC and PC chemotherapy. And what an utterly shitty experience it was. 

Kirby posted her message to PostHope a couple of days ago, but she was far, far too modest in her assessment of the situation (and of herself). I can’t emphasise this enough: She. Has. Nailed. It. I wanted to jot down some of my perspectives and highlight that Kirby Louise Johnson is—in fact—Wonder Woman. 

Firstly, after careful consideration, we’ve decided to give the entire cancer experience a rating of zero stars. We don’t recommend it. If you’re thinking about trying cancer, don’t. It’s absolutely not like it says on the packet (although the head-scarves were pretty cool). We demand a refund.

But it’s not over yet. As Kirby said, she now faces about six weeks of radiation therapy before she can really focus on her recovery in the longer-term. Of course, it’s far too early to talk about results, but at least the first part of the treatment has been administered. The ‘nuclear bomb’ has been dropped on the cancer cells – but it will be a while before we can assess the damage. In the meantime, the radiation will target any stray cancer cells who somehow managed to survive the chemo onslaught. Think of the radiation therapy as Liam Neeson in ‘Taken’: “I will look for you, I will find you and I will kill you”. If the cancer cells are there – they’d be shitting bricks right now.

Kirby has somehow dealt with the treatment exceptionally well and, despite the many side-effects, she’s maintained a positive outlook on life. True to her word, she’s never worried about the small stuff and she only ever focused on the things she could control. Not me though; I got super-angry at cancer and decided to hate it. While Kirby was the model stoic, I listened to heavy metal music and looked for someone to blame for this whole mess (I found them by the way: antivaxxers, vegans, and cross-fitters). 

But in all seriousness, this stupid cancer has made us all realise what’s really important in life. It’s put everything into perspective and it’s redefined what we really value. I’ve realised that being rich has nothing to do with money and everything to do with smiles and laughter. And by that logic, we’re actually the richest family in the world.

Kirby now has about three weeks before she commences radiation. The regime will mean that she needs to go to hospital every day where she will receive treatment for about half an hour at a time – which is about enough time to play Wordle and post a bunch of green squares to social media. Anyway, the side-effects of radiation are different to chemotherapy so just as Kirby is recovering from some things, she’ll need to deal with other issues. She will no doubt take all of this in her stride.

The doctors have assured us that, despite my research (AKA rock-solid evidence) from Google, Kirby will not glow green at night – which is a bit of a bummer to be honest because now we need to go back to the drawing board for Halloween outfits this year. But she will be very tired and sore, even for the weeks and months post-treatment.

Having her immune system back is a massive bonus, because it means the kids will soon be able to return to school and see their friends. The kids are craving the stimuli, and I’m looking forward to having someone else yell at them for a while instead of just us.

Obi has, by all accounts, been a reasonably good dog. He’s been acting as a role-model and partner-in-crime for Scarlett who enjoys digging, climbing, and jumping as much as he does. He’s going through his teenage years at the moment so he’s actively looking for trouble. But Kirby is used to that kind of behaviour because… Johnson kids.

Since I left Canberra in early January, Deb has taken on a new level of Mum-ness. She’s done an amazing job as Kirby was going through the final few weeks of treatment and getting quite sick, and the girls (and Obi) have been very well cared for. I, on the other hand, have been surviving on beer and meat-trays.

Townsville has been great and I’m already busy house-hunting for somewhere suitable for our family to live when they arrive in a few months. If anyone knows of a 7-bedroom, 4-bathroom, quadruple garage house on the beach with two pools and a helipad for under $200,000 in Townsville – please let me know. I’m trying my best not to boast to Kirby about how cool it is up here, but that is proving difficult to achieve *sips third Piña colada by the pool*.

I plan to return to Canberra in the coming weeks and spend some much-needed time with the family. We’re also looking for an opportunity for one or both of the kids to come up and spend the weekend with me in Townsville. I’m really looking forward to having the whole family back together so we can carry on with our weird/hilarious/hopefully-normal little lives together. 

As always, we are incredibly grateful for all the support from our family and friends. We’re counting down the days until Kirby’s treatment is properly complete and we’re looking forward to seeing you all again soon. 

Every setback is an opportunity.

Chris