On Thursday July 10, Nick had his final chemo treatment, a huge milestone!!! He has had his last after-chemo sleepless night and his last after-chemo inability to swallow anything but Boost.

July 15 was scheduled to be Nick’s final day of radiation. On Tuesday July 8, Dr. P. said he was adding another day of radiation to Nick’s schedule, so that it would end on July 16. July 16 would have been perfect. My cousin (thanks, Annamaria) reminded me  that July 16 is the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the most  exciting day of my childhood summers, when the street on which my maternal grandmother lived was transformed into an Italian festival filled with throngs of people enjoying the food and fun. If you are familiar with the San Gennaro Festival in Little Italy in September, it was like that on a smaller scale.

Today Nick learned that  Dr. P. is extending his radiation through Friday July 18. It’s only two more days, I know, but I had my heart set on July 15 and then on July 16. Five more days  of radiation. It’s hard to be patient when we are so ready for the next phase,  the reestablishment of his health, to begin! Nick’s outlook is that if a few more days of radiation give the doctors a better chance of zapping all the cancer, so be it!