Happy New Year! I can’t believe it’s 2020!
We got home from our trip to Southern California about 11:45 on Monday night. It was great to spend time with family at Christmas. I wish we all lived closer! Our trip to Disneyland was fun but exhausting. I walked 43 miles in 4 days. I’m so thankful for a hotel to go back and rest in as I needed to! Now we need a vacation from our vacation.
While I loved our time away, I don’t feel like we ever totally got into vacation mode. There was a low level of stress that remained, which is a bummer. We had a great time, but there were some hard moments as well (and lots of mood swings….3 girls). It was not as much of an escape from reality as I thought it would be. I guess I was hoping we could just forget the stress of cancer, work and life in general. It was a bit of a roller coaster of emotions for me. I tried to keep it to myself as much as possible, but reached out when I needed support. I am so thankful we got away. We made lots of memories with the 5 of us and our extended family.
Tuesday morning I had to be up at Valley at 8:30 for my monthly infusion, shots and a Dr. appointment. Nothing says back to reality like going to the Dr. 10 hours after you get home. That was pretty horrible. I could have pushed it back a few days I guess, but at least it’s over. I went to the appointments by myself, by choice, so Tom could stay home and work on getting our home put back together. (Our floors were finished AFTER we left on our trip. We are so thankful for the friends who came in and cleaned and put a lot of stuff back for us while we were gone!!)
At the appointment with my oncologist, we talked about managing side effects. I’m going to switch stool softeners and take a different sleeping pill to see if I can sleep better. Other than that, I feel like we are managing the side effects pretty well.
Looking ahead, I will be having 2 scans at the end of the month to see if the current medication is working. Side effects hit harder this month from the shots. I’ve been having quite a few hot flashes today and my hips are very sore today from the shots and it’s painful to walk. I am thankful for a day to just lay around and relax.
That’s it for now. Back to laying down and relaxing….
Thanks for the quick update. I continue to pray for you and your family. So glad you got to make that trip and to go to Disneyland.
Isn’t it strange how stressful vacations can be sometimes… it’s tough to be out of routine and meet each person’s expectations or interests. Nevertheless, you all made memories that thankfully, in time, outshine the stress. Glad you’re home and hoping you can get some rest. xoxo
So glad you got to be with family in CA for Christmas and could do Disneyland with the girls. Thank you for keeping us updated.
Christmas with family….so good!! No matter the emotional ups and downs, your family has a very strong love and respect for one another and I am sure they look back and will choose to only remember the good times and the memories made. Hopefully you can continue to manage the side effects and your scans come back great! That is my prayer. HAPPY NEW YEAR’S TO YOU ALL! Hugs!