Thought I’d give a quick update…
I feel great! I have more energy than I have had in months, which is due to working out each morning and staying active with the girls. 🙂 I’m so thankful to be feeling great.
I am starting to get a bit of a radiation tan on my chest. It’s very mild and not very noticeable, but it is there. It’s not painful in any way but the skin is starting to change, so we’ll see how that goes.
We are adjusting well to this new routine of daily radiation. I’m enjoying getting to know my technicians well and have met a few ladies in the waiting room this week. So far no side effects and I’m feeling really good. I even have sore muscles from working out! AND it’s a 3 day weekend – no radiation on Monday because of the holiday!! Yay!!!
On Monday when I met with the Dr. he said to expect side effects to start after 10 treatments. I’ve heard from others to expect them about half way through. Who knows when and if they will appear, but so far this “honeymoon period” as the Dr. called it, is fine. It’s nice to not be in pain (except for the sore muscles from exercising. It’s nice to not have any fatigue, only a tired body from going to the lake and riding bikes with the girls. 🙂 (more…)
I survived the first week of radiation. It was a hard week getting used to the routine and the girls being some place different each morning, but we survived. (It was also VBS each evening, which is always a very fun, but tiring week!)
I decided to take a picture each day, so here’s my week of radiation with captions that show where I am as well as how I’m feeling each day. (more…)
That one word pretty much sums up radiation day 1.
I was in the room less than 15 minutes. We waiting around to talk to the Dr. (who I meet with every week). He was in the room for about 30 seconds since we didn’t have any questions. Haha! He greeted us, logged into the computer and glanced at it for a second. Then he asked us if we had any questions. We said no. That was it. Seriously, 30 seconds.
Backing up a few hours…I slept horrible last night. I kept waking up. I finally got up around 5:20 and tears starting flowing as I thought about what was coming. Not tears of fear, but of sadness that I had to go through it, even if it is easier than chemo and surgery. It’s still something and it’s an every day something for what seems like a very long time.
As I spent time in God’s Word early this morning, Isaiah 26:3 was an encouragement to me. “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You because he trust in You.”
A note card with this verse on it is sitting on my kitchen counter as a reminder to keep my thoughts on the Lord and not on the machine that will be zapping me 33 more times.
I am getting a nice collection of “The Night Before…” posts.
Tomorrow is my first of 34 radiation treatments. I just printed a calendar for the week with what’s going on and I hate seeing treatment and Dr. appointments on 5 of the 7 days. 🙁 But ready or not, it all starts tomorrow.
I got a tattoo this morning. Well actually two of them. They are just little dots. Nothing special. Supposedly they look like a freckle, but THERE ARE SO MANY SHARPIE MARKS ON ME, I can’t really see them very well yet. Sigh.
This morning, I had my measurement appointment for radiation.
I started off in the gown changing room, where I put on a very stylish hospital gown and locked my clothes and purse up in a locker.
Tom and I met with the radiation oncologist this morning. He feels strongly that we should start radiation as soon as possible. He said it was fine to wait until reconstruction is over, since it is so soon, but did not recommend waiting until September when the girls are back in school.
It looks like radiation will start mid to late June and I will be going M-F for 6 – 7 weeks. I have an appointment on June 1st for some measurements and either at that appointment or the next, will be scheduling the appointments. The Dr. said it’s not a problem to get appointments early in the day (they open at 8 am), so I can have the rest of the day to be with the girls. We’re not sure how it’s all going to work since the girls will be out of school, but we’ll figure it out in the next few weeks.
Meet JenniferBreast Cancer Patient, Chef Wife and Mom
