Kicking Cancer's A** -- My Road to Recovery

Rad Day #7. Over with. Relieved to get a two-day break for weekend. They say they don't do radiation on the weekend to give your body a break to heal. I suspect it's more about the medical team not wanting to work weekends. Lol. But either way, I'm glad. Yesterday was a much better day as pain was minimal and fatigue not as bad. I guess treatment is kinda like life is ... Lots of ups and downs. Ever since I got on this ride in October of last year I have had my share of bumps, chills, thrills and chills ... Oh and some screaming too. I've learned a lot about myself and what I'm capable of when my back is against the wall. I've learned a lot about the goodness of others. I've been as afraid as I've ever been in my life and pushed through it. I've been bruised and broken, cut and scarred in this fight and knocked down but I've gotten back up. I have learned to handle daily pain as my new companion. I found the courage somewhere ... Most likely in...

Just finished Day 6 and after tomorrow I will be 1/3 of the way through. Yesterday was a fairly easy day but today has been rough. Feeling considerable pain under my breast which I think is a rib and burning sensations/pain all over the target area. I'm pretty uncomfortable and down emotionally because I know it only gets worse from here and I have 15 more treatments to go. In addition, today I felt the first of the fatigue and it has hit me like a ton of bricks all of a sudden. I guess I am just gonna have to take it one day at a time. Sorry if I sound whiny. I hate that. It is not me. And I don't like it when cancer tries to make me into something I'm not. So I'll sign off and hope for a better day tomorrow.

So I just finished Day #4 of my 21 radiation treatment schedule. Day #3 was pretty much the same as the day before. However, I got a 5-day break to go out of town for a business trip (thereby missing Spring Fling in Conroe) and it was amazing that at the end of that time, everything felt so normal. I felt so ... recovered from the radiation. Well, going back today was probably the most uncomfortable day so far as I have a fair amount of heat, swelling and soreness tonight ... maybe because I haven't had any noticeable side effects for a few days before. I also felt the most tingling during treatment. This time it was on the outside blast (where the swelling is tonight) whereas before I felt the tingling on the inside nearer the center of my chest. I am more sore and swollen right now than I have been and I have 4 more days this week before my next 2-day weekend break. Ugh. I hope it gets to feeling better. I saw another radiologist today who is taking my regular doctor's ca...

Day #2 Radiation Therapy. Done. Much better today. I owned it. Even though I went to bed with slight discomfort, woke up feeling better this morning. The treatment went much faster (didn't have to take as many measurements and my markings were in place). They added outline of where radiation field is hitting and it literally is from a center line down my chest to top of my abdomen and covering the entire right chest/breast area including up into my underarm and about halfway around my right side. This is to help me know the boundaries where to use the creams and such. The topography is more extensive than I thought! Lol. The treatment only took 10 minutes and I had no problem remaining calm. Blood pressure still a little high (was in 160s) so maybe my newest blood pressure med isn't doing enough. The other worked better but made me cough ALL the time; it had to go. Mario was there and being his awesome self. He is my favorite, by far. After treatment and the new marking...

Women don't sweat ... they glow. Or so they say. Whoever they are. First radiation treatment down. Not sure how many more to go but I think it's 20 more. I don't think I'm glowing yet but ... So to give you a run down on this very precise technology and very expensive machinery and what my experience was like .... I got to the oncology building about 5 minutes early and walked to the radiation wing, signed in, and took a seat. Very shortly thereafter a man walked in and introduced himself as Mario. He was going to be my lead radiation tech (and apparently, I was to learn later, my greatest support and source of strength through this process). He escorted me to a dressing room and I took off all my clothes above my waist and put on a blue cloth gown open to the front. I then signed a consent for treatment form. I met three more radiation techs including a young college student studying to be a med tech at TSU. After this, I was asked to remove my right arm from the...

This would be part two of the blog I posted earlier. And I forgot some stuff. A senior moment, perhaps? Nah, if I don't qualify for senior discounts, it doesn't apply. Lol. The radiation oncology department called me back to answer questions. What I learned is the CT scan was not really considered a diagnostic tool, but rather an imaging study so the doctor can look at the entire area and decide on the path, the dose, the length and so on and so forth for the radiation treatment. We know I have a cancer diagnosis. That said, had he seen anything alarming or something that would cause him concern and probably a change in the course of treatment (for example, if a new tumor that is visible was found and another surgery to take that one out was indicated), I would have been called in to discuss this. Apparently, he didn't see anything that would change his initial plan to proceed with radiation. That is a good thing. But I still couldn't get a straight answer as to did...

Well it seems like I've been in a holding pattern circling the airport for quite some time now. It's appropos considering all the business trips I've taken this year. And the blog has been way too quiet lately. But silent no more ... I have some news! Before I get into all that though: a sidebar. Did I mention cancer can also be confusing? Or really what I mean is that cancer care and treatment can be confusing. And while I have already noticed the inconsistency in prescribing treatment: it's almost like a dartboard sometimes even when you have the exact same diagnosis ... for example most Stage 1 breast cancers do not automatically get a chemo recommendation (unless it's a triple negative like I have), yet there are plenty of women doing chemo with ER+/PR+ and HER2+ diagnoses. And why do some get recommended for mastectomies when they could have lumpectomy and are willing to have radiation? I know sometimes it is a preference, or there are other indicators; but o...

One of the things that can be the hardest about dealing with a chronic illness can be the waiting. Cancer really hits hard on this front. I mean, you have to go 5 years before they'll even talk about you being "in remission" and 10 years before the word "cured" even comes up. And survivors know that they will spend the rest of their lives worrying about recurrence any and every time anything hurts or feels "off." Recently, Olivia Newton John announced a recurrence of her breast cancer from 25 years ago! It has now gone into her bones. There are many cases of this type of thing happening. I wonder if cancer is kind of like shingles or herpes or other diseases that lay dormant for years just to strike again or if a cancer patient ever really is truly cured. Furthermore, there are lots of tests. And then lots of waiting for those tests. And delays and postponements. So when my oncology department coordinator called and said the Radiology Oncologist Do...