Long and overdue…I know!! But I have a few things to report in...make sure to read to the end!...
Radiation
Radiation was the month of April. It is all over now,
which means I am officially DONE with all my treatment. No more cancer
treatments…PERIOD! My skin is quite burnt in the radiated areas, but – thank goodness
– no open blisters. As far as fatigue…during treatment there was a definite onset
of fatigue. Everyday around lunch time I was extremely tired and some days
would take a nap. Now that I am finished with the radiation I do have some
fatigue, but it is starting to subside (I think).Definitely hard to fall asleep
at night too. I have heard from people
that radiation can affect you and/or give you fatigue for years after
treatment. That just sounds bonkers! Not saying that it is not true for others….however
I just can’t allow that to be me. I want and need my energy back…and I will do
what it takes to get it back!
Exercise and
weight
So there is good news and bad news….
During chemo, surprisingly I did not gain any weight –
well that was until towards the end. Most people gain weight with the R-CHOP
treatment because it has a hefty dose of steroids that are taken each treatment
period. I felt lucky in the beginning because I did not gain weight…..but now (
and it started the last month of treatment) my body has changed. The confusing
part was that when I got on the scale I was the same weight that I was before,
however my clothes were not fitting the same. After speaking with experts on the
subject, the simple truth of ‘body composition’ was revealed to me. I no longer
had the muscles I used to have, and those muscles have been replaced….Replaced
by what, you ask!? With fat. Ugh! Horrible….just horrible…
So my weight is the same, but the way my body is composed
has changed.
As for exercise, I made the effort to go walking and go
to yoga practice here and there for most of the treatment time. It wasn’t a
bunch but I was trying to keep up with some activity. Towards the end of chemo
treatment, I realized that I was not able to get through a yoga class any more.
I went, and I somehow managed, yet it was a huge struggle….to find my center, to
keep my balance, to not allow my ego to override, to breathe through my nose… I
was truly struggling and realized that I was not able to go to yoga for a
while.
So in the month of March, I was done with treatment and
tired of laying around – and knew that I needed to start doing some exercise
again. All I did was walk – almost daily. I took the dogs out, which they loved
and I walked anywhere from 1.5 miles to 5.5 mile, but most of the time walking
roughly 3 miles. No change in body composition.
In April (this month) I have been tracking and doing
interval training 5-6 times a week. I am following Adrian Bryant from www.nowloss.com. Most days I do 1-2 interval
trainings in the morning, and 1-2 at night.
Good news is I feel like I am
starting to get my energy back, my balance back, and start to feel muscles
again.
Bad news is…although I have been
trying to LOSE weight, I have not lost weight (at least and still) on the scale…which
is highly frustrating because I have been watching the calories and exercising
almost every day. I definitely need to
measure myself. I think I have started to lose inches in the waist and arms,
but cannot truly know unless I measure.
Talking to the doc, he says this could be because of a
few possible things: may be steroids I took, may be that my body is “happy” now
and is sucking up everything/anything I eat…
The fact is something has got to give soon, I will
continue the exercising and calorie watch and hopefully things will change for
the better soon. I just need to find my patience!
Hair Growth
My hair is FINALLY starting to grow back in. I was
worried there for a bit that I was going to be one of the very small percentage
of people that hair NEVER grows back. I was just being impatient…Finally 5
weeks after my last chemo treatment I started to sprout! Now, daily I can see a
change. I am just finishing up week 8…and although I am not quite ready to go
out and about into the world with no wig, it is getting much closer.
Yesterday, I had my 2 month post-chemo treatment
appointment with my oncologist. He asked how I felt and checked for bumps – and
all seems good and moving the right direction. All I have now is follow ups
with the doctor every 3 months, and every 6 months I will have a CT Scan to
make sure all is continuing to be clear! My initial CT scan will be in months
from now. That will be scary…
This will last for 3 years, than I will get scanned once
a year for the last 2 years….and then…at the 5 year mark, I will be considered
CURED.
Last but not least…
NEW WEBSITE
So, I will be the first to recognize that I was NOT the
best at keeping this blogsite up-to-date. Most of the time it was because I didn’t
want to look at the computer screen light or didn’t have the energy to
concentrate on writing something articulate…blah blah blah, excuses – right?! But
the news is…I will be starting a WEBSITE! Yaya!!!
Currently the website is under construction. I have been
working on it for the last few weeks, and hope to get it up and running by
mid-May. All these posts will be transferred there, as well as I will have
updates from the last few months, hair growth pics, and my status moving
forward. So, there will be news on me…but that will not be the main purpose of
this site. The site’s main goal is to
speak about, educate, and bring more awareness to EARLY DETECTION. Early detection
was truly one of the main components that saved my life. I could be in a very
different situation right now, if it wasn’t for that. That will be my
message….but more so the goal is to get everyone talking about it through this
site.
So stay tuned…within the next month you should see this
site information come your way. J
Love ya all~
Bee
