Sunday 7/3/11
Today was one of the more relaxed days we have had in a while.
Matt has done such a great job taking care of me and the house it has been awesome. Matt gave me a buzz cut today -- my hair is growing back but the top of my head is not as thick as it used to be. I will keep buzzing until it comes back. Picture below shows fresh cut and eye brows I did myself :)
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| Me with Buzz Cut and with Eye Brows |
Not much else to report - hope that everyone is having a happy and safe holiday weekend ... I know we are :)
Saturday 7/2/11
This morning Matt met Tommy and they attended a local monthly event "coffee and cars". It is a free event where people meet to show their cars - takes place the first Saturday of every month. This is the first one Matt has attended without me - but there is no way I was going to go with the heat that was expected today.
Today I woke up feeling a lot better. Matt returned from "coffee and cars" and talked about the errands he had to run today. I mentioned that I have been wanting to go to the mall and Matt hates the mall. So today I drove myself to the mall.
This is the first day I have driven since surgery - it was great. I avoided the freeway but I had a great time driving myself. I arrived at the mall and got a cup of coffee - Matt and I have been off our daily coffee since about March - we splurge on it occasionally, but I really miss it.
Looking normal
Since I started treatment there have been a few things that have made me feel like I don't look normal.
# 1 - Hair loss
I just dealt with this one by shaving my head and going with the natural look or wearing hats (most hand made). I have a wig but don't wear it often. I feel like having no / minimal hair is something I have become accustom to.
# 2 - Weight Gain
This one is yucky. I have made it this far with about 15 extra pounds. I guess that isn't bad considering I haven't been able to work out consistently since all this began. It just feels like a lot because my clothes were are basically one size. I am still figuring out how many articles of clothes I want to buy for this size. It has been a slow process but I have been building upon my flexible sized wardrobe such as skirts and button up blouses.
# 3 - Missing Eye Brows and Eye Lashes
You might think this is the same as # 1 - but it isn't. I had made it through Chemo with my eye brows and eye lashes mostly in tact. But after my final chemo my eye brows and eye lashes alike started to fall out. And since this happened I feel like I look sicker. When I lost these things I felt like my facial features disappeared. In a recent conversation with my sister I mentioned this and that I was thinking about getting the advice of a professional. She said make-up is pretty powerful and I should definitely look into this.
So today was the day I was going to work on # 3 - I was going to the mall to get a consult on makeup - specially eye brows. I went to Sephora for a free consult and Becky helped me. I gave her some background about my needs and she was awesome. She showed me lots of different options and did one of my eye brows and had me do the other. I was very pleased with the product selection.
Drove myself home and in all honesty this really wore me out. So I relaxed the rest of the day.
Matt who recently decided that he wanted to start doing basic motorcycle maintenance himself took on the endeavor of an oil change today. He is pretty brave - it was hot outside but with his supplies in hand he did his first motorcycle oil change. He has become quite the grease monkey between prepping the Xerox for the the track and now oil changes he has been learning a lot. Don't get me wrong - Matt has always been a very handy guy - but now he will be saving us a little more time and money by doing some basic maintenance.
Friday 7/1/11
Sad to say that I spent most of the day recovering from the muscle relaxer that I took at 3 am. I spent most of the day naping.
Thursday 6/30/11
Today I went in to see my oncologist. She reviewed my pathology and was also excited about the clean report. We discussed the plan and she said that my medication maintenance (Herceptin) will not start until after radiation has completed. Reminder - I have to continue on one medication (Herceptin) for one year every 3-4 weeks.
Today was a good day and after dinner Matt and I decided to go to the park for a walk. I did my first 3 mile loop. I was happy to be out doing a little exercise. I wore shorts with pockets in order to avoid my arm hanging at my side and any friction under my arm. It was a great walk - much cooler then it was during the day.
Unfortunately I woke up at about 3 am and was feeling some pretty bad muscle spasms in my breasts. I have a medication and took half of it in an effort to avoid feeling drowsy all day on Friday.
Wednesday 6/29/11
Today Matt and I met the latest addition to my treatment team - my radiation oncologist (at Methodist Hospital). To date Matt and I have been very lucky - in that all the doctors have been incredible. This doctor was the first to review my pathology report with me and he preliminarily told me that my pathology report was clean. I will wait to share the details until I review it next week with my surgeon - details forthcoming. This doctor explained the plan to consult with all my current doctors before developing the treatment plan (consult with: oncologist, breast surgeon and plastic surgeon). He didn't know when I would start radiation - but did say that radiation would likely start in another 2 - 4 weeks. It is necessary to allow time for proper healing from the mastectomy prior to radiation as well as coordination with other treatment needs (such as administration of maintenance medication). When he develops the treatment plan he will have details of how many treatments I will need and when they will begin. Today consisted of a great deal of education including the use of specific lotion and soaps.
My next visit will be a simulation of the first treatment which includes them marking my body with a marker to indicate where the radiation with be done. They may also make a cast specific to my body where I will lay each and every time I get treatment. It is important to lay perfectly still during treatment to assure that only the intended area gets radiated. This office has a heavy focus on nutrition so I was told I will eventually see a dietician to discuss my diet. Much like chemo, radiation also causes fatigue and there are specific things they recommend for diet. I advised them that I intend to start running as soon as my mastectomy heals and they understood that, saying that while they don't like drastic weight changes - any change associated with exercise are understandable.
The doctor also explained that I will be receiving "Image-Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT)" - which is designed to radiate specific areas / organs. This is good news because it reduces the side effects I may experience in other organs (such as the heart and lungs). Long and short - the radiation oncologist was very positive and I feel as though I am in good hands. The worst news I received was when they took my weight and I learned that I have gained a few more pounds - it is safe to say that I am losing the "chunk off". I have suggested to Matt that we re-take the baseline measurements (due to my weight gain) and he laughed and said no - because he hasn't been bulking up - while I have gained weight he has been losing weight :) Oh well - at this point I think it is safe to say that I have lost that competition.
Before going home we also stopped into my plastic surgeons' office. My final drain was removed which is fabulous news - I can now wear normal clothes. Unfortunately some of my stitches on my left breast are starting to open. We were told to clean the stitches daily with beta-dine and continue to monitor. Due to the issue with my stitches no more saline was added to my expanders - they decided to wait. We will be back next week for another follow up.
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| My stitches opening up :( |
Tuesday 6/28/11
I have been very lucky in that I have met some very strong individuals along the way and added to the list of good friends. I received a phone call from Bill (SuperFriend and fellow motorcycle rider). Lately I have been doing more research about living with the risk of lymphedema and I have been left wondering if I can expect to live a normal life. Bill had a very different cancer then I and and very different treatment regime - but he reminded me of how important it is to express my desire to my treatment team about returning to my life as it was before. I still have a strong interest in mountain biking, running and motorcycle riding. I would also love to be able to adventure race again. While I know that all of these things will not happen right away - I would like to think that I can eventually do these things again. Always good to talk to someone with such a positive attitude. Bill called - out of the blue and it was great to catch up.
Today Matt returned home - thank goodness - because who knows what Storm would dream up tonight. I think he knows that my reactions are slow and he is taking full advantage of it.
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| Walk Down Memory Lane (Care of Lori Sanders - Thank you Lori) This picture was taken by Lori several years ago during a HART Team Photo Shoot - I learned a lot on that bike |
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| Since we are walking down memory lane this is me with the Xerox 999R |
Monday 6/27/11
Matt has returned to work and this afternoon he went out of town.
With Matt gone I was alone with the pets. For the most part everything went very well. I went to bed at a normal time of 10 pm. At about midnight I heard something that sounded like a distant waterfall. I woke up and realized that the sound was inside the house - it was Storm (siberian husky) peeing on our concrete floor. This was a sad moment - waking up to the realization that my dog was peeing inside the house and I had to get up and take care of it. Since I am still moving pretty slow I missed the opportunity to stop him - I got up, let him out and spent about 30 minutes cleaning up the very small puddle. As I cleaned up the mess I realized that if this was the biggest problem I had in Matt's absence - then things are going pretty well. The rest of the night was very peaceful.
Sunday 6/26/11
Today was a day to catch up with friends.
Matt went for a motorcycle ride in the am with our friend Tommy, while I stayed home.
We later had Susan Tan and her family over for lunch. Susan is a SuperFriend, she is a cancer survivor, was diagnosed with breast cancer in May of last year. Susan has had chemo and reconstructive surgery. It has made a big difference knowing people who have had cancer and required similar treatment. Today Susan looks great - she is looking very healthy and it important to be reminded that I will also be healthy soon.
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| Susan's Family (husband, daughters and Susan) and Me on the right |
After an afternoon nap, Matt and I went to a baby shower for the Houston Adventure Racing Team (HART) Coach - Weihan Lin. His wife Apple is having their first child in a couple of months. It was fabulous to catch up with the team. It is always comfortable to be around adventure racers and I found myself saying that the journey I am on (kicking cancers' butt) is very similar to an adventure race more then once. While this is the longest and most important of any race I could have ever imagined it is still very similar to an adventure race.
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| Matt and I at the Baby Shower |
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| Tommy and Ryder (Ryder is probably the happiest baby I have ever met) |
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| Cara and Hunter (nice surprise - they are in from Singapore - maybe we will see Ali during the next visit) |
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| Mo (sporting the undies she won during pictionary I think this looks works well for her) |
Just like an adventure race I never really know what will happen next (but I have all my gear). I have met several people who have gone down a path similar to mine (people who are ahead of me doing their own race or on a different track all together). I have also seen that even when I take the same path as others - my experience can be different (just like it can be in an adventure race).
HART consists of many adventure racers - a truly incredible collection of endurance athletes. If you know any endurance athletes or happen to be one, you know that this population is very unique in that they push their bodies to limits all the time all in the name of healthy competition. That being said it was very comfortable to discuss the changes my body continues to go through with treatment and surgery. They all had so many words of encouragement - it was a great reminder of the need to be strong and continue to push forward. Also a great reminder of the value of friendship.
Stay tuned for more SuperMonkey Adventures,
Nancy
AKA: SuperMonkey
"Excellence is not a singular act, but a habit. You are what you repeatedly do."
- Shaquille O'Neal
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