My life's cheerleaders -- all in pink!
On March 15th, I hosted a Celebration of Life Brunch. I had approximately 60 people attend. It was a joyous day that was indeed full of celebration and love.
I have been out of treatment for 3 months now. The ability to feel and experience day-to-day things such as happiness, pain or even disappointment is a blessing. When I feel the challenge of a workout, pain from being sore afterwards, being upset because I don’t like something someone did or said-- all gives me great sense of the “here and now.” It is because I am here and have the ability to feel.
After all I’ve been through I no longer take things for granted. A few months ago, I couldn’t jog because I was so tired. I couldn’t be ticked that my IPOD playlist wasn’t updated because I wasn’t listening to it and didn’t care. I didn’t have the need to buy a new printer because I wasn’t working much. I had a different focus and it was just getting through chemo. I survived chemo and now I am surviving and present in my life.
My hair started to grow back one month after my treatments ended. While I am still adjusting to the microness and the curliness of my hair, most days (lately) I do not wear my wig. It feels weird to not have long hair, but I am trying to embrace my new look and wear my short hair as a true sign of success, recovery and moving in the right direction.
Healthwise, I feel great. I’ve been exercising. I’m able to run 5 miles. My energy level is good most days. There still seems to be at least one day a week where I’m wiped out. I take iron and a calcium supplement to help my anemia and also the side affects from my hysterectomy (menopause). As I started to recover from the side affects of the chemo, the side affects of my surgically induced menopause kicked in -- night sweats and achy joints. I still also get a good dose of Vitiam D and C through my health drinks which helps the absorption of both the iron and calcium. I am still closely monitored by both my gyn oncologist and my medical oncologist.
The discoloration in my hands and feet subsided. Overnight, it seemed to disappear. I still have some minor swelling in my hands, but I am able to wear my wedding set again which makes me happy.
Over the past couple of weeks, I have cheered other cancer patients on. I reached out to a friend of a friend who started his BEP treatments on April 20th. I shared with him my insights while going through my treatments and some of the tricks I learned along the way -- hydration, eating well, listening to your body, etc... I am happy to report he made it through his first cycle with flying colors and our conversation seem to help. I will participate in the Washington DC Race for the Cure on June 6th in memory of my mother who passed away a year ago from breast cancer and also my husband’s aunt who died from the same five years ago.
I look forward to celebrating my 41st birthday in a few weeks – birthdays are very important now.
