Friday, December 25, 2015

Coming along in my recovery

My hair five weeks after the last chemo.
Eyebrows are coming back, and every day
I look just a little more normal.
I can't believe it's Christmas already. The holiday season just flew by, although I did get to enjoy some fun times with my new family. Tomorrow I head off to Pahrump, NV, for a few days to spend time with my mom, brother, and son.

I haven't kept up on the blog much as typing is still not very comfortable and what little time I spend on the computer I'm frantically trying to get some work done. Deadlines are wooshing by so fast that if I had hair, it would be a rat's nest by now! Thankfully, my clients have been understanding so far but I really need to get back on track.

I've been doing my physical therapy exercises every day, and I'm surprised at how quickly I'm regaining range of motion. I can once again wear clothes that pull on over my head instead of having to wear only button-up tops, so that's nice. And I'm able to help out around the house a little bit. But then I'll do the exercises and some housework or shopping or something, and I'm wiped out or in pain. It's not terrible, but it means I have to lie down and rest--so often my plans to work or whatever get put off. Kind of like the way things have been since all this started! My energy is generally quite good--I can get through a busy day of normal activities without crashing. I even wrapped a bunch of presents yesterday and today.

So I'm looking forward to returning to normal life. I have my radiation simulation appointment on January 14 and will start treatments about a week later, and that will go on for six weeks. Then I'm done. I should feel pretty good until about the third or fourth week, when the fatigue will set in again. So I'm trying to get out for walks or at least shopping so I'm moving around. I got a bike for Christmas, and I'm looking forward to riding it as soon as my arm is just a little better. Maybe even in a week or so. I think I'll be ready to do a little dancing by then, too. When radiation is done and I've had a couple weeks to recover, I go back in training! I can't wait to get this extra weight off and get out with my running buddies again, working toward goals.

One of these days, I'll do a post describing how the surgery went, as well as "what I learned from chemo," and other helpful things like that.

Merry Christmas, everyone!


2 comments:

  1. Hi Jennifer, I got your blog address from the cancer.org sight. I have been following a few blogs for breast cancer as I think the more info & advice a person has the better. Anyways~ I hope you had a wonderful Christmas it sounds like your doing well after surgery. I had my surgery on the 19th of November & I'm not bad. My only complaint is that I have numbness & a little pain where my lymph nodes were removed but if that's the price I pay for surviving cancer I can live with it. Happy New Year!! ~ Lori

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  2. Hi Lori, thanks for following me here and reading! I'm glad you're doing well. I agree...no matter what we have to put up with to survive, it's worth it!

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