After today I have 10 more radiation sessions to go!
Fergus and I have been doing a lot of beach walking. It’s the best therapy … I always start out thinking I’m only going to do part of the beach because I’m tired but once I get going I do the whole thing and always feel so much better.
The weather has gotten really cold and I’m still having a hard time regulating my temperature. Today we walked the beach and I was so bundled up that I got overheated and started to feel sick/dizzy.
I got the car and ripped off my toque and jacket and drank some water. It took a few minutes but then I started to feel better. Ugh. Stupid internal thermometer.
We’ve had a little snow this week and that puts the whole city into a tizzy. NOBODY here can drive in the snow. I don’t know why people think they need to speedup when in fact they should just slow down. 🙁
It makes my daily drive back and forth to the hospital pretty stressful and unfortunately I think more snow is on it’s way. I’m hoping Mother Nature will back off until after my radiation is done.
Luckily I live about 15 blocks from the hospital so if worse comes to worst I can walk there. I feel bad for the people who have to come from up island for treatment. I can’t imagine navigating the highway in this weather.
I’m so stressed that the snow will make it impossible for me to do my treatment. It must sound so funny to the rest of you (who live in wintery climates) but Victoria has no infrastructure for snow … so the whole city just shuts down. I don’t want to postpone my radiation. I want to get this done!
This week they turned on the Xmas music at the hospital. I don’t celebrate Christmas. Nothing against it. If you want to do it … great. Gerry and I opted out over 15 years ago and have no interest.
I expect Xmas music in the mall … but there is nothing worse then sitting in a waiting room waiting for radiation and having to listen to banal sugary holiday music.
Thankfully Gerry told me about the volume control in the waiting room so as soon as I get to the radiation waiting room I turn it off. Ahhhh. Peace and quiet. 🙂
I am really starting to feel the heat from the radiation. My whole right chest panel is red (like a sunburn) as well as my shoulder blade. The radiation goes RIGHT THROUGH ME! Gak!
Yesterday and today were the first days since I started radiation that I felt like I needed to nap. So I did.
It’s been a tiring week. Gerry’s been sick with a cold so I’ve been taking care of him, taking care of me and taking care of Fergus plus all the house stuff. Usually Gerry and I tag-team everything but this is the first time in a long time that I had to do almost everything myself. Plus poor Gerry was coughing so much. He wakes me up a couple thousand times a night so he’s been sleeping in the guest room till he’s better. Poor dear. 🙁
But he’s on the mend now so that makes me happy. My parents came to visit me on Sunday which was so wonderful and lovely (we went for brunch and wandered around) but I think I pooped myself out a little.
I woke up this morning having a full-on panic attack. It’s so weird to have a sleeping panic attack. Ugh. It’s the worst feeling. I’m re-starting therapy this week and I think I’m having anxiety about working on my anxiety. Ha ha.
And lastly MY EYEBROWS ARE COMING BACK!
Actually lots of hair is coming back. I found a long weird gray hair coming out of my chin. WTF? Did that grow overnight? How did I not see it? *yank*
Yesterday I woke up to find 6 or so weird black hairs growing out of the middle of my cheek. I pulled on one with a tweezer and it came out like it wasn’t attached. So I yanked the rest and none of them were rooted in my skin. What the hell?
Gerry thinks it’s from the chemo. It does so many weird things to you …
Everyone keeps asking me if I’m excited about my treatment being over … truth is I can’t really think about it. I still have 10x sessions left. That’s 2 weeks of treatment. It doesn’t sound like much but if I start looking too far ahead then the sessions I do tomorrow will feel like torture. You know what I mean? Slow and stead wins the race.
Let’s all say a little “No snow till radiation is over” prayer. Come on Global Warming! You can do it!!
It’s great that you have a sense of humor, especially about hair growing back after chemo. My wavy red hair came back in tight little frizzy curls hugging my head. I kept getting the excess frizz trimmed and soon I had my old head of hair back. My chemo nurse joked that she curled my hair for me. It is a little strange the way it comes back, and it is different for everyone, but it is great to have hair again. It is the first visible sign that you are getting back to normal (whatever that is!).