busy busy busy

I’ve been so busy! And some of it has been fun.  🙂

My energy is slooowwwwllly returning and that means I’ve been able to do a few more things. I’m not running a marathon but instead enjoying being able to walk around without getting tired.

I’ve been helping Gerry with all the Tattoo Zoo 10th Anniversary stuff. It’s a month long celebration and we have prizes every single day … If you live in town and want to join in on all the fun you can read all about it HERE

Gerry and I went on an amazing spa day. My friend Jane had sent me a big gift certificate for my birthday back in June and I’ve been saving it up for when my chemo was over and it was safe for me to go into a public place that has the potential for germs.

So I booked Gerry to come with me for a hand/foot/head massage. It was perfect. Lots of pampering without too much body work. It was a great way to say good bye to this phase of of my cancer treatment.

The best part about the spa is that it’s connected to The Empress hotel so they suggest you get there early so you can use the pool/hot tub/sauna/steam rooms as well as their mineral pool. Gerry and I sat in the mineral pool and let the warm water wash over us .. it was incredible just to sit there with nothing to do but relax.  🙂

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I also went for a swim in the big pool. Being that it was a Wed the entire place was ours and it was awesome. I have been DYING to go swimming since my diagnosis but haven’t been able to because I was either healing from surgery or avoiding germs during my chemo.

I got into the water and started floating around on my back. The room was playing classical music and I of course started crying. It felt so good to be in water … I wanted to swim laps but Gerry smartly pulled me back and only let me swim one. He was right to pull me back because the next day I was EXHAUSTED. Ha ha. I think I floated there for 40 minutes.

There is a 8 week class at the YMCA that is free for breast cancer survivors once they are done treatment. I can’t wait to get back into the water and start using my body again.

I also got my radiation tattoos. I have 4 small marks that the radiation technicion will use to line up the machine in the same spot every time. The nurse who did it used a needle/ink instead of a machine.

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Bif had told me when she got hers done she made jokes about how “Stick & Poke” tattoos are done like this in jail but that the joke bombed … so I decided to try it and said the same joke.

The joke bombed hard. Ha ha. I guess Radiation techs don’t have a good sense of humor … or they hear that joke 10x a day.  🙂

I also saw my oncologist. She congratulated me on finishing chemo and handed me a 10 year prescription for Tamoxifen. Yeah. 10 years. That’s how long I’ll be taking it …

My doctor said I may get hot flashes with it … but I’m was already getting hot flashes from the chemo so I hope it’s not any worse than that.

She warned me that the radiation will also make me tired. Probably around the 2-3 week mark. I’m nervous about it. Feeling incapacitated by fatigue is uncomfortable for me. Maybe because I had that bout of CFS back in the 90’s. I don’t ever want to feel like that again… Anyway … we’ll see how it goes.

She also wanted to talk about taking out my port but I’m not ready yet. I want to get through the radiation and I don’t want to also do a surgery at the same time. I also don’t know yet if I have to do the 2nd mastectomy or have my ovaries removed so let’s just just slow down and do one step at a time here.  🙂

The port can stay inside me for years … I just have to make sure to get it flushed with saline every 3 weeks. So I’ve made appointments with the nurses to do that. The port doesn’t get in my way or bug me (except when I’m laying on my right side) so we are going to keep that purple power port where it is for now.

OH YEAH!
On Halloween I dressed up like a cat and went downtown to see Gerry. It was fun walking around town in a wig. I think it’s the only time I can wear a wig. Any other time I do it I feel self conscious.

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We’ve been going for lots of walks so I can get some of my energy back. Went back to Gold Stream to see the salmon spawn. It’s really getting good now. I think next weekend will be the peak of it.

Does anyone else suffer from Walking Dead PTSD? I can’t walk through the forest without being afraid of being attacked by zombies.

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This dude in the tunnel freaked me the fuck out and all he was doing was walking through it … ha ha ha

 

 

 

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4 Responses to busy busy busy

  1. Ariane says:

    Wowza. Ten years. I guess it’s all one day at a time…

    I’m curious (if you’re up for sharing it), would you have wanted to know all this was going to happen if you could’ve? My doc wants me to do one of those genetic testing panels and I’m terrified to find out I’m predisposed to get some awful disease – I feel like I’d rather not know. My grandma died of breast cancer, so there’s a possibility it’s in the genes… I wonder if it’s different after it’s a reality though.

    Sending love – hope this next chapter gets easier. <3

    • Sarah says:

      If I had known how messed up my genetics were because of my family history I would have had the breast cancer gene test done a LONG time ago and I would have had a prophylactic double mastectomy.

      I would WAY rather have done the mastectomy and be done with it then have to do all this chemo/radiation crap.

      Knowledge is power.

  2. Esther Patrick says:

    Really pleased to read how much more positive things are at the moment 🙂 Like Ariane, I’m amazed by the 10 years of Tamoxifen. I had no idea. Hopefully there won’t be hot flashes. The spa day sounds great 🙂

    • Sarah says:

      Yeah. I almost fell on the floor when she told me I’d be taking this pill for 10 years … but cancer research changes radically all the time so I doubt I’ll be on it for 10 years. I’m sure something will change …

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