Pinktober

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and I am fully embracing the pink. Pink outfits, pink pumpkins, and pink nails. Heck, I might even get some pink hair! I want the world to know that I, and many others, are fighters and will do whatever it takes to win this war. I could not fight as hard as I am without the support of loved ones. So, thank you for being there and wearing pink alongside me.
 
The month started off with a bit of good news for me. My blood work has improved! The chemo doc reached out to let me know how happy she was with the numbers. My red and white blood cells still need a little help with meds, but my liver results are coming back normal! Yippee!! The hope is that the little tumors that were hanging out on my liver are almost gone. Fingers crossed!
 
October also has me starting to physically feel good… dare I even say, normalish. I’m able to get back into a bit of a routine and do normal things. After months of barely being able to get off the couch, this is a welcome change. Getting back to 100% won’t happen overnight, but I will keep pushing on, one day at a time. Right now, I will take what little bit of normal I have. It has been nice going out shopping, driving, and seeing friends. When I finished radiation, I was advised to use a cane because I was unsteady on my feet. The docs were afraid that if I fell, I would break a bone or two because of the cancer now being in my bones. So, I got a pink cane to help me get around. Now, I’m feeling strong enough to leave it at home for most trips out. If I know it will be an uneven path or a long journey, I’ll bring it along, but for most of my adventures it stays home now.
 
As with anything, there have been a few bumps in the road. I knew that it was a possibility after I finished radiation that I could lose the hair that was in the target zone. To be honest, I really didn’t even think that it would happen. You must imagine the surprise I had when I woke up 2 days after treatment to clumps of hair falling out in the shower. Once I put two and two together, I just laughed, ‘cause there is nothing else one can do. Well, my hair is still falling out now and I’m not laughing so much anymore. I mentioned it to the nurse at one of my chemo appointments, so she looked up the side effects of the new chemo to see if that could be the cause as well. Apparently, a small percentage of the people that have been on this chemo experience hair thinning/loss. Yep… if it’s a rare side effect, I’m going to get it. I will say the fact that I don’t have to worry about shaving my legs is a plus. The rate of hair loss has slowed, which is good. It’s just a bit sad that I went from a really nice full head of hair to a really nice thinning head of hair, with a few bald spots. It’s a good thing I look good in a hat.
 
A few days after my hair started falling out I noticed that my left arm was a bit puffy. My first thought was, what the heck did I do? I have a bit of a history of being a klutz, so really didn’t think too much about it. It wasn’t until my sister was over visiting and noticed that my elbow and upper arm were huge compared to the right side that made me start really thinking about what was going on. Then it dawned (haha) on me, lymphedema! The last PET scan showed that a few of the lymph nodes had signs of cancer, so maybe they were clogged? I had a video call with the chemo doc the next day, so I asked if it was possible and showed her my arm. Her answer was yes. Time to take out the compression sleeve that I was given months ago, and she ordered physical therapy to get things back to normal. What sucks is that there is a shortage of physical therapists so, it has taken over a month for me to get an appointment. I finally got in this last week and have appointments lined up through the end of the year.
 
Another bummer is that I have been on steroids since they found the tumors on my brain. The steroids are to help keep any inflammation down and let the radiation do its thing. Is my recent boost in energy and productiveness a side effect? Probably, but I’ll take it. The downside is I’m wide awake some nights at 3am and can’t go back to sleep if you paid me, and my face has gotten really puffy. I look like a chipmuck! I’m in the process of tapering off the steroids and should be done with them in a month or so. Hopefully my energy level will stay the same, and the puffiness of my face will not.
 
As if the puffy face from the steroids wasn’t enough, I also ended up with thrush. The problem is that I had no clue I had it for the last few weeks. I have been dealing with dry mouth at night, which is a common side effect with various chemotherapies, so I just figured the odd coating of my mouth that I also had was part of it. Nope, apparently not. At my follow up appointment with the radiation doc this last week she asked if I showed any signs of thrush, and I just gave her a puzzled look. She then described exactly what I have been dealing with and I burst out laughing. Here I thought I had to just suck it up and deal with a weird chemo side effect. She prescribed me an antibiotic and almost instantly it started working. Hallelujah!
 
As the seasons change, I reminded myself that now is the time to push for big ticket insurance items to get done and billed by December 31. I hit my out-of-pocket max way back in February, so everything since then has been covered by insurance, but not billed to me. The docs agreed with me and there is a PET scan and brain MRI scheduled for the end of the month and another of each tentatively scheduled for December, if needed. With how good I have been feeling, I am cautiously optimistic going in for these tests. I don’t want to get my hopes up, but I will be crossing my fingers and saying a few prayers in the meantime.​