Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Quick Health Update

This is going to be a quick update on how I am. I am eating salads again. (Yeah!) Food, for the most part, tastes pretty normal. I'm working hard at choosing healthy foods, but I'm not always successful since everything looks and tastes so good. I haven't tried coffee yet, but I am enjoying tea and hot water again. With the chilly weather and no heat in our house (our furnace is broken and the repairman can't come out until the 31st), hot beverages are such a blessing!

On my Monday walk, I felt pretty strong, able to keep up with my friends while they cooled down after a run. (I walked with them after they ran for a half an hour at a quick pace...I still felt good about keeping up although it was probably a slow pace for them.) Yesterday I walked Sugar with Ben, making it up a big hill in our neighborhood. Then I walked with Becca to say hi to our friends who are moving into our neighborhood. After a quick peek at their backyard and chat,  I climbed back up to our house as fast as I could manage (it wasn't very pretty--I still walk a bit off balance, especially when I hurry) trying to get home on time to take Nathan to his soccer practice. Those hills did me in. Today, I am sore. I managed a few laps around the parking lot at Connections,  but with the rain and my stiffness, I decided to take it easy. I'll be back trying to build up strength again tomorrow. It'll be nice to get some more red blood cells, but I'm not sure how long that's going to take.

Yesterday I had my screening echo appointment. I think if the cardiologist had discovered something wrong with my heart, I would have heard something today. No news, especially in the medical world, is usually good news.

Tomorrow will be my first Thursday since June 14th that I am not making a trip to the hospital. Thursday, other than my usual day for chemo, was also the day I got weekly Herceptin. Since I get Herceptin every three weeks now (and I moved my appointments to Friday), I get to spend the morning at home with the kids. I think I'll make them something fun for breakfast. Then I get to be the one to take them to and from their lit co-op. It's the little things like this that I've come to enjoy. Next week I'll be able to take them to co-op, but they'll need to catch a ride home since I'll be heading out for my radiation appointment before their classes are done. Again, I know I've said this before but it deserves to be repeated, I am so thankful for the kindness of my friends who are willing to step in the gap for me during this journey.

The other good thing I'm experiencing is sleep. The chemo drugs produced fatigueand interestingly enough, insomnia. It's hard to wrap my brain around how both can co-exist in my body, but they did. Now when I go to bed each night, (usually before ten...which I'm coming up to my bedtime quickly right now), I feel confident I'll sleep through the night. The days of waking up at 3 or 4 and not being able to go back to sleep seem to be over, at least for now. Every time I wake up to my alarm, or just before, I'm thankful that I got in the sleep my body needs. Hopefully quality sleep and good food will work together in building back my red blood cells. I can only wait in anticipation to the day I can tackle those hills on my walk without pain.

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