Waiting on test results is one of the hardest things a cancer survivor endures. The last time I had a blood test, two months ago, one of my tumor marker indicators was .10 out of the normal range. For two months, I pushed aside worries and concern, determined to trust God and enjoy Christmas. January 3rd lurked, and as it approached, I relied more and more on time with God to keep from worrying. Tumor markers pick up a protein that is given off by cancerous cells, usually before any symptoms develop. The downside of this blood test is sometimes benign, noncancerous causes can cause an elevated score. Doctors look for trends or jumps in the score to determine the need for further screening (bone scans, CAT scans, that sort of thing.)My oncologist tried to be neutral about this small elevation in my score in November, but she wanted to stay on top of it by retesting in two months. That date was last Friday. I would have the weekend to wait for the result. Yesterday, every time the phone rang, my heart raced. The call I hoped for yet feared never came.
Coming home from my physical therapy appointment today, I noticed the flashing light on the answer machine. The cheery voice of Dr. Kohn's nurse chirped the news that my blood test was normal. Normal!! No further testing. No waiting to retest. No questions. Normal is a wonderful thing. Even though I tried not to worry, the sweet lightness of good news set my emotions free. Immediately, I called Walt and he, too, mentioned a bit of nerves when I uttered the words, "results of my blood test." We both enjoyed the relief and joy that good news brings. We are incredibly thankful to our merciful God.
Regarding my shoulder, I've been making steady progress. My physical therapist is able to work through a lot of the stiffness through stretching and strengthening exercise, but he admits that some will remain for a while, with time and consistent stretching the only remedy. Unfortunately, I still experience spasms when I jerk my arm (like when I slipped on the ice last week) or lean on it wrong, but that's because all the muscles and ligaments are still healing. I bought a foam roller and an over-the-door shoulder pulley to use at home. The pain I had in my back is almost all gone, but when it aches (like when I'm on my feet too long), stretching on the foam roller works wonders. The shoulder pulley helps stretch my stiff muscles, and I've increased my range of motion. Thankfully, my neck is no longer sore at night. I've scheduled three more appointments with my PT to ensure as much progress as possible, and then the rest of the healing will be through faithfully exercising and stretching on my own. I'm looking forward to seeing how much better my golf drives and tennis backhands will be with my shoulder working properly. PT takes time, but it's been worth it.
The kids have jumped back into their regular school schedule and activities, our home is back to normal, and I've almost finished grading essays from December. Between Christmas, prepping the house, and the busyness of having a house full of guests--not to mention watching as many Christmas movies as possible--I couldn't carve out a stretch of time for concentrated focus on the papers. With renewed energy, I got through a ton of grading yesterday. Usually January is a hard month, but so far it's been good. I am sad that Christmas is over, but normal is a good feeling.
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever. Psalm 118:1
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Physical Therapy and Christmas
I can't believe it's been two months since my last blog post. I've started many posts in my head on my walks, but by the time I had a few minutes to write, whatever I wanted to say was past history. I think the bottom line is the longer I go between posts, the more life and normalcy is happening. The time between thinking about cancer lengthens, although it never quite goes away. I feel strong, healthy and blessed right now.
The one remnant from treatment that is still causing me problems is my shoulder. As the muscles in my chest area healed, and I resumed the activities I love, I noticed a range of motion problem in my left shoulder. If I caught a tennis ball with my left hand and the force moved my arm backward, a sharp pain resonated in my shoulder. If I reached too far overhead, it would hurt. Even reaching back to get my seatbelt would engage painful twinges. For the most part, my shoulder didn't affect what I wanted to do, so I ignored it.
Then sometime this fall, I decided to engage in range of motion exercises to work out the soreness. When I saw my oncologist in November, she guessed it was tendonitis since I had the pain mostly in the top of my shoulder. Her recommendation was to try ibuprofen and exercise for a month. If it didn't improve, she was going to refer me for physical therapy. I googled shoulder tendonitis and found some range of motion exercises and faithfully performed them every day. The shoulder weakened. I could no longer do a pushup without pain. I worried about the effects of the pain reliever on my stomach and immune system. Some days it felt better, and other days it ached all day long. On the day my month was over, my oncologist's nurse followed up with me. I can't say enough good things about how well Dr. Kohn stays on top of all the details of her patients, especially since I was leaning towards putting off calling until after school was out for Christmas. I told the nurse that I would like to see a physical therapist, and the next day I received a calI from Evergreen Outpatient Physical Therapy. The receptionist set me up with eight appointments, twice a week. Once I got the appointments on my calendar, it was easy enough to fit them into my schedule.
My PT, with an extensive background working with sports injuries, told me that every exercise and stretch I was performing up until now was actually hurting my shoulder. He said that with the shoulder, "no pain, no gain," does not work. The muscles need to be stretched slowly and strengthened. He's seen other patients who have had radiation have similar side effects, with the radiation causing the muscles, tendons, and ligaments to shorten, dry out, and become less elastic. Because my shoulder wasn't moving properly, my neck muscles had to do what they weren't designed to do, which also affected the upper back. Remember the back problem I had? The achiness would return if I was on my feet for long periods of time. Now I see the problem originated with my stiff shoulder. It's amazing how the anatomy fits together. My PT showed me a stretch with a foam roller that loosened up all the muscles from my neck to my upper back. I've been using a tightly rolled towel at home, but yesterday he highly recommend I get a foam roller for the added effectiveness. He gave me a rubber band to hang on the door to help stretch and strengthen the muscles. My shoulder now feels lighter since the stiffness is starting to loosen up. He is convinced that had I not come in, my shoulder would have continued to deteriorate and I would have lost the range of motion I had.
Yesterday we received a beautiful blanket of snow and many of the schools were closed. The physical therapy office opened, but the receptionist who called me said I could choose to cancel if I wanted to. My appointment wasn't until 11, and by then, the snow was starting to melt, so I chose to go in. As I was doing exercises, my eyes looked out on the cancer wing of the hospital. It dawned on me that my year anniversary of completing radiation (December 17th) passed by without me noticing. Last Christmas, I was so grateful to be finished with all my active treatment, except for the Herceptin. I thought of people who might be sitting in the infusion chairs as I was now pulling down light weights, and said a prayer for them. Chemo is hard anytime, but I think it would be especially hard during the holidays. The atmosphere in the physical therapy room was jovial, as many of the PTs had clients cancel on them, and they were eager for conversation. I didn't miss the shark contrasts on this side of the street from the cancer center. The doctors, nurses and staff at SCCA (mostly Cascade Cancer Center while I was getting chemo) are amazing and gracious. The conversation many times was rich and entertaining. But, I also remember times coming in feeling nauseous and weak or seeing others who would barely walk. The chairs were filled with people who were suffering. It doesn't escape me that my appointments this December are for continued healing, not treatment with side effects. I am growing stronger just as my hair is growing longer. It is a busy Christmas this year, but busy for good reasons. Becca's taking driving lessons and has a busy social calendar. Nathan and Ben add to the running around with their activities. I make it a priority to fit in a walk at least six days a week. This year, for the first time in our married lives, we didn't send out a Christmas letter or card. It wasn't because I didn't feel healthy enough, but because I feel too healthy and our lives are jammed full of life. It's a good problem. Actually, the best.
Now it's back to some last minute preparation on the house before our Florida family arrives tomorrow. Explaining to the kids last Sunday when they said they couldn't believe Christmas was this week, I told them that we didn't want to miss Jesus this year. If it doesn't feel like Christmas, remember to spend more time with God. John 1:1 says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Jesus is the word incarnate, the word in flesh. We celebrate Him, not presents, Santa, snowmen or even cookies. If we don't miss Jesus this Christmas, we won't miss Christmas. Find Jesus and discover the Christmas spirit. That's our goal for the rest of the Christmas season. I'm sure it'll be busy, but full of much love and laughter and life. And Jesus, of course.
The one remnant from treatment that is still causing me problems is my shoulder. As the muscles in my chest area healed, and I resumed the activities I love, I noticed a range of motion problem in my left shoulder. If I caught a tennis ball with my left hand and the force moved my arm backward, a sharp pain resonated in my shoulder. If I reached too far overhead, it would hurt. Even reaching back to get my seatbelt would engage painful twinges. For the most part, my shoulder didn't affect what I wanted to do, so I ignored it.
Then sometime this fall, I decided to engage in range of motion exercises to work out the soreness. When I saw my oncologist in November, she guessed it was tendonitis since I had the pain mostly in the top of my shoulder. Her recommendation was to try ibuprofen and exercise for a month. If it didn't improve, she was going to refer me for physical therapy. I googled shoulder tendonitis and found some range of motion exercises and faithfully performed them every day. The shoulder weakened. I could no longer do a pushup without pain. I worried about the effects of the pain reliever on my stomach and immune system. Some days it felt better, and other days it ached all day long. On the day my month was over, my oncologist's nurse followed up with me. I can't say enough good things about how well Dr. Kohn stays on top of all the details of her patients, especially since I was leaning towards putting off calling until after school was out for Christmas. I told the nurse that I would like to see a physical therapist, and the next day I received a calI from Evergreen Outpatient Physical Therapy. The receptionist set me up with eight appointments, twice a week. Once I got the appointments on my calendar, it was easy enough to fit them into my schedule.
My PT, with an extensive background working with sports injuries, told me that every exercise and stretch I was performing up until now was actually hurting my shoulder. He said that with the shoulder, "no pain, no gain," does not work. The muscles need to be stretched slowly and strengthened. He's seen other patients who have had radiation have similar side effects, with the radiation causing the muscles, tendons, and ligaments to shorten, dry out, and become less elastic. Because my shoulder wasn't moving properly, my neck muscles had to do what they weren't designed to do, which also affected the upper back. Remember the back problem I had? The achiness would return if I was on my feet for long periods of time. Now I see the problem originated with my stiff shoulder. It's amazing how the anatomy fits together. My PT showed me a stretch with a foam roller that loosened up all the muscles from my neck to my upper back. I've been using a tightly rolled towel at home, but yesterday he highly recommend I get a foam roller for the added effectiveness. He gave me a rubber band to hang on the door to help stretch and strengthen the muscles. My shoulder now feels lighter since the stiffness is starting to loosen up. He is convinced that had I not come in, my shoulder would have continued to deteriorate and I would have lost the range of motion I had.
Yesterday we received a beautiful blanket of snow and many of the schools were closed. The physical therapy office opened, but the receptionist who called me said I could choose to cancel if I wanted to. My appointment wasn't until 11, and by then, the snow was starting to melt, so I chose to go in. As I was doing exercises, my eyes looked out on the cancer wing of the hospital. It dawned on me that my year anniversary of completing radiation (December 17th) passed by without me noticing. Last Christmas, I was so grateful to be finished with all my active treatment, except for the Herceptin. I thought of people who might be sitting in the infusion chairs as I was now pulling down light weights, and said a prayer for them. Chemo is hard anytime, but I think it would be especially hard during the holidays. The atmosphere in the physical therapy room was jovial, as many of the PTs had clients cancel on them, and they were eager for conversation. I didn't miss the shark contrasts on this side of the street from the cancer center. The doctors, nurses and staff at SCCA (mostly Cascade Cancer Center while I was getting chemo) are amazing and gracious. The conversation many times was rich and entertaining. But, I also remember times coming in feeling nauseous and weak or seeing others who would barely walk. The chairs were filled with people who were suffering. It doesn't escape me that my appointments this December are for continued healing, not treatment with side effects. I am growing stronger just as my hair is growing longer. It is a busy Christmas this year, but busy for good reasons. Becca's taking driving lessons and has a busy social calendar. Nathan and Ben add to the running around with their activities. I make it a priority to fit in a walk at least six days a week. This year, for the first time in our married lives, we didn't send out a Christmas letter or card. It wasn't because I didn't feel healthy enough, but because I feel too healthy and our lives are jammed full of life. It's a good problem. Actually, the best.
Now it's back to some last minute preparation on the house before our Florida family arrives tomorrow. Explaining to the kids last Sunday when they said they couldn't believe Christmas was this week, I told them that we didn't want to miss Jesus this year. If it doesn't feel like Christmas, remember to spend more time with God. John 1:1 says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Jesus is the word incarnate, the word in flesh. We celebrate Him, not presents, Santa, snowmen or even cookies. If we don't miss Jesus this Christmas, we won't miss Christmas. Find Jesus and discover the Christmas spirit. That's our goal for the rest of the Christmas season. I'm sure it'll be busy, but full of much love and laughter and life. And Jesus, of course.
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