Just one layer of skin

Wow, what a weekend.  My skin completely flipped out on me.  Friday was the last day of my 26 full field treatments.  So of course I'm so happy to only be down to the last 6 treatments now.  But when I went to work today, my skin was killing me.  I called nurse Francis and asked if she could have the doctor write me a script for pain.  Last Tuesday, when I met with Dr. Moulds he asked me if I needed anything to help me sleep.  No, I'm sleeping just fine. Why?  Turns out, I figured out why I needed the meds to sleep.  My skin was itching, it's on fire and it's so painful.  So I need help.  When I got to radiation today, I met with Dr. Mould's and I got the med I needed.  Turns out I already had it at home.  To bad I didn't realize that over the weekend.  They also both took a looksie at my skin.  I showed nurse Francis my underarm and she said, "oh yes, just one layer of skin coming off".  Ouch!?  Just one layer of skin.  You've got to be kidding me.  I guess I should have known that was coming. 

By the way, today was the 1st reduced field radiation treatment.  This treatment is specifically targeting my breast where the cancer was.  It targeted one area so the treatment was really quick.  I now have 1 down and 5 to go.  So close to being done with this vicious nightmare.

So Sick

I can't believe how sick I am.   Whatever I got, it rocked my world.  I've been up for hours and it hasn't been pretty.

Ken took Cody to PA so I could get past this sickness and rest.  Radiation is kicking my ass and being sick isn't helping any.

Update # 23, Pink sisters

Hello all,

This past week (Feb. 12th - 17th) I met the two most amazing women.  My new pink sisters, Jen and Jenn.  I was trying to figure out a way not to confuse you since the 3 of us all have the same first name.  So to re-remind you, I'll try this: 

 "S" Jen (survivor Jen) had cancer 4 years ago. She has a blog which I followed during my chemo treatments, surgery, and currently. 
Jenn was recently diagnosed with breast cancer in January.  She's the one I asked you all to pray for on her 1st day of chemo back on February 8th.

Ok, have I confused you yet?  :)

So, in the last week, I've managed to meet both of them in person and it was AWESOME!!!  Let me tell you about the Jen's,
my new Pink Sisters.

I met with "S" Jen last Sunday on my birthday and it just made my day even more special.  She's been spending a lot of time with and helping out Jenn and the fact that she took time out of her busy weekend to meet with me, meant so much.  She is a wealth of knowledge and has met a ton of ladies who have fought the cancer battle.  Just talking to her about her experience and my experience was so interesting.  Seeing how healthy she looked really inspired me.  She's been cancer free for 4 years and she actually has beautiful healthy hair past her shoulders.  That just seems so unrealistic to me.  I had a ton of questions and she provided lots of answers.   We chatted and laughed and I'm just so glad that we had the chance to meet and I hope to keep in touch with her as I continue my journey.

Friday, before my radiation appointment I met up with Jenn.  I also really enjoyed meeting her.  She had chemo 9 days ago and she looked fabulous!   I was so impressed.  Even though we have the same cancer, triple negative, her's is in stage IV so her doctors gave her a different chemo cocktail and treatment schedule.  I think she gets 6 chemo treatments once every 3 weeks for a total of 18 weeks whereas I had 12 chemo treatments, once every other week for 8 weeks and weekly for 8 weeks for a total of 16 weeks.  So that's what baffles our minds.  We know that everyone in this world is different but how can everyone have so many different treatments and how do the doctors know what treatment will work for a specific person?  So we compared notes, stories, the whirlwind effect (how fast it is from diagnosis to the 1st chemo treatment), talked about our children and even laughed about silly stuff.  The time just flew by and we both had to run off to our appointments.

What makes my meeting with the Jen's different than going to my breast cancer support group is, at my support group, we are limited to a 1 1/2 hour get together once a month.  I see these girls but when we leave the meeting, I don't see them again till next time.   It's great for therapy and very helpful but I still have so many questions.  Being there only twice, I haven't really felt a connection to anyone yet.  But both Jen's have given me their e-mail addresses and we e-mail each other frequently.  I also follow both of their blogs and can relate to every step of their journey.

So speaking of blogs, yesterday I happen to read "S" Jen's blog where she wrote a post about Jenn's shave party.  It was an instant flashback to my pixie/buzz party.  That day was incredibly emotional for me and as I read "S" Jen's blog, it was just as emotional for Jenn too.  If you think about it, how can buzzing off your hair, not be traumatic?  I remember panicking to the point that I had to have my girlfriends with me.  I just couldn't accept that I was really going to loose my hair.  But a few weeks after chemo, I certainly did.  Like me, Jenn took matters in her own hands as well by shaving off her hair before chemo takes it.  And believe me, cutting it short like that helped me considerably.  Because when mine did finally fall out, it didn't even look like my hair so it wasn't as traumatic as it could have been had I left it long.

I feel a connection to both the Jen's and I appreciate the fact that they met up with me and has helped me by just being a friend.  We all share breast cancer together and they will forever be my *pink sisters*. 

Love,
Jen

End of that 6 month long streak

Let me tell you...those wonderful hot flashes that came and went almost on a daily basis was such a horrible waste of time!  Hello Aunt Flo for knocking on my door without any notice what so ever.  So now, whenever menopause does hit, I'm so not looking forward to it since I had a really good taste of what it was like.  And man it sucked!

Update # 22, 20 treatments down, 11 to go

Happy Belated Valentine's Day everyone!!!  Hope you all had a very SWEET day!

I'm excited to say that I now have 17 radiation treatments down and only 14 more to go and how appropriate to have 14 left on the 14th of February.  I'm extremely excited and so ready for this chapter in my life to be over as well.  I hate to rush time but when this entire process is over I will have been dealing with/fighting cancer for the last 8 months.  I know there are many others who suffer much longer but for me I'm ready to get up, brush off the wounds, focus on getting healthy and start enjoying my life again. 

Overall, my radiation treatments are going well.  As I mentioned in a previous e-mail, I go 5 days a week, Monday - Friday.  It's a quick procedure.  I'm really only on the table for a max of 5 min so it's not so bad.  There are times when the therapist's are behind schedule and my 4pm appointment gets pushed back to 4:30 which doesn't get me home till 5:30.  The days I don't work, Tuesdays and Fridays, I try to make my appointment in the morning so I don't have to deal with rush hour traffic.  Every Tuesday I get X-rays before my treatment and meet with the doctor afterward.  So Tuesdays are about 45 min longer than the other days.  So far, the doctor has been really pleased with my skin and how my body is reacting to the radiation.  I'm of course getting more and more tired from the radiation and my skin is getting more and more red.  It's slightly painful and itchy.  Calendula (first aid lotion) makes my skin feel so much better.

This week has been a bit more challenging.  On Wednesday I had a kink in my back that wouldn't go away.  So it made it very difficult to lay down on the machine as well as get up.  The therapists had to help me.  On Thursday I took off work and the therapist just happen to call me  to come in early for radiation.  Once they had me all lined up on the machine, the hospital had a power outage and the machine was zapped.  So they sent me home only to come back a few hours later.  That was a little frustrating since I was tired.

Now that it's the weekend, the fatigue has really set in.  All I feel like doing is lying down or sleeping.  This is so hard for me.  I don't really want to rest but my body can't handle a huge amount of activity.   So, Ken's mom came down to help out.  She's been taking care of Cody so I can rest, which has been a huge help. 

Attached are 2 photos.  One of my radiation machine and the other of me, after a treatment in the dressing room.  The photos were taken January 31st.

By the way, since I was so slow getting this e-mail out,  I now officially have 20 radiation treatments down and only 11 more to go. 
Love to you all,
Jen

When it rains it pours

When it rains, it pours and ironically today it's raining.

So I made an appointment for myself this morning at the Broadlands Family practice,  a new doctors office to check out the pain in my back.  I was actually excited because since moving to Brambleton, I haven't been able to change all our old doctors from Alexandria.  Cody still sees his peditrician in Fairfax which is a good 1/2 hour away with no traffic.  So with my back pain, I called to get in.  I actually got a 2pm appointment. Would have liked it a little earlier in the day but oh well.  Take what you can get right?

As I was dropping Cody off at preschool, my radiation therapist called on my cell.  She asked if I could come get my radiation treatment earlier today.  Normally I'm at work and wouldn't be able to but since I took off today for my back, I thought, yes, let's get this over with.  So I left Cody's school and headed toward Reston.

I got there pretty quick even with the rain coming down.  The student was there again training.  She started lining up my tattoos and calling out numbers to make sure I was positioned correctly.  As usual, it took a little longer than normal.   When I was done, they were ready to start my radiation.  All the sudden there was a quick power outage.  And my radiation machine was done.  I was there about a hour when they said engineers had to be called in to fix it so they told me to go home and they would call when the machine was back up and running.

So I got home and about 1/2 hour later the radiologist called.  The machine was working and they had several appointments available, the 1st being 1:30.  I couldn't take that one because I wouldn't make it home in time for my 2pm appt.  So I told her I would get there as soon as my doc appointment was over.  Afterward, I took a nap.  My body is just so tired from not going to bed till after midnight.  Mom called me at 1:30 so I would wake up.    I got up, put my wig and hat on and started heading to the door when the phone rang.  It was the Broadlands Family practice.  And guess what?  The doctor was sick so they had to postpone my appointment till tomorrow.  Like I said, when it rains, it pours.

I called the radiologist office and turns out the next available appointment was at 2:45 so I headed out in the dreadful rain.  I'm even more tired now than I was before.  The rain, road spray, grey skys.  It's so hard to focus.  Luckily, the machine was in proper working order and I finally got my radiation treatment.

41 and falling apart

Severe back pain is to blame today.   I don't know what happened.  I woke up this morning and I had a kink in my back.  As I got dressed I realized that it was hurting more and more.  I got Cody around and went to work.  All day long, it bothered me.  When I got home I was so tired.  I decided to take a warm shower and let the water hit my back.  It felt so good.  But once I got out of the shower my back went back to hurting again.  So did the shower hurt or help me?  By 11pm, the pain was strong.  I could barely lay down in bed.  It seemed like it was a pinched nerve.  At times it was hard to breathe.  I started crying because I couldn't figure out what was going on.  I grabbed my computer and did an internet search for back pain and pinched nerves.  Some of the symptoms didn't match what I was feeling.  I finally put the computer down, leaned up against the backboard with pillows supporting my back.  When I awoke the next morning I was still somewhat propped up but slid down more into the bed during the night.  I got out of bed and the pain was still there just not as intense.  And it seems like it moved up my back a little from the mid section to my lower shoulder blade.

I made an appointment today (Thursday) to see a new primary care physician.  I just need to get an opinion on what is going on.   Maybe it's nothing but maybe it's something.  Who knows.  I'll keep you posted.

Oh yippee!  They canceled my appointment to tomorrow morning.  Now I can suffer a little longer.

Happy Valentines DAY!!!

How romantic to have radiation treatment on Valentine's day.  Guess my skin matches the color of LOVE.  RED!!!  Ouch!

Of course today being Tuesday, I had X-rays taken and met with the nurse and doctor.  As usual, my arm and hand started getting numb.  As I was lying down on the table, a lady said that she was a student in training.  She asked if it was ok if she assisted in my radiation treatment.  Of course you can.  I'm completely amused with the jobs of a radiation therapist and I've flirted with the idea of looking into that career.  I really need to find a new job.  I'm so over mine now.  Anyway, I wish I could remember the girls names but one of the therapists placed my arm above my head.  Then they started adjusting my position to line me up.  The student in training did most of the adjusting which took a little longer than normal.  I thought to myself.  Oh crap I screwed myself today.  My arm is totally going to go numb.  And of course it did.  After I was finally lined up, they must have taken 6 x-rays.  So slow.  I could feel my body wanting to twitch so bad.  Focus Jen, focus.

Finally my radiation treatments began.  At least I know when that happens it's four rounds and I'm done.  It doesn't really take that long.  Once I'm done, I get to put my arm down and today I had to assist my left arm with my right hand.  OUCH!

Afterward, I met with the nurse and Dr. Moulds for a quick looksie.  They both said my skin looked good. I told them I felt good just tired.  So I'm going to take a little nap when I get home.  He told me that was a good idea.

So once I got home, I was making lunch when the doorbell rang.  It rang several times.  I thinking who the heck is at my door ringing my bell like a crazy person.  I peeked out the window and I had no idea who's car was in my driveway.  Whatever.  Then my phone started ringing.  What?  I don't know who is calling me.  Then the doorbell was ringing again.  What the heck?  Then my cell phone was ringing.  Ok, now I know I have a crazy person at the door.  But how do they know both of my phone numbers?  Do I know this person?  Is this an emergency?  I answered my cell.  Turns out it was a girl trying to deliver an edible arrangement.   Wow, all that drama for a delivery.  So I threw on my wig and answered the door, saying sorry, I was asleep.

I got chocolate covered strawberries from Ken and Cody.  How yummy.  Not sure how many will be left by the time they get home.  Ha-ha!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY EVERYONE!!!

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

What a wonderful day !

1st, let me say that I'm so glad that my Birthday fell on Sunday this year.  The last thing I want to do is go to my radiation  treatment today.

The morning started of with little Cody handing me a beautiful bouquet of flowers as he was saying Happy Birthday Mommy.  He's my special little man and he was so proud to give me the flowers.  He wanted to make sure that I knew the flowers were red and pink.  Ken's parents were in town visiting and we all had breakfast together.  Last night Ken's parents watched Cody so that Ken and I could go out to dinner at Clyde's and see Star Wars episode I in 3D.  It's not often we get date nights out so it was fun to celebrate my Birthday with just Ken and I.

After breakfast, I met up with my new friend and pink sister Jen.  I was really looking forward to meeting her.  She had breast cancer 4 years ago and she is a wealth of knowledge as well as a very wonderful person.  She listened to me and offered advice, suggestions and of course reassurance.  One question was about my numb fingers and dead nails.  She told me she lost a few nails and that to this day she still has tingling/numb fingers.  Of course that made me feel better.  I was starting to think that I was making it up in my head but yet hate to realize that the numbness might never go away.

Afterward, I went home and my sister, Wendy came over.  We all had lunch and then......my Birthday Cake!!  So yummy.  Cody sang Happy Birthday to me so loud.  Last year, he barely sung it and this year he was the loudest of the group.  He helped me blow out 100 candles.  Ha-ha!  And I made a wish that of course I hope comes true.  I opened my cards and presents and we all hung out.

So today was a wonderful day.  Happy Birthday to ME!!!

Bed Head

I'm pleased to announce that my hair is finally long enough to have "BED HEAD".  I can tell you before all this ordeal started, bed head in the morning would be quite annoying.  But since I had hair, cut my hair, lost my hair and now growing it back.  Bed head is now completely welcome in my house.

X-rays

Radiation was a bit longer than normal today.  Not only did I have to meet with Dr. Moulds but I had X-rays taken before my appt.  Normally the X-rays don't take to long but the machine seemed to have issues and it took a little longer which meant by the time my radiation began my arm and hand were already completely numb.  That's all I could think about as I was lying there.  Please, don't let my body flinch.  I have to stay still.  Why does my hand feel like a ton of bricks?  It's killing me.  My arm is numb.  I wish I could adjust my arm.  Maybe if I open my hand and close my hand that will help?  Nope.
It was pure agony.  Finally radiation began.  The machine moved around my body and stopped.

1 Mississippi
2 Mississippi
3 Mississippi
4 Mississippi.....
13 Mississippi
Done

Next location stop
1 Mississippi
2 Mississippi
3Mississippi......
15 Mississippi
Done

I finally met with Dr. Moulds.  He was running behind schedule as well.  He said everything looked good so far and asked if I was getting tired faster in the evening.  Yes I am.  He smiled and said that was to be expected.  As long as I get rest, I should be good.  My appointment today was at 10:45am and I finally left the office at noon.  I still had to go grocery shopping.   Man I need a vacation when this is all over.

Update # 21, Power of prayer

A few months ago, my neighbor Katja asked me to come over to her house.  She told me about her Co-worker Jen who had breast cancer 4 years ago at the young age of 26.  She told me she had a blog and shared it with me.  Jen's blog was filled with so much information.  She had her ups and downs and I felt her blog helped me as I traveled along my journey.  Katja then showed me that she created a blog for me in hopes that if I wrote my own feelings/experiences down that it would be helpful to me as well.  I was already jotting down my feelings in a word document and I thought of writing a blog but wasn't quite sure if I wanted to share it with the world.  But I did write to it and I'm so glad I did.  Adding my thoughts even if it was rambling really helped out.   So about 3 weeks ago, I decided to check out Jen's blog to see if she posted anything new.  Unfortunately, she did.  Her post was about her friend Jenn who just found out January 16th that she had breast cancer.  A link to her blog (Not Jenn's cup of tea) was posted.  Sick to my stomach of hearing her news, I quickly went to her blog and read it.  It absolutely broke my heart.  I don't know how old Jenn is but that doesn't matter, what does is that she has a husband, a young daughter and a whole lot of life ahead of her to live.   Cancer is so evil and everyone deserves to live.  I decided to reach out to the 1st Jen who then forwarded me her friends  e-mail address.  I then reached out to Jenn and offered her my support.  Turns out she has triple negative breast cancer like me but her's actually spread to her lung and she's in stage 4 whereas I was in stage 2.  (stages pretty much determine the size of the tumor.)

The good thing about Jenn is she has a huge support system and to me that was the absolute most important part of fighting and beating cancer.  I also believe 100 % that all your prayers helped considerably.  Tomorrow Jenn starts her 1st day of chemo.  Even though I don't know her very well yet, I hope to soon.  So please if you can,  please say a small prayer for her tomorrow morning as she begins the most difficult part of fighting cancer....chemo. 
Her chemo starts around 9:15 am and it should last for 3-4 hours.  I'll be thinking of her all day.
Thank you again for everything.   I'll keep you all posted.
Love you,  Jen

Update, # 20 - Radiation: 5 down, 26 to go.

I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't nervous about my 1st radiation treatment.  In fact I was pacing the house all morning long. I just couldn't stop thinking about what was to come.  Certainly I should know by now that radiation would be so much easier than chemo but it's just the unknown that kills me.  I have to keep re-reminding myself that I kicked cancer's ass and this is just the icing on the cake. 

Monday, January 23, 2012
Ken took me to my 1st appointment which was at 1pm.  We weren't really sure what to expect but figured we'd be in the office awhile. I was glad to have him with me since I was soooo incredibly nervous.  I signed in by scanning my card and the radiation therapist quickly called us back.  She gave me the run down.  Scan your card, get called back, get undressed, wait in the waiting room, get called back again, scan my card again, then state my name and date of birth.  Ok, doesn't sound to hard.  She then told me to get undressed and put a gown on tying in the back.  What?  Already?  She looked at me oddly?  Aren't we going to meet with the doctor?  No, that's tomorrow.  Aren't we going to meet with the nurse to go over what types of lotions or creams I need?  No, that's tomorrow.  Well then, thinking to myself, why is Ken even here?  So what am I doing today besides radiation?  We're going to mark your body with a marker to make sure everything is accurate, take some x-rays and after approval by the doctor, start your 1st radiation treatment.  So I got undressed, scanned my card for the 2nd time and stated my name and date of birth.  She led me back to the table. It's so intimidating.  I started to get nervous.  Ken was watching as the therapist drew on me as she was yelling out numbers to the other therapist.  I could see the laser beams but I had no idea what the numbers meant.  I know every person is different and everyone's cancer is in a different location therefore where they need to radiate would be different from the prior person, therefore, I assume they are calibrating the machine specifically for me.   I guess I should ask more questions.  Anyway, as time went by my arm started getting really numb.  They had it positioned above my head.  In fact my entire body was getting numb.  All I could do was think about not moving and go figure, my hands and legs so badly were on the verge of twitching.  I told the therapist that my body was getting close to moving and she told me to hold it as long as I can otherwise we'll have to start over.  Oh, I so don't want to do that.  She took several x-rays and finally came in and said, Dr. Moulds approved all your x-rays so we're ready to begin your 1st radiation treatment.   Ken left the room.   No one can be there during x-rays and radiation so I was all alone.  Just lying there as the machine rolled around my body.  It would stop in a specific location and make a noise, then stop.  Move to another location, stop and make another noise.  A small tear rolled down my face.  I can't say the "why me" didn't cross my mind as I was lying there.  But I try not to think or say that.  There is a reason I got cancer, I just don't exactly know why yet.  Well, before I knew it I was done.  The therapist said let me help you move your arm and get up.  My arm was paralyzed and it was difficult to sit up.  I've been lying there for approximately 45 min and it was painful.  Not "ouch" pain but numbness and stiffness.  All in all, we were there for 1 hour.  I met ken in the lobby and we went and grabbed lunch.  All I can say is if I compare my 1st radiation treatment to my 1st chemo treatment, hands down, radiation wins.    Super easy!

Tuesday, January 24th
 I wasn't sure how long it would take me to get to Reston Hospital from Tysons Corner so I left work at 3:15 and was at the hospital by 3:40.  I waited for 25 min.  I finally got up and asked the receptionist what time it was.  She said it was 4:05.  My appointment is at 4pm.  She asked if I swiped my card.  Umm, yes like 20 min ago when you looked right at me.  They actually thought I was late.  This  receptionist doesn't seem so bright.  Asking me if i scanned my card when she saw me do it.  There is no one else in the waiting room.  So it's not like she's looking a room full of people.  Ok, so I was a little annoyed.  I just want to get this over with. 

The 2nd treatment was easy and I had a lot of questions for the nurse and Dr. Moulds. 
Nurse:
I recommend Calendula lotion and Aquaphor.  She also went over how to care for my skin and told me around week 3 I should start to see a good amount of redness as well as fatigue.

Dr. Moulds:
He went over my x-rays from yesterday.  That was so cool.  I saw my bones, lungs, heart, spine and where exactly I am being radiated.  I have a total of 31 treatments.  25 cover the underarm, breast, lymph nodes in my chest cavity and 6 specifically targeting my breast.  They have done all the measurements to avoid radiating my heart and he showed me exactly how they are avoiding it on the x-rays.  Modern medicine is truly amazing.   With all the measurements they did yesterday, the machine is calibrated to target those specific areas of my body. 

When I was leaving at 5:15pm, I saw my pretend BFF Heather.  (She was the therapist that did my tattoos a few weeks back.)  I feel really comfortable with her so hopefully she'll be there the next time I go.

Wednesday, January 25th
It's like I'm a robot.  Scan in my card, get undressed, scan in my card, state my name and DOB, lay down on the table, took off my gown, whoops....left my bra on and we all started laughing.  Apparently, lots of women do that.  So funny.   Quick treatment but today she put put some weird wires on me during radiation.  Not sure why and when she explained it, I already forgot it by the time I was driving home.  Guess I'll have to do a google search. 

Thursday, January 26th
Another quick treatment.  Done at 4:10pm  Starting to feel like a sunburn is coming on.  Left breast has a tinglining feeling.  Need to go get the Calendula lotion and aquaphor.  Wishing Whole Foods was a little more convenient to the house.

Friday, January 27th
Moved my appointment from 4pm to 10 am.  Heather was there.  I brought in a picture of little Cody so she could see it.  She and the other ladies said he was so cute.  They told me that there are a lot of moms who bring their kids to treatment because they have no other options.  So they told me I could bring Cody and in fact it might be a good idea so he can see why his mom goes to the doctor everyday.  Even though I don't think Cody will fully understand what the machine is and why I'm at the doctor's office, I think it might be a good idea to show him.    Well, after today's treatment, I went to Whole Foods and finally bought the calendula lotion.  When I got home I put it on the entire treatment area.  Man this stuff works!  Instant cooling and relief. 

So I meant to send this update out on the 27th but time has a way of escaping me these days.  Sorry this post is so long.  The next few shouldn't be.  I now officially have 10 treatments down and 21 more to go.   YEA!!!

Thanks for your continued support.
Lots of love,
Jen

Fatigue

Ok, so I'm driving to my radiation treatment this morning when I realize that I'm just wiped out.  And I'm wondering if the fatigue is setting in or is it all in my head.  You know, the mind can play tricks on you.
I went to work on Monday only to find out that my supervisor was very ill over the weekend.  Then my co-worker Jenn was off too.  With similar symptoms and these symptoms were bad.  Lots of vomiting and diarrhea.  I was off work on Tuesday (regular day off) and came back on Wednesday only to find out that another co-worker wasn't feeling so hot.  OK, now I'm starting to worry.  Is there something in the office that's getting everyone sick cause I just can't get sick right now.  I'm mean back in the day, I would certainly take on the common cold just to take a sick day from work but in the last 7 months I've been off more than I care to be and certainly don't want to get so sick that I can barely make it to my radiation treatments.   So everyone who's sick,   PLEASE Stay Away!!!

So of course fast forward to today.  No throwing up.  No sickness.  Just plain tired.  I know the radiology therapists said to expect fatigue and if I feel it, to rest.   But a girl who's use to being on the go all the time has a hard time sitting still and resting but today my body is surely slowing down toward exhaustion.  So I guess I'll have to put my chores aside and rest.

Breast Cancer support group

Tonight I went to my Y-me, breast cancer support group.  All month long I was excited about going.  Today I was feeling so tired and a little off.  I thought should I skip tonight and rest?  But I really wanted to go.  I wanted to see the ladies that inspired me so much last month.  So I jumped in the car and headed to Reston.  I was just in Reston 2 hours earlier for radiation.  Luckily it's about a 15 min ride from the house.  When I got there, the session already started. I was only about 3 min late but man there were a ton of ladies tonight.  17 total.  Last month I think there were only 7.  A new lady showed up tonight.  She was just diagnosed 2 weeks ago.  She came to hear what we had to say.  I guess a way to somewhat prepare her for the start of her journey.  When I found out that I had cancer everything happened so fast.  I was in shock and disbelief.  There was no way I could have gone to a breast cancer support group.  I would have been a crying mess.  But this girl had her girlfriend with her and she seemed strong.  Hopefully she will come next month and we can hear about her experience.  Or, she might be to sick to join us. 

So I feel like I got a lot from this meeting.  More girls meant more information and they started off with Lymphedema (limb swelling).  I missed a small part of this conversation.  They were talking about research showing that flying in an airplane could cause that for breast cancer survivors.  And that you might have to wear a pressure sock when flying.  I'll have to do research but I think my doctor said that I shouldn't get lymphedema since I only had a total of 5 lymph nodes taken during surgery.

Anyway, they discussed cotton clothing and bras which are helpful during radiation.  They discussed exercising.  Yoga was at the top of the list. 

One of the most inspiring moments to me was one lady was sporting her very short do.  She finished chemo August 14th and she looked great.  Her hair was probably 1 1/2 - 2 inches long and she had such a cute barette in her hair.  I know everyone's hair grows at different rates but she looked so alive and happy.  She inspired me to snap out it.  If I exercise a little and loose my weight, I'll be getting back to my normal self.  And even if my hair is super short, I know I can make it look cute with a little effort.  

Another good therapy session and I look forward to my March meeting.