Skip to main content

More than halfway there!

Today was radiation treatment #17 out of 33--I've passed the halfway mark!
http://keywordsuggest.org/gallery/59665.html

To celebrate I had an acupuncture treatment. Well not exactly to celebrate-I scheduled this a while ago, but it felt like a celebration. I read (or perhaps I was told?) that acupuncture would help with radiation fatigue and Dr. Vanessa McKay-Barr, the acupuncturist, told me to get a treatment before I was fatigued. So I did.

I've had acupuncture before, but not like this-this was amazing! She spent about 30 minutes asking me questions related to my health. Most of the usual questions (any illness, high blood pressure, etc.) and then off we went into the treatment room. Her treatment room is basically an exam room with an acupuncture table in it. She not only put needles in my legs, feet and arms, but also my ear! and my belly. Then she put an infrared heat lamp on my feet and left me for a while.

I drifted off into a place that I can only describe as a cross between meditation and sleep. It was wonderful. At the end of the 30-minute treatment I felt great. And I still feel great.

I showed up for my haircut in a happy fog.

So far I'm not feeling fatigued from the radiation. Not everyone gets fatigue, or so I'm told. I'm lucky in that I'm healthy (except of course that I've been diagnosed with early stage breast cancer, so there's that!) and I'm working out, eating and sleeping well.

Tomorrow I see Jenna, the exercise physiologist, to go over my workouts.

And today Louise (God bless Louise!) ordered me lunch so that between radiation (11:30 - 12ish) and acupuncture (12:30) I wouldn't starve. Love the folks at The Bruce and Andrea Yablon Cancer Health and Wellness Program.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"The Waiting is the Hardest Part" RIP Tom Petty

Okay, so I used that as a title in August-who knew that Tom Petty, a man younger than me (who apparently didn't know the rules: people younger than I am aren't supposed to die!) would die ! And actually, at this point, waiting isn't the hardest part. Healing is the hardest part. Every day I feel a little bit stronger, just enough to be dangerous. I'm almost "back to normal" and I just want to resume my "normal" life. As if life can ever be normal once you've learned that you have cancer. I'm still very sore but most of the bruising of the left breast is gone; the right breast is having a harder time of it. My sister drove from PA to spend the day with Anne and me yesterday. It was a wonderful visit.  I had a chance to ask her all the questions I had about radiation. She looks good and is feeling better, so that's encouraging. We had a great lunch at 105Ten in Briarcliff Manor. (Clever name, right? A take-off on the zip code). T...
6 comments
Read more

I feel like I was stepped on by an elephant

who kicked me in the sternum on his way out. Other than that, I'm fine! Seriously, I'm basically tired. I thought I was tired on Saturday, I had no idea what tired even means!! I slept nearly all day Sunday. But the good news is that I'm off the Tylenol and codeine. Tylenol alone is enough to deal with the pain. And I've been able to shower each day and wash my hair, which at least makes me feel somewhat human. Oh, and to add to the fun, I have some kind of rash (Anne thinks it's poison ivy, I think it isn't but I don't know what it is) that itches like mad. Me with pillow and bear And I have enough concentration to read- Glass Houses by Louise Penny. I'm enjoying it immensely. Maybe in a few days I can read The Thinking Woman's Guide to Breast Cance r -- just not now. I am so lucky--friends have dropped off food, delivered a beautiful stuffed bear (thank you Matt and Suzanne!!), sent cards, called and basically "been there....
6 comments
Read more

Cancer...there I've said it.

I had a bone density test this morning. When I registered I was given a "profile" form to complete. I was going along, happily checking "yes" and "no" until I came to a list of things you could have, and I had to check "cancer." And when the technician asked me if there had been any medical changes since my last bone density test, I said yes, I have been diagnosed with breast cancer. Saying it out loud makes it real. My sister Gini told me how hard it was to go to the "cancer center" every day for her treatments, and she posted that she was " processing the fact that the word cancer is part of my life now and forever." I now know exactly what she means.
4 comments
Read more