Wow talking about striking contrasts…I was feeling so Zen yesterday. I was too Zen to write. I had a great week of working every day (not full days but every day and starting to feel useful again!) and even having a first time meeting with an alumnus for the first time since diagnosis in March. I didn’t want to get myself run down so worked 9-12 in the office, sometimes I ran over, and also here and there remotely in the afternoons.
I decided in my “spare time” to not try to do all the things, which tends to be my default. Probably most people are the same. Anyway, I very intentional about “doing less” to avoid getting run down. So I worked in the morning and allowed myself one other thing in the afternoons – an errand one day, cooked chili one day, and rode my horse a couple days. I did some bedtime yoga at night and managed to get really good rest and feel sort of back on a routine, which was so nice!! Then on Sunday I rode out in the hay fields, got a manicure, talked to my mom, got a therapeutic massage, and took an Epsom salt bath ahhhh! Seriously excellent day. Don’t I look happy and healthy?
Good thing because: then today happened. Okay so really, it wasn’t all that horrible. But it kinda sucked. I woke up earlier than I meant to thanks to daylight savings and then almost overslept my appointment with my medical oncologist. But I made it and my pal Melissa 💕 was patiently waiting for me when I arrived at the Cancer Institute. Got my vitals checked and then to a room. All was going fine and I was being all positive and such and then my medical oncologist came in and looked at my skin and said I was ready to start the next treatments – oral chemo and a hormone blocker. For some reason I thought I’d have a little more of a break but, I said okay tell me about that. For what will hopefully be “only” the next 24 weeks I’m taking 4 tablets 2x a day of this drug called Xeloda for two weeks on/then I have a week off. I knew about this and knew that some people get “hand and foot syndrome” from it but I hadn’t really researched it much because I have found, much like keeping up with the news these days, researching cancer causes me more anxiety than comfort or clarity in the way of solutions. Anyway, my doc made it sound like it’s a matter of when not if I get either the syndrome or one of the other more common side effects – at that point I need to hold on the chemo and we wait until my hands and feet (or mouth or gut) heal then restart at a lower dose.
Doesn’t that sound fun? I know. I’m gonna post pics of the other glorious side effects that may or may not have been part of me bursting into tears waiting at the DCI pharmacy for my drugs. Luckily, Melissa had left (I hate to cry in front of people!) and there’s a quiet room nearby where I went to breathe and chill while I waited. 
So many side effects…hoping to avoid most!!
Also I start Tamoxifen which I understand I’m to take for TEN YEARS. I almost never use all caps but it seemed appropriate.
So there’s that.
I also had to get some bloodwork as I’ll be doing more regularly as I go to my oncologist at least every three weeks for the next 24.
In other news, dark chocolate Twix are really good. So is my vegetarian chili. Also my dogs decided to go take a nap together in Sister’s crate with the door open. So cute!!
Thanks for the update, Sandra. The name of an old show, “This is your life” just popped into my head. I did not realize the Xeloda was going to be for that long. Damn!
I wish our dogs were such good friends as yours. 🙂 Very heartwarming.