Finished With Radiation!

Friday, July 7: Well, it has been a very long time since I have updated. I have stuggled with keeping up with the things that take my concentration for a long time. I feel like I am getting back to normal though. I can finally read a book and I have read a few here lately. Radiation went well and seemed to fly by. I did get some redness and itchiness to the radiated area but I did get some prescription cream and that helped a lot. I am now only doing the herceptin every three weeks. That takes about 30 minutes to administer so it is not a big deal at all. I went to my family doctor for a check up and my blood pressure was really low. So much so that when I breathed deeply I would get dizzy. I was also getting lightheaded and dizzy at other times as well. I didn't know if it had to do with radiation or what. I was getting a little concerned and was thinking about asking for an MRI. We cut my BP meds to a half a pill and was told to come back in 3 weeks. At that time my blood pressure was still in the low normal range so I went off of it completely. I am now only on medicine for heartburn caused by chemo. I have tried to go off of this but I still get indigestion really bad so I haven't gotten off that one yet. All of my dizziness and lightheadedness went away and that gives me such a relief. The only issues that I have coming up is a doctors appointment with a new gynocologist on the 17th. I am going to discuss with her about getting my ovaries removed. Ovaries are the main producer of estrogen and I need as little of that as possible since the cancer was hormone positive. In my research I have found that removing the ovaries gives you a 50% increase of the cancer not coming back. Chemotherapy gave me a 13% so I figured if chemo was 13% then I should surely do the treatment that would add on another 50%. I also have my echo at the end of this month to make sure the herceptin is not harming my heart.
I feel like I have emerged from my "ugly period" in the last few weeks. My hair is continueing to grow. I got my first hair cut to shape it a little bit. I still will not go without the wig though. I colored it myself and I colored it red because Robert wanted me to. He likes it but everybody else..the kids and me..thinks it is hideous. My eyebrows have grown back and they are darker than they were. Not too happy about that. They need to be shaped but the girl who waxes Allisons said to wait a little longer to make sure they are all in. I love my eyelashes. They are longer and it seems that I have a lot more than I did before chemo. I know that my bottom lashes are longer and thicker. I have joined a gym and I am starting to work out to get off the weight that the steriods put on. You would think that after the steroids were over then it would come off but that does not seem to be the case. I have started working again. I can work up to about 3 shifts a week and was doing really well and then I had a speed rack run over my foot. These are tall, (taller than me..which is why the person pushing it couldn't see me and ran me over) metal carts that hold about 15 trays on each side. It hit the back of my heel and then my foot went under the cart, twisting really bad. I couldn't work the rest of the night and was taken to a medical facility by Bellagio. I was out of work for 3 weeks trying to let it heal. It is still sore and I have to wear an ankle brace at times and definitely when I am working. I haven't worked very much since then. This is the slow time for us and there is usually only about 1, maybe 2 shifts a week anyway. So that is about it. I am glad that I don't have all the radiation and weekly chemo going on and have returned to a more normal life!