First of all, I was so very relieved to learn I do not need chemotherapy. My oncologist ordered a special test of my cancer cells, called a Mammaprint test, that determined with high confidence that chemo would not be beneficial to the type of cancer I had. Whew! Thank goodness for that! Y'all have no idea how awful my head would look without hair. We all dodged a bullet there!
Secondly, I am now on hormone therapy. This is a systemic treatment that prevents any lingering cancer cells that might be roaming around in my body from growing. The medication I have to take for the next five years, called Tamoxifen, blocks the uptake of estrogen by specific cells in my body (including cancer cells). So I still produce estrogen, but now some of my cells no longer respond to it. This is great for preventing cancer metastases, but can also have some undesirable side effects. I've been on TamoxiFUN (as I like to call it) for two weeks now and have had several hot flashes (thank goodness it's the middle of winter and I can just go outside and lie down in a snowbank), but that effect seems to be lessening each day. I've also experienced some insomnia (which I'm combating by changing the time of day I take my pill), and feeling more emotional than usual. These have been minor effects, and hopefully will diminish over time.
Thirdly, and most awesomely, my new boobs and I are doing a fabulous job of kicking ass and getting back into shape. Since I was cleared to resume running just over two weeks ago, I have run 54 miles. The miles are slow, and the first several runs were laborious (read: I thought I was going to die), but I am getting back into a nice groove and each run feels just a teeny tiny bit easier.
This is good because as soon as I found out I wouldn't need chemo, I signed up for the Donna Breast Cancer Half Marathon on February 10. That's right; my stupid ass decided that running a half marathon only three months after a double mastectomy would be a great idea. So far, the longest run I have managed is 6 miles. And there's just over one month until the race. You do the math. *eyelid twitches*
I have returned to lifting weights as well! This is very exciting for me, as my arms were beginning to turn to jelly from lack of use. The occupational therapist who measured my arms before and after surgery (to make sure I didn't develop lymphedema) felt it necessary to comment on the fact that my arms had actually gotten smaller since surgery due to muscle atrophy.
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| Actual video footage of my arm 5 weeks after surgery. |
But now I am back to lifting weights, albeit nowhere near as heavy as I was lifting before surgery (yet). My first few sets of push-ups were standing up with my hands against a wall, which was quite humbling when I was used to doing them the normal way. I'm not quite back to doing them one-handed yet, but I imagine I'll be able to do that any day now. *looks shifty*
As far as how I'm feeling overall: I feel excellent. I have no pain, and my range of motion is pretty much back to normal. I have to be careful because I feel like I can do a lot more than I probably should at this point in my recovery. It is a delicate balance between listening to my body, and listening to my doctors.
I am also really looking forward to going back to work. January 7 is the big day, and it will be so great to get back to my normal routine. Although it was nice being able to accomplish so much at home these last eight weeks, such as giving the cats the nearly constant snuggling they so rightfully deserve, and watching seven seasons of The Office. Oh, and I also built an entire Hogwarts castle from Legos (a wonderful Christmas gift from Aaron)! Seriously! Look!
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| Hogwarts, Hogwarts, hoggy warty Hogwarts, teach us something please! |
The cats are going to be pissed.
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