Adele and me

I finally got my walk up Mauao on Saturday

I had a bit of a tough week, constantly tired and wondering how on earth I was going to cope with radiation tiredness on top of the post chemo hangover. As I was leaving work on Friday afternoon I suddenly realised I was feeling great. You could even say "full of beans". It made me realise exactly how tired I'd been feeling lately, worse than when I was actually having chemo.

I had a little dance off in my house to celebrate because I figured out that it was exactly 3 weeks after my last chemo session. Those clever doctors who tell you it will take just as many weeks as your treatment to recover were bang on!

So Saturday morning, still feeling great and with the threat of rain holding off I decided I would drive to the Mt and walk around it. By the time I got there, a bit of blue sky was peaking thru the clouds and I thought since I was feeling pretty good I may as well just go up. The many layers slowly came off, the steps got harder, the voice in my head repeating like a mantra "You..are... so...stupid...what...the...hell...were...you...thinking" I had 3 stops, all timed to be no longer than 15-30 seconds because any longer would have given me the chance to call it quits and go back down. Super happy when I made it to the top and although my time of 29 minutes and 36 seconds (including breaks) is slow it was quicker than the first time Kaye M and I started on our twice weekly efforts many years ago. Hurrah for me. 3 weeks post chemo and almost 5 months post surgery.

My dance off was to Adele's "Send my love", I could have videoed it and put it on here, but some things should not be shared, especially dance moves in your trackies with no hat on to cover your almost bald, dandelion fuzz head. I know I was amazing!

Top of the Mount

Bizarro side effects

So I was looking forward to improvements and being able to leap buildings in a single bound exactly 7 days after my last chemo, because usually by Wednesdays I'm starting to feel perkier. 

Not happening! It is now exactly 13 days since I had my last chemo and not only am I not leaping buildings in a single bound but I am still feeling tired, have had no "I'm feeling quite perky now" days and to top it all off I now have weird bruising under my left big toe nail, my right big toe is starting to do the same thing and my right middle toe nail has just shown a bruise underneath as well

When the first one started to appear I thought maybe I'd dropped a bit of firewood on my foot a few days ago and forgot about it, then when my right big toe started hurting too I thought ok, I would have remembered dropping something on both big toes -maybe this is chemo related. So I googled it and looked at the drug info and YES it is a thing, and blogs are full of people talking about their weird chemo toenails and sometimes the toe/finger nails drop off and sometimes they grow back weird and sometimes they STAY that way. 

Now I'm sitting here thinking "ARE YOU BLOODY KIDDING ME!" I'm supposed to be full of the joys of no chemo treatment and having a break from any treatment until Radiation starts and instead I'm really hacked off.  

I'm also thinking maybe they added some happy juice to my chemo and now I'm off it I'm back to my usual grumpy arse self

Yes there are photos of my toes and you know you want to look

My bruised toenails
This is for you John, payback for tagging me on the spider video!

2 whole weeks - no treatment! Whoop whoop

 I had my radiation appointment on Tuesday. First to sign consent forms then the grand tour followed by photos and measurements and my 3 little dot tattoos. [I asked and you can't choose what you get] and the CT scan

It's impossible not to laugh when you are lying in a weird position, on your back, arms back above your head - propped up with the aid of an arm rest contraption, head in a sponge cradle while someone is drawing round the outline of your boob droop with a marker pen and 2 others have their rulers out measuring all sorts of droopage and skin folds and distance between your armpit and the edge of the machine. Then to top it off they tape wires to your boobs where you've been marked so it will show up on the CT scan and you're expected to lie still. 

The staff as always explain everything before hand and so I gave them warning that I was very likely to start laughing at some point and was told "That's ok, we don't mind laughter, you just can't move when you go into the scanner." 

The point at which I started laughing was when I thought to myself I feel like a chicken on a roast spit doing a synchronised swimmer impression.

Imagine lying there with marker pen all over you, bits of wire taped to your boobs, rulers being held up against you, having to look up at the ceiling, [no picture on the ceiling by the way] trying not to move and the conversation between the medical staff going something like this "13cm from the chin", "10 on the side" "I've got 5 - what's on your side", "Be sure to get the scars"

I also got told that not only can I not put any weight on, I can't lose any either. I've got to stay exactly the same as I was on Tuesday until the radiation treatment is done. They will now be doing all the calculations based on what they've done that day and they can't have it all thrown out by weight gain/loss 

The tattoos are just 3 tiny black dots like freckles, one in the middle of my chest, in the "gap" and one on each boob in line with that. That involves a bit of ink put on top of the marks drawn by the marker pen and then a needle pushed in thru it, very quick. I was told it would be a bit like a bee sting but it wasn't that bad, more like a bit of a pinch.

I am still feeling tired a week after chemo has ended so a bit peeved that I'm not feeling perkier by now. On the other hand feeling great that since I had my herceptin treatment today I now get a whole 2 weeks of no treatment at all before radiation starts on 4th August

So lovely to be able to cross that off the list and we had a family dinner out on Wednesday to celebrate

Synchronised swimming or chicken on a spit?

My boob mapping, including boob droopage and tatts

Can't touch this!

After 12 weeks I am done with chemo...

mic drop!

No more weekly blood tests, no more chemo day pill taking regime. [4 drugs, 7 pills, some with food, some no food, 1 exactly 1 hour before chemo]

I got greeted by my chemo Nurse Jenny today with a giant balloon animal from Margo and Patsy delivered to the Cancer Centre. Little bit of vein hiding again but Jenny got one and plain sailing from there. 

The MC Hammer song popped into my head as I was leaving and I did a little happy dance sitting in my car before I drove off. 

I am back next week for Herceptin only, it is still thru a vein but it will only take about 40 minutes, and then that's just once every 3 weeks until April 2017

On Tuesday I have an appointment with the radiation specialist and to have a CT scan so they can start their calculations for zapping me. I'll still have 3-4 weeks break after today before I get started on the next phase.

I have high expectations that my energy will be back to normal within a week and I'm aiming to get back up the Mount next weekend. Then again I used to say "We'll be biking to the Mount and running up it in no time" so stop laughing now Kaye M!

Not sure how I'll go with being back to the normal routine, 3 day weekends have been great, even if I haven't been able to do much. But OMG excellent timing with Wimbledon on, I have had the best excuse ever for lazing on the couch and binge watching tennis recorded from the night before. 

I am feeling great, hope I don't jinx myself but feeling incredibly lucky not a single vom in 12 weeks. I just have to put up with a bit of feeling tired the next few days which is nothing. Also tried some great shampoo and conditioner my sister Shirley got me from Aussie "FarmaVita - Kliss" and while the itch hasn't gone completely it is much better

I've had lots of messages and words of encouragement and dinners with the family this week and more gifts delivered by Mum and the TGA sisters today so feeling very spoilt. 

Relaxing candles and
frangipani room scent

Last chemo!

Molly not too sure about
this strange animal