Ladies and gentlemen, I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am. I am in the final DAYS of being done with cancer treatment.
I can’t believe I’ve gone through 4 weeks of radiation already. It’s gone by so fast and I love the girls who administer my daily dose of radiation. They are so funny and sweet and they feel like real friends. I will miss them when this is all over. My breast itself is doing okay. It’s red, swollen, cracking and painful. My nipple and aureola are much darker than normal and it’s cracking in the grooves. Usually if I leave my breast alone, meaning no bra, no contact, it doesn’t feel too bad. But with baby girl, it ends up getting a lot of contact. One time she hit it so hard, I saw stars. I think she knew she hurt me, but I tried to act normal so she wouldn’t cry.
Life is getting better.
When all of this first started, hubby began picking up extra shifts so we could make ends meet. He’s been able to cut down on some hours and we’ve basically cut out all unnecessary spending. For us, it meant that I started cooking even more than I already was. Some days have been harder for me to get myself together in the kitchen, so I’ve been relying heavily on my slow cooker. My mom even bought me a second one so that if I was unable to wash one up, I could use this other one to get food on the table. It’s actually worked out really well. I think I am becoming a slow cooker addict. LOL!
The rest of the house chores are not coming along as well. I’m still getting tired more easily and something that would normally take me an hour to do, takes me 2-3 now. I’m hoping that will all change after next week is done. Before I would try and get some things done when baby girl was taking her naps, but now I find I have to nap with her too. It’s not such a bad life, but I feel bad when hubby comes home and the house is still a wreck. (Especially when he’s had a 13 hour day!)
Lately I’ve become obsessed with frugal living websites. I think it helps keep me on track and inspired about ways to live more with less. A lot of the bloggers/readers keep lists of things they’ve done to save money for the week and I think it’s a good idea. Even though the main part of my treatment will be done, I’m supposed to go on more medications and visit with a physical therapist to work on my lymphedema issues. Unfortunately we’re still going to have medical bills coming in. Sometimes I come across across other patients who don’t have insurance and I think about how lucky I am that my bills are not totally outrageous. I can’t even think of how they can sleep at night knowing their medical bills could easily be in the $100k range. All because they were unlucky and like me got cancer.
That thought brings me back to the memory of this woman I met recently. She’s young like I am, but she’s in a very bad place. She was 6 months pregnant when I met her, and she was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. Her medical team told her that if she didn’t start treatment right away, she would probably only have 8 months to live. The problem was that she would have to abort her baby to start treatment. I was also under the impression that she did have other children. Can you imagine having to make such an awful decision? About a week or so later, I ran into a mutual acquaintance, and this lady told me that the stage 4 patient decided to keep the baby. My heart broke for her. No matter what decision she made, there was going to be heartbreak. I really hope her team was wrong with their assessment of her case.
Today, I am so thankful to be here, to be alive and thriving. Hubby and I are still trying to incorporate healthier eating into our lives. We’ve both been very bad with the exercise lately so we’re hoping to try and increase what we do. Baby girl is still so sweet and growing like a weed. For the most part, I’m very happy. Hubby and I are thinking of a way we can celebrate the end of my treatment together. Maybe we will do a day trip to Napa or even spend the night away. Hmmmm…lots of good things to think about.
Family Life in the Fast Lane 