The Adventures of Toby the Ta-Ta Tumor

I am now just over three weeks post-radiation.  It is very nice not to have to make the daily trip to the cancer center, but at the same time I feel a little bit like a lost soul wandering around without a purpose. I am still recovering from treatment and, in fact, it will take several more weeks before I start to feel my energy returning.  Ugh.  Some days, I barely have enough energy to move from the bedroom to the couch, and I can only last about 15 minutes doing anything that requires any level of exertion (my poor garden is a mess!).  If I overdo it, bring on the nausea!  Couple with "chemo-brain", the whole situation is not what I expected and is very frustrating to say the least. The good news is that my skin is healing up nicely - I only have one "hot spot" left to heal. This week also brought some sort of flu bug into our house, complete with nausea, diarrhea, aches, sore throat, cough, chills and fever.  When my fever spiked at 38.6, it was time to...

 After 6 months and 10 days, 8 rounds of chemotherapy and 30 radiation sessions, I am very happy to report that the active treatment phase of my recovery plan has concluded!  My final radiation session was today.  I will continue to "cook" for the next couple of weeks, and my skin to continue to burn and blister.  The related fatigue will also get worse before it gets better.  I have a couple of pretty bad radiation burns on my neck, one under my arm and another under my breast. They are rather uncomfortable, akin to a severe second degree burn, and they hurt on the skin surface and on the inside. Doesn't matter, though - I am FINALLY done! While this doesn't hold true for everyone, for me I can say that the cure is worse than the disease.  I did not feel sick at all - only a little bit tired - when I discovered Toby.  The three phases of my recovery plan (surgery, chemo, radiation), left me scarred, burned and fatigued with lingering neuropathy in my ...