One Month Free from Treatment

At this point since I have finished treatment, and cancer is potentially behind me. I plan on keeping this blog updated with my recovery from treatment. Mainly of my arm(which does have a long way to go), and the general recovery from chemo. My big goal right now is to be ready to go to school in the fall. The question with my arm is whether the cadaver will fuse. If it doesn't, I will have surgery; which will need to be moved up to avoid missing a few weeks of school. I just hope my next tests show a lot of improvement.

My last day of treatment was March 21st. Now that I'm about one month free from chemo; here are my thoughts:

It's going to take a while to heal. During the last three cycles I often imagined what recovery would be like. At first I thought it would be a lot like it was when I had my break before surgery. In that one month break I recovered pretty well, and felt really well by the end of it. I mean,  I felt so good that I was jogging on the treadmill during that break. But as I got through these last three cycles I began to doubt that idea. Mainly because the side effects were much more severe during this period. I quickly began to realize that my body was going to get broken down like never before. And now that I'm one month out, I can verify that this was correct. 

At this point the side effects that I have are the side effects that I have dealt with since the beginning. The more acute things like mouth-sores, reflux, bone pain, and nausea are gone. The main side effects that I have right now are listed below.

-Hair loss. I just started noticing a little bit of stubble on the top of my head. Other than that the entirety of my body is bald with the exception of a few eyebrow hairs, and my very patchy lower legs. The extreme hair loss from my chemo regimen is definitely real. I lost about 95% of my hair.

-Fatigue. My hemoglobin was low on my last test, but I can't blame it all on that. Let's face it I'm very out of shape. This is the most out of shape I will probably ever be in my life. One weird thing to note is that throughout my chemo treatment I actually gained weight. I gained about 5 lbs. But I did lose a lot of muscle. I especially notice it in my legs. My lower leg is basically all bone. There isn't much muscle there anymore, and I also have stretch marks on my hips. The other day I wanted to see how  high I could jump, and it was pretty sad. I barely got net, and almost hurt myself on the landing. My shins couldn't take the impact at all, forcing me to collapse when I came down. I won't be trying that again for a while. Once it starts getting consistently nice outside I will start walking. 

-Neuropathy. My fingertips are still numb. I'm not sure if it has improved at all in this time off. It's especially bad when I wake up in the morning, or when I go out in the cold. To add to this I also have very brittle fingernails. I have lots of ridges on them. Keeping them as short as possible is key right now.

These things will improve. The question is....how long?, and that's what I'll be documenting along the way. With all that I've been through, these symptoms that I still have are no big deal to me. I feel so blessed everyday to be given this second chance at life, and that overshadows how I feel physically.

I almost forgot to mention this. I'm getting my port out today. I can't wait to get this thing out. It did it's job really well, but if I'm not using it, then I gotta lose it. I considered keeping it in for three months, but I feel like keeping it in is like telling the cancer that, "I'm ready for another game." And I don't want that at all. I'm retired, and I hope that I don't ever have to come out of retirement.

Lastly, keep my friend Greg Hamilton in your prayers as he continues to battle sarcoma. Also keep all of the other people battling sarcoma in your prayers as well. If you have the chance please like this page on Facebook to support him. https://www.facebook.com/chemocozy

Have a happy Easter!

edit: I just missed out on posting this before my surgery today. The port removal went well. I'm really tired right now, but not too nauseous.