I finally got my wish … a day off from cancer. For the first time in a long, long time, I had a day without pain.
No bone pain. No neuropathy. No chest pain. Not even any side effects.
In fact, I haven’t had significant chest pain in just over two weeks. As the tumor has shrunk, the heaviness in my breast has lightened accordingly. It’s no longer swollen, no longer red and angry, no longer a weight to carry around with me every day, reminding me all the time that there is cancer there. The cancer seems more manageable now, somehow, mostly in the skin, with only a smallish additional heavy area where there was solid tumor.
It’s easier to manage daily life now. To spoonfeed my infant, and to pick him up afterwards. To read my older boy story after story, holding up even the heaviest of books with that arm. To say yes, of course, if either boy needs a lift, a change, a cuddle. And that gives me great confidence that I’m beating this thing. That I we will prevail over this cancer.
Yesterday, we had a day off from cancer. I felt good, and we took full advantage of it: a trip to a museum, a lunch out, and homemade dinner and dessert at home. It was wonderful, and just the thing I needed before stepping back on the merry-go-round (roller coaster?) that is chemo. This morning, I’ll head back into the infusion unit for another dose and steel myself against the possibility of neuropathy’s return. If it does, we’ll have to revisit the idea of changing chemotherapy. If it doesn’t, then we’re on the road to finishing chemo this year and surgery in January. I’m praying that it doesn’t.
While I’m off to chemo today, perhaps you’d like to visit Daring Young Mom and get a first-hand look at the aftermath of the floods in Washington. She’s doing some hands-on work over there and it’s something everyone should know about. There’s also a new review going up today at Review Planet: That Baby DVD.
Posted in breast cancer, motherhood
Keep up the good work.
