Wednesday, March 10, 2010

So it wasn't the radiation after all

Cooper and Bob have both since come down with all the lovely (not) intestinal symptoms I have been reporting - nausea and the other craziness - so we now know it wasn't the radiation causing it. We've all come down with the nasty stomach flu that's been sweeping the country. I STILL have it - it's been over three weeks for me now. Cooper came down with it a week ago and he's MUCH better now. Bob came down with it earlier this week and came home early from work because of it. I also had a head cold last week on top of the stomach flu. Frankly, between those two illnesses and the radiation fatigue I don't know how I managed to even function the past couple of weeks. Oh wait, I know - yet another miracle of God's doing. That's the only explanation I can come up with and I'm sticking with it. Dr.Z told me yesterday that if my stomach flu symptoms aren't better by the end of the week I will need to see a GI specialist to make sure everything is OK. Lovely. He recommended I get back on probiotics and Immodium to help things along. Check. On the plus side, I've dropped an extra ten pounds from the stomach flu. I'm down 21 pounds since mid-December - isn't that insane!? I now weigh about 5 lbs less than I did on my wedding day. I had to diet and exercise for something like 6 months to lose that amount of weight by the wedding and here I am not making any deliberate changes whatsoever since finishing chemo in December and dropping that weight in less than 12 weeks. Crazy! Well, as soon as my digestive track is normal I'm sure I'll put most of that weight back on when I'm able to eat normally again. In fact, I think I'll get started on that today at lunch because I'm meeting a couple of girlfriends at an organic burger place I just found out about down in West Hollywood. I plan to eat whatever I want (since they're 100% organic there) and I don't care if that means spending the following 10 hours in the bathroom haha. So a recalibrated list of radiation side effects includes: 1) Lymphedema, 2) fatigue, and 3) burns - very minor thus far. Dr. Z looked at my skin yesterday and said I'm doing far better than most at this point in treatment. I've completed 26 treatments and have 7 more to go. I praise God for the numerous miracles in my life every single day.

1 comment:

Steve and Amy Beth said...

I am praising God with you, Julie, for the many miracles He has bestowed upon you and your family! Knowing how to see the many miracles He gives to us is such a blessing in and of itself and you readily recognize these wonderful gifts. Hope that stinky stomach bug is G-O-N-E asap!