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.

Glowing - no, exhausted - yes: Radiation side effects

Today I had radiation treatment #18 (out of 33). I started seeing some side effects last week. First, the skin is a very light shade of pink - not too bad - and it is starting to feel a little tight. It doesn't bother me throughout the day but when I lay on the radiation machine "couch" and put my arms above my head I feel it then and the position is just not as comfortable and tolerable as it was previously. Not terrible though and that should gradually worsen as I get further along. The radiation induced exhaustion hit me this past weekend, like a brick wall. I am so glad Bob was home when it did because he was able to take charge of Cooper for me whenever I needed to lay down and he let me sleep in and get naps in each day which I really needed and appreciated. It's a different kind of exhaustion than the chemo fatigue, but equally annoying. Another lovely (NOT) side effect that started around the same time as the others I just mentioned is in the digestive department. I'm not going into details but it's not uncommon for adjacent areas of the body (such as the stomach) to be effected by the radiation beams. Even with tomotherapy which is more precise and targeted, there can be "scatter" radiation to parts close by. Dr.Z said some people get nausea, others get what I have gotten, while yet others get both or none. Yeahhhh...not liking it. I was (still am) hoping that it's a stomach bug and not the radiation because I can't imagine this continuing for the rest of the treatment duration and/or longer - not fun. Bob handed me an over the counter remedy which I started taking last night so hopefully it will help. Ah the joys! ;/ My arm is doing well and seems to be responding to the compression and drainage therapy I'm doing. I'm super sick of wearing this thick compression gadget on my arm and hand though and last night I swapped it out for the firm compression sleeve and glove that is used for maintenance because it was driving me crazy. I need to put the other thing back on but I have to wash and dry some of the parts first. The items that make up the contraption are pricey so I only have one to work with and I end up wearing it for 3-4 days and then need to wash them but they take forever to dry (can't go in the dryer) which is great in that it feels great to not have it on but it's not great in that it's time I'm not compressing the arm as much as it needs to be while I wait for the wash and dry to finish. Eventually I need to buy a 2nd and 3rd set of some of the pieces but right now I just don't want to part with the money. My PT'ist/Lymphedema specialist says that the arm is looking much better and responding well to treatment so I'm quite happy and relieved about that. Love and blessings to everyone, Julie