Radiation Day 6 & 7 of 20

Today marked my seventh treatment. I didn’t post yesterday because I was having too much fun and didn’t have time!

Both of my treatments went as usual except that they were running a little behind yesterday and today. Not sure what was going on (maybe it’s all those non-flat back people!), but both yesterday and today I probably didn’t go back to start my treatment until nearly 4:15 PM. But despite that delay, my treatments went quickly and I was in and out. Yesterday I was probably there from 3:55 PM until 5:20 PM. Today I was there from 3:50 PM until about 4:45 PM.

Side effects

Again, not much to report on this front. I haven’t felt nearly as tired the last couple of days, so I really think it was my cold with the radiation that was making me feel so fatigued. The treated area definitely feels different. I don’t have any visible skin changes yet, but I do get some sharp pains every once and awhile and it is a little more painful. But the pain is maybe a 1 on a scale of 10.

This may also be because I’ve been sick, but I’ve noticed from my watch data that my HRV has been trending lower. This might be partly due to my cold as well. It’ll be interesting to see how that does or doesn’t change over the next few weeks. I saw an improvement after I stopped chemo and now it’s back down again.

In terms of my chemo side effects, those are probably almost gone now. My hair seems to have stopped shedding and I’ve resumed my daily shampoo/conditioning. I mostly did that because I started to notice I was getting something that looked a lot like cradle cap! My skin on my scalp must have started to secrete oils again and then with sweating a lot during exercise, I think washing my hair only twice a week was not so bueno! It was horrible and gross. Now that I’ve gone back to washing my hair more, that has improved and my scalp is no longer itchy or flaky thankfully!

I’m still waiting for the Zoladex to wear off. That means I’m still getting hot flashes, but it’s possible that they’ve been improving. This might be too much information, but I think I will cry with joy if my period comes back. That will maybe be the first time ever that I have wished for it.

Finally, I’ve also been pretty stressed out about my weight. While it might partially be for vanity, it is mostly for health. I’m really nervous about my BMI being in a range that puts me at higher risk for breast cancer recurrence. Obviously, I have no idea why I got breast cancer in the first place, but it is a factor that I can control and I would like to control it. But the Zoladex has screwed with my metabolism in a way that was not gradual and I’m just not used to how my body burns calories. I feel like I don’t know how to account for the fact that I’m more like a 50-year old woman in menopause, but I’m still actually 36. And also, Zoladex doesn’t just put you in menopause, it halts all of your sex hormone production. Even when you are menopausal or post-menopausal, your body still generates sex hormones. I’m anxiously awaiting my pituitary gland to start functioning normally.

Other fun things

I mentioned that I didn’t post yesterday because I was doing other fun things! First, I had my normal Tuesday appointment with Dr. Okoye. It’s probably weird to say that was a fun thing, but he’s a really cool person. He genuinely seems to care about how I am coping with this pretty massive diagnosis and going through this treatment. He asked me about all the school tours that we went on and we chatted about different schooling options. I also found out that he is learning German right now!

After my appointment, I met up with my friends for book club! Our book club has dwindling membership unfortunately, but it’s always so fun to get together with them. I’ve read a few books that I probably wouldn’t have picked on my own. The funny this is that we all don’t always read the book and we definitely end up talking about more things than just the book. This past month we were supposed to read The Man in the High Castle by Philip Dick (for some reason I can’t put his middle initial because it keeps autocorrecting and I’m over it). I did not read it – ha! I wasn’t very excited about it to be honest and I have a lot going on. But I had watched the show so I knew what it was about as well and it didn’t make me interested in reading it.

Here’s to one step closer to being done and doing fun things!