When they call it a battle, I truly understand these days. I mean it has definitely been a battle. Surgery went fine, but I became addicted to apple juice because I think it is the only juice that hospitals purchase. Then came the infection where 120 ml of blood was drained from my boob. Our bodies hold 5,000 ml and granted that is only 2.4% (the 120 ml), but still it was enough. Then came the hematoma that landed me in a Vegas hospital ruining our trip to see our friends. After a mad rush back to Durango and the most disgusting smell emitting from my boob, a wound vac was attached. And of course, since it is me, it was not without issue. The only good thing to come out of the wound vac was that I did not have to go through the red devil chemo.
Chemo was the worst it would seem by my posts and how everyone was saying "OMG you have it so rough" while the entire time I was feeling guilty I had it so easy compared to my new online friend scubagirl from reddit. She got the red devil and geezus water even tasted like shit. I would feel guilty as I was having steak and potatoes while she was struggling to get down a banana that was just going to go right through her.
Chemo let me down in the sense that it was my weight loss program for the year, but I am super glad I wasn't puking and shitting constantly like in the movie Dying Young. I just remember Campbell Scott puking constantly. I remember nothing else of the movie. But luckily medicine has progressed thanks to science. Of course it might digress in the coming years.
Then the respiratory infection sidelined my last chemo and pushed things back a bit. But thankfully, radiation started a week early. Today, I finish 12 of 19 sessions. They are fairly quick. Roughly about 10 minutes. I usually either do some mediative breathing (twice I've counted my breaths reaching 40 and 53 respectively) or just mediate and am about the fall asleep when they say you can drop your arms. I am getting sick of going every single day, but I am almost finished. I've gotten my left arm into the correct position since the first two sessions when I mediated the pain away. So far side effects have been pretty minimal with fatigue being the worst.
Below are two photos of the machine as well as the position I am in. I asked the technician if the wall separating us was 2 feet thick much like the door. She said that the entire room is surrounded in lead including the ceiling. That makes me feel better for them.
Until next time...