Radiation, DONE!

My 28th and FINAL day of radiation, YESSS!!  The Dr's office presented me with the above certificate and more importantly a Lindt hazelnut/milk chocolate bar, MMMMM!!  I thought that was a nice gesture.

One of the three areas that received radiation is very tender.  The armpit.  It gets chaffing from my bra and compression arm band so I have had to switch things up a bit.  I hope it will heal quickly.  I keep using the "Earths Daughter aloe Vera," Miaderm and Aquaphor the doctor gave me.  Yeowza😣!  

Hair growth at 3 months

Loo

More hair, YAAY!  Looking at the difference between last ,month and this month, I am going to have to say that the Nioxin products are doin' their thang!  Thanks to my stylist Stefany Thornton for telling me about them!

Managing Lymphedema

During my second week of radiation, I noticed/felt that my right arm was swelling.  My Lymphedema seemed to be getting worse.  Radiation may have something to do with that.  I decided to check in with my Occupational Therapist Elsa.  I hadn't seen her since last November.  She has taught me about  Complete decongestive therapy (CDT).  It includes wearing a compression sleeve, Manual Lymphatic drainage (MLD is a type of gentle massage which promotes the natural drainage of the lymph, which carries waste products away from the tissues back toward the heart), wrapping the arm, exercise, and other self care.  Pheeww!  Learning to manage Lymphedema can be quite a task.  

I was right about the swelling.  The blue bar in the bar graph pictured above, represents the size of my left arm.  The red bar, represents the size of my right arm.  The first set of bars shows the difference between my arms when I first went to see Elsa last November.  The sixth set of bars was my last visit with her. What a difference!  

The last set of bars shows my current edema.  I had progressed to 13% which is considered moderate Lymphedema.  Elsa suggested that I have John come to my second visit so she could show him how to help me with MLD as well as learn how to wrap my arm.  I wore the wrapping on my arm overnight and removed it this morning.  My arm looks and feels so much better!  I think wrapping will make a BIG difference for me.

Feeling.......?

I often look for images or art work that can convey what I am feeling in a given moment.  I think this woman/statue represents some feelings I have been grappling with lately.  I have been "listening" to the feelings and trying to make sense of them, trying to understand them.  Loss..... I feel like I have lost a sense of normalcy through the ongoing cancer treatments.  I certainly have lost an ability to work in the same capacity I was accustomed to before.  I am REALLY bothered by that and wondering if I will ever get back to "normal," in that regard.  How things were BC (before cancer).  Maybe I never will.  Perhaps I will come to construct a "new normal" and learn to be okay with that in time.  I hope so.

I am learning that I can mourn character traits that were important to me.  Some traits make me feel like....me.  When I no longer seem to have them, I miss them.  (Multi-tasking, anyone?  Maybe losing that ability isn't so bad....)

On the flip side, I can see myself shedding some undesirable traits as well.  An unforgiving heart, for example.  An ability to let go of past hurts and perceived wrongs.  Grudges that I held on to for years, going..going....GONE!  Now, if I could just figure out how to keep all the good traits/abilities from BC and lose all the bad traits, then I could be SUPERWOMAN!!