Julie can't eat cheese

It was a nice month off in between treatments! I did get a crazy cough that lasted over a week (like pee your pants bad cough), but it wasn’t COVID and I had no other symptoms, other than it messing with my sleep and making me say “I don’t have COVID” when out in public. It has been super nice to not worry about getting sick and delaying treatment.

We had a great vacation to New Mexico for Dan’s family reunion! It was fun to get away, check out, and catch up with tons of folks (it had been 6 years since the last family reunion). I got a lot of good menopause tips there (keep ’em coming if you have any to share!). I have been randomly experiencing mild hot flashes that I wasn’t sure what they were – but saw someone call it chemopause in a cancer group – so who knows. Is it too much to hope that is the worst they will get? Just randomly, mildly warm? Probably…

My hair is growing back in but is pretty patchy! The sides are even, the back has the most hair, and parts of the top are still bald. My mom was joking that I can do a comb over with the back but I may need to! So I am still wearing my wigs and beanies. My eyelashes all fell out at the end too – I hadn’t even noticed until I went in for my microblading touch up after chemo and the esthetician said something. My eyebrows look better with the touch up, but the right side didn’t fully take (it had totally faded by my touch up and my own eyebrows had fallen out – so I was using an eyebrow stamp). I will go again in September for another touch up.

I am still experiencing fatigue from chemo – I was really hoping it would get better immediately, but wishful thinking. Luckily, other side effects are fading or completely gone! I did have some neuropathy start in my right foot – it’s mild, in the middle of the ball of my foot and 2 toes – but I am hoping it will fade over time.

I had my radiation test run on 8/4. It was a lot of imaging and setting up on the table, then practicing breath holds (up to 30 seconds). Since my cancer was on the left side, I have to take a deep breath and hold it to move my heart to avoid damage when they radiate. 30 seconds sounds short, but was a little stressful!

I started radiation on 8/7. It was super quick (maybe 5 minutes on the table) and I didn’t feel anything! I kind of expected to feel heat or smell things burning (like when I got LASIK), but didn’t feel or smell anything. It was pretty busy there with a constant flow of patients. I saw my radiation oncologist (RO) after – I hadn’t expected to see her today, since it was my first session. It was a quick check in. She said I can expect to see side effects in about 2 weeks (most likely skin burning like a sunburn, fatigue also a potential). I had planned to lotion up every 2 hours (I have so many – super prepared!), but she recommended before bed only. So I will do that and see how it goes! I have 33 rounds of rads so will go there daily (Mon-Fri) until 9/21. Count down has started…