Update and a Few Random Observations

I have been somewhat behind on updating folks on the cancer status. Those of you who are Facebook friends with me have probably been able to piece together the status, but here it is.

After many fancy tests, the doctors found what they expected to find all along, which is that my cancer was Stage I and at low risk to recur, and that I was unlikely to gain any benefit from doing chemotherapy. Chemo can be a literal life-saver, but there is no getting around the fact that it's basically poison. There are usually unpleasant side effects and some can be long term, so if you don't have to do chemo then you shouldn't. So I was fortunate to be able to evade that. This meant that since I had a lumpectomy rather than a mastectomy, I had to have radiation therapy. That's what I've been doing for the past few weeks now. My final treatment will be this coming Wednesday. After that I meet with the oncologist on Friday and start up taking Tamoxifen, which I will likely have to take for many years, but that's a pill every morning and I think not a particularly expensive one at that.

So all things considered, I have been extraordinarily lucky to have gotten out of this whole cancer thing relatively unscathed. So when you read this next part, please understand that I *know* how much worse all of this could have been, and I am exceptionally grateful.

OK, that being said, here are a few random observations. I will start with the worst things about having gotten breast cancer, in descending order of terribleness:

1. Oh my God, that freaking MRI. If getting these on the regular is going to be part of my future, I'm going to insist that my primary care physician hook me up with some Xanax. 
2.. The time between when the sonogram tech first used the words "very worrisome" to describe the little crapball she was seeing and when it became clear that although it was in fact cancer, it was likely going to be fine. I did my best not to let my mind wander to too many maudlin places, but worrying that this was going to be my last Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas/Anniversary/Birthdays with Chris and the girls was hard to avoid.
3. The time spent in the pre-op waiting area prior to surgery. There were some delays ahead of me, so the wait was longer than expected. I was hungry. And there was a guide wire that had been inserted into my boob that, after about an hour, was mighty uncomfortable. And this was the day after poo-flinging howler monkey Donald Trump had announced that he would ban all Muslims, including citizens, from entering the U.S. and so of course CNN and Fox News--which were on the waiting room TVs--could speak of nothing else. Oh my god, shut up already. 
4. The fact that I've put on about 15 pounds since I got diagnosed because it's been really easy to say, screw it, I'M HAVING CANCER TREATMENTS, to just about everything. Yeah, well, fine, but they're about done and now I have to do something about my burgeoning ass.
5. Throwing up in the car on the way home from surgery because I took a Percoset.
6. Radiation side effects. If I were getting fatigue this would be higher on the list, but I haven't so far. However, the skin on my boob is red and a bit uncomfortable. And I have folliculitis on my chest, which is itchy and more than a little bit unsightly. Like I have massive chest acne. It's really kind of gross.
7. Driving to radiation treatments every stinking day.

And now, the good things that have come from this. These are in no particular order.
1. Meeting some really nice people.
2. My friends crawling out of the woodwork to bring me booze and otherwise be generally awesome.
3. At least the Cleveland Clinic gives me free parking for my daily radiation treatments.
4. Free heart-shaped pillow that I got from the Clinic for post-surgery resting. I really like that thing.
5. The standing date I now have with my husband after every cancer doctor appointment, for either lunch or beers depending on time of day. Those have been really nice.