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Aug 26, 2012 03:51 AM, edited Aug 26, 2012 03:54 AM
by Linda1966
Thanks for explaining Jenn. At the time I was just trying to get thru everything as best I could and not kill my poor mum with anxiety. I did get the lists of s/e's I just didnt pay them much attention as I was sure I was gonna breeze thru cause why would I be the one in however many thousand to cop this or that. Man I should have known better haha. In one way it may have helped that I didnt know about this forum, but on the other hand, I would have loved to have the support and answers we can get here.
I thought you looked lovely in those photos Jenn. What an amazingly good looking family you have too. Those photos are keepers I reckon.
I know Ive said this before and I hope you arent sick of hearing it, BUT you need to give yourself some breaks hun. Your not long finished chemo, you had the lung issues and the aborted rads and are now on herceptin. Your body has had everything but the kitchen sink thrown at it this last year and its tired, bruised and doing its best to recover. Sleep well, eat well and exercise in moderation and within a year I think your body will realise its been thru the worst and your metabolism should recover its equilibrum.
Are you now considered to be post menopausal? I know the whole experience forced menopause on me so I went thru in a year what most women take many years to get through. My menopause was violent but its all in the past now. I do remember feeling and looking bloated specially in the face from the steroids which seemed to take forever to get out of my system, but then my metabolism settled down and reverted to normal. Im sure the same will happen to you, but please dont try to force it and get down on yourself for not meeting your expectations.
I bet in a years time you dont remember feeling this way and that your back to being fit and healthy again. Also think of Kate and how she felt not long ago. It seems we are all bound to sink into a bit of a hole within a few months of finishing chemo and I think its because we expect to start feeling like we did pre BC and it just doesnt happen that fast. Personally I think that the fact we have chemo 3 weeks apart makes us think that 3 weeks after our last treatment we should start recovering rapidly and Im here to say that just doesnt happen. But if the dr's and oncs told us going in that we would feel like crap for ages after our last chemo it would make a lot of people think twice before agreeing to treatment.
Sorry for yet another long post sigh. I just cant seem to ever be succinct no matter how I try.
Editted to add to the second last paragraph. Theres a reason it took me around 6 months to be able to get back to working at my shop for more than an hour here or there hun. My body just couldnt do it and needed the time to recover.
Dx 12/4/2008, IDC, 1cm, Stage Ib, Grade 2, 1/18 nodes, ER+/PR-, HER2-Surgery 12/15/2008 Mastectomy (Left); Lymph Node Removal: Sentinel Lymph Node Dissection (Left)Surgery 12/19/2008 Lymph Node Removal: Axillary Lymph Node Dissection (Left)Chemotherapy 01/19/2009 Cytoxan, Ellence, fluorouracil, TaxotereHormonal Therapy 08/10/2009 Arimidex