So, the update: I've been doing radiation at Sloan Kettering in NYC for two weeks now, and everything is going smoothly. The sessions themselves are a breeze -- show up, lie down on a table, get shoved and pushed and scooted around by two very strong nurses into the PERFECT position, and then lie very still for about ten minutes while getting zapped with highly focused and extremely concentrated doses of radiation! How do they know when I'm in the perfect position, you ask? Well, because they line up laser beams on the wall with the seven new tattoos I have on my chest and side -- yes, that's right, tattoos. Tiny little black dots down the middle of my sternum and across my right side and back up under my armpit that will be there forevermore. Luckily you can't really see them unless you're pretty close to my body and you have very good eyesight. But they'll be there forever, one more little reminder of my cancer adventure. (I'm already considering the connect-the-dot art possibilities for when all of this is over.)
And that's it -- badda bing, badda boom, radiation over. Of course, the 45-minute jaunt to the Upper East Side every day is tiresome...and the numerous tests and bloodwork I have to have before re-starting some of my drugs are getting old...and then there's my twice-weekly physical therapy appointments. So it's not all fun and games yet. But compared to chemotherapy, radiation is a walk in the freaking park! I'm getting a nice suntan (okay, more of a sunburn, but I have hopes for eventual suntan possibilities) on my right side, and I'm definitely pretty beat at the end of the day, but so far those are the only side effects. I think both of those will probably get a bit worse as the weeks progress. But some tender skin and weariness I can definitely handle.
My arm continues to improve; I've got almost full range-of-motion and flexibility, with just some stretching pain when I fully extend or bend the wrong/right way. I'm slowly getting back to jogging (well, really more of a skipping half-jog speedwalk type motion, with one arm firmly clamped to my right breast...I think the locals are enjoying the show). And although I'm not going to be winning any races anytime soon (the other day I was lapped by an octogenarian in a knee brace), it feels great to be out in the springtime sunshine by the river and getting - slowly - back into shape again.
Next steps: re-starting my Herceptin (a drug that targets the HER2 genetic component of my cancer), an infusion I will take every three weeks for the next nine months, and which luckily has no side effects; deciding what combination of post-cancer drugs I'll take for the next several years (Lupron, to shut down my ovaries; Tamoxifen, to prevent the estrogen from feeding the breast cancer cells); and continuing radiation for four more weeks.
AND, blogging more frequently. I promise.