I’ve been home for about 2 weeks now and recovery is moving at a very slow pace. It definitely feels different than when I was recovering from chemotherapy. At the worst points, I’d feel sick with nausea for about 6 days during my full week of treatment plus the bone pain for 2-3 days after with the neulasta shot. Right now I’ve been dealing with constant chest pain because they cut me open 3 weeks ago.
I’m fatigued most of the day and I sleep wayyyy more, like 9-10 hours a night plus 1 or 2 naps a day. I think it’s because my body is tired from repairing itself? I just don’t have the energy to even do the same stuff I was doing before like reading or sitting at the computer, it’s frustrating to say the least.
Before, I felt like I was only enduring my situation and waiting things out. I’ve been avoiding using the phrase “battle with cancer” because I was only going with the flow of my chemo treatments and appointments. Now it really feels like a battle because recovering from surgery will take 2-3 months and how I recover is entirely up to me on how successful it is because I have to exercise to regain my strength and manage my pain meds to deal with the pain.
The incisions are healing well and the scabs are starting to come off. I’m super careful about where I itch because I don’t want to accidentally open something up.
I’ve started weaning myself off the oxycodone. The mornings are the hardest when I wake up. It feels like I’ve been spartan kicked in the chest and it’s hard to breathe. My doctors and nurses have encouraged me to take oxy every 4 hours as needed because not only does it reduce the pain, but it makes it easier for me to breathe which is important as I could risk getting pneumonia if I’m not taking normal breaths.
At most I’ve taken 5 pills of oxy a day but the last two days I’ve only taken one pill and used other medication to manage the pain which is a really good sign.
I’ve heard that when your hair grows back, it could grow curly. Right now my hair has grown back straight, really soft, and thin like a baby’s. I estimate about 4 months for it to be back at my normal length.
Joanna says that my hair is growing really quickly and I’m bringing this hairstyle back.
Since I really haven’t had the energy to do much of anything the last two weeks at home I’ve been spending lots of quality time with the new 55″ 4k tv that I bought two months ago.
Here’s the list of TV and movies I’ve watched in the last two weeks:
TV
Daredevil season 3
30 Rock season 4
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina season 1
Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj
Black Mirror: Black Museum
Movies
The Shining
The Truman Show
Hot Fuzz
Superbad
Pineapple Express
Train to Busan
Sex and the City the movie 1
Sex and the City the movie 2
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Incredibles 2
Solo a Star Wars Story
Star Wars The Force Awakens
Captain America Civil War
Baywatch
Begin Again
Shawshank Redemption
Xmen: Days of Future Past
Kingsman The Secret Service
I Feel Pretty
Ocean’s Eight
I’ve got a movie library of over 775 movies and I haven’t watched them all but I’m starting to get tired of being cooped up in my room in bed all day especially since I’m physically getting better little by little.
I am supposed to exercise every day and I’m successfully walking on the treadmill once or twice a day.
I’m slowly increasing the speed and duration that I walk. Yesterday I was able to get to .25 miles in about 15 minutes. It’s annoying that I walk around like an old man but it’s only temporary I suppose.
Working out is boring so I have to bribe Speedy to keep me company.
My oncologist Dr. Wiisanen called me last week to tell me that the pathology report came back from the testing they did on the tumor that they removed during surgery. Derek was comprised of 100% dead tissue which means that chemo was a complete success. He also said that they are very confident they removed all tumor related tissue from my chest cavity which is also very good news. Right now I am considered N.E.D. or No Evidence of Disease.
I got my hospital bill back and my 6 day stay plus surgery added up to $121,580.32. My total medical bill is $300k which is crazy and I’m still not completely done yet.
I have a follow up appointment on 11/15 for blood work and xrays. They’re expecting my tumor markers to hopefully 1 or 0 but we’ll see.
Until then, I don’t really have anything on my calendar besides continuing with my own physical therapy and watch more tv?
Quick update on how my dad’s doing: he’s on his last day of chemo medication today. He’ll start radiation therapy in about 3 weeks and that will last for about a month and a half. He’s also been dealing with chemo brain and is looking forward to seeing the side effects from the medication subside.
Reminder to go vote in the midterms tomorrow. I submitted my absentee vote on Sep 26th. If cancer hasn’t prevented me from voting, you don’t have much of an excuse not to.
Use this link to find where your polling place is.
