I have been a bit delayed in posting these past weeks. I finished my final radiation treatment on July 2nd and was quickly caught up in the 4th of July festivities and a quick family vacation before I started back to work this week.
At my final discharge appointment, I was informed that my side effects may not completely peak for another 7-10 days after treatment ended. I was already a bit burned and super itchy so I was worried it was going to be intolerable on vacation in the heat and humidity. My kids weren’t happy that we weren’t doing a beach trip this year, but I was not about to add salt and sand to the mix as well.
About halfway through vacation, the burns seemed to finally stop worsening and as of today, they are almost completely faded. There is some itchiness that remains, but all in all, I feel almost back to normal. I did experience some fatigue this week, but that could be associated with 9-10 hour days behind the desk.
I am a bit sad my short lived retirement is over, but I am grateful to be back at what I do best. I started my Tamoxifen this week. Two days in and so far so good, but I likely won’t see side effects appear for another few weeks. I am taking them early morning, hoping that if sleep side effects kick in, they will be minimal. Some patients take them a night so we will have to play with that. 1,823 days to go! When you put it in that perspective, that is a lot of pills. I head back to the oncologist in August to see how my body is responding.
In amongst all of this, we’ve recorded the second podcast episode. I am hoping to find enough down time with the new job to knock down the first ten episodes so that I can start to publish them for listeners. Summer is blowing by. I have one more fun adventure yet to come and then we will be preparing for the back to school activities!
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