Radiation So Far

As of Friday, April 13, I've finished 13 rounds of radiation. I have 20 more to go. That means four weeks of daily, Monday through Friday, appointments.

So far the side effects include redness at the site of the radiation (ie, my left boob looks sunburned) and tiredness. I'm not sure I'd call what I'm feeling fatigue but I am pretty tired these days. Now that I've finished my round of antibiotics for strep and an ear infection, I'm sleeping through the night. It's a novel experience and quite lovely. The side effects of chemotherapy made it pretty hard to sleep through the night so I'm loving not dealing with dry mouth, sinus congestion and several trips to the bathroom a night.

But even sleeping through the night doesn't take away my need for a nap in the middle of the day. I can sometimes go without a nap for one day but only for one day. The next day requires a nap to get through the evening.

All this isn't helped by the fact that it's currently track season. Alyssa has two track meets a week and anyone who knows me knows I don't like to miss her meets. I just feel like if she's going to put in the work at practices and compete in the meets, the very least I can do is make it to the meets themselves. So on Tuesdays and Fridays, I make sure I take a nap so I can make it to her meets.

Tom is still very supportive and loving. I do know how lucky I am that he's being so great through all this.

I don't think it's affecting the girls all that much. I still help Liv with her homework and as noted above, I'm still going to Lyss's track meets and spending time with her when she's home, which, these days, isn't as much as I'd like. But then, I suppose high school is the time when kids start spending less time at home so they can get us used to the idea of going away to college. I know these next three-ish years are going to fly by.