I'm OK!

I totally meant to update immediately after my appointment on Friday, but the Schober's were in town and you know how it is when they're here - we stay busy nonstop! Anyway, the appointment with Dr. Howe went really well - he's not concerned that my pain is related to cancer at all. We talked about the side effects I've been having fromTamoxifen (all normal) and reviewed the blood work we took right before my appointment (hemoglobin levels are on the rise = very good). He didn't want to rush into an MRI and asked that I wait it out until the 24th before scheduling an appointment. After yesterday's chiropractor appointment, I'm not sure I'll be able to wait that long though. It feels like my muscles are in a super squeeze and are throbbing - basically a constant charley horse. I'm going to wait until Thursday and if things aren't improving, I'll try to get in.

I'm anxious for this pain to go away so I can get back to my gym routine - I'm going nuts not doing anything! I'll keep you updated!

Ouch

Thought I was finished with pain (and complaining about it) didn't you? Nope! A few weeks ago, in my quest to prove to myself that I'm physically back to normal, I did a boot camp class, followed by a TRX personal training session a few days later.

An example of one of the TRX exercises I did, except unlike the lady in the picture,
I was sweating like a beast, grunting, and making faces that would frighten children.

Since both were new to my body, I was understandably sore after each session. Once a few days had gone by, most of my aches had subsided, except for an area in my upper back, on the right side. I let it be for a few weeks, begging Jason for back rubs on a daily basis. Finally I decided to see a chiropractor, Dr. Kristin Schaffer. She's been doing some muscle stimulation and adjusting me every-other day for about a week and a half, and Monday she dropped a bomb on me. Because she's aware of my medical history, she brought up the fact that it was possible (but very unlikely) that my breast cancer metastasized to my ribs. I've heard worse news so I didn't immediately panic; we did an x-ray and sent it off to a radiologist for review.

My motto is that if you catch things early, they can be treated, so of course I made an appointment with Dr. Howe (my oncologist) as soon as I was able to on Tuesday morning. Yesterday afternoon I heard back from the radiologist who said they didn't see anything that they'd be concerned about, but c'mon. With everything I've gone through over the last 8 months, I don't think I'd be able to let this go until I get the green light from Dr. Howe. There has to be some reason for the pain I'm having (I'm rating it one step below expansions, to give you an idea of severity), and until we figure it out, we won't know how to make it go away.

I was a little on edge Monday evening (as you can imagine), but have since calmed a bit - I'm 90% sure I pushed myself too hard at the gym and as a result, gave myself an injury. We'll see what Dr. Howe says at my appointment Friday; until then, it's a nice rotation of heat and ice...

Taking Care

I'm happy to report that our first attempt at cutting out meat was a success! We made some pretty tasty dishes Sunday through Wednesday this week and I hardly noticed that none of them included animal protein. I even ate out and was able to easily order some really delicious portobello mushroom fajitas. When we added meat back into our meals on Thursday (tacos), Jason was up with me during the night with a stomach ache (I was having one of my usual night sweats). I felt fine after eating meat Thurs/Fri, but after eating chicken tenders at our friend Andrew's birthday party on Saturday, I felt awful! I can't say if it was the chicken or the fact that they were fried, but it made me feel terrible (and happy to say buh-bye to them). Today we started day one of five days we're eating meatless so we'll see how this week goes!

In fitness-related news, I've been using the LT Bucks I earned for joining Lifetime Fitness over Black Friday to try out a few TEAM classes. For two weeks I was part of the TEAM Weightloss, and now I've moved on to TEAM Fitness. The fitness class is one level up in terms of difficulty, and instead of mostly cardio, we've been doing some serious weight lifting (my first attempt at kettle bells made me feel like an 80-year-old lady; I'm still nursing sore back muscles!). I like it, but my danceline background has me gravitating toward the cardio classes. I've also been back on the treadmill a few times slowly logging miles, and I'm pretty excited about how much I'm still looking forward to it. Yesterday my challenge was to do a 5K, which is something I've done many many times, but this time my goal was to run as much of it as possible and I don't think I did too bad. I wasn't really going for speed, but of course the faster you run, the faster you can be done. I finished nice and sweaty at 40:30, so with short stints of walking thrown in, I'm averaging a 13-minute mile. Certainly nothing to brag about, but it'll be interesting to see the improvement the more conditioned I get!

Finally, I had an appointment Thursday with Dr. Sanan, the surgeon who first discovered my cancerous lump. It's been about six months since I've seen him and ta daaaa - after examining me he determined there are no new lumps (not that I was expecting him to find any). Physically I've been feeling great and it's so great to have a confirmation from a professional. I also spent a little time with Lynnae, Carrie and Ali (the hospital's social worker) which was wonderful! They're all such great resources and care so much for their patients (me!). Ali's hooking me up with the oncology nutritionist to make sure I'm still getting enough nutrients now that we're modifying our diets. Once again I'm thanking my lucky stars I have them for my long term healing!

Natural remedies, here I come!

I Did This

As you may know, I've been hitting the gym quite a bit over the past couple of weeks. To get into shape? Sure! Because I finally can? Absolutely! I spent the better part of five months in pain, and when I wasn't in narcotic-zone pain, I was very uncomfortable. I'm finally back in my stride and am absolutely loving it! I look forward to lifting weights for an hour, and get this: yesterday I woke up at 6:30am and challenged myself to run a mile (I did, and then almost one more too!). I'm becoming addicted, and I kind of love it.

So now that I'm moving my booty again, I thought it'd be a good idea to take an overview at how I'm eating. I definitely ate my (and 4 others') fair share of cookies, treats and snacks (ones you just know are so naughty you better just avoid) over the holiday season and it's left me feeling gross (and flashing like no other - no really, I can't stop). Jason's been tugging at my sleeve trying to get me to watch Forks Over Knives for a few months now, so I finally sat down last weekend and watched it. No joke, the movie changed my life. It slapped me hard with the reality that it's very likely I contributed in giving myself cancer based solely on the food I've been shoving into my mouth for 29 years.

Basically the movie "examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting animal-based and processed foods." Both of my parents were raised on farms so it was natural for them to feed me good ole meat and potatoes with a glass of milk as a typical dinner. I have friends who are vegetarian and while I always admired their willpower and compassion, I never thought I'd be interested, even in educating myself about it.

It's all different now; I'm taking a good hard look at what I eat and have decided to try eliminating animal-based and processed foods. If not eliminate all together, severely cut down my intake. Jason's on board with this too, so we've decided to do a little tapering. First is meat. We're going 4 days this week without consuming meat; next week we'll try 5 days, then the following 6 and eventually all 7. After that will be the hard part: dairy. I eat a yogurt for breakfast every day, and Jason can polish off a gallon of milk in no time. Have I mentioned he's from WI, the land of cheese? The tapering for dairy might take a bit longer, but that's ok. At least we're trying!