1 Month Post-Chemo

It's been a month since I finished chemo. I can't even begin to tell you how awesome it feels to have energy again. I didn't realize just how drained I was until I felt good again. Each week over the last 4 weeks I felt myself getting stronger and stronger. I can finally say I feel pretty much like my old self again, energy-wise.

I took another picture of my hair growth, so this is 4 weeks (1 month) post-chemo as compared to the last photo which was 2 weeks post-chemo. It's not a ton of growth, but enough to notice:


I started radiation yesterday (Tuesday, March 10th) and will have a total of 21 treatments. They are quick and painless. The worst part is having to wear a very constricting mask that holds your head in the exact same position each time so you can't move your head. They do that so they can be sure they are only shooting the beams of radiation where they need to go and not anywhere else and that they shoot them in the same place each time I go. They have marks on the mask to help guide them with that.

Other than radiation, I'm trying to put all thoughts of cancer behind me and move on with my life. I'm trying to get healthier, too. Ever since I had Logan I've been a bit overweight and I'm tired of carrying excess baggage around and want to feel good about myself again. I started a diet and exercise plan on Thursday. My goal is to lose between 25 and 30 pounds. I'm keeping a food diary and writing down EVERYthing that I eat, calories, fat grams, carbs, and protein and also I have started walking down my street from my driveway to the end and back which turns out to be 1.2 miles each day. I've done this every day since Thursday. I'm really, really hoping to keep myself motivated and lose some weight and feel and look good again.

I do have some not so great news to report, though. Part of the thing that sparked me to have the neck biopsy done in the first place (which led to me finding out I had cancer) was the hives/rash I've been battling. Interesting enough, the hives almost completely disappeared from the chemotherapy. With each of my 4 chemo treatments the hives seemed to lessen and lessen. By the last one, I thought the hives were completely gone. So I figured that the hives must certainly be caused by the cancer after I was reported as being cancer-free after my last treatment. Unfortunately, the hives are back. They showed back up almost exactly 1 month after stopping chemo. I still don't know their root cause, but as always, they get worse whenever I'm hot (like outside mowing grass or exercising) and/or they get worse during my menstrual cycle. I am going to see how radiation goes, but if after 21 rounds of radiation I'm still breaking out with hives then I'm going back to my general doctor to see if he can run more tests. I hate living with them. They itch and become painful.

I know I've been a lot of trouble begging you all for prayer requests, but if you could please pray for me to stay cancer-free and pray that my hives disappear once and for all OR that I find the cause of them I would appreciate it sooo, soo much!