As much as I haven't always felt like it, life goes on even after a big loss, and keeping up with treatments has been important. I was glad to see the pages of the calendar turn over to Jan. 1 -- although it's just another day in a series of days, it still felt good to put 2009 behind me. It was a difficult year for me, and for many others as well, and I know I wasn't alone in being glad to greet a new year.
I haven't had any horrendous side effects although my skin is getting brown/pink from the radiation. I have some tenderness and pulling in muscles/scar tissue/ligaments, and where they put the small stickers on to mark critical spots (so they can line me up for treatments the same way each day), my skin is torn and red. I slather aloe vera gel on the entire area and then put shea butter or Aquaphor on top of that, which is helping prevent dry, itchy skin, and so far has prevented blisters and peeling. Lovely thought, eh?
I also have some fatigue, although nothing like during chemo. Enough to keep me from feeling perky, and I tend to go to bed pretty early most nights, and I have to admit to some extra enjoyment when I can sleep in on the weekends, but really nothing to complain about.
It's been fairly cold here but it hasn't kept me from getting out for some walks, although if it's windy the walks have been short. I'm just not fond of those below-zero wind chills!
A happy and healthy new year to everyone.
Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow;
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
from the poem by Alfred Tennyson
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from the poem by Alfred Tennyson
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