A week ago, I spent my day at the Omaha Women’s Health and Wellness conference, then Saturday we firepitted it up with our friends, Sunday was the Komen run, Monday the Junior League… by Tuesday, this mama was dog tired. Sometimes I forget that I just completed rads in June. Actually, most of the time I do, I suppose. Because it almost feels like it happened a lifetime ago.
But. It didn’t. So this week has had me a bit more tuckered than usual. But, time marches on… still got to Washyoursheetswednesday, and ToiletTuesday, two initiatives I’ve started at home where I tackle all the things on certain days in an effort to check myself. I made it to LIVESTRONG on Wednesday (If you are a survivor of ANY cancer, check out the LIVESTRONG program through your local Y!) and pumped some iron with that crew. And yesterday, the Littlest and I headed down to Lincoln to see our friend JoJo who isn’t feeling topnotch these days. Oh, and we had two nephews who turned another year older this week who we forgot to call. I know, I’m right on top of things, Rose.
I looooooove fall. But October is definitely one of our busy month. The weather is so great that we want to enjoy it. But so does everyone with everything.
We’re out of school today and tomorrow, I start the ten day countdown to surgery! I know, who gets excited for surgery? This girl, of course. This is not the boob business — that is December 1st to be exact — it is a sinus surgery. You see, after I had c diff, I couldn’t take antibiotics and so my common sinus issues simply became chronic. The ENT thought it was probably allergies and structural issues so, I had allergy testing — I am allergic to dust, so that’s cool because that’s basically no where, right? And I had a CT scan which showed that a)the areas that are supposed to look like black spaces in my sinuses look cloudy {just trying to keep up with the boobs, obvi} and b)my right sinus has a bone that has fused onto my orbital bone and is pulling down my eye socket. If it doesn’t get taken care of, it will reshape my eyeball holes and cause double vision. NO. JOKE. I’m some sort of medical jackpot, I swear. But anyhoozie, I will have surgery to correct these issues (it’s a 3 hour under – outpatient procedure) and hopefully, my sinuses will no longer feel like I stuffed cotton balls into them every day of my life. Oh, and don’t fear, it’s all done with tinnnnnnny little instruments that go up my nose so no incisions will be made on the outside of my face… easy recovery, I hear.
My C Diff issues seem to be 100% gone. My left breast is still expanding the skin — I swear it will be in my armpit by December. And my Lupron and Aromasin combo seems to be going okay {except for the fact that I just saw Aunt Flo for a few days. Apparently she didn’t get the memo when I set her bags outside the door that she is not invited back}. The main side effects are hand and joint pain, squishy stomach, choppy sleep, some night sweats, and a bit of weight gain. All things I can deal with if it means I won’t have tumors growing in my bod. I must embrace the new, more voluptuous me and just know that she is what is carrying me around for the time being… maybe forever. Today, the boys and the hubs and I all went to the pumpkin patch for the day where I realized that my arm’s circulation is less than stellar in the cold weather and determined that if I want to feel my fingers this winter I will need a very warm coat and some rock star gloves. And, today I wore lipstick for the first time since chemo and that was the first time since the 1990’s. I am currently trying to decide if I will soon need to rename my growing locks. And, also, I’ve determined that life is really a pretty good thing all around. I will continue to see my Onc every month to get the shot and check my Estradiol levels and I always ask for a quick Lymph Node feel up… because why not?
The Middlest has gotten his cast off AND has been amazing all week. I am not sure if it’s a new thing that is here to stay or if he’s just punking us but regardless, it’s LEGIT ROCK STAR behavior. The Oldest is loving school and is nearly done with Harry Potter number 2. And the Tiny One repeats his 8 words he loves over and over again – Mommy, Daddy, NaNa, BaBa, House, Abbie, Ellie, No.
So, really, all this is to say… LIFE IS PRETTY NORMAL. What? Really. It’s weird. It’s weirdly normal. And I’ve never been so grateful for normal. It’s not the old normal. It never will be. It’s at the new normal. I feel like people don’t look at me with puppy dog faces. I feel like cancer is less and less of the conversation. And I feel like this post-cancer part of my normal life might be the best part yet. The life with reallllly perky boobs and reallllly erect nipples. And, no, I am still not used to these nipples. Or the boobs. That, my friends, may take years.
But normal, it’s here, and I couldn’t be happier about that.
