Shout Out to the Who Dat Nation

Ok, I'm glad I don't live in Washington, DC ( I think thats a little too much snow!), and at least for today, I wish I lived in New Orleans. As a Chiefs fan, I can only imagine what it must be like to have your home team win the Superbowl. I love to watch football and the game last night was so good. I can't remember ever seeing an onside kick that actually worked.

And after starting my chemo treatments again last week, I realized I've got a couple of other things to be thankful for. I think I mentioned in my last post that this time around the treatments would take approximately 5 hours, which I was really dreading. Then I overheard the man in the infusion room whose chemo round was all day, every day for a week and then he got a week off and then started all over again. I also ran into my friend who is a lung cancer survivor whose chemo treatment was 8 hours each time. So, ok, I can handle 5 hours every 2 weeks with no problem!

This go round is so far MUCH better than last time. My brain isn't all fuzzy and I'm not sick at all. The catch with this one is the joint pain. I've been trying to think about how to describe this. Its kind of like when you get the flu and your body just aches really bad. The pain is mostly in my hips, knees and upper thighs. I realize I don't have joints in my thighs, so I'm not sure why they hurt so much. Maybe its just sympathy pains! And then sometimes the pain is also in my back. Definitely it hurts worse when I stand or walk around for more than 10 minutes or so. Ibuprofen and a heating pad, however, are helping to make this bearable. And reading, if I can get going in my book, I forget about how bad my legs are hurting. But all in all, this too is bearable, and I'd much rather deal with the aches than being nauseous like I was last time.

Regarding my recovery from surgery, it contines to get better each day. All of the incisions are pretty much healed. I think I pretty much have full range of motion back, although it still hurts to do things where my arm has to be fully extended. And I'm still being careful on lifting anything too heavy with that arm. My tennis partner leaves this week to spend a month at her house in Mexico (won't even think about her basking in the sun and warm weather!). I'm thinking by the time she gets back, I should be about through with chemo and we might have a few spring like days and we can get on the court for just a little while. Some days I worry I won't even have the strength to get the ball over the net, but I'll just need to start somewhere. And it will feel so good!

But for now I'm just looking forward to the Olympics - starts Friday!

I hope everyone has a spectacular day!

Monique