Wow! All done!

It seems amazing that this whole ordeal is OVER, for now! I finished my 7 weeks of radiation yesterday. For the first time in 7 weeks I did not have a 7:45 am appt for radiation. I celebrated by staying home and not taking my kids to school (they can walk or bike, but have been getting a ride since I went right by their schools at 7:30). I stayed home, cleaned house a bit and just had a relaxing morning. Yay!

The radiation did turn out much worse than I was expecting and had heard it would be. For small breasted women it appears the breast tissue doesn't get as burned as us big-breasted sisters. Alas! Although, one of my petite friends said "Well, at long last -- that's my first positive for small breasts!" So, I guess life evens out over the long run.

It turned out that the biggest problem with my radiation was actually a rampant yeast infection under my breast. You may recall I got a yeast infection after the surgery too, and we battled for a diagnosis. I have noticed slight yeast issues in the summer for many years - due to sweat, moisture, darkness, etc. But with the radiation burn the yeasties got out of control, and were the cause of the big raw swath of skin (about the size of a letter envelope). The doctor gave me an anti-fungal cream, a spray and a powder. The cream and spray hurt like spraying myself with an acetylene torch, for several minutes. So, I couldn't bring myself to do THAT very often! It seemed wrong to put powder on such raw flesh, so I didn't use it, either. And the powder hurt, too, just not as much. Finally, I convinced the doctor to give me a prescription and it was cleared up in 3 days!

Always remember: you know a lot about your own chemistry and your own probable causes of symptoms. Be proactive and complain loudly if things aren't going right. Make strong suggestions. I've had to do that with BOTH these yeast infections. I guess yeast must be uncommon so they aren't looking out for it.

Once I cleared up the yeast infection, I was back to "just a sunburn," which was not so bad. Ugly, yes. Think of how ground beef turns gray in the skillet before it turns brown - that was the color of my skin! It is now peeling in gritty little bits and the breast is still fairly red. However, it's been red ever since my second surgery, so I may have a lobster sitting on my chest for a long while. It's also still larger than the other, but already seems to be going down in size some.

Best of all, I can sleep again without waking up in pain! I can turn over without "noticing" which breast I'm leaning on.

As my chemo wears off, some of my body is getting back to normal, as well. This isn't all good, ladies! Would you mind if your armpits didn't smell? How about those annoying little hairs on your chin - would you miss them?? Yes, it's all coming back to me now. Hair on my legs, too. Oddly, the hair on my public bone is not coming back very fast. Looks really weird, let me tell you. I didn't even notice it, since I'm not as slim as I was and don't look THAT closely in my full length mirror very often. My girls noticed it but didn't say anything until I brought it up. Their comment was "Yes, it's very disturbing." (Poor things! They've been troopers!)

And, yes, the hair on my head is coming back! It's now almost as long as Annie Lennox's hair from 1980s ("Who's That Girl?" era, see picture). I'm still keeping the wig but it's nicer to have some hair to see when I get out of the shower, instead of Tom Waits looking back at me in the mirror. (Now THAT'S a shocker!)

For now, I am all done. I go back for a PET scan (the one that specifically finds cancer cells) in about 4 months, I believe. It's been a LONG winter, but in some ways it's gone faster than it ever seemed it could. I thank all my friends and family for supporting me, and reading my blog. I don't know when I'll write again, but I'm going to keep it around and we'll see what comes up.

Now, I'm going to concentrate on summer and having some fun with my family! And I hope you all do too! Enjoy every minute of every day as much as you can, and always laugh when you have the opportunity. Especially at yourself!