Strange dreams

I think my psyche doesn't think much of having cancer.

Dreamed last night that I was sleeping in my NYC apartment (which I left more than 5 years ago) and awoken by four men entering and robbing me blind. Three of them left with their arms full, one stayed there to watch. I heard a shower running, and in it was my sister, slumped over as if she'd been drugged. I whispered to her, "We're being robbed!" She just looked at me. "But you're a third-degree black belt!" (She is, actually.)

"I know, but I only have a PhD in aikido," she said.

And the robbery continued.... everything that wasn't nailed down. I ran into the hall and whispered to a neighbor that they should call the police... but the police never arrived.

And the other night I dreamed that I was driving my old VW Jetta (which I sold more than 5 years ago) as it was breaking down. Was in some terrible NYC neighborhood, too, as luck would have it.

Hmmm.

Rockin' the fuzz

.. is the way my friend Laura described my current hairstyle. It feels fuzzy, but it doesn't look like much. Still, I know the hair (and eyebrows) are on their way back, and not a moment too soon.

In other news, I see not a single particle of side effect from radiation. So far.

Fellow patients at the clinic are enlightening me about the miseries of tamoxifen, and possible alternatives.

Growing

The best part of my day, these days, is checking on my seedlings in the morning.

New growth happens, regardless of how cold and awful the winter has been!

Tattoos!

Yeah, but not the sexy kind. I now have about 6 little black dots that I didn't particularly want. Seems silly to me, since if this thing comes back, the girls will have migrated south. Unless it's sometime soon. Which, I suppose, is statistically more likely.

Why didn't they do it the first day, rather than use the stickers? Because people apparently relax after the first couple weeks. That explanation made sense early this morning. Now? Not so much. More information tomorrow.

I think I'll take the girls lingerie shopping soon. They deserve some new gear.

Ho hum

I was worried about the radiologist I found since I discovered he does not use custom-measured foam cushions for positioning, which I somehow thought was the state of the art. But having been through one treatment,  I'm not worried. To ensure you're in the same position every day, they draw on you with permanent ink during the initial measurement -- both sides of the body -- then line up the spots with lasers that come out of the walls in the treatment room. Pretty cool, actually.

Surgeon says it'll take a year for all the side effects of chemo to really subside, though apparently my immune system is back to normal now.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Nice choice for a first radiation treatment. Thanks. At least I have lovely little stickers all over myself. I feel like a stripper.

Next step

(I almost typed "Going forward" as the title.... been in the corporate world too long!)

So. My life is one big hot flash, but I have loads of energy, which is making me feel like my old self.

I've put off calling the radiation people, but I have to do it today, since I'm supposed to start that this week.

Bracing myself to research how to minimize skin damage from radiation, and the side effects of tamoxifen, which is the NEXT next step.

I'm removing my link to Susan G Komen, due to their opposition to Planned Parenthood.