Recovery Update: 6 Weeks Post Chemo

The biggest recovery happened from weeks 4-6. For me, it meant fewer episodes of feeling aches in joints, moments of fatigue that hits out of the blue, feelings of being kicked in my lower back and neck at the base of the skull. The neuropathy comes when I juice less; I find if I juice it keeps tingling legs and arms at bay. 

I pretty much do normal activities buffered by naps on either end (before activity or end of day before dinner. For instance, I volunteered at my son's summer camp, I homeschool him, I conduct therapy, I workout daily before my household wakes up. 

On the fifth post chemo week I did a part of a Ragnar Trail competition. This is an 8 person relay times three legs each over a 24 hour period of time at altitude on running trails. This one happened at Lake Tahoe, running a range of 7000 feet and 9000 feet. I ran twice within 24 hours - each of the short legs of 2.7 miles. One leg was my original leg (I had one of my brothers shadow me just in case; another brother run my second leg which was planned a month ago; a friend ran my third leg also as planned. This was my re-entry into racing). The second time I ran it was also at 1130am in the heat -- I ran as one of my teammates pacers for his short leg. My hubby did all three legs -- so proud if him! I had the best teammates. Friend and family support. So much fun! It was perfect. 

Overall the 24 hour experience was perfect for this stage of my recovery. I do think next time I can run all three legs which is hopeful.

Speaking of the trip and handling altitude while still having chemo in my system: I do feel that some of the daily health rituals contribute to minimized pain. These include daily running, daily juicing, daily supplementing. The running pounding creates more cells in my blood  marrow. The juicing and supplementing not only repairs cells but provides energy and promotes new cell growth. When I don't do this (I've tested on myself by accident -- like falling asleep early before taking my nightly ritual supplements or rushing off the appointments while leaving juice home for the day) I do feel the difference. I can also see how mood is elevated as well when I run, juice, supplement and take naps.

For this competition I did bring a juicer and juiced 200 ounces of carrots, celery, beets, broccoli, spinach for a three day period. I juiced at our cabin which we had for two nights. Then I juiced for the competition by putting in recycled glass water containers and putting in the ice chest. I also kept downsizing the containers and started using plastic water bottles. Along with juice I aimed for minimum of 64 ounces of water and small meals throughout the day. 

For the competition I also placed my supplements into those daily medicine dividers. These lasted 4 of the 5 days of our vacation (they melted on day 5 when I forgot to keep in cool area). Overall I felt pretty good -- pretty normal. 

Also -- can't forget about lymphedema prevention. To avoid this swelling in the areas of where my lymph nodes were removed, I used a sleeve. This I got measured for at a medical supply store. Apparently I will need this anytime I fly and go to altitude. Worked great! I even got compression sleeves for my calves which really helps with recovery. 

I'm now entering week 6 of recovery and one can now see my eyebrows have grown in. My toenails are not fallen off, but they are dark so I paint these. And as for body  hair like legs and pits it looks like shaving will need to start soon (ahh -- I did enjoy not needing to do this. It was one of the silver linings).

I'm overwhelmed with the amount of thoughts and prayers my way which have lifted me throughout this experience. Forever grateful. 

First Lymphedema Sleeve and Gauntlet

When your lymph nodes are removed during mastectomy you then must learn about swelling on the side of removal -- especially if you fly or go to altitude. Learning about lymphedema is often not talked about by cancer doctors; I learned from "the sisterhood" of which I'm gratefully a part of. So, I'd like to share this info so as to prevent pain for other sisters:

I first made an appointment with a fitter to get the right sleeve and gauntlet size. I learned what these things are then learned how to take these on and off. For instance, you fold down in half to slide upward without touching the non-slip portion at the top in order to avoid natural oils from hand to make those non-slip areas slippery. It was an hour long appointment -- the sleeve was $90 and the gauntlet, or part that goes over hand, was $50 which I paid upfront with hopes of insurance reimbursing later. I'm flying soon and Ill be at altitude so this will come in handy. The fitter recommends wearing at least an hour prior to flight than about an hour after flight. 

Post Chemotherapy Hair

Just wanted to record this moment in time...looks like my new hair will be salt and pepper in color versus previous black hair. It also looks like it will be wavy versus previous straight hair. It is quite mysterious how this all works ;)

Probiotics

Chemotherapy rips up your intestines by taking out the good floura so its good to replace with probiotics.

Since I'm going mostly dairy free I'm using coconut kefir.

i either buy from health market:

or make my own:

1. Kefir starter package from www.bodyecology.com

2.  Water from two coconuts which yields about 2 cups

3. Glass container with lid

4. Let it ferment on kitchen counter for 36 hours. Then place in fridge.

5. Drink about 2 ounces daily. It keeps for about 7 days.

36 hours later:

NOTES:

I'm still hunting for the best way to open up a coconut. I usually just take my biggest kitchen knife and whack it about 20 times on the top and eventually I see the white soft part that I can cut into. So, I started reading about it and came across these nice videos. Enjoy!

Video 1:

He basically says to hold the coconut and whack the side of it a couple of times  (I was doing top) which then cracks 'the equator' (basically all along the side of the coconut). I tried this and it did seem to work pretty well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-gJC2mcebs

Video 2:

This was a featured one on youtube. The top holes are called monkey eyes and she inserts a screwdriver. She shows 3 different ways to open it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyui25xBThc

Video 3:

This one shows how to make coconut milk which is what I'm substituting for dairy (this one is 14 min):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm-gQgnBfx8

Video 4:

Another coconut milk one...6 min long:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myJEdRhd5GI

Juicing

I keep my juicer next to my sink for easy access.

I place my juice in glass containers by recycling my Voss water containers.