March Already?

It is only March but 2011 has already been a busy year.

The pace of life in The Newton household is definitely getting back to normal and I love it!

I was back in Hamilton to follow-up with my Medical Oncologist early January. The primary purpose of the visit was to ensure that all of my blood counts had recovered from the chemo - which thankfully they had. Two months on - I would say that apart from feeling like someone has walked off with my short term memory – I am feeling pretty good.

My hair continues to grow - albeit slowly! I have graduated to brush cut status and look like a recent army recruit. My hair also seems to be growing back darker than it was previously - my hopes of becoming a blond bombshell with my new boobs have been thwarted (insert just a little sarcasm here).

There also seems to be some confusion among my hair follicles. As well as growing on my head – there has been some new ‘growth’ of (thankfully blond) hair on the left side of my face. It is impressive....Laser hair removal here I come.

After my follow-up appointment, I started taking Tamoxifen...I will pop one of these magic little pills every day for the next five years in the hopes that any possible escapee cancer cells will be starved of the estrogen that they need to grow. 60 days done and a mere 1765 to go. Apart from a few little hot flashes I haven’t experienced any noteworthy side effects – long may this continue.

I finished my chest wall 'expansions' about 2 weeks ago. The next stage in the reconstruction process is to have the exchange surgery. At which point my chest wall expanders will be exchanged for my permanent implants. I need to wait at least another 6 weeks before this surgery is even possible...there is a part of me that wants to do it asap and get it over with. There is another part of me that wants to 'park' all of this for a while and just get on with life for a bit. The reality is that it isn't really my choice at all and I will have to wait and see when I get scheduled for surgery by my Plastic Surgeon.

Probably the most exciting development since my last post is that I am back to work. Since the middle of January, I have been working 12/hours a week as a clinical instructor at Georgian College. Definitely nice to have something other than cancer and medical appointments occupying my head space and even nicer to have a paycheque!

I have a few more medical tests scheduled over the next few weeks to screen for other cancers that are associated with my ‘possible’ genetic mutation. Fingers, toes and everything in between are firmly crossed that these tests reveal absolutely NOTHING.

I start school again on May 2 - to complete the remaining component of the Nurse Practitioner program. I am really looking forward to this, but am also a little apprehensive because I feel like I have forgotten so much of what I had previously learned.

So...on many levels life does seem to be getting back to some sense of 'normal' - albeit a very new and different 'normal'. Each day this all gets a little easier to process and integrate into my life but there are definitely still moments (at least once a day!) when my head spins when I think about the last 8 months and what a wild ride it has been. It is a challenge, but most of the time I am able to accept that this is the hand that I have been dealt and in reality - none of us have any guarantees in life.