Let’s just describe what last week was: a blur. Life is chaotic right now. People are worried, upset, or denying anything is going on. Half the world is staying in and the other half is out partying and doing whatever they want (and hoarding the toilet paper). It has been an intriguing thing to watch and scary as hell. It has pointed out “privilege” in an unfortunate way in that those that think they can do whatever they want and are “invincible” are endangering themselves and those around them.
So what has my past week been like? I have stayed inside my house by myself a lot. Again, my whole goal is to stay healthy to finish my treatments. If I show any symptoms, my treatments are done. So I have been working from home and finding projects around the house and with my travel agent job. I have enjoyed spending more time reading. I poured concrete yesterday to keep progress going on my bathroom (much harder than I thought…I much prefer jackhammering). Am I going a little stir crazy? Yes of course I am. Most of you know I am mostly an extrovert and enjoy social interaction. I am getting parts of that through Zoom meetings and FaceTime dates, but it is different. I am getting out and hiking and running when possible while embracing social distancing. It is not easy to live alone during an isolating time, but I am making the best of it with the entire goal of staying healthy.
Finished concrete in the bathroom! 
Beautiful snow hit on Thursday. 
My incredible hike at Button Rock in Lyons, CO a few days after the snow 
Sometimes your head just gets hot 
I had treatment number 9 this morning and got to meet with my doctor. It was a great meeting and of course I had questions for her. She told me that I am more susceptible to getting COVID-19, but only a little thanks to my great blood counts. If I do get the disease though, it will be a rough ride. She does not believe it would be deadly (always good to hear), but my body would really struggle to fight it given everything else it is going through. I asked about treatments and surgery. I made it past the all important 8 Taxol treatments. The goal is always to finish all 12, but making it to 8 is critical. Should I catch the disease now, cutting off treatment is not the end of the world, especially given all lumps are gone. Regarding surgery, my mastectomy is not elective. It is a required surgery to prevent cancer from coming back. Unless something crazy happens, she thinks my surgery is a go (despite the chaos), not to mention it is in about 2 months and hopefully, we have a little more control over everything by then.
Overall, I left happy with her news. My body is responding well to the treatments. The side effects are not overwhelming. I am exhausted more each week, but we expected that. I average around 9 hours of sleep a night. For someone that used to love morning workouts, average 6 hours of sleep, and couldn’t sleep past 6:30am, I barely make it out by bed by 7:30/8 each morning. My bloody noses continue to wreck havoc on my mornings, but that seems to be the only time it gets bad. My taste buds are starting to change again, but nothing that has limited my eating (still enjoying my wine and sugar). I have no neuropathy (at least not yet…knock on wood). I have to work a lot harder to get through workouts, but I can do it. I feel like I am cheating the system by not struggling more, but I will keep doing everything I can to keep pushing and making the most of life.
I finish this post again with a request to respect other’s lives and stay home to help flatten the curve. Order pickup or delivery from that local joint but stay in the car or have them leave the food at the door. Be there for a friend virtually or embrace outdoor interactions with social distancing. Give to charities you believe in if you have the ability to do so. Think about others and what you can do to help one another. The best way to get through this crisis is to come together (social distance of course) and be a community. There is no left and right when it comes to this disease. Everyone will be impacted in one way or another. Support each other, love each other, help each other. We will not survive this crisis alone.
