The last two weeks have brought uneventful trips to the hospital – thank goodness. Today I am at the start of week 4 for this round and platelets are working their way up and white count is down, but all on track as far as where the numbers have gone each round prior. As Chip commented on an earlier post, it is starting to become very routine at this point and less worrisome. I’m starting to understand the changes in my body and recognize symptoms based on changes in my blood count or just as a result of being a week or two out from chemo. For example, I recognize now that the week after chemo I most definitely have some fatigue issues. I also think that I get a little jittery and tend to feel “off” when my platelets go down. This all makes sense when I think about how I felt in the months leading up to my diagnosis. As my counts come back up, most of these symptoms disappear.

I think the side effect of all of this is that I am getting a little crankier when my counts are going down now, mostly out of irritation that I know I could feel perfectly fine if they just stopped giving me medicine to make me feel this way! But I am almost half-way there and I know I would never forgive myself if I skipped out on this trial, so I am sucking it up and plowing through.

My good doctor friend often uses the term “trusting your body.” Being in remission, one of the hardest lessons is learning to trust your body and know that a headache is just a headache, a pain is usually just a pain and goes away, etc. With that in mind, I have been learning to trust my body more and it’s made an enormous difference. In the last few weeks, I have been running 2 or more miles for each run, increasing the weight and intensity of my strength-training and doing a lot more yoga. I feel strong again. I feel like it’s okay to push a little harder because my body can do it and wants to. And each time I surpass a milestone for the previous week or two, I build more confidence. I can’t say that I don’t still deal with fears and hesitations but I’ve set my mind to where I want to be and I’m learning to more quickly push aside the doubts. I even committed to running relay in IronGirl in August. It has been a dream of mine since college to do a triathlon. Although I won’t be swimming and biking, just having the opportunity to participate a year after a cancer diagnosis and while still going through chemo, makes it just as satisfying.

For those who are interested, I am really adjusting to a vegetarian a diet. My kids are doing great with it too, although I do still include meat in some of their meals. Mainly, I’m focusing on getting 7-9 servings of fruits of vegetables in daily and trying to eat a “rainbow” of foods. This has made it fun for the kids too. What we’ve discovered is that it’s not as hard as you think and your body will really feel better for it. If you commit to it, a) it becomes easier; and b) you will get addicted. I recommend giving it a try.

Lastly, I just wanted to share a link for all of my friends who are training for marathons and half-marathons in the coming months. Athleta runs an incredible blog (http://www.athleta.net) with loads of information about how to train, especially how to integrate running and yoga. I downloaded a 12-week training guide by a yogi named Sage Roundtree (my newest online ‘mentor’) that I’ve been following and loving: http://www.athleta.net/chi/wp-content/pdfs/half-marathon-training.pdf. Try to check it out.

Have a great day!

I just wanted to quickly share this list I found online today. One of the best books I have read throughout my entire experience is called “Anticancer” by Dr. David Servan-Schreiber. I highly recommend this for anyone who is interested simply in living a healthy lifestyle, but more importantly, doing what you can to prevent cancer (to the best of our abilities). He has a list of “20 Anticancer Rules” that provides a great summary of many of the things he discusses in his book. Aside from adding tumeric to my diet, I have been following most of these almost religiously for the past few months. Anyways, if you have a moment, it is well worth a glance: http://www.anticancerbook.com/rules.html.

I can’t believe how long it’s been since I last posted. Every day feels like a whirlwind from start to finish so I guess I’m not that surprised. Last week I had chemo Monday through Wednesday and I don’t have to go back now until next week for a blood check. This is the longest period of time I think I will have gone without going to the hospital in months. I told them I might have withdrawal! The great news, of course, is that my body did well with the second round of chemo so as I go through this third one, they feel confident that they have an understanding of when my counts should be the lowest and that I shouldn’t need any transfusions along the way (fingers-crossed!!!). I am hoping this round is, as I always like to say, “uneventful.” Assuming it is, I will at least have some idea of a more solid schedule for the next year. I have 5 rounds to go, but we’re making progress.

I was given permission to both plan a summer vacation for a week and to go away to this week while my kids are on spring break. Having that kind of freedom after all these months feels very surreal. I know it sounds crazy, but I’m a little nervous to get away this week. I’ve never ventured this far from the hospital not knowing exactly what my blood counts are. This is how the rest of my life will be so I better get used to it.

Outside of chemo, I am just incredibly busy with day to day things. I’ve been blessed to be able to get back to a regular yoga routine and I’m running and strength training throughout the week. I just committed to running in the Iron Girl Triathalon in August as part of a relay team! I can’t even tell you how excited I am about this and just hoping my body will be in good shape to do it. I only have to run around 3 miles, so I should be okay. I hit 2 miles on the treadmill the other day. It’s funny to be starting over from where I was before all of this, but it’s also really great to be able to celebrate all of the achievements, no matter how small they are. Day by day, one step at a time.

I have to run but will write more (hopefully!) later in the week. Thank you to all who continue to follow this. I am truly grateful.