Cancer club

 You know what club you don’t want to be apart of? The cancer club. You know how many people are part of this club? Too many!! 

I went to the rec center yesterday and as I was leaving a lady stopped me and asked if I was in the middle of treatment. Hold on, I better back up a second.

On Thursday I showed up to my high fit class and two of my friends were in the front row next to each other. I looked at their backs and I was like, "Hey they both have a shirt that says no one fights alone." And then I saw this pink shirt on a couple other of my friends. I realized they were all shirts for me. ❤️ 

The next morning I was scrolling through Instagram and all of a sudden I was like, "Hey that’s me and my friends." I have met a few of these girls through classes at the rec center over the past few years and strengthened my friendships with previous friends. I’m so grateful for their love and support that they’ve shown me.  

 

Fast forward to Saturday where this lady stopped me. She asked me if I was going through treatment, mentioned she saw my picture and asked what kind of cancer I had. I told her breast cancer and she said, "Oh me too." She had breast cancer five years ago- did chemo, surgery and radiation. We talked about how this cancer club is not a fun club to be apart of. But I will also say that there have been so many people that have given me advice and help because of the cancer they went through. She was asking me if I had certain side effects from the chemo and gave me tricks she found that worked for her. She gave me her phone number and told me if I ever needed anything to call her. People are so good. 

Even though this club is pretty crappy it also has a sense of community. We all receive different drugs for chemo and we all have different tolerance of them but there are enough similarities that we are able to help each other. I am so grateful for those that have reached out and given recommendations and suggestions to help with the chemo side effects. 

So I’ve been doing well the past few days. I get tired easily and I still get stomach upset followed by bowel issues. I have to be careful with what I eat. But overall things are going well. 

It’s so deceiving. I was thinking yesterday- ok I can do this. Three more and then I’m done. I can do it. 

And then I remember how hard that week is. Every. Time. 

The good news is: I think I’ve gotten smarter with each round. I know that Sunday afternoon following treatment I’m going to go downhill. I know I’m going to be in bed starting Monday until the next Monday. I know that on Wednesday my tongue is going to go fuzzy and I won’t be able to taste anything for about four days. I won’t want to eat anything and I probably won’t eat much. I’ll take my nausea meds and tylenol around the clock. I’ll drink what I can but I’ll be dehydrated by the following weekend. Sunday night, a week after treatment, I’ll be able to go downstairs and sit at the kitchen table for a couple of hours. By Tuesday I should be back to doing about 20 minutes of high fitness. And another round done. But ugh that week is so so crappy. But I can do it. Pfff I don’t have a choice actually. I have to do it. Five more good days. Enjoy them while I can.