Life after Chemotherapy

It’s been a little over 4 weeks since my last chemo treatment. I had hoped to update earlier but it has been a crazy busy month. Unfortunately, I had some more side effects to deal with. The stomach pain I mentioned in my last blog ended up being Shingles. I had a few bumps on my stomach and a couple on my back. Both on the right side of my body. They looked like mosquito bites. Fortunately, the rash did not get worse but I continued to have “spasms” in my stomach and then I experienced a radiating and stinging pain that wrapped around my side. That’s when I knew it was shingles. My Oncologist had mentioned that it could be when she saw the bumps on my stomach at my last chemo appointment. I contacted my Oncologist office and they started me on an anti-viral. It took about 3 weeks total for the shingles to go away. It was difficult to sleep and I was really tired.

When the shingles went away at 2 weeks PFC (Post Final Chemo), I started dealing with neuropathy in my feet and legs. In the evening, my feet and calves would hurt really bad and I was not able to sleep. The oncologist called in Gabapentin for me to take at night. They also recommended Alpha Lipoic Acid. I was able to stop the anti-viral when I started taking the Gabapentin. I am still dealing with this but it seems to have gotten better. I continue to have tingling in my feet each evening and some pain. I hope to stop taking the medicine soon because it makes me really tired and mornings are rough with feeling drugged and tired.

Another reason I am tired is because we moved during this past month! I mentioned before that we bought a house in May. We had some painting done and started moving in during June. We did it in phases to try to make it easier on me. We moved the stuff from storage first and moved a lot of my kitchen things. On June 23rd, we moved the furniture from the apartment to the house. As of today we still have a few boxes to unpack and things to hang on the wall but most of the house is set up. Thanks to our family for helping us with the move. I try accomplish something at the house every day as well as continue to work from both the office and from home. I listen to my body and rest when I need to. We have been able to enjoy the pool during this past month. We had the kids over for 4th of July weekend and it was really nice. Unfortunately, I am not able to swim during radiation . But I have a really nice float that I can use that keeps me from getting my upper body wet. We are enjoying our new home and the time we have been able to spend with family! I will focus on the Radiation in my next post.