The Other Side of Treatment

March 13, 2014 by alisonsalinas 3 Comments

Yesterday I had my first post-treatment follow up appointment at Princess Margaret. It was the first time I had been back since my last day of treatment a month ago. Even though it hasn’t been that long since I was last there, it seems like forever, since that was basically my home base everyday for six weeks. The ladies in the bloods lab remembered me and said I was looking good. It always surprises me there because they see so many people each day. It was a nice welcome back.

My follow up appointment was with my chemo oncologists and was pretty routine. We chatted about how I was feeling, checked the results from my blood work to see if there is anything alarming, and seeing if I was experiencing any side effects from my 5 chemo treatments. Even though the dose of drugs from my chemo treatments were small I still got sick a couple of times, had tingley sensations in my feet and hands and heard ringing in my ears. Over the last month I have had tingly fingertips and ringing in my ears on a few occasions, but they all went away pretty quickly. It’s so important to monitor this because it can often lead to long term problems if not taken care of or treated. My chemo docs weren’t expecting anything too surprising at my follow up because my body reacted pretty well during treatment, but I’m thankful to have them and to have people keeping an eye out for me.

 

Week 4 of chemo back in January working on #TEALPOWER Canuck on my pad during treatment

Next week I have my first follow up with my radiation oncologists, which is important since 80% of my treatment was radiation therapy. I have my list of questions ready for them. Now that I am on the other side of treatment, aside from wondering if the cancer is gone, I really have to be mindful of possible long term side effects. Because my radiation was targeted to my pelvic area I have to pay attention to how my bladder and bowels are treating me. Looking forward to seeing my docs though. You miss them when you don’t have your review appointments every week – you form a bond and trust them more than anyone at the most vulnerable time of your life.

What does feel great about the other side of treatment is getting back to my exercise routine and diet. Welcome back leafy greens! I am definitely making up for lost time with my kale and spinach. I’m starting every morning with a green smoothie. Feels good to be getting back to my fresh, clean eats and whole grains and my body has been reacting pretty well to getting back to digesting it all. One of the possible side effects of chemo is losing your sense of taste. As a person who LOVES food and loves making food I was terrified of this. Luckily, it didn’t happen to me.

Brekkie! Love my green smoothies.

The exercising… oy! I am loving it and loving getting back into my daily routine, but wow – does my body feel it. It’s taking some time to get my endurance back to the level I’m used to. My body takes a lil extra time for recovery too… I’m thankful for my foam rollers. I’m glad I have a race at the end of the month to train for and look forward to. It helps get my butt out of bed and to the gym 🙂