Four Pounds A Week

Monday completes my fifth week of six weeks of daily radiation treatment. The last week will be "surgery-specific"--concentrated super powerful beams aimed directly at the site of my cancer. I am almost guaranteed a sunburn. So far, I've had some "flash" burning that apparently happens on the outskirts of the treated area. It's a mild burn above my collar bone up the side of my neck and also under my breast. Weird. I'm also experiencing some post-chemo toxicity in the form of joint pain/water retention. Last week alone I gained 4 1/2 pounds! This is all inconvenient, but not life-threatening. I'm trying not to be too whiny about turning into the Sta-puff marshmallow man.  I have to admit being a little bit disappointed that I'm not feeling great at this point. I want to have energy to teach Kindergarten on February 23rd! As it is, I'm not sleeping that well, since any pressure on my joints hurts a whole bunch. No sleep is adding to my sense of not being well. Meh! I'm hoping my oncologist will have a magic trick next Friday that will take care of all of these leftovers. So far, ibuprophen doesn't work, neither does Celebrex. I'm too fat for my wedding ring! My shoes are next. I'm getting quite a kick out of my wooly crop of head fuzz that gets longer and more unruly every day, though. It's the big bright spot in my troubled little world.