I FEEL GREAT!

Ok, that might sound strange for a person with cancer to exclaim that they feel great....but I do!  I just walked a mile on my treadmill and the exercise just does wonders for me!  This is only my third day on my threadmill and I've been very cautious not to do too much, especially considering my ekg last week.  But, today I decided to go for that mile and made it in 20 minutes!  It was great!!!!

Ok, the ekg.....last Friday I did an echocardiogram followed up with an ekg.  These are routine before doing the surgery and the chemo.  Well, the echocardiogram wasn't read right off, so I have no idea what it showed.  But the ekg was an instant reading and it showed that I had borderline ECG...whatever that is (haven't had time to do my research on it yet).  They said the only way to have it checked out is through an echocardiogram and I had just had one a few minutes earlier, so nothing else to do but wait and see what it said.  Probably the most concerning thing with that is that I have a pain/ache that begins at my left shoulder and goes down my left arm.   It's more of an ache than a pain....no shooting pain.  It's the only thing hurting in that area and I must admit, with it being on the same side as the cancer, it can be un-nerving.  But my surgeon said it would not be caused by the breast cancer, so I feel confident it is something else.  I've had it before over the past few years and no doctor has told me what it is yet...and it comes and goes.  It's stuck around for a while now and it's a constant reminder that something is on that side of my body.  Other than that, I have no pain from the cancer itself.  The arm ache may be arthritis...who knows?  But of course it always sounds the alarm with your heart being on the left side and this being a possible sign of a heart problem.  Heart problems run in my family, plus my sleep apnea can be hard on my heart and I have no idea how long I had it before it was diagnosed.  But, like I said, my heart was checked out on Friday and I've had no phone calls about it....so I'm taking "no news" as "good news"!  :=)

Thursday is a BIG DAY this week!  It will be the day I will learn whether the cancer has spread to my lymph nodes or not!  I'm soooo looking forward to my surgery on Thursday.  Larry thought that sounded strange to look forward to surgery....but, as I explained to him, when you have cancer inside of you, you want to get started on getting rid of it!  So, I'm looking forward to Thursday.

And Friday is another BIG DAY, as it will be my first day of chemo!  Dr. Venkatesh told me what kind of chemo he'd be doing and we compared it to what my sister had and I'll be having the same kind.  Now I'm not sure I'll be having the same dosage though....just the same kind.  She went more often than me.

But meanwhile, as I wait for my treatments to begin, I am feeling great and trying to get some things done before I go in!  I have no idea how I'll feel after the treatments begin and I just have so much to get done before Thursday!

I am so encouraged by people all over the country/world who have been pulling for me and sending me well wishes.  One person in Scotland told me they could only get a mammogram every 3 years and made me so thankful that we can get annual mammograms!  Sometimes we just take things for granted!  I have been receiving cards from people I don't even know...survivors themselves!  Hearing from survivors is so encouraging and shows me how curable this thing is!  I thank everyone for all of their prayers and good wishes and kind thoughts.  I am so uplifted by them!  God is using you in my life!  :=)

Until next time....get those mammograms! :=)

Cindy