Ended Fast, Something Exciting! Talked to Bosses, Complementary Health Oncologist

ENDED MY FAST - Yesterday, on Day 3 of the fast, I had wobbly Bambi legs and a mild headache. Toward bedtime my head was feeling weird, like my brain might shut off. I really struggled with what to do. Should I go to bed and try to wait to break my 3-day fast in the morning? That was our goal. I felt not-right enough that I finally had a couple of sips of juice (with protein powder) before bed, and another sip during the night. So, it was a 74-hour fast. This morning I finished that serving of juice. No probs with digestion. So I had a smoothie of juice, mixed berries, a whole lemon (with the peel), a cored green apple, and walnuts. Oh, and turmeric which is amazing for "bad cells," and a little black pepper to activate the turmeric. Couldn't really taste those. The smoothie was nice. For lunch I had a salad again, at last!

 

SHOWERING WIPED ME OUT - Yesterday, Day 3 of the fast, when I showered, I was wobbly enough that I brought a stool into the shower to sit on to be safer. No stool today, I stood up like a big girl! Still, showering wipes me out these days so I usually do my hair (blow dry and curl) sitting in a chair in the bathroom. Oy. Today, since I'm recovering from the fast, I had to lie down on the bed after drying my hair, then sat in the chair for a while waiting for the energy to curl my hair. Hoo boy!

 

SOMETHING EXCITING! - Here's something exciting, though. I don't check my lump and under-arm lymph node every day. But as the lump has gotten a little larger over time there appeared something like a shelf or a disc under the lump, much wider than the lump. Like a wide brim on a hat, the lump being the part of the hat that goes on your head. Well, this morning I felt around and the shelf was either GONE or had significant softened so I couldn't feel it! I was shocked! I felt the lymph node and it may be a TINY bit smaller. Not sure on that part, but the other, YES! I'll keep an eye on that. 

 

TALKED TO MY BOSSES - I had my bi-weekly meeting with My wonder-bosses the Jacobsens today. I told them I wanted to cut to half time, 20 hours a week, which will still provide me with benefits--yay! I told them what I wanted to cut and what I wanted to keep as they suggested. They are so wonderful. I wanted to keep doing the parts of my job that I can do while lying on the couch with my laptop. That would be maintaining the school website, organizing Parent Ed classes and creating online signups for them, and I wanted to finish teaching this round of ESL English classes which will be a few more Wednesday nights. They'll have other assignments for me, too. We talked again about what will happen after my follow-up scan on May 21. If things look worse, I will sadly quit my job. If things are better and I'm feeling good, I may go back to full-time. If nothing has changed, I won't know what to do. I'll just have to go with how I feel physically.

 

VIDEO CHAT WITH COMPLEMENTARY HEALTH ONCOLOGIST - I had a video chat with a Complementary Health Oncologist today. Complementary or integrative medicine offers alternatives to the conventional route, like acupuncture, mindfulness, supplements, etc. I had to ask for a doctor like that, my regular oncologist didn't mention it. I liked her a lot. She had asked in advance what I was doing so I wrote back in advance and I asked if she had anything to add. I got to share tidbits of the gospel of Jesus Christ when we were talking about fasting and having faith that the right outcome will happen. She did have some suggestions for me. She said they are finding that melatonin can either slow or halt cancer cells! But you take larger amounts than you would as a sleep aid. So 10 mg. I found some with few ingredients and no sugar, ordered them, arriving tomorrow. She told me to ask my regular oncologist if it's okay to hang upside down on the Invertrac (which I do for my lymph system) with bad cells in my spine. Good idea. I showed her how I do my lymph massage rubbing up my armpit to my arm, stretching the skin (which I learned online). She said I should be doing it the other direction, because lymph trouble can end up in the arm, presenting as swelling. Okay. She suggested I connect with the palliative care team. She likes to call it the symptom-focused team. It consists of physicians, PT, social workers, etc. They are there to support me at any stage. It's not an end-of-life thing, like hospice. All good info.

 

UPPER BACK IS ACHING - I taught my ESL class tonight, then we stopped at the grocery store for a few salad items. Ugh! Too much time being upright! At the store I either held hubby's arm or the cart. Rather unsteady (sporty girl here is not used to that). I've been recovering on the couch for a while now. My upper spine is burning and achy. I know that I just way overdid it (by doing very little--oy) and it will recover. I won't fall into a "deep dark pit of fear" tonight.

 

WEIGHT LOSS - I've lost 15 lbs since "the phone call" on February 6. The last five were during the fast, so some of that will come back.

 

And there you have it. I'm out of gas, I'll proofread this tomorrow. Maybe.