Thursday, June 1, 2017

6 month visits

I've officially been promoted/demoted to 6 month doctor visits.  I saw my surgeon in late April and she informed me that she was setting me free.  Coincidently, she is also MOVING.  (Aaaah!  That woman literally saved my life, and now she's moving away.  Happy for her.  New job opportunity in a different city.  But don't leave me!)

So I'm just on a 6 month visit cycle with my oncologist from here on out.   I saw her this morning.   Everything was good.  She is super thorough (and ticklish) with her breast exams and there were no concerns.  (And, of course, my February mammograms were clear.)

I've noticed that my menstrual cycles have occasionally been weird.  That's something I'm supposed to keep an eye on, because Tamoxifen has been linked to cancer in the lady parts.  Not ovarian.  A different part, I can't remember.  But unusual spotting is a sign to watch out for.  I'm not having any spotting, so that's good.  But every few months, my cycle will be super short.  Like, I'm usually in the area of 31 days, and then randomly I'll have a month where it was 20 days!  My oncologist was not at all concerned.  She said "oh its just..." and said a name, and then explained that its when my body doesn't ovulate and goes ahead and bleeds it out.  Makes total sense to me, given the effects of chemo and the zoladex shots I did.  So, COOL.  I'll stop worrying then.  But I have been writing down each month's number just in case.

Also I did notice that I've gained 5ish pounds throughout this year.  Which, yea, is totally not a big deal. Nothing was said to me about it, but I don't want to have any extra weight hanging around, like I did before I was diagnosed.  Its just me being super particular about variables that could invite cancer to come back.  Extra weight is one of those, because that promotes the production of extra estrogen.  Hormone imbalance = bad.  I've been lacking in the area of physical activity, recently.

I like walking, and have been occasionally going to Rock Chalk Park's outdoor trails, especially with the weather being SUPER nice.  I need to do more of that though.  When I was teaching, I would often take a 10-15min walk outside or in the stairwell during my plan.  Since my schedule is not the same everyday as an accompanist, I stopped doing that.  I also, with people not knowing me or what I do in certain buildings, do NOT want to appear as if I have extra time on my hands and have time to go out and take a walk.  Which is ridiculous, I know.   I'll be sure to prioritize that when school starts again.  Too much time sitting on the piano bench!

Too much time on my couch too.  I'm such a couch potato!!  Having my pet sits has helped with that some, but I still won't be super busy this summer.  I don't have a show or anything else that I'm doing, except for City Band on Wednesday nights.  So I made a rule:  I'm not allowed to turn on the TV or scroll on my phone until I've done my piano practicing for the day.  My goal is to improve my reading skills this summer.  Not that they aren't already fine.  I just have room to improve.  I should perhaps add physical activity to this screen time requirement!!  haha.

So that's all.  It was super awesome leaving school on the last day, and not having any checkout procedures or any long to-do list I had to do.  I did work willingly in the high school's choir room with different organizational things.   I also left a pile of stuff that I can do when I return in the fall.  Because, I don't actually have to do any of those things.  Not now, or ever.  Not my responsibility.  I was volunteering to do them, to be helpful.  And once my last day came, oh well, I'm done.  I'm not allowed to work past this date.  See you in the fall!  Peace out.