I F*cki*g Did It!

September 28

It has been an interesting week. My throat has been hurting more, likely because I'm flapping my gums a lot more and have been trying to eat without pain meds or the magic mouthwash. If you saw the inside of my mouth, you'd wonder how I can eat or talk at all. It looks worse than it feels but I'd say there's been a slowing of the pace of healing.

Another interesting twist is my blood pressure. I can tell you that, if you want to get high without booze or drugs, let your BP get low and then stand up quickly. I've been having issues with my BP running low. It has flirted with 90/60. The other night, it was 107 (yay) over 55 (wtf). I'm in communication with my doctor and we are adjusting my dose of the bp meds I already take.

I had an appointment with the bleeding and clotting specialists at the U of M on Tuesday. They said that one of the things cancer does is increase the risk of clotting. Of course, then there's the chemo I had three rounds of...it increases the risk too. At this point, I am on a blood thinner and everyone agrees that I should continue until the big scan in December. If the cancer is gone, they will wean me off the blood thinner. If the cancer i still there (or has metastasized, I will stay on it because I'll be getting a port for more chemo treatment.

After my Tuesday appointment, I stopped at school. My friends, Peter (History) and Rob (Anthro) were there. We had a nice chat. It was awesome to see them again.

On Friday, I had lunch at White Castle with my father. It was a great time. We chowed down on the fat food and talked. I love being able to just hang out, with no time constraints, chatting about whatever comes up. Of course, we spent a little time talking about my recovery, but not much.

And then there is the 5k. A few weeks ago I announced that I was going to try to jog a 5k (distance on my own, not an organized event) one month to the day my radiation ended. That was August 28. As you may remember, the doctors said I might get a little worse for a week or two after radiation ended, and only then start the healing. Overall, they predicted three months of recovery. My mom had planned on staying here with me until the middle or end of October. Well, she left September 21st. Today, September 28th, was the day I committed to this 5k nonsense (LOL). All week I have known my body is not up to it. But then there's my stubbornness...I mean determination. It was (embarrassingly) slow but I did it. No stops. No walking. I jogged 5k! Fuck all the doctors and the Chicken Little predictions. Fuck cancer. They don't get to win.

Thanks for looking in on me. I appreciate you.