1. In October I had a fun, new adventure. My torso felt like it was on fire. My skin looked just fine, but the burning was severe and lasted for about a week and a half. I stopped taking my oral chemo to see if that was the culprit, and it seemed to help. I figured that even if it hadn't caused it, I'm sure it was not helping my recovery. Later, when I used a certain cleaner again, the burning came back for a couple of days. So, I'm pretty sure it was actually a reaction to the cleaner I used. It's long gone now, and I use an "all natural" one with no harsh chemicals. No skin burning since.
During this exciting skin burning adventure, someone asked me about my back. I was taken aback. "My back?" I asked.
"Yes," came the reply. "I've been wondering how it has been. It was causing you a lot of pain."
Then I remembered that it had been. I had completely forgotten. "It's fine," I replied. "No pain at all."
I'm thankful that this person asked about my back, because it helped me to remember that what I was experiencing at that moment of skin burning, was better than the back pain I had felt. It helped put things into perspective. It could have been much worse.
2. Speaking of back pain, I sneezed a while ago and felt pain in my back where it had been before. My first thought was that the tumor was coming back. A scan later showed that said tumor was gone. So, what are the pain and strange sensations in my upper back? I later learned that when the tumor left (bye, bye), it left a whole in my vertebrae. Then, the vertebrae collapsed on itself. The strange sensations I feel now are the spine healing itself. Prior to radiation on the spine, the pain was at a 8. Now, it's about a 2. So I can handle these healing pains. Plus, I'm a half of an inch shorter now. How cool is that?!
3. It's amazing how when one cannot exercise one's muscles atrophy. Walking a lot is painful in my lower legs. They begin to feel like lead. Therefore, my exercise limited to other, brief activities. So, I'll just choose to be thankful that I can still walk. I'll choose to be thankful for this physical limitation to help me use my energy for that which really matters.
There is the update on recent adventures. Hope your adventures are as awesome as mine!!
