Day 25 – My Healing Journey

By this time, it felt like everybody in Albuquerque had taken a look at my boobs for one reason or another during all my visits. It’s funny how you start out so modest but after a while, it becomes so unimportant in the scheme of things. I didn’t end up starting my treatments until March as my body was very slow to respond to rest and moderate movement.

The knee injury was slowing down my progress so my oncologist decided to request some in-home Physical Therapy for me.  Initially, they came twice a week for the first two weeks and then once a week for another four weeks. I had two of the most caring and compassionate women working with me so I was very appreciative. They were patient, kind and very knowledgeable, but more importantly, they were extremely patient with me. I made pretty good progress overall but basic daily tasks were still a challenge. I ended up getting an MRI on my knee after no real improvement.  I was not at all surprised when they told me that I had actually torn my meniscus when I passed out getting out of the spa.

I consulted with my orthopedic doctor and he indicated it was not a severe tear and that it would probably heal itself over a long period of time. He suggested an injection, but I was so tired of being poked, injected, infused and prodded that I declined. I really didn’t want any other foreign substances in my body at that point as I was still trying desperately to get all toxic chemo drugs out of my system. My son, who is a PA in orthopedics thought I had lost my mind and could not understand why I would not want an injection. Once again, Holistic versus Western; I just wasn’t ready and really wanted to give my body a break and a little more time to get back to some sort of normalcy.

I was still having to use the walker when I had to go any kind of distance so I arrived at the clinic for my first radiation treatment limping along like Hop Along Cassidy. The treatments were supposed to last anywhere from 15 minutes to a half an hour but in the first few visits, they told me it might take a little bit longer to get the placement exactly correct.

My radiologist had prescribed 30 treatments, every day Monday through Friday.  I had to meet with her at the end of each week so that she could check the status of the skin in the specific area and make sure I was progressing nicely.

You typically go in, get into a gown, and sit in a waiting room along with a lot of other people who are waiting their turn.  I had no idea there were so many people coming from all sorts of cities around the area to get their treatments.  Some were coming from 20 minutes away while others were driving up to two hours each way on a daily basis because their areas did not have the facilities available to give them the treatments they needed. 

Apparently Albuquerque was the big hub so I felt extremely fortunate and grateful that I lived so close.  It is a huge inconvenience having to drive to the clinic every day; after hearing that from the other patients, I would never complain again.

I met a lot of wonderful women, some were there for the first time, some were there for the third time.  Everyone has a story and over those 30 days, I heard alot of women talk about their challenges, their triumphs, and their dark night of the soul.  I didn’t realize how blessed I was until I started talking to these women every day.

We all had our specific time slot so you always knew that you would see the same women every day.  Some days you got to talk longer, some days you went right in and missed the conversations.  After hearing some of the other women’s stories, there was no room for self pity. It was a whole new perspective for me and a time to be grateful.  There are always going to be others that are worse off than you, sometimes we are just so blinded by self pity that we need to be hit over the head to actually see it.  It’s a humbling experience.