Getting started - the synopsis

Before I start blogging my breast cancer/treatment/life stuff here, I wanted to copy over the posts I've made so far over at Sparkpeople, which is where I track my food intake more days than not. (I'm doing that not to try to lose weight at this time, but as an easy way to make sure I'm getting enough protein, calories and water during my chemo, all stressed to me as very important.) I hadn't been blogging regularly over there, but I started up in between my second surgery and beginning chemotherapy. So here's the first cancer-related post:

Monday, June 28, 2010

I've been negligent for awhile now. Last time I posted anything here was a couple of months ago...I was very excited to have found a Fluidity bar at a used sporting goods store. I managed to hurt my wrist loading it into the car, so I didn't put it to use, but I kept meaning to when my wrist got better.

Then I found an indentation in the side of my breast, and a week and a half later I had my diagnosis - cancer. I had a lumpectomy and sentinel node biopsy, and initially it looked like that would be it; but one of the margins was insufficient, and two of the nodes came back positive, so I had to go in for a second surgery. Fortunately the additional lymph nodes that were taken out were all negative, but I'm still recovering from that surgery. There is a lot of stiffness and so far a limited range of motion in that arm. I'm working on it though, stretching as I can without causing too much pain.

I start 20 weeks of chemo in mid-July. I wanted to come back to Sparkpeople and at least try to track my food so I can see at a glance that I'm getting enough good, nutritious veggies and fruits in, and not overeating comfort foods. This isn't the time to try to lose weight, but I hope to avoid the typical chemo weight gain at least. Overweight is a risk factor in cancer recurrence and I want to give myself the very best chance possible to live on disease-free.

I'm also hoping to find inspiration and motivation to exercise while undergoing chemo. I'm sure it will be difficult, too difficult on some days, but everything I read suggests that it will aid with my fatigue, improve my mood and possibly even my outcome.

I don't know how much I'll blog about this, but I want to try to get some of it down here. I know I've found reading about other breast cancer patients' experiences helpful, so maybe someone will be glad to read mine. And maybe one day I'll look back through old entries and be grateful to still be around. :-)