Phew! A few things have happened since the last time we “talked,” so wanted to pop on here and give everyone an update 🙂.
On August 30th I finished my radiation treatments and rang that bell hard!! One more bell down, one more to go! I did 25 total rounds of radiation therapy. Let me tell you— radiation was HARD. I could almost argue that it was harder than the “big” chemotherapy drugs I had at the beginning of the year. With. chemo, I could control the side effects with medications. Radiation burns are whole other ball game. I did the lotions, aloe, and steroid cream that was recommended, but I still burned pretty bad. We had to take a break in the middle of treatments to let my skin heal some. The original plan was to add those missed treatments on to the end, but because my skin was so raw and fragile, my Doctor decided it was not worth the extra treatments and still felt radiation did it’s job on the areas of concern. Thankfully my skin has been healing well since finishing those treatments!
One side effect from the removal of my lymph nodes and radiation therapy is lymphedema. I have had some swelling in my left armpit. Right now we are simply keeping an eye on it, and I am doing all the things that have been recommended to help keep the swelling down and hopefully get rid of it!
I have been continuing with my targeted chemotherapy infusions of Perjeta and Herceptin. Still no severe side effects from those, thankfully! I am continuing to get those infusions every 3 weeks. My last infusion will be on January 2nd. What better way to start a new year?!
Another major thing that I have committed to recently is…doing the Richmond Half Marathon. 😳😳 My #breastie, Natalie Sipe, mentioned she was doing it, so I said hell why not. We are going to cross that finish line on November 12th and give the big ol #fucancer. I have another social media account @runningthrucancer on Instagram if you would like to follow this journey.
A few requests for prayers and good vibes over these next few weeks:
•skin continues to heal from radiation therapy
•swelling from lymphedema goes down or away completely
•infusions continue to go well
•training for the half marathon goes well and we cross that finish line one way or another!
Again, I can not thank you enough for the support and love we continue to get 💗
Love,
Alysa
Alysa's Army 