I have been feeling great lately! In hindsight I have been feeling too great. About three weeks ago I began to do strength training again. I missed my guns! I wasn’t doing much and I was definitely going slow. Just 4 arm exercises with only 5 lb weights and 3 bodyweight leg exercises. Not much but I was feeling the life coming back to my muscles. My run/walks were becoming more running and a lot less walking. My husband and I had added nightly walks on the days that it wasn’t raining. I had gotten my run/walks to almost 3 miles of running with just about a quarter mile of walking interspersed throughout the run. After a weekend trip with 2 out of the three days driving and lots of housework I had a need to hit the trail. I was determined to get the full 3 miles of running no walks. I did it! My legs felt weak afterward, and a smidge wobbly. I assumed this was due to some dehydration from the run in the heat, and the fact that I had not done that distance in 4 months. The next day I continued my overambition and weed whacked the yard. It was then that I noticed that I had a vibration that ran down my back when I looked down at my feet.

The next day I did an easy run/walk to see if the wobbly legs would return. They did not, but the vibration when I looked down did return. I began resting as soon as I got home. After a walk and a night of sleep the vibration was slightly better. The next day I foolishly helped my dad move 3 dishwashers…I know! What was I thinking! And now I have been seriously resting since then. I was really concerned it was a sign that I had done something to make my fusion fail. Luckily, I only had to wait a week to see my surgeon.

That visit turned out to be great. The x-ray I had the day before showed that I did not have a failing fusion!!! Yay!!! He suspected that the vibration had nothing to do with my neck and was in fact a injury to my lower back. He said to watch it, and if it did not improve he would order an MRI of my lower back. As it had already shown signs of improving, I have great hopes for it. I really like my surgeon. He clearly really cares about my family and I. He said he missed seeing normal families like ours…I think that is the first time we have ever been called normal! I would not call us normal, but we do come together wonderfully in a crisis! I am very lucky for that. I will be resting and working my way back for the next month.

Now onto my other appointment, with my oncologist. I was able to get the results of my PET/CT scan. This was the scan that would tell me how my treatment was going and if the cancer was anywhere else…The scan was AWESOME!!! Tumors had shrunk or become less metabolically active indicating that the treatment was working. There were words on the report that said “healed”. Only good can come of that word! I had been having my white blood cell count drop with my oral chemo, Ibrance, and we had been moving my medication schedule around to find a sweet spot and it looks like we found that also. Three weeks on, 5 days of each week, and one week off. I feel like a giant weight has been lifted. I feel like I can make plans now. Which is good, because the start of school is here and there is a lot of planning involved in that! I hope you all have a great start of the school year or fall! I know I will, especially if I do not get too cocky again about how I feel!