Radiation Update, Two Milestones, Checkin' the 'Brows

I finally started radiation treatments on Tuesday, May 3. As of yesterday, I've had 8 out of 25. So far, radiation has gone smoothly. The appointment only takes about 10-15 minutes and the treatment itself is only 2-3 minutes. The technology is amazing. The machine rotates around my body and delivers varying amounts of radiation to the tumor. Apparently, it is accurate up to 1 millimeter, which blows my mind. The side effects I may experience include fatigue (not yet) and maybe a radiation burn on the skin (not yet). The treatments are cumulative, so I may experience the side effects more towards the end. The hardest part about it is going every single day. With travel time, it takes about an hour and a half. I can't complain too much. I live about 25 minutes away. There are people from around Oregon who travel hours to do radiation at OHSU.

The more time that passes since chemo ended, the stronger I get. I've been working to get back to running. These days, I jog more than I walk and my stamina keeps improving. I had an awesome milestone yesterday when I ran a whole mile without stopping to walk. I want to get as much of my strength back before I have surgery. That will be around the end of June or beginning of July.

The other day, I noticed hair growing back on my face. It was the strangest thing, as I haven't had to shave for about 4 months. It was just a bit of fuzz on my upper lip and underneath my lower lip. It was almost like I was 13 again, as the hair was the soft kind that boys hitting puberty get on their face. It got long enough I had to shave it...milestone #2.

Just yesterday, I noticed my eyebrows have a slight fuzz of hair growing in. I have exactly one old eyebrow hair on one side, and two on the other, so the signs of more hair growing back is a very good thing. I can't wait to get my 'brows back!