Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Life without estrogen


Well I thought leggo of eggo is not a biggie and was really happy that they were gone since my tumor was estrogen/progesterone receptor positive, apparently those little beanies were really working hard to make me happy keep me going.
With the main estrogen factory eggos being gone the body could have still survived but we had to also start Femara which is preventing from any estrogen being produced by my adrenal glands and fat cells. Possible side effects would be weight gain ( as if I needed another excuse to be added to a chocoholic state ) ,fatigue, hot flashes, night flushes, foot pain, joint pain, vision loss, brittle nails, thinning hair ...lets see what else I missed.. oh of course insomnia (due to night flushes), cardio problems, mood swings, bone loss, dry skin.. ok I am getting depressed writing these.
So which ones hit me so far ? Insomnia major !, night flushes major !, hot flashes soso.. my bones were osteopenic so I am getting 2 Zometa infusions annually which is also supposed to prevent any bone metastasis if anyone in there gets a bad idea ! And foot pain, I already had neuroma, add heel spurs and plantar fascitis and neuropathy which I believe are also increased with the Femara = delay in returning to the triathlon scene.
But life is still good, as I read in 'Atlas Shrugged' Fear of death does not necessarily mean love of life and I love my life even though there are small challenges.

I am getting really better at my biking again, did my longest ride on Sunday under wet conditions 65 miles Strawberry metric century. Running has to wait until my feet calm down and I lose some weight as I am at 167 now. My swimming is also almost back to where it was. I also started weight lifting, maybe I am pushing it but it seems like my right arm is ok with it might need to get a sleeve for insurance against lymphedema.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This is the first time I checked your blog. I was just wondering how you are doing and so happy to read that you are working on your swimming and biking. Hope that is keeping you feeling positive. I know it is helping me a lot.