Glowing in the Dark?

I am done.  Well, at least done with the daily x rays and radiation I have been doing the last six weeks. My skin reaction didn't occur until I was about half way in and my skin started to be bright pink. I started putting aloe lotion on my skin and about a week later when I started to itch I used hydrocortisone cream. However, about a month into radiation I started to burn so got radiation cream to lessen the pain and the skin irritation. It really helped because I didn't get black skin like a couple of my friends did and now six days after the end of radiation my skin looks and feels pretty good. Not back to normal yet but doing very well - no pain, little white patches. Now I wonder if I glow in the dark while I sleep. That seemed like a lot of x rays and radiation.

I still have 5 months of herceptin infusions and the week after Thanksgiving I start my five years of aromatase inhibitor pills. I also had another bone density test this week and get another echocardiogram the end of the month. I need those every three months because the herceptin can effect the heart. I have started back to the gym two days a week for about an hour and next month hope to add another day per week. I need to lose about 50 pounds to lessen the chance of recurrence from what I have read on line and in cancer magazines. It is a never ending battle. When I was a young adult, my mother and I used to use black humor whenever one of us was sick and say "Oh, it is probably cancer." That way whatever it was would be the lesser of two evils. Now I can't say that - too bad my mother isn't here (and sane) to appreciate the irony.

My energy is coming back and I am getting so much more done almost every day than I have since May that my mood is happy too. Since mid October, I have been doing a lot of fall yard work, running errands, cleaning house, Christmas sewing, fun sewing and exercising and not huffing and puffing like I did while on treatment. The doctor said the radiation suppressed energy too, so I expect to keep getting better through the end of the year. I don't have to see the doctor until January so that makes me happy, too. My hair is growing back. In some places I am getting a lot more hair than I had before chemo: my fingers, my face, my legs. Unfortunately, I don't notice a lot MORE hair on my head and that is where I need it.

I hope I don't have to write about cancer again until next May when I am done with infusions and have my port removed and life is "normal" again.