Little Update Here...
Yesterday and today my chest has been a little tight with an occasional cough. Yesterday it wasn't a biggie but today things were worse and coughing a little more... I used my inhaler. It made no difference... and I'm a little short of breath, more so than from the usual fatigue-shortness-of-breath. When I breathe I get pain from my back rib through to the front ribs. Hurts. I saw the doc after my radiation who did an exam and said "Costochrondritis."
"We" of the cancer subculture (my people), usually believe whenever anything new or unusual happens that the cancer has spread. This was my first thought, of course (snark aside). But, doc said no... he talked about micro fractures in the ribs that usually happen AFTER radiation because radiation affects the bones. In this case he thought it was this Costochrondritis which is "a kind of arthritis that causes inflammation of the space between the breast where the ribs and breastbone connect." They will watch closely since radiation can also touch the lungs but he was pretty sure it was this, and it will eventually resolve. In the meantime I'm supposed to use a cough suppressant.
My skin is getting redder all the time. I'm totally good with that as long it doesn't open up. This is a picture of the line they draw on me every day. Not sure what that's about but seems necessary, I should ask sometime. You can also see the bulge of my port and port scar.
I don't think I'm going to do too much today... you know... the rib thing, the fatigue, not to mention the heat and all the other assorted issues.
I'm power-watching Grey's Anatomy which is why the pic is up there. Yes, seen it before, but thought I'd like to start from the beginning... relive it. It's fast paced so keeps my head busy since my eyes aren't working well enough to read right now. Oh, yeah... that's because of all the steroids I was on with my chemo...
...it will end some day... right?
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