Coming Into My Own

Now that the cold sensitivity and the mild headache are long gone -- the only real side effects I've ever experienced during chemo (besides a loose stool or two) -- I can now say that I've successfully completed five rounds of chemo. Five rounds! Pretty incredible how time flies.

I got to experience one of my favorite feelings today -- that feeling where you know you've turned the corner and have beaten whatever it is

that's been making you feel less than capital. I used to experience this back in college when I'd have a particularly hard night of partying and struggled to shake that gross hangover feeling on the following day. When I did kick it, usually during the following afternoon, I was crazily happy and excited. My body won the battle and I felt like a champ. 

These days, the new "hard partying" comes every other Monday, requires no whiskey drinking, and does not end with a late-night meal with my friends. But it does carry with it the same "post-party" challenge -- to fight off the fatigue and bounce back to my old self.  

Effectively shaking off any trace of chemo-induced not-myselfness wasn't the only great thing I noticed about my body today. During my acupuncture session with Mary Ellen, I rested on my tummy and realized that it felt totally comfortable. No strange pressure, no weirdness, nothing. Totally normal. As if that same tummy wasn't cut open a couple of months ago. It was awesome.

Today, I reveled in my body's ability to heal itself. I thanked it in advance for its continuing hard work. Then I took it to the gym so it wouldn't get too full of itself.