Another Ten Days Lost

Wow. I didn't realize I had let another ten days slip away without posting. I'm sorry.

I have been wrapped up in my health. Last time I posted I was holding back. Here's the lowdown, by body part:

Lungs - steroid inhaler seems to be doing the trick. I ran up the stairs earlier this week without thinking and didn't end up with sharp stabbing pains or a total loss of breath. Yea!

Knee - It's sore. The more I use it and get back to walking a lot at work and slide back into working out, the more it will. I am going to the gym to ride the bike in the morning. I am going to combine physical therapy and pushing it by working out. I want to see where the knee really is when I go back to the ortho on Christmas Eve. I really want it to be good and avoid surgery, exploratory or other. There's a Power Climb to do in February!

My shoulder - This is what I didn't mention. When they did the chest x-ray, which came out fine, they spotted a shadow on my right shoulder. I went back for a series of x-rays on it and they found I have a growth in the top of my humerus. An MRI later and they say it's either enchondroma (non-cancerous) or chondrosarcoma (cancer). The initial reports now say it is most like not cancer. I'll get the final say, they think, on the 24th when I go to the ortho for my knee - he's looking at my shoulder too.

But to be frank, this is my second cancer scare in a year. Earlier in the year it was a lump in my breast.

With my mental state frayed from all the changes this year it really got to me. Then I had to tell my mother, which I wasn't going to do until I had a final diagnosis, and she got really upset. That in turn amped me up.

Finally she took us both to have massages. That helped recenter us both I think.

Now here I sit after having worked all night, about to go put in another hour. I am tired. Not just from today, though there are good reasons for that. Just tired of feeling like a broken toy.

Since June my body has felt like it wants to fight me at every step. I am losing patience.

Yours in transition, Kate