Feeling Normal Again

It took about three or four more days then round one, but on Tuesday I started to feel more or less normal again.  In round one, I woke up on the Saturday between the first and second rest week feeling that way, but this time it was more like midweek of the second rest week.

This must be the result of the cumulative effect that I had heard about.  There is no way to predict if this stage of the recovery will continue to stretch but I'm going to assume it's likely.  If the recovery time extension is linear, that will mean that in the next round I will start to feel better on the equivalent of tomorrow, or only one or two days before treatment begins again.  I can't say that I'm looking forward to that.  

(I'm also predicting that my decision to do four rounds of EP (Etopiside and cisPlatin) instead of three rounds of BEP (Bleomycin + EP) will resurface, because with the alternative treatment I would be done on May 22nd, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.)

During the last few days, and curiously for me, I had no desire whatsoever to be on my computer, instead reading a book during the rainy days, and being drawn outside when the weather allowed it.

Yesterday, I felt well enough to go to the office, having experienced the isolation that the stay-at-home moms that I'm close to have described to me.  I've loved the opportunity to spend luxurious amounts of time with family, but it's very easy to be completely absorbed in the self contained busyness of two young children, completely untethering you from the life outside of that insular world.  While challenging for many reasons, it is not the same mental stimulation as almost any focused adult task.  I yearned for some complex problem solving and adult interaction.

At the office I sat in on a meeting and then caught up with several co-workers.  There was a very lovely outpouring of concern and support which was very buoying.  It was also interesting that some of the very same challenges were still being debated two months later, with little apparent progress.  Business is truely frustrating these days.

On the way home I was reacquainted with stop-and-go rush hour traffic, something I had no "yearning" for in the weeks that I've been off!

Now, a relaxing weekend and on to (ding ding) round 2.