But that's not the only thing I've started. Apparently, I've been gaining weight like CRAZY this past month. Now most people think cancer patient=sick person=losing weight....and while that may be the case for some people, especially before they are on treatment...other people tend to gain weight during chemo. This is because of the steroids that are given to you as your pre-meds. For me they are these two little green pills I take and they taste like chalk in my mouth. Thankfully my nurse gives me some apple juice to take them so the taste doesn't linger...bleh!
These little green pills are not just monstrous in gaining weight, but they also seriously mess with my sleeping schedule. The first night after my treatment, my body doesn't know what to do to get to sleep. It's very difficult to describe to someone who hasn't taken steroids before. The best way I can describe it is, my body feels like it just ran a marathon and it's tired...but at the same time my mind is awake and I feel like I have a huge rush of adrenaline that I can't bring myself to a state of calm long enough to fall asleep. I've never really had coffee before, but I would assume this is what it feels like to consume 3 cups of coffee just before bed after being awake for hours.
In addition to this, I found out another contribution to weight gain is that my last treatment, the immunotherapy I did this past winter, caused my thyroid to freak out and now it's under-working. Originally my doctor thought it might bounce back, but after doing more bloodwork, it's been confirmed that I have hypothyroidism, which if not treated can cause fatigue and weight gain. DOUBLE WHAMMY!
So facing this new month of April, I've decided to take some action towards that. Even though chemo is quite a bother, I've come up with an "Active April" workout routine for the entire month as well as taking daily medication for my thyroid. Hopefully by doing this, I'll see some improvement and get back to where I was originally. This month is definitely going to be a busy and challenging one, but at the same time I feel confident about it. Just gotta take one day at a time. Eventually...I'll get there...to that finish line.
GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/maddies-travel-fund
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