Up and walking!

Yesterday I got the news that I have wanted to get for three months! I was told that I don’t have to have my wheelchair anymore! I can officially go short distances without my crutches, but my doctor wants me to use the crutches for long distances. The caveat of the crutches is strictly balance or for when I get tired as he wants me to put my weight on my leg. My mom, Alan, and I discussed it and since I have already been doing so much exercise on my own, Zumba sitting and walking two miles, we decided to do our walks without the crutches, but only when I am with one of them. I still can’t go up stairs without crutches, and they should always be on had just in case.

After the doctor’s visit, we picked up Loki and went for our first crutch free walk! It was perfect! The sun was shining and it was 63 degrees outside. We walked about a mile and a half. It was so nice to be able to walk and hold hands with Alan or to play fetch with Loki. I was giddy like a school girl. We walked at a slower pace, but that is to be expected. I was able to do the whole walk without any discomfort or fatigue.

This morning the sun was still shining, so I decided to do another walk with Alan and Loki. We got some drinks at Starbucks, because I could actually walk and hold something, and headed to our park. I noticed that I had several muscles that were sore today. It still feels awkward to walk too. Really the last time I walked unassisted and/or without a limp/pain was September! I have to put thought and effort to walking normal, and I still walk slightly strange. I noticed that my hip started to feel tired and like it had enough, so we turned back to the car. All in all, we walked about 1.75 miles. Not too bad for day two out of my wheelchair and without crutches! I do need to take it easy tough. I will not push it anymore today.

I have to admit that I freaked myself out yesterday before my doctor’s appointment. I had received my x-ray results on line. The terms lesion and tumor are interchangeable in medical terminology when dealing with cancer. I read in my x-ray results that my lesion had only changed slightly since January 19^th. That was after two chemos! I was freaking out with the idea that my chemo wasn’t working anymore. What did that mean? Was I going to have to start the chemo that was more difficult? Did that mean we would go for eight chemos and see if that did the trick? I was not happy with any of those prospects.

Much to my pleasure, my doctor told me that the lesion they were speaking of in the x-rays were the areas of my bone that had been completely eaten away by the cancer and not the cancer itself. As I had already done so much healing before January 19^th, he wasn’t surprised that I had not done much more healing since. He said it is going to take up to a year for my bones to completely heal but I had progressed as well as anyone could to this point! What a relief!

We are in good spirits in the Auburn Tag household. Although I don’t look forward to chemo, this next chemo is going to be an important one. I will find out for sure if I have 6 or 8 chemos left. I hope that the word will be that I will have my last chemo April 11. I have a lot of things to plan and prepare for. Once I am better from my last chemo, my major life changes are going to start taking place. I have so many things I need to do for myself and my future.