The whole purpose of the painful surgery that I just underwent was to ‘clear the path’ for radiation to my T9 spine without impacting the spinal cord. I am happy to say that the surgery—and the radiation—has been successful. I have two more radiation treatments this week, and then I’m done. My Radiation Oncologist, Dr. Wang, met with me yesterday as a mid-treatment checkpoint. He couldn’t be any more positive about the treatment, telling me that the radiation was being applied exactly as he had planned. Given that I have no symptoms (numbness, tingling) that would signify cord damage, it’s all good. 

It’s nice to get some good news, to hear that all I’ve been through in the last month has been worth it. I’m still in a fair amount of pain, although it has lessened from when I was first out of surgery. I just don’t know if there’s an end to it or if I’ll be in pain from the rods in my back for the foreseeable future. I also have a great deal of fatigue from the surgery, and now, from the radiation. I spend a great deal of time sleeping; it’s also a good thing that I’m completely out of pain when I’m flat on my back. So, naps serve a dual purpose.

I’m now in PT to help build my strength. The first session was a bit much, and I was down with fatigue for the rest of the day. We’ve adjusted the length and intensity of the work out to ensure that I’m getting the assistance I need to build my body back up while taking my fatigue into consideration. Everything revolves around my energy—or lack thereof. I’m hoping that this improves sometime soon. 

All in all, I’m doing well, whatever that means. 🙂 I’m hoping that I can reach some semblance of normalcy soon. Until then, naps. Lots of naps.