Recovering!

Oh, man, does it feel good!

I just returned from a 3-mile walk along the lakefront. For most of the way, I kept up a strong pace of 3.5 - 4 mph. Sunny day, calm water, ducks scootering around ... lovely. I even ran a few steps, just to beat the light. Oh, okay, and to see how it felt (good!). Frankly, I'd have liked to embed a few more runs in the walk, but Jessica (= trainer) told me sternly just to walk or bike for now, and I pay her good money for this advice so I decided I'd better listen and obey.

I had my first workout session in maybe two months yesterday. That felt good too! I've decided to call it "rehab" instead of "working out", though, because we are doing what used to be ridiculously simple exercises that now require huge concentration to get the muscles to engage. Just stuff like getting on hands and knees, then stretching one arm and the opposite leg like a bird dog and holding that position. Clearly, it will take some work to get back online physically. However, it's one of the things that will help me feel like things are back to normal, both in terms of establishing a routine and being more active.

It's amazing to me how quickly I am recovering from chemo. I am not 100% yet, but I feel basically normal. I can conceive of and carry out tasks. I can get in the car and run an errand. The best metric for how I know I'm getting better? David assigns me tasks and expects me to have accomplished them when he returns from work. Planning dinner, if not actually cooking, is back in my court now.

I really cannot express how good this feels. But you can probably imagine.

Here's one measure of how chemo messed up my body. Remember how hard it was to establish the proper dose of Coumadin? How I had to take more and more and more to get to the proper anti-clotting level (INR = 2.5)? Well, it seems that the chemo affected my body's reaction to this drug, requiring me to take a high dose. Now that chemo is over that dose is causing me to bleed too freely (INR = 3.8 for anyone who cares). So we have to dial back the Coumadin. Life is strange.

For those of you interested in catching a performance of the Hyde Park School of Dance's Nutcracker (featuring ME! okay, featuring a bunch of really cute and talented young dancers, and including some old farts like David and me), I will be dancing the role of Clara's mom in the 2 pm matinee on Saturday, Dec. 10 at Mandel Hall on the University of Chicago campus. (I will also perform in the show for school kids on Friday morning.) I think it will come off well, even though my ballet skills are rusty and I've skipped most rehearsals. Wait, that doesn't sound very enticing. How about: you will be dazzled by my radiance and obvious delight at rejoining life, not to mention the gorgeous gown and cap handcrafted especially for me by kind and caring friends and relations!