I've been on Anastrozole for a good 3-4 months and I think I'm starting to get the aches everyone has been talking about.
If you saw me get up out of bed in the morning, or out of a chair after sitting for several hours, you would think I had morphed into a penguin because that is how I start out walking.
I'm now noticing that when I walk the bottom of my feet don't exactly hurt but I've become acutely more aware of them. I'm starting to feel some minor body aches. If it doesn't get any worse, I'll be okay but if it does, I will seriously consider going off the drug. I don't want to become debilitated in my early 60s. Then I will run a greater risk of having the cancer return.
I had dinner with a dear friend a few days ago. She was diagnosed 20 years ago with Stage 3 breast cancer and had 18 lymph nodes removed. She's run the gauntlet of chemo, radiation and surgeries for the past 20 years and right now feels okay despite the fact that it has now metastasized to her lungs which makes me so sad. She is a wonderful person, so giving and generous of heart. We were co-workers for years. Her attitude is wonderful, and we both know where her final destination will be (heaven) but it also makes me wonder if that's going to happen to me in the next 10 years or so? Most of the time I don't think about it but when I'm on the breast cancer group pages and I see women posting about how it has come back with a vengeance and that now they are facing suffering and end of life it does give me pause. How does anyone manage life in this world without God in their lives? I really shudder to think. They must feel so alone and frightened.
Once you get cancer it's like the unwelcome guest who won't ever totally leave. Still, I have to redirect my gaze to my loving Creator and Savior. He knows the number of my days and I am determined to live my life for Him for as long as it lasts.
Psalm 90:12: So, teach us to number our days so that we may gain a heart of wisdom.