Jennifer Goodman Linn You Fearless

A Bit of a Rough Week

Hi Everyone! The last week has been a long, trying one but there were definitely some highlights to make me smile.

I finished the chemo infusion last Saturday and felt good enough on Sunday to go watch Dave play in the NY State Cup for his soccer division. It was a huge accomplishment for Dave’s team to make it to the final game. Although he doesn’t like to admit it, Dave is the “old guy” on the team so even more impressive that he played the full 90 minutes for many of the games leading up to the Championship. We were able to get a great crowd of dear friends (the Rippergers, Matt Adam and Jamie Spielman, Todd and Zack Kristol and Janet Balis) to come watch the game. We had a great time watching Dave’s Team, The Manhattan Celtic, win 2-0!

So, beyond the fact that I was swelling a lot, I was feeling pretty good.

Then, I woke up on Monday and felt like a train had hit me. In all 7 years of dealing with this nonsense, I have NEVER had fatigue like I did on Monday. I felt like I weighed about 1000 pounds and literally could not get out of bed without a tremendous amount of effort. In fact, I was too tired to even watch television or read a book so I just laid in bed for most of the day staring at the wall. My muscles were so sore to the touch, my throat was throbbing and I was very miserable.

I called the nurses who believed that I was experiencing a bit of “steroid withdrawal.” They give you so many drugs to feel OK when you’re getting the chemo and immediately afterwards that sometimes you “crash” afterwards.

So, I have been spending A LOT of time in bed this week.

The nurses tell me that if I don’t “give in” to the fatigue, it will hurt me later so, although I am not good at this, I am trying to “embrace the lethargy.”

Tuesday and Wednesday were relatively better but I was still so, so tired. We did manage to have a nice dinner with Kat and Rob Olin and on Wednesday, we had tickets to go see the much-acclaimed Broadway Show, The Book of Mormon. There was no way I was missing this so I took some painkillers (heaven) and went to the show. We truly enjoyed it. I felt so grateful to be able to go on a “date” with Dave. The show was really funny but I think the fact that I was able to get there meant more than anything.

I have been feeling a bit better these past few days but I am still in my “low period” which means I need to be very careful with germs and take it easy. I tend to sleep 10+ hours a night and take daily naps. And, the swelling has gotten pretty challenging so I need to elevate my feet for many hours a day (thank goodness for my zero-gravity chair!)

Just today, I received a lovely gift from many of you and I wanted to express my thanks. Good friends Carolyn, Janet and Tina visited my house (and Matt called in) to present me with a “love scrapbook” that I will always treasure. So many of you contributed to the book and expressed your love and admiration for Dave and me through pictures, poems, children’s drawings etc. I haven’t gotten through even a fraction of it yet but there are no words to express how happy I am to have this book in my possession.

Although we keep our heads high and are hoping for the best, weeks like this can be very trying on us mentally and physically. Whether or not we are able to see you or email with you or talk to you, it means so much to feel your love behind us. Your friendship truly “powers” us to keep going. Thank you for being such a constant support to us.

Here’s to what I hope is a better week ahead. I will report back soon.