One of the hardest things throughout my cancer treatment has been the lack of energy I’ve had. With five young kids, that makes things difficult. Fortunately we have a sitter who has been with us since the fall and my mother in law and dad have helped fill in some gaps when we don’t have coverage because I get so tired.
Despite this lack of energy, one thing I’ve been trying to do since I’m home is focus on spending more time with the kids. Last week was spring break for my boys and I thought it would be good to try to do some things with them during their time off since I don’t get to spend much time with them during their school days.
Their break started last Friday and Chase and I spent the morning in Point Pleasant, walking along the beach and playing in the arcade. Saturday I took Chase, Shane and Reese to our last Easter Egg hunt of the season. Sunday was Easter and Monday was my chemo day. Tuesday Shane and I had our day out, a trip to Freehold Mall. Shane wanted to go to the Lego store and we checked out some other stores as well. We also had to stop and get Wetzel’s Pretzels (I think you can figure out why we stopped there, might have to do with the name.)
Wednesday morning we ventured to Hollland Ridge Farm to see the tulips. We walked around for about two hours. I had my friend Jane with me for the first 1.5 hours but I was on my own with the four kids for the last 30 minutes we were there as she had to head to work. I spent most of those 30 minutes carrying my two year old because why take the tractor ride back when you can walk (I’m a little crazy!)
Thursday I took Chase, Shane and Reese to the movie theater to see Sonic 2. Despite the outrageous cost of food and tickets I wanted them to have the experience of going to a movie as this was one of my generation’s favorite outings before streaming came along. I enjoyed the movie and being in a theater and they did too.
I enjoyed spending the extra time with my boys but learned the hard way I did too much. I ended up in the ER Saturday night with a fever, which is always concerning in cancer patients. My white count was very low which is what caused this and lead to something called neutropenic fever.
So I had to spend two days and nights in the hospital, which is the last thing I wanted a few days from my birthday. Following an injection, my white count went up and I was able to go home this morning. I no longer had a fever and felt much better.
This may have served as a warning to slow down and take it easy. Maybe this forced me to rest, which is not something I did much last week.
It’s ok to push through, try to do things and stay active but I think I pushed too far. It’s ok, I’ll bounce back. But I’ll be smarter and learn not to take on too much, which is something I do way too frequently. While battling cancer and raising five young kids, now is not the time to try to do so much. Sometimes it’s ok to take it easy and slow down.
