The Goalpost Moves Again

The Goalpost Moves Again

🌼 Date: Tuesday, March 3, 2026

⚡ Energy: Running Low, Brain Running Wild

💗 Status: Processing New Information

🤔 Outlook: Apparently This Game Has Extra Innings

Today I had an appointment with oncology.

I went in thinking it would be a pretty routine check-in. Just another step along the path of finishing chemo, getting through radiation, and continuing the long road back to normal.

Or whatever my new normal will look like.

Instead, I learned about the next chapter.

After I complete radiation, I’ll need to start taking an estrogen-blocking medication.

And not just for a little while.

For a minimum of five years.

Five.

Years.

Holy cow.

There are several different medications in this category, and my doctor will choose which one I take based on my history, the specific type of cancer I have, and all the very detailed numbers that go along with it.

Because apparently no two cancer cases are exactly the same.

Which makes sense medically… but it also means there’s no neat little “this is what happens next” roadmap.

Then we looked at the list of possible side effects.

Let’s just say it’s not exactly a spa menu.

Possible side effects include things like:

• Morning sickness
• Diarrhea
• Loss of appetite… or weight gain
• Severe joint pain
• Hot flashes
• Muscle stiffness
• Bone thinning

So basically a delightful little grab bag of possibilities depending on which medication I end up taking.

At this point my only question is:

Can I get the one that doesn’t have any of those side effects, please?

Thanks.

But the bigger thing this stirred up for me is something I wasn’t really expecting.

I think somewhere in my mind I believed that once I made it through chemo, radiation, and all the surgeries… I’d eventually be able to return to life as normal.

Or at least something resembling normal.

Especially when it comes to work.

Not a desk job.

A physically demanding job.

Now I’m sitting here wondering how people actually do that while dealing with medications that can cause joint pain, muscle stiffness, and bone thinning.

And let’s talk about the more immediate possibilities on that side effect list.

Things like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.

Because that sounds like a blast when your job involves driving a bus for 3–4 hours at a time.

Seriously… how does that work exactly?

Do I need to start purchasing stock in adult diapers now?

And in a fragrance-free zone, what exactly would I do about the smell of a used diaper?

It’s not like I can just pin an air freshener to my back and call it good.

These are the kinds of very glamorous, very practical questions that apparently come with the next phase of cancer treatment.

It’s a lot to process.

Because right now it feels a little like the end zone keeps moving farther away.

Every time I think I’m getting close, the rules change and there’s another stretch of field ahead.

And if you know me, you know one thing:

I do not like playing games where the rules change in the middle.

But here we are.

So tonight I’m sitting with the information.

Trying to wrap my head around what the next five years might look like.

Still healing.
Still fighting.
Still figuring out the rules of this new game.

Even if I don’t particularly like them.

💗 Tina –
One Badass Day at a Time