My First Choice

I knew it! I should’a went with my first choice.

I was actually feeling a little better today, not as fatigued as I was yesterday. So, there still is hope!!

I still have the stomach pain, and I did discuss that with the nurses today. BTW, Nurse Diane has moved from chemo over to the radiation side. She’s gone over to the dark side. Or the light side. Don’t really know. Depends on how you look at it. But Nurse Diane is one of the good ones. She gets high marks in my book!

Anyway, I told them about my stomach pain and my “near misses.” Since my cancer is at the GE juncture (that’s gastro-esophageal juncture) everything is pretty much up for grabs here. No one seems to know. But we’re keeping an eye on it.

Did you miss me? I had to get up to take my pain meds. I missed a dose earlier this afternoon and my hiccup/spasms/burps were starting to hurt, big time. I know, I know, I need to stay ahead of the pain, not play catch up! I discussed that with Nurse Diane today, too. I told Nurse Diane that RT Paula had already told me about it. I just have to remember to follow it!

And, RT Amy, the younger, told me that I have been doing great despite my recent pain. I had told them the honeymoon was officially over; they were now hurting me. Apparently, they usually expect MORE fatigue at this juncture. So they are impressed with my progress. I took the opportunity to point out my history of vitamin supplementation and how that can contribute to my overall health. ‘Course, they could be just “shinin’ me on, too!”

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I don’t know if I mentioned Physical Therapist Rose before. One day when I was getting chemo, PT Rose came in and gave me a complimentary back massage. It wasn’t very much of a massage, more like a “laying on of hands.” But she had nice warm hands! They don’t want me doing deep tissue massages right now. They’re afraid of blood clots breaking loose. And, I’d have to go along with them on that one.

She showed up in Radiation last week wanting to give me another massage, for free. I declined. I already had my coat on, I was whooped, and just wanted to get to the car before I collapsed. Did I mention that I haven’t found a handicapped parking spot open whenever I stop at the clinic? So I always end up parking way out in the boonies, anyway. Good thing I haven’t NEEDED a handicapped parking spot, yet.

She stopped by today for a follow-up. I again declined. I told her that although her warm hands are pleasurable, I prefer a little more strenuous massage. She pointed out that my treatments make that difficult and unadvisable. So I told her I would save her the time and her fingers.

She also has tennis elbow (TE)—another reason I declined, but don’t tell her please—so I suggested that she up her intake of magnesium for the inflammation, and described my learning curve with a loss of magnesium due to the Cisplatin, the subsequent pain in my arthritic joints and tendons, and the elimination of my pain by magnesium supplementation. We talked a little more about the benefits of supplementation and she said that she would try it and see how it worked for her. It helped when I told her that I had TE in my left elbow, had iontophoresis, and have had no further problems with that arm, but the treatment of the right arm with NSAIDS and those brace/bands thingies have done nothing to help. Except for the magnesium.

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Please don't be deceived by my bitching some times, Aurora does have some really good people, too!

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I felt so good today that I had a dilemma on my hands. Do I conserve my energy and bask in the glow of less fatigue, or do I get up and do something. I went with number two. And it wasn’t even much of anything. I went downstairs looking for two items stored in my boxes. I really need to get down there and get those boxes sorted out and all the junk tossed out. For some reason that really seemed to take the energy out of me. And it increased my cough. Bad choice! Remind me next time, will you?

Kunolunkwa, y te quiero!

"As a juror, I will exercise my 1000-year-old duty to arrive at a verdict, not just on the basis of the facts of a particular case, or instructions I am given, but through my power to reason, my knowledge of the Bill of Rights, and my individual conscience. When needful, I will judge the law itself." -L. Neil Smith