And A Belated Happy Birthday…

…to the last of the Aries birthdays in the family. Since it was yesterday, and I did post yesterday, I should have mentioned it. I am sorry I forgot, and offer my humblest apologies.

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I don’t know what is going on with me. I have been having trouble sleeping despite taking plenty of Valerian Root and melatonin. I took 12 mg of melatonin last night and didn’t fall asleep until some time well after 2:00AM. Usually that would put me right out! Then I drifted in and out of slumber all through the rest of the night. I didn’t finally start to get some serious sleep until after my 10:00AM meds. I’m wondering if the pain is still an issue, or if the little caffeine contained in the green tea is causing all the problems.

I did the ‘fever with no sweats’ vs. the ‘sweats with no fever’ thing last night so I tried the Aleve (naproxen sodium) that the doctor recommended. Now, the naproxen is an NSAID so I can't say that I wasn't curious to find out what would happen. I got up this AM after taking the naproxen once, ONCE, and found that most of the pain in my hip joint WENT AWAY!!! I could walk almost normal without any aids and with very little pain. What’s up with that? The meloxicam NSAID that my PCP prescribed didn’t seem to help, much at all but plain ol’ naproxen let me have my joint back. The only issue is that I have to be very careful with my stomach and any NSAIDS.

Speaking of stomachs, I haven’t had much experience with constipation, until now. All of the recent pain meds have overpowered my gastrointestinal tract leaving me with another type of pain - constipation. The chemotherapy almost always guaranteed having diarrhea so my experience level with constipation is very low. The Dulcolax hasn’t been working so I needed to try a Fleet enema. That’s what I have been reduced to, giving myself enemas! It helped but I can tell that more attention is needed in this area. It causes problems with appetite and eating.

The fever/sweats have contributed as well. Although I try to stay hydrated, I lose a lot of moisture through the skin. That means that I don’t have it in the intestinal tract to lubricate things. I’m still not sure how I’m going to handle this on a regular basis. I have gone back to the sugar-free Benefiber chewables. That should help a bit. But as I said, I’m not sure what I need to do.

So, I have to get prepared for a Social Security interview tomorrow so I’m going to cut this short tonight.

Kunolunkwa, y te quiero!