Thursday, 21 May 2009
My Dear Friends,
After several well-deserved scoldings from various parties, including some former catechism teaching associates I ran into in a restaurant last week AND my in-laws just now, here I am.
Nothing new on the cancer front. Maintaining.
The elbow is still a problem. The laser thing didn't pan out. It didn't help that I worked (and typed) major hours during tax season. My record was a 52-hour week, including two days off for chemo & recovery.
Last week I got a steroid shot and a diminishing quantity pill-pack. Felt better the first couple days but was back in pain as the dose reduced.
Between my last post and now were a lot of sleepless nights with a huge ice pack on my arm and upper back. There were many hours of pacing, tears, and wasteful TV-watching to take my mind off the pain.
Ended up on Tylenol-3. A couple times, I needed two of them every 4 hours. The nurses didn't know how I was able to stay awake after one!
Everyone knows I hate taking pills so this has been a real bummer.
For the past week, I have been on prednisone, another steroid. I have been able to reduce my Tylenol-3 intake in the past couple days. I think I took only two or three pills total yesterday and a couple today.
I think the arm needs total rest. It's starting to feel OK when I wake up but hurts when I start moving around. Reminds me of thhe carpal tunnel issues I had 14 years ago.
When I get tense and angry, I get shooting pains in my hand. My last two fingers have some numbness & tingling. Because of overuse, my right elbow is startng to hurt.
The steroid shot my white blood cells sky high... to 26! (They're supposed to be between 4 and 10, I think.) Asked for a blood test today. Will find out tomorrow if I even need to take my weekly blood-cell boosting shot.
Gotta go. Hard to type with one hand. Had a billion typos.
Thank you for your continued prayers.
Love,
Jeanette
After several well-deserved scoldings from various parties, including some former catechism teaching associates I ran into in a restaurant last week AND my in-laws just now, here I am.
Nothing new on the cancer front. Maintaining.
The elbow is still a problem. The laser thing didn't pan out. It didn't help that I worked (and typed) major hours during tax season. My record was a 52-hour week, including two days off for chemo & recovery.
Last week I got a steroid shot and a diminishing quantity pill-pack. Felt better the first couple days but was back in pain as the dose reduced.
Between my last post and now were a lot of sleepless nights with a huge ice pack on my arm and upper back. There were many hours of pacing, tears, and wasteful TV-watching to take my mind off the pain.
Ended up on Tylenol-3. A couple times, I needed two of them every 4 hours. The nurses didn't know how I was able to stay awake after one!
Everyone knows I hate taking pills so this has been a real bummer.
For the past week, I have been on prednisone, another steroid. I have been able to reduce my Tylenol-3 intake in the past couple days. I think I took only two or three pills total yesterday and a couple today.
I think the arm needs total rest. It's starting to feel OK when I wake up but hurts when I start moving around. Reminds me of thhe carpal tunnel issues I had 14 years ago.
When I get tense and angry, I get shooting pains in my hand. My last two fingers have some numbness & tingling. Because of overuse, my right elbow is startng to hurt.
The steroid shot my white blood cells sky high... to 26! (They're supposed to be between 4 and 10, I think.) Asked for a blood test today. Will find out tomorrow if I even need to take my weekly blood-cell boosting shot.
Gotta go. Hard to type with one hand. Had a billion typos.
Thank you for your continued prayers.
Love,
Jeanette
posted by Mark Kappe @ 6:29 PM
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