Dehydration cycle

Just confirming my previous observations that in the week leading up to my treatment, the sites of my neuropathy become quite dehydrated.  To the point where, this time I can visibly see the dry skin of my fingertips.  Interesting.  I wonder if this and the hiccup burp is related? 

More hiccup burp

Sunday was not a good day for this.  Both at lunch and at dinner.  At lunch I knew as soon as I had swallowed the first chip.  At dinner it was more of a surprise while eating spaghetti. 

At lunch it took me a few goes to move the offending chip after which I was able to eat the fish and salad easily.  No more chips, they were awful anyway so no loss. 

Dinner, pretty much first go cleared it and was able to finish meal. 

Breakfast today, ok. 

Hiccup burp

I'm still having what I now call the Hiccup burp. I sometime think it is improving and then an another episode.  I've worked out that if I can quickly vomit up the bit that is stuck I can then continue. 

I did for a while have a really hot sensation up my osophigus. That has now gone so may be it is getting better. 

Oily foods are easier to eat than drier foods.  Muesli gives me burps or what passes for burps now.  It is like my burp muscle pulls tight but nothing happens.  Once now again is Ok but a couple in a row together is painful. 

I'm still eating well inspite of it which is good news.  I will talk to Niall about it when I see him next week. 

12 months in remission.

It is now 12 months since I was given the news I am in remission.  My last CT scan was clear and I should probably celebrate in someway but that is not how things are done in our family.  We'll ignore it as usual.

Of more interest is something I noticed a while ago but have been waiting to see if it was repeated.  I now know it to be a pattern as I have noticed it the last 3 cycles of treatment. 

The Pattern
In the last week of each cycle I notice my fingers and tongue start to increase sensation in particular my tongue which I notice more as a drying out sort of thing. 

Other than that I have developed this strange inability to burp in the usual manner.  It can cause me great pain at times and difficulty in swallowing at times. It is almost like I try to hiccup and burp and do neither and instead just gulp air.  I then feel really bloated and can't swallow and at best squeeze air up my oesophagus which kind of hurts and burns.  This has been going on now for about 6 weeks.  It is slowly improving and when I spoke with Niall he wanted to know if it starts to get worse but while it is improving there is probably no worries.  

I am maintaining my increased fluid intake as per my last post.  It will be interesting to see if it has any effect on my cyclic symptoms. 

Side benefits and a correction.

It is now almost 2 weeks since my leg has swollen.  This is very good news as it means that the body is still healing itself.  I had thought I had reached that point where things wouldn't improve and so it was time to live with it,  but not so.  This is good as it gives me hope that the neuropathy will also eventually heal.

I have been seeing an osteopath about my back as well as the doctor.  A side effect of the mediation appears to be a strengthening of the lower back or the core which is providing real benefit to my bank.  How? I hear you ask.  I use a meditation kneeling stool to mediate.  So I keep but because my legs and back are too tight I don't actually get down onto my haunches so I put the still a across the back of my calves and sit on it in a seating position. The core is used in this position to hold the body upright. Do this for about an hour a day and you would be surprised at how strong the core starts to become.  Still the mind and strengthen the back at the same time. 

CORRECTION .. In a previous post I said the continued Herceptin might cause kidney damage, I think I got this wrong.  The full chemo treatment may have left me with some damage, or reduced function.  What may cause damage into the future is the dye used in the CT scans, so I am now trying to drink between 2 and 3 litres of fluid a day, particularly water. This isn't that easy for someone who drank between 1 to 1.5 litres a day. Any way my kidneys seem to be functioning ok as I spend a lot of time going to the toilet.   Haha.

Recovery continues

Today was the second day in a row that my legs haven't swollen, not even a little.  It may have been happening before this but I hadn't noticed.  It certainly wasn't the case last  week.  To me this is clear sign that I am still improving.  This is great news. 

I'm now mediating between 30 mins to an hour daily.  I am visualizing my recovery. I don't know if it is in fact helping but it isn't hurting. 

9 month check-in

3 months since the last check-in so I've halved the time to do something, I think that is good.

I'm due my next CT in a couple of weeks. Again I've done something to the stomach region, but this time I am pretty good that it isn't the cancer back. I expect the CT to show that.

What is interesting is that Niall has told me that there may be some long term kidney damage from the Herceptin but it is being monitored. He has told me this as last time there was a slight drop to just below the the protocol threshold of the hospital for CT's, normally I am only just above it anyway so no big deal. What it does mean though is that I have to now take a drug prior to any CT where the ink is used. 2 tablets the night before, 2 at breakfast time, 2 for dinner and 2 for breakfast next morning. This is to protect my kidneys.

So long as the CT's all keep coming back clear I don't care.