Sunny Sunday

It's been a pretty weekend so far, though windy.

We got a lot done around the house yesterday.  Dave cut back brush and made another big pile.  He scraped areas of the driveway where weeds and grass had taken over.  He finished trimming the shed, so it's ready for the house painters.

I planted stuff in pots, did laundry, and cooked for Dave's dad, and for us.  My feet hurt by bed time, so I took a nice hot bath before bed.

Today, I hope to vacuum area rugs, go with Dave to deliver the food to his dad, and maybe relax a little.

Dave still needs to mow.  There's more rain in next week's forecast, so if he doesn't do it now, he'll have a harder time later.

My hair finally stopped falling out a couple of days ago.  I have patches that are nearly bald.  It's really quite ugly.  That, along with the lack of eyebrows and lashes, makes me feel really bad about how I look these days.

Add to that the weight that I have gained, and it's pretty nasty.

But I have said some prayers, and am going to research natural remedies for CIPN (chemotherapy induced peripheral neuropathy).

I will present ideas to my doc when I see him on 5/5, and see if we can take me off of the Neurontin.

Turns out, it was not the steroid injections every week that made me gain the weight.  It's the Neurontin that they started me on in September when the chemo made my fingers and toes/areas of my feet go numb.

I started the weekly treatments at the same time, so I assumed it was the increased frequency of the steroids.

But then, I found out that Neurontin causes weight gain, too, and considering that I have been doing everything I can to lose this weight, and NOTHING is happening, and the steroids are well and truly out of my system, it has to be the Neurontin.

The medication is not helping what it's supposed to help, so why bother continuing on it?  I know that I "can" take up to 6 capsules of it a day safely....but if it's just going to make me fatter, I really don't want to do that.

There has been no improvement in my numbness for a LONG time even with increasing the dose from 3 a day to 4 a day a few months ago.  It also makes me dizzy.

If it's making it so I have to buy an entire new wardrobe because my clothes don't fit, and it's not DOING anything, maybe we can try something that won't make me fat, instead of adding more of the drug that's making me fat.

Makes sense to me, so we'll see if the doctor agrees.

Without the chemo going in, at least my symptoms can't get any worse.

Okay, well, I am off to the shower so we can get our day started.

Have a good Sunday!