Tuesday, June 9, 2015

The Much Ado About Nothing Cancer Update...

This morning, I had a message from a friend stating that she hadn't seen any updates from me in awhile and asking how I was fairing. It occurred to me that I should probably update people even when there is not much to update on the cancer front. 

Here's the latest:

Mostly my life is about pain management. My doctor has put me on a pain patch (Fentanyl) which slowly releases opiates into my system. The patch gets changed out every 3 days and for the most part is keeping my pain at a reasonable level. In no way am I pain free, but most days it's at a level that I can manage. For the days when the pain exceeds manageable levels, I have Tylenol or Aleve for when the pain becomes a nuisance and Percocet for when the pain is off the charts, which fortunately doesn't happen that often.

My biggest issues these days are motivation and exhaustion. Because my pain is fairly well managed, I could be spending my time traveling and sightseeing, but I'm having issues with motivation. Getting my butt up and out of the house is proving to be a difficulty that I hadn't counted on. Additionally, I get tired very easily. My days go something like this: wake up, watch The Today Show, read, nap, read some more, nap, watch Judge Judy. Or perhaps: wake up, watch The Today Show, watch a movie, nap, watch another movie, nap, watch Judge Judy, etc. It's quite tedious and boring, but it's what my life has become. I hope that eventually I'll get my energy and motivation back.

I have a planned trip to Massachusetts for a long weekend which will happen in a little more than a week, where I will visit with my students and see some friends. I'm hoping that perhaps that will be the kickstart that will get my motivation revved up and get me back on the road again.

That's it for the Much Ado update.