Where have I been for five months?! Well you all know where if you follow me on facebook. Most of you do so you know I have been around. I did stop blogging for a while. So many things going on but the cancer front things have been good. Unless you count the sneaky monsters that expose their ugly heads after cancer. I have harped on that same thing the doctors told me back when I was first diagnosed. "Give us six months and you will be good as new" Well that was a tall tail of bull shit lol. No one comes out of cancer "Good as new"!
Now I will not lie I have been busting my butt in the gym and eating healthy as I always have. But the side effects of chemo and radiation are there. Saving your life does come with a price that no one will tell you. Now that my blog is being read by many people going through cancer treatment I only hope that they get a small idea of what is to come. The effects it had on me was something I never even considered. Flashback to January of this year. I went to see a new family doctor. My awesome Doc happened to take a job back in her home town of Boston and I was not comfortable with her replacement. I Still have my amazing Oncologist but my primary care doctor had to be just as awesome. I was able to find someone that I was comfortable with. She gave me a full physical and took all my tests to just get a baseline since I was a new patient.
All my tests came back great except for my thyroid which is now very slow. This explains why I was stuck and not able to lose anymore weight. I have not been able to get back to the weight I was at before I was diagnosed. Part of me started to accept the fact that I am older and my body did change. Doctors kept telling me not to be so hard on myself and that my body did indeed change due to my treatments. Of course I am a stubborn Italian and I did not want to accept that answer. Most Doctors just do not get the whole picture. What you eat really impacts what is going on with your body. That is why I did a blog on Biofeedback a while back. It has been an amazing tool that helped me step up my game and understand what foods were causing me more harm than good.
Yes my body did change. But the food I was eating now we're causing my issues. Once I locked that in, it did help me. I had to start taking thyroid medication. This I was not happy about. Another pill. Yaaaay! I started this in January and am on the 4th dosage change to see if it will do anything to help me. The doctor says we are getting close. We shall see. Not a big deal. Thyroid problems happen because of the radiation treatment I had. It would have been nice to know before hand. Then again at that point you think, "Oh zap me with this and I live? lets go." There is no question I needed radiation and it was a big part in saving my life.
The next issue I had that actually had me scared and frankly freaked out. The thing no one wants to hear. "Sir you need to see a kidney specialist." Well gee thanks. That is exactly what I was missing in my life. Another specialist. Again my mind started to think. How the hell do I eat clean, work out everyday and this happens to me?! We first tried to change the intake of my protein. There was too much protein in my urine and this sparked my doctor to freak out. This was exciting. Now that I locked in all the foods I can eat and made my meal plan around them, here come the doctors to tell me to stop eating that way. I am rolling my eyes here, just close your eyes and imagine that. Needless to say I was not happy with this new discovery. I did try the holistic approach and got some great supplements that support kidney health. I did a detox and off I went to the kidney specialist. I was given a jug to use for 24 hours and, well, go to the bathroom in the jug and keep it on ice. Again I ask you to envision me rolling my eyes. After my 24 hour pee jug was filled. I promptly returned it to the kidney specialist for review. The good news is that the specialist said that everything looked normal and there was nothing to worry about. Wolverine strikes again! Good news is always celebrated after a scare like that. I know I had many friends praying for me and I am blessed to have amazing people around me to lift me up in these times.
Here we are close to four years cancer free but we still fight the after effects. I am lucky that mine are minor. I will deal with thyroid issues and get that under control. The neuropathy will never go away. That is a gift from chemo that keeps on giving. Some days are better than others but it is there. In my feet more than my hands. But it does affect my guitar playing a bit on the bad days. One of the Chemo drugs had an affect on my lungs. Smoke, steam and things of that nature affect my breathing. At the very least that was something I was aware of. The paperwork on all the chemo drugs I was given did mention the effect on my lungs and the neuropathy. At the very least if you take anything away from my ramblings... Ask questions. I know it is hard when you have to face the battle. Get others involved and have them ask questions for you.
I will leave you with that final word of advice.
More than ever just remember every day you wake up and your feet hit the ground is a good day.
More to come....
God Bless
SMIB \m/
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