Pain Update

I want to thank everyone for their kind words here and on social media.  Pain is always a scary thing.  I thought I’d give you an update as to how things progressed.

Thursday was the worst of the pain.  After breakfast I attempted to take an Epsom salt bath.  It often helps with relaxation and the warm water loosens up cramped muscles.  While it was somewhat relaxing (I need a bigger tub) it did very little to alleviate the pain.  Since the pain was in the bones relaxing muscles wasn’t exactly helpful.  I tried more Tylenol and ibuprofen, but they wouldn’t even touch the pain.  

I could barely stand, but laying down was just as bad.  It was better for me to stay in my room most of the time because there is a bathroom on that floor.  Derek finally took matters into his own hands and made a trip to the local cannabis emporium.  He came home with a high CBD tincture.  A few doses of that finally alleviated enough of the pain that I could get out of the bed and shuffle slowly.

I find that when I’m feeling exceptionally shitty the one thing I want to do is get out and do something.  I’m sure it is my body’s way of telling me it will get your mind off of this.  I had Derek take me up to my school to pick up some catalogs that I’d ordered from a plant company as well as check on the plants in the greenhouse.  It did get my mind off of things.

I spent the rest of the evening on the downstairs couch.  We watched a movie and I winced in pain.  Near 9:30 I’d had enough and decided to go to bed.  Getting to bed was a whole different story.  It took a good long while to go up the 1 flight of stairs to my bedroom.  Once I got to the top I decided that sleep warranted the use of some stronger drugs.  I opted for the Vicodin.  A second dose at 2 am allowed me to mostly sleep through the night.

I woke up Friday feeling much better.  I still had some lingering pain in my ankles, but not enough to prevent me from getting around.  I was able to do some cleaning.  My girlfriends came that evening for a visit.  What a lovely distraction!  I kicked them out around 7:00 and spent the rest of the evening watching The Great British Bake-off.  

Saturday was even better as far as pain goes.  I spent time outside securing the back fence so the new chickens wouldn’t escape.  We also drove down to Shelton to attend my Uncle’s memorial service.  Riding in the car is not exactly pleasant, but I managed.  

Through this I learned that days 3 & 4 are going to be rough.  I’m just going to prepare for that.  Should the pain be more intense or last longer than 2 days I’ll bring it up to my team.  I know this is a side effect of this particular drug and there are many other women who have had similar reactions.  I can’t expect chemo to be roses and daisies.  A few days down is manageable.