Week 5 - Monday
Injecting myself has now become routine - a simple procedure carried out in a few minutes. Still no flu-like symptoms. I now have a month’s supply of medication at home and I don’t need to return to Mynurse’s clinic at the hospital until 4 January 2005.
My splotches are now following a cycle - they appear at the end of the week on that particular injection site then slowly fade. Each week, the new splotch seems less livid and vivid, as well as smaller in diameter, than last week’s. Won’t be able to count the number of treatments by this method as planned!
But some other symptoms are appearing regularly. Rhinitis or sinus pains are occurring almost daily. Today I have a pain in the back of my neck which could be from Yoga yesterday or could be chemically induced. My sleep is still fitful, although Carol’s suggestion of putting a few drops of the essential oil vetiver on my pillow has helped. It does seem to induce sleep.
I felt very irritable today for the first time. Well, for the first time I am aware of. Our local council has asked for objections to their latest proposals for parking in our neighbourhood. And I did write a grumpy letter in reply. I really think this is chemically induced, like the sensation of alertness when I can’t sleep. Actually, I really fairly indifferent to the parking proposals but something caught me in the moment. I can also feel it about everything in general today. I think I am protecting others around me from it. I wonder if Carol would agree.
I cannot find any appetite and although my head tells me it must be time to eat, it feels like a chore to put food in my stomach. I can’t tell whether I have had enough. How odd. But I won’t waste away. I have in fact gained two pounds since I began treatment. No doubt the requirement to eat Danish pasties and flapjacks to keep up my blood sugar levels has had an impact!