Week 8 - Sunday
Yesterday was an almost unstructured day - doing very little and just what I felt like.
Carol gave me an aromatherapy massage. I haven’t had a massage since mid-December as Carol didn’t advise it during the time the Palsy was developing. She concentrated on shifting the toxins from muscles and joints -
particularly important to help natural drainage of the toxins generated by the medication (as well as other toxins). She incorporated massage of the various acupressure points. It felt completely relaxing but I was tired after it - as she had predicted. No problem sleeping last night!!
I can really recommend massage and aromatherapy to support treatment. I did specifically check with both my Consultant as well as Mynurse beforehand to ensure it would not undermine my treatment - and Carol insisted I did (as a professional she operates to the same standard with me she would with any of her clients). The general view amongst HepC professionals on massage and other complimentary therapies is that these are useful adjuncts to the pharmaceuticals.
I also spent time catching up on this blog. I find that when I have been to work until 10 pm and spent a shift in front of the computer (as well as on the telephone) I am too tired and disinterested to spend more time at a computer screen (so I sit in my chair and think what I would write!) So you may notice that my entries tend to be posted in batches. I also find it takes me some time to metabolise what has been happening with me over the day before I can write about it.
Today is another almost unstructured day. This morning a coffee and a read of the newspaper at Starbucks, followed by a brief sojourn to Gap to look at sale clothing. Everything from last year is too big for me now.
For no other reason than I have touched on the subject of weight just now - I will say that I have gained 3 pounds since I started this treatment on 8 November. I have heard of people losing weight dramatically on treatment and I can understand this! If I lived on my own and had to cook for myself when I cannot find any appetite I am certain I wouldn’t bother. It is hard enough to look at food when you have no appetite or much sense of taste - and then eat it up as it is good for you. I am sure I have gained the weight because I ‘need’ to eat the occasional Danish pastry and other sweeties as my blood sugar levels are low. That’s my story and I am sticking to it (and I can taste Danish pastries!). And over the holiday season, I did eat Christmas Cake, Christmas pudding and chocolates several times!
When I was first diagnosed with HepC I was hovering around 13 stone (182 lbs, 82.7 kgs) in weight - as a result of loads of comfort eating and stress-relieving alcohol. In April 2003 I began a liver-friendly detoxifying diet, for purely health reasons, and soon the weight began to come off. I lost 2 stone (28 lbs, 12.7 kgs) over the next months and by the summer of 2004 I weighed 11 stone (154 lbs, 70 kgs). While I was in Spain I lost another ½ stone and started my treatment at the beginning of November 2004 weighing 10 stone 7 lbs (147 lbs, 66.8 kgs). My BMI (Body Mass Index) is within the ‘Ideal’ category (neither overweight or underweight) according to the calculations I worked out at the BBC Health website
I have read in the HepC information about the importance of weight to successful outcomes in treatment, so I do keep track to ensure I stay in the ‘Ideal’ weight category. Mynurse, when she reads this, will not recognise my numbers - her scales say I am slightly heavier than all this - that’s because I keep my clothes on in her clinic when I weigh myself!
In Gap I was confronted, in front of the changing room mirror, with how ill I look generally, compared to photos taken of me a few months ago. I look tired and puffy around the eyes as well as having the pasty pallor of someone who is ill. Bit of a shock to see - even if it is all to be expected!!
This afternoon we went to Yoga. I haven’t been for several weeks since the onset of the Bell’s Palsy - and was looking forward to it. Yoga usually helps me focus on the finer points of my posture and limbs, as well as providing rigorous stretching and massage of the internal organs. I came back feeling an inch taller, tired and hungry. A good workout - although I did ease up toward the end of the 1 ½ hour session.