Well, I'll Be

 I hesitated to title the previous post with the word, "breakthrough," because I really wasn't sure if it was. During so much of this ordeal so far, things change daily or every other day. Often, unfortunately, the change is negative; some new pain here, strange sensations there, new levels of fatigue, etc. However, it really does seem consistent that both of my injections have kicked in and are doing their jobs. 

As far as the testosterone-lowering injection (Eligard, aka leuprolide acetate) goes, they said it would make me much more tired and give me hot flashes. Check. Check. I'm not necessarily thrilled about being too tired to go for a walk outside OR about having sudden bouts of my body feeling like it's on fire. However, if lowering my testosterone means the cancer has less to feed on and grow, it's an acceptable sacrifice. 

The really unfortunate part about being too tired to go for a walk, though, is that I really feel like being outside in nature would do my outlook a world of good. We've been thinking of places we could go (now that the weather has gotten nicer) where we could drive and then just sit on a bench or picnic table for a while.

As far as the bone-building injection goes, they said it would help with the soreness/pain in my back and hips. Check. I'm still taking some ibuprofen here and some acetaminophen there, and I still have a couple hydrocodone pills to help me sleep at night, but I don't have to use any of that like clockwork now. Until this injection kicked in, I actually had to keep a timed schedule on my phone so that I wasn't overlapping pain meds or taking "too much" of any one of them in too short a period of time. I'm still writing down when I take that stuff, but it's out of habit more than anything else. I'm now simply supplementing my daily existence with those meds instead of barely surviving on a steady diet of them. 

That tingling sensation I was having? Apparently, the way that medication builds bone strength is by pulling calcium -- lots of it -- from my system to put to work in bone strengthening. Now the recommendation of the calcium supplements (600mg x 2 per day) made so much more sense. The day they arrived, I doubled the dose. The next morning, no tingling fingers and lips. Since then, the recommended dose seems to be working just fine. 

Another thing that's encouraging about where I am now is that the basket of pill jars on my end table has shifted from pain meds and antibiotics to (mostly) vitamin supplements. I understand that's because all the "heavy" drugs are already inside me from the injections, but it's nice to be staring at a basket full of more natural drugs on the table these days. 

Baby steps. Small breakthroughs. I'll take 'em. As long as we're moving in the right direction, too, it's encouraging. 

Now, if I just had enough energy to go for a walk!