A little catch-up

First of all, I must apologise for the massive gaps between blog posts these days. It is a bit hard to figure out what I should write about these days, and sometimes I just cannot find the inspiration for a blog entry!

However, it has been pretty eventful these past couple of weeks so I actually have some things to say!

My sister hen-do took place about a week ago. It was the furthest I'd travelled and the most activity I'd done since the op. I did get very tired, though. The plan was to have some games and stuff ("stuff" being snacks) during the day, then go to a restaurant for a meal, and then on to a karaoke bar. Now, I managed the games and snack eating, then I had a little lie down so I could be rested for the evening activities. Unfortunately, I didn't last long at the restaurant before I got very tired and achy and had to go home. I had fun up until that moment, though!

The next day I met up with my friend Brittany and we had a little stroll around and some lunch. I just tried to take it easy and sit down whenever I got tired.

I was pretty pleased with myself for how much I had managed to do, but I did need a few days to recover!

Then I was hit with nausea. Ugh, it was horrible, and I could not identify the cause of it! I knew I had a couple of follow-up appointments coming up (one at the BRI. The other at St. James') so I tried to hold on until then. On top of general nausea, my calcichews were making me gag, and I wanted to speak to the doctor about it.

The follow-up at the BRI did not go too badly at all! My main worry was that they would stick a camera down my nose again, but thankfully, they did not! I just spoke to the doctor about how I was feeling and such, and he suggested that the nausea might be due to too much calcium (AGAIN) and sent me for a blood test.

The next day I went to see the consultant at Leeds (where even more blood was taken) and I spoke about how I felt with her. She told me that while my body was still getting to used to everything, I would tire out easily, and it was a matter of pacing myself. She mentioned sending me to an endocrinologist at the BRI whom she works with. She also said that I'm progressing normally which is GREAT, because "normal" is a word that is not normally associated with me!

When I came out of that appointment, the doctor from the day before called me with my blood test results and said he would be sending me to an endocrinologist, and it is probably the same guy the consultant mentioned so, either way I am seeing an endocrinologist! He also told me to come off my alfacalcidol for the rest of the week to bring my calcium down again and then when I go back on it, take one a day. The reason he's referring me to the endocrinologist to sort out this business with my dosage! I may ask this endocrinologist if there's something other than calcichews I could take!

The nausea is wearing off, too, so that's good! Onwards and upwards!

Oops

AKA Pesky Calcium part 2. AKA Adele is stupid.

So, I'm an idiot. No, I am. I really am.

I've been having low calcium again. *big sigh* See, I'd misread the dosage of my alfacalcidol, and I'd been taking a little bit more than I should have So I ran out of the stuff pretty quickly. The specialist nurse told me I could manage for a while without it, but it turns out that a while is only a few days...before you start having low calcium symptoms. I went off to the hospital for a blood test (by a nurse who was qualified to do it but a bit nervous, and as a result has left quite a bruise!) My levels had dropped some but, they gave me some alfacalcidol (and told me how much I should actually be taking!) and said that should fix it.

The thing is, since about Friday/Saturday, I've had a stinking cold. On Sunday I had horrible catarrh and kept throwing up. I threw up a few times right after taking my medication, so I'm not sure it really took effect.  That, and I think my body got used to me taking me more alfacalcidol than I should have been taking, so when I started taking less it all went a bit mad.

So, I called the hospital and I'm back to taking the amount I was mistakenly taking and I have to go in on Friday for another blood test (in my non-bruised arm)

I feel a bit better, but it's still taking effect. I guess the bottom line is, I can't be blase about any of my medication. I am so careful with my levothyroxine, but because my calcium levels WERE stable, I wasn't as careful. Lesson learned!

If this whole ordeal with Stupid Cancer has taught me anything, it is how to listen to my body. If this recent incident has taught me anything, it's that I need to be careful with ALL my medication. It's serious. I can't be blase with it.

Sorry, body. I'll be good to you now. (Only on the medication front, though. I can't make any other promises because of cake.)