Friday, February 2, 2018

The report from my beautiful muster point

"Muster point" is what they call the location at work to which you "muster" when you evacuate for a fire or tornado.  I thought it sounded funny to acknowledge my evacuation status to my MIL's home as a muster point.  ;)

I'm getting there, guys, I'm getting there.  For the past two days I've determined that my brain pressure was a little bit less, so I stepped down my steroid dose to 3 pills per day instead of 4 pills per day.  Yesterday was my first day of 3 pills, and brain pressure IS up today from yesterday, but it's been worse previously so I think I'm on the right track.  I'm sticking with 3 pills for the time being, and my face does feel better about it (I'm sooooo puffy and uncomfy from the 'roids.  SO puffy.)  Huzzah for incrementally decreasing brain pressure, and huzzah for steroid reduction!

I saw Dr. Oncologist today and she doesn't need to see me again for two whole weeks, huzzah huzzah!  Longer leash!  My primary jobs are to pay attention to the brain pressure, step down the steroids as able, and keep doing my super healing program.  Oh, and I need to add leg lift exercises to my daily routine to build my quads back up (yep, she noticed the atrophy.  Soooo much atrophy.  She's SO thorough, and SO good.)  She's pleased that I'm doing a daily 1 mile workout that includes leg lifts and kicks (guys, it's the hardest part of my day; seriously sooooo hard for me to do this little workout right now!) and I told her that I aspire to do more but I'm just so weak and tired, and she was super supportive.  She said to just keep up what I'm doing, then in a little while maybe add another half-mile later in the day, etc.  I was grateful for those words of support from her.  I think I'll add the quad lifts to my evening yoga, so that they are separate from my morning workout.  Sooooo hard.  

The most interesting part of my day was meeting with the oncological nutritionist!  Wow did I learn a lot.  I have been eating the exact right foods to cause bloat, which is to say that I've been eating a whole lot of the wrong foods for my messed-up guts.  I've been eating a lot of insoluble fiber (legumes, broccoli, onions, fruits and veggies with peels, whole wheat), and I need to switch the balance to eat more SOLUBLE fiber.  She suggested LESS whole grains and fewer legumes right now; she even gave me permission to eat white bread!  Gasp!  This is pretty much the opposite of my normal legume and vegetable diet, but that's okay.  I'll try it, and I'll enjoy it, and it's just temporary.  

Also, the nutritionist is a big fan of the smoothie routine because she likes that all of the food is pulverized, making it easy to absorb.  Here's a hit list of some good foods for me right now to get my small intestine more comfortable and hopefully peristalsing like a normal human:  pumpkin, sweet potato (no peel), carrots, nuts, yogurt, cooked fruits with no peels (applesauce, peaches, pears, etc.), avocado, eggs, peanut butter, prunes, cottage cheese, oatmeal, ripe bananas (not green), mushrooms, watermelon, whey protein powder.  I think I can blend up some tasty smoothies with some items on that list!  And some foods are a bit confusing, like spinach.  I told her I was putting fresh spinach in my smoothies, and she waffled on it a bit (mmm...waffles).  She suggested that it'd be okay as long as I avoid too many stems.  Maybe if I use frozen spinach, since it's partially cooked?  It seems that being cooked is a good thing for my guts, but it also sounds SUPER disgusting to put cooked spinach in a smoothie.  We'll see!

She also provided a terrific resource to look up all of the the nutrient content of your foods.  Follow the link, or just google USDA Nutrition Database.  On that page you can type in any food you're interested in and find out the nutrition facts on it, how much an appropriate serving size is, or in my case, how much fiber it contains.  It's pretty fun!  Good job, USDA!   

Oh, and she also said that drinking warm things helps with digestion, so I'm gonna add a cup of hot tea, hot water, or hot ginger water to my after-meal digestion program.  Not to be rude, but I feel like I should put a little PSA here before all of you kind and thoughtful people send me a bunch of tea (this is a real hazard of the blog! It truly is!): please note that I do not drink green or herbal tea on account of my history of lung cancer (the scientific details of why are explained in the post via the link).  I only drink black, decafffeinated tea (I do not need caffeine in my veins), and it can have spices (ginger, cinnamon, etc.) but NO herbs, mint, hibiscus, chamomile, etc.  (L, colleague, thank you for the tea you already sent!  I'm greatly enjoying the decaf rooibos!!)    

My MIL just made me a hot, fresh mushroom quiche for lunch. OMG was it good.  Thank you SO much, MIL!!  I love you!  I had ONE serving, some applesauce, and some prunes, and a 'roid. 

The other news to report is that my youngest is feeling better (fever free!) and went to school today, bless her little heart.  The rest of the family seems to be fine.  I'll return home tomorrow after the decon is complete (beloved helpers are conducting a lysol or chlorox treatment of all surfaces and handles in the house, and a hot-water wash of pillowcases and bedding.  That should do it, I think.  THANK YOU for all of your hard work to keep me healthy, family and helpers!!!  I love you all SO deeply!!

Oh, and a curiosity:  yoga pants have ceased to be comfortable, which kinda cracks me up.  I suppose that when one reaches this epic level of lounging, one notices that thorough waistbands and snug spandex actually scratch and burn on dry winter skin (I'm moisturizing, but still).  Conveniently, a women's travel group to which I belong on Facebook (thanks for the hook-up, JJ!!) had a thread yesterday about everyone's favorite comfy travel pants, so you KNOW that I took to some armchair shopping and ordered me some cosy pants based on these gal's recommendations.  I started with a pair of Uniqlo joggers, so we'll see how I like them, and I in turn will let you know how they work out, in case you too are on the market for some cosy pants.  Other suggestions from included Vera Wang or Lularoe Leggings, but I'm generally not a fan of leggings--too snug, too short, and the waistband is usually insecure.  Plus I want to get away from the clinging.  I didn't manage to find a pair of Uniqlos with my 36" inseam, but I ordered men's instead of women's so they'll be good enough, and it's cosy pants for recovery so length isn't terribly important as long as they are sufficiently loose and warm.  The other top suggestions on the thread were Elephant Pants, but their longest inseam is only 30" so that's out for me.  I emailed their customer support just in case they take special orders, and although they don't take special orders she did say that she'd suggest longer inseams to their product development team, lol.          

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