The mouse is back on the treadmill

After returning from Christmas Island, I had a week 'off' (aka getting laundry done, getting things unpacked and put away) . Had physio visit with Simon the Sadist.  He said he could tell I had been rather physically active.  Two days later, had exercise therapy session with Alaina. And yes, I was back on a treadmill, sitting and standing with 10kg weight, and using the standing 'rower'. To be sure, not all at the same time, but after 30 minute of it all, I was short of breath, and sweating.

Went to bed, stiff, woke up stiff and sore.

I do this because it's good for me. Keep telling myself that, and I might start believing it.

I keep up the mantra

Because it's good for me, because it's good for me.

Tough session at exercise therapy today. Treadmill pushed to not quite running, but walking at one helluva clip. 
Because it's good for me.

Then, it's was off to the weights.  I really don't like lapping the gym while holding onto two 4kg weights. I busted my ass losing a lot of weight, so lugging 8kgs of weight at the end of my arms isn't a whole helluva lot of fun.
Because it's good for me.

Then push-up, followed by lifting weights straight up over my head.
Because it's good for me.

Gawd, I wish I had a spa tub.

I still don't know whether to be embarrassed or happy

The elder care person I've been assigned. She is such a sweet lady.  Seems without lose of energy, to vacuum, then mops, and then select an area I haven't been able to tackle.  Sometimes, she exhausts me with her energy. 

Don't get me wrong. Prior to her coming here, you didn't want to wipe your feet after you left, but it needs a good cleaning. Alan and Wing tidy, but they don't clean things. And by the time I manage to get one area cleared/cleaned, I feel as if I have been stretched on rack.

So, she's cleaning my house. I dusted off cobwebs from three room, including the walls and ceilings, the doorway, too.

I'm happy I have the help, but embarrassed I need it.

Physio and Exercise therapists might be on vaycay

But I'm not. For the past two weeks, I have been keeping up with the scheduled exercises at him, as much as I can. I don't have the reformer, or pulley set up, but I do have free weights. 3 sets of 10, every other day.  Not just Monday, Wednesday and Friday. But also Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. 

I might take the up coming weekend off as I had one helluva painful shoulder blade lock up post exercise shower. It hurt to breathe! I managed to loosen things up (and breathe), and get myself sort of ready for the day.

Bleh

Because of IINETs' shoddy handling of unloading email service, and then with almost no notice, deleted the websites. Why? because their corporate monkeys have decided websites and email has nothing to do with the internet(?)

Regardless, I managed to get the website downloaded. Good thing, too, because my custom mood icons for LiveJournal were being hosted on our IINET website, and I downloaded them.  Then came the fun part of uploading them to another place, and then correcting all 135 links. GAH! It's done.

Had exercise therapy today. Most of the time was on the reformer/pilates machine, under expert supervision. Way back in 2006 when I have a calcified disk collapse, it damaged the nerves in my left leg. It's left some of the muscles flaccid. So, using the reformer 'forces' those flaccid muscles to work. My right leg has an ache in it, but the left leg is only a bit wobbly. No pain in left leg is my silver lining.

Shoe's on the other foot

So to type.

Alan had to have a double hernia repaired. Wing and I have been doing what's needed to take care of him. I have to admit, I am knackered. Had to change his surgical dressings. Ugh. At least the incisions are looking good. But standing at a 45 degree angle to carefully remove and replace 5 dressings was a bit problematical for my back.

Parcel arrived from Amazon. I got a laugh out of "This box is made of less material", when there was another box inside of it. At least the item I ordered was actually in the inner box.  If I had opened yet another box, would have thought I was in an episode of Doctor Who?.

The Endoscopy was clear

No scarring, not signs of any growths or other abnormalities.  But the I had one helluva surprise a few weeks later.

I started having chest pains. Just a little, then it got worse and worse. I ended up taking an ambulance ride to the hospital emergency. 

After many blood tests, ECG tracings, some really painful poking  seriously painful prodding, a sublingual Nitro-glycerine spray and a crashing headache afterward, and 7 hours later, with blood draws showing no troponin, the diagnosis was GERD,aka Gastro-esophageal reflux disease, and it mimics a heart attack perfectly.

I have new medication to take (generic Aussie version of Prilosec) One a day. And a bottle of Gaviscon, but they didn't have any Mylanta. At least the Gaviscon liquid is an 'as needed'.

On a funny note: While I was in the corridor, on the ambulance stretcher. I kept seeing a doctor come in, look around, and leave. She did this 4 times. Then she asked Dean, the ambulance attendant, where is "Mrs Chung?"  He pointed at me.  She had been looking for a woman of Asian descent. I chuckled, because it never gets old.

I'm going to be ok. But that is how 2023 ended, and one of the many reason I saw 2023 sucked big time.

Yesterday was Halloween

And I went to my counseling session dressed as Queen Victoria, the widow years.  And yes, they let me go home. I kind of staggered off to bed, and I was so wrung out, I didn't hear the purr kids' morning antics, and slept through. Wing said I was deeply asleep.

Getting some light chores done, including clean sheets on the bed. I can't wait to be the first person in bed, to feel those lusciously sensuous sheets. Mmmmmm.

Tomorrow, I go to the hospital to have an endoscopic exam. It's more of an exploration to see why I have painful esophageal spasm (feels like a heart attack) that lasts for anywhere from 10 to 30 seconds.  When it's over I get the hiccups.  Dr H thinks it might be scarring, but have to be sur

I guess I don't bounce back like I used to

I'm still getting so tired after doing the simplest of tasks.  Even taking a shower and getting dressed makes me feel as if I am in need of a good nights' sleep, starting before noon.  Nagging cough hasn't quite gone away.

In better news, Isis has settled right in. She makes the boy's lives a bit more.. umm active, they being the dignified 3 yr olds. She trills at them, rolls over, and tries to get them to interact. And when they ignore her overtures, she waits, and then elegantly drapes herself on their back as they walk by. She's a black cat, so she goes with all varieties of cats. :D

The simplest thing tires me out

I really don't know how much longer I'm going to be on antibiotics, but I am well and truly tired of taking them three times a day. Using the inhaler makes me dizzy, because you have to hold your breath between the two doses. And ick. And I'm not kidding about how tired I am. I took a slurp of coffee, and before I swallowed it, I fell asleep. It's just a damned good thing my choking reflex is good or I would have inhaled some.

Isis has found the best spot to catch some ray to solar charge. The telescope box next to the antique altar table. Even on a cloudy day, she can catch some UV to warm her up.

#

I know it's part of recovering

But I went from a chest ripping, rib cracking, choking cough that needed antibiotics and a steroid inhaler, to a nagging 'get that crap up and out' cough that leaves me just as exhausted.

On the 'silver lining' aspect: Wing and Alan are out of the house, having lunch with MiL. I'm having a bit of peace and quiet, and no helicoptering.

Pardon me if this post is a tad rambling

Or sort of incoherent.

Three days ago, my left calf, and behind my knee, and hamstring, and my annoying fused back started hurting a lot. I wasn't worried, because I had an upcoming visit with the physio, "Simon The Sadist" for a session.

To say my physio session rushed would be an understatement.  Yes, they were trying to clear up all clients before the up coming long holiday, and he, personally, was taking some time off. Good for him, but I felt I had been given the bums' rush. And I was charged $61 for the privilege.

Today, when I got up, I was in worse shape than I was BEFORE session. Tried to do some of my rehab exercises, and for all my efforts, I almost fell over, my knee kept giving out. I left comment on the "PhyApp" regarding it.. before I took something for the pain. Meds I haven't had to use October last year.

Yes, I hurt that f*cking much. With better living through (legal) chemistry, the acute pain is now just a dull ache. I can deal with that.

And I had almost forgotten what it was like

I had my first appointment with Hayden The Horrible, physioterrorist. And as usual, I hurt more today than I did yesterday. He did find out, as Matt The Torturerer, and Simon The Sadist, I have a high tolerance for pain.

Got a new regimen of exercises, which I did expect. What I didn't expect was to be told to stop using any walking aids if I was walking somewhere I didn't have to worry about how fast I get from place A to place B.  This kind of scares the bejeebus out of me, because we have this HUGE wide open area in the house, where there is nowhere for me to reach out should I start losing my balance, or if my left leg folds, or an ankle decides it wants to roll again.

I have ONE lace up ankle support, but there are issues. First off, I have two ankles. Secondly, if I wear it, my shoes don't fit. I do have some of those elastic type, but they aren't comfortable for a AA heel.  Really digs in painfully after about 2 hours, maximum.

Loki is recovering faster than I am.

He had surgery on his hock/ankle. I had surgery on my knee. Two weeks later, he's walking around and the only evidence of surgery is the very short furred area that had to be shaved.

Me? 7 weeks on and I still have to use a cane around the house, and crutches.

Yes, there are some days I wish I was a cat.

And typing about Loki, I showed his histopathology report to someone. She said there were a lot of mights, maybes, could bes in it. IOWs they had no idea what the growth is. Just wait to see if it comes back.

Booked Trance for an ultrasound

Wing was on pins and needles the night before. Still was when he took her in at her 11am appointment.

Results: She's free of any other growths/tumors.  Wing pretty much sagged with relief, and said "YES!"  Now, she will go in for scans every 3 to 6 months. IOWs, as soon as her fur grows back, it had to get shaved again

And the hits just keep coming

Loki's lump was sent to pathology. Results aren't the same as the last lump. It isn't a lipoma, but soft tissue sarcoma. The vet said there was no way to get 'clean margins' as it was on his ankle.

Vet said it would grow back quickly, too.  He said the only way to make sure all the sarcoma is gone is to amputate his back leg. He's 15, almost 16 years old. I don't know if he would recover from it.

4 Cats with different types of cancer. Vets keep saying it's 'bad luck'.  My heart feels like it's breaking.

I don't know if I can go through this again

Trance and Loki both had lumps removed a week ago Saturday. Samples were sent off to pathology.

Trance has hemangiosarcoma (HSA) is a cancer that arises from malignant blood vessel cells and is an uncommon cancer in cats. It is a very aggressive cancer that spreads (metastasis) early and is associated with a poor prognosis. The underlying cause of HSA is unknown. Vet said it was just bad luck, because it's usually in dogs, not cats. And if it is in cats it usually in light furred outdoor cats, and Trance is a dark furred indoor cat.

I haven't been able to completely stop crying. First it was Ziggy, then Keito, and now Trance? Three different types of cancer, each of them 'bad luck'? I feel as if my heart is being crushed.

Seems Dr N's course of treatment is working

I have been on Ozempic for almost 6 weeks. Turns out I am a 'textbook example' of insulin resistance. With the exception of slight nausea when I followed the protocol of increasing dose to .50 from .25mg, I have had no other reactions.  Dr N does want blood tests to see how my liver is handling it. He's not worried, it's just standard procedure.

So far, I have lost 6kgs (13lbs 4oz) in 6 weeks.  My appetite, which has never been all that great, has reduced a bit, but I am still pretty much staying with the same things I have been doing. Dr told me not to change what I have been doing, because I have been doing everything right.

Yippy!

 Today is the 4th week I stabbed myself.  With a pre-load injection of Ozempic.

Now, I haven't changed my diet, or exercise routine. And I have lost a little over 3kgs already.  Huzzah for something that battles insulin resistance for non-diabetics! 

It's gonna be fun the next time I tell someone taking my information down, when I mention two medications, and she tells doctor, or MRI tech "6X year old female diabetic" and I pull her up short. I am not diabetic, and ask her to read the 2nd reason people would take those two medications. 

The Chemical Experiment That Is My Life... a new hope.

After consulting with a doctor who knows me, knows my history, even down to my eating and exercise habits, after a blood test to see if I was diabetic (I'm not. BGLs are perfect), I have finally been diagnosed with "Acute metabolic disorder". 

The new chemical in my life is "Ozempic".  A once a week injection. Needle is ultra fine, don't even feel it going in. Stings a bit 15 minutes later, but no biggie.

The only downside of this is Medicare/PBS (Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme to my U.S. friends) doesn't cover Ozempic unless you're a diabetic.  Private health cover does cover it, but only up to X amount of dollars a year.  I shall be grateful for small favors.