In my research about gallbladder disease (cholecystitis if you want the $5 word; don't ask me to pronounce it) I found that it can cause a lot of things in your body to get off kilter; among them feeling tired all the time (which I am, even with a good night's rest and being knocked out by half a sleeping pill), weight gain and difficulty losing it (well -- I have no trouble "losing it" -- ha ha). My surgeon, at the consult, said I'd likely find that after that pesky bag of marbles lodged under my ribcage is removed, many things would clear up.
I hope so, given I woke up yesterday with the left side of my jaw aching. I thought perhaps I'd been clenching my teeth (I do that every once in awhile) and that side of my jaw was sore...but as the morning wore on I realized the lymph node just under the bone and slightly forward of the joint was swollen. The ache radiated all the way up my head, collecting in my eyeball, stopping at the temple -- and all the way down into my shoulder. I finally went home at one in the afternoon to take some prescription painkillers/anti-inflammatory medicine. It barely made a dent, and, after an hour, I swallowed three generic ibuprofins and finally got some relief.
Likely not something my liver and kidneys -- or my doctor! -- would like, but when you can barely open your mouth to slip in a straw to drink water you get creative. I just hope it doesn't get like the one under the right side of my jaw that went postal on me last month when I was sick; I ended up having to go on a 5-day dose of prednisone to calm it down. Or "progesterone" as I kept calling it; my acupuncturist was stumped at why I was prescribed progesterone; I replied back in my email it was for my lymph node (she later said she figured out what I meant). It wasn't until I was talking to a co-worker who paused and said, "You mean -- prednisone?"
I paused -- and then laughed as I realized the mistake I had made. It was somewhat like the time I got really sick as a child and my father took me to the doctor. When we got home, my mother said, "So what does she have?"
I declared, "I have FLUMATISM!"
Hey -- it sounded like a real word. (Still does, thankyouverymuch!)
I realize that it's movement and exercise that keeps your lymph nodes clear, but when even -- gentle -- yoga makes your gallbladderthrow a tantrum, you wind up just becoming more and more of a couch potato. Which is okay...I'm enjoying my PS3 immensely and the Netflix streaming; I also watched Up last night -- in Blu-ray format!). Great movie. And I'm glad I watched it that way, as there were parts that had me laughing so hard I was coughing, thus making it necessary to rewind it (can you say "rewind" when referring to a DVD?) and watch it again. There was one scene I watched about a dozen times merely because it was so funny.
Those Pixar people are absolute geniuses.
So, so much for my plans this evening. I was going to go see a friends band, but the idea of standing around for four hours makes me want to fall asleep. Oh well.
At least it's a beautiful day. I have my terrace door open at the moment, to let in the wind and air, which smells clean and creamy and limned with the scent of cherry blossoms from the tree outside my apartment. I'm also listening to the birds happily singing out there. I hear more over in this unit than I ever did in my old one (though I miss hearing the robins that live mostly over by that building), and I've even been hearing mourning doves. I just wish, come summer, the little guys would wait until 6:00 a.m. or so before they started chorusing, rather then the nanosecond the first ray of light hits the atmosphere.
I guess that's what earplugs are for.
I can also sit here on my couch and watch the hummingbirds come to my feeder. The species that lives around here don't migrate, and so I've had to keep my feeder filled all winter -- I have to put new food in every week! The hummers that come (holy cats ats their wings are loud; when they whizz past me when I'm outside it startles me every time!) are very territorial. I've watched more than a few humming bird beatdowns out there.
And for little birds, their call/song sure is loud!
So Spring is definitely springing. I'm not sure if I'm going to attempt any veggies. I may try a hanging basket of tomatoes. But as for flowers -- maybe some of my usual geraniums, but I need to get others that are fine in hot, dry heat, given that even on days when it was around 80 it was still warm due to the heat and light bouncing back up from the cars and asphalt below. My dad suggested salvia, and I noticed on a website zinnias (one of my favorite flowers) and dahlias are good too. Perhaps I can take the list to the nursery near me and see what I can find.
My first step towards getting healthier will be my surgery on March 11; they said to expect recovery time to be around 5-7 days, so I won't miss too much work. Just Thursday the 11th, Friday and Monday and Tuesday perhaps. Plus I have Saturday and Sunday in there. I lost a bunch of paid time off and vacation time last month when I went kaput, so I earmarked a chunk of my tax return to offset any time lost (another chunk is going to go towards a new laptop).
Then I'm going to focus on the exercise. I'm considering hiring a personal trainer to help me get back on track -- and not move too quickly. I feel like a review/reset of my habits might be a good idea. I also have an appointment with a nutritionist later in March -- my choice -- to have someone take a look at my diet. It's generally pretty good and healthy, but again -- a review is always good, especially post-gallbladder ejection.
My goal and focus for the summer is to get back on track with everything, maybe even take part in the Race for the Cure. Walking, of course; I'm way too out of shape to train in time to run it. I have to say it's really nice to be moving towards a solution for all of this. It's been taking a toll on my spirits, too.
Anyhoo -- perhaps I shall at least go for a small walk around the perimeter of the apartment buildings later this afternoon; fresh air and a dose of sunshine can really do a lot.
-- H
No comments:
Post a Comment