Saturday, November 17, 2012

I'm a believer...and other such stuff

I admit it.  When I first started acupuncture so many months ago, I was skeptical.  I think I proclaimed that here in my blog.  After several months of acupuncture, though, I felt pretty good.  The hot flashes were greatly diminished, the hand and foot pain from the Revlimid were gone, and I was sleeping better.  Dr. Li had told me that acupuncture had an enduring effect, so after a few months I stopped treatment.  That was about 3 months ago.  I think I may still have been a bit skeptical.

In recent weeks (and I think probably longer), the hot flashes returned with ferocity!  And, of course, that resulted in disturbed sleep.  The worst part - the hand and feet pain returned.  I was feeling a bit miserable, so I decided to return to acupuncture.  The problem was my commute to Boston and Dana-Farber for the treatment.  It is a tiring commute over an extended period of time.  I fussed a bit about finding a new acupuncturist in NH - I am still very cautious about my not-fully-recovered immune system - but a friend had spoken so highly of her acupuncturist that I decided to meet with her.

I still can't get my head fully around how acupuncture works, but I am now a believer in it - wholeheartedly!  After one treatment - just one! - the pain is 99% gone and I am actually feeling a little chilly at night instead of roasting.  I guess the treatments picked up where they left off.  It is truly amazing to me!  I go back for another session on Tuesday, so I hope to gain a better understanding of how this turnaround in temperature and pain happened.  I can tell you that I feel so much better!

In the 'other such stuff' category:  I was a Dana-Farber this week for another follow up.  Still in remission and my M-spike (a protein....complicated to explain and to understand) is 0.  All good news!  The downside was that I was getting 4 additional immunizations and a flu shot.  I'm not a baby about receiving shots, having had diabetes for all these years.  But this nurse injected my arms (2 shots in one arm, 3 in the other) so far up on the shoulders that within a few hours I struggled to lift either arm.  My shoulders really hurt.  A few tylenol and a warm lavender blanket wrapped around me was the prescription for the evening.  Two days later my shoulders are still a bit tender.

More news - I'm working with another nutritionist and those high calorie shakes are out the window, as are a few of the supplements I was taking.  May I see a reduction in weight in the near future.  Oh! - I forgot - Thanksgiving is this week - hmmmm...ok, weight loss next week :-)

Lastly, the good Dr. A. removed a few meds that had originally been prescribed.  It's nice to have fewer pills to swallow each day!

Enjoy the weekend!