Chondrosarcoma – ah shit, bob's sick

Name the area(s) that have pain: Hip, Back, Right Leg, Body
Pain intensity: 5

Physical Symptoms:
Overall Morning Pain Level: (9:am) 1-10 / (3)
How Well Did You Sleep: 1-10 / (8) 8 ½ hrs.
You Woke Up Feeling: 1-10 / (5)

Overall Afternoon Pain Level: (Noon): 1-10 / (2)
What is your fatigue level: 1-10 / (7)
How is your appetite: 1-10 / (2)
How is your walking ability: 1-10 / (5)

Overall Evening Pain Level: (7pm) 1-10 / (3)
What is your fatigue level: 1-10 / (7)
How is your appetite: 1-10 / (5)
How is my walking ability: 1-10 / (6)

Afternoon Nap: 3 hrs.

Mental, Cognitive & Emotional:
How is my ability to think: 1-10 / (6) morning-afternoon, cloudy, foggy confusion
How anxious do I feel: 1-10 / (3)
How depressed do I feel: 1-10 / (2)
How angry do I feel: 1-10 / (0)
How irritable am I: 1-10 / (2)
How happy am I: 1-10 / (6)
How is my relationships with others affected: 1-10 / (3)
How is my enjoyment of life affected: 1-10 / (4)

Exacerbating Symptoms:
Family/Home Stress Level: 1-10 / (2)
Job stress level: 1-10 / (0)
Other: 1-10 / (4) (Blue Cross invoice)(Holidays)
Current weather conditions: partly sunny 30-45 degrees

Medications:
30mg morphine(s) 10am. – 8pm.
10/650mg vicoden(s) 11pm
Overall day: 6

Before getting started I want to mention that lower down on this post is a “Read More” tag. Please click it to continue reading this post. From now on, longer posts will have that link on them.

Living With Cancer:

I’ve tried to post the last few days but have continuously failed in my ability to actually write the post. OK, I know that sounds strange, but let me explain what’s going on.

Basically, treatments are over, and now we’re off on new frontier or experience in which for the time being, I’ll call “living with cancer”. You’d kind of think it’d be the same as life was when you were getting treatment … but that doesn’t appear to be the case … or so I think, I’m learning.

Here’s the Problem:

Most days, as soon as I open my eyes (while still lying in bed), I can tell in a moment, what kind of day it’s going to be. This mental process can take, five or ten seconds, but most times it’s almost instantly.

I open my eyes, register what I’m seeing, attempt to move, and begin to realize what I feel like today. Anyone could probably say this, whether or not they’ve experienced cancer, but it’s that last part when ” I begin to realize what I feel like” that sets living with cancer apart from “normal life”.

The problem comes in, because it appears there’s no rhyme or reason, or rhythm as to why one day I feel almost normal (as in normal for me) and the next day is downright awful, right off the start.

Let’s step backward in time a bit:

Read more…