On The Rollercoaster ...

... at the cancer theme park. I WANT OFF!!

That's why I didn't post anything here yesterday. After a few days of feeling so good, it was just too depressing. Not just for me, but for you, too. Who needs that? Again.

After feeling great on Monday and saying so, it was only an hour or so later that I noticed my hands and arms starting to ache. By the time I went to bed, I couldn't get to sleep because the pain in my right forearm, in particular, was so bad. A relentless ache - like a clamp was being tightened around my arm. No matter how much repositioning I did, there was no let up. I took tylenol and I didn't notice it working either, though I eventually fell asleep and when I woke up in the night, that particular ache was milder.

I had hoped to go to work in the morning yesterday but had such a lousy night, I decided to stick with afternoons and so I slept in, hoping a good sleep would help. Or I tried to, anyway. Mom and Gary stopped by for a surprise visit sometime between 8:00 and 8:30 a.m. I didn't even know they were in town. It was nice to see them and nice to see Mom looking well, too. After they left, I contemplated going back to bed but I knew I was too chilled to get to sleep right away so I had a hot bath. And then I remembered that I had some appointments to set up and change, so I did that. I never did get back to bed. I thought I might as well get ready for work. But my arms and hands still ached and I felt crappy so I didn't go to work yesterday. I stayed home and was miserable. I couldn't make a fist with my left hand at all and could hardly hold a pen to write with my right hand either. The bones ... not so much my joints ... ached even doing the smallest thing like raising my water glass.

I can't say I understand it but I do accept that there's a lot of this process I don't understand and will probably never understand. It's so annoying. And puzzling.

I woke up during the night last night and did some thinking ... since I was awake anyway. Last night, by the time I went to bed, the ache was almost entirely gone from my hands and arms. Isn't that odd? I couldn't think of anything to account for that difference? And then I thought of something. Something that can't possibly be the difference but yet, it's the only thing I can think of that I did differently.

Last Friday I bought blueberries and bananas at the Co-op after I had my blood tests done. On Saturday and Sunday mornings, I had blueberries and bananas on my oatmeal for breakfast. I felt very good on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Monday I was out of both blueberries and bananas and just had plain cereal. Though I felt good all day, by late evening I was getting sorer by the minute, which led to yesterday's achy day. Last night Kevin picked up a few groceries, including bananas, on his way home from work. After dinner I had a banana. By late evening, my aches were subsiding substantially until today, I feel pretty good again except for feeling a big wrung out and still tired.

Could bananas and blueberries possibly have made that difference? It doesn't make any sense to me and yet it's the only thing I can think of that was different. I already had a banana for breakfast this morning. Just in case.

The photo above is one from Kevin's annual fishing trip to Ontario. Fishing is much on the brain since the sports and leisure show and the nearing of spring!

On The Rollercoaster ...