Hey Guys!

IT's been a while, I think at this point we just acknowledge I'm horrible at giving timely updates and accept that it's going to take some time in between, Haha.

I met with the two Orthopedic doctors, they both had similar things to say about my hips and we were giving two different treatment options. One was to take a medication that could possibly help to slow the progression down and avoid weight-bearing activities, the other option was to wait until the hips had progressed enough to need replacements and replace them. I decided to go with the "wait and see" option, here's why; The medication they wanted to put me on was osteoporosis which could cause my bones to become brittle and be more at risk for fractures and after reading several studies about it learned that there was no proof that it helped and even in cases where it may have helped, it doesn't reverse or cure the issue so I would just be "buying more time" at the cost of side effects and possibly damaging the rest of my bones. It could also sometimes lead to osteonecrosis of the jaw, so HECK NO. I'm good without that. I also preferred the bedside manner of the doctor who wanted to wait and see as he took more of a "whole-body approach" whereas the other doctor focused on just that one thing and came off as slightly "know-it-all"ish. They also said to avoid strenuous exercise and focus on things that would have a low impact on my hips, so basically stationary bike or swimming... so if anyone has a pool they'd let me swim in let me know! 😜 Haha.

My platelet count rose! I actually got up to the sixties for a week or two.... and then they dropped again with my chemo, haha. Oops. So I had to again have platelet transfusions for multiple days to start this most recent round of chemo with a Lumbar puncture. Never my favorite activity. We increased my dose of Promacta so here is hoping that the increased dose will help. I was taking the lowest dose and the highest dose is about 8 times higher than that so needless to say we have so wiggle room. I'm just happy to see that it did have an impact and have hopes that it will again work as we continue forward!

Currently on, I think, my third round of maintenance chemo. Unfortunately, there wasn't much gap between my last cycle and this cycle so I basically had back-to-back weeks of steroids which I get at the beginning and end of each cycle. My body really hates these treatments as it messes with my blood sugar, and bone pain, and just a bundle of issues that makes me really resent the Prednisone. The best explanation is it makes me feel like I have been hit by a train. This morning I could barely get moving I was hurting so bad. I even had some muscle relaxers prescribed to help with the muscle cramps and charlie horses it's been causing this time. 

A little rant on my part here. Whenever I take the steroids it messes with my blood sugars. We have known this since April of last year when they had me on I think it was around 200mg+ daily of prednisone and they had to start checking my sugars and giving me insulin for about a week during my month-long hospital stay. They decided they were giving me such a small dose of insulin to correct that they didn't need to worry about it. Well, during the maintenance chemo I take about a week and a half of a high dose of prednisone and during those times it messes with my blood sugars. Once it started causing me to have vision issues we decided to invest in a blood glucose monitor to get a better idea of what was going on. We reported to my doctor that I was having numbers above 200+ and blurry vision here and there, she said not to worry unless I was peeing frequently and getting dehydrated. Next round I was getting numbers in the 400-500+ range and I called in and told them, hey my sugars are high, they told me not to worry and to not check unless I was symptomatic or again, peeing frequently and getting dehydrated. Well, it escalated one morning when I woke up and my fasting number was either near 600 or above that. We called the after hour number and over speakerphone they told us to stop checking my numbers, that it was caused by the prednisone, to not worry about it. I even asked if I should be changing what i eat or if that would help and they basically said no, it's the prednisone. Fast forward to two weeks ago-ish. I'm in the middle of taking my prednisone and it's been a solid 2 days since I could see more than 6 feet in front of me due to blurry vision and high blood sugar. I email my doctor to say that I can't drive in to do my labs because I have blurry vision and wouldn't be safe to drive, her reply: "About the vision... are you checking your blood sugars at home and if so how high are they? If you don't have a way to check, we should get you set up with a blood sugar monitoring device to use at home. Depending on how high your sugars are (...) We should get you a consult with the diabetic education team. You might need insulin during the times you are on steroids - 550 along with the blurry vision is concerning!"  Don't get me wrong, I love my doctor, but I was very upset at this message as I felt I had adequately explained to them multiple times previously that I was having issues and they only addressed it when I mentioned it in passing after having given up trying to tell them about it. Especially since I told them I had a family history of diabetic issues and was getting high readings and wanted to prevent any issues from coming up since I already have so many other health things to worry about.

3 diabetic appointments later I now have a prescription for some fast-acting insulin and some training on how to administer it and correct eating habits to follow while on the steroids. Rant Over.

I can't think of anything else that has been going on. Been trying to get out and do some things to keep me "good" busy. Working on doing some ubereats to pay off my bills and been working on getting my stamina back hopefully!

Thanks for Reading <3 

Oh yeah, my hair has come back in pretty well with a mind of its own and some thick chemo CURL, especially in the back!