This last week or so has been very up and down, and strange in many ways. I still can’t do very much without getting completely wiped out – and when I say not much, it feels like I can do pretty much nothing sometimes. Ruth and I made a rare trip into town on Sunday to sort a few things out, and whilst we were having lunch she asked me if I felt I’d got the benefit from the surgery that I was expecting. The fact it took me a while to answer said it all really – I just don’t know. Am I expecting too much too soon, or is 3 months long enough to start expecting to be well on the way to recovery? I’ve had a few conversations about the brain fog this week, and a few things have occurred that have made me realise it is potentially even worse than I’ve been prepared to admit.
Monday 11th
I got a call from the clinical pharmacist at the GP surgery. I needed a review to get pregabalin represcribed, but he also had my blood test results from the week before. My B12 was quite low, but not below minimum (166 when >160 is regarded as normal). Whilst I was on the phone to him I got a text from the GP to say he had prescribed me a course of vitamin D as that was abnormally low. Unfortunately a full blood count hadn’t been done, nor had my iron levels, which was the main thing the GP had suggested I have a blood test for, so the pharmacist raised a new request to check those. He also looked at my recent BP readings and was a little concerned about my diastolic values, and so suggested I increase the lacidipine from 2mg to 4mg for a few weeks and then do another set of readings in a month.
Tuesday 12th
I had hydrotherapy on Tuesday. I felt my balancing on one leg was better, but I had to put a lot of effort in, and Kate seemed to get a bit worried about how I looked towards the end of what was a relatively short session. Afterwards I walked back up towards the car, but stopped at Costa to grab a drink, planning to take it to the car, but ended up feeling so knackered I stopped there and had it, along with a bit of a sugar boost snack. People behind me in the queue must’ve wondered what the hell was wrong with me as I could feel my head and neck sweating more and more. By the time I got home I was in a lot of pain again, and that persisted all night and into the following morning.
Thursday 14th
Having had the second blood test on Wednesday, I got a call from another GP on Thursday to tell me my iron levels are very low and I need to take supplements. He said this could be due to the surgery, as suggested by the other GP, but there could be other reasons, so he wants me to do a stool test, take iron supplements for 10 weeks and then retest. I asked him about my B12 levels and he said that, whilst they were low he didn’t feel he needed to do anything, but suggested I get some supplements and see what it’s like when I have a test in 10 weeks. I subsequently discovered that low B12 can cause the body not to absorb iron efficiently, so I’m rather surprised the GP didn’t make that link. Regardless I am now taking vitamin D, vitamin B12 and iron supplements on top of all the other stuff I pump into my body every day. 🙁
Sunday 17th
As I mentioned at the top of this post, Ruth and I ventured into town. We grabbed a bit to eat almost as soon as we got there and wandered around a couple of shops. Being West Quay it was all very flat, and I used the lift or escalator rather than the stairs, but even so I felt wiped out very quickly. Given I’d only started the iron tablets the day before and the vitamin D and B12 over the previous few days, I wasn’t expecting to miraculously feel full of energy again, but I wasn’t expecting to feel quite as grotty as I did.
Tuesday 19th
I had hydrotherapy again and, as it was my 6th session it was time to assess whether it was working enough to justify continuing or not. I explained to Kate that I had once again had a significant amount of pain after last weeks session, and she questioned whether it was really worth trying to work on my balance and walking if it is being detrimental to my pain management, which is the main thing we need to focus on. I did some walking forwards, backwards and sideways across the pool, a bit of balancing on each leg – which surprisingly I seemed better on my left this time – and some heel-to-toe walking. I’d asked Kate about the idea of me going to a pool to just try a bit of skulling on my back, so she suggested I just try floating for a bit as it takes all the strain off the back. She said she would normally suggest a float under the head, but was worried it might be pushing my neck up too much, so I had a woggle under my back and under my knees. Floating felt quite good once I’d managed to properly relax, but it was only a few minutes before my neck started to hurt, despite the fact I was making sure I wasn’t trying to hold it up and in fact felt like it was extremely relaxed. We called it a day at that point and decided to review how I was from the session when we met for physio the next day.
Wednesday 20th
I saw Kate in Physio, and we went over where we’d got to. I explained that I again had more pain after hydrotherapy, although nothing like it had been the week before. Kate’s view was that it was definitely time to call a halt to hydrotherapy and concentrate on some land based exercises. I tried a few tests – tandem walking (heel-to-toe) and single leg balancing. None were particularly great, but significantly improved on when I’d tried it at the last physio session 5 or 6 weeks ago. As Kate said, I managed to stand on my weaker left leg for 5 seconds, which was 5 seconds longer than I’d managed previously! 😆
We went through a few exercises for me to do at home on alternate days and then have a follow-up in 4 weeks to see how it’s going. In the meantime, provided Neuro have no objections, Kate is going to refer me to one of her colleagues to see if acupuncture might help.
Thursday 21st
I didn’t feel too bad yesterday after physio. A bit more pain than normal, and my shoulder blades were giving me that stabbing feeling quite frequently, but nothing too excessive. I felt like I’d slept reasonably well, but I felt awful this morning. Just generally drained, and a bit heady. I laid in bed until about 10.30 hoping the head would clear and I’d start to pick up a bit, but that hasn’t really happened