Progress!

Good week. I feel progress has been made on several fronts. Met with my Oncologist on Tuesday. He’ s pleased with the progress and looked down my throat. The mucus membranes are very sensitive and therefore my throat is still very fragile. That, according to my Naturopath is normal and he suggested a few things I can take to assist the healing and also help the stomach with digestion, etc.

The biggest area of improvement has been in eating. On Wednesday I decided to try and cut back on my reliance on the feeding tube. It’s an interesting discussion in that …do you wait until your eating is at a level that allows you to cut back or do you cut back and move your eating to the necessary level? I often ask athletes when they want to make a change if they should focus on thinking differently in order to change what they are working on or act differently. The answer, I believe, is do both. As an aside…this is especially true for developing confidence.

I now have reduced the number of feedings from 5 to 3 per day. Now I realize that this is not going to be as linear from here on in. You can push yourself to eat 800-1000 calories to replace 2 feedings but moving to 2500 calories a day by mouth requires a health throat, an appetite, salvia, taste buds, etc.

Another improvement is my energy management is getting a whole lot better. This isn’t rocket science. I needed more rest/sleep then I was getting. Like many of you I was so used to functioning at low levels of energy, fatigue, that I didn’t realize I needed much more rest. Everyone in the cancer world from my medical crew to all the books we have read talked about the need for more rest, more sleep…and that this will go on for a long time given the impact of the radiation on the body. I think I may have finally ‘realized’ it…that is it has become real for me. I started sleeping an hour in the afternoon and it makes a huge difference in how I feel and function later in the day. Evenings have gone from being rough at times to fine. Had a meeting at 7 PM this week, added a second nap from 6 to 6:45 and was able to be fully present and energized for the 2.5 hours we met.

Have started walking after breakfast as well. Boy, am I out of shape! I get winded going up a small 1% grade and Sandra is forever slowing down for me…don’t go there…I can hear your snide remarks about how that’s also true mentally, etc. Weight remains the same… I don’t have any… so walking in the wind requires that Sandra tether me to her with a leash. Still, I’m starting to get at it. Doctor doesn’t believe at my age I’ll gain back all of the weight… I need a new wardrobe as shorts, for example, that fit perfectly last summer now look like billowing bloomers. You younger folk will have to look that one (bloomers) up. Enough foolishness…we’ll see you next week. Thanks for being here and the comments you have sent me are wonderful.

Warm Wishes,

Peter