Living With Cancer
Hope everyone is staying home and flattening the curve! If you're able to, I urge you to please, please, PLEASE stay home. For all of our sakes, please stay home.
My fiance has respiratory issues so he is at high risk for contracting COVID and I am immunocompromised so I am also at risk. I really only leave the house for absolute necessities like groceries and I make sure to sanitize the carriage, keep my distance from the handful of other shoppers when I go at 8AM on Saturday, and I wash my fruit and veggies thoroughly when I get home.
I've been exceptionally fortunate that I haven't had any symptoms in the year and a half-ish that I have been dealing with this diagnosis of cancer. Recently I started having some lower back pain. It began as a dull pain or stiffness, and now it's a sharp, battering pain that flares up about once every two weeks or so.
It doesn't give me any warning, however. It's not as if I slept wrong in a strange position or lifted an especially heavy box. Unfortunately my kidneys and liver are the issue, and most anti-inflammatory drugs are processed by those so I'm unable to take them. My heating pad is my best friend, but I recognize it gives me little relief other than psychosomatic.
I recently had an appointment with an endocrinologist because I've been having issues with my period. I have always had an irregular period, sometimes going six to nine months without getting it. I started taking birth control to regulate it, which was working until recently. I began missing my period entirely or having only light spotting, instead of my usual heavy flow. The endocrinologist said that I have polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and it is all because of my weight. I also have insulin resistance; I'm not pre-diabetic yet but it's coming if I continue on this path.
I've always had issues with my weight but never had any major success with weight loss. I was going to the gym pretty consistently and working out with my mom prior to getting mono but then the snowball of having cancer happened and I used it as an excuse to stop going. I plan on getting back into working out, even if it means a quick walk around the block every day.
I'm at high risk of contracting this virus so I'm trying to be as cautious as possible but I wish people would be smart about this pandemic. I have friends who drive to their parents to visit, not understanding that self-quarantine includes visiting parents or relatives or friends or neighbors. I had a gentleman breathing on me in the Walmart checkout line, which would have made me uncomfortable even if we weren't in the middle of a pandemic! Social distancing isn't a joke, people!
I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy. Hopefully the world will be able to heal quickly and we can all get back to normal soon. Even when the quarantine is lifted, we still need to be cautious and continuing to practice social distancing and sanitizing.
My fiance has respiratory issues so he is at high risk for contracting COVID and I am immunocompromised so I am also at risk. I really only leave the house for absolute necessities like groceries and I make sure to sanitize the carriage, keep my distance from the handful of other shoppers when I go at 8AM on Saturday, and I wash my fruit and veggies thoroughly when I get home.
I've been exceptionally fortunate that I haven't had any symptoms in the year and a half-ish that I have been dealing with this diagnosis of cancer. Recently I started having some lower back pain. It began as a dull pain or stiffness, and now it's a sharp, battering pain that flares up about once every two weeks or so.
It doesn't give me any warning, however. It's not as if I slept wrong in a strange position or lifted an especially heavy box. Unfortunately my kidneys and liver are the issue, and most anti-inflammatory drugs are processed by those so I'm unable to take them. My heating pad is my best friend, but I recognize it gives me little relief other than psychosomatic.
I recently had an appointment with an endocrinologist because I've been having issues with my period. I have always had an irregular period, sometimes going six to nine months without getting it. I started taking birth control to regulate it, which was working until recently. I began missing my period entirely or having only light spotting, instead of my usual heavy flow. The endocrinologist said that I have polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and it is all because of my weight. I also have insulin resistance; I'm not pre-diabetic yet but it's coming if I continue on this path.
I've always had issues with my weight but never had any major success with weight loss. I was going to the gym pretty consistently and working out with my mom prior to getting mono but then the snowball of having cancer happened and I used it as an excuse to stop going. I plan on getting back into working out, even if it means a quick walk around the block every day.
I'm at high risk of contracting this virus so I'm trying to be as cautious as possible but I wish people would be smart about this pandemic. I have friends who drive to their parents to visit, not understanding that self-quarantine includes visiting parents or relatives or friends or neighbors. I had a gentleman breathing on me in the Walmart checkout line, which would have made me uncomfortable even if we weren't in the middle of a pandemic! Social distancing isn't a joke, people!
I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy. Hopefully the world will be able to heal quickly and we can all get back to normal soon. Even when the quarantine is lifted, we still need to be cautious and continuing to practice social distancing and sanitizing.
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