Graduate

Graduate
Western education 2013

Friday, October 24, 2014

It took forever to lose a few pounds.... until the cancer began to spread....

..... and now I am being asked to stop losing the weight now that it is falling off.  What do you do when you are not hungry or just nauseated?  Easy..... the medical marijuana has brought back my appetite and taste for eating again.  It has relieved my pain and keeps me comfortable.  After a few months of a waning appetitie.... I am slowly getting it back.

Thelma (family dog)  is our beagle cross girl. She is now 11 years old and unfortunately also has cancer.... neuralblastoma - many of these tumours that are growing along her back, chest, stomach etc.  It makes me sad that she is sick like Mommy.

Pamidronate - the infusion I took at the beginning of the month made me feel nauseated for a few weeks and it looks like my body is easily bruised.  Case in point - I stomped my right foot and then felt a stinging in my right calf.  It turns out that I broke a vein in my calf.  The bruise was massive and quite painful to the touch.  A few days later, the dog jumped onto my lap and caused a long bruise on my upper leg.  Both bruises are still there after 2 weeks.  I made an appointment with my GP to go over some of my questions.  One of those questions will be to discuss the lump on my head... which is likely a cyst.  

My GP is sending me off to a surgeon to remove the 'cyst' on my head.  It looks like a small bud  

Yes the Pamidronate will affect 1-10 people out of 100 with regards to bruising.  Great.... just my luck.  We will see how the Oncologist feels about this one.

Support Groups - I joined a TNBC stage IV group from the States on FB.  There are women from all around the world in this group.  It's amazing how many different kinds of treatment there are.  So many have passed away this week and I am feeling the fear and lonliness that comes with a terminal patient watching her peers go one by one.  You see their posts of hope mere weeks before the silence that announces their departure.... and then the notes left by friends and family on their wall the day of their passing.  I wonder when it will be my turn... those thoughts are pushed out of the way but not before I consider what people might say about how I spent my time on Earth.

Medical marijuana
It has been suggested that I talk about the 'Magical Butter' machine I recently purchased at a  420 store down the street.  The MB2 unit is a microprocessor controlled cooking carafe which can be used to create oils, tinctures and cooking items other than marijuana. Let's face it though - it was specifically designed to produce marijuana oils and butter.  It is likely the simplest way to produce a good quality butter.  I simply use two cups of raw, organic coconut oil and then I throw in 20 grams of bud.  I then select the temperature of 160 degrees for 1 hour.  The blender and heater are all controlled by the microprocessor to keep the materials blended and heated evenly.  I then pour the finished contents (alarm on the unit rings when completed) through the filter bag that is included in the box into a large glass measuring cup.  I then carefully pour the finished and strained oil into 500 ml large mouth mason jars and store in the fridge.  *** the leds around the rim let you know the carafe is working.

I have two types of butter I have made.  A high THC makes it easy to fall asleep at night.  The high CBD provides me with pain relief during the day.  I do not take anything on days I am working so I just tolerate the pain because I refuse to take any of the opiates in my medicine cabinet.  I find I have to increase my intake every few days as my tolerance increases.  It is amazing how well this medicine works to keep me pain free, sleeping and eating.  In just one month, I have improved my quality of life without compromising my ability to focus and work.


Gail Hathaway - passed from metastatic cancer on October 30th at the age of 55.  She was my mentor and friend on the Dragon Boat team I once paddled with.  Gail will be missed for her wide smile and her sweet disposition.  I only wished I knew she was ill, I would have dropped in to see her when she returned from competing in Italy for the Worlds competition.  I understood after emailing a team mate of hers that she had been feeling under the weather when she was in Italy.  Rest in Peace Gail. You will be missed.


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