Life of a Chemo Patient

Let’s start with the good news, for a change. According to the nurse who supervises my wound care, my leg is behaving exceptionally well. In her words: “In the 23 years I’m doing this work I have never seen anything like this. The speed at which the wounds are healing is unheard of.” Especially remarkable is how clean these wounds are.
Here today’s picture, and although much nicer it might still be shocking to look at .

I count my blessings. But they are in disguise. First of all, it hurts. That would not be so bad if it wasn’t for my neuropathy. Apparently the healing has its influence on nerve reactions and the combination of the healing and an over-triggered neuropathy is killing. And the worst is still to come. For once the wounds start closing they will start to itch. Seen the speed of the process that might begin during the Christmas days.

But more difficult to handle is the fact that healing consumes. Energy. Lots of it. With extreme fatigue both physical and mental as a result, so much so, that I spend my evenings hardly being able to stand on my feet. Cramps, attacks of RLS and my muscles reacting as if walking 2 marathons and lifting double my body weight a couple of times is part of my daily doings. However, I am not able to sleep more than 8 hours a day, day time naps included, due to the neuropathy.

I know it’s for a good cause; I might be cutting the healing process in half. It seems I am physically in a better condition than I had expected after all that happened in the past 3,5 years, but it certainly comes with a price.