Nerve emergency

Day 189- Thursday

Another lazy day. It fact so lazy that I have given myself another problem. Every time I stretch out a limb I am getting shooting pins and needles. In physio terms we call this adverse neural tension. Meaning the spinal cord or a nerve are not gliding as they should within their own sheath. Begin to panic and think what could be causing me to have this in my arms and legs- the chemo? Bad posture? Or something else. Now I have slept for 12 hours the last two nights and woken stiff and then spent the last two days sitting on the couch watching the TV. So a reasonable explanation is my poor posture and lack of movement has caused the tension, and if I do a few mobilizing exercises for my upper back I should be fine- this is what I would do if it was a patient. Instead I start looking up horrible conditions and worry that I need to go to A & E. Decide to phone 'J' my lovely line manager first to get her opinion. As always she calms me down and gives me some exercises to do. Just brainstorming with her makes me feel better. I am literally neurotic about my body now. 'J', and probably the whole medical team I work with, should expect these panicked phone calls over the coming months!

Mum, however, is excited about the A & E visit as she hasn't left the house for 2 days! She runs up stairs, does her hair and make up and puts on matching underwear! Don't know who she expects to see at the hospital. I can see she is slightly disappointed when I get off the phone to 'J' and the plan is just exercises! Mum is well known for dressing up in emergency situations. A few years ago Holly collapsed with pain of a disc bulge late at night. Everyone was in bed and mum had to call an ambulance. Whilst waiting for the ambulance mum got dressed up and put make up and perfume on! She even chose a belt to match her outfit! When the ambulance crew arrived and saw mum dolled up they must have thought she had been out on the town whilst her daughter was unwell at home!

The diet is broken today!-only one week in! It is teacher appreciation day and Matt comes home with a bag of treats- Ferrero Roche (cruel!), toblerones, jelly beans and much more. I can't resist, my will power is not good. So tonight I am having a blow out! Well I haven't celebrated end of chemo yet so why not! Well I can list about 100 'why nots' but I won't go there!

So now I am sitting writing this with a lumbar roll supporting my back in perfect posture- lesson learnt! Need to practice what I preach! And I'm surrounded my chocolate- heaven! Try not to think of weigh in tomorrow.