June 12 Updates

tl;dr:  Slept through stream, sorry. Edema is happening. May be lymphedema. Triage is useless, trying to jog as much as I can. Leg keeps swelling.


June 6: Sorry about the lack of presence during the stream, though we all knew it would likely happen at some point. Nig made a point when she said that the last update post was long, so I'm adding a tl;dr section to the top now. My hair does NOT look good wet, when the strands stick to each other. Makes it look even thinner than it is. Eyebrows are definitely less present. Woke up, leg feels better, face is swollen though. Fingers feel like they are a bit, as well. Leg feels better and does not appear to be swollen anymore, same with foot. Standing/sitting changes this, making it feel "off" again, with some pain in the foot, knee and ankle. Gravity, I guess? Foot starting to tingle. Took some PEG since I think the DEX and Akynzeo alone are causing some of the problems from last time, only now I don't have to deal with the Onden on top of them.

I'm pretty sure it's the edema I talked about with the staff. The swelling, that is. Looking briefly at the page, it matches all of the side effects and what I was dealing with last time as well. Going to suck back some concentrated tea and see if I can't get rid of some of the excess fluid. I'd rather not have to take more drugs for this if I can avoid it. Ate a fuckton of grapes, too. Felt a bit better, did some stretches, ate some food. One annoyance I'd heard of but hadn't experienced until later was hair loss inside the nose, which makes it harder to hide it if it wants to run.

June 7:  I really hope this isn't lymphedema. There's not really a way to fix it if it is. I have to get on top of this shit or my leg will essentially be ruined and I'll never run again. Face was swollen when I woke up. Stretching and working out helps it a bit, but after I sleep it just goes back to the way it was before. Drinking some concentrated tea seems to have taken a bit of the edge off. I've got a band around my calf, but I dunno how much it helps. The joints keep hurting. Foot hurts.

Been semi-able to catch up on what the fuck is happening in the world while I try to fix this. Finally learned about the Floyd incident and whathaveyou. The story about the social worker and the paramedic particularly pissed me off. There's some people up here protesting about the police's tendency to target natives, too. There's a few cops I know by name in the local precinct that are alright, hopefully they don't get fucked by idiots. I know people in the stream are too intelligent to have anything to do with the looting in the US, but if you participate in any protests be careful not to get anywhere near the "people" that are acting like retarded animals. Friend of a stream member already got their teeth fucked up by getting too close to some people who valued ill-gotten loot more than another person's health. You know, despite the whole reason this kicked off. They won't care about you and probably don't even care about the cause they're running around under like a shielded umbrella, they just want Stuff for themselves and to feel justified taking it.

Fuck. Imagine pushing yourself as far as you can go, managing to survive school, maybe even coming from another country and having to start fresh, struggle for ages to finally open a small business for you and your family, barely survive all the economic hardships in the last while... just to have a bunch of mouth-breathers come and trash everything you worked for. In the middle of a fucking pandemic, no less. THESE are the absolute dregs of society, whom the internet universally refers to as "niggers" regardless of race, that condition the non-asshole cops to hate and profile certain groups, and the ones that undercover shit-disturbers target because they actually ARE retarded enough to throw a brick if they see it simply because it exists in their vicinity and "funny rock go smash, wheee". If any participants have any genuine concern for wanting shit to improve, you will avoid getting into contact with these creatures and report them at any opportunity. They are destructive parasites that care only for themselves and will use any reason at all to stab someone in the kidneys for their smartphone. They are no one's allies, even amongst themselves.

June 8: Going for walks and jogs only does so much. Did some massage, I can't tell if it's working or not. Unexpected company happened and I missed my window to report to triage. Parts of my chest and neck hurt and feel weird. I keep waking up to swelling under my jaw and around my neck and leg. My left arm seems to swell a bit, too; my watch is always tighter than normal. My thumb is really tender and hurts, feels like it's swollen to the touch but doesn't look it. The sensation of the skin itself seems to be gone, I think it's ongoing nerve damage. Jaw seems to be increasing in how fucked it is when I wake, too. Think something around my throat swelled too since stuff sometimes get stuck if I eat early in the day.

June 9:  Reported to triage. When I finally connected I got that one nurse that never sounds happy to hear from you. I said they didn't find a clot, and that I'm experiencing swelling and I think I might be experiencing some lymphedema. It's potentially very serious, needed it down on the record. Was hoping to get any tips or advice relating to this in the meantime. She kept steering the conversation to whether it hurt or not, like they usually do. If you answer, they tell you to take a painkiller and that's it. And that's exactly what happened: she said to take a Tylenol and report to the doctor a fucking week from now.

I can't depend on or rely on anyone. A common gripe I hear about Canadian healthcare is all of the waiting, and when you finally do get to talk to someone they just tell you to take Tylenol. No one listens, no one cares. Just take a Tylenol. If you lost a limb a Tylenol will make it grow back. NSAIDs can make lymphedema worse, by the way. So, I decided to experiment a bit. The lymph system is right below the skin, and SOME things can penetrate that deep. Dilating the blood vessels seemed like a poor idea after the paddlefoot shower incident, so what about constriction? What stimulates lymph flow while preventing further buildup? Would vitamin A help with this? I slathered my leg with a combination of retinol and lactic acid of an amount I thought my skin could take, put the band on and waited for ~30-60 minutes and did my stretches like I normally do. I had to stop 3 times to go to the bathroom, so that's promising.

June 10: Upper body is hurting progressively more and more every day I wake up. Jaw was painful all day, like it's swollen on my TMD side and sometimes doesn't want to align properly until I work the shit out of it with some exercises. Some adjustable dumbbells I got cheap off eBay arrived today, maybe I can flush some of the buildup this way. Hit my tender thumb by accident and made it worse. Gripping stuff UNCOMFORTABLY HARD helped it stop hurting as much on the area where the force was applied, so I think there was some edema in my "damaged" thumb. Will try hard massage on it and report results. Moving the lump in my neck around like I did when it was huge may be helping, giving it a deep massage is also in the books. My leg feels swollen still, but the visible difference is less noticeable between me using my body as a science experiment and working out for 3 hours. Chest felt weird all day but it waned after the HIIT jog. Had a shower, experienced some discomfort in my knee and calf but didn't see visible swell like last time. I'll see about getting some proper bandages at the drug store tomorrow after my ultrasound at the clinic.

June 11: What pisses me off most is that they don't even mention that lymphedema is a real possibility. It only seems to come up with breast cancer, and even then the women who experience it tend to get taken by surprise because no one fucking warns them. I got some bandages but I can't seem to get the pressure even and that obviously just exacerbates the problem. Walking and jogging seems to help but I still can't seem to get up to a run. I doubt the doctors will do much of anything beyond "lol guess youre fucked for the rest of your life" if this is lymphedema. Doing a lymphaticovenous operation myself is beyond my current capabilities, but if I can confirm the blockages is in my neck then I could possibly pop myself open around the neckline and see if something's just malformed or pressing badly and move it over. It's very uncomfortable and the swelling is visible, but not at a high stage yet. If I can reverse this as soon as possible I may be able to get it down to such a low level that just walking around the house every day is enough to keep it down, almost like not having it. I've succeeded in getting it down enough where my face doesn't swell much in the night, anyway. However, if I DO get back into the workforce, working out for 3 hours a day isn't feasible in that scenario unless I somehow become a fitness instructor. With 8 hours of sleep, 8.5 hours at work for a fulltime position, 1 hour of prep before work, and 3 hours of travel time, that leaves around 4 hours to myself, at least two of which are dedicated to grooming, food prep and eating, chores, and so on. Then there's errands outside the house, too, which is an hour MINIMUM because of the travel time involved in this area. Recovering means I need extra rest, so spending all of my free time moving constantly is questionable. I dunno what I'm going to do. Too pissed to work out logistics right now.

Tried the retinol/lactic acid thing again, had to go to the bathroom within 20 minutes and continued to do so for a good portion of the night. Still not 100% sure if it's the application or not.

June 12: Woke up with a swollen ankle/Achilles tendon area. massaged it down a bit. Lost track of time cleaning, have to see a man about a cheapass treadmill. Tired of being unable to go walking/whatever due to all the downpours at this time of year. Useful if it gets cold again, assuming I survive that long. Been eating a ton of garlic and onions and it does seem to help; I don't have the no-BO gene, but I do lack whatever quirk makes some people smell like death after eating garlic, so that's a bonus. Household says I just smell like peppermint. Going to also see if there's any over-the-counter ketoprofen available, or at least some kind of H2 inhibitor.

The darker-haired mouse sister has 2 tumors, one under her back leg and one under her arm. She's still very active but I dunno how long she will last; she's pretty aloof so I don't get to examine her closely very often. Someone's also barbering Eile and left a bald spot under her right ear and thinned the fur around her right eye. That one is still as cuddly as ever.