Here we are July and it has come along faster than I anticipated it would. Being back at work has helped to pass time significantly and so I find that I am more occupied in my daily routine with less time to update my blog. That is not a bad problem to have at this point in time.
I continue to experience good days and bad days, although I feel like my good days are continuing to outnumber my bad days. A lot of it depends on how active I am for that day. The more active I am, the less well I feel (unfortunately). I now know the reason behind this is because my seizure activity is still not completely under control. Most days I experience significant fatigue and sometimes it is so overwhelming that I have to go lay down during lunch and take a power nap. I go back to the neurologist in August for another seizure medication adjustment and hopefully I can get to the point where I can tolerate being outside without feeling crummy within a matter of minutes (football season is coming up).
I recently visited the oncologist and received another positive MRI report so the plan is to return again in 2 months for another MRI and follow up and then we will reduce visits and MRIs to once every 3 months for the next year. I do not have to do Chemotherapy anymore (and I won't be doing it again anyway). Recently I have been focusing on changing my diet to include a very limited selection of items and avoiding certain food items that contain items that increase tumor growth factors and seizure activity. It has been challenging, especially working in a Physical Therapy Clinic where our patient's bring us cookies and sweets and donuts on a regular basis. Some days are easier than others, but I keep waking up each day and focusing on the foods I'm putting in my body.
The diet severely limits artificial sugars and food flavorings, (i.e. Dextrose, MSG, Aspertame, etc) and eating 95% plant based product and 5% or less meats and dairy. This ain't easy folks, but everything I'm reading on diet from a recovery standpoint promotes this and it is especially important in brain health and disease prevention.
I continue to participate in Yoga activities and I have made incredible gains in my yoga journey over the past months. I am excited to be able to take on a more active practice in the future and maybe take on some more challenging poses that currently I am unable to do because of low tolerance to increased ICP. I have learned so much over these past months and even with that knowledge, it is amazing to me how I still have so much more to learn on health and wellness. I am happy to be going through this journey, because it is something I can carry over to my client population.
