Energy

I started the Megace (progesterone- the hormonal therapy that 2 of my onc's wanted me to do) last Thursday evening and since then I have had this incredible amount of energy! I am waking up earlier and I am someone who does not like to wake up before 8am (okay, before 9am) and I've gotten up in the 7's a few times. My body doesn't have that bone tired feeling by 5pm that I usually have if I have had a busy day (which is most days). I was able to go to my gyn cancer support group last night (it's the driving at night that I am usually too tired to do) even though I had woken up at 7am, spent the morning in oil painting class, rushed home to eat lunch and then go to a drs. appt. (the med onc), waited there for over 2 hours to see him, spent too much time trying to get out of there, went back to our area to Z.'s music school to pick up Z. after her piano lessons, had a fight with her in the car about piano lessons, get her started on homework, and then realized that I had group so put together a sandwich for my dinner and then rushed out as soon as A. was ready to take over. I got home at 8:30 and stayed up till 2am! I did sleep in a bit later today, but I got about 7 hours and I normally need at least 8 to feel human.

I've been zipping around cleaning out closets, getting rid of old clothes, running errands, etc. with a kind of clarity I haven't had in a while. It's like when my body is tired and my back is aching I can't think well enough to go from one thing to another without a lot of effort. Which leads me to the other miracle, my back stopped hurting!! I was using 6 to 8 ibuprofen a day the week before I started the Megace, had gotten down to 5 to 6 a day a few days before after having acupuncture on Monday. The day after starting the Megace I had 2 ibuprofen and in the days since have had 1 or 2 each day. Yesterday I was thinking about the fish oil capsules I take daily. One of the reasons I take them is to reduce inflammation. I thought about how that was what the ibuprofen was doing (only with the unwanted side effects of stomach trouble and increase blood pressure) and looked closely at the amount of EPA and DHA that was in each capsule. I had been taking 3 a day and decided to take 6 a day instead as it seemed closer to the amounts that Dr. Barry Sears (the Omega Zone guy) recommended. Today, so far at least, I have not taken any ibuprofen at all. I'll probably end up taking one before bed, just to be safe, but hey, this is a huge leap in such a short period of time. I have no idea why it is, but whatever it is, I'll take it!

So, I've probably got another week or so on the new medication to really see what side effects I get (increased appetite, high blood pressure, high blood sugars, edema, blood clots etc.) but so far; I have all this energy; my appetite is less, not more; I have lost 4 pounds. Granted I have been trying to be more conscious of what I am eating (in particular my salt intake, but also snacking), but since I have basically gone up and up and up in weight since my original cancer treatment in 2004, this is pretty incredible. Since they prescribe Megace as an appetite stimulant, it's also amazing, however this could always change as I'm on the drug longer.

The important part is hopefully this is helping the tumor shrink. We'll find out in a couple months.