Sleep. Naps. Fatigue, Exhaustion. I still have them all. I wrote on my bio in 1987 after my pituitary surgery “I am still and always tired and need a nap most days. I do not, however, still need to take whole days off just to sleep.”
That seems to be changing back, at least on the weekends. A recent weekend, both days, I took 7-hour naps each day and I still woke up tired. That’s awfully close to taking a whole day off to sleep again.
In 2006, I flew to Chicago, IL for a Cushing’s weekend in Rockford. Someone else drove us to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin for the day. Too much travel, too Cushie, whatever, I was too tired to stay awake. I actually had put my head down on the dining room table and fallen asleep but our hostess suggested the sofa instead. Amazing that I traveled that whole distance – and missed the main event 😦
This sleeping thing really impacts my life. Between piano lessons, I take a nap. I sleep as late as possible in the mornings and afternoons are pretty much taken up by naps. I nod off at night during TV. One time I came home between church services and missed the third service because I fell asleep.
I only TiVo old tv shows that I can watch and fall asleep to since I already know the ending.
Since mid-February, I have been doing physical therapy twice a week for 2 hours at a time for a knee injury (read more about that in Bees Knees). I come home from that exhausted – and in more pain than I went. I know it’s working and my knee is getting better, but it’s such a time and energy sapper. Neither of which I can really spare.
Maybe now that I’m nearly 10 years out from my kidney cancer (May 9, 2006) I could theoretically go back on Growth Hormone again. My surgeon says he “thinks” it’s ok. I’m sort of afraid to ask my endo about it, though. I want to feel better and get the benefits of the GH again but I don’t want any type of cancer again and I certainly can’t afford to lose another kidney.
I’ll probably just muddle through without it. I always laugh when I see that commercial online for something called Serovital. I saw it in Costco the other day and it mentions pituitary right on the package. I wish I could take the people buying this, sit them down and tell them not to mess with their pituitary glands. But I won’t. I’ll take a nap instead because I’m feeling so old and weary today, and yesterday.
And tomorrow…
Filed under: Cancer, Cushing's, pituitary, symptoms | Tagged: Cancer, Cushing's Awareness Challenge 2016, endocrinologist, exhaustion, fatigue, growth hormone, kidney cancer, knees, MaryO, nap, physical therapy, pituitary, Serovital, sleep, surgeon, surgery | 1 Comment »
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