Chemo 4

Chemo 5
Chemo 3
25 July, Monday -  Another normal day, well how can a day be normal now that "Le Tour" is done and dusted? I went for a leisurely ride in the afternoon and one thing is certain... the legs are seriously lazy. 42km further I really knew I did some cycling, so now it will be a careful process to get some distance in the legs and some fitness in the lungs without my heart knowing about it. The chemo can have a negative on the heart muscle, so I will have to take it "easy". When I asked the Oncologist (a very trustworthy and nice man) what is "take it easy" he said I must not try and get fitter. I can hardly get un-fitter at this stage, so I will just stick to mid zone 3 for now.

26 July, Tuesday - A very "normal" day with nothing to report but that in itself is something to be very grateful of. I did wake up with a sore shoulder/neck, but that was most likely from sleeping too well and should be better in a day or two. I started a light "strength" training program as well and I hope to get some strength in the legs. Since I stopped playing squash in 2008 I have done no impact or strength training and I think this is part of the problem of being very slow while carrying my bike.

27 July, Wednesday - The shoulder is quite sore and kept me off the bike. Otherwise a normal day.

28 July, Thursday - I managed a short ride that was without discomfort from th shoulder, but it is not getting better. The pain comes and goes and is quite intense at times. I think I will get some Neck and shoulder X-rays tomorrow.

29 July, Friday - Went for X-rays and there is nothing wrong with either my neck or my shoulder. The Radiologist recons it can be from the radiation I had on my aorta/lung earlier in the year. It is called a referred pain. I will speak to the Oncologist on Tuesday when I am due for my second session of Chemo.

30 July, Saturday - Me and The Pretty One visited the local Church Bazaar (fete) and saw some old friends. I did not enjoy it very much since I was in a great deal of pain and discomfort. Sitting in a certain position seem to ease the pain, so that is what I am doing. Just sitting... We did try to go for a ride since I managed a ride on Thursday that was pain free, but I had to call it a day after 30 minutes as the pain was severe even on the bike.

31 July, Sunday - After speaking to Elbie (my sister) last night I did some research on Internet about referred pain. Very little (actually nothing) is known about the mechanism and a view theories exist but the shoulder pain can come from the lung, heart, liver, spleen or diaphragm. The radiation caused fibrosis in the lung, so that is a possibility. The tumor on my aorta that was radiated will also be shrinking and can hurt the aorta and the new tumor just below the diaphragm can be reacting to the chemo and be shrinking, causing pain to the diaphragm and that refers to the shoulder. That is what I could find on the internet. Let's see what the Docs say...