Ruth Update, August 23, 2008

Dear Friends, Relatives, and Prayer Partners,

 

Remember how, last time, I said that after the trip to Disney World my knees would never be the same?  It looks like that might be true.  Actually, I have feared this was coming on for some time, as I would have pain in my knees now and then.  Last Sunday, three weeks after coming back from Disney World, I found that my right knee was hurting so much that I had trouble with stairs, especially descending.  My brothers have been telling me for years that it hurts worse to go down stairs than up them, and now I know what they are talking about.  I figured with a family history like that, it was only a matter of time.  I saw a nurse practitioner at my HMO on Wednesday, and she confirmed my suspicions.  She gave me some exercises to do, recommended I try glucosamine and chondroitin, and gave me a new pain drug, Lodine, generic name Etodolac.  It works really well!  I need to read up on the side- and long-term effects.  It is related to aspirin and Motrin, one of those "non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs," or NSAIDs. 

 

I reported this problem to my oncologist, and she does not believe it is associated with the drugs I am taking for cancer, and she had no objections to taking the glucosamine and chondroitin, either.  Early on in my journey, she told me that she very seldom sees bone metastases to the knees and ankles.  Hips and shoulders are much more common, and I am proof of that.

 

Last week I got a robo-call from my HMO.  The recorded voice wanted to confirm that I had a prescription for Fluoxetine.  I had to check my prescription bottles to be sure which one that was.  Ah, yes, Prozac.  I guess I can understand why they ask for the generic name rather than the brand name, but it does slow things down.  Anyway, I told the recording that yes, I had a prescription.  This recording sounded very concerned that I had not refilled my prescription when it thought I should, and asked me a bunch of questions.  I am being treated for depression, and I get a robo-call to follow up on me.  If it weren't so sad, it would be hilarious!  If they do that to me again, I think I will try answering "yes" to some of the triage questions, just to see if I would hear from an actual person.  My support group was rather amused, as was my family.

 

Before we left on our trip, I got a shipment of pink silicone breast cancer awareness bracelets.  They glow in the dark.  I knew I would buy some as soon as I saw them in the catalog.  I am a sucker for almost anything that glows in the dark.  I wish they glowed pink, but it is the same old green color.  I have found some online vendors who make custom awareness bracelets, and glowing in the dark is one option, at five cents more per band.  You know what mine would say, if I got some.

 

Get mammograms.  Do self-exams.

 

Love,

 

Ruth

http://ruthsmusings.blogspot.com