Archive for September 3rd, 2010
Climbing up
I haven’t posted anything for a while, mainly because there’s been nothing much to report. Much as I might dislike it, my life now revolves around the fact that I have cancer. It’s not the whole of my life, but it’s certainly one of the main pivots, along with my family. So, in this case, no new posts meant nothing much to say. (Rather than being unable to say anything.)
I’ve shaken off the last of the somnolence from the WBR. And although I still have insomnia–I wake up every night at around 1.30–I’ve given up on sleeping pills, and I’m feeling much better for it. I’ve stopped taking codeine as well, and although I had headaches for the first couple of days, I now feel much better: no headaches, and my digestion seems to have settled. Drugs are useful for certain things, but they also have various unpleasant side effects. If you can stop them, you should. (YMMV of course.)
On the depression front, my mood has lifted a lot. Mainly, I suspect, because my brain (and its vari0us neurotransmitters) is settling down after being abused by the WBR. But also I’m sure due to exercise: running three times a week*, skipping**, stretching, and working my way through a 100 push up program***. Dopamine is a wonderful thing, and although it may hurt like, well, something very painful, running**** up hills will make you feel great when you finish.
And on a final note, my levels of fitness dropped to frankly fricken pathetic after the operation in April and the subsequent brain tumour fiasco. But today, as I was doing my final block of running, I felt for a short time like I did six months ago: that I was flying over the grass with my feet barely touching the ground and everything working in perfect time–breathing deep, arms swinging, legs pumping.
It was wonderful.
* Walk/run actually. The program I’m following is here. I just finished week 4.
**Don’t laugh. Ask boxers how hard this is. I’m doing 1 minute blocks of rope-jumping with 1 minute rests for a total of 30 minutes. harder than it sounds.
***Current maximum: 6. LOL, sad, right? Mind you, I started at 3, so there has been improvement.
****Actually, jogging while wheezing like a consumptive, but there you go.
