May I Have More Yogurt, Please?

Well, the theme from my last post turned into a bit of a bad story this past weekend.  After several weeks of being tired of eating yogurt and my other limited selections of foods, things developed into a perfect storm that ended with me in the Emory ER on Monday.  Make that "us," since Terry was with me the whole time.

Over the past few weeks I've not had much of an appetite--as I said before, probably just tired of eating much of the same foods over and over.  Yogurt fatigue, I'll call it.  The reality for me is that I have to drink a lot of water at every meal to help me swallow my food.  So, if I eat less, I hydrate less.  And, as I've now learned, when someone gets dehydrated, it can lead to an irregular heartbeat--atrial fibulation (a-fib), which I have had on occasion.  The combination of fewer calories and dehydration also contributed to a general feeling of nausea and unsteadiness on my feet.

I woke up on Saturday feeling terrible, was very unsteady, and vomited several times during the day.  All of that got a little better on Sunday, but come Monday it was time to go the the ER.  The cardiologist found the a-fib, and the neurologist figured out the unsteadiness due to dehydration.  After 6 hours there, and a bag of fluids, I was released--but with lots of advice (warnings, actually) about how this happened and how to prevent it.  Pretty simple--more calories and more fluids every day.  So, I've now started to track my caloric intake with a software app, and get back in the habit of drinking lots of fluids every day--and not just at mealtimes (such as those are).

I have a small procedure scheduled in late March to address the a-fib thing--a cardio inversion, and I'm on new meds for that as well.  Hopefully that will do it.

But, all of this serves as yet another reminder that life as a cancer survivor does not necessarily mean a life without cancer playing some role.  In my case, the permanent side effects from my treatments seven years ago. 

Truth be told, I hate having to be vigilant with things that are basically nuisances, like taking meds, counting calories, watching my fluid intake, and making sure I eat enough yogurt and Boost every day.  I'd much rather just go about my daily business and not worry about that shit.  But, I don't have that luxury any more--cancer and its treatments have taken that away from me.  I need to be much better at watching all of those things every day, to make sure I don't create another perfect storm that takes me to the ER, or worse, again.

mike