I Am Officially an Old Man

All I've got to talk about these days seems to be my aches and pains. So what the heck? Let's embrace it and provide the current rundown...

The Things That Currently (or at Least Very Recently) Hurt

1. The bottoms of both feet. There's a weird buzzy sensation underneath all my toes and a strange cramping sensation along the bottoms of both feet, for which there is no position I can find that relieves the pain.

2. My right big toe. The Xeloda has caused my left big toe nail to get infected -- with pus and everything. You want pain? Try kicking a coffee table with your infected toe as I did last weekend trying to put on my shoe after Sib4's very sweet but overweight dog stepped on my bare toe. (The toe had a hard weekend.)

3. The top of my left foot. This is where the previously mentioned weird bruising begins. It makes wearing shoes a lovely sensation.

4. My left calf. The bruise continues. Tight socks are not so good, nor is the act of putting on socks generally. And sleeping on my side is dicey as my legs tend to interact and the right leg usually causes pain in the left leg. 

5. My left calf, part 2. I currently have a cramp. I hope it will go away, but I've been hoping that since it woke my up from my evening nap three hours ago.

6. My spirit. I used to think an afternoon nap was a lovely thing. And it is -- when it's a luxury and not an obligation. It's incredibly demoralizing to not really be able to make it through a full day of work, much less to be unable to come home in the evening and accomplish anything. I'm so tired of being tired. 

7. My lower back. The back pain's back, though I'm not sure if it's a consequence of the cancer or spending last weekend moving furniture around. Tomorrow's scan results should provide the answer -- and I got a massage prescription which someday I'll manage to fill, so that's good. 

8. My stomach. Sadly, pretty much since my surgery the signal that nature is calling is more or less a sharp stabbing pain in my stomach.

9. Both hands. It's a cornucopia of hand pain. Nails that are broken and cut too short, joints with skin that's chapped and broken, and this weird sensation that feels like your hand is being flayed when you stretch your hand out to reach for something. 

10. My right nostril. I inherited my mother's sinuses, which run constantly, but then you've got the Xeloda which dries out all your mucous membranes, so how I can have both a runny nose and dried out mucous membranes is beyond me, but it seems to be happening. And my poor right nostril as taken the brunt of the impact. 

11. My right ear. Could be an ear infection, but this is relatively new. I'll ask the doctor about it tomorrow. 

12. Both eyes. I mentioned this before, but the trend continues. By the end of the day, my eyes are in pretty bad shape and extended periods of focused usage just exacerbate the problem. I haven't touched the XBox in weeks (save to rewire it), and had a hard time getting through Mad Max: Fury Road last weekend. (This is not the season for me to have sensitive eyes.) 

13. My head. It's not likely cancer-related, since I've had this problem for decades, but headaches are at least a weekly experience, and most nights I'm taking night time headache pills to prevent a headache from waking me up.

Next thing you know, I'll be eating dinner at 4:00 pm...