Bulldozer00's Blog

Wow, I just saw that my last post on this preposterous blog was published on my birthday, October 10. So, in case you were wondering….. Tah dah! I’m still alive. LOL! I’m working on another post titled “How Will They Know?“. Double-LOL!

The good news is that two of the big four of my cancer complications, dizziness and “head-ringing“, have subsided to the point where I’m not aware that they’re constantly lurking in the background and chomping at the bit to muscle their way into the forefront of my consciousness. The bad news is that the other two complications, right-leg-numbness and, especially, “Feet on Fire” (FoF), have gotten worse.

In order to keep up with the deterioration in my poor feet, I kept upping my dosage of gabapentin to combat the worsening pain until I hit the ceiling of 600 mg X 3 per day. The drug didn’t seem to be working anymore so I decided (with doctor approval) to start backing down on the dosage to see if my FoF would get worse again. The rationale was that I’d rather not be taking a drug if it’s not working. Of course, when I cut the dose in half, my FoF did get worse. I was pretty much dead in the water for a week because of the foot pain. This most recent “flare up” has subsided a bit, but the progression is at the point where there now is always some fire-like pain in both of my feet. Tis what it is.

The next thing I’m going to try in my fight against seemingly worsening FoF is alpha lipoic acid. It’s an over-the-counter supplement recommended by one of my cancer group therapy friends. I got the Ok from my pain management doctor and I’ve been taking 650 mg per day for about a week now. So far, sigh, I haven’t noticed any improvement.

As the graphic below shows, the progression from taken-for-granted,”normal“, feet to the FoF state is an additive process. You may not believe this, but as I write this my feet are numb, tingly, and painful all at once. I don’t know if I can do anything to permanently regress back to the numbness + tingling state but I’ll keep trying new meds/supplements/topicals as I become aware of them.

On the bright side, I met a new internet friend, Kiara Bickers. Kiara stumbled upon this irreverent blog while searching for information on “systems thinking“, which is a fascinating subject near-and-dear to my heart. Kiara sent me a hard copy of her upcoming book, “Bitcoin Clarity“.  I haven’t finished it yet but I can tell you that Kiara’s writing style is very endearing. It feels like you know her personally and she’s sitting right next to you trying to painstakingly and patiently explain an almost inexplicable topic to newbies – Bitcoin.  Go pre-order your kindle copy now. 🙂