Firstly Monday I did a drug challenge to change my DNAse nebuliser to a different drug through an inhaler. Quicker, easier to manage/transport/clean etc... the challenge involved taking pre dose blows (no change from week before, phew!) then taking the dose in small chunks with oxygen level checks and blows to check that I didn't have any adverse reaction to the drug preventing me from continuing. That all went well... my oxygen sats actually went up by 1% at the end (doesn't seem a lot, but the higher the better!) and my fev1 (how much air I can force out my lungs in 1 second) had improved a teeny tiny amount. The overall reason for this drug is to help shift the gunk out my chest, and it certainly started doing that immediately! So... Now being Friday, I've been doing it for 3 further days at home, and it is helping to shift the nasty gunk out, so I'm hoping it continues long term and isn't just a random shifting spell! My other concern is that I did actually take part in the clinical trials for this about 8 years ago, and ended up having to pull out the study because of repetitive headaches... as I'm more prone to them now anyway, I'm really worried that it's something that will benefit my chest, but could cause daily headaches... nothing is ever straight forward with a CF body!!
Next new thing was on Tuesday I gave reflexology a try. I had a very nice lady come into my home for a session of reflexology on my feet (not sure if this can be done on other body parts but she was specific about working with just feet!) She explained how different parts of feet correspond to different body parts, even down to things like intestines and 'lady parts' ;) She warned that I might feel a bit odd the rest of that day (which hit me about 6pm and Glen thought I was completely out of it and not acting right at all!) but I should just judge and see how my body responds to it over time. I'm not sure what I was expecting, or how I should feel if it has benefited me, but I think I might give it another try next month, see how it goes. If it can help my achy back and relaxing issues then it's worth trying for a couple of sessions!
Lastly, I had my flu jab on Wednesday... very important if you have (or have a lot of contact with someone with) CF. Any extra bugs and germs could cause big problems through the winter, so every October I always make sure I have mine. As I work in a hospital they obviously offer them to staff... benefit of having it done at work rather than home GP- they give out lollies, time away from desk working AND I didn't have to stand in a really long queue with other poorly based people at the surgery! Score. I have now got the obligatory achy arm (gradually improving) but hopefully it should be enough to keep me from anything too nasty this year... now the challenge is to get Glen to have his!
I've rounded off this week with a shopping trip with mum, and below is a rather fetching pic of me playing with stuff in Primark!!
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