Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Pinky Toes

Another lousy night's sleep.... sleep for 30 minutes, bathroom break, toss, turn, sweat, open the door, check the heat, freeze, toes hurt, etc.  

I understand the sweat/freeze thing - with chemotherapy I'm thrown into menopause.  I've had those bouts off and on over the past few years.  The severity of it last night was a change for me, but to be expected.  It's hard to realize I'm past that phase of my life.  I've gone over the 'mountain' from being more like my daughter to being more like my mother.  I have all these boxes of  'feminine products' floating around the house, in my dance/gym bags, purses - how do you say to someone "Hey, by the way, I have a lot extra tampons that I don't need any more.  Are you interested?"  Not exactly dinner conversation.... lol

The surprise was my pinky toes!   Just leaning on them or having the sheet touch them during the night was painful!!  This morning, I got to thinking about it and just yesterday I clipped my toe nails for no apparent reason.  I thought it might have been the shoes or even the socks I wore. I generally keep the nails very short because of dance and running.  The shoes I wear for those activities are very tight and any kind of length to the nail just bothers me.  I'm not a favorite in the pedicure chair, that's for sure!  Anyway, the toes were bothering me yesterday, so I guess it started yesterday. 

Now that I think about it, it must have really started with the last treatment!!!  I was complaining to my friend Shelly that I must be texting/tweeting too much because my thumb nails are hurting me!  That statement alone puts me into another stratosphere - the thought that it was the action of hitting the phone keypad could be causing pain is a true sign of this day and age we live in, that's for sure.  Feeling my fingernails ache today was what convinced me there was something else going on.

Pinky toes and thumb nails made me google it - peripheral neuropathy.  That's the name for it.  My Onc had asked me if I was feeling numbness, but I hadn't been.  I now can say yes, but I wouldn't call it numb, just slightly painful, like an ache.  My toes feel like I wore tight shoes and my fingernails feel like I closed a drawer on them.  Nothing all that drastic - yet.  There are all kinds of other nasty things that accompany this - I'll keep you posted if I get the really gross stuff.  Aren't you excited??

How ridiculous is it that I am complaining about my pinky toes!!??!!   Pretty ridiculous in the whole scheme of things!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Nueropathy is not fun. I couldn't open a bottle of anything the days after my chemo cause it just exacerbated a nerve problem I already have in my hand.

As for the Tampon issue...Womens and regular shelters would welcome them I am sure. Might be a nice way to put a little extra good karma out there through the process.

Fondly,
Katie the CAC Geek