Monday, October 31, 2011

My status after 18 months

It's hard to believe that it is now over 18 months since I was liberated.  It's time I gave a status update:

  • Energy Levels: I’m still enjoying much more energy and less fatigue than before my liberation treatment, when I sometimes had to take 4 naps to get through a day.  However, I have noticed more of a tendency to take a nap (or even two) some days in the last two months or so, but it’s hard to say if that is due to a return of CCSVI or because I’ve been fighting off the viruses that everyone else around me seems to be catching.

  • Balance: In my objective measures of balance I have still maintained the improvements I saw after liberation, but subjectively I feel that I’ve lost ground there lately.  Of course, it could just be that my foot drop is getting worse, thereby making me trip more but, again, it sometimes makes me wonder if I am restenosing at a very slow rate.

  • Bladder Issues: This has not changed at all since liberation, it is still much better than it was in the months leading to my trip to Poland.

  • Dexterity:  I think that my manual dexterity has gotten a little worse in the last few months, though that varies so much hour-to-hour that it’s really hard to be sure of the trend-line.

  • Mobility (Foot Drop): My foot drop has gotten worse in the last few months, I believe.  I don’t think that it ever improved after liberation, just that my better balance allowed me to walk better and trip less often.

  • Left-side Strength: I believe that the underlying muscle signals haven’t really improved, per se, but since I exercise almost every day, some of my muscles are somewhat stronger.

  • Sleeping: I still take a sleeping pill every night, but I do seem to have fewer nights where, despite a sleeping pill, I can’t fall asleep.
If you’ve been following my blog, you know that at my last follow-up in Bangor they had noticed some reflux and possible blood flow problems, enough to say that I again (or still) have some CCSVI.  Since then I’ve wondered if I am restenosing in a serious way and, if so, what I should do about it.

No comments:

Post a Comment