Qi gong.withdrawal.and.cupcakes.

im back...sorry for taking so long to write another post....anyway heres an update on my situation. Remember the pain ive spoken about?...well last week i had to go see a pain specialist to deal with the amount of dilaudid( pain meds) ive been taking. So the doc checked me out, and then decided to give me long lasting (dilaudid) pills. so this means that instead of taking 10 pills a day....i now only have to take 2. so thumbs up!

what the doc failed to mention was that i would experience something a little "uncomfortable" because of this change.

Have any of you watched intervention? well when you come off...or decrease any narcotic that you have been taking for a long time ( ive been on it for about 3 months) your body starts to freak out and you go into withdrawal...i wasnt told this.

so for a couple days my wife and I started to think that my cc was coming back because i was experiencing things like profuse sweating, shakes, stomach cramps...another symptom that is linked to stomach craps....you can guess what....anxiety, and restlessness. nice huh?

So i finally talk to a doc and find out that what i just experienced was the same withdrawal that a heroin addict would experience.....and for anyone who knows me.....thats the LAST thing i thought i would experience in this world. Anyway when i finally do come off this pain med...the docs have assured me that theyll taper my dose slowly so that i dont have to go "cold turkey" haha i cant believe im saying that!

in other news....ive decided to start doing Qi gong. My knees are completely busted and im hoping this is going to help with the fatigue and pain i have. Growing up in tianjin, china...i saw a lot of people practicing this in the park, and i know it works...anyway wish me luck because my wife and I are going to do this together every morning. For anyone who doesn't feel like googling it......Qi gong is a from of martial arts that manipulates energy ( in/around the body).

another piece of great news.....tomorrow is my LAST day of intensification! This phase lasted 30 weeks, approx 7.5 months, and consisted of chemo every week, sometimes twice, with lots of crappy side effects and LOTS of throwing up.....so in about a week....ill be going into a chemo phase called maintenance. This is the phase that people can start going back to school, my strength will come back, immune system will be better( not like yours but not to the extent that i cant go outside)....basically living normally...but still getting small doses of chemo. I actually got married to my wife in china while on maintenance (i was taking small dose chemo pills).

This time its going to be a little different.....ill be getting chemo injections and the pills...so hopefully no relapse..i really believe it wont come back....i feel like this chemo protocol really killed the cc.

So my wife is baking cupcakes tonight (shes decorating them halloween style) to give to the nurses at the hospital tomorrow. We really want to thank them for everything theyve done.....and its also a way for her to celebrate the fact that shes going to have her husband back. I can finally go for a walk in the city with her, go to the movies together...shes gone alone a couple times and its just depressing haha....basically whatever we're about to experience is going to be a hell of a lot better than what we just went through.....either way cupcakes are always welcome in this house.

one last thing...here are some more of my wife's paintings....im trying to get her to make a website for herself because people really responded to her stuff...I know shes attached to all the ones ive put up.....i think i am too because theyre a part of our cc experience....but shes willing to sell prints of these and will paint you your very own lemon piece if you want. anyway its something we can work on now that we're going into maintenance :)

"out with the old. in with the new"

"the Lemon farmer's daughter"

"the miracle"

I hope everyone has a good week....i think i will :)

If anyone wants to buy a print of any of the paintings ive put up on this blog....then just get in touch with my wife Shahrzad. her email is shahrzadbb@gmail.com.

peace