Well, its officially true, pride does come before a fall and are often the results of the actions of a Fool!
I was so pleased that I had managed to keep my blood sugars below 20 whilst taking the oral steroids (Dexamethasone), that is until today. Then if you pardon the expression it all went t*ts up! My sugar was 9.9 before breakfast so I gave myself 10 units of Novorapid insulin to counteract the carb's in my poached eggs on toast. All was fine and I had just finished my MS Society e-newsletter and was sending it out to our members when... everything went odd. As I looked at things they flashed like pictures, just like I was taking photographs and the wall looked like it was undulating, I felt very strange - woozy and dizzy.
Yes! I was having my first ever Hypoglycaemic attack!
A check of my sugar showed a reading of 3.4 mmols so Ron got me a bowl of cereal and some chocolate (any excuse eh?!) Of course as it was the Aldi low sugar version I just had to eat 3 squares of it to have any effect (any excuse of course). After half an hour I had managed to raise it to 6.4 mmols but still felt weak and wobbly so had to abandon my plans of a trip to Shanklin and Morrisons. Poor Ron had to go out for the urgent supplies of sugar free Biscuits, Bagels, and Bananas - at least that was an easy list to remember. We decided that resting up for the rest of the day would be the wisest option for me as even now I don't feel (or sound right - strangely it seems to have affected my voice too!). Shanklin will just have to wait until tomorrow now. Mind you he came back with plain not the onion bagels I wanted, and for some obscure reason has got himself a meat pie - in no way is that on his low cholesterol diet! If you want something doing...
Otherwise, since the Chemo of last week and the trauma of the steroids things haven't been too bad. Certainly not a repeat of the suspected fluid retention panic following the last session. Friday night was spent almost entirely on the loo 'weeing for England!' Ron said he half expected to wake up to a dehydrated Egyptian mummy on Saturday - it left me totally drained in more ways than one!
I managed another 20 lengths at the swimming club on Saturday evening (8 doing just leg kicks using the float, 6 Breast stroke - using both legs and arms, and 6 front crawl using just my arms). I could probably have done more, but have learned from experience to save some energy to get showered and dressed - there have been times when I have been in tears just sitting there exhausted for ten minutes before I could physically manage the tasks. I still have my single lane and my Oncologist is keen for me to continue swimming even though my immune system is now apparently fully suppressed now, he even suggested that I could hold off on my Rebif now as that has a similar effect - now he tells me, and after all the hassle of sorting out the deliveries and have missed so many already. I will check with my Neurologist and MS Nurses to see what they feel about it though, I don't really want the risk of relapses but if it isn't beneficial do I really want more needles than absolutely necessary, what with blood sugar readings and insulin I am already feeling like a pin cushion.
Yesterday, we took Daphne out for a run and met up with Ron's cousin Linda and her husband David who are over with their extended family for a weeks holiday on the island, I actually managed to share a Ploughman's lunch with Ron, despite my appetite not being up to much. However, I can never refuse a lovely big chunk of Cheddar! I had a minor worry during the meal when the little and ring fingers of my right hand went numb and I feared the MS might be playing tricks on me again but today I seem to have my usual sensation so that was obviously just a short term blip!
Linda in the driving seat and Lady Jenny in the back!
Anyway, I'm having pasta for dinner so the carbs in that will bring me back to an even keel and I will be a bit warier of the insulin now I am off the steroids, at least until the next session of Boris busting Chemo on Thursday!
