I'm finding using the keyboard impossibly difficult right now. I'm not a touch typist so I look at the keyboard a s I typeand he keys are not where they appear to be, My left hand does not seem to be my hand at all.
I have to spend a lot of timecorrecting those errors I happen to notice It's incredibly frustrating. Another example of the same issue: When I switch a light on I find I'm pressing on the faceplate justbelow the switch rocker.If I try to pick a biscuit off a plate of biscuits my hand can't feel the biscuitsthere because imy hand isn't anywhere near them.
When I press a key on the computerkeyboard I find 've pressed one of the nearby one. if I try to type capital I I get controll-I (switch to italics)which has just happened here. I can use the mouse OK though, but I often lose the cursor. Typing is impossible in these conditions. It h has taken more than half an hour to type this short post. and correct the errors I found.
7 February- Driving licence returned!
Received a new driving licence, valid for 1 year, from DVLA today!tI's Not much use to me now.A few monthsearlier my visionwas good enough for driving to have been possible. Now it is so poor that typing this short post has proved amost impossible.
9 January - Back on steroids again.
I spoke (well, wrote) too soon. Today we had to go to the GP surgery. When the taxi arrived, I found I could barely stand up. I only made it to the car with Olga's support.The doctor found me a weelchair to go out. My head was spinning and I had no balance at all. Surprising as I'd been getting better and better at the physiotherapist's balance exercises.
Olga said this was due to withdrawal symptoms from the reduced dose of steroids. She found a quarter of a dexamethasone tablet in her bag, which I took with a cup of water from the surgery's water cooler and soon began to feel a bit better. Olga remembered that I had had similar problems when I tried to give up steroids the first time. I don't remember so I had to look back in this blog to refresh my memory. I even have an itchy rash like I did back in June last year. Hopefully I won't get shingles again like I did then.
So it looks as if I'll have to keep taking a quarter of a tablet a day. It's disappointing,. My appetite has been less great and I had even begun to lose a little weight since we started reducing the steroid dosage,
Olga said this was due to withdrawal symptoms from the reduced dose of steroids. She found a quarter of a dexamethasone tablet in her bag, which I took with a cup of water from the surgery's water cooler and soon began to feel a bit better. Olga remembered that I had had similar problems when I tried to give up steroids the first time. I don't remember so I had to look back in this blog to refresh my memory. I even have an itchy rash like I did back in June last year. Hopefully I won't get shingles again like I did then.
So it looks as if I'll have to keep taking a quarter of a tablet a day. It's disappointing,. My appetite has been less great and I had even begun to lose a little weight since we started reducing the steroid dosage,
9 January - Off the steroids
Today I have taken no dexamethasone (steroid.) We have been gradually reducing the dose a fraction of a tablet at a time. Hopefully I'll now be able to lose the 10kg of weight that I put on since the operation.
Also hopefully there won't be too much need for posting to this blog. I no longer feel that I have one foot in the grave. I expect I'll have cancer cells in my brain forever, but I'm at least a few paces away from the grave at this moment.
I still have to overcome the after effects of surgery: my dodgy vision and balance problems . The number of times I've had to correct typos just to write this post is a reminder that I'm not fully recovered yet. So this may not be the last post to this blog. Not just yet.
Also hopefully there won't be too much need for posting to this blog. I no longer feel that I have one foot in the grave. I expect I'll have cancer cells in my brain forever, but I'm at least a few paces away from the grave at this moment.
I still have to overcome the after effects of surgery: my dodgy vision and balance problems . The number of times I've had to correct typos just to write this post is a reminder that I'm not fully recovered yet. So this may not be the last post to this blog. Not just yet.
30 December - Good news for the New Year
Off to an appointment with the urologist this morning, to hear the result of the CT scan a few weeks ago.This was nothing to do with my brain tumour. One of my scans had showed something suspicious on a kidney, which we were afraid might be cancer. The good news was that whatever it is hasn't changed. so it probably isn't cancerous. As I haven't experienced any kidney-related problems such as blood in my urine my kidneys have been given a clean bill of health and we'll have another look in a year.
While we were there we asked the doctor if we could look at the last MRI brain scan, on which until now we had only had a verbal report.
There was nothing to see. Literally. Where the tumour had originally been there was nothing there. Definitely good news. Perhaps I could grow a few new brain cells there!
If I'm not exactly jumping for joy it's just because I'm still experiencing annoying symptoms like the blind spot in my vision, a hand tremor, the balance problem that is hampering my mobility, poor short term memory and inability to concentrate. But I'm not going to dwell on those for the moment.
So I may not have "beaten the bugger" but I've given it a jolly good thrashing. And It looks as if I'll be around for a couple of years yet. Olga and I will see in the new year with a glass of bubbly this year!
While we were there we asked the doctor if we could look at the last MRI brain scan, on which until now we had only had a verbal report.
There was nothing to see. Literally. Where the tumour had originally been there was nothing there. Definitely good news. Perhaps I could grow a few new brain cells there!
If I'm not exactly jumping for joy it's just because I'm still experiencing annoying symptoms like the blind spot in my vision, a hand tremor, the balance problem that is hampering my mobility, poor short term memory and inability to concentrate. But I'm not going to dwell on those for the moment.
So I may not have "beaten the bugger" but I've given it a jolly good thrashing. And It looks as if I'll be around for a couple of years yet. Olga and I will see in the new year with a glass of bubbly this year!
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