Good day, bad day

I’ve been hesitant to write more about the side-effects of interferon, figuring that things would settle into a routine and the drug would simply become background noise in my life. I’m still waiting for that to happen. So far, there’s no predicting how I’ll feel from day to day. The two biggest issues are fatigue/muscle aches and brain fog. Some days I feel great, and on others (like today) my body hurts and my brain bogs down. The 100-degree temps certainly don’t help.

This is week 8 in what’s supposed to be a 48-week regimen of interferon injections. It’s a long road ahead. It’s my goal to find a way to get all the way through. The shots themselves I’ve got down cold. The day after a shot is always tougher than the second day, when the effects of interferon begin to wear off. I’m trying to organize my life accordingly—good day, bad day, etc.

I have been running the last couple of weeks, which I figure can’t hurt. It gives me a definite mental lift. Two or three miles a day seems to be my limit. My left upper thigh remains wooden (the nerves were damaged in surgery), but that doesn’t seem to affect my stride. I’m still not working, and haven’t decided for sure if I’ll be teaching this school year or not. I’m nearly at the point of needing to make decisions about how I will be investing my time. I want to get past my next CT scan (8/29) before shifting gears. Assuming everything checks out, I hope to resume activities that have been on hold for months. I’ve been incredibly lazy this summer.