A Spork in the Road

And now, we bring you the Daily Notification of Beth’s Bodily Status:

I have a little bit of persistent neuropathy in my hands: my fingertips feel numbish and tingly, as does the bottom edge of my palm. Makes detail work a little sketchy. (This is caused, I believe, by the Vinblastine blasting my nerves.) But otherwise, today, I feel mostly human. I slept about eight hours last night, instead of the ten to eleven hours I’ve been sleeping, and I feel more energized and mentally alert than I have since — well, since my diagnosis, really.

Also, I could be imagining this, but I’m going to say it anyway. When I had my pulmonary function test, I found out I was operating at 70% lung volume. The darned nodes in my chest were pressing against my lungs enough to pinch out 30% of my normal volume. (Fortunately, my oxygen absorption rate was much higher than average, so I’m still getting ample oxygen despite the loss of volume.) And of course once they told me I had reduced lung capacity, I was able to feel that indeed, a deep breath didn’t go as far as it used to.

So last night I thought I’d do a test: I sat up straight and took the deepest breath I could. And I swear to you I could feel a deeper intake than just three weeks ago. Maybe I’m deluded, but the doctor did say that the nodes would begin to shrink very quickly. C’est possible?

I cannot wait for my next pulmonary function test!