Heath once more.

Here is an update on my health.

I have been to the gym three times in the past 2 weeks. A few minutes on the exercise bike at level 11/20 gets my pulse rate up to 140, which is quite high enough for now. 30 exercises for upper body strength lifting 25kg, then 20 crunches for abdominals. Then some stretching. I have achy pectorals and painful knees, but nothing like I used to have before I was ill and exercising at full tilt.

I still feel boated after meals, though this is less than it was. I am taking 'live' yoghurts. I cannot detect any ascites, but this is hard to do on self examination. The peripheral neuropathy is better than it was, but finger tips are still quite numb. My BP remains at below 120/80.

I have noticed a problem with my hearing. It's not that I cannot hear the sounds, but I have difficulty in deciphering them. Unless I see a person's lips move, I cannot be sure I have heard words correctly. I take several minutes trying to assemble the sounds into a sentence that makes sense and by the time I have got it the conversation has moved on. I don't have very much patience, I am afraid. Young people, especially, fail to sound their terminal consonants and I tend to switch off. Is this just old age? Or is it a chemotherapy side effect?

I am still waiting for my November scan.