It's been a long time since I've had anything to say.
Being almost completely crippled, in constant pain, and unable to walk - much less skate - makes updating a skating blog... depressing.
Time for a quick recap of my last 5 months. I don't have the spoons to get into it in detail, so the gist of it is:
- February foot injury. Healed in time for the competition!
- March Cipro poisoning. Destroyed the tendons in my left foot, and the right Achilles feels... wonky.
- The April competition was canceled due to the pandemic... and I wouldn't have been able to skate anyway. 🙁
- Haven't been able to put weight on the left foot for most of the time since March, have been stuck on the couch, crawling when I need to get around.
- Pancreatic cancer DX that they found by accident when I went in for the diverticulitis that ended up with my Cipro prescription.
- Cancer surgery in June.
- Woke up from surgery with nerve damage in my spine somehow - half my body was numb, couldn't walk properly for weeks
- My ass is still numb, almost 2 months later.
-I have basically been on the couch since February.
- The swelling and pain in my foot are FINALLY calming down, and I've been able to put shoes on!
I went from March to mid June without being able to put runners on. The first day I could get them on my feet, I had to mark the occasion with a photo!
- Had to learn to walk again. It was... a lot more difficult than I ever would have imagined.
- Then, even more recently... skates! I was really starting to wonder if I'd ever be able to put skates on again. Cipro really messed me up, and I know it messes some people up permanently!
- Today was my first time Skating since February! Also my first time roller skating in...a year? More?
- Ice crunch is way more satisfying than silent wheels.
- My left foot was still really weak, but I managed a few laps and SOME nonsense:
- I LOVE Hamilton. Look at our roller rink! It's right on Hamilton's harbour, with a yacht club right next to it.
It's the same rink I wrote about on this post - but that was when it was an ice rink, and at night!
Anyway, someday I'll publish more details about the whole cipro ordeal. Now that I'm back on skates, I'm just really hoping that this whole bullshit ordeal is behind me.
Seriously, if you're ever offered fluoroquinolone antibiotics and it's NOT a matter of life and death... fight to get that changed to ANYTHING else.
4 pills absolutely wrecked me - and I got off easy, compared to a lot of people.
My Floxed Timeline
For the first year and a half or so, I kept a regular diary of symptoms and improvements. Here are the links to those posts:
The First 24 Hours
The First Month
The Second Month
Month 3
Month 7
Month 8
Month 9
Month 10
Month 11
Month 12
Month 13
Month 14
Month 15
Month 16
Month 17
Months 18-20
Months 28-32
Months 33-38
...After the 20th month, things started to turn a corner. I stopped writing in my Cipro diary, and started blogging about my recovery - and I DO seem to be in actual recovery, now. (After month 28, I started compiling Facebook posts into timeline updates, here.)
You can see more recent updates under my Cipro category, and under my Walking, Hiking, & Scenery category.
A lot of my "therapy" after the 20th month has been just walking and hiking, and I've been making HUGE progress!
I've also written a post on what helped me heal from fluoroquinolone toxicity, in the hopes that it'll help others.
Also, you can see how I'm doing in general by seeing the All Blog Posts category.
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