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Sunday 24 July 2022

This weird trick reverses diabetes

This weird trick reverses diabetes

How many times have I seen spam like this? A lot. But ...

In September 2021, I was diagnosed with diabetes. Using the finger prick test, I was coming in at 8 or 9 (normal is 4 to 7). And the HBa1C test was saying much the same (that's a blood test that is measurung the average over the last few months) . So, I changed my diet a bit (I never did take much sugar) and went onto a prescribed drug for it.

But I've been off the ddrug (Metformin) for months now, and I've not been watching my sugar intake. Yet by the prick test,  I've come down to 5 or 6, which is normal, and this is confirmed by my latest HBa1C test, which also came up normal. 

So what changed? Obviously the big change was the nine-hour operation in which they removed most of my liver and all of my gall bladder. 

So there you are. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone else, because the chopping of my liver was an anti-cancer measure, but it seems to have had the good side-effect of also removing my diabetes.






 

Monday 4 July 2022

Diabetes

Diabetes

Last year, while they were analysing my blood, they also told me that I had diabetes. And a heart murmur.

I wasn't too bothered - I also had cancer, and ranked that way higher. I thought, I'll worry about the diabetes once the cancer is fixed.

But maybe I don't have diabetes. I got myself a test kit, and I've been testing every week or so. Normal is in the range 4 to 7, and at the end of 2021, I was reading 8 or 9. Which is diabetic, but only slightly so.

But now my readings have come down - maybe my liver is doing a better job than it did. My latest reading is 5.7 mmol/L, which is exactly in the middle of the normal range.

My blood pressure is also looking better, at 120 over 76. It had been in the range 130 to 150 at the end of 2021, and at the hospital, they even put me on blood pressure pills for a while. But normal blood pressure for an adult aged 20 to 40, is 95-135 over 60-80, so my blood is as good as it should be.

And my back is feeling a lot better now. I'm avoiding lifting heavy things because I don't want a recurrence, but now I can get into and out of bed without pain, and without using a stick.





Friday 1 July 2022

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is used to kill cancer cells. I've heard various anecdotes about it, all the way from "no impact on how I feel" all the way up to "horrible". And since I am now a liver cancer survivor, I was concerned about the possibility of having to endure this.

Apparently, chemo is best done in the first 12 weeks after the operation, the idea being to destroy any residual cancel cells. It's the principle of "kick your opponent while he's down". Basically, you're taking a poison that will hurt the cancer cells more than the healthy cells. And that's why it can be horrible.

 Possible side effects include ...

  • feeling tired most of the time
  • feeling and being sick
  • hair loss
  • an increased risk of getting infections
  • a sore mouth
  • dry, sore or itchy skin
  • diarrhoea or constipation

 I got lucky. Because my cancer was detected VERY early (see previous post for why), the operation (which was a big one, lasting for nine hours and using five surgeons) removed all the cancer (along with most of my liver and my gall bladder). The post-operation histology confirmed that I was R0 (100% good).

So last week, I consulted with the oncologist, and he confirmed that I was all good, and didn't need chemotherapy. 

Hurrah!

Some time in the next several months, I'll be checked with an MRI scan, but that's a cake-walk.