Neuropathy Update

Happy Left-Handers Day!

Neuropathy. The worst bane of my recovery from chemo. I felt that my recovery from neuropathy had hit a wall. My fingers continued to hurt every time I touched something and were sometimes numb, sometime tingly and my feet gave me a combination of numbness and pain. The combination of pain and numbness in my feet makes it sometimes both painful and difficult to walk. The combination in my hands made it difficult to pick up things and made it impossible to play the ukulele!

In July I finally did something about it. I have been seeing a Naturopath since about mid June. She has recommended exercises, which I am not following as I should (surprise), a couple of supplements that I am taking, and she has a machine, an Ondamed, which I am thinking is magical. I don't know quite how it works but it does work. Example - when I first visited Melody she was in the process of using this machine and my left hand began to cramp. I have been having cramps in both hands for quite a while and they have become worse and more frequent. Melody pointed what I call her magic wand at my left hand and the cramping eased. She used the wand on both hands and the cramping which had been a problem multiple times a day is now almost gone. I now have minor cramps less than once a week. The fingers of my left hand, while still experiencing some tingling, are no longer painful and I have been playing the ukulele almost daily since these treatments began. The fingertips of my right hand are still tender and a little painful but not as much. My feet are much improved and I have been feeling all of my toes and the numbness in the balls of my feet is slowly going away. I even walked barefoot in my driveway and in grass recently. Bottom line, I've seen progress since seeing a Naturopath.

Melody did try a couple of new things on me last week - a toxin cleansing foot bath and a vibrating platform. While I felt better immediately after our session I lost ground within hours. I will not do either of those treatments in the future. If you are in the western suburbs of Chicago and having no luck with traditional medicine for a number of issues, go visit Melody Hart! You will not be sorry you did. I do not pretend to understand what she is doing but it is working and I trust her.

Sharon has noticed an improvement in my energy level and my walking - and she also notices immediately when my feet are hurting. Interestingly when my feet hurt, my knees and eventually hips hurt also as I try to compensate. We were able to make a trip to Ann Arbor recently to visit Audra. Sharon thought my being willing to make the trip was a positive step! We had a great time.

My feet!