Another week, a little better, and Croatian Comedy Aspirations

I continue to feel a little better each day. I guess since I'm on a new chemo and I'm in a holding pattern, I have my illness ever present in the front of my mind. Physically I feel pretty good, I just wish I could stop expecting myself to be where I was before the surgery. I mean, come on. The surgery was September 20 for crying out loud! Here we are a month later and I'm constantly second guessing my energy levels, sleeping patterns, incision discomfort, and food consumption. I've got to stop it. Someone tell me to stop it!

The good news is that I've had zero dizzy spells this time around. After the first surgery it took months to be able to bend over, squat, or stand up at a normal speed. I've had none of that this time and Jason says he thinks it is because after the first surgery the rest of my brain had to decompress and go back to where it belongs. This time my brain was not being smashed and therefore can just stay where it is. I also don't seem to have had as much inflammation this time from the surgery itself. I guess when they go cutting your brain, the remaining tissue gets inflamed. Who would have thought?! Many in the GBM community use alternative methods to control the inflammation in order to get off of the steroid earlier. Some use Boswellia, Turmeric, and the ketogenic diet for these purposes. The research seems to show evidence that these methods can be effective for decreasing inflammation and swelling, so I'm in. 

I'm feeling good about my diet. I'm keeping it as high fat and low carb as possible so that my GKI index is staying firmly within range. In fact, my glucose and ketone measurements (taken by finger prick) are very stable. Glucose is staying in the 80s or lower and ketones are way above 2, which is the accepted range to be considered ketogenic. I am currently putting my recipes in a document geared toward creating a cookbook. I may have high aspirations there since between my job, self care, and family life, I may or may not have time to get it published once I have the recipes in the document. In the long run, I'm also considering how to adjust and reorganize the blog posts with an underlying theme to be published in one hard volume. The biggest issue is although you guys like to read it, I'm not sure if normal people (that's right, I'm speculating about whether any of us fall within the range of normal) would enjoy reading a memoir detailing the trials and tribulations of GBM. I mean, let's face it. My own husband doesn't find the blog all that interesting and says I'm one of the least funny people he knows. I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but when Kim and I vacationed in Croatia in 2015, the people there enjoyed my sense of humor and we made many fast friends. Since Croatians, as a general rule, find me hilarious, a former student floated the idea of a stand up comedy tour of Croatia where I could sell signed books after each show. I think this could be a brilliant move on our part. I could be the star comedian of Croatia! Imagine the possibilities!