Self diagnosis

For the past several months, I've resisted the temptation to think that I know what's best for me.  While surrounded by medical professionals, many with decades of experience regarding multiple myeloma, it seemed foolish to state my opinion or to diagnose myself regardless of my certainty.  Now that I'm more on my own, I'm free to make decisions about personal health, decisions that may determine how much activity to expend in a day or which optional drugs to take.  It's a very different direction from my Seattle day to day life and so far, I enjoy it very much.

The looming question is about activity.  Should I be working?  The doctors in Seattle strongly cautioned against it.  They didn't say with certainty to stay at home every day but the protocol is to not work for an entire year after an allogeneic transplant.  This is where I believe my case is different from others.  It is no doubt best for some patients to recuperate for a year before resuming activity.  Everyone responds to the treatment differently and most respond with more medical issues than I have.  In my case, the best treatment is to resume activity as soon as possible and I have rational reasons to make that diagnosis.

I've been in Alaska for two weeks now.  It's as if the medical side effects have been placed on a dusty shelf of my mind.  They're all there but they are not as noticeable.  When I think about it, I still have numbness and painful tingling in my feet, daily muscle cramping in the legs and fingers, various GI issues, extreme fatigue at times, frequent headaches, buckling at the knees, numbness in the fingertips, occasional nausea, pain in the shoulder from radiation and various, weird cognitive issues.  While I was in Seattle, I would have hours each day to focus on these side effects but now, my schedule of work and mental focus on the task at hand doesn't allow for time to think about it.  When a single medical issue flairs up, I notice, otherwise it's not an issue.

I have always believed that working through pain makes it hurt less.  In this case, working through these issues makes them much less noticeable.  However, I'm getting over a very serious disease and I'm still taking ridiculous amounts of strong drugs each day.  I understand that there is a danger in ignoring medical problems.   Without a doubt, certain small medical issues are signs of something that could be serious so I still call the medical team in Seattle with questions.  They are the true experts.