August 23, 2022

Hi, Y’all – Happy Tuesday.  I hope that everyone is having a wonderful week so far and if you are in Austin, Texas, and the surrounding areas, I know you are enjoying the fact that we actually had some rain this week and that the temperature is a mild 85 degrees.  Most of us are breaking out the winter coats.  What a wonderful feeling these past few days have been. 

Our plants, animals, and insects are relishing in the fact that there is water in the ground and they’re no longer on fire and trying to hold on and not die.  In less than 24 hours everything looks so green, alive, and amazing and how do I know this you ask?  Because as I was on my walk this morning I was observing and enjoying seeing the beauty that is waking up with the blessing of a little bit of rain. 

I, however, woke up this morning with new “hot spots” as I call them on my feet.  Good times!  However, since I am stubborn and refuse to give into the “drama” of the HFS (Hand Foot Syndrome) almost promised to occur when taking Xeloda, I grabbed my Frankincense and Lavender rollerball blend and my LCN 10% Urea foot cream, slathered my feet up and went for a walk anyways.  I will say this in hindsight, that may not have been the BEST plan, however, too late now.

Once I got back to the house, literally, my feet felt like they were on fire.  I waddled myself into the house and slowly removed my socks and observed the new blisters that are slowly forming underneath the skin of my feet.  Like I said, good times.  I mean, come on, what goes better with a constant headache than painful feet for walking? 

My first thought was, “Thank God that I have acupuncture today.”  If you remember when the HFS started appearing on my hands, Yvonne (my miracle worker, um, I mean acupuncturist) started doing the needles in-between my fingers each visit, and viola within a few visits my hands were back to normal.  Recently we’ve been doing the same to my feet with the needles in between the toes, but not each visit, however, today I think we will step it up a bit and do this a couple of times a week.  (Again, for those wondering, yes, it does hurt but the end results of no blisters and no painful feet are worth it.)

Sadly, I also realized this morning AFTER my feet were on fire, that I ate a Kale salad yesterday which, has a higher folic acid content and is not good for when taking Xeloda.  I’m not quite sure what is the correlation between Xeloda and Folic Acid, but they do advise that you have a diet lower in Folic Acid while on Xeloda.  Side note – for the record, here is a list of foods that are higher in Folic Acid and should be avoided.

For the record, I still have headaches every day and nothing helps to make them go away.  Naproxen helps a tiny bit, but nothing completely takes the headaches away.  The rain, although wonderful, has made my headaches worse.  I’m sure it’s the drop in the barometric pressure that is doing it.  (I will deal with it though – we need the rain). 

I’m heading to acupuncture momentarily where I will work with Yvonne to heal/prevent the current issues with my feet.  I will meditate and do my mental work to heal my body, relax my mind and otherwise just allow myself a moment to myself breath and heal. 

Thank you all for the continued prayers, the road is long, but the end is coming closer and closer as the days march forward.

Xo,

Tracy