(no subject)

Update: Tested positive for UTI although they didn't give me the numbers over the phone. Luckily my healthcare network has one of those handy online personal accounts and I expect that after my GP sees the test results and clears them, the results will show up in my online record. The attending doctor I saw decided to send off for culturing of the specimen, to see if there was a discernible reason for these reoccurring episodes. She did give me one bit of information I didn't know - tight muscles around the bladder/abdomen can restrict the full emptying of the bladder, resulting in more time for bacteria to populate the tract... since I am currently dealing with muscle rigidity, cramping, and spasms thanks to the Gleevec, it would be reasonable to see a correlation between the onset of the UTIs and my dosing with Gleevec. (I've only been having them since the second year I've been on the Gleevec, which is also when the leg muscle problems started showing up.)

SO Cipro is my friend again. And now I'm going back through my journal entries & diet log to find any correlation between the various episodes in the hopes that I can head off another one. I *do* know that they seem to only hit during the hot weather season, that I've (mostly) been camping or doing without air conditioning, and that I've been dehydrated around the onset times. The dehydration bit bothers me - it isn't that I haven't been drinking like a fish, it's that it doesn't seem to be reaching my kidneys or something. I've been sweating it out too fast. I'm not sure how to remedy that when there is also leg edema at the same time. Again, I think it comes down to 'watch that ticking calendar, these things will pass after May Day'. Or maybe trying to figure it out just makes my head hurt. :)

Gleevec Countdown: 194 days.