Nowadays

At the age of 40, I went cold turkey on cigarettes and reduced my consumption of alcohol to just a few glasses of wine on most every holiday...  until I reached the age of 60 when I started my chemo treatments and had to give up all alcohol regardless of the frequency or event.  At 70, I made sure that there were double sheets laying on top of the sheet on the mattress and that a bathrobe was convenient just in case I sweated. 

I also learned that my body could no longer perform the physical activities that it used to perform without resting 30 minutes or so every 60-90 minutes...  and, since my Melanoma had returned twice, my desire to get out into the sun was discouraged unless I was wearing long sleeves plus a lot of sunscreen.  Now, my ability to enjoy my vacations was limited just at the time when I was in a position to take several anytime I wanted.  I had little desire to go anywhere but a warm coastal beach.

But, that was not all of the changes...  my sensitivity to cold and heat worsened and not only did I get colder quicker once the temps went into the 40's but the humidity of the summer without a strong wind made it almost impossible for me to breathe without air conditioning.  Once we got into late fall, the tubes connected my ears to my nose (I think) would fill up with mucus making it difficult for me to hear even when enunciation was clear just not loud enough.

When I was 73 and experienced afib for the first time, I told my Cardiologist that I had felt nothing at all as a warning sign, so now I am on Xarelto and the slightest cut on my face when I save, will bleed for a couple of days and requires two band aids one on top of each other to keep the wound from bleeding.  Those bandages remain for at least another two days.

Not only do I sweat during the night but I sweat all over during the day like a fine mist covering my skin and unless I take a shower everyday, my body odor is horrible.,

My appetite comes and comes as does my sense of smell and taste so when I am eating anything, the food is just food without any kind of taste and if there is a taste associated with what I eat, it is not an enjoyable taste so I am not mentally encouraged to eat a lot.

The fatigue that I experience is sporadic and comes and goes at various times throughout the day whereas before it always arrived at specific or general times on which I could plan and make accommodations but now I just have to wait and see

The bruises on my arms and legs come and go as well, but it does not take much to cause a bruise so I have to be careful all the time with what I am doing.  I balanced a box of cat liter on my left arm so I could pour with my right hand and the next day my left arm had several bruises on it...  even though it hit nothing to cause a bruise to appear.  Sometimes, my arms are covered in bruise tats and I look like a member of a street gang.

This is a little of what I live with everyday...