There are several contributing factors but, in my case, this is how my doctor explained it to me. When one's blood pressure is low, the body responds by constricting the peripheral blood vessels (in the fingers and toes) to keep blood circulating closer to the heart. This causes cramping and joint pain in the digits due to the lack of blood circulation. On Friday my blood pressure was 85 over 50. To put this into perspective, average blood pressure is about 120 over 80. Throw into the mix the fact that I am anaemic - largely due to a history of anaemia and partially due to the fact that I am still breastfeeding - and the situation is exacerbated.
Thankfully, the condition is entirely treatable and my hands should be mine again in a few short weeks! There is no cure, so to speak, since it is entirely dependent on my blood pressure, but it can be controlled. Doc has put me on an iron supplement to treat my anaemia - the most God-awful chewables - and a medication called Akrinor for my blood pressure. The iron pills may taste terrible - like cheap chocolate laced with the blood taste of iron, but they are easy enough to come by. The Akrinor is another story. It contains pseudoephedrine and, since everyone and their cousin has seen Breaking Bad, pharmacies stock it in low quantities, if at all. But I have my small stock and I'm taking them diligently, so the prognosis is good! And angels sang and a beam of sunlight pierced the grey sky to light my path!
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| Visiting Daddy's home town |
Other than (yet another) trip to the doctor, life has been good! We spent the last weekend at Rod's folks' place in Klerksdorp clearing out his old room. We've been threatening to do it for years, but with Christmas coming up and a full house on the cards, we needed the extra space for Ricky's camp cot. As someone who grew up moving around a lot, I had no idea how much stuff one collects over a lifetime of living in the same room. When I moved in with Rod, all that came with me was a box of books, a box of random crap and a suitcase of clothing. While we managed to get quite a bit done, we barely scratched the surface, and still we moved out four garbage bags of junk! Incredible!
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| Ricky having a jol with his Gido |
Ricky's gido and sito were over the moon to have us and Ricky enjoyed having a new place to crawl around and explore. He was in such high spirits that he didn't even fuss when his fourth tooth cut on the Saturday! He's becoming quite the toothy little man, teeth are just popping out all over! I thought there would be more of a break between teeth erupting, but they're shooting out like mushrooms after the rains! Last night was a bad one, Ricky was just not a happy camper, but modern medicine gave us paracetamol, and I passed it on.
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| 8 months old!! What a handsome man! |
Tomorrow is Ricky's eight month weigh in, and we find out whether he's tripled his birth weight. He was 300g short last month and lifting him of late has become a proper task, so I think he's done it! Only four months early. This boy of mine really is a big one! I'm such a proud mommy!
And so, until we meet again on the other side of this weekend, here's to growing, happy babas, and mommies with pain-free extremities!
Smiles,
Mommy
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