Saturday, January 26, 2008

The End of a Log

I've reached a decision. I'm no longer taking my temperature twice a day or weighing myself each morning and then recording it. This was something I'd done religiously since my discharge, but I lost interest in it a few weeks ago. I no longer saw the point of keeping this log when every day I weighed the same (plus or minus 2 pounds), and every day my temperature was somewhere around 97.5 am / 97.8 pm. After filling endless pages with these numbers, I decided to live without it. If I start seriously losing weight, my pants will feel loose. If I start to feel ill, I'll take my temperature tout suite. Knowing my temperature at 6 am and 9 pm isn't going to help me with a fever that crops up at noon. I'd planned to keep this medical rebellion to myself, but Marty asked me one morning if I'd taken my temperature, and I wasn't going to lie.

For all I know, I may have been able to curtail this slavish record keeping long ago. Nobody told me to stop or continue; I never asked. I hereby record this little heresy though, just in case it reveals reckless endangerment down the road. I'm guilty as charged and this is the evidence to prove it.

1 comment:

Ann said...

I was taking my temperature at least 4 times a day thanks to General Gregory along with a daily weigh in. It drove me crazy, because just like you my temperature always hovered around 97.5 and my weight only fluctuated 4 pounds either way. Finally, my transplant doctor put her foot down and told Chris that he couldn't ask me to constantly take my temperature. I was instructed to take it only when I was feeling a bit off and as for my weight, so long as I was eating a balanced diet I didn't need to worry. The sense of freedom is something I cherish as I slog towards normal. Hang in there.
Ann