Umbilicus

Recently I was troubled by discomfort in my umbilicus that has never been the same since it was perforated in the course of my gall bladder operation back in mid-2016. The surgery was keyhole and four perforations were made in my body. The diagram below is not my umbilicus but it resembles it.

Fortunately the discomfort dissipated within a couple of days but it's quite unpleasant while it's active. I don't know what brings an attack on but at least it's relatively transient. Many people suffer from umbilical hernias and mine is very mild. I need to reduce the amount of fatty tissue around my waist so that the pressure on my umbilicus is reduced. I also need to avoid any heavy lifting. Hopefully I can avoid surgery.

The discomfort in my chest also dissipated during my recent visit to Sydney where the temperature was higher but now that I've returned to Melbourne the discomfort has returned. It's worse than it was before. Cold is definitely not a friend of thymomas or thymic cysts.

On a positive note, I did a lot of walking in Sydney and will continue to chalk up the kilometres here I hope. I've yet to resume my leg stretching or hand strengthening exercises since arriving in Australia some weeks ago. I don't know why I stopped but I've noticed that once I do, it's difficult to start again. All that can be done is to start again and once started, I tend to continue. 

My weight has decreased to 74.2 kg, down from 74.7 kg on the 5th July. That's a half kilogram drop in a little over two weeks. I'll try to get down to around 72 kg.

The Big Freeze

Arriving in Melbourne in the depth of its winter and during a particularly cold snap has not proved good for my health. While I did do some walking upon arrival, I found that the cold was affecting my chest and so I've abandoned all forms of exercise. I definitely function better in the tropics and I'm looking forward to returning there.

This is the worst shape I've been in since my affliction emerged toward the end of 2018. Even moving about the city proved too much for me yesterday and I was struggling to make it back home. Since then I've spent most the time sleeping. The fact that I breathe through my mouth exacerbates the problem as the cold air enters my lungs directly whereas via the nose the air has a chance to warm up a little. When I consciously breathe through my nose, I find things are better.

There's so little information available about my condition and I'm not really sure what my condition is. My research leans toward thymoma or thymic cyst but most probably the latter as I have a long history of cysts on head and, as I only learned in 2015, cysts on my liver. "14% of patients with thymic cysts also had hepatic cysts" (see earlier post titled Thymoma or Thymic Cyst) and so there is clearly a correlation between the two. 

Hopefully, the temperatures will be warmer in Sydney in a week's time when we visit and on our return to Melbourne five days later. If this sees an improvement in my condition, then it will be strong evidence that low temperatures exacerbate my condition and are best avoided in the future. On an unrelated note, I weighed in yesterday at 74.7kg. This is the first time that I've weighed myself in a while and this weight isn't too bad considering my recent lack of exercise.