Who dreams of electro-lytic sheep?

I finally acted on my family doctor's advice and got a mixture of electrolytic stuff to take.   It seems that I have been drinking water a lot (the diabetes) and my electrolytes are not quite what they should be.

I am also wondering if all of the chemotherapy which involves a lot of diarrhea and dehydration didn't add something to this.  Maybe I should have been taking this stuff a lot sooner.

This was only detected because my doctor as a blood test that looks for it. 

So while I was at whole foods yesterday I picked up a small plastic jar of the stuff and mixed it with some water.

I think it helped.

Twelve Micrograms Lighter

In some ways the time since my physical has been rather blissful.   Except today when I thought I had a cold.  I took some Benadryl and it seems so much better, and that was at 11:45 this morning.  The cloudiness of mind lasted quite some time but I recovered and found myself working into the night because my projects have needed attention.

I am not a workaholic.  I don't even play one on TV!

But the other thing that's been going on that I have been happy about is my reduction by a full 12 micrograms of my thyroid medication dosage.   I feel fine.

Wasn't that a Beatles song?

When on the fully loaded 137 ug I was always focused.  So much that it practically hurt:  I couldn't come down from it.

But now I feel so much better; and I feel that I rest more and don't miss as much sleep.

This might do me some good.

My Physical Was Today

There is nothing quite like a physical to buck you up after wading through the doldrums of post chemo blahs.

There is the prelude of the mandatory tests checking hearing and lung capacity and the EKG which are especially helpful for those approaching quasi geriatric decrepitude and senescence.

But I forgot about the pleasures of forgetfulness.


So I hear pretty well, I can breathe and my heart is in surprisingly good shape.    My ejection fraction is 55-60 percent.   And the ECHO report didn't say terrible things about my poor little ticker.   It has a few little oddball things: Diastolic left ventricular dysfunction (impaired relaxation); There is mildly increased left ventricular wall thickness with normal chamber size and contraction.

But what the hell, my little old heart just keeps chugging away.  I'm not going to complain.

My lipids looked good relatively speaking, I expected much worse.   My glucose was 137 and my HbA1C was 7.4 which is more than I would like but not all that bad when I put it in perspective.

My immune system has ticked up a little.  Since the last blood test taken at the hospital. 

The question about atypical lymphs was answered in the sense that it is the kind of statement that needs to be understood in the context of six R-CHOP infusions (ended mid April of this year) followed by three months (and three cycles) of revlimid.

And revlimid does strange and wonderful things to the spleen which is centrally involved with the immune system.  Well, I was being sarcastic and ironic.

My doctor said I look good on paper.  I replied that so did a lot of people's financial statements just a few years ago.   He also said that looking good on paper didn't guarantee anything.

Sometime after I was examined on the table I noticed a bruise that I had from where the phlebotomist had taken blood for my physical over a week ago.  I am very slow to heal - I still have a bit of the bruise from blood taken from me on September 29th.   I have another issue that has hung on much longer than it should have.

On a lighter note my doctor and I discussed my levoxyl dosage and since it brings out in me that focused and organized state that works so well with my trade;basically turning me into that obsessive compulsive computer programmer that so many people have come to know and love.

I think it's about time that I switched back into being that laid back bohemian I always wanted to be and was once upon a time.   I was hoping to do this before I dropped dead of hyper-activity.

My old dosage was 137 micrograms and the new dosage is 125.   A drop of 12 micrograms.  I know that I will have moments of great relaxation before I adjust to the new dosage; and probably moments of sleepiness.

But maybe I won't wake up so early in the morning.  Like I did this morning at 4:30.   A good night's sleep might be therapeutic.

Altogether I am still down with the chemo and have not come back to normalcy.  My immune system has been assaulted.  I won't be back to normal for a long time and I do not know how long I will be like this.

My most prevalent symptom is fatigue; in one form or another.

welcome to the world of post cancer enuei

I have come to expect to be fairly strong most of the time and to only have deep tiredness perhaps the day after some exhertion.  So I find it strange to be so very tired on a Tuesday; and the only thing I did yesterday was walk my usual walk to Knob Road.   Although I did find it tiring.

I don't know that this should mean anything in particular but it is way early in the week to feel this way.

On another note, I received a copy of the ECHO report and I will just take my oncologist's word that it says my heart is essentially normal. I will discuss it with my family doctor on Thursday.

I am still feeling a deep and achy tired.

essentially normal

Just an FYI for the curious.   Although I have not received the ECHO cardiogram report from my oncologists nurse yet,  my oncologist has seen it in draft form and my heart is "essentially normal".

I wonder what that means.

My lab report is "reasonable". 

Good news, I'm sure.

what you've been waiting for?

Well, I finally have my blood work back and there are parts of it that I don't understand.  But some parts are obvious.

The reason that these were taken was that I'm not recovering from the chemotherapy as quickly as I think I should.   So with that in mind I'll see if I can see things that will slow me down or show how bad the chemotherapy has been.

The first thing on the list, and most obvious to me is the Hemoglobin A1C which was 7.4.  That's much higher than it would have been before I had any tumors.   It's not the 10+ I had when I was diagnosed with diabetes.  It's not catastrophically high.  But it's bad.  Normal is 4.8-6.0.

My TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) is 0.31 which is low the normal range is 0.6-3.3.  That means my pituitary does not think I need thyroid hormone.

My T4  which my doctor told me is most of what my thyroid produces is 1.42 which is high. This seems a little odd because I have thyroid disease and take a pill to supplement my personal production of T4.  The range is 0.71 to 1.40.

So I guess I'm just zinging right along.

As for my immune system:  my white cell count is3.4 which is about what it got up to after I came off the chemo but before I was on the revlimid.   That's nothing to write home about.   I can fight off infection but probably not well.

I don't understand what the other numbers in the immune/blood section of the report mean but I'll list them and

WBC Comments: ATYPICAL LYMPHS PRESENT.

My absolute neutrephils are 2.0 which is the bottom of the normal range 2.0-7.5.

Platelets are in the normal range at 187 normal is 150-440.

I know platelets involve clotting and neutrephils are important for fighting off infection but the rest of it is Greek to me.

Cardio Ultrasound

Like many tests I've had not directly related to cancer I had my ultrasound at the main hospital, Memorial Hospital.  The Cancer Hospital, Women's Hospital and Children's hospital are all connected to the Main Hospital by a large enclosed high ceiling glassed in space.

It has the feel of an airport and people walk back and fourth, some dragging little wheelie things that look like suitcases.  There's even a Starbucks.

I wonder if my heart would have done those little thumps if I would have had a cup.

I arrived early and found my way to an information desk and then to the escalators.   When it didn't feel like an airport it felt like the Student Union where I went to college.

At registration they gave me a map and directions to the elevators which was very helpful.  But I still got lost.

The place is a maze.

I finally made it to the waiting room and read Niall Ferguson's War of the World.

A young Chinese looking woman who was obviously from the States brought me into a small room and I took my shirt off and laid on a bed that had the head part lifted up.  Once I laid down for a bit I realized I should have taken my shoes off.

My blood pressure was a hideous 190 over something equally bad.   Although now that I think about it I had hiked quite some distance from the car parked in the garage to that little office.

My BP is usually about 120/70.    

It was interesting to look over at the monitor and see an upside down image of my heart slosh around on the screen.  The tech - that nice little Chinese looking woman explained some of what was going on and how my heart points down and to the left and that's why she was holding the ultrasound device where she was.
 
She was trying to get pictures of my heart and time it so that it could be caught in the act of doing one thing or another.   Some of the pictures weren't clear so they had to be taken again.  There was another woman in the room who looked like her superior and she occasionally took the gizmo and held it up against my chest. 

This all took some time.  Meanwhile the little squiggles  from an ECG ran across the bottom of the screen as various patterns were displayed.

Every once in a while I would hear a sound that reminded me of the mechanical swooshing sound my mother's ancient washing machine used to make.  Another sound reminded me of the rhythmic sounds one of our cats used to make when he was barfing.  It had that familiar feel to it.

Those sounds were actually the sounds my valves made.

They had visual displays of the sounds as well; and took a large number of pictures.  

Altogether there were four different spots where the put the little thing that resembled a toy electric razor and each time they did they covered it in a little blue tinted gel.  Gui gunk.


I had started on time at 2:00 and left the place at 3:20.     I will see if I can get a copy of the report.

after the big stuff is over

Now that my lymphoma is gone (or seems to be) all I have to deal with is the aftermath.  For example my boss would like it if I could come back to work full time.   Soon. 

Although at this time I feel pretty secure because the people who are his bosses are incredibly decent.  I am shocked by how supportive they are.

Actually my boss has been pretty supportive too.


But the effects of the R-CHOP and Revlimid linger and I have no idea how long those effects will last.  

Normally I would have just lived with it but because I have to answer to these people every few weeks I can't just say that I can't come in without talking to a doctor about it.  

Let's be reasonable if I could be all better right now I would make it so.   But I do not know how to do that.

I have to wait for nature to take its course.  My body has to heal and that may take a while.