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.