Friday, May 27, 2011

a little followup for my friends...

I seriously doubt that anyone is reading my blog anymore.   Even I haven't looked at it in a while but the effects of the cancer treatment still linger, and it is a year and a few weeks since I began the treatments with the dreaded Revlimid.

I had headaches that started during the revlimid treatment and thanks to the fact that I'm not on it anymore, physical therapy and muscle relaxants, I feel OK.

Would you believe that at one time I was one of those health fanatics who believed that I could never take a pill every day.   Every once in a while Mary reminds me of that.

In the past couple of years I have literally been on enough drugs to kill some people.  I feel very lucky to have survived the cancer and both the R-CHOP and Revlimid.

But one thing that did not happen before the revlimid is that my vertebra did not seem to slide around quite so much.  Not so I could feel them.

I've been walking more and using some light weights because I need to get stronger.  I'm also stretching more to help with my neck. Not moving is not good for the body.

I'm eating more broccoli just because it's healthy.  

Some strength is slowly coming back although I still work from home and I have no idea if my immune system has improved.   I'll find out more when I go back to visit my oncologist on June 1st.

I have given notice at work that I will retire July 1st and I may work for my current employers on a contracting basis after that.  Sporadic and temporary work.   Presumably part time.

The things driving this are that my energy has not come up to it's before-cancer level, and I develop headaches from working extended periods on a computer.

I will keep posting on and off because I want to keep a record of how I'm doing in relation to how long I have been off the drugs (I'm also writing a book).