Physical Update - Round 6

A few days ago I wrote about how I was doing mentally, so now as I can't sleep I figured that maybe you'd all like a bit more of the mundane "physical" update.

It's been two weeks since chemo ended and I have been getting blood draws fairly regularly. (Every other day or so) Much to my surprise my platelets are doing something they haven't done so far this year... bouncing back. At this point my platelets are at 74, which from chemo's past I haven't hit that number without four or five weeks off chemo, and/or shots. Two weeks out from chemo and my platelet count chugging along is, well, a bit of a miracle. At this rate I'll be able to start another round of chemo next week when I see the doctor. Merely 3 weeks after my last round of chemo. (oh boy) That has always been the doctor's plan since we started this stuff in February of this year to do it with this kind of consistency, but previously my body has just taken a complete beating from all this.

I'm pretty sure my body is working super hard which is making me very tired a lot of the time. My head has been pretty clear most of the time, however the act of simply thinking about things for a long period of time wears me out to a very similar degree as running up and down the stairs a few times. Sometimes I find myself wondering what kind of limits my body has. I've got this crazy messed up stuff inside of me, I'm being pumped full of poison on a fairly regular basis, and each time as my body is reaching a recovery point we do it again. And we've been doing this for more than two years now.

As I mentioned in a previous post we are making a move in late October, one of the perks of the new place is a 24hr weight room. I've been thinking that while things like running and generally "being outside" in Houston aren't really feasible nine, maybe ten, months out of the year that I would take up a little light weight lifting and see how it effects chemo and this whole situation. I've seen articles suggesting that exercise can be a HUGE boon to the cancer patient, but I'll really have to try it out for myself. It's really, really not easy to be motivated to lift heavy objects when you are feeling sick or ultra weak, but we'll see. Maybe if nothing else it'll help things to heal up faster, or help me sleep better, or help me eat more. Who knows. It's something new to try.

That's about it on the physical front. I wanted to say thanks for the continued prayers, encouragement, and support. It goes further than you think it does.


~B.
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