Waiting for updates

I was hopeful that my local docs would get to talk to Sloan Kettering yesterday and confirm our path forward today.  Regretfully, I haven't heard anything yet from them.  But, if MSKCC needed time to read the scans rather than the reports (and I hope that's what they are doing), it might take a couple extra days for that to happen.

I'm just hopeful that we don't have any major changes in our path going forward.  I'm not crazy about the path I'm on, due to the side effects of the chemo, but at least it's well defined, it's more than half over, and I have some level of confidence that we are moving in the right direction.

Starting over with a new treatment regimen would be depressing, to be honest.

On the training front, I'm still struggling a bit.

I rested last week on Thursday through Sunday.  I fished a bit on Sunday, but not enough to count as exercise.  I walked a couple miles at lunch on Monday and Tuesday, but again, not really exercise.

I did CrossFit Monday night, and it was a struggle.  My right hamstring didn't like the squats I did at all, and I kept the weight the same as the past 5 weeks.  No increase, no decrease.  I wish I was more adapted at this point in time.

But, every time I go in for chemo, my weight is down a bit.  I'm sure I'm not losing just body fat.  Some of it is muscle.  It's not a huge weight loss, but 10 pounds in 6 weeks is non-trivial.  So, this might be causing me some strength problems in the gym.

Last night, I did the warm-up, and I could feel that it just wasn't there.  My wife also happens to have a slight knee injury right now, so we both bailed after the warm-up last night.

But, we will try again tonight.

My docs are still tweaking a few meds, trying to reduce my overall side effect burden.  The latest is a medication that will help me sleep a bit better.  The steroids that I take near chemo really mess with sleep.  I have one med that helps with the insomnia, but I also use that drug for nausea control.  We decided that I should use that drug more during the day for nausea control, and we added something new to take at night for sleep.

It was quite effective last night.  I slept like a baby and struggled to wake up this morning.  I think I'll try a smaller dose tonight.


If nothing changes in the next few days, I will resume chemo on Monday.  Hopefully, I can get in a few extra workouts this week, if the fatigue settles down a bit.

And, with spring really here (finally!), I'm hoping to get in some walks with the dog this weekend.  He and I both need some walking miles.