I say ... Embrace the Lethargy!

So after 4 months of chemo I've finally reverse trained myself down to the point where my body is not actually craving the excercise like it once did. It took months and a good number of over ambitious, yet under-energetic bike rides but I'm finally there! And, conveniently enough, the timing has meshed very well with some annoying side effects that would have kept me off the bike anyway, not to mention that it doesn't particularly matter to me NOW to grab a ride at any opportunity since I've only got 2 treatments left.

So I say bring on the 2:00 catnaps the week after treatment, and if I happen to feel up for a ride on the off week - well, if I don't put forth the effort I don't have to face the reality of my diminished cardiovascular abilities.

Why not spend a few weeks seeing how the OTHER half lives. Couch surfing and remote control curls can't be all bad, not if millions of Americans are already living the dream.

I just worry I'm too late to the game. If I'm not carefull I'll find myself sneaking out for a bike ride between the end of treatment and the final turn of the season. Then it'll be a long cold winter of fitness building. What a waste!

Fun with insurance

Actually, dissability insurance.

So I've been receiving dissability payments for many weeks. The doctors office filled out all of 2 pages of paperwork and the claim started paying no problem. Then the checks just stopped coming. After a week of waiting I called my HR person. Story she got was the insurance co. claimed that they tried 3 times to fax my Dr.'s office for confirmation of continuing clinical necessity (or something like that). They also claimed to have left me a voice mail at home. Well all my voice mails go to my email and I had no record of that call (big surprise). Got the name of my claims person and she gave me the story about the 3 faxes. After getting additional contact info from her (fax, etc) - gonna play by the rules as far as I can - I asked why there was even an interruption given the original paperwork from the Dr. stating 6 months of dissability due to treatment, side effects, etc because of CANCER. That seemed to shake her up a little bit: "Oh, well, um, we'll see if we can get a check sent out tomorrow." WTF ?? Sounds to me like someone was just too lazy to actually review 2 pages of paper work and/or do any meaningfull folllow up (what no PHONE CALL to the Doc?)? In the meantime I contacted my Dr.s office with the necessary contact info so they could also follow up and send anything requested.

These conversations all happened Wednesday of last week. Yesterday (Monday) there actually WAS a check in my mailbox. And for two benefit periods, making the payments current.

I would so love to know the whole story behind this little escapade.

Countdown is on ?

1.5 cycles to go - that's 3 treatments after the one I did today. A bit on the rough side. Stomach was not happy. They had to give me some xtra nausea meds while in treatment - IV ativan - with instructions for more (plus the normal suite) at home. My Doc came by and she scolded me for suffering in silence. Woman knows what she's talking about.

At least I got some decent sleep last night. Let's see how this one goes throughout the week. Always a little different. Saturday good? Sunday and Monday ???

Didn't feel like answering phone calls today.

Perhaps one more "LOST" episode tonight.

CT Results are in!

All good. Tumor shrank a litlle more. All residual mass appears to be necrotic (dead) tissue. Big relief! I frettted the most about this one - probably the most fear I've had since day one. I took home a preliminary report and I'll get the final one shortly (next week?).

Off to the home stretch. 4 more treatments starting tomorrow.

Found a good size Lymphoma message board

Reading through it the past couple days.

Too many stories about recurrence/relapse/refraction.

Kind of freaked me out with CT results coming Tuesday.

Another Scan

I really am disliking the scans. After the last interim CT/PET (where I left the contrast on the side of the road) they gave me the "new and improved" contrast for this interim CT scan. I could still taste the bitterness through the gatorade I mixed it in. And I'm finding it inevitably throws me off for most of the day. Chemo belly does NOT like to process any of it. Not to mention the IV iodine (?) they give you durring the scan. At least it wasn't a PET. 20 minutes of arm over head crucifixtion in a claustrophobic tube. Save that fun for when I'm done with treatments.

Hopefully get a good news call on Tuesday from my Nurse Practicioner (Stacey).

In the meantime I think I'm ready to get back on the bike this week. Put out a request for riding partners just now. Let's see if Josh will step up on this three day weekend (that's right, I'm calling you out!).