Day 1 Second Cycle of ICE

What a week! My appointment should have been on Monday but in the advent of 'Hurricane Sandy' aka 'Frankenstorm', it was pushed to today -Thursday. My appointment was for 4pm but my doctor specially requested that I come in to see her first around 1:30. I did not arrive to see her until about 2:30. There was surprisingly NO traffic coming into the city. I unexpectedly had to get a bone marrow biopsy done today, THANKFULLY my doctor is good at what she does & she made it hurt the least possible. It was probably the least painful bone marrow biopsy I've gotten done. As soon as it was done a woman from the Stem Cell team came & spoke to me about the coming procedures I'll have to undergo before I start my transplant.

I finally arrived at my main hospital around 5pm (an hour late) & they took me to my room quite quickly. Here I am sitting quite bored because I keep being asked a million repeat questions about recent symptoms, how I feel, my medical history, etc. It really gets annoying after awhile. My nurse right now is pretty dull, but her shift ends soon & I'm hoping the one I have overnight has some personality. My vitals are good, weight remains the same.

Exercise Update: I'm disappointed in myself for being lazy during 'Sandy', I did a tiny bit of exercise but nothing to be proud of. Today I made sure to lift some weights though: db bicep curls, db military press, situps, lunges, squats for the most part.

Also, since Halloween didn't really get to happen this year I decided to wear my Batman outfit today. I swear I don't look crazy! :)

Back to Exercising

My aunts came in from Puerto Rico yesterday for a short visit. We went out to eat and do a bit of window shopping. I feel good. As we were shopping I saw a box set of weights for a decent price and came home with it. Last night I did some challenging upper body exercises w/ my new weights & since they are big plates they make me look very strong ;) I love it! Its all illusion though, they aren't as heavy as they look. I'm so happy I made the purchase because I miss having muscular arms. I cancelled my gym membership a month ago because I figured I wouldn't be able to workout much or be in a public environment now that my immune system is down.

Today I had to run an important errand so I woke up early and walked over 2 1/2 miles, pretty much 3 if you count the extra walking I did after I got to my destination. Oh! And can you believe it? Some guy actually hit on me today on my walk (remember I'm bald). I was wearing a cap but you can tell I have no hair, so that was a little surprising. Tonight I was invited to try a free Zumba class. Lets see how my body holds up. I feel like my normal self. I feel great. Can't complain. The next few days should be uneventful in relation to my treatment. I return for my next 3 day ICE chemotherapy on Monday.

Preparing

I have Hodgkin's Lymphoma Cancer... again. I am one week away from possibly coming home with pain in my lower back from a bone marrow biopy & being happy that my cancer is gone for the most part. In that scenario I just wait for my stem cell treatment. In a less favorable scenario, my PET scan will show that I still have cancer or my biopsy will show that I have cancer & I will be spending the next three nights in my hospital starting a harsher chemotherapy treatment called ICE. I have undergone easier chemo treatments recently and in the past but I've been told this ICE won't be a piece of cake. I just completed 6 mini chemo sessions & for this reason I still have my hair, & have been able to deliberately gain extra weight. No side effects. I'm a monster. In a good way. Yeah that's me saying I'm strong.

My doctors told me that I should taper back my prednisone (this medicine allows my joints to feel good). Oh yeah I have Rheumatoid Arthritis if you didn't already know that. I started tapering down from 10mgs to7 recently but maybe I rushed it because in the past two days I have been feeling pretty crummy. I'm not gonna taper down anymore, on Friday I explained this to my doctor & she agreed I could keep the prednisone until I undergo chemo. My left ankle is swollen enough that I limp & cannot walk much today. I cannot go to the gym limping which is why I am here laying in bed with my leg elevated.

Its later in the day now & despite my swollen ankle I did a fairly light workout. My ankle felt a little better but I mostly worked on upper body. Push ups, curls, military dumb bell press, side lateral, leg lifts, hip abductions, glute kickbacks, & some wall sits. Ended the night with a high protein meal and lots of water. Its getting late now so I am going to work on my exercise plan for the WWBD project.