Health Report

Last time I posted, I was pleased to report that I had escaped the infirmities of all those around me.  Well, all good things must come to an end.  I finally contracted a cold a few days ago.  Fortunately, it has been rather mild...mostly sinus congestion and a cough.  Yesterday, though, I felt kind of crappy, so I went to bed early, and by this morning I felt much better.  I think I'm getting over it without succumbing to more serious flu-like symptoms.  Usually when I get a cold like this, it lasts for many days or a week or more, but this seems like it's already on the mend.  Considering my compromised immune system, that's pretty amazing.  I hope I'm not prematurely celebrating this.  After all, tomorrow I might be singing a different tune.  But I am hopeful.

I was going to hold off on reporting on this because it might just be a flash in the pan, but I have started going back to the gym.  I belong to Planet Fitness, but I haven't used my membership much over the last year or so.  However, a couple of weeks ago, I spent an hour with their personal trainer, Jimmy, coming up with a personalized combined cardio/strength regimen.  I don't believe in New Years resolutions (you feel like shit when they inevitably fail), but this seems to be a good time to get back into the swing of things.  Gretchen has been going to the gym regularly of late, so I hope we can inspire each other to keep going.  I'm tired of looking at myself in the mirror in the morning and thinking I look like that 97-pound weakling who had sand kicked in his face by the bully in those old Charles Atlas ads.  (You have to be of a certain age to remember those ads.)  Anyway, I feel good enough to go back to the gym tomorrow morning.  Now that I have reported on this to the world, there may be some additional pressure for me to keep going so I won't have to admit to being a total fuckup.

I guess I have gotten a little overconfident about my MM treatment status lately.  Usually, I would anxiously await the pathology results from my blood and urine tests from my monthly visits.  However, it just occurred to my today that I hadn't even bothered to check online for the results from my last visit on Dec. 27.  Hello!  So I went online and found to my relief that my 24-hour urine test result still showed the same result of "No monoclonal protein detected".  Good news!  It's been over 9 months since my ASCT, and I am still doing fine.  Who knows how long this may last, so I will just take this one month at a time.