Update: January 8, 2016

Written on Friday, January 8:

In two weeks from today, I will return from the hospital after my eighth and final chemotherapy course of the main treatment! Woohoo! It has been quite the ride these past couple very months.

It has been very educational, eye-opening, and has further made it evident that my original views on life (living with more love, appreciation, and wonder for this world) have proven to be the only way to live. So all in all, a great and wonderful and rare experience to have!

Until I am admitted to the hospital again in about ten days, I will continue to keep on sleeping my 9-10 hours a night (plus a 30 minute afternoon nap), eating very clean and heathy and big, and getting in my daily workouts. Lately I have been doing a morning workout of a mile on the treadmill and 5 miles on the indoor bike, followed by a 20-30 minute walk prior to dinner. I also have been doing TRX suspension trainer workouts again on the "odd" days (the sixth, the eight, etc). It is great to get back into a regular routine (after a minuscule setback in mid-December), and I am already looking into the future to see what runs and triathlons I will sign up for :)

Today, I had another visit to the Med Center in Omaha (in preparation for a possible bone marrow transplant), and had some pretty fun tests done.

The first was a CT scan of the thorax to see how the lungs are holding up. Nothing wrong there. No fungus growing out of control or anything.

The second was a pulmonary function test, including spirometer (things like max volume and max rate of inspiration and exhalation) and diffusion (basically how much oxygen is absorbed by the lungs). I have always wondered about my pulmonary function since seeing a Runner's World feature about human physiology and aesthetics, which a picture of middle-distance runner and world record holder Hicham El Gourrouj was shown, from the side, as his lungs expanded and it was like "BOOM!" So neat! Considering that a healthy 8 year old (who in theory would have a value healthiest lungs of us all) would be at "85% predicted" for a healthy baseline(see the attachment for those who love stats and nerdy science), my value for FVC was really high, at "122% predicted." In effect, my lungs perform just as good as a child's. This is great news, as we all know that chemotherapy is "theoretically" highly cytotoxic. I say "theoretically" because there are many measures one can take to protect the body from the ill-effects of chemotherapy. Mind-body exercises, along with supplements, have proven useful in lessening the ill-effects of chemotherapy and possibly boosting the efficacy of the chemo (more on this later). Also, my lungs thank 10 years of marathons and ultra marathons, triathlons, living at altitude, and hypoxic swim training! Also, thank my lungs thank playing the clarinet and that I have never smoked!

The third was another heart Doppler echocardiogram. The tech had to plug all my stuff into the computer, so I will hear back about this test soon, but I am expecting it to have favorable results, also.

Well, I hope you all have the greatest of Saturdays! My mom and I are planning to make my grandma's recipe of roti and curried lentils, so it will be an awesome day!