Status Update: June 15, 2013

Spring was a roller-coaster, starting with a bad March and April, with respiratory problems, throat swelling, and over-all weakness.  It ended very well, however, with the discovery that those symptoms were the result of an unexpected drug allergy.  They disappeared upon cessation of the drug, which was just a sleep aid, and not really necessary in the final analysis.  The best part was that in the course of determining what was causing the symptoms, all my normal yearly tests, set to run later in the spring and early summer, were instead run early in April and came back clear.  That's 2.5 years post-transplant and still clear, which is very, very good news.

So then it occurred to me; maybe I'm actually going to be one of those lucky ones who has a successful outcome from the transplant.  Some medical categories have fairly good success rates, some less so.  Lymphoma is one of the latter, with a 20-25% success rate.  The fact that I've passed the two year mark might mean I'm one of them.  Suddenly I realized, if I'm going to be the lucky one, I have to get my ass in gear and improve my health!

For five years I've been about as sedentary as a person could be, first as a result of debilitating illness, then as a result of several rounds of chemo, followed by a pretty massive stem-cell transplant.  Post-transplant recovery and re-growing of a new immune system takes a year or two, so that added to the sedentary toll.  I'd gotten so used to feeling bad, weak, and sluggish, that it was beginning to feel normal.  This is a bad thing!  I mean it was fine and dandy for the mental work of writing, and for a while it actually let me sling-shot into my YA series, but it's not a good long-term strategy.

Luckily, just as I decided I had to take some action, I received a note from my new insurance company that said I was eligible for free access to some local fitness centers.  One of those centers was just a mile from home, and had the whole range of exercise options; olympic-sized pool, sauna, free-weight and resistance equipment, strength/fitness, cardio and yogo classes.

So since the last week in April I've been working out 5-6 times a week.  My primary exercise of choice is swimming laps, with 1-2 weight training sessions each week.  I have a recumbent exercise bike which I use as a backup when I don't manage to make it to the center to swim - like today.

Okay, so working out like crazy, beginning to feel it in my muscles, and seeing the results in my blood pressure.  It was controlled at ~ 130//80 but is now around 115/70.  Here's the downside; after almost two months, I've seen very little results from the scale!  I lost 2 lbs. the first week of working out, then only 3 lbs. for the full month of May, for just 5 lbs. total!  I'm holding off the June weight until the end of the month.

Despite this lack of movement, I'm very optimistic.  Given my general muscular apathy during the last few years, I'm positive I'm currently in the stage of trading off fat for muscle.  Since muscle weighs more than fat, I figure the pounds I've lost are even better where fat is actually concerned, but is slightly masked at this point by muscle gain.  I feel 500% better, so I'm confident that the next month or two I'll start to see some results on the scale.  I'm trying to be disciplined about it, though; I don't see it as a sprint, but rather a marathon and a lifestyle change.  If I can reach the stage of loosing 2 lbs. a week that would be great, but I'm not counting on anything near that.  I'd be very happy with 1 lb. a week.  Regardless of the number, it's been a revelation, that after such a debilitating illness, normalcy can be glimpsed.

I'm going to try to update more regularly now, with the focus on my exercise and weight program.

Baby steps is the name of the game!