Good Times, Bad Times...

Thank you, Led Zeppelin  - "Good Times, Bad Times, you know I've had my share..."

That's been my share for the last couple of months - good and bad times. As I mentioned in the last post, here, I didn't start with the chemotherapy due to the spiked creatinine levels and potential kidney issues. Well... shortly after that, I ended up back in the hospital for a third surgery! The stitched seam from the second surgery had *popped* open and exposed my brain to the air. As a result of the surgery, I ended up back on vancomycin. This time, they only scheduled 1,250 mg twice a day instead of 1,500 mg three times a day. I didn't have the same negative reaction - Red Man Syndrome - this time!
Due to the possible source of the creatinine spike - muscle soreness - I didn't do ANY exercise during the recovery time... 6+ WEEKS of NO exercise! As usual with vancomycin, my appetite disappeared. This time, I tried to eat every day, but my intake was still only about 1,000-1,500 calories each day. On June 1st, I weighed in at 210 lbs., 24% body fat - fairly normal for me. As of today - Nov. 13th - I weighed in at 160 lbs. and 13.6% body fat! At one point, I was down to 156 lbs. - at 6'2" tall, that's not a terribly healthy weight!

...good times, bad times.

...excuse me for a minute - I need to answer the phone...

Well, while I'm sitting here and typing this post, I got that phone call... Apparently, I should expect a delivery for one of the three components for the PCV chemotherapy - specifically, the "C" - tomorrow morning. I haven't gotten any information regarding the second component - the "P" - as to when I should be receiving that but it will come from a different pharmacy than the "C." As far as the "V" is expected, that is actually an IV that I will have to spend at least an hour at the hospital for.
Once I start the cycle, I will take "C" on day 1. Then, nothing until day 8. On day 8, I start the day with the "P" on an empty stomach and, later, head to the hospital to get the IV of "V" that will take about an hour. I, then, stay on "P" everyday from day 8 through day 21. The last part of the cycle is a second IV of "V" on day 29 BUT, I then need a blood test every week until I restart the cycle. Oh, and an MRI.

...good times, bad times.

More on the "good times" side than the "bad times"...
Given that the doxycycline *apparently* didn't have much impact on the creatinine, I'm back to exercising!

Getting Back Into It - to a 'T'

Alright, the title of this post is a little too focused on the topic, but... 

I've been trying to do more exercise in order to recover from the events over the last 6 months. Five to six days per week, I've mostly done exercises that only rely on bodyweight - sit-ups, push-ups, planks, etc. - but, I also have a 20 lb. bar that I use for things like bench press, bent-over row, clean and press, and more. 

In addition to the exercise, I also spend time online trying to earn 'bucks,' points, cash, and bitcoins. One of the sites that I have been using is InboxDollars. Over the years, they have changed how you can earn dollars. Today, I was watching video clips on the site to earn some cash. I saw one video that showed the 'Bent-Over T' exercise. Given that you don't need equipment to do this exercise, I had to try it! I couldn't download the video I saw there... so, I recorded my own (it's not a spectacular video because I had to use my phone):

In my 'test' for the exercise, I did a superset: 20 reps of the bent-over row (not shown in the video) with the 20 lb. bar and followed immediately by 15 reps of the bent-over T. It felt amazing!

Change of Plans...

The original plans for today were for me to start on the PCV chemotherapy for the first cycle. However, those plans changed because of a blood test that I did from the week before. I was told that my results may indicate problems with my kidneys. Therefore, I need to do further testing. I have an appointment coming up on Thursday.

Here's the thing... the doctor that called me re: my blood test told my that the test indicated that my creatinine was high and that indicated that my kidneys may have been affected by the various meds that I had been using. The immediate result of the phone call was that I should stop taking the doxycycline that he had prescribed to me. The upcoming appointment was the only, other result that was generated.

Except for my research...

When I got to view the results, this is what I saw:

Component	Your Value	Standard Range

BUN	30 mg/dL	8 - 18 mg/dL
Creatinine	1.90 mg/dL	0.50 - 1.20 mg/dL
Calcium	10.3 mg/dL	8.8 - 10.2 mg/dL
BUN/Creatinine Ratio	15.8	10.0 - 20.0

The line that mattered most to me was the BUN/Creatinine Ratio. Yes, the BUN and creatinine were higher that the norm, but the ratio fell right in the middle of the standard range. So, I looked into what the ratio meant. This is what I found:

BUN stands for blood urea nitrogen. Creatinine is a natural product of muscle breakdown that occurs at a low level in the body. Both BUN and creatinine are filtered by the kidney and excreted in urine. For this reason, BUN and creatinine are used together to measure kidney function.

The problem that I have with the doctor's decision is the fact that the creatinine results were not compared to the BUN and it seems that he didn't take the ratio into his judgement. Also, the 'muscle breakdown' is also a common result from exercise! Maybe, just maybe, the exercises that I have been doing for the last several weeks had an effect of the creatinine results?!?

At things stand, we'll see what the appointment on Thursday shows...