Busy Day...

Today, I had 2 different doctor visits and stopped for a blood test between them.

The first was wth Dr. Baehring. With this, we verified that I have at least two more cycles of Temodar chemotherapy followed by another MRI to judge the progress.
My next cycle will start about 10 days from now and after I get another blood test next week to make sure things are doing well. Also, I'm taking a mini vacation next weekend, so I want to be back home before I start the chemo.
After these next two cycles and the MRI, it is expected that I will be done with chemo!

The second appointment was with Dr. Alperovich. He's the surgeon that has been closing me up after the last 3 surgeries - trying to fix the skin on my skull. In this meeting, we discussed when and where we will be going for the next 6 or so months...
Three weeks from now, I am going in for a CAT scan. This will start the next process. I will have a balloon installed under the skin on my skull. After that, the balloon will be inflated every week for several months to stretch my skin. Depending how it all goes, the plan is to reopen my skull, remove the balloon, and replace the missing bone of my skull with an inactive compound - an internal 'helmet' - that fits the hole in my skull.
The weekly pump of the balloon is expected to start in October, proceed until January or February, and have the rebuilding of my skull after that.
This is not a speedy process!

Here I Go...

Tomorrow, I start the next phase of chemotherapy. Instead of giving PCV another chance, the doctors are switching me to Temodar. This seems to be a fairly basic chemotherapy... For the next 5 days, I'll be starting the day with the anti-nausea Zofran on an empty stomach. 30 minutes later, it's the Temodar - 300 mg of one oral capsule. An hour later, I can go through the day as I normally do. 21 days after the next 5 days, I get to go in for a doctor's appointment to get a blood test and a follow up.

I hope everything goes well...

Wow! ...or, Should I Say, "OWWW!"

Alright, "Owww" might be a little too intense to describe the current muscle soreness; I'm just somewhat surprised by how I'm feeling right now. "Why?" you say?

Well, I'll Tell You...

[music begins playing, the townspeople begin dancing and singing, "He's going to tell, he's going to tell!"]

...sorry for the reference to "Monty Python and the Holy Grail."

On Sunday, a delivery was made to my front door... The source was Amazon - the person who ordered it is still unknown. In the box was a 7" Amazon Kindle Fire! Well, that was great! For no other reason, using the tablet meant that I could use my MacBook Pro a lot less! The only downside to the tablet - it doesn't use the Google or Apple app stores. Some of the apps that I would like to use on it just aren't available.

The Good Thing...

My 51st birthday - the first year of the second half-century of my life - was Wednesday, March 20. I decided to look into one of the things that I have wanted to do for a long time - yoga! For one reason or another in the past, I just never had the opportunity to really give it an attempt. Well, while browsing the Amazon app store, I discovered several yoga-learning opportunities. One of them - unrelated to the physical yoga - was 'Brain Yoga.'

"Well! That could be cool!" was my thought. So, I downloaded it. Today - Friday - makes the third day that I have used this app. I'm pleased with the app - even though I really haven't dug too far into it. We'll see how it goes...

Not meant to be my main focus, Brain Yoga didn't end my search... I also found 'Simply Yoga'. This had 2 versions - Free and Pro. While the Pro is only $4.99 and given my lack of experience with yoga, I didn't feel right - or, ready - to be going with the Pro version just yet.

Yesterday, I discovered that the app could be viewed on my Fire TV! This made it a lot easier to view the video while learning how to do the different positions.

The Results...

Well ...hence the title of this post... I AM SORE!

I started my day, yesterday, with free range eggs and grass-fed cheese to make my omelet. After doing some chores, I did some calisthenics like I normally do. I am always trying to improve myself physically.
After lunch of plain yogurt, Garden of Life Protein powder, chia seeds, and hemp seeds along with some KeVita water kefir, I decided the weather was not good enough for me to go for a walk that I wanted to do. As a result, I decided to give 'Simply Yoga' a try. I mean, why would I download an app if I was never going to use it?

I didn't very far into the 'work out'! Due to my current lack of physical abilities, I was unable to do the 'Sun Salutation' movement. I am just not that mobile to work my way from the standing 'Mountain Pose' through the 'Sun Salutation' and back to the standing 'Mountain Pose'.
The third pose - and, my main target! - was the 'Warrior II Pose'. As it begins from the Mountain Pose, I was all ready to go. This went really well - except for the shakiness in my hands by the end of the pose!
The next two poses were the 'Chair Pose' and the 'Deep Forward Fold'. Considering this was the first time for me, I handled them fairly well. I definitely need some work on them, though...
Sixth in line was the 'Tree Pose'. There were two reasons that I couldn't go through it, though. 1) This pose required me to stand, balanced on one leg, and 2) I was already too tired to even give it a shot!

We'll See...

As it goes, we'll see how much more I might be able to handle some of these yoga poses. I'll try to learn more and try to master the ones that I can do. Hopefully, my overall movement and abilities will improve.