Well, here it is Christmas day, and about a week since my last post. I've pretty much recovered from my bike accident, except for my shoulder (I'll get to that in a minute), and I'm back riding as much as before. Unfortunately, I'm not riding as well as I was before. I've learned that at my age it will take a lot longer to regain my previous fitness level. I was off for about about a month, so hopefully in 4 months I can regain most of strength and endurance.
I'm still unable to golf because of my shoulder, and that is very disheartening. I was actually getting pretty good before the accident. But at least I know why the shoulder is hurting. The orthopedist PA finally called last week with the results of my MRI, and said I likely broke my shoulder. There was a lot of imflamation, and it looked like a piece of bone was floating around in the shoulder area. Great! I thought. NOT!
I mention it here, because of what he said about getting it treated. It can be treated, i.e. go in and remove the bone chip, but he stated that "we normally wouldn't go in and operate on someone at my age. If I were 20 or 30 then they would consider it more readily because of possible implications of not getting it fixed. Like 57 year olds can't have the same implications? He said they recommend waiting and watching (sound familiar?). It will usually clear up, but could take a year or more! A YEAR OR MORE!!!
I was shocked! I can't wait a year. As far as me being active, I am likely more active and in better shape then 80% of 20 or 30 year olds. While for the most part the shoulder doesn't bother me terribly, it is somewhat limiting. I have trouble taking off a shirt, sleeping on my left side , and of course I can't play golf.
We went on to discuss this some more, and I finally settled on waiting another month to see if the shoulder improves. I scheduled an appointment for January 18, 2006, I really don't want to get it operated on, but his comments about my age, just pissed me off. So now I may demand they remove the bone chip just for spite. :)
So for now I wait, trying to do some range of motion exercises. and hoping it's get better enough that I can play some golf during the next two weeks. The company I work for shuts down for 2-3 week this time of year.
2006 New Years resolution.
With the remote possibility that someone out there might actually reading my blog, I thought I would ask if you had decided on a New Years resolution yet? I have decided on mine. I'm hoping that by putting it in writing, I might actually follow thru with it. One can only hope!
Before I get to my resolution, I believe it is necessary to provide a little history.
Since my accident I have gained about 10 pounds. One of the reasons I exercise so much is I love my food and wine, and that didn't stop after the accident. It actually did for about two days after the accident, but I quickly made up for it.
To elaborate a little more (after all this is my blog), shortly after my diagnosis I went on a pretty strict diet, and a much more intensive exercise routine, hoping to starve and exercise my MCL to death. Well obviously that hasn't worked, but I think it did moderate the spread of the disease. I managed to lose 37 pounds, going from about 182 lbs (83 kg) to 145 lbs (66 kg). At that weight I felt really good, and my riding was great, especially when climbing hills.
My wife and I then took a trip to France to visit with a hematologist there, who offered to test for p27KIP1, a prognostic marker I mentioned in Chapter 6.
France was great, but the food was even better. I gained about 8 pounds while in France. I tried losing those 8 pounds, but I picked up too many bad habits in France, cheese and wine especially, and couldn't get back to what I felt was my optimum weight. Fortunately I maintained that weight up until my most recent bike accident. So overall I have gained about 17 lbs, since I embarked on my plan of starving and exercising my MCL to death.
So for my 2006 New Years resolution, I vow to lose that 17 lbs. My lymphocyte counts are climbing a little faster then I would like. They are still climbing relatively slowly, but they still are climbing. I may not go back completely to eating what I was eating, when I started the routine after initial diagnosis, but I will exercise more intently, and definitely eat less.
I'll keep everyone posted as to my progress, whether you want to hear it or not. :)
My advice to everyone else is, enjoy the rest of the holiday season, and tell me about your New Years resolution.
I'm still unable to golf because of my shoulder, and that is very disheartening. I was actually getting pretty good before the accident. But at least I know why the shoulder is hurting. The orthopedist PA finally called last week with the results of my MRI, and said I likely broke my shoulder. There was a lot of imflamation, and it looked like a piece of bone was floating around in the shoulder area. Great! I thought. NOT!
I mention it here, because of what he said about getting it treated. It can be treated, i.e. go in and remove the bone chip, but he stated that "we normally wouldn't go in and operate on someone at my age. If I were 20 or 30 then they would consider it more readily because of possible implications of not getting it fixed. Like 57 year olds can't have the same implications? He said they recommend waiting and watching (sound familiar?). It will usually clear up, but could take a year or more! A YEAR OR MORE!!!
I was shocked! I can't wait a year. As far as me being active, I am likely more active and in better shape then 80% of 20 or 30 year olds. While for the most part the shoulder doesn't bother me terribly, it is somewhat limiting. I have trouble taking off a shirt, sleeping on my left side , and of course I can't play golf.
We went on to discuss this some more, and I finally settled on waiting another month to see if the shoulder improves. I scheduled an appointment for January 18, 2006, I really don't want to get it operated on, but his comments about my age, just pissed me off. So now I may demand they remove the bone chip just for spite. :)
So for now I wait, trying to do some range of motion exercises. and hoping it's get better enough that I can play some golf during the next two weeks. The company I work for shuts down for 2-3 week this time of year.
2006 New Years resolution.
With the remote possibility that someone out there might actually reading my blog, I thought I would ask if you had decided on a New Years resolution yet? I have decided on mine. I'm hoping that by putting it in writing, I might actually follow thru with it. One can only hope!
Before I get to my resolution, I believe it is necessary to provide a little history.
Since my accident I have gained about 10 pounds. One of the reasons I exercise so much is I love my food and wine, and that didn't stop after the accident. It actually did for about two days after the accident, but I quickly made up for it.
To elaborate a little more (after all this is my blog), shortly after my diagnosis I went on a pretty strict diet, and a much more intensive exercise routine, hoping to starve and exercise my MCL to death. Well obviously that hasn't worked, but I think it did moderate the spread of the disease. I managed to lose 37 pounds, going from about 182 lbs (83 kg) to 145 lbs (66 kg). At that weight I felt really good, and my riding was great, especially when climbing hills.
My wife and I then took a trip to France to visit with a hematologist there, who offered to test for p27KIP1, a prognostic marker I mentioned in Chapter 6.
France was great, but the food was even better. I gained about 8 pounds while in France. I tried losing those 8 pounds, but I picked up too many bad habits in France, cheese and wine especially, and couldn't get back to what I felt was my optimum weight. Fortunately I maintained that weight up until my most recent bike accident. So overall I have gained about 17 lbs, since I embarked on my plan of starving and exercising my MCL to death.
So for my 2006 New Years resolution, I vow to lose that 17 lbs. My lymphocyte counts are climbing a little faster then I would like. They are still climbing relatively slowly, but they still are climbing. I may not go back completely to eating what I was eating, when I started the routine after initial diagnosis, but I will exercise more intently, and definitely eat less.
I'll keep everyone posted as to my progress, whether you want to hear it or not. :)
My advice to everyone else is, enjoy the rest of the holiday season, and tell me about your New Years resolution.
Comments
My New Year's resolution for 2006 is to live to see 2007! :) Partly in order to do that, I will need to be smart in choosing the right treatment for me and not just blindly go along with my hematologist.
Like you, I need to take off the pounds I put back after I lost 75 lbs over the last year and a half. I wanted to put a few back on, but, oops, too many. I need to lose about 10 now. I wanted to keep a buffer for the effects of the chemo, but buffer is OK, renewed pot belly is not! I can't wear all the new 32 size pants I had purchased and now the 34's are getting tight! I will NEVER go back to size 41.
Wishing you a very Happy New Year!
It's good to hear from you. Glad to know you're still out there. I was just sitting here composing my year end review, which, for me, the last quarter hasn't been that great. I can't wait for this one to end. I am hoping for a better New Year, as I'm sure we all are.
I never got to a 41, but like you (almost that is), I'm having some trouble getting into my new size 30 pants, and some of the 32's are getting a little tight also. I won't go back to a 36.
So here's to 2006 and an even better 2007.