End of year approaches

The end of the year is sneaking up on me. Work is a bear to say the least as I have a project that I need to finish before year-end. I haven't felt well for the last few days. Nothing serious, just an allergy attack / minor head cold. I'm stuffed up and am generally tired.

Christmas was great. We spent Christmas Eve with my mom and Christmas Day with Julie's family. We had a fun time.

Nothing much to say on the MS front really. That is getting nicer to say more and more often. The drug trial continues, and though they said they were going to transition to an extension study, there has been no more word about it. I had blood labs a couple of weeks ago and if nothing else changes I should have another set and a visit around the end of January. I think I will also have another ultrasound about that time. My symptoms have been minor really for the most part with fatigue in my left leg the most prominent. I have have had less overall fatigue this year. The summer was not nearly as bad as last year even with the more intense heat.

Here's looking forward to next year and the study extension! Cheers!

CT Results (oops)

I just noticed today (yes I'm oblivious at times) that I never posted about my CT results.

There isn't much to say, which plays into the fact I didn't post about it. My pancreas is fine (a very good thing), but I may be developing a kidney stone. Not a big deal really either in that they said I need to be drinking lots of water. As it turns out, I have been making that very change over the last so many weeks.

I don't drink coffee anymore really to speak of, perhaps a cup or two on sunday mornings during church. I also have given up Diet Dr. Pepper for the most part during the week, and only have a little on the weekends. I drink water the rest of the time, usually about 70-100 oz. / day. I wouldn't say I feel any different, but it is good change anyway.

CT=non-event

Well a CT is really nothing. It took nearly a half hour to get signed in and to drink a glass of banana flavored Barium. Then I got to spend a whole THREE MINUTES in the CT scanner. That is the fastest thing I've ever done. I've seen more fuss put up with over X-rays of my knees and such. In-n-out, easy peasy. Again, I'll get results in a few days from a radiologist. All that I know now is more conclusive proof that I do have organs. :)

Having a CT

Well I got a call from the Dr. yesterday saying that my ultrasound was 'abnormal' so I'm getting sent for a CT scan tomorrow morning. They say it is no big deal, certainly less frustrating than an MRI and I do very well with those. I'm not sure what they think they see, nothing stated as of yet. I'm not very concerned as it is probably just some issue with angles on the ultrasound and whatnot.

Either way if it is an issue or not, it is all in God's hands. He made me, He will complete me and won't give me anything He doesn't know I can handle or need to make me into what He wants me to be. I'll post tomorrow about how the procedure goes / went. I am sure it will take a few days to get any results, just like the ultrasound did.

Ultrasound

I had my third ultrasound this morning. Uneventful as the previous two. The idea is to look at my pancreas and make sure there is nothing going wrong with it. It is a standard precautionary test in this drug study as the sister drug (leflunomide) has had a rare side-effect that can mess up your pancreas. Definitely something you don't want to happen. Anyway, 30 minutes later I'm all done, but feeling like I got slimed in Ghostbusters. I cannot tell what anything looks like, but I got to read the report from my previous one and time after time it kept saying nothing extraordinary. Gotta love that.

Good News

I had a visit with my Neuro(s) last week and got some good news. The drug trial will be officially ending before the end of the year but they are join ahead with an 'extension study'. It isn't a Phase 4 trial (which are long-term tracking trials to look for side-effects that don't show up under shortened use of the drug), but it is a 48 week run of continued care and everyone gets the 14mg (higher) dose of the drug the entire time. It is to compare the results of the placebo group, which will then be known, to see if they then start improving. Pretty cool and while the fine print says "if you qualify", I was told that pretty much everyone who wants to participate can.

The other cool thing is that I have been exercising on a new plan and it is working. I am trying to put on muscle which means gaining weight. I need to change my body fat % and the only way to do that now is to make more muscle. My arms and legs and chest have all shown big improvements from 1/2-3/4" in my arms to about 1.5" in my legs. My chest is about 1" bigger and the differences in the sizes of my left and right sides are shrinking. I have to eat a ton, and that is the real chore at this point. The workouts are not what you may expect and I may post more about that another time, but they are not really fatiguing as much as you may think. I know that I recover faster from these than other longer workouts I have done. I miss the balance work and coordination stuff that Marsha had me do, and I will switch back to that once I finish this bulking cycle. My thought is I will have to do a few bulk / fat loss cycles over the next year or two to get my body where I want it. Overall I think it is helping my walking also because that doesn't seem to be as difficult an issue this summer, although I will admit with the extreme heat, I am actually outside less than last year, so it could also just be the precision of heat avoidance. :)

July 12th

I used to feel really bad about not posting often. I've come to realize that not posting can actually be a good thing. I haven't had any material changes in my symptoms in a long time now. I don't know if it is because of the meds I'm on or not, but things certainly are consistent.

I still have balance issues and I fatigue terribly easy. My left leg is still my primary culprit although my right one has its own brand of fatigue. The summer heat is playing havoc with my fatigue and how fast it overcomes me as usual.

I have been doing a new workout that focuses on on extremely heavy weights for short intervals. It is helping me with my strength and I am putting on weight, which is nice because it will change my lean/fat ratio over time. My hope is to put on the weight I lost (about 20 lbs.) as muscle and then use that additional 'good' weight to help burn the remaining fat off. I think it will take a year or so to get where I want to go, but it looks promising right now.

Yesterday was harder...

After my workout on Wednesday I was just beat. That translated into yesterday being draining on me as well. I had a great time with Julie and Logan in his 'Pioneer Day' at school. Julie and I helped the kids do some leather tooling to make 'Lewis and Clark Journals'. It was a lot of fun, but with the sitting on the ground and such my legs were not very happy. No big deal though, everything is normal that way.

Yes I know...

For those of you who actually read this blog, it has been a long time. Too long I know because if I don't keep up with this, it becomes of less value. Anyway, the MS Walk this year was great. Our team, Heritage Hounds, raised just over $3000 this year and again made Elite Team status making our third year in a row for that distinction. I really appreciate all of the donations we received.

My symptoms have been coming back as expected with spring and heat. We went to a family swim this last weekend at the swim school the boys attend and that always wears me out.

The drug trial is really a non-event at this point. I take my pill every day and have my blood work every 6 weeks now (rather than every 2). The trial should go for another 6-12 months as the exact end date is not yet known. That's ok though, as I feel like I am getting excellent care so the longer the better in my opinion. I certainly understand why MS patients like being in trials.

My weight has plateaued at about 187 and while I'd like to lose a bit more, it may be easier to gain muscle mass rather than lose fat at this point to change my body fat %.

Just another day

I hadn't posted that going low-carb was a major failure. After about 8 days I was about to go insane. I'm glad that it is over. I didn't really lose any weight. I don't think I'll try again as it is not worth that much frustration unless it was a huge weight loss. Since that didn't happen, no more of that.

The nightwave has really helped I think as I've had now three good nights of sleep, much needed. I'll keep thinking about it though, just to make sure it isn't a fluke.

Work is going well. There is a lot to do, but I am getting to do more of what I enjoy, even though it means more evening / night work.

I'm starting to notice more loss of muscle control in my left leg and a little in my arm. My left calf muscle really does not like obeying. Marsha and I are working to get it to figure itself out so we can keep working it. My left arm has had some issues in the past with fasciculation. That isn't the thing now, it is just a difficulty in fine motor control / fatigue when I'm working out. I think we can get it back in the game, but it will be focused on more heavily than before.

Tired like crazy

I have not been sleeping well. Certainly that makes me more tired than usual.. Yesterday was particularly bad for fatigue. I was just completely dead tired the instant I got up. We had the family birthday party and I had a good time. Today has been little better. Julie bought me a NightWave so I'll post about how that helps me sleep. I'm excited to try it tonight.

5 days into low-carb

I started a low-carb diet on the 1st. I'm only going to do it for two weeks. My trainer suggested it as a way to burn off some fat between my stomach muscle and my skin. So far it hasn't been too bad but I am finding myself wanting carbs. More than that, variety. I feel like I'm eating the same things over and over. It is just so monotonous. Let's hope it works.

Falling down the rabbit hole

Well officially this morning I hit my first goal of 185. I am not stopping here, as now that I am here I can see there is still more work to do. I am just going to keep doing all of the things that got me here over the last 6 months and see how much I weigh when I look the way I want to. I have lost 26 pounds so far. My clothes fit better and I am able to wear 34s now rather than 36s. I'll not trade in my wardrobe until I'm 180 I think, just because I don't want to spend the $ now that I'm on the border. I want to be under it by a tad before that happens. I'm really excited though, this is a big day. I have not weighed this little since before children ('99 I think). There was a short time when I was on Weight Watchers in '98-9ish that I got down to 183. That is my lowest since college. So once I hit 180, we're talking early college weight. If I ever hit 170-175, that is High School weight. I don't know that I'll get there, but I'm going to see how far the rabbit hole goes.

Long night

I had a lot of trouble getting to and staying asleep last night. Part of it was my usual awakeness (I know that isn't a real word) that music helps with, but then the pager / work got in the way. The last time I saw the clock was a little after 3 a.m. Yuck.

Sushi Friday

I had sushi again Friday. I certainly had a lot more energy than I would have expect the balance of the day. It makes me wonder though whether the the food itself is making a difference or just a mental fluke because i was looking forward to it. It is certainly and expensive trial and error process but worth looking into. So far I've only been eating tuna and salmon raw, but I may expand my horizons on my next outing. Time will tell.

Tired and snowy

Well I'm back to my old tired self again. I have been since the weekend so the energy thing did not last long. It snowed last night and so coming into work was not too much fun this morning. Workouts have been good w/ Marsha and while last weeks was physically draining (muscle soreness and such), this weeks has left me more generally fatigued. I get tired of being tired.

Sushi and feeling great.

I felt really, really good yesterday. I had sushi with a friend at lunch, but I'am not sure that had anything to do with it. I had a really hard workout with marsha, and while it was very hard, I got it done. Today has not been quite as good, but still above the curve. It is a very rare day that I feel like I did yesterday. I'm thinking if I go back to my norm, I may again visit the sushi place and see if I get the same energy levels back. If so, I may become a regular.