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. :)