Doing Well :)

Sorry for the non-descript title for those who don't know me, it's been quite a few months since I've been on here aside from maybe 1 or 2 posts.  For all the regulars - sorry to have left you hanging.  I really needed some time to get myself back together. 

In a nutshell, for those who don't know - I had the DS on 3/09 with a BMI of about 48 & reached my stable weight BMI of about 24 - 25 in 8/10.  I started getting symptoms that October & was ultimately diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma stage iiiB in 7/11.  I had six months of chemo from that Aug - 1/26/12.  I've been in remission for a few months now & get my first check up in May.

I'm feeling MUCH, MUCH better, physically & emotionally.  I really tried my best to keep my chin up, but aside from the cancer, after losing my job, my financial stability, my home & with it my sense of independence & self-sufficiency, I was pretty depressed.  I always kept in mind that I truly valued the things that were the most important to me - my family, the man I love, and a wonderful support network.  I had a lot of problems with the doctors I first went to, but ultimately found a great dr & facility.

I now volunteer in the day hospital where they do outpatient chemo where I used to be a patient.  This has been a real blessing for me.  It helps give me structure & a sense of purpose out of this.  I also really enjoy helping others.

I've also started training for a half-marathon for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  I love a lot of those same qualities that I get out of helping at the hospital. 

For so long, I was "the sick person".  Now, I'm taking back control of my life.

On the DS front:
Vitamins & protein in the last few months were not as center stage in my life as they had been prior to all of this.  I'm happy to say that I'm now 100% back on board & have been for about a month now.  It really took a good month to get back into my old routine of taking 5 doses of vitamins with lots of them at each time.  I stopped taking most all of them during chemo.  Some of the reason just had to do with nausea, but a lot of it was by choice in that there's quite a bit of unknown about how antioxidants may or may not interfere with chemo.  This likely differs by the type of poison given.  Studies have given mixed results - no effect or negative effects (eg, those taking a particular vite had worse outcomes).  I chose to let chemo to it's job.  So be it.  I don't know if that was wrong or right, but I do think it's legitimate & understandable.  What's really important is that I'm back up to speed.  Luckily for me, I was the type of to take a lot to begin with so when I had my labs drawn last June, all except A & zinc were in the solid middle of normal range to the high end.  My last draw about 3 weeks ago shows that B6 was high & ferritin was at 150, but all else were in the middle to lower end of the normal ranges.  Oddly enough, I expected A & zinc would still be low, but they were on the low side of normal . . hmmm . . . go figure.

I had lost some weight with the undiagnosed cancer, but have gained that back & am now floating in my 24 - 25 BMI range that I'm reasonably happy with.

Thank you for the update, Lisey!  Glad to hear of the remission!  I really wondered how you were doing.

Thank you :)

Hey, Lisey. Thanks for letting us know how you're doing. Good to see you and to know you're on track again.

((hugs))

--gina

Thanks, Gina!

Thanks for the update, lady! I do wonder about you. I am glad you are finding some joy in the volunteering--that's great!

I slip on the vitamins from time to time and I do not have chemo as a good reason. I am trying to be good to myself.

Take care,

Nicolle

Thanks, Nicolle.  Sadly, though, my bone density tested in the middle of the osteopenic range.  Oddly enough, my calcium almost always stayed normal (I got weekly labs during chemo so I know).  I got my PTH tested when I was already back on my supps for about 3 wks, but it was also normal, though not optimal (60 - 65, something like that).  Maybe it had been higher & normalizes rapidly with appropriate supps??

I got pretty hefty doses of steroids with each treatment, which likely also hurt my bone density.  I also stopped menstrating for about 5 months, but am VERY happy to say that it's started back again just this month.  Menopause at 35 would just be adding insult to injury, in general, & for the the "old bones"!

Welcome back....hugs!

Thanks!!

So glad to hear from you and that your life is back on track.

{{{HUGS}}}