Sometimes it's just not the myeloma..

For those of you who haven't read my blog a lot, I'm a cyclist. I ride about 100 to 150 miles a week. For about the last 2 months my rides have gotten harder and harder. My riding was like just before I was diagnosed with MM, short rides and then I would physically run out of gas. At that time it turn out to be a problem with Peripheral neuropathy. I was put on a medication for it, and it worked great for a while, but I had a bad reaction and had to go off. Now the rides were getting worse and so I went to the Dr. and he said my blood numbers looked good, gave me a new mild medication for the PN and sent me home. It didn't help, riding just got worse and worse. I was adding miles but they were much harder miles. I was sure it was my PN or something wrong with my blood counts.

I would go out for about one and a half to two hours and I would physically crash. Short of breath, legs had no power and my heart beat would hit the roof. I felt I was in shape, my weight was in control, it had to be the MM.

Yesterday I had a lot going on at church, mostly morning and evening. I had a break in the afternoon so I thought I would get out and "give it a try". I knew it would be hot, over 95 degrees, but I'm use to that. I went out and hit the hills. I had several good climbs and was on my way down a hill, at about the 20 mile mark, and all of a sudden I realized I was hungry. I looked up about a half mile and there was a hill. I knew I would hit the wall on that climb. Sure enough, there was the wall with 15 miles to go! I then started thinking... I didn't use to do this. Then it hit me !! My body was telling me something, I needed energy. I had used up all the energy I had and it was starting to request more. I had nothing on the bike that could fix it quickly. I crawled in but used the time to really figure out what was happening. Then I remembered that I also use to bring an energy drink and food along every time I rode over an hour.

DUMB... I was so focused on figuring out the MM reason for the poor riding that I was completely forgetting the basics of long rides, Stay hydrated, keep energy available, relax and pace yourself. WOW.. how simple is this. I have been fighting this for two months!

So today I went and bought some 100% Ocean Spray juice drink and filled up a water bottle. The other bottle I filed with water. It was hot, over 90 Degrees and off I went. I started the drink the first mile and paced it through the 26 miles. I climbed about 1500 feet. I felt nice and relaxed and had the same power when I got back as when I left!

I kind of feel silly now, and yes, my wife was laughing at me. I have only done this for all my adult life. What made me think that at 53 I could skip the energy drink when I needed it at 35. I was just so focused on the MM and how it was effecting my riding that I completely disregarded any other options. So yes, sometimes it isn't the MM it is much simpler than that. The hard part is to remember that day to day.

The body is sick, but thanks to Jesus the soul is alive and well...

I'm back...

It has been a long time since I have posted to my blog. The main reason is that everything has been going so well. I still have numbness to my hands and feet, and a few bad days with heaviness but that is about all. I got my numbers back yesterday and today and the best way to describe them would be "stable". Some numbers slightly higher and some slightly lower. All in all I'm very happy with my numbers.

I continue to keep on the protocol, Get light, get fast, get strong, stay happy! It seems to be working so I will keep it up. Riding about 100 to 125 miles per week on my bicycle and keeping my weight at or below 160, that is a BMI of about 24%.

Some of my blog friends aren't doing so well and so I keep them in my prayers daily. New things coming down the tube all the time so there is hope.

The body is sick, but thanks to Jesus the soul is alive and well...