Two questions asked of Dr. GD in light of the weekend...

First of all, feeling much better, thank you all!

Second, some of you folks will remember -- and some of my friends in the UK may get a kick out of this -- that at some point over the last two years my now three year old pressed a series of buttons on my electronic scale so that it now outputs in stone.  Being an Anglophile in the first place, and having a particular sense of humor, this strikes me as hilarious and now even if I could switch it back, I might not.  I've long since lost the manual for that thing and I could probably search the Internet, but why bother?

At any rate, I'm down one stone one, as I believe it's said, from my peak, most of which is from (a) the weekend, and (b) manical followup.  I have been sticking to 1,200 calories a day, drinking a TON of water (the one thing that every physician in the world probably agrees upon) and laying off alcohol -- and watching the pounds continue to ease off.

I'm not going to stay at 1,200 calories a day for much longer, and I'm certainly not going to abstain from wine for much longer either, but I'm going to continue with the water.  I would like to drop maybe five more pounds before I stabilize for the moment.  That will leave me about 10 pounds over my goal weight, but Rome wasn't built in a day and with luck I'll get the stomach flu again at some point in the next two years!  :)

I told my wife I would GLADLY trade one of those chest colds for stomach flu any day of the week.  At least there's a side benefit to the latter!

Anyhow, enough about my slightly contracting waistline and on to the medical topics.

I met with Dr. GD yesterday, who said I looked great, sighed again at the potency and longevity of BB's maintenance regime and then relented and agreed to continue administering it (obviously, as soon as he no longer does so I'm gone -- hope he realizes that).  I did ask him two questions yesterday that might be of passing interest:

Question:  Since I am taking a lot of Magnesium on a daily basis (1000 mg) am I in danger of becoming dependent upon Magnesium supplmenets?  Will my body stop manufacturing Magnesium on its own?

Answer:  I don't know -- it depends on your kidney functionality.  He checked my serum Magnesium (I told him it was 2.0 when last checked two weeks ago -- and I was right) and he then said "you'll probably be fine."

Assessment:  My kidneys have held up like champs through this whole thing, although at the beginning the Myeloma was starting to mess with them.  Creatinine was, I think, as high as 1.6 or 1.8 when I started treatment but since the first round of chemo it has never been above 1.1 and was below 1.0 most of the time until maintenance.  Increasing my water intake in my diet  should help further with this.  Ultimately, I'm not terribly worried -- as long as the body doesn't get used to needing external Magnesium it'll be all right.

Question:  Since I am in seemingly constant low-level intestinal distress from the Magnesium, am I going to become dependent upon Immodium?

Answer:  No.

Assessment:  Phew!