Today I suffered through my eighth chemo treatment and I did it the right way, I slept through the whole thing. In fact, I was obviously sleeping so good the nurses did not want to wake me.

To say this is getting monotonous is an understatement. I’m really over it now but what can I do. I have one more treatment after this — I hope — and then we’ll look at new treatments, perhaps. In the meantime, I’ve decided to take matters into my own hands.

While having my blood drawn recently, I saw a video on salt and soda in our diet and how it can cause kidney problems. What got me was the mention of sugar substitutes in diet sodas causing kidney problems while those beverages containing sugar do not cause kidney problems. That has been my concern for a long time and late last year I decided to only drink beverages — sodas included — containing sugar. I do not want high fructose corn syrup, aspartame or any of the other mess out there.

I have also been very watchful of the amount of sodium I eat every day. I am really trying to keep it near 1000 grams per day, not to exceed or come anywhere near 2000 grams per day. Since I never know how much sodium is in the foods I order out, I have been keeping that down to a low roar as well. Next, I no longer eat processed foods because they contain high levels of sodium. Again, since my generation is the first to grow up with processed foods — bacon, ham, turkey, hot dogs, etc. — it seems the stuff wreaks havoc on our bodies as we age. It’s okay to be young and able to bounce back but, get into your late 30s and OMG the stuff that comes up early like cancer, autoimmune diseases, high blood pressure, etc.

From the video:

What you eat could affect how well your kidneys function specifically artificially sweetened beverages and salt. Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston look at data on 3000 women who participated in the nurses’ health study. Those who consume diets high in sodium and drank at least two artificially sweetened beverages a day had a higher risk for kidney function decline later in life. There was no association however found between drinks sweetened with sugar and kidney function.

Salt IS my enemy because chemo has dulled my taste buds. I found myself in recent months returning to old and very bad habits by adding salt to my food without thinking. I am now making mental notes of my actions and when I find my rouge hand and arm reaching for the salt shaker, I count to ten, release and back away.

Fortunately, Mrs. Dash® (and others) has some really nice salt substitutes and I’ve found Mrs. Dash’s Southwest Chipotle does satisfy my taste buds. It’s probably the lemon and yes, I’ve started adding fresh squeezed lemon juice to most of my dishes.

Pescetarianism

Next week, in anticipation of hopefully my final chemo treatment next month, I will embark upon my last transition from red meat to pescetarianism or pesco-vegetarianism. What that means is the only meat you’ll find me eating is fish. I have already packed my fridge with salmon and cod. I don’t know about tuna, particularly white-canned or Albacore tuna, that stuff has too much mercury for my tastes.

Since I love fresh Red Snapper, I’ll be heading out over the weekend to check out nearby fish markets. I would hate to travel all the way across town to Santa Monica for Santa Monica Seafood but, if I must, I must. They actually have real red snapper, not fake Red Snapper. I want that nutty sweet taste. Okay, well now that I’ve just set myself up I guess I will head on over to Santa Monica and stock up on some Red Snapper and see what other goodies they have. They’re the best.

I have nothing against chicken it’s just, well, when I was a kid my mother used to buy fryers at 29 cents a pound and those were some little birds. Today, a fryer looks like a turkey. I’m taking enough steroids I don’t need steroids in my chicken. I’m done.

Juicing and Exercise

I’ve fell off the wagon with exercise and that is due in large part to the hip pain I suffered with in December and the horrible cold I had in January. So, back in the gym again for me.

The same is true for juicing. That cold I had would not let me keep down the green juices. I had no problem with juicing fruit, but the greenies, no way. I have no idea why. Soooo, I will begin juicing again.

My Blood Pressure

Thankfully, in spite of my reaching for salt shakers, my blood pressure has stayed consistently low for about four or five months. I like seeing numbers around 117-122/68-78. I am pleased and I can only credit staying up on my D3. I have not had to take my blood pressure medication in as many months and for that I am grateful.

Weight Gain

I must be honest about this one, I have gained weight. The steroids (Prednisone) will put weight on you but I think the chemo worsened my fatigue. I have not worked out hard since two months after starting chemo because my body felt as if it just wanted to crash to the floor. Let’s just say my metabolism is not what it used to be and it wasn’t that high to begin with.

I do believe the sauna/steam rooms helped in some way but, with a cold, I could do neither last month and now I have waistline issues. Can’t have that because it’s bad for the heart sooooo, gotta go, gotta go, gotta go and I must mentally prepare for it.

I have considered both replacing my old treadmill with a super duper something or other and buying one of those infrared saunas for a back room but, being cheap, I cannot justify the cost of that when I can get my lazy butt up and go to the gym. There are days though when I have wished I could walk into another room and get in some cardio and sauna without leaving the house. Something to ponder.

With that, I’m doing well still — knock on wood — and hopefully all will go well through this month and next. I’m in wait-and-see mode.