[marmab]

Sorry to not get all my thoughts together at one time. I just came back from a brisk two-mile walk with my dog, on a beautiful, cool and clear morning, and this is what is going through my head. On level ground or downhill, I'm great -- could go forever-- even thinking that maybe things are getting better with my counts. Should I jog a little? And then I come to a rise or hill... no oxygen, chest pain, pounding heart, dead legs...

Any of you other athletes out there may have observed this too. I am still swimming a lot, which doesn't get me winded. It's interesting how the upper body muscles that are pulling my body through the water don't require nearly the oxygen load that the major leg muscles do when lifting body weight (and I'm not heavy) up a hill or stairs. I've read somewhere that athletes can be categorized two ways -- those that love using the major, lower body muscles, and those that prefer the upper body muscles. Turns out that in addition to perhaps a genetic predisposition between preferring/excelling at heavily aerobic exercise (lower body) vs. upper body (more finesse, hand-eye coordination), there is a whole host of physical and psychological differences between the two groups. Of course there is a lot of overlap, too (think rowing, cross-country skiing, tennis, etc.) Just interesting to think about, to me anyway.

So...my question. As a few people have mentioned, in light of my seemingly wacky immune system, is there any chance that my marrow might rebound on
its own? Especially because there is no evidence of blasts or cytogenic abnormalities. My doctor thinks not, or at least he said that in his experience he hasn't seen it. Has anyone out there tried acupuncture to try and re-set or tune the immune system?

Sorry to be so wordy -- just thinking out loud here. Thanks so much to everyone again. This is a great forum!

marmab