Blood flow

A bit of good news from the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Center .  Amy Singh, my UPMC liaison, reported that I do have blood flowing through my carotid arteries.

She received the results of the carotid doppler exam I underwent last week, and they show that I actually have normal blood flow in the carotids. Now, in my humble opinion, this is excellent news. However, this news is subject to debate in my household. Wife Suellen has long claimed I have no blood flowing to the brain. But, hey, I now have confirmation from Washington Hospital who did the test and UPMC that received the results. My carotid is a veritable gusher.

I even heard the swooshing sounds during the test. The lady who did the testing told me if I didn't hear swooshing sounds, I would not be getting up from the table.

Now my only hurdle is the examination with the urologist to determine whether my high prostate reading, about a month after I had normal PSA numbers, indicates prostate cancer. If it does, it must be early in the process, since I had good results one month ago.

But I've always tried to beat the odds with some of my own self medications.

I take 5,000 IUs per day of vitamin D, which has anticancer properties and also helps the heart and bones, among many other benefits. I think I've experienced good results from my vitamin D regimen. When Suellen came home from work with H1N1 11 days ago and was in bed for a few days, I decided that first night not to share the same bed with flu-ridden Sue. But I made her chicken noodle soup, and poured her Ginger Ale, and made her toast and other food. After that first night, I proceeded to hang out with her in the house for the entire weekend, and we shared a bed after that first night apart. I actually did not sleep well in the bed in the other room, so I said I'll take my chances.

And, you guessed it, I never got the highly contagious H1N1 flu. I still plan to get the vaccine when it's available.

There's no way to confirm that my good results with H1N1 were due to vitamin D. But something had to be working to prevent me from contracting the infection.  A study came out several weeks ago saying that vitamin D helped to prevent H1N1. Based on that alone, I attribute my good results to my vitamin D intake.

We'll soon see if it, and other supplements that I'll discuss sometime later, have helped with my PSA.