Monday February 1st 2010 - tax time.

I wanted to play basketball out in the sun and get some vitamin D this afternoon only to find that my basketball is dead. Time to go buy a new basketball and football. Due to the cold, my exercising and writing all occur inside. I pledge to play outside more often.

Instead of a fine game of "beat on dad" basketball, I had to organize my medical co-pays and deductibles for tax time. Oh, you think its easy. Keep in mind that I was very sick. And, let's not forget that I play hard. It's the only way to go, but it also means I get hurt once in a while. My family (mostly me) literally had more than 150 transactions (bills) and at least 150 prescription co-pays. I still need to calculate a few figures, but I'm fairly certain that 2009 cost me more than $33,000 USD in medical fees. Just think out what I could have done with even part of that money. Tahiti?

This is the result of being obese for far too long. Many of the transactions were medical payment plans all the way back to 2007. I do feel good that the medical payment plans are nearly all paid off. I just have one monthly left and I'm caught up on all my current bills. And, I paid off all of my credit cards. Today, I'm 146 pounds lighter and still losing and my body feels nutritionally and physically great. All me obese issues are gone, albeit, the 100 pounds I still need to lose.

I can't do anything about the Leukemia or as we like to call it "a blood disorder." My low platelets keep getting lower. If I recall correctly, I was at 70,000 down from 75,000 three months earlier and 10,000 less from six months ago. In March 2009, I dipped to 35,000, but that seemed to correct itself quickly. I think I was super dehydrated. Nonetheless, 70,000 is pretty far from a normal low of 150,000. I don't have cancer yet, unless it's hiding in my enlarged, out of place, and often painful spleen. Every oncologist visit I have we discuss removing the spleen, but he's not yet convinced. You can't take a biopsy from a spleen because it is literally covered with small veins. He calls it viscus. As far as we know I don't have cancer, but when I do have cancer all of this hard work to get healthy will help me fight. Staying alive, getting healthy, and beating any illness is the name of the game and I intend to stick around for a very long time. So I can pay more taxes... great.