The hairless guinea pig

Yesterday I donned my guinea pig costume so that my doc could begin experimenting with an I.V. drip for her chronically ill patients. She's learned about some exciting studies that show that giving patients frequent mega-doses of Vitamin C intravenously dramatically reduces their viral counts. When I mentioned this to a friend, she knew of a woman who did this treatment daily as an alternative to chemo and radiation and is now cancer free. Wow - pretty good company. The thought of killing this virus off for good and leading a somewhat normal life is just too good to be true. I also have a few friends with similar health issues who are following my progress with the hopes that it could help them, too.

So after a few months of training and ordering supplies, we finally began the experiment. My doc and her assistant organized all the hoses and tape, stabbed me good in the crook of my elbow (only spouting a few big drops of blood), and we watched the saline concoction drip drip drip down into my arm. Initially she was going to give me 25,000 units of Vit C (your stomach can absorb about 3000 units/day), but because they didn't know how I'd react they reduced it to half. It went pretty smoothly. I find that a junkie magazine like People does wonders for distracting you from an inch-long needle sticking in your vein.

Twenty minutes later I was all finished. She's not sure how long I'll do this procedure, but for now it will be once/week at the full dose. It's also not covered by insurance, so I'm hoping I'll only need it for a few weeks. I'll also continue the Meyers Cocktail shots that I've been getting this winter and spring, which are the only reason I'm as active as I am right now. They're mega-doses of Vitamin C, the B's, folic acid, zinc, and a few others that do an amazing job of boosting my energy since my body is so busy using these resources for fighting this virus that I'm not left with any more to do simple things like ride my bike. I've gotten a few of my other sick friends to get these shots and they've done wonders for getting them back on their bikes too!

A day after the I.V., however, I'm pretty wiped out. It's not too unexpected since my body is working overtime to knock out the virus and my liver is also being taxed expunging the toxins and dead carcases. It kinda sucks because I've had so much energy just from the shots, but now I'm at a crossroads about whether to continue the I.V. and hopefully knock out the virus, but continue to be wiped out for a month, or just go with the shots and hope that will be enough to get me through the season. Maybe doing both will allow me to still race and train and commute to work? But will that whack my body even more? No one knows. This is new territory.

Guinea pig oink oink.