Rebuilding From Chemotherapy

One bad aspect of chemotherapy is that you might lose a lot of weight.  On the surface, this might sound great, but if you lose so much that your bones are almost showing through your skin like I did, then you have lost too much.  For example, I lost skin tissue everywhere, and you need a certain amount of skin cushioning for your bones.  My feet were particularly affected to the point that it felt like I was walking on bones, and it hurt.  So, I knew I had to rebuild my body, and I have regained 25 pounds since then.

How did I gain quality weight back?  Naturally, I consumed a lot of protein through milk, protein shakes, eggs, and chicken.  However, I needed to do more than that.  Thus, I started taking a body-building product called Secretagogue-One, and it helped a lot.  It comes in a box of 30 lemon flavored packets of nutrient powder that mixes easily in 10 ounces of water.  The formula contains human growth factors such as glutamine and tyrosine along with other ingredients.  In fact, glutamine is so important for muscle repair that I add extra glutamine powder to the Secretagogue-One drink.  I will keep taking these supplements as well as L-Carnosine for energy for as long as it is necessary.

Coping With Chemotherapy

One of the most feared things in life is to be diagnosed with cancer.  I am one of the people who were affected by this problem.  Thankfully, I am now in remission after months of chemotherapy.  I am still on a mild drug called Avastin to keep the cancer from coming back, but my doctor is very happy with my progress.

In case you want to read more about my story, you could visit www.memoirsandstories.com to follow my continuing diary.  My article on this subject can be found in the "more" column of my website.  For example, I mentioned some supplements that help people get through chemotherapy, and I am currently talking about what I am doing during remission.  I hope that my story will help anyone who is dealing with cancer.

Linux Mint

Are you tired of the problems of dealing with Microsoft Windows with their constant updates and with viruses getting through Windows in spite of virus protection?  Then, you would enjoy getting used to Linux, and there are easy ways to do it.  Disc.com has a variety of Linux thumb drives and CDs to get started with Linux.

This past Friday, my Windows operating system got attached by a virus again, and I could not get rid of it this time.  Fortunately, I already had a Linux Mint operating system on a thumb drive from Disc.com.  I had previously used the thumb drive during another virus incident, but I was unsuccessful in getting Linux installed in dual boot mode.  Either Windows or my virus protection would not let me install Linux that way.  So, I took the OEM choice in the Linux Mint menu and wrote over my complete hard drive to erase all traces of Windows and my former virus protection.

This operation worked well although I found out you have to leave the thumb drive in your computer when you boot to Linux for the 1st time.  Once the system loads, you will get a prompt that says you can remove the thumb drive.  After I removed the thumb drive the 2nd time, the computer was able to boot into Linux on its own.

Now, I am having to manually install my website bookmarks, but I am okay with that.  Linux has been working fine all day, and I am done with Microsoft unless I have to buy a new computer.  Then, once again, I will have my Linux Mint thumb drive ready to install the minute Windows screws up.  Anyway, I am happy with my current internet access with Linux, and it will stay that way for the life of my current computer.

Diversification Wins With Stocks

Everyone knows that putting all of your eggs in one basket will usually be disastrous, and diversification is good.  However, picking certain allocations for a portfolio can be tricky.  What has worked for me is to put 20-50 percent of my money in bonds and stable fairly high-yielding dividend stock funds.  Currently, my dividend stocks allocation is 23 percent the last time I looked.  This means I will make money in spite of how volatile the general stock market is.  I will never lose all of my money since any trading I do will be with just  77 percent of my money.

For example, last year I made 30% on my 401K portfolio by being safe with 23 percent of my money while I had 77 percent to trade with.  I made thousands of dollars on bitcoin through the bitcoin ETF called GBTC.  In fact, I even got a $339 dividend from GBTC as well as the capital gains.  However, bitcoin is presently dead for now because foreign countries are now closely regulating bitcoin, and hackers have taken away the appetite for many people in bitcoin since they don't want to lose their money.

So, what am I doing with the 77 percent trading and investing money in 2018?  First, I am involved in the electric car boom.  I own LIT which is a lithium stocks ETF.  I own cobalt stocks also because cobalt and lithium are both needed for electric cars.  In addition, I own TSLA and VLKAY because I am making money on Tesla and Volkswagon with their electric cars.

Secondly, I am making money on natural gas exports of LNG.  I own Cheniere Energy (ticker LNG), and I recently bought Dominion Energy (ticker D) because they will soon start exporting natural gas also.  I have not made any money yet on Dominion, but I believe it will soon happen.  So, these are some of my ideas about making money in stocks while having a safe dividend allocation as well.

2018 Winning Stocks

The stock market continues to rise, and I am expecting good returns in 2018.  Some of the winning stocks that I have noticed are EEM and FM for emerging markets, LNG for natural gas exports, LIT for lithium which is used in electric cars, and SPXL which is a 3x S&P 500 ETF.  I may own any or all of these stocks at anytime.

For example, I have owned Cheniere Energy (LNG) for quite some time.  They are exporting LNG natural gas at a record pace.  It is up more than 10 percent in one month, and they can keep rising.
The lithium ETF with the ticker symbol LIT has also been a money maker for me.  Electric cars are here to stay, and they all require a lot of lithium.

Cancer Chemo Therapy

For anyone taking cancer chemo therapy, there are three supplements that can help with energy levels:  CoEnzymeQ10 (300 mg), magnesium (400 mg), and vitamin B1 (200 mg).  I know this works first-hand because I just went through six months of chemo therapy for liver and colon cancer.  I was far more worried about dying from low energy levels rather than cancer itself.

Fortunately, the cancer was almost gone two months ago, and I was near the remission target then.  Since that time, I have taken four more treatments, and I am expecting to be cancer free next week when I take my final CT scan and CEA cancer blood marker test.

Concerning the CEA cancer blood marker test, it is highly accurate.  When my cancer was discovered in June of 2017, my CEA number was 144, and I was in a lot of liver pain.  After four chemo treatments, my CEA number dropped to 26.5, and I was pain free.  After eight chemo treaments, my CEA number dropped to 8.1, and I was still pain free.  Now that I have taken 12 treatments, I am expecting my CEA number to be in the 1 to 2 range when I am tested next week, and I will be virtually cancer free.