Humbled but still living STRONG

Today was an important day.

Although I remain as positive as ever, and try to live each day with the best LiveSTRONG spirit I can muster, today I endured a very humbling experience. It was an experience that dealt me a heavy dose of reality. As a realist I see this as a good thing but it made me feel badly for my Mintz’s Mentschen friends that had to care for me instead of being able to enjoy a bike ride in glorious summer-like weather.

All of my faithful blog readers know that I’ve generally been feeling “well” and that when the weather and treatment timing has aligned that I’ve been able to sneak in bike rides in the 20-25 mile range. And that is exactly what was planned for today; a 25-mile ride out of Washington’s Crossing. The one significant wrinkle though, and one that I truly was very conscious of before the ride, was the near 90-degree temperature and cloudless sun-filled skies.

I think you all can guess the punch line at this point. I got to the 5.4 mile mark and was completely done for the day. Even after a rest in the shade there was no way that I could consider getting back on the bike.

So for as “good” as I feel I need to remember that I’m still on chemo and not quite to the finish line yet. A treatment on May 7th will be closely followed by a PET/CT scan. I don’t want to jinx things but at this point I can’t hide that I’m really hoping this scan is the beginning of the end to treatment. It’s really starting to cramp my style…. LOL.

Sunday, April 19th

The weather this weekend was very much a tease as I wanted to get on my bike so badly.  But, I opted for the group hug option yesterday morning when Amy and I stopped at Washington's Crossing State Park to say hello to the two Mentschen that were riding yesterday.  It was nice to see Dan Nies and Stephanie Tobler but I know that my decision to not ride was the right one.  The one side affect that hits me pretty firmly with each treatment cycle is the tingling in my hands/feet and that is accompanied with general muscle tightness in my calves.   This makes even walking a bit of a chore for the first 3-4 days of each cycle.

But I did get out yesterday for a walk to the post office and the fresh air and sunshine felt terrific.

Friday, April 17th

Well, treatment #4 is underway.  The dosage was increased yet again and I wasn't feeling all that great last night but after a good nights sleep I'm actually feeling "OK" this morning.

I get my neulasta injection this afternoon so let's hope that things remain status quo.  I will be trying to fight through this so that I can take advantage of the good weather and the Mintz's Mentschen group on a short 25-mile ride out of Washington's Crossing TOMORROW.  If it turns out that I can't do the ride I promised to be there for a group hug.  LOL.

Tuesday, April 7th

For those of you that may be wondering how things are going have no fear. Things remain status quo and I’m actually feeling quite well.

The side affects from Oxaliplatin that are related to touching/drinking/breathing cold have been interesting for the first week of each treatment cycle but these are far from anything that is debilitating. And my eating has been affected only slightly so I’ve not lost any weight. My battle is actually with trying to keep from GAINING weight at this point.

I had a check-up with Dr. Richards yesterday and the Neulasta shot I had just over a week ago has done its job. My white blood cell count is at 7.3, well inside the normal range, and my hemoglobin and platelet counts are also normal. Tomorrow is the two week mark for this treatment cycle and the last day I’ll be taking Xeloda. Then a whole week without pills! What a treat.

That’s about it for now. It had been a while since I last posted a blog entry so mostly I wanted to let you know that all is well.