Another non-countdown countdown

I"m sorry for the late notice but things have truly been THAT crazy for me lately. Despite the short notice I couldn't let the opportunity for even this one day countdown to pass by.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, July 29th, will be the last day that I'll be taking the chemo drug xeloda. Remember, although the IV part of the chemo treatment was nearly two weeks ago I have to take xeloda for the first two weeks of every cycle. After tomorrow I'll be down to only prevacid which is basically a super antacid.

Excitement for the August 23rd LiveSTRONG event is definitely building. At least for me it is! I'm hoping to ride in a local bike ride that is hosted by the Princeton FreeWheelers bike club this coming Saturday as a training ride. And with a bit of luck maybe Amy will do it with me on the tandem.

Thanks so much for the generous donations to LiveSTRONG. After raising well over $5,000 last year I was hoping for a scaled back personal goal of $3,000 and I'm exactly halfway there. As I've mentioned before I know that I have a lot of readers on this blog so if everyone can consider even a small donation it will all add up. Click here to get to my fundraising website.

All done...

Well, here I am in my usual post-treatment location. As Amy likes to say I've assumed the position. I'm on the couch and sleeping off and on. The side affects are immediate. Aside from the fatigue my arms, legs, feet, and hands are quite tingly and crampy. In 4 or 5 days that will all have subsided and each day will bring true recovery from chemo.

There was nothing unusual with the treatment as it went off very matter of factly. It was mentioned by Dr. Richards and the nurses that this was the last one but other then that there was no fanfare whatsoever. And nothing really that would prompt much of an emotional response from me. That's all fine by me.

There was talk, as I expected there would be, of scheduling a PET/CT scan. I go back for my Neulasta shot tomorrow and then not again for 30 days and we'll get the scan scheduling started at that time.

That's it for now.... back to "the position".

The eve before

Not much of a countdown was it? From T-7 to T-1 in one shot. LOL.

I'm in serious need of sleep but I really want to get something posted here real quick.

The past week has been crazy with work hours but the terrific weekend weather and an unexpected bike ride with Dan Nies last evening came together as 3 days of bike riding in the last 5. Not bad at all!

I met Dan, Stephanie Tobler and Doreen Dunnigan at Washington's Crossing on Saturday and had little trouble completing a 26.2 mile ride. What was most meaningful to me is that I was able to climb the "mansion hill". This was the hill that caused me to fail and call Gary Vencius for sag support not long ago. And then on Sunday I rode 11 miles with Amy on our tandem. That was an accomplishment in itself as it's been a very long time since Amy and I rode the tandem together. The best news is that Amy approves of the new cushy seat that I put on the tandem so hopefully our riding together will become more of a regular occurrence. I already have my sights set on our next tandem, a da Vinci. It only costs.... (shhhh, it's a secret! LOL). The 3rd and final ride was a 20-miler last evening with Dan. Thanks so much Dan for the late day text asking if I was interested. I'm thinking that each of these miles will help me to get my girlish figure back at some point. LOL.

I'm thinking about tomorrow and starting to get caught up in the emotion. So many things to think about but mostly, of course, it's the idea that this will be my last treatment for 2009 and hopefully a very long time after that as well. Here's to hoping that these 3 "add-on" treatments that followed the clean PET scan in May have really done their job.

Finally, thanks VERY MUCH to those that have responded to my plea with donations to the Lance Armstrong Foundation. We're collectively trying to make a concerted push for donations over these final weeks before the actual cycling event on August 23rd. Please become a part of it all by supporting me with a small donation. Click here for my LAF fundraising website. Note that there's a link on the website so that you can print a form if you prefer to mail a paper check.

Next post soon....

The countdown begins...

With only 1 week remaining before my final chemo treatment I suppose it’s OK that we start an official countdown. I was actually at Dr. Richards office today for a check-up and the nurses were teasing me about whether this next treatment was the last one. I quickly confirmed for them that, yes, next Thursday is it.

Some of you will appreciate this so I’ll mention it… I find it very fitting that next Thursday, July 16^th, also marks the 28^th anniversary of the death of one of my personal heroes, Harry Chapin. So while I sit there in the treatment room I’ll be thinking about Harry and as I have my personal Chapin music marathon playing on my Ipod I’ll meditate on his “do something” attitude as well as his lyric “it’s got to be the going, not the getting there that’s good….”.

There really isn’t much more to say on the medical front. Aside from extreme fatigue in the week immediately following treatment I’ve been OK. Oh, and of course the tingling and aversion to cold but that too only lasts for 5 days or so. I’ve been managing to get into the office when I’m feeling well and not at high risk for exposure to the outside world. I’ve also managed to get some much needed bicycling in as well.

I’m sure that the start of the Tour de France on Saturday had something to do with it but this past Sunday morning I enjoyed a very inspired and emotional 30-mile ride. Considering my current fitness level I really had no business trying to ride quite that far but it worked out just fine and needless to say it was simply heavenly. Since my objective is to ride the 45-mile distance at the LiveSTRONG event on August 23^rd this is all very meaningful riding for preparation. I hope to get in another ride with the Mintz’s Mentschen team this Saturday.

Which brings me to a segue opportunity… the LiveSTRONG event is only 6 weeks from this Sunday. Our Mintz’s Mentschen team that is riding in the Philadelphia event is much smaller this year so the hope of exceeding the $53,100 we raised last year in support of the Lance Armstrong Foundation just isn’t going to happen. However, we’re making a big push over these remaining weeks to try and raise as much as possible. If there’s any way that you can consider a small donation I’d appreciate it very much. Please go to my LiveSTRONG fundraising website by clicking here. If you’d rather send a paper check there is a form that can be printed from that same web page so that you know where to send it and so that your donation gets logged to me and the Mintz’s Mentschen.

Stay tuned for more updates as I go through my final treatment, the LiveSTRONG event, and quarterly PET scans which should actually begin in August given that my last one was in May.