Tuesday, September 21st

As usual I start with apologies for the time in between blog posts. But really things have been….. well…… BORING. In the big scheme of things right now boring is a good thing.

Treatment #7 on September 7^th was status quo. Same chemo protocol and with manageable side affects. Having Rosh Hashanah two days after treatment was a new experience but I held up fairly well I think.

This past weekend, after a 2-week layoff, I was back on the bike and amazingly I felt very good. I can’t be more thankful for that since the weather couldn’t have been more perfect with bright sunshine and cool temperatures. Dan Nies and Laura Zucconi accompanied me for a wonderful 30.5 mile ride. I’m already thinking about plans for this coming weekend.

I had a checkup with Dr. Richards today and generally there wasn’t too much to discuss. We’ll probably keep the chemo protocol the same one last time for treatment #8 and then see what happens in early October with my PET/CT results. Outside of treatment weeks I’ve been feeling terrific, however, I’m trying hard to not have any heavy expectations so that I can avoid what would be crushing disappointment.

Donations to the Lance Armstrong Foundation collected by our Mintz’s Mentschen team have come to rest at a grand total of $28,553. Spread over 22 fundraising team members that’s an amazing amount.

The PET/CT will be soon after October 7^th and I will post results as soon as possible.

Treatment #7 tomorrow

Sorry for not posting these past two weeks but I’ve been a little under the weather. The day after LiveSTRONG I woke up with a sore throat and thought little of it. I tried to let what appeared to be a simple cold run its course but it didn’t want to go quietly and I even ran a low grade fever a couple of days. Last Monday I avoided the fire drill of going to my primary care doctor and opted to get my antibiotic Rx from the oncologist. My primary care doctor is a teaching practice and from prior experience they don’t seem to handle the whole cancer thing very well. LOL. Aside from a lingering cough I’m as good as new.

But it definitely seems to have taken its toll on me. Since I wasn’t able to ride last weekend there was no way that I was going to let another weekend go by without a fight. I rode yesterday morning and less then 10 miles into the ride, as I said on Facebook, I was singing Jackson Browne “Running on Empty” (Jim Grassi was there with me in spirit). But the weather was too good to turn around and so I rode a slow steady pace through 31 miles. I didn’t feel the best doing it but it sure was good to get out on the bike and to have my body working. Awesome weather this weekend that definitely had me thinking football.

Treatment #7 is tomorrow. I expect that we’ll be sticking with the same chemo protocol since my fingers don’t have any increased neuropathy at this point. As you might expect I’m starting to think more and more about early October and the next PET/CT scan.

By the way, a slow trickle of additional donations has the Mintz's Mentschen total fundraising for our LiveSTRONG event at $28,300. Thanks again to all donors and Mentschen walkers, runners, and riders.