Chemo vacation month 1

Without being in treatment the roller-coaster ride levels off very quickly. The past few weekends have been terrific with regard to bike riding. I had two solo 37 mile rides and then last weekend Amy and I enjoyed a 39.5 mile ride on the tandem. This blew me away given that Amy hasn't been on the tandem in quite some time. Guess she can be a bit badass herself!

My plan is to get out early tomorrow before we get busy with other stuff. Unfortunately the time constraint will limit me to a max of around 30 miles but I'm looking forward to it.

This chemo vacation also brings an opportunity for me to use the remainder of my 2010 vacation days on something other then treatment days. Novel idea, huh? New Jersey teacher's convention is next week so Amy and I will have an opportunity to take a long weekend. Our plans are to head down to St. Michaels Maryland for an oyster festival and a relaxed weekend with good friends. Joe and Elisa Duch will join us and we're going to spend time with my good friend Mark Cheben and his wife who live in that neck of the woods.

That's about all I have to talk about right now. I'll be seeing Dr. Richards on November 8th for a checkup and I expect it to be a very short visit. Basically it will just be a flush of my port but I may also ask him if he has any thoughts for the next set of chemo drugs we might try when the time comes.

Treatment respite for the holidays

Amy and I met with Dr. Richards this afternoon and the punch line on the PET/CT results is that I’ve earned myself a break from chemo for a bit. While the results weren’t pristine the SUV values (standard uptake) were in the range of what Dr. Richards considered to be “background noise”. So I’ll be treatment free for a few months and the next PET/CT will be in mid-January when we get to do this all over again.

In the meantime I’ve already had preliminary discussions with my Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, Dan Nies, and we may be adding an event to the 2010 bicycling season. Before I found myself back in treatment this past April I had been eyeing what I hoped to be a year full of challenging cycling events. Now knowing that I have a minimum of 3 months without treatment I want to get assertive about recovering as much fitness and strength as I possibly can. Maybe I'll even be able to lose a few pounds. Therefore, the Tour de Hot Chocolate may squeeze into the mid to late December timeframe as an end of year 100-mile bike ride. I know it sounds crazy to some of you but considering how I felt on the bike this past weekend I think I can pull it off. We’ll have to come up with a mostly flat course but I think that I’ll be able to cover the distance. And to have a miles ridden number that has 3 digits come up on my bicycling computer will be incredible to see again. It's been a while.

As I mentioned, we did have a ride this past weekend that was absolutely awesome. Considering that I was only 9 days out from my last treatment I’m not quite sure how/why I was feeling so good but I didn’t question it and in beautiful weather I covered just over 37 miles with Dan Nies, Steph Tobler, and Jim Grassi.

I’ll try to not bore you with the play by play of my biking exploits in the coming weeks but please stay tuned for more information regarding the Tour de Hot Chocolate as it all starts to come together. Maybe we can make this a little more interesting then just a cold weather century ride.

Wait for it.....

Because I know there are folks out there that will be anxiously checking in on the blog this morning for news of the PET/CT results I want to let you all know that I haven't heard anything yet.

The scan itself went well. As always it was nice to see my Princeton Radiology friends Betsy, Nick, and Shane. And then last evening Amy reminded me that Dr. Richards was taking an extended weekend wrapped around the Columbus Day holiday.

So it will be today that I get the news. If he doesn't call me this morning then I will be seeing Dr. Richards in person when I have my post-treatment checkup at 2:00pm this afternoon.

Stay tuned....

LiveSTRONG Day

Here's a better LiveSTRONG Day picture thanks to the Indiana University Volleyball team.

Post #8

Rescheduling treatment #8 so that Amy could take me and having it fall on a Thursday instead of the usual Tuesday has thrown me off a bit. But really my focus right now is on the upcoming PET/CT and the transition that these next couple of weeks will bring. Dr. Richards confirmed that this treatment was my last on carboplatin/taxol and all answers to the question of where we go from here will be based on the PET/CT that is scheduled for Tuesday, October 12.

The scan results could bring any of a variety of outcomes and I’m trying very hard not to speculate. However, I do know that outside of the first week of every treatment cycle that I’m generally feeling quite well. I’m a little tired but otherwise I’m feeling fine and have been able to maintain my weekend bike riding. Last weekend the temperatures here were a bit warm but I rode with Stephanie Tobler and Jim Grassi for a fun 35-mile ride. As the weather quickly turns to fall I’m taking my annual inventory of cold weather cycling gear to see if there’s anything that needs to be replaced. I’m expecting to ride straight through fall/winter as the weather allows and I’m already starting to think about events to plug into my riding/exercising schedule. In February there is a fundraiser for Memorial Sloan-Kettering in Manhattan that some of us may participate in.

The point here is that I’m feeling good and expecting positive PET/CT results.

Yesterday was LiveSTRONG Day… a day to raise cancer awareness, a day of remembrance for those that have lost their battle and also to acknowledge those actively fighting and winning. All day yesterday I received emails, texts, and Facebook posts from friends and family that wore yellow in my honor. Heartfelt thanks to all of you.

While travelling with the Indiana University women’s volleyball team this weekend for games in Iowa and Minnesota Bailey was able to arrange something on the unique side. She was able to have BOTH the Indiana and Iowa teams where yellow ribbons on their shoes for their game. Too cool. LiveSTRONG!!