Excitement of August.... PET/CT and LiveSTRONG event

Although my recent jaunts on the bike had been a real struggle there was no way that I wasn’t going to give it another shot this weekend. After all, treatment #13 is on Tuesday and, therefore, I won’t be doing anything for a week or so. So I went back to my tried and true flat local 27-mile route and made a slight tweak to the usual flight plan. Instead of our Mentschen motto of “start slow and ease up” I set out with a mindset of “ease up and then ease up some more”. And it worked! The weather was fabulous and that certainly helped but I cruised through and had the mind and body cleansing experience I was desperately needing.

Considering that for the first 3 years of my cancer battle I never had to exceed 7 or 8 cycles of chemo in any one year that Tuesday will be treatment 13 for 2011 is definitely weighing heavy on my mind. As I’ve been describing, the cumulative effects of the FOLFIRI chemo are starting to take hold so I look forward to the PET/CT that is scheduled for Monday, August 8^th and hope that it brings me news of remission and a chemo vacation for a while.

My thoughts right now are with my LiveSTRONG friend Anne Chen who is climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro as I type. Anne lives in Denmark and is a LiveSTRONG Grassroots volunteer that I met in an online group for LiveSTRONG. Although our relationship has been 100% over the internet I have come to know Anne as an amazing person that not only advocates for cancer survivors but that fights in the war against cancer through projects and organizations above and beyond LiveSTRONG. She has joined the Mentschen team and will be with us at the event in Philly. I can’t wait to meet her and to hear all about her African adventure.

Preparation for the LiveSTRONG event in Philly is coming down to the wire with the event itself only 3 weeks away. The first batch of2011 Mintz’s Mentschen cycling jerseys have arrived and the excitement is building. My fundraising total is now over $4,000 and the team total is above $19,600. If you can consider a donation that will help us to drive beyond the $20,000 that would be fantastic. My personal fundraising page can be accessed by clicking here.

More awful news

As I prepped for a quick blog post to provide my latest information I made the mistake of popping in to take a look at Facebook.

I was smacked with another piece of terrible news. You have read my comments previously about Jennifer Goodman Linn, founder of Cycle for Survival, so I won’t repeat all of that. This is simply awful news.

The Cycle for Survival community wishes to express our profound sorrow at the passing of our founder, and friend, Jennifer Goodman Linn, and we extend our deepest sympathy to her beloved husband, David, and their families. Jen lived fearlessly each day, and she brought out the best in us and in everyone lucky enough to know her. In her honor, we will continue to work tirelessly to carry out her extraordinary vision.

I will continue to participate in Cycle for Survival in support of Jennifer and in support of an outstanding organization.

I guess that I’ll press on with the few tidbits of information specific to me. My treatment went well yesterday and the feedback that I was given on my fatigue is that my blood counts are all in a good range, however, the fatigue is common with extended treatment with camptosar (irinotecan). So hopefully my next treatment on August 2^nd will be my last for a while. Otherwise we may just need to change things up a bit.

I did also get the Rx for my PET/CT and that is scheduled for Monday, August 8^th.

Treatment day

Today is treatment #12 for 2011 and as I get closer to the next PET scan the excitement/anxiety is starting to build. The scans dictate everything and although I continue to feel well you just never know what is going to turn up. Results back in May were good and there's a chance that this scan will show that I'm in remission and that I can have a chemo vacation. The scan will be the 2^nd week of August. I should get the Rx today and I’ll call tomorrow to schedule it. See you soon Betsy, Shane, and Nick!

This past weekend a classmate of mine from the Union High School class of 1977 hosted an informal reunion at his Jersey shore home. What a blast! The weather was perfect and 50-60 people came. It was so much better then an expensive formal reunion because it was more of a natural social setting and everyone came to have fun. What was most special for me is that just about everyone came up to me and wanted to know how I was doing. Even more amazing is that I have received donations to the LiveSTRONG event and we may even pick up some people to join Mintz’s Mentschen and that will ride with me in my posse on the 20-mile route. These are the things that really hit home with me and that provide the emotional and spiritual support that I need. Sure, LiveSTRONG is something that I use as a mindset and that I try to have drive my “F cancer” badass day-to-day outlook. But it sure is fantastic to experience the generosity and genuine caring of people. Even from friends that I haven’t been in contact with for 34 years!! Amazing and truly moving. Thank you all. I’ll try to post a couple of pictures when get my hands on some.

Bailey arrived home on Sunday. She’s on her roadtrip from completing her bachelors degree at Indiana University to her graduate program at Florida International in North Miami. Unfortunately she’s here on week 1 of a treatment cycle but we’ll make the best of it.

Overwhelmed with sadness

My high school friend, Scott Winters, who entered hospice not more than 2 weeks ago has passed.

I'm very sad and at a loss for words at the moment. Following is the Facebook post from his wife.

With a great sorrow and profound sadness I announce the passing of my husband and best friend Scott Winters,on Tuesday evening,at twilight. Scott was a quiet man about his illness, many people not knowing of his diagnosis until he told friends when it was absolutely necessary. In honesty, he wanted to fight this battle full focus, sparing his friends and colleagues the stories of the pain and fear of Lynch Syndrome,a rare form of colon cancer (Katie Couric's husband Jay also had this hereditary based disease). Please keep our beautiful children in your thoughts and prayers. James is attending Bard College in early August (majoring in literature), and Olivia, who turned 14 on Mother's Day, is attending the Honors program at LaSalle Academy(following in her brother's footsteps). It is a time for rest and reflection now, because as I told our children,"We all had cancer, we lived it every day for two years and six months. Daddy is free now; no more pain." We love you Scott, and always will.

It's not about the bike

Lance was right, it’s not at all about the bike. I laugh when I’m on a ride and find myself thinking about how I love my bike. Actually it’s that I now cherish each and every ride for how alive it makes me feel. It’s really the riding that I love. Just last night I finished reading “It’s All About the Bike” by Robert Penn and he wouldn’t agree at all. How nice would it be if people could learn to value the little things, like bike riding, without having to gain that perspective through life changing experiences such as cancer?

And with that said boy was I humbled on the bike this past weekend.

I have become a bit bored with my local flat route and so I gathered the Mentschen for a similarly short ride at Washington’s Crossing on Sunday morning. That was mistake #1 (the rolling hills shouldn’t have been poo-poo’d. Yes, I was a bit cocky). Mistake #2 was that Amy was going to join me to do this ride on the tandem (the tandem is not even close to the ease of riding my single bike). Long story short is that we got 6 miles out and I was totally fried. Trying to go further made no sense and we were able to turn it back around and got back to the park with little trouble. In 2008/2009 I made a similar mistake when I was in treatment and also thought with my heart and not with my head. Luckily I didn’t mess up Gary, Stephanie, Doreen, and Grace too much as they were able to head back out after accompanying Amy and I back to the park.

Yesterday was a terrific weather day and so I headed out for my flat ride here at home. Stubborn much? I got about halfway into the 27-mile route and started to feel my gas tank nearing empty. I finished the route nice and slow which in itself wasn’t so terrible because really I just wanted to ride and clear my head. But clearly something is up. Next Tuesday when my blood counts are checked pre-treatment I’ll be asking some questions to see if anything shows up there. It could also be that 11 treatments into 2011 that chemo is starting to catch up with me. That would be the simple explanation.

Thanks to all that have donated so generously to my LiveSTRONG fundraising. I’m over $3,700 raised and the Mentschen team total is now over $12,500! Not too shabby. Donations can be made on my fundraising page by clicking here.

F Cancer

Treatment #11 for 2011 is well on its way to being history and once again things are status quo on that front. Not feeling great but not so awful. I just shut down from my work day and I'm heading upstairs for some couch time.

But before I do I need to vent a bit since this past weekend was way too heavy with bad news on the cancer front. First I got the very sad news that our long time family friend, Danny Millman, passed on Saturday after a horrific multi-year battle with bladder cancer. And then on Monday evening I learned that a high school friend of mine that I had been in touch with via Facebook has entered hospice after a multi-year battle of his own with colon cancer and other complications.

Needless to say this has really pissed me off and reinvigorated my efforts in support of LiveSTRONG and Cycle for Survival. To see the suffering that cancer can inflict and the impact that it has on families is tough for me to deal with. So the Mintz's Mentschen efforts continue and with one of our mottos coming right up front and center this week... F Cancer!!!

Another similar sentiment is on the business card of our staff member contact from the Lance Armstrong Foundation, Dylan Trakas.