Food is good

Good food is definitely NOT over rated. My eating binge has been a bit abbreviated for this treatment cycle but I’ve tried to take full advantage of my recovery. I wasn’t able to chow down until just yesterday (yeah, I know… bummer) but we did a nice Italian dinner last night as a family and then tonight Amy and I visited our favorite Portuguese restaurant in Chambersburg. Dan Nies would be proud as I took his recommendation to eat tonight until I nearly burst and then to take another bite for him…. LOL.

Well, tomorrow begins treatment cycle #5. Wow, #5 is starting to sound like a biggish number isn’t it? As I’ve mentioned to some of you, this month of May proves to be a fun month so I don’t want to wish it away. Erin’s graduation from George Mason University is next week and we will have multiple ceremonies and celebrations to partake in for that. Two of my favorite people in the world, my aunt Phyllis and Uncle Jack (big Jack… LOL) are also coming in to visit and to partake in Erin’s festivities. And then my 49th birthday is on the 29th as I start treatment cycle #6. But even with all of that I’m eager to push on into June so that we can get the next CT scan done and figure out next steps with Dr. Richards. He’s the boss but I sure hope that there’s an opportunity for even a brief respite on the treatments. I’m going to ask tomorrow if that’s even a possibility just so that I can get my head straight for what might be coming down the road. If it’s going to be treatments as usual then I want to be able to prepare mentally and accept that now.

Although I haven’t been in full eating mode I’ve been feeling very well in recent days. Therefore I was able to make a visit to the gym last Saturday afternoon with Bailey now that she’s home from Indiana University for the summer. I did 35 minutes on a spin bike and even got up into position 3 for some simulated climbs (even though those were only 30 seconds in duration). On Monday the weather was awesome and Dan Gerstenhaber thankfully suggested an early evening ride before the TEAM conference call at 7pm. We managed to squeeze in a 15-mile ride at a nice steady pace that felt awesome. Thanks Dan G.!

As per usual here’s another quick update regarding Mintz’s Mentschen. With the change in weather not only is training and fundraising starting to get more serious but we’re also pulling together with top notch organizational efforts. We’ll soon have a blog specifically for the TEAM. When it’s fully up and running I’ll share the URL here so that you can all have a peek of you like. The total fundraising is now over $14,400 and all team members are finally getting their fundraising going. The total should begin to increase quickly. Helen Ihde’s dinner at The Shrimp Box is next Tuesday (tickets are still available if you’d like to join us for some fun… AND EATING. Just email Helen at hitrube@aol.com) The dinner will be a blast and the greater Mintz family will be well represented. I’m really looking forward to it.

Be well everyone.
I’ll check back in as soon as there’s something to share.