Sunday, January 31st 2010

OK, 5 weeks of silence is a bit much so I’ll try to pull some of the thoughts I have right now into something semi-coherent.

I guess the best place to start is with Amy’s observation that in a couple of weeks it will be my dad’s birthday and Valentines’ day and the first time in three Februarys that those dates won’t coincide with me starting chemotherapy. A sobering thought for sure and one that I, of course, am very grateful for. I feel terrific physically and have enjoyed the steady recovery of my bicycling strength. It’s fair to say that I’m handling all of the area climbing quite well and as long as I keep doing what I’m doing that I’ll be able to handle the 2-day 170-mile ride I’m doing in May in support of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and my friend Missy Gervasini. My craving for the physical/emotional benefits I get from cycling has had me riding the past two weekends in the coldest temperatures I’ve ever ridden in. I’ve enjoyed every second and consider the 40 miles last weekend and the 34 today as a bonus since we usually don’t ride that kind of mileage in January. I do wish though that this would start to translate into just a little bit of weight loss… Ugh. LOL.

I admit to still be working on the psychological side of survivorship. I remain as positive as ever and strive for as much of a LiveSTRONG mindset as I can. But there are the reminders that happen from time to time that bring me right back down. The classic situation is where I bump into someone that I know but haven’t seen in a while and when they have no clue who I am. That happened to me this past week. I’m totally OK with my new fuzzy look but it is definitely on the awkward side when I have to break the ice and identify myself.

I have a 6-week check-up with Dr. Richards on Wednesday and my next PET/CT scan will be in early March. I prefer to deal in reality and have, therefore, avoided asking Dr. Richards any crystal ball type questions. But I think that I’ll be asking him some general questions about the future so that I can have a better idea about PET/CT scans through 2010 and also about when my medi-port may get removed.

Happy holidays

Believe me, I know how much of an understatement this is but I’ll say it anyway… It sure feels good to be looking at a new year and with no medical issues pending.
I had a regular 6-week checkup with Dr. Richards yesterday and everything was very much status quo.

There was a moment of muted excitement when Vicki, one of the oncology nurses that I feel blessed to have had caring for me, questioned why I still had my medi-port. I say “muted” because even without Dr. Richards input I knew that it would be on the hasty side to be looking to have it removed right now. And that’s exactly what Dr. Richards said when he came into the room. My status is in a middle ground where we’ll see how it goes with the next PET/CT, or two, or…. LOL.

But the good part is that the port is continuing to work trouble free. With each office visit they use it to take blood to check my blood chemistry and then flush it to make sure it stays in good working order.

So, as I continue to make plans for what I hope to be an active and exciting new year of bicycling events I wish you all a terrific holiday season and a happy, healthy 2010.

As I was saying...

I just registered to ride with "The Missy Express" in May to help raise funds for the Multiple Sclerosis Society. I met Missy Gervasini while we were both participating in the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Team in Training program and I recently learned that Missy has been diagnosed with MS.

I'm thrilled to be able to do this in support of Missy as well as Amy's aunt Ruth Rabinowitz.

If you're local to NJ maybe you can ride with us? There are a number of options to choose from when it comes to mileage. As for me I'm shooting for the whole enchilada... either a 1 day 100-miler or the two-day 170-mile ride.

Otherwise, you can support us with a donation on my event fundraising page, http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/JackMintz

Thanks.

The results are in....

I received a call from Dr. Richards at about 5:30 tonight with preliminary feedback on the PET/CT results. Similar to my prior scan this one also showed low levels of "activity" but the readings were a little lower this time around. So, while not 100% clean these are definitely good results. I'm not sure yet but I'd expect that an endoscopy won't be needed right now either.

As always I'll pass along any other information that becomes available.

But NOW I feel better about locking into those 2010 cycling plans that I've been mentioning. I will be registering to ride with "The Missy Express" and also trying to decide which LiveSTRONG event(s) I will do.

And in anticipation of my joining the Cheben family in Philadelphia this weekend, "Go Army beat Navy"!!

Game on

OK… game on.
After a small hiccup on the first attempt for insurance approval my next PET/CT is scheduled for this Wednesday at 7:45am. I’m ready. I look forward to seeing my friends at Princeton Radiology and hope to get the chance to express my appreciation for how they've been a comforting presence to me during the two year roller-coaster ride I've been on. We’ll see what the PET/CT shows and, if necessary, we’ll schedule a follow-up endoscopic ultra-sound for a closer look.

I haven’t been able to get to the gym nearly as much as I had hoped but weekend cycling has been awesome. A couple of weekends ago I did 34-mile rides on both Saturday and Sunday. This was followed by a significant milestone ride last weekend where I rode 36 miles at Washington’s Crossing including two of the more challenging climbs that we do in that area (for the Mentschen and TNT’ers out there these were Mine Rd. and Pleasant Valley). The best part is that I felt much better then I could have expected on those climbs. Overnight snow (slush) cancelled our early morning group ride today but I waited until the temperature got in the 40 degree range and hit the road for my familiar 34-mile loop. My objective is to continue this through the winter, hopefully with more consistent weekday spin classes, so that I can handle an ambitious 2010 event schedule. I plan to ride in support of my friend Missy Gervasini with her team “The Missy Express” in the May 2010 Coast the Coast event to raise money for the Multiple Sclerosis Society. And, of course, we’ll also be doing one or more LiveSTRONG events in 2010.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Well, I saw Dr. Richards last Monday for my 6-week checkup and all is well. I had my medi-port flushed (successfully) and my blood counts/chemistry are all good. The process was started for insurance approval of my next PET/CT that will be sometime around the 2nd week of December. More to come on that.

This weekend was uneventful but from the perspective of bicycling it was simply incredible. I won’t even try to remember the last time that I went for a substantial bike ride two days in a row. But the weather was too good to pass up so yesterday I went for a 34-mile ride with Dan Nies and then today I repeated that same route by myself. I definitely had more zip in my legs yesterday but I felt just fine today. Today was a serious “stop and smell the roses” ride as the crisp fall temperature and sunny skies were terrific.

Assuming that I won’t be writing again this week best wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving to one and all. I won’t preach to you all here but as you know I’ve had cause for a bit of an awakening on this front… please try to take this time to think a bit about all of the good things we really should be thankful for.

Happy Halloween

There was an awesome Mintz's Mentschen bike ride last weekend that took us from Washington's Crossing to Lambertville and back. We had the opportunity to visit with our favorite coffee barista, Jessica Cichalski, in Lambertville before tackling the climb up and out on route 518. The 32-mile ride, great weather, and good company has me looking forward to a possible re-run this coming weekend.

My daughter Bailey made it to a pumpkin patch last night where apparently they carved pumpkins. Happy Halloween!

It's always gonna be something

My last blog post was nearly two full months ago and today I received the FRAMED award-winning Mintz’s Mentschen jersey. So I thought it would be a good idea to use that as a prompt to try and quell the complaints I’m starting to hear from my loyal blog readers.

As if I don’t already have plenty of pictures and indelible memories from the past two years of Mintz’s Mentschen exploits I now also have a framed Mentschen cycling jersey. I love it and will hang it proudly in my home office. The only thing that would have made it any better is if the Lance Armstrong foundation had Lance autograph it before they framed it…. But I’m not complaining… much… LOL.



These many weeks of blog silence have not been an attempt on my part to lull you into submission. Although I may have been fairly successful at achieving exactly that, the explanation for the silence is mostly that there wasn’t a whole lot that was very exciting to say.

Following the Philly LiveSTRONG event I have been able to enjoy every possible weekend opportunity for continued cycling. I have been riding progressively more challenging routes and my climbing strength is returning slowly but surely. When we rode a couple of weekends ago I achieved a symbolic milestone by conquering one of the more challenging hill climbs in our Washington’s Crossing repertoire. I enjoyed every second of it and look forward to continued strength gain and hopefully a bit of weight loss. While my fitness has been improving I’ve struggled to drop the pounds that I gained this year. Hmmmm, last year I dropped 45 pounds only to regain every bit of that and more with the treatment this year. Go figure!?!? I joined a gym that I can manage with my current office location and commute so I hope that I’ll be able to turn this weight situation around as I get into a regular routine of spin classes.

During these past two months I also learned a valuable lesson. It’s a lesson that first was a bit unsettling but after having some time to digest it I came to realize that it was an important one for me to acknowledge and internalize NOW. The moral of the lesson is, “It’s always gonna be something”.

On September 4th I had a regularly scheduled PET/CT scan and I guess I made the mistake of looking past it and thinking that the scan in December would be the first post-treatment scan that I needed to be nervous about. The scan showed VERY LOW levels of “activity” at the G-E junction and the familiar follow-up with my gastroenterologist was suggested. While a basic endoscopy wasn’t going to provide sufficient information the scenario was now right for the endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) that I discussed with Dr. Dhar back in January. I had the EUS on September 22nd and to make a long story short all fears were put to rest. Visually there was only inflammation and the biopsies revealed no evidence of cancer. So…. in December we get to do this all over again! Dr. Dhar did increase my Prevacid prescription to be twice per day though.

I’ve learned that “cancer survivor” isn’t just a temporary thing and that more often then not I’m going to be dealing with something or another medically. The key here is that in dealing with these situations that we accept the reality of the situation and keep emotions in check. I will be making an effort to learn how to dance in the rain instead of expecting the rain to stop.

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

I managed to acquire a couple more pictures from the LiveSTRONG bike ride that very effectively capture the emotion of the day and, most importantly, why we continue to do these events.

I also have a PET/CT scan this Friday morning. This one should be no great shakes.

The one that will be in December... I'll be nervous for that one.

Support for Mintz's Mentschen and Chuck Nies (Dan's father) who is currently in treatment for prostate cancer and is in our thoughts and prayers

Mark Cheben and I after the finish

Back in the saddle

Those of you that are Facebook users have already picked up on some of the comments that have been posted by Mintz’s Mentschen team members regarding the Philly LiveSTRONG ride this past Sunday.

YES, it was as awesome as last year! Perhaps even more so for me since most people aren’t lucky enough to have a 2nd shot at their 15 minutes of fame. The weekend was another opportunity for me to reflect and to see even more clearly, if that’s possible, just how lucky and blessed I am. The Mentschen spirit is always very high and our team had a bunch of new members this year including a very close friend from Union High School track and field, Mark Cheben, as well as Naomi Rabinowitz who is a cousin of Amy’s. That Mark, Naomi, and her boyfriend Paul, supported me and our Mentschen fundraising effort made the weekend even more special. With your generous donations I raised $5,225 and the Mentschen collectively raised over $23,400 in support of the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Simply amazing.

Another surprise from the weekend is that our “All Jacked Up!!” team cycling jersey won first place for the Philly LiveSTRONG event as voted by the event participants themselves. We’re not quite sure what that all means yet but I’ll keep you posted as we get more information.

OK, OK… I bet you’re anxious to know how I did on the ride? Last year I was only able to ride the 10-mile course. I had a posse of Mentschen with me and although it was terrific the ride itself was way too short. This year I had established a goal early on to ride the 45-mile course and I stuck firmly to that goal. I knew that I’d go into the actual event under prepared but I knew too that my Mentschen team members and the emotions of the day would pull me through. The heat/humidity and the hills of eastern PA made the challenge of 45 miles that much more difficult but in the end I covered the distance and had to fight back some tears as I came down the finishing chute with Mark Cheben, Gary Vencius, David Swingle, and Robert Spivack as my support team. It was certainly a memorable experience for all and as you can imagine the day was meaningful to me for multiple reasons. See some pictures from the LiveSTRONG event below.

That the ride came immediately upon our return from 10 days in Colorado that were both vacation and a mission to get Sasha setup at Colorado State made it even more challenging. Amy and I didn’t arrive home until well after midnight on Friday and our emotions were still running high based on our new status as empty nesters. We’re still coming to grips with that one.

I had an appointment with Dr. Richards on Monday. This was a basic checkup where I had my medi-port flushed and blood counts checked. All is A-OK and the process was started to get an insurance pre-certification for a PET/CT scan. The scan should take place sometime mid-September.

Amy and I pre-ride

Mark Cheben and I well into the ride

In the staging area pre-ride... my survivor and "Honor of Dad" cards on my back

Dan Nies and Erin pre-ride

Mintz's Mentschen 2009

One month later...

Wow, how time flies when you’re having fun.

It’s been exactly one month since my last chemo treatment and I’ve transitioned so quickly into a frenzied post-treatment lifestyle that I’ve been a bit remiss with posting to this blog.

As I’ve alluded to, things are going very well. In fact, on August 1st I was able to join others from the Mintz’s Mentschen group to ride in the Princeton Freewheelers bicycling event. A combination of peer pressure and lack of patience had me riding a distance that I really had no business attempting. But on what was a fantastic weather day I rode 38-miles with Gary and Joanne Vencius. As far as I was concerned this was a significant “victory” and clear indication that I’m going to be able to achieve a decent level of fitness fairly quickly.

And that is a good thing since the Philly LiveSTRONG Challenge cycling event is next weekend and I’ll be having to cover 45 hilly miles. The event weekend will be another humbling and emotional experience for me since I have both family and many close friends riding along with me in support of the Lance Armstrong Foundation. You all have supported me to the tune of over $5,100 raised in my personal fundraising account and the Mintz’s Mentschen team is rapidly approaching the $20,000 threshold! Thank you all for your generosity and support.

I’m making this blog post from Denver as Amy, Sasha, and I are enjoying time with Phyllis, Jack, and Jason Quinn. This next week will have us taking Sasha up to Fort Collins where she’ll be a freshman at Colorado State this fall. Amy and I will return to New Jersey in time for the LiveSTRONG ride as empty nesters. Wow, what a whirlwind of events and emotions!

Quad and aerobic training via stair climb at Alpine Visitor Center
Trail Ridge Road, Rocky Mountain National Park (11,799 feet)

Elk in Rocky Mountain National Park

Flowers, Estes Park, Colorado

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....