Well that was fun.

The bronchoscopy is done!  my throat is a tad rough and I am light headed but home having a bit of water.  They tell me all went well and I should have the results soon.  I found it slightly humorous that after fasting since dinner last night and going nearly 20 hours with out fluids that they asked me for a urine sample, I told them that they would have to take a rain check as I was not able to accommodate their  request at this time. 
No training today obvious reason, and nothing tomorrow as I am told to expect to feel flu like and some discomfort when I take deep breaths; these should both be gone by Sunday so I'll hit the road for my run then.

Cheers and thanks for reading

PS our friend is participating in the worlds long course tri which take place early AM in France on Saturday his blog is

http://timatituworlds2013.blogspot.ca/ 

Well if there is no biopsy then what??

I saw the respirologist yesterday and they agreed that the biopsy was no longer required; so instead I am heading to the hospital to have a bronchoscopy done so that we can figure out what the infection is prior to my next chemo treatment (albeit a chemo-light treatment) later in June.
I will let you know how it goes once I get back from the "procedure" tomorrow.

Biopsy we don't need no stinkin' Biopsy!!

WOW!!!  After a mostly sleepless night I went in to the imaging department for my needle biopsy of the tumor/nodule in my lower left lung this morning.  After a couple of preliminary images to locate and map the path of the needle the surgeon came into the CT room and told me that the tumor had shrunk significantly to the point that it was about half its previous size and now considered a non-cancerous nodule that my immune system should likely continue to take care of on its own!  He did not want to risk any damage to my lung and said the nodule was too small to easily get a biopsy sample from and suggested the best course of action was to monitor it by returning for a follow-up scan in 6weeks time.  I immediately called my wife and shred the great news with her and then rested for the day as I was exhausted, I guess it was more stressful than I let myself believe.

A VERY HAPPY DAY!!!

Back to training tomorrow.

Happy Victoria Day

It is a long weekend here, and I am relaxing after a pretty good week of training.  Through the past week I have felt really good health wise with the exception of Friday when I felt "off" I can't explain what it was exactly, I just felt off; Saturday I was good to go and did my work-outs without any issue. 
I can feel my body getting stronger as my training continues and for brief moments I even feel like I will be able to do better in this year's event compared to previous years; but, I am still just aiming on getting to the start line and taking whatever the day brings me.  I am just happy to be back to my typical routine and am in a bit of dis-belief that I am still healthy enough to consider an iron-distance triathlon only 5 months after completing chemo-therapy, I never would have imagined!

My wife got some great news this week, she found out that the Boston Marathon folks will allow her and the other runners who passed the half-way point but did not cross the finish line to register for next years event, looks like we are heading back to Boston for an other visit and we are both very much looking forward to the trip and the event!

Tomorrow is the day of my biopsy to find out what the nodule/tumor in my lung is.  They (the doctors) assume that it is a lung infection and will be taking a sample to determine exactly what type so that we can target it specifically, if need be.  The procedure will take a few hours as they use a CT image to guide a needle into my lung and the site of the tumor and extract a couple of samples for the testing; this will be done under local anesthesia and I will be home afterwards and back to work the next day.  I am not sure what to expect as far as how I'll be feeling so am planning on very little training this week.  It should take about a week to get the results of the tests back and I'll let you know what they are once I get them.

Until next week take care. 

Happy Mother's Day

It is Mother's Day and I have just come back from my long run; which today was just over an hour.  The past week has been a good one for me as I am back to regular training and beginning to feel fit again.  My cardio has come back really well but I have found my strength tougher to regain, the gym workouts are tough and really point to me the affect the chemo had on me.  I am not pushing nearly the weight I could last year and the aches afterward are a bit deeper, I'm sure this will get better as the training goes on it is just something I noticed.
My energy levels are good and I have been able to pull out some pretty solid efforts on the bike and the run.  It is amazing to me how quickly my body and spirit have bounced back from the treatments, hard to imagine that only 6 weeks ago I was having my last chemo treatment and now I am working-out 9-10 times a week with 5 of those being focused/intense efforts. 

I do still have a few medical things coming up, first is a needle biopsy in the nodule/tumour in my left lung.  This is most likely just some type of infection but as it has grown slightly between CT scans they want to make sure it gets dealt with properly.  The test is on the 21st and I should have the results back by the end of the month so I will keep you posted on what that brings.  My first maintenance cycle of chemo is in late June, this will only be the rituximab and the pre-meds for it so only a few hours of IV and not the harsh traditional anti-cancer meds that made up my previous treatments.  I am hoping to be back to normal within a day or so after the treatment, I'll take what I get as going in every three months for a few medications is much better than every three weeks for eleven medications!

Well that is all for now, take care and talk to you again soon.

Week 1 done

This past week was my first week back to training and it felt great to get back to my active lifestyle.  With the support of Lori and the approval from all of my doctors I will be doing the Challenge Penticton event this year.  It is an iron-distance triathlon consisting of a 3.8KM swim, a 180KM bike and a 42.2KM run, the event takes place in late August so I don't have a lot of time to get ready.
This week found me running biking and hitting the gym, I was exercising 6 days this week with a couple of days having two workouts.  the week has been pretty good although my body is reminding me that it has been less than a month since I had my last chemo appointment.  I have found that I have lost some endurance for sure but really notice the difference in my strength, the gym days were not as fun as they used to be and the day or two after was even less enjoyable.  These little aches and pains will gradually fall off as my body recalls what it is like to be fit and strong again.
Over the next few months  I will of course keep you posted on my health but also I will include some stories about my training. 

later...

Not Quite Resting

We have been home for a while now and I have not posted an update so here goes; on the medical front I had some more blood work done as well as another CT scan to see how I was doing post chemo.  Blood work was pretty much as expected, with a few markers out of the normal range but improving.  The CT shows the majority of my nodes are back to normal size with only a few slightly enlarged, very good news.  It also showed that the nodule in my lung is there even though it did not show on X-ray, it has increased slightly in size and has developed into a more structured shape.

I went to a respirologist last week who said they wanted to do a needle biopsy to figure out what it is exactly so we can sort out whether we need to treat it and if so how.  They told me to go ahead and start my triathlon training so I have officially started my training as of yesterday!!!  Happy days are here again.  It is gradually back to running biking and gym for me...

I'll keep you posted but it is looking good.