Thanks for the ride Jim!

Well thank once again to our buddy Jim; I home safe and sound and hitting the pillow...

more later but I am just fine!

Maintenance Cycle 2

Maintenance Cycle 2 is here; blood-work checked out just fine, everything normal aside from slightly lower than normal lymphocytes and platelets all other markers were perfect!  Onc gave me a quick check-up yesterday and I am fit for Chemo today.

This is the second time in for my top-up and I am not sure how I will feel afterward, last time you'll recall I was pretty wiped afterward and slept for the better part of a day.  I have my pillow on stand-by just in case.  My appointment is in the afternoon so I will type you when I am back home.

Wish me luck and type at you soon...

non-update for you

I don't really have anything to add to the post this week; I am still not running due to the gallbladder but have been out on  my bike and at the gym a few times this week.
Last Sunday was the Challenge Penticton and the Whistler Ironman and it was a tough day for me as that was my goal for the year; but, on the plus side I had some friends at each of the events and they all did well!  I even got to watch my one friend cross the finish line with his family in Penticton, the internet is great sometimes.
Congratulations to all those friends who did the events and to their families for sacrificing another summer to the training!
Well until next time, we are both well and happy; wish the same for you.

The surgeon called

Well actually it was his office, I have an appointment for consultation in mid-October which means I will get to be Lori's water boy for the half marathon as I will not be running.  I have been finding that after a little while of running the area around my gallbladder gets uncomfortable and aches a bit so I have decided not to do that.  I have been riding my bike a few times a week instead and this has not caused any issues at all.

I continue to feel good with no need to medicate or modify my diet so all is well.

More news as I get it but assume all is well if you don't see anything!

Thanks

Another week has gone by,

I am happy to report that I have had an uneventful week!  no pain and only occasional minor discomfort, I saw the GP again this week and other than some high inflammation indicators my blood work came back normal.
I am not running as it is a bit uncomfortable and likely causing inflammation so I will set the trainer up again.

All is well as we wait for a date with the surgeon...

What a week that was.

What a week, the discomfort and apparent swelling from last Tuesday's episode took a full week to dissipate but I am now at last and finally feeling like myself again.  I have taken the time since completely off of training and have done very little around the house either, my abdomen no longer hurts when I walk or descend stairs and I am sleeping through the night without any anti-inflammatory or pain relief pill.

I have still been grumpy and continue to blame my discomfort for that so please don't let anyone else know I am OK.

Lori has been a trooper through this and I really appreciate the type of person she is!  This was not exactly how she wanted to spend our anniversary but at least I did remember and got her a card and cooked a very special bland flavourless dinner to celebrate; she ate it all and said "thank-you, that was perfect." she is very special indeed.

I went for a follow-up GP appointment and was sent for some blood tests; results indicate that I had a pretty good infection and a whole bunch of inflammation.  It is scaring me just a bit that I am learning how to interpret the results of blood tests...

I have decided to put the marathon on the back burner for the next while and see what happens with surgery date and my ability to run...

take good care of yourselves and type to you soon.

Don

Gallstone update

Yesterday I had aches, pains and a moderate fever.  I was told to watch for this as it could indicate an infected gall bladder.  I called the BC heathline and got some advice, they told me anything higher than 40'C to go to emerg.

I did not go to emerg as it never got that high, I tucked myself in bed early last night and sweated the thing out.  Felt pretty good this AM only the discomfort of a swollen gallbladder but aches or pains and the fever is gone.  The discomfort is triggered when I move about or walk so I am guessing the long run this Sunday is out.

That is it for me I am taking it easy and waiting to hear from the surgeon on when he can schedule me in to have this removed.

Later and enjoy the weekend.

I have seen the GP

Went to see the GP this AM and we discussed the events of last night/this morning, he agrees that it is time to deal with the gallstone and re-referred me to the surgeon who looked at it a year ago.  I am not in any discomfort today other than being tired.  We also talked about diet and although doc agreed that we have been eating well and food was not a trigger last night he wants us to be extra cautious with my food so we can prevent another night like last night.
I guess no birthday cake for me tomorrow...

What next...wait don't answer that.

Ok I know it has been just about a month since I last typed to you but that is a good thing!  No news is good news, I was planning on a short post tomorrow as it is my birthday and that is news (for me anyway), then it hit!

Last night around 10:30 I had the answer to my question and was awakened by a severe pain in my right lower chest/upper abdomen, it took a bit for me to realise what the heck it was but I had this pain before and it signified the return of "Mr. stupid-head" gallstone and my  gallbladder was very upset.  I excused myself from bed letting Lori know what was going on and went to another room to ride it out.

We had a sensible dinner as per usual no heavy sauces, lean meats and little fat; all was well.  After 2 1/2 hours of pretty good pain and no sign of relief we decided it was time to head to the emergency room, we hopped into a taxi (actually it was a hobble for me) and took the 5 minute ride to emerge.  Thankfully it was a slow night and we were seen right away for blood samples followed by a short wait, then another brief wait for the doctor.  They all asked the same questions and all got the same answers, severe pain in the right side fluctuating from a 7/10 to a 10/10 on the "O'Geese scale", the lymphoma story and the confirmed diagnosis of whatever the medical term is for a golf ball sized gallstone, intermittent nausea but no vomiting; OK now with vomiting!  The doctor did some additional poking and prodding, they did an ecg   and blood pressure checks through out. 

The doctor put me ordered and IV drip of fluids and then gave some feel no pain stuff in the IV as well, I remember telling Lori that this stuff (Hydromorphene) really goes to your head and then I woke up a few hours later feeling no pain and being discharged with direction to connect with my GP doctor and/or surgeon to have this addressed.

I see the GP this morning and will update when I have news; meanwhile, Lori thought you would all enjoy this...

Hey at least I have hair again.

Happy Canada Day

July is here and summer is as well, we are getting some warmer temperatures and I am enjoying them; I was able to do a two hour run yesterday (2 days after the little drip) and it felt good.  Post run I headed down to The Hub & Spoke, this is a friends' coffee shop/ restaurant that he has opened up this weekend; it is a great concept of community, cycling, coffee and beer.  He has focused on getting top notch ingredients from local folks for his menu has a bike fix area and is displaying many pieces of bike art and cycling gadgets.
I have been helping him pull his menu together for the last few weeks and this weekend I have been in the kitchen helping him sort out the plating of them as well as organise the space a bit, I think he has a great idea and it should go well.

After my long sleep on Friday I have felt very good with energy and no noticeable side-effects from the chemo!  Today is our annual Canada Day parade on the street and the theme this years is your favourite Canadian athlete, I am choosing Simon Whitfield as he is in one of the sports I do and I have had the opportunity to meet him a few times and think that he is a good person and mentor.  It is time to get our pot-luck item ready and then get ready for the parade and to be entertained by the kids on the street as they play games and explore the fire truck that usually comes by.
Enjoy the day and talk to you soon.

PS. Yesterday was our friend Frank's Birthday so wish him well when you see him!

Maintenance cycle 1 done

Yesterday went pretty well, even though I did have to take a prednisone to help me tolerate the rituximab.  There was a bit of trouble getting the IV in place and for the first time the nurses had to take multiple stabs at it, due to running into valves.  On the fourth attempt we were good to go.
I was given Benadryl and some Tylenol prior to starting the drip and a couple of hours later our pal Jim was by to give me a lift home.  I fell asleep in the chair this time which is also a first and for some reason I also crashed hard once I was at home as well.  In all I got something like 14 hours sleep and feel well rested but a little groggy this morning.

Next maintenance is in September.

Maintence cycle 1

This week is the first of my "maintenance" treatments or chemo-lite as I call it; simply put I go in tomorrow and receive a few hours of Rituximab via IV along with a couple of meds to help me tolerate it.  Rituximab is the newer anti-cancer drug that specifically targets the cancerous cells, this means that unlike the other drugs it does not have as many side-effects so I should be keeping all of my freshly grown hair and should be back up on my feet Saturday AM.  The nicest part of maintenance for me is that there are no steroids involved!  This makes me very happy as you may recall I did not much enjoy the Prednisone or the effects it had on me...

I had my blood-work done last week and it came back pretty much as expected, mostly normal but with two markers a bit lower than the norm, but climbing gradually back.  Good news!

I also had a GP appointment yesterday to follow-up on the respirologist work done over the past few weeks; this was a tough appointment for me.  The results of the bronchoscopy showed that I have an inter-cellular bacteria infection in my left lung; this is fairly common and not that big of a deal.   I also have tested positive for an anti-body (in my blood) that indicates I have recently had "walking pneumonia) also not that big a deal as it is no longer there.  The problem is that I still after three or four month have a persistent low grade cough that comes up when I am tired or when I exert myself, such as any hard training.  The respirologist was on the fence for treating me with meds for this, but after my appointment yesterday we decided it would be best to treat this now; the treatment is simply a three week course of antibiotics.  This would also mean toning down my training during this three weeks to allow my body to maintain itself; and this means I will not be competing in the Challenge Penticton this summer as I simply will not be in the condition I need to be in.  This is a bit dis-appointing for me but the smart thing to do or in this case not to do, I now need to figure out a new goal and a new vacation plan for Lori and I this summer.

The new goal is to target the Victoria Marathon in October.  There is lots of time for my training and a marathon is much easier on my system than an iron-distance tri is.  I will still ride my bike and hit the gym but I won't need to do the heavy 7 hour rides or the intense speed work on the bike and I 'll be able to re-build my fitness base to a level that will make it possible to revisit the Challenge Penticton idea for next year.

Lori and I are still discussing vacation ideas...

This morning I am off to the oncologist for our discussion prior to tomorrow's chemo-lite; I'll let you know if anything changes but likely will not post until after tomorrow's drip.

Thanks again for reading.

Bronchoscopy results

Hey there, sorry for the lapse in my writing.  I was waiting until I heard the results from the bronchoscopy and I just received them on Friday; after trying to cultivate/incubate some critters from the swabs they had no luck, good luck for me as this means that I am not growing anything new either.  I can't recall if I mentioned that after the test they took some blood samples, well the blood work showed the presence of an anti-body (insert big Latin word) that is specific to something called walking pneumonia.  This means that the time I had the big fever and few days of feeling really bad during my treatments was actually me fighting of this strain of pneumonia.  The respirologist was impressed that my immune system was able to do this while being supressed by the chemo, I am just happy that it did not get too out of hand!

The last couple of weeks has had me training on the bike and the run in an effort to get ready in time for the event in late August, I am beginning to feel the stress but it is a good stress so don't worry.  I am planning on getting to the start line and then crossing the finish in whatever time I cross the finish in I HAVE NO GOAL TIME for this one just to finish and remain healthy afterwards. training goes slowly as my coach cautiously adding time and effort into my schedule and I think my body is reacting well to this.  So far I have been in the gym, on the bike and in my runners but I know the lake is just ahead of me and that will mean swimming!  I do enjoy the swim and am really looking forward to the smaller numbers at Challenge this year and the staged start should mean that I can actually swim in a little bit of open water rather than the washing machine of the last couple years.

We have been having some fun as well; in fact, we just got back from a wonderful time in Vancouver visiting some friends and attending a gala dinner, we had a great time!  Thanks guy's!!  A very nice break and fantastic to catch-up with you.

Well off for a bike ride

thanks for reading.

Post Bronchoscopy

Friday night was a rough one, I recall them telling me that I may feel slightly flu-ish on Saturday, but Friday night just around supper-time I started to ache and within an hour I was shivering from being sooo cold. I bundled up in layers and under blankets and that helped for thirty minutes or so then I was cooking and sweating, then cold and shivering... repeat as required; I went to bed!

Saturday I awoke feeling pretty good, throat was a bit tender and I had a few aches but pretty good.  I went for coffee with some friends, did some yard work and made then replaced a door on our shed before getting Lori and taking her over to said friend's for dinner.  Back to normal?

Sunday was a long steady run, I ran around 15KM at a steady pace and felt pretty good no problem with my throat or any aches at all; things looked to be good to go.  To celebrate I made pancakes and spent the day installing more baseboards in the house.  Managed to get the hallway downstairs done as well as the small hall by the kitchen; progress and now I am out of material so 500 linear feet down a million to go or so it seems.

Monday, I am sore and achy; perhaps I over did it a bit on the baseboards?  Oh well, no training today and I am at the office so no working around the house either. A rest day, physically anyway.

After a solid night's sleep I am up and getting ready for my run this morning and then work followed by Lori's guitar lesson then a bike ride tonight then pass out after some dinner...

It is so good to be training again!!!

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.

Home and resting

We made it home after a very uneventful day of travel, things are starting to soak in a bit as we are in our familiar environment.  We both absolutely love the city of Boston and especially the experience that is the Boston Marathon but are very happy to be home again.

It has been a very interesting year for us filled with very challenging moments as well as very joyful ones, we take all of these moments take none of them for granted and set your next goals.  I am now more than ever inspired to complete the Penticton Challenge this August and with any lick run the Victoria marathon in October and get my qualifying time so that I can return to Boston and run the marathon again; Lori is recovering from her experience before setting her next goals...

Take care and thank-you for your thoughts and your support over the past few days. 

Boston update

Lori is feeling pretty good, quads are a bit tender but otherwise she is physically well.  She has had some time to reflect on her Monday and it was the biggest contradiction of emotions as she was running towards the finish and the elation she felt as she could see the finish line just ahead and then utter devastation that she felt only seconds later as the second blast went off just ahead of her.  She was confused then concerned about me and our friends here in Boston and our safety.  It took almost an hour for us to meet with one-another and that was a very happy moment!  We would like to celebrate this achievement but do not feel now is the appropriate time or place.

Yesterday we spent the day on a bit of a walking tour of the cities north end where we finally met Fern (the lady who arranges for our rooms here in Boston).  We had a very good chat with her, and she recommended a great bakery for some treats, very yummy.

We came to our room and found an email from Bert letting us know that Lori could get her medal from the bag pick-up area; this was a very emotional moment for both  of us as I placed the medal on her.

We spent last night relaxing in our condo, we had a good sleep to prepare for today.  Lori went out for a 40' run early this morning and we are getting ready for some sight-seeing with our friend Kathy.

Boston Marathon bombs

A quick note to let you all know that we are both OK.  it was close for Lori but we are fine!

Lori's big day

Lori was up early this morning, I was up a little later but still awake and in full Sherpa mode by 5 this morning.  We had some coffee breakfast was our normal pre-race oatmeal, she had doubled checked her race gear and was good to go when our friends Bert and Charlene arrived so they could make the walk to the buses that would take them out to the start line; I wished them all the very best for the day.
The weather s about perfect for the run today with only a little wind temperatures around 10'C no rain and a few clouds.

Go Lori Go