Day after Chemo

Day after chemo; I guess I am really used to the stuff as it does not even effect me in a negative way anymore. It is time to go train; I have many miles to walk this evening and several tons of weights to push, along with prayer and meditation.

Chemo Day once again

A few images of me getting my rat poison #7 "Chemo". Somehow I feel like this is going to be my last chemo.

pre chemo (the day before the game)

Day light comes and I want to go home. I get some Chemo tomorrow eve after I take the family to the airport so they can return to TX. This chemo will be a rough one I better take my IPod so I can mentally put myself somewhere else and block out the infusion room surroundings.

CT scan in the Morn

Life as a bachelor sucks, I am back to my normal grind and I don't like it at all but it is a short term sacrifice to the long term risk I have chosen to take (take a risk and grow old).

I have a CT in the morn. and it should be routine but it seems that CT's, petscans, x-rays are never routine. I always have to answer the question about smoking, I NEVER SMOKED please stop asking; (I am going to get some t-shirts made that point to my blog) I hope such an action will stop all questions, also I am wondering if I will have to stand my ground when the tech wants to use my arm rather than my chest port to pump me full of CT contrast.

Oh well another day down and I can't complain
"The boy with no shoes never knew how good he had it until he met the boy with no feet"

Bench Press

I lost the bench press contest at the YMCA I only got 80% of my body weight 16 times but next year I plan on destroying the competition click the link below to see my new workout

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYBe8ur4uJU

Oh yea I can give you a dozen or more legitimate excuses as to why I didn't win but excuses are paper thin and the end result would still be the same (a loss). The only thing this loss does is give me more energy to pick myself up and work harder.

quote about being sick

"If you have health, you have everything. The person who is ill wants only one thing--whole health and well-being." - by a respected member of the medical community

Post Valentine

Mom is here the Ladies are totally spoiled, and at least for this week cancer and medical issues along with other life issues are occupying my total attention. Valentines was great good food, conversation and most importantly being surrounded by ladies focusing all their attention on me (The Ladies Man) or at least the ladies man for one week; if I had chest hair (darn chemo) and this chemo port wasn't in my chest then I would have to walk around with a big collared shirt partially unbuttoned and breakout the my afro wig.

Enjoying the Visit (Tuesday)

Enjoying the girls right now, trying to spoil the ladies as much as possible. Took a nice trip up to San Fran on yesterday had a blast down at the Piers and stopped for lunch at the Rain Forest Cafe (yes Raegan is still afraid of most of the animals she has conquered her fear of the butterflies and birds since there animation is not as dramatic when compared to the others.) Unfortunately we cut the San Fran trip short due to rain so hopefully on the next trip we will do more around San Fran.

My health held up for the most part, however I do seem to get winded more easily and more frequently. I tend to tire out when I carry one or both of the girls around this never really hampered me down before as it does now.

Excited about my mom coming in on tomorrow to spend time with the my ladies and me. Her trip is blessing being provided by the Lemon Aide foundation at Stanford Universities Cancer Center. http://cancer.stanford.edu/features/patient_care_news/lemonaide.html

Hello Ladies

Hello Ladies. My wife and daughters will be here today for a week time flies I have much work to do to convert my cave back into an apartment. Of course I am waiting until the last minute to do everything it is 0330 PST they don't arrive until 1030 PST so I will start getting everything ready at 0630 maybe or 0631 ...... .... ....

I am ready to see them. I am sure Raegan and I will get in trouble for playing with toys and reading too many books well past her bedtime (also eating too much gum, and candy too). Ravyn will just be trying to figure out who I am as she really hasn't seen much of me in her 13 months. Any Rhonda will enjoy getting some rest and sleeping in.

Nap time.

I'm an Actor now y'all

Yesterday I marked my debut into the craft that calls many to California. I am an actor and, I might add a darn good one too (actually I am clueless). I have been involved with shooting a video yesterday and today for the National Lung Cancer Partnership. This video will be distributed to patients with lung cancer, and oncologist to give them a human perspective of what it is like to go through a clinical trial. My hope is that through telling my story and providing information about my clinical trial(s) I can help someone else that might be trying to stay afloat in the dark waters of cancer.

On a brighter note I won a bench press contest today. Check that I think I won; check that I hope I won. They (gym folks) tell me that just by competing I won, which may be true but that is not good enough. A moral victory doesn't come with a trophy, bragging rights, or sand to kick in the losers face. I want to win. The contest was for my home YMCA in Fort Worth, TX and you had to lift 80% of your body weight as many times as possible. I weighed in at 237.25 lbs so 80% of that is 189.792 so rounding up that means I needed to lift 190 lbs. My goal was to get between 15 - 20 reps and I would be happy since I am not my old self I got 15 (actually 15/16 I just couldn't lockout my right arm on the last rep). I was ok with 15 reps but I wish I could have done more. The contest or lifting wasn't bad though I thought I would be in bad shape afterwards (coughing alot fighting for air) but I was okay and after a minute I was ready to do more. The official contest isn't until February 15 so I might sneak back in and do the contest over again, Refuse to lose.

Fort Worth, TX YMCA newsletter

http://ry.ymcafw.org/images/upload/RY%20-%20Feb%20%2007.pdf

Pre-game (Superbowl)

Ready for some football hopefully we will have a good game on tomorrow. I am really looking forward to all the grease (buffalo wings) that I am going to be able to consume and all the Root beer I can handle.

The Day after (one year)

One has come and gone without much pomp and circumstance. I spent most of yesterday 2/1/07 at the hospital getting bone density scans. The past few weeks my joints have really been bothering me (knees, ankles mostly). I was nervous hoping for the best but, expecting and prepared for the worst. In this case the worst would be that the cancer has metastasised to my bones.

Waiting....
Eating (Umm hospital cuisine Umm)
More Eating...
Waiting (Tic-Toc)...

Good news no bone metastasis I am just old and beat up. It appears that I have degenerative joint damage in both knees and my left shoulder. Looks like my new cologne will be ice hot or flex-all from time to time.

I think I will celebrate the good news, and my anniversary of beating the odds with 2 naps. There are so many statistics and myths that I am going to change and rewrite be for it is all said and done; the medical text book publishers should give me a contract.