Triathlon Day

Tomorrow is the big day - the CapTexTri - Mike's big race he's been training for months to do. It's HOT down here in Austin and I hope he's acclimated enough for tomorrow because I'm nervous about something bad happening. He bought lots of Gatorade and water tonight so he is prepared. We went to his big pasta party dinner, which I thought was going to be about 50 people in the hotel but it was probably closer to 200 people! It was all of the Team in Training participants, not just his chapter. I should have thought of that, but it didn't even cross my mind. They pumped everyone up with pep talks and lots of humor about the Texas weather. Each athlete stood up to be recognized and they even asked for cancer survivors to stand too and there were about 10 of us in the room, including a little boy.

The final speaker was a 6 year non-Hodgkin's lymphoma survivor - stage 4. She was 22 when she was diagnosed. She had an awesome sense of humor and shared some of her experiences. While she was talking, I compared myself to her and how she went undiagnosed for months and could have died if she had waited any longer. I am so grateful and thankful that I caught it when I did because who knows what would have happened.

I am so proud of Mike and all of his training. He's staying at the hotel near the course and I called him a bit ago to wish him luck tomorrow. He's a little nervous and hopes he's prepared. He has to get up at 4am to get ready, but we're not so far behind as Gail wants to leave here at 5:30 to get a good spot. I agree with her and will just deal with being sleepy in the morning. My mom's complaining about the time because she is not a morning person. Tomorrow morning will be interesting getting us all out the door, but the most important thing is Mike's race.

GO MIKE, GO!!!!!

Praise Jesus!

That's what Mattie, one of the phlebotomists said when I told her about my good health. Keep in mind, it was before my CT, but it works for the test results too. My CT was CLEAN!!! Priscilla is gone and the doctor mentioned, "remission," but I'm still a little hesitant to use that word. It happened exactly as I had hoped, my NP Doug examined me and said my blood work was excellent. Dr. DunLeavy breezed in later to tell me my CT looked excellent and to say, "see you in three months." My next appointment is August 14th.

I was a little worried when Peru went to draw blood and said my veins weren't that good because I was dehydrated. I forgot all about chugging lots of water for the past couple of days. She got it okay, but I was really worried about the IV for my CT because it's a bigger needle. In the end, the IV was no big deal. I made a note in my calendar to drink water two days before my next exam. After she got the IV in, I sent Mike off to donate blood to the NIH blood bank because he can't come in during my CT anyway and the blood bank there is in desperate need right now (http://www.cc.nih.gov/blooddonor/). NIH has a new CT machine and it's really quick. I was done in no time! I did have to wait a lonnnnnnng time in the waiting rooms to get the CT scan, but the scan itself takes less than 5 minutes now.

I also felt great afterwards, with minimal tummy upset. We had margarita pizza at Zios afterwards (my favorite) and then I went shopping to celebrate my good news. I also played volleyball last night and felt great. Tonight I'm volunteering for a couple of hours from 10-midnight at the Seneca Valley HS After Prom (my Alma mater). Robert's graduating early tomorrow morning in College Park and planning a full day of celebrations so I won't be able to stay all night at After Prom. I'm also hosting a jewelry part on Sunday at 3pm to raise money for my Relay team (so stop by if you're in town!). It's good to be busy - life does go on!

CT Scans

I forgot to explain about the CT scans in my last post. My 9 month checkup is THIS Thursday. Yes, two days from today I will be having a "delicious" barium shake followed by a fun IV and subsequent CT scan, which will reveal Priscilla is still dead and I can go on living it up. That's my vision, anyway. I do not plan to deviate from this vision. I will immediately follow up the CT scan with a yummy chocolate croissant from the Au bon pain in NIH's atrium. I am so looking forward to that croissant! Thinking about it certainly helps me NOT think about the rest of it, but I have not worried about this test at all. Now, talk to me tomorrow night around midnight when I'm lying awake staring up at the ceiling!

Mother's Day and CT Scans

Mother's day weekend was super busy for me, as usual. The weekend was the Jaycee spring convention and I went up there for Friday and Saturday night. No awards for me this weekend, although I did receive my certificate for winning a national award for a project I ran last year (yes, I ran a big project and won a national award AND had cancer. Take that, all you underachievers!). I already knew I won, but I received the official certificate. Friday night, Kelli and I snuck out of convention activities to hear a local band, Bob & Jeff who I used to see in college in nearby Towson. It turns out Mike used to see them locally in Rockville and knew Jeff's brother and Melissa also used to see them play in Rockville - when none of us knew each other. It was a good time, but I was ready to go back to the hotel by midnight because I get up at 5:30am and because I am OLD!

We spent Mother's day at my Aunt Carol's where her husband, Andy braved the rain to BBQ some burgers and 'dogs. The picture to the right is me and Grandma. She's 87 and is darn excellent these days. I was pleased to see she drove her pick-up truck over for the ocassion, although Aunt Anne drove home becaue Grandma realized she forgot her driver's license. Aunt Carol's cat had babies so we got to see the 1 month old cuties. They are adorable, but Shelby and Riley might be a little upset if we brought one home.

Mike's tri is only 13 days away. He met with his swim coach last night and is out there either running or biking right now. Last week he tried out his new wetsuit at the same pool where I do water aerobics and the ladies oohed and aahed over how fast he swam and how athletic he looks.

My Relay for Life for the American Cancer Society is 19 days away. I received another donation today and now I am about $9 away from my $500 goal. If someone doesn't donate, I will do something to push me over that edge. No way am I going to end up $9 short of my goal. If you want to donate - check out the link on this page. (hint hint)

My crazy, busy life

Life has certainly returned to normal and my calendar for May has exploded. Between a bridal shower, a wedding, Relay for Life, volleyball, water aerobics, and don't forget work I barely have a free moment. As one friend commented when I told him my crazy schedule, "Sounds like you are getting back into your pre Priscilla mode." It made me think. I don't want to be as crazed as I was before Priscilla knocked me upside the head (or maybe it was the heart & lungs since that where she was hiding!) I am taking a hard look at my schedule and will pare back on activities. Unfortunately, I don't have a free weekend until June. I mean it. Every weekend I'm doing something. I've got to tone down the weeknights because I want to spend some time with my family - Mike, Riley, and Shelby. My boys are important to me. It's nice to have a normal life these days, but I want to sit back and enjoy it sometimes.

May is busy for me, and it's also Mike's big long-awaited event: the Capital of Texas Triathlon. In a few short weeks he'll be swimming, biking, and running his way through downtown Austin as his way of spotlighting the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. He's been in Texas this past weekend working on building a gazebo at his mom's house. I don't know if he went downtown to check out the race area, but I do know he has kept up his training activities. He bought tri shorts this weekend. His swim coach urged him to buy a speedo, but he refused! Instead, he'll wear tri shorts, which are like spandex shorts. I think triathletes wear them under their wetsuits and that's what he'll ride and run in after he changes out of the wetsuit. We're both learning a lot about the triathlon world. We've also learned that triathletes are the friendliest athletes (among "just" runners, bikers, or swimmers). We've been told triathletes are the most laid back and accepting athletes, and it seems true so far (now I'm going to get a bunch of comments from ticked off runners and bikers!).

Mike's been in Austin all weekend helping his mom build a gazebo out by her pool. It's been quiet around the house, but the boys and I have been spending quality time together. With all this rain, I've only been able to take Riley out for two walks. I had hoped to take him today, but the rain scared me away. I don't melt in the rain, but I don't want to be out walking in a downpour. Sorry, Riley! I hope it dries out soon - for Riley's sake.

Dig It

Last Thursday I played my first game of volleyball since February 2007, when a funny thing called "cancer" pushed aside my volleyball career. I have numb feet and toes (yes, still) and running is interesting because of the pins and needles sensation, but I decided to sign up anyway. I've been working out at least twice a week with my trainer and exercises there include weight lifting (I can dead lift about 90 lbs!) and ladder drills. The ladder drills include lots of fancy footwork in and out of boxes on a flat ladder on the ground while holding 3 or 4 lb. weights. I'm used to moving my feet, even though I can't feel everything.

Volleyball was awesome. I'm definitely slower and my setting was not very good, but I wasn't as bad as I thought I would be. I definitely need to work on not swinging my arms when I set and planting my feet when I get to where I'm going. Those were things I needed to work on before and I'm really out of practice now. My team did well, despite being short 2 players (we have 8 on the team) and we won 2 out of 3 games and the last one was a close game. I do feel bad for my hitters who have to try and make something out of my sets, but I wasn't terrible. It felt really good to be back. I also received warm hugs and welcomes from lots of people who missed me. Peter commented on my "haircut" so I told him it wasn't cut, but finally growing back in after a long ordeal. I didn't tell my other teammates, but I've known Peter for at least 10 years through the league and thought he should know. I'll probably tell the others in time, but we'll see. I'm so glad to be back and am looking forward to this Thursday! GO TEAM!

Happy Cancer Anniversary

“You have non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.” That’s what a doctor said to me one year ago today. Instead of wallowing in sadness, I walked/ran 5K and Mike ran 10 miles in downtown DC along the beautiful (and soggy) tidal basin with the Credit Union Cherry Blossom event. Today I shake a fist high in the air and celebrate victory over Priscilla. I’m grateful to be alive and kicking after a dark and scary year learning more than I ever wanted to know about cancer. I never imagined I would ever have first-hand knowledge about cancer, but life throws a few curve balls out at you and you just have to arm yourself with information (and great medicine) and fight back. I am also thankful to be alive now in 2008 when doctors are making great strides towards combating cancer with medicine that helps people live longer and fulfilling lives.

Today's race would have been nicer if we had gotten yesterday's near 70 and sunny weather, but instead we got the shaft with cold, wet, miserable weather. We ran into Sandy, one of our volleyball friends, at the metro and rode downtown with her. She and Mike were in the same color starting group so they ran together. I tried to watch them start, but there were nearly 20,000 runners so I lost them quickly in the crowd. I'm so proud of my 5K today. I planned to walk and maybe run if I felt like it. I was near the front of my 5k group and realized I should've been in the back if I was going to walk. However, once we began I started jogging and decided it wasn't so bad because the ground was relatively flat. I ended up jogging most of the first mile, most of the second, and about half of the third to make up the total 5K. My goal was to finish in one hour and I crossed this finish line at approximately 40-43 minutes (we didn't have the clock - that was reserved for the 10 milers). Mike and Sandy finished about 1:42 and I actually saw them cross the finish line - it was so cool!

It was crazy downtown with racers and specatators everywhere. Even in that large crowd I ran into Evan before and after the race. I also spotted one of Mike's Team in Training buddies. We went to the Expo yesterday to pick up our bibs and t-shirts and ran into even more Team in Training people there. I'm considering doing a 10K run/walk in June in Annapolis if I can figure out how to work it with my schedule. I had fun today and I like the option on not having to run the whole thing! I am just so proud that I was at the Tidal Basin today and able to run when a year ago my whole world changed and I didn't know what I could expect from my future or if I had one. Go me!

Happy Birthday today, Mom - sorry I ruined it for you last year. I'm glad we can celebrate it this year. :)