Tuesday is hills

The hills work out today was challenging and really worked my legs out. I left the park feeling worn but happy. I still had time to see Eli practice soccer and it was once again very amusing to watch. I can't wait to see the first game it is going to be hilarious. I am very interested to see how chemo is going to go on Friday. I have heard people say they had no problems doing it by IV and others say that the port was great for them. It remains to be seen which will be best for me. I don't like the idea of sitting with an IV for 4 hours versus the 2 hours or so for the port. But it would be nice not to have to worry about infections from the port. We will have to wait and see. I am going to need to find the skin numbing cream that sounds like a good idea and also get some advise on things to eat before and immediately after chemo. If there are things that are known to help.

Sunday is a long run

I had a great run this morning. The air was cool, I felt good and finished strong it was just what I wanted from my run. 8 miles is not a very long run but it was good enough for me. I was a bit wiped out later on when I got home from the Farmer's Market with the kids but it wasn't too bad. My sister and her children came out this weekend as well and we had a great time and she watched the kids so my wife and I could have a date night. It was a good last weekend before I start up treatment. I am anxious to see how I do after the first treatment. We will just have to wait and see.

Friday is 4 for the Price of 1

I have read some good blogs out there and they have helped me get a feel for what's ahead.  So today I was prepared for the bone marrow test.  I was ready for a little pain and had brought some humor along to keep things light.  I was however not prepared for the medical bargain that I would receive today.  Today's blue light special was on bone marrow tests.  I believe that I had 4 tests for the price of one.  In all my reading I hadn't come across anyone stating that sometimes when the needle is pulled out the piece of bone doesn't always stay in.  So we repeated a few times until we were able to get some persistent bone to hang on.  I do feel sorry for my doctor because I could feel her arms shaking as she was pushing the needle in the last few times.  I think my bones gave her a good workout for the day.  :)  
The remaining tests I have been waiting to schedule for staging have been scheduled for next week and chemo will start next Friday.  I've been trying to get the train rolling and it appears we are about to leave the station.  ABVD here I come. 
On a different note my doctor asked me a question today that I could not answer.  She asked why I decided to run my first marathon two years ago.  I know that at the time I decided to run the marathon I had only ever run 5k's.  I had run greater distances but never in a race.  I had read about marathons in Runner's World and seen them in the Olympics but up until that year I had never thought of doing one.  Running a marathon would be a real push.  It would be a test of myself on a level I had never tried for.  But I can think of no more concrete reason than that as to why I choose to run my first.  I can with certainty tell you what kept me running my first marathon and that was my daughter.  I watched her go through 6 weeks of IV drugs for an infection and I have never seen someone so brave and the fact that she was 5 makes it even more amazing to me.  I remember her at her birthday party with a cover over her PICC line running around with her friends at Chucky Cheese.  I choose to run the race for me but my motivation through out the race was my daughter.  And this time my daughter has shown me the way to confront being sick.  So I will not be sitting around feeling sorry for myself but you may find me running around with my family and friends having fun when I can have it.          

Thursday is a group run

Thursday was a group run out of Off'n'Running.  Which is a great running store in town.  The run felt good.  I pushed a little but not too hard and finished 4 miles feeling good.  Tomorrow I meet my Oncologist for the first time and I am ready to get things rolling along again.  I don't like the periods of time where I am left wondering about things.  The worst time for me so far was the wait for the results after the biopsy.   Now that I am home from vacation and back to work it is the wait to get this staged that has me anxious.  I would just like to know how far along this is and what treatment I have in store.  I have found several sites of people going through various chemo treatments and wondering about training during the process.  I wonder why exactly we want to do it so badly, the training that is.  I started working out years ago to get ready for a hiking trip to Yellowstone.  It had been years since I had run or worked out on a regular basis.   This all just started off as a means to getting in shape for hiking.  But now running is a means unto itself.  I don't really need a goal race or a PR to break to keep me going out there.  I just love to do it.  For those moments when you are lost in the movement.   When you seem to be moving without any effort and you feel like you could run forever.  You also get to experience each season as it passes.  Catching the sweet smell of honeysuckle in the spring, the sounds of the cicadas in the summer, the cool crisp air in the fall that is so welcome after the summer months, leaves changing color and covering the paths in the fall, bright vibrant colors and in the winter if it snows the soft almost white noise of snowing falling through the leaves.  It is to me I suppose a meditation of mind and body.  And of spirit.
I started saying a new prayer each night since I found out I had this, "God grant me the strength to show love and happiness to those around me everyday."  So I will end with that and get some sleep.  

Tuesday is track day

I really enjoyed running with the group tonight. It really helped motivate me to run harder. I did a 1 mile warmup, 2 x 100 form drills, 6 x 400 and a 800 meter cool down. After I was able to get over to the park and watch my son finish up his first soccer practice. He is 4 and this is his first team sport and he did great. Watching the kids run around and have so much fun was great. I am really looking forward to seeing more practices and his first game. Tomorrow I will see my surgeon who performed the biopsy and Friday it is off to meet my oncologist at Duke. I have been reading more literature on Hodgkin's Lymphoma. We received a packet from Team in Training with resources. It has been a good read although it has made me more interested in the treatment as the different treatments have unique possible side effects and late term effects. I hadn't heard about as many of the late term effects before. I knew some chemotherapy could damage your lungs or heart but I had not heard about the long term cognitive effects from radiation therapy near the neck which is where the largest mass of lymph nodes seem to be infected now. I will keep reading and try to ask as many questions as I can remember at the doctors appointment on Friday. I am looking forward to getting on with staging so I can see where things are at. Still happy that this is has such a high cure rate and thankful for all the friends and family that have been offering support and prayers.
Thursday is a run at the local running store. Looking forward to a run around the parks.

Research

I have been spending some time online trying to get an idea from other's out there as to how much running/exercise people have been able to do while on chemotherapy and whether it helped or hindered. It appears from my searches that it depends on the person. I have seen posts from bodybuilders, runners and triathletes and some of them were able to continue normal routines and some were tired walking upstairs at home or down a block outside. I found one person who trained for a marathon during their treatment. I do not think that continuing to train for a marathon is right for me. I don't want to spend all my free time recovering from runs and missing time with my wife and kids. I have planned to drop down to a half marathon with the understanding that it is all open to change. The race I commited to is late October so I would be probably 1 or 2 treatments in. I will just have to wait and see on what I can do when I get to each treatment.
Last night while eating with my wife and in-laws my father in-law suggested that we do the Wilmington Beach to Battleship next year as a relay team to celebrate when this is over. It sounded great to me so 2012 Beach to Battleship is my first race commitment next year.

Thursday is tempo day

Thursday I went on a tempo run.  I can safely say that I didn't find a good tempo out there.  I went out way too fast to start and then slogged the remaining two miles with some walk breaks.  On the plus side my neck swelling has gone down enough that I was able to look straight ahead.  On my first run I spent a good bit gazing down but not today.  That felt great.  I haven't needed to ice my neck at night and I haven't needed pain medication to help with sleeping the last two nights.  I still look at bit like Frankenstein but a less self conscious Frankenstein.  The other day we were getting ready to go to the beach and Jen said  we needed to wait so she could shave her legs and I teased her that since I was going to the beach as Frankenstein the least she could do is go as a werewolf.  I don't believe that she found this as humorous as I did.
To be honest I was feeling down after the run I hate to think my running has slipped so much and I haven't started any treatments.  My long runs have gone from 13 miles to 9 and then 0 after my biopsy and then 4 this past Saturday.  I am not sure what I want to aim for on Saturday.  I would like to get back to 8. I don't want to turn my running into something that makes me sad or worried about where I am physically.  I still want it to be fun. I have recovered some while sitting here writing and I'm not as glum about it at the moment.  So off to eat and get this day started with the kids.
On a brighter note though yesterday we had confirmation that the fax was received and my records were on the way to my oncologist. I also confirmed my appointment with Duke Med so I am at this point free from worrying about appointments until I get back from vacation.

August 18

Tuesday is hills work-out

Tuesday morning around 4:00 am I woke my poor wife up and proceeded to bother her with jokes about praying mantises.  What the conversations between two mating praying mantises would be like.  Such as the female praying mantis might say, "Hold on while I freshen up and then go to the bathroom and sharpen her mandibules.  Or the male might say, "I thought you were dating Bob, I haven't seen him around lately do you know where he is?"  We came up with some good ones and she teased me about waking her up so early for bad jokes but after waking up every few hours to change ice packs for my neck it was a welcome relief.
We did a hills workout in the morning and it felt good.  I even felt energized when we came back. We spent a fair amount of the day trying to get a fax over to the doctor who did my biopsy so they would release my records to the oncologist of my choice.  We faxed it 2 times and called and they had not recieved it but gave me a different number from what was on the form so we faxed it 2 more times.  My wife talked with a nurse at the cancer center nearest us trying to get an appointment and schedule some tests and received the worst run around.  This left my wife disturbed all day long and into the night.

August 16

My first run post biopsy

Went on my first run after the biopsy today.  I wasn't sure how it would feel with my neck being swollen and the stitches being tight but it felt good to be out running.  I really love my runs the good ones and the bad (I like the bad ones when they are over).  Not being able to run made me feel even more not normal than having a scar on my neck and a swollen goose egg.  What made the run great was that my wife's parents watched the kids and we could run together.  Usually we take turns watching the kids so the other can run so it was even better running with the one I love so much.  Afterwards I felt that the lump had gone down some.  I didn't break any records out there and I only ran 4.25 miles but whatever the distance or speed if your out there and you love doing it you're a runner.

August 14th