September 30, 2012

Who’s got time for cancer?  Training for the half marathon and fundraising for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) is a full time job!!!!!  (but one I am ever grateful to have!)  

For example:  

On Thursday of this week, I took an hour off work mid-day and went to the LLS San Diego Chapter office to pick up a propane griddle for a Pancake Feed Fundraiser that Team IPA will be hosting next Saturday after the workout. 

Friday was an excursion to Lightning Brewery in Poway to pick up a fabulous haul of swag that owner Jim Crute generously donated to Team IPA for the Brewery Tour Fundraiser we’ll be hosting in November.

A small sampling of Lightning Brewery's award-winning brews.

 

Jim Crute, owner of Lightning Brewery, alongside a very grateful recipient
of his generosity, smack dab in the middle of the brewing operation. 
The scent in there was heavenly!
 

Saturday it was back up to Poway for our longest Team In Training session yet, 5 miles.  Uphill.  Both ways.  OK, I made up that last part.  But the uphill portion was ass-kicking – that’s why I indulged in my newest post-session obsession: a big-ass breakfast burrito from Nando’s in Lemon Grove.

 

Eggs, ham, potatoes, and cheese, all swaddled in a perfectly grilled tortilla. Damn!

 

Today was spent shopping for supplies for the Pancake Feed: mix, butter, syrup, plates, utensils.  

 

The highlight of the week, however, was being presented the weekly Spirit Award at Saturday’s workout session by an amazing woman, TNT Mentor and teammate - Carmel.  Her words were based on the Beatles’ song, “Here Comes the Sun,” and reduced me (and several others) to a crying mess.  From the moment I met her at the first session, I knew she was someone I would form a great bond with.  She has a huge heart and a wonderful soul and is always smiling, and the abundance of positive energy that comes from her is amazing.

 

"Here Comes the Sun"

 

The weekly Spirit Award is a classic Team In Training jacket that is passed to each recipient.
Before being passed to the next, inspirational words are penned on flowing ribbons.

Motivation.

 

Cancer hasn’t taken anything from me.  On the contrary, I’ve been gifted with so freaking much since diagnosis: 

• Treasured time with Amanda.
• More time with wonderful friends.
• A healthier diet.
• A more fit lifestyle.
• The opportunity to tangibly help others affected with blood cancers.
• Training for a half-marathon for gosh sakes (that one was never even CLOSE to being on my radar).
• And having remarkable people come into my life that I would have never met otherwise.  

Lymphoma can try its hardest to inflict fear and uncertainty and unhappiness on me, but that just ain’t gonna happen.  How can it, when I’m surrounded by so much GOOD?

 

As busy as this week has been, I still found time to indulge in a bit of
retail therapy and add to my collection of good juju amulets.  A new
pillow in my power color yellow serves as a comfy affirmation. 

 

 

 

 

September 23, 2012

Another great week of feeling healthy!  Had a fabulous week of workouts for the half marathon, and incorporated even more running into my training.  For a non-runner, that's huge!

But believe me, I don’t take ANY of these weeks for granted.  I’m fully aware that I could easily become a very sick person at any time.  It’s an odd feeling to know that you have Stage IV lymphoma in your body, but otherwise feel utterly well.  Sometimes it can be a challenge to keep this cancer thing an insignificant part of my life, rather than succumbing to a full-on freak-out!  But I just keep reminding myself that my body will dictate if and when the aforementioned freak-out should occur…..and as long as my body is telling me that I feel good, my mind will, too.

Despite feeling uber-healthy, that doesn’t mean I’ve slacked off on my info hoarding (thanks, Amanda, for that label!).  I’m still gathering and devouring web articles, reports, and books, and adding to an ever-expanding binder.

 

Currently on my Cancerland Book Club reading list.....

 

The National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship has an amazing
collection of free publications and CDs in their Cancer Survival Toolbox program:
www.canceradvocacy.org

 

Also known as "Command Central," this binder contains every scan, report,
and biopsy result since I began this adventure in Cancerland.
 

 

"You're gonna need a bigger boat."  Yeh, Chief Brody?
I think we're gonna need a bigger BINDER.....

 

I’m also continuing to work in the garden.  Even though summer has technically ended, here in Southern California we’re entering the Santa Ana season, where hot, dry air blows west from the deserts.  We’ll continue to have summer-like weather throughout September, October, and sometimes into November.  Makes for a gloriously long gardening season!  

 

I’ve long believed that my backyard is my therapy, and it continues to be.  There’s something very healing about hands plying dirt, a shovel creating a hole for a new plant, and clippers trimming away old growth.  It’s all about nurturing, encouraging, blooming, thriving.  When I bought the house almost two years ago, there was nothing in the backyard, save for some sad weeds and a dreadful looking patchwork-painted fence. 

 

Before.....

 

Long therapy sessions have yielded my own peaceful, flourishing Shangri-la.

 

.....and after.

 

 

Where I do my best wine-sipping.
 

I’m a big advocate of planting trees (hmmmmm, must be the Park Ranger in me, right?!)  As the saying goes, “The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago.  The next best time is now.”  Since buying the house, I’ve planted nine trees in the backyard.  And I’ve named or dedicated all of them to significant people in my life.  I planted the latest one yesterday, a chitalpa tashkentensis.  

 

 

The backyard's newest addition.

 

Placing her into the ground and patting fresh, new soil around her roots, I named her the Warrior Tree, after all the Stage IV lymphoma warriors who are unable to muster the energy just to leave their beds, let alone venture outside into their gardens or train for a half marathon.  

 

I think the Warrior Tree likes her new home:  when I went out to see her this morning, her buds had bloomed overnight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

September 16, 2012

Question:  Should someone with Stage IV Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma be training for a half marathon?  

Answer:  HELL YEH!  

I’m continuing to feel better than well, and keeping right on track with the schedule set forth by Coach James and Team In Training (TNT).  There’s definitely a method to the madness when it comes to this half marathon prep, and I’m slowing figuring it out.  The most difficult workouts are the Saturday sessions, where the entire San Diego Team in Training Winter Marathon Season Team gets together for a mass training session.  Sundays are for cross training, to recover a bit from Saturday.  Mondays are a medium workout, Tuesdays are an off day (yay!), Wednesdays are an easy workout, Thursdays are medium, Fridays are an off day (yay, again!) to rest up before the Saturday long workout.  

Now, I must admit that after Saturday’s sessions, I am just a bucket of shit.  By the time I get home, I’m exhausted, tired, worn out, and pooped.  And we’re only at the beginning of the training season!  We’ve still got 17 Saturday sessions to go before the half marathon in January!  Geez – I’m not THAT out of shape am I?  Or is this the lymphoma talking?  Hard to say for sure, but I’m beginning to figure out that I just shouldn’t schedule anything for the rest of the day on Saturdays.  Weenie.
 

She looks a little too enthusiastic about her
new training jersey.....

Pre-walk/run stretching.
 

 

Post-walk/run pretzel imitation.

 

Feels so good to S-T-R-E-T-C-H.....

 

Following yesterday’s session, Roadrunner Sports presented a great shoe clinic for TNT, after which a lot of us took advantage of ShoeDog, Roadrunner’s fabulous (and free) multi-dimensional analysis of gait, arch type, running style, etc.  They can then narrow down the hundreds of brands and styles of shoes and recommend the best ones for your particular style.

 

My baby gazelle getting ready to do ShoeDog.....

 

.....and her mysteriously bloodied toes once she removed her sock.  WTH?

 

 

Someone is taking this ShoeDog thing WAY too seriously.
 

 

Video analysis of my running gait.  My ankles
collapse when I come down.  Apparently that's what happens when
your ankles absorb 3-4 times your body weight while running!  Yikes!

 

Even though I just bought a new pair of shoes not too long ago, and they were pretty much fine, they tended to crowd my outside toes because the front of the shoe was too narrow.  After trying on different pairs yesterday, I finally stepped into a pair of Brooks Glycerin (one of the recommendations by ShoeDog) and finally had enough room to spread my little piggies!  It’s amazing what a difference a wider “toe box” makes!

 

Beautiful brand-new turquoise Brooks, outfitted with my brand-new
Amphipod, a little duffle bag that attaches to my shoe to hold my keys.
Dorky?  YES!  But uber-functional!

 

Wait a minute – wasn’t this supposed to be a blog about this cancer thing?  How did it become a blog about training for a half marathon?!!?  

 

It’s not.  

 

It’s still a blog about my daily skirmish with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.  Taking on the half marathon is a huge part of me saying a continual and ebullient FUCK YOU! to cancer.  Because as long as I can keep to the workout schedule, enjoy my awesome Team TPA teammates during our regular dinner meetings, and complete the Saturday training sessions, the power stays with ME, not this cancer thing.  

 

Never give in.  Never give up.

 

 

September 9, 2012

Yesterday morning was the kickoff training session for the San Diego Team In Training Winter Marathon season!  GO TEAM!!!!!  

I’m still kinda in denial that I’m even breathing the same air as these people.  The coaches, mentors, volunteers, and team members are all so incredibly kind and giving and welcoming, even to a SO non-athlete such as moi!  The essential thread running through every message is “YOU CAN DO IT!”   

 

Coach James inspiring and motivating dozens of
runners and walkers for the 2013 winter season -
under a balmy early autumn morning sky. 

 

Even though some of them are veterans of years of marathons, triathlons, etc., they genuinely want to do everything they can to help even a newbie team member achieve their goal.  For me, it’s to finish (injury-free) 13.1 miles on January 27, 2013.  

They have this training thing down to a science:  A, B, or C group, depending on your skill level.  A is for beginners (and pre-beginners!), B is if you’re currently doing some level of regular activity (running, walking, jogging), and C is for the hard-core, bad-ass fitness studs (I humbly bow in their presence…..). 

One of the hard-core, bad-ass studs, my baby Amanda.
Apparently, 26 years ago I gave birth to a GAZELLE.....

Even though I’m putting miles under my shoes every night after work with the pumped-up power-walks, I put myself in the A’s, because of the gradual stamina build-up.  For example, yesterday we did three miles at 10/2: ten minutes walking, two minutes jogging, ten minutes walking, two minutes jogging, etc.  Over the season, the running will gradually increase and the walking will decrease.  The structured plan and weekly work-out calendar are exactly what I’ve needed to build up my endurance, and the warm-ups at the weekly training sessions will give me the tools to avoid any more unnecessary ankle boo-boos. 




 

Favorite daughter and LaLa looking fit and FABULOUS during warm-ups!
 

Note to self: No more handing the camera to Amanda during warm-ups.....

Multi-tasking: walking, flashing a peace sign, AND eating a power bar. Now that's talent.....

San Diegans are spoiled with awesome weather
and  spectacular views during training!
 

Talking to several people on the course yesterday, I learned their personal stories and why they joined Team In Training.  It made me a lot more focused on why I’M doing this.  First and foremost, it’s in memory of Amanda’s dad, Glenn, and his battle against multiple myeloma. 

Lake Powell will always be infused with Glenn's spirit.

But I’m also doing this for all the Stage IV blood cancer warriors who are - at this very moment - tethered to IV bags dripping chemo toxins into their bodies.  

Who are confined to hospital beds because their immune systems are failing them.  

Who woke up this morning to find clumps of hair on their pillow, and will find more in the shower drain.  

Who face fear and uncertainty and pain as they undergo surgery today.  

Who spent the night wretching and puking and can’t even fathom ever eating again.  

Who lack the strength to wrap their arms around the neck of their child or their loved one – or their sweet doggie.

 

I’m doing this because I CAN.  

Because, even though this cancer thing is Stage IV, I’m not where they are.  

Because, no matter what pain or injuries I may experience during the course of this training season, it will be nothing - NOTHING - compared to what they are going through – and what I could be going through right now.  

And because I am ever-grateful that, for the time being, I can still live my somewhat-normal life.  

And because…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

September 2, 2012

The last week of August was a busy one, in terms of this cancer thing.  Busy, but in a good way!  

Feeling like I had finally recovered from the ankle injury, I cautiously laced on my running shoes and slowly resumed the after-work power walks as training for the half-marathon in January.  While laid up in the evenings letting the ankle heal, I powered up Google and did some research on ankle injuries.  The single most common denominator seems to be overstriding.  In my case, take a pair of uber-long legs and combine them with some purposeful power walking (and an iPod full of fast-beat tunes) and the product is an ultra long stride.  Now, multiply that by thousands of steps over many miles and the result can be a painful ankle boo-boo. 

 

OK, so my strides aren’t that long,
but I also ain’t chasing prey across the savannah either…..

 

After this week’s walks, shortening my stride is still a work in progress – it’s difficult to retrain your body to perform a subconscious and virtually involuntary movement differently than how you’ve been doing it forever.  A shorter stride feels awkward and abnormal, but apparently it indeed helps because I had no ankle pain.  I only logged about 10 miles over three days, but it felt fabulous!  One of the benefits of joining The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team In Training is the first-rate coaching, and I’m looking forward to it to not only get me “from couch to finish line” but to teach me how to get there injury-free.  

Thursday morning was my latest opportunity to sheathe myself in a billowing bolt of cloth, have 100cc of Omnipaque 350 injected intravenously into my body, and undergo computed tomography from my thoracic inlet to my symphysis pubis.  Sexy talk, right?  In other words, a CT scan with contrast dye of my chest, abdomen, and pelvis.



Really?  They can put a man on the moon but they can't make a
hospital gown that covers the southbound side of a northbound Terry?  Geez.



Adornments on one arm.....



 

.....and on the other.

 

All cath-ed up and ready to go.

Peace, love, and scans.

 

Like all the other CT scans, this one was quick and painless, and the nurse and radiology tech were superb.  Afterwards, it was off to work.  

 

Friday was a pretty big-deal day.  First, it was a stop at the lab for a blood-draw, to check my levels to compare them with those of three months ago.

 



Why yes, it IS hard to take a one-handed photo whilst
a needle is piercing your vein!

 

Ooooooooohhhh, pretty colors!

 

Fill 'er up!

 

Then it was up to the third floor for the appointment with Dr. Hampshire my most rad oncologist, to go over the results of the previous days’ CT scan. 

 

110/70

 

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t apprehensive or anxious, because even though I feel terrific, the uninvited cancer fuckers could have been partying heavily during the last three months and caused some serious damage to their host’s house (um, that’d be my BODY…..)  

 

Evidently, however, the little buggers hadn’t been throwing all-night keggers in my lymphatic system.  They’ve been quietly packing their tiny suitcases and jumping on the train out of Terryville.  Because after Dr. Hampshire told me the results of Thursday’s CT compared to March’s scan, I can officially say that the past three months have been “The Summer of My Shrinking Lymph Nodes.”  RIGHT ON!!!!! 

 

 

 

 

For those closet med-geeks (of which I am proudly one), here’s a synopsis of the lymph node changes:

 

Overall impression:

Interval decrease in the retroperitoneal, pelvic sidewall, and left supraclavicular lymphadenopathy. 

                                               CT Scan                 CT Scan
                                               March 20, 2012:      August 30, 2012:

Retroperitoneal region:

 

Left para-aortic LN*                   2.2 x 1.2 cm           1.4 x 1.0 cm

Left external iliac chain LN          1.6 x 0.8 cm           1.3 x 0.7 cm

Aortocaval LN                            1.9 x 0.7 cm           1.6 x 0.7 cm

 

Pelvic sidewall region:

 

Right external iliac chain LN        2.7 x 1.2 cm           1.4 x 0.8 cm

Left external iliac chain LN          2.9 x 1.9 cm           2.4 x 1.3 cm

 

Supraclavicular region:

There has been interval decrease in the left supraclavicular lymphadenopathy.

 

*LN = Lymph node

 

 

Dr. Hampshire joyfully told me to keep doing what I’m doing – acupuncture, diet and nutrition, supplements, and exercise – and he doesn’t need to see me again for my next CT scan and bloodwork until January.

 

 

Oncologists like to deliver good news - and patients like to hear it!

 

I still have Stage IV Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.  There still is no cure for it.  And it will turn someday.  But today?  It’s still an insignificant part of my life, and I plan on keeping it that way.  

 

Do I feel that the naturopathic approach caused the lymph nodes to decrease?  Definitely.  Do I think that positive thinking, good energy, and the love and well wishes from those around me played a role?  Absolutely.  The mind-body connection is a powerful force when tapped into.  I’m utterly grateful that I have people in my life who are guiding me down that path.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

August 24, 2012

You know when you meet someone for the first time, you instantly pick up on their vibe?  Either you’re immediately at ease with them, or not.  Either you feel like you’re both on the same page with your conversation, or not.  

I had my 3-month check-up and first appointment with Dr. Hampshire on Monday, accompanied by Amanda.  Back on August 4, I wrote about my rationale for switching oncologists, and honestly, I was a little worried about Monday’s initial meeting with Dr. Hampshire.  Even though I’d heard good things about him, I’d never met him.  The possibility existed that he could still be a dick, you know?
 

It's always important that your file folder match your clothing.....

.....and that you bring a sense of humor.

The minute he walked into the exam room, however, any lingering doubts evaporated.  Dr. Hampshire is kind, sharp, very funny, and well-prepared.  I knew I felt comfortable with him when he acknowledged that, even though it’s slow growing and not affecting me much right now, Stage IV Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma IS a big deal!  This is EXACTLY what I blogged about on August 4!  You want your oncologist – of all people! - to take this seriously, so you feel that they will do everything they can for you.  Kinda like my own personal Cancer Samurai, you know?

Dr. Hampshire took his time, had a meaningful dialogue with us, answered all of my questions, and laid out the eventual options.  He was very supportive about my decision to incorporate a naturopathic approach, and was excited to print out a report for me about the treatment/wellness spectrum and the complementary and harmonizing roles of both conventional therapies AND natural strategies.  He devoted a lot of time to explaining what we’ll be watching for as indicators that this cancer thing is beginning to morph – blood counts changing, more lymph nodes enlarging, organ involvement - which will then determine the timing and type of treatment.  I went away from the appointment confident that I made the right decision to switch, and knowing for certain that he will do his best to keep me healthy.

Dr. Hampshire, the newest weapon in my arsenal.

The next stop on this adventure in Cancerland:  CT scan and bloodwork, scheduled for August 30.  That’ll yield some important information, namely if the combination of acupuncture, nutrition, and supplements have knocked the little cancer buggers back some.  Since I’m still new to this cancer game, I’m not sure if that’s even feasible, but anything’s possible, right?  It certainly can’t hurt, AND it’s making me feel a helluva lot healthier than I did before.  

After the appointment with Dr. Hampshire, it was off to La Pinata in Old Town, for a plateful of Guacamole Enchiladas on the outdoor patio under colorful umbrellas – muy bueno!

  

Power food - hell yeh!!!