I've decided this is a triathlon. Not the one I envisioned when I'd considered signing up for one, but a triathlon just the same. Instead of a swim, bike and a run, it is instead chemoradiation, surgery, chemotherapy. I'm calling it an Ironman Triathlon. Maybe this time next year, I'll be training for the more usual kind of triathlon. First I have to learn how to swim though. Minor detail.
This winds up Phase I of the Cancer Triathlon. Phase II is the surgery, tentatively scheduled for April 24. That is the day my surgeon and his favorite robotics surgeon are both available. The tentative part is the availability of the robot. The surgery will be 7-9 hours long. Yep, you read that right. I'll come down to Houston starting the 20th or so, with 2 weeks after blocked out too. I had to get creative to get out of most of heifer calving. Looks like I've successfully dodged AI season too. Pretty good scheduling on my part, eh? After I return home and heal up, we'll start the final part of the race, the chemo. On track to cross the finish line sometime in Nov. or Dec.
As I've tried to communicate, I have tolerated the treatments remarkably well. Again, being relatively young, in good shape, and with no other complicating conditions, I was READY for this fight. My family and friends have coordinated very well so that the most time I've spent by myself here in Houston was 2 days. But I can see each new visitor arriving with some trepidation, having heard me say I'm doing well but not quite sure if I'm just putting on a brave face. It has been a full house too, and I've had to turn some visitors away. Of course, maybe it has something to do with the beach pictures that keep appearing on Facebook.
This winds up Phase I of the Cancer Triathlon. Phase II is the surgery, tentatively scheduled for April 24. That is the day my surgeon and his favorite robotics surgeon are both available. The tentative part is the availability of the robot. The surgery will be 7-9 hours long. Yep, you read that right. I'll come down to Houston starting the 20th or so, with 2 weeks after blocked out too. I had to get creative to get out of most of heifer calving. Looks like I've successfully dodged AI season too. Pretty good scheduling on my part, eh? After I return home and heal up, we'll start the final part of the race, the chemo. On track to cross the finish line sometime in Nov. or Dec.
As I've tried to communicate, I have tolerated the treatments remarkably well. Again, being relatively young, in good shape, and with no other complicating conditions, I was READY for this fight. My family and friends have coordinated very well so that the most time I've spent by myself here in Houston was 2 days. But I can see each new visitor arriving with some trepidation, having heard me say I'm doing well but not quite sure if I'm just putting on a brave face. It has been a full house too, and I've had to turn some visitors away. Of course, maybe it has something to do with the beach pictures that keep appearing on Facebook.
 Flanked by my daughters Laura (l) and Anna (r) on Galveston beach. Notice the ships on the horizon waiting for their turn in port. |  Following a big ship on our little ferry across the shipping channel. Fortunately, our captain yielded the ROW. |
I have never washed so many sheets in my life! By my count, I will have had a total of 11 different visits over this 6 weeks, which I have loved! And most visitors got some decent weather. My sister and I had some spectacular days this past week when she was with me. We spent one remarkable day at the Japanese Garden in Hermann Park. First, we visited with one of the leading herpatologists in the US about the turtles in the pond. When he pointed out the Missouri Cooter, I laughed. When we have our annual White Trash 4th of July Fireworks Extravaganza and Cooter Stew Fest, most people don't get the "Cooter" part of it and think I'm lying when I tell them that's a colloquial term for a turtle. So there. I have been vindicated and validated by a leading herpatoligist!
After the zookeepers departed, we asked a man in an official looking shirt about a particularly sweet smell when he wandered by. Wandered is an apt term because what ensued was a 2 hour wander of all of the gardener's favorite haunts. We're pretty sure he may have been impaired in a CO sort of way for our tour. He was incredibly knowledgeable about all thing horticultural and what makes the principles of Japanese gardening. However, he could not remember our names (he finally made some up), had a definitely difficult time maintaining his balance (although he managed not to fall in the koi pond despite many precarious wobblings) and showed us all the secret places he just liked to hang out. When we expressed admiration for a structure in the middle of the garden, he said it was a Japanese tea house, only open to the public 1x/year for a special ceremony. Unless your personal garden tour is feeling magnanimous and takes you on your own private tour. I was a little worried when he opened the tea cabinet and showed us all the ceremonial items though. They looked delicate. I was pretty sure we were going to be at the center of an "international incident." It wouldn't be the first time.
After the zookeepers departed, we asked a man in an official looking shirt about a particularly sweet smell when he wandered by. Wandered is an apt term because what ensued was a 2 hour wander of all of the gardener's favorite haunts. We're pretty sure he may have been impaired in a CO sort of way for our tour. He was incredibly knowledgeable about all thing horticultural and what makes the principles of Japanese gardening. However, he could not remember our names (he finally made some up), had a definitely difficult time maintaining his balance (although he managed not to fall in the koi pond despite many precarious wobblings) and showed us all the secret places he just liked to hang out. When we expressed admiration for a structure in the middle of the garden, he said it was a Japanese tea house, only open to the public 1x/year for a special ceremony. Unless your personal garden tour is feeling magnanimous and takes you on your own private tour. I was a little worried when he opened the tea cabinet and showed us all the ceremonial items though. They looked delicate. I was pretty sure we were going to be at the center of an "international incident." It wouldn't be the first time.
 The outside of the Japanese Tea House. Before the tour. |  The inside during our illicit tour. No nails used anywhere. The entire structure is held by precise fit. |
Between the visits, the beach, the dinners out, etc, etc, etc, the time has flown by. Today was the 2nd to last treatment. I visited afterwards with another man who's into his 2nd week of treatment. We shared stories and we noted we seem to have the same attitude towards the whole thing. He remarked that I was one of the people he told his friends about when talking about MDA. I held up my patient-braceleted arm and told him that when people see me, see my bracelet and see my big ol' smile (thanks Debbie!), I want them to be somehow uplifted, if just even for that moment, and have hope for the future while enjoying a warm smile from someone who knows at least a bit of what they're facing. He replied that he'd was going to take my torch and continue to do the same for others during the next 6 weeks of his treatment. And I just know he'll hand it off to the next person.
So tomorrow is the big day - the last treatment. I will get my treatment and then ring out. It is a ceremony where you ring a bell 3 times when you've completed your course. It is a Navy tradition of some sort and started at MDA by a naval officer who was a patient here. I will have to post that one later as we will then immediately knock down BOHICA, hook up and head for home. Hope to be in MHK in time for 5:30 pm Ash Wed. mass! See you soon, my friends. Can't wait to see you soon!
So tomorrow is the big day - the last treatment. I will get my treatment and then ring out. It is a ceremony where you ring a bell 3 times when you've completed your course. It is a Navy tradition of some sort and started at MDA by a naval officer who was a patient here. I will have to post that one later as we will then immediately knock down BOHICA, hook up and head for home. Hope to be in MHK in time for 5:30 pm Ash Wed. mass! See you soon, my friends. Can't wait to see you soon!
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