Well, dang...the cancer's back...

[TQ]

Just got back from Houston after a batting a triple - Day One: Picc line installation (ah...the PICC line, my old friend). Day Two: Twelve hours of doctor's appointments, filling prescriptions, fixing prescription snafus, acquiring the supplies we'll need to service the PICC line and topping off Dia de Dos with a late start to my chemo session, which put me getting back to the hotel around 1:30am this morning. Day Three: Before heading home to Austin going back over the MD's pharmacy the retrieve the snafu-repaired Heprin prescription.
I'm sitting now with my third-chemo cocktail pump attached to my waist via a fanny pack where it will reside while the drug "5-FU" seeps slowly into my system over the next three days.

I have to admit: I'm a bit on the tired side. Still, it beats being dirtside.

[jaketerminate]

You gotta beat it.

[XJ.]

Originally Posted by TQ

I have to admit: I'm a bit on the tired side. Still, it beats being dirtside.

Good point!!

Thanks for the update TQ.

[TQ]

Take care of yourself while you're young, Jake. You'll really appreciate it when you hit forty. I know it seems like that's far away right now, but you'll be surprised at how fast it comes up on you.

[jmlikos]

Thanks for the update. You are in our prayers. This is a good one when times get tough.

Phil.4:13

[k0NG0]

Originally Posted by TQ

Take care of yourself while you're young, Jake. You'll really appreciate it when you hit forty. I know it seems like that's far away right now, but you'll be surprised at how fast it comes up on you.

I'm surprised you even remember forty...

[jaketerminate]

Originally Posted by TQ

Take care of yourself while you're young, Jake. You'll really appreciate it when you hit forty. I know it seems like that's far away right now, but you'll be surprised at how fast it comes up on you.

Thanks Youre a really good guy.

[TQ]

Originally Posted by k0NG0

I'm surprised you even remember forty...

I have pictures, so I must have been there.

[ATINUT]

TQ, I look at it this way, when it comes to cancer. If God asks you to do time in Purgatory, you can tell him, I already did my time there.

In any case, take care of yourself.

[ctal]

Originally Posted by TQ

Take care of yourself while you're young, Jake. You'll really appreciate it when you hit forty. I know it seems like that's far away right now, but you'll be surprised at how fast it comes up on you.

Yes, very nice of you to say that TQ. I found that the years seem to go by much more quickly as an adult who is no longer in school, than as a teenager. Perhaps it's because there are a lot of major milestones spaced closely together when one is a teenager (each semester in school, graduations, etc). Perhaps it's because a year is a smaller percentage of one's lifetime as one gets older. Perhaps both, as well as other factors.

In any event, thanks for the update TQ. The small silver lining in this is that you've been through it before, and you know what to expect, and how to balance rest, activity, etc. And hopefully and probably the result will be the same kind of success.

Also, be sure to check out Sir Skully's recent stardust threads (two of them)!

Best,

-- Al

[TQ]

I really didn't begin to take care of myself until I was thirty-three. I remember the reason why I did it very clearly. I was living in Colorado Springs doing mid-days and production on KILO94 when I struck up a friendship with a guy who expressed an interest in hiking in Colorado's extensive backcountry.
In June '84 we decided to do a three-nighter to Snowmass Lake in the Maroon Bells/Snowmass Wilderness. To get there we had to cross Buckskin Pass, a 12,000 foot alpine pass on the trail to the lake.
It exhausted me, utterly. I finally collapsed about (didn't know it at the time) a quarter mile from our destination and begged to be left to die. Kurt told me to stay where I was and he'd scout ahead to see how far it was to the campground. He returned in about half an hour, which gave me time to gather my remaining strength, enough to make it to the campsite.
Because of the inclement weather we cut our planned three day trip down to a two day, but when I came back down Buckskin's east slope I swore that I'd never allow myself to be physically beaten like that again. I joined a gym the next week and worked out like a demon no less than six days a week. I put on pounds of muscle and increased my endurance...and when we went back to the same wilderness area the following summer we did four 12,000 foot passes (Buckskin, Trail Rider, Frigid Air and West Maroon) over a three day period. I saw sights one can only experience on foot or horseback and it was a confirmation of my commitment to physical fitness.

Even back in 2006 I still worked out in between treatments, although I had to modify the resistance considerably due to my lowered oxygenation. I plan to continue that during these next several months, as well.
Being in good shape, I believe, allowed the chemo to have a far ranging ride through my system, which efficiently delivered the drugs to the areas they needed to go. I think that will hold just as true today.

Over the years my workout routine has changed quite a bit. As I got older I was less interested in packing around a bunch of muscle and became more oriented towards endurance and flexibility. I also see that some of the muscle building exercises I used to do as having contributed to back and knee problems. If I knew then what I know now I'd have done things a bit differently, but no regrets. It still led me to where I am now and I still have an obsession with fitness.
It has served me well and with God's grace will do so again.

[ctal]

Yes, as a person who took up distance running at the age of 39 (a while ago!), and who has successfully run one 26.2 mile marathon and innumerable shorter races, I can attest to how amazingly the body can respond and adapt to the right kind of conditioning, when done consistently and built up gradually over a long period of time.

Typically someone starting a running program as an adult will spend the first few weeks struggling through a fraction of a mile, and find it utterly inconceivable that he or she could ever complete, say, a 10K (6.2 mile) run, at any pace. With the right kind of consistent training, coupled with the right balance of strength and flexibility exercises (to keep the muscles in balance), a year later that will be a proverbial walk in the park.

-- Al

[Dread]

Been MIA for a bit. Sorry to read this, TQ.
Hope you get the treatment you need and kick its royal **** totally!

[Sir Skully]

You have a lot of ABX buds, prayers, good thoughts, and stardust all coming your way TQ. I pray you the best..........

[RavenWolf]

I'm new here and all, but I'm sure you can beat this stuff. Better to be pushing buttons than daisies.