Good weekend!

Not much to complain about these first 3 days after chemo. Enjoyed the amazing weather, had dinner with the Delmans last night, went for a walk, took the kids to see my dad, cooked dinner tonight, and now resting before a non- running party with running friends.

So not much to report, but thought you might like that report!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

Live from the Chemo Room, Episode 3

Today may set a new record. We've managed to add Zometa, a non-chemo drug that helps strengthen bones when you've had a bone metastasis, to the chemo schedule that already has two infusions, plus all the anti-nausea and other drips. I had been on an every 4 week schedule for Zometa and every 3 for the other drugs. Dr. Z recognized the inconvenience of that schedule (he inherited) and fixed it.  So it saves me from a separate trip, but I'm thinking we'll hit 7 hours today.

Marcie is with me this morning, and Danny G. is making the schlep this afternoon. Danny needs to be careful. When they see people with little or no hair on their head around here, the nurses start sticking needles in them. They can't help it.


No TV today so far, so the other 4 patients and I must entertain ourselves. Marcie and I got two audiobooks for our drive to TN last weekend, so I'm listening to Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods, which tells the story of the author's attempt to hike the entire Appalachian Trail. I've learned that he is an incredibly funny writer and that my lifelong aversion to camping was well-founded. Don't get me wrong, the scenic beauty part sounds attractive, and I did enjoy the occasional overnight adventure back at Camp Barney Medintz. It's weeks and weeks of digging one's own latreen and sleeping among the mice on shelter platforms that I could do without. Some people see marathon runners and ask "why?" I'm looking at AT hikers and asking the same thing.

I have a business trip in a couple weeks. I'll be in Peru for a few days. Quick aside - we're going to visit a supplier of carbon for the steel industry. The carbon comes from a coal derivative called "coke." So, I'm going to meet with a potential new Peruvian coke dealer! Dr. Z's cool with the trip, and says my plan of wearing a mask on the plane is silly. "Do you really think that mask is going to stop a virus from getting in?" he asks. Guess not. But I will wash my hands obsessively and avoid the local agua.

When I get back, we'll do a PET Scan. Assuming Dr Z likes what he sees, I'm probably in for 3 more rounds of chemo, another PET scan, and then hopefully dropping back into maintenance mode, meaning staying on 2 of my 3 chemo meds (1 infusion, 1 oral), but dropping the one with the worst of the side effects. That's a plan I can live with. Literally.

Shout out to Rob for the Chemo Eve run after work yesterday, to travel doc Mitchell Blass for the low down on avoiding the Perils of Peru, and to Sandi for the care package of stuff from the Livestrong conference, the books, etc. Oh, and to Adele and Jules (Jane) thanks for giving me a couple nights off from making dinner. And to all who continue to ask how I'm doing, I thank you for your concern, and I'm happy to report that all's well.

I'm planning to keep it that way!

Priceless

A weekend full of good weather,
Great food,
A delightful Inn,
And "just us" time with Marcie

(thanks runner ET for the title of this brief but heartfelt post)

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

Round and Round and Round

This probably isn't what Joni had in mind, but today marked my return to the track, and it was great to see some old friends and many of the new crew I'd been hearing about since last Fall. John and Wes go back to the Black Mat Running Club days at Tucker High, before they tore the place up and made it all fancy. E's been my self-described running sister for years now, and they even made sure that I wasn't the oldest runner there (thanks Robyn). David, Eileen, and Kate - hope we'll see out there soon!

An 800 and a trio of 400's isn't much to write home about, but it sure felt good to me. Five times around the really cushy surface at St Pius is enough to make you realize 1) us Jews have nothing on these Catholic folks when it comes to raising money and 2) you won't hear me complaining about the boredom of track workouts anytime soon.

All The World's A Stage

"Julien asked what Stage it was, and I told him Stage I, is that right?"

That was little A last night describing a conversation in 4th grade about your humble author. I'm probably like a lot of you when it comes to understanding cancer-speak. I know there are 4 "Stages" and the higher the number, the worse it is.When my mom died, it was from Stage 4 cancer. So Stage 4 = death sentence, right?

Wrong. The Stage does describe whether the cancer has spread from its source to other parts of the body. In my case, I had Stage 0 or carcinoma in situ in 2005. Adele likes to say I didn't have "real" cancer back then, and the National Cancer Institute agrees: Carcinoma in situ (CIS; abnormal cells are present but have not spread to neighboring tissue; although not cancer, CIS may become cancer and is sometimes called preinvasive cancer) . Unfortunately, the life insurance companies disagree, but that's a topic for another posting. My cancer was contained within a polyp.There was no evidence it had even penetrated the wall of my colon, let alone broken through and spread to any other organs. Nearly six years later, it popped up in my pelvis. Nobody knows for sure how that happened. I never even had another polyp until 2010, and the one we found back in March was not cancerous. So again, I'm not picturing a tumor blowing through the sidewall of my colon scattering cancer dust everywhere. One theory is that lots of cancers create rogue cells, and that our natural immune systems are usually smart enough, or the rogue cells dumb enough, to wipe them out long before they can take up residence somewhere in your body. Mine were smarter than that. Too smart for my own good.

So what Stage does that make me? I guess that's technically Stage 4 - colon cancer has been found someplace other than in or adjacent to my colon. Dr. Z doesn't talk in stages or numbers of any kind, we just talk about how we're going to treat me, how we're going to make me better. I've met several people who are long-term Stage 4 survivors, leading cancer free lives, some dealing with the long-term effects of their treatment, but no longer dealing with cancer. I've read countless stories of people with Stage 4 cancers: colon, testicular, breast, you name it, who have survived and thrived and who are on this Earth in part to remind all of us that this is a very personalized disease. You fight hard, ask questions, seek options, eat right, exercise, pray. And then you wake up the next day and do it all again.

Rob, who knows a thing or two about fighting cancer, said to me yesterday "you play for time." So true. Not in the "I have x months left so I'm going to climb this mountain or jump out of that airplane." I'll leave that shit to Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. I'm playing for the time when some researcher at MD Anderson, Mayo, Sloan Kettering, or some Med School in Mumbai  figures out the magic bullet. The day will come when we get our Polio/Diptheria/Cancer vaccine, or when we drink the cocktail that kills all the rogue cells dead like Raid for tumors. It may be 5 years, 10 years, 25 years from now. Until then, I'll get treated, be cancer free for what I hope will be a long, long time, and if necessary, get treated again. Zap me, poison me, cut stuff out - I can take it. We, my amazing family and I, can take it.

So JuJu, your friends' dad has Stage 4 Colon Cancer. But don't worry. He's going to be OK.

An update on Smoothies and other fine foods

UPDATE  - If you want to really get your freak on, replace the banana in the Smoothie recipe below with half an avocado, as ripe as you can find. You'll want a little more sweet stuff if you go this route, maybe a few drops of Agave nectar. Danny G knows him some Asian cuisine, and he turned me on to the fact that avocado is used in desserts all over that part of the world. It's only us Tex-Mex loving Westerners who decided to use it in savory dishes. As they say, a billion Chinese folks (plus their Thai, Malay, Vietnamese, etc, neighbors) can't be wrong.  Plus, that pit makes a helluva conversation piece at the Testicular Cancer Support Group (it's OK, there's a dude in that group making fun of my missing 13 inches of colon as we speak).

And in case you missed it in the comments, Ghila sent a link to a site that has terrific recipes that happen to align many of the suggestions from the great book Anticancer, A New Way of Life, New Edition by David Servan-Schreiber. Here's the link. http://www.bwell4life.com/bwell4life/Recipe_Index.html

So far I've tried the Salmon Curry Soup, the Quick Chicken Tortilla Soup, and the Quinoa Saute. All easy to make and delish! Tom from work was planning to try the Sweet Potato Pancakes - report please!

It's Valentines Day, Grab Your Kleenex

You ready for the sweetest VD story ever? Wait that didn't sound right. A & J's class had their little party today and they made cards. They could choose from making cards for their friends, for a foundation that helps sick kids, or... me!

Super mom and survivor BL asked my kids if they thought it would be ok to include me in the list. They did, and I had a collection of wonderful handmade cards when I got home tonight. Not every kid made one and the ones who didn't are no longer welcome at my home naturally, but the others were really sweet. Only kidding. I will get my revenge on Auction Night by "accidentally" adding a couple hundred to any winning bids from the parents of these uncaring adolescents. It's good to be the King, or in this case, the Auctioneer.

We don't usually do big Valentines stuff around here, but we made a little more effort this year. Little A helped me dip strawberries, bananas, animal crackers, and blood orange slices in chocolate (white and semi-sweet) after work, which we all enjoyed after dinner. I'm leaving out any whining, crying, gnashing of teeth, not to mention the kids' behavior, and choosing to remember only the good parts. It's best for everyone that way.

Friends, I hope your day was delightful too. If not, use that selective memory trick. Or a jager shot.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

What's Your Favorite Food?

It's a question that comes up from time to time, and I often struggle to answer. As the chief cook (but thankfully not bottle washer) in Ristorante Beskind, I'm usually the Decider when it comes to what goes on the table. I'm finding that my goal of eating all healthy, organic, cancer-fighting foods isn't easy, especially in Week 1 after chemo, when I just want lots of comfortable, bland foods - breads, rice, potatoes, and the like.

But when I am eating healthy - whether cancer-fighting or just being Me, my favorite food just might be The Smoothie. Not the ones they sell next to yogurt at Publix, and not 80% ice, 20% stuff they sell you for $5 at Smoothie King. No, a real Smoothie has no added ice or water, just fruit, protein, OJ, and if you're feeling all Whole Foodsie, a little flax seed. As a service to you, dear readers, I share with you a recipe, even though many of you know I normally use such instructions merely as suggestions, not formulae to be followed to the letter. The secret my friends is to replace the ice with frozen strawberries. That gets you the cold without turning the thing into a Majic Market Slushie (Oak Grove Road 1976 - who remembers?).

Here's what you do:

Put 4 - 5 frozen strawberries in the blender (I like sliced ones, but whole work too)
Half Fill the blender with cold water and swirl the berries by hand until slightly thawed (10 - 15 sec for whole, less for sliced). Note: if you just turned your blender on, you screwed up. Dump and start over.
Drain the water

Add (in order) : 
1 - 2 scoops of your favorite Protein Powder (Vanilla is best - try Trader Joe's Soy if you don't have a favorite)
1 tsp ground flax seed - because unless you nosh on anchovies, you need more Omega 3's in your diet
Small Berries - fresh or frozen blue, black, or rasp. about the same volume as the frozen strawberries above, and if you're going to splurge on organic, this is where you do it. Berries soak up pesticide like they're Bounty. You want mango too? I'm good with that.
1 banana - more ripe is better, it puts the smooth in smoothie
OJ to taste/texture. You'll need some, but too much turns this into fruit punch. Start with a couple ounces and add if you can't suck the results through a straw.

Blend until, well, smooth

Enjoy your perfect power breakfast/ post-run recovery drink/ kid snack. If that's not the best smoothie you've had, especially compared to the franchise variety, I'll give you double your money back. Or better yet, come to my house so we can diagnose what you did wrong. There is one Smoothie King, and he is me, but I am a benevolent despot.

PS - A word about blenders: here's where the franchise smoothie places get it right. Get the least-featured, loudest, one-speed beast your spouse will allow you to keep on the counter. That 18 speed Black & Decker Turbo Widow Maker with the Target red trim need not apply.

An Odeium to Imodium

You arrive in your display case
Of plastic and foil sealed
Protecting you my pearl
From damages concealed

After my quaking fingers
Free you from your cage
Procol Harum white, upon
You I finally gaze

Your taste at first sweet
Dissolves quickly in my mouth
The first of many times today
You begin the slide towards south

Inside you land in seas
Tossing to and fro
Continuing your mission
You slip e're more below

The rumble and the roar
Shan't keep you from your goal
To quiet the storm that rages
Dare I rhyme with "bowl?"

Like Neptune I sit upon The Throne
Porcelin and white
Waiting for confirmation
Of a victory in the fight

More troops you cry above the din
With which I soon comply
Hoping against hope that these
Are the last to sacrifice

At last the calm wins out
And order is restored
I drink, I eat, blandly
Calm and rest. Accord

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

It's always something!

GI problems in check? Check!

Skin tone normal? Check!

Vision blurry? WTF?

Nowhere in my Chemo Drug for Dummies leaflets does it say, "this one will make your vision blurrier than normal when you don't have you glasses on, but then normal when you do have them on." At least as far as I can tell from attempting to read the leaflets now that I have the aforementioned vision issue.

So, that's not too bad, I guess, as side effects go. I'm a bit more tired than I recall last time, probably because I did a good job staying on the anti-nausea drugs, each of which carries a "makes you drowsy" warning.

But overall, Round 2 is better than Round 1, although I was hoping for a hottie to walk around with a Round Card like they do in boxing or MMA. Not that I don't have a hottie right here to do it, but Marcie seems preoccupied. Oh well, maybe Round 3...

Shh! Don't tell the Karma Keepers...

... but I'm feeling pretty good today. I'm not sure if it was a slight reduction in the dosage of one of the chemo drugs Dr. Z ordered, or more eating and drinking, or more religiously following the anti-nausea med schedule, but I feel pretty good today. I've been working from home, enjoying some quality time with Ali B, although from afar since she has strep and I'm immuno-compromised. We did watch Secretariat, compliments of the Mays clan of Mequon, WI.

I also had a nice surprise from Austin, TX today. Check out this pic from the support wall at a Livestrong Conference. Sandi was kind enough not only to put my name up there, but she also promoted this very blog. Wouldn't it be cool if caregivers from all over cancer-dom picked up on my blog, and then I could turn on the advertising feature, start making big bucks from click throughs on Google ads for "9 things your doctor doesn't want you to know about you ostomy," or "new anti-viagra shrinks tumors for 36 hours." In the meantime, you should get to know Sandi's organization. It's called SuperSibs and it provides resources to support siblings of kids who have cancer.

Good people doing really good things. A bunch of them are at that Livestrong conference touching the lives of thousands every day. Some are sitting up in Wisconsin hoping the snow doesn't cover the satellite dish come Sunday. Some are our parents who either come down from the mountain to help with the kids, or who call every day from Kittredge Ct.asking how he can help. Others are friends checking in from port in Key West, from a sleepy house in Roma, from a studio in Palm Coast, or from work in Denver, Miami, Charleston, or good ole Tucker, GA. My thanks to all of you for what you're doing for me and for the good things you do for others every day.

May the Karma Keepers take note and repay you in kindness and love. 

Chemo Live 2

Do you know the Muffin Lady, the Muffin Lady, the Muffin Lady? I do. She's a patient of Dr. Z who is in remission from non-hogkins lymphoma. She stops by once a week with baked goods. Today was yummy peach muffins, made the anti-cancer way, without white ingredients. We had a nice chat about stem cell replacement and colonoscopy prep (lobby for the pill based method, I advised). Only in the Chemo Room!


Can we talk daytime TV? Last time I was here I endured hours of Judge shows. Judge Judy, Judge Brown, etc. While I appreciate the lessons like "a promise from your sugar daddy does not a contract make" and "you paying for your brother's girlfriend's abortion is not a valid excuse for not paying rent," one hour would have been sufficient. Today, it's all infomercial, all the time. Now you know I'm a P90x devotee, so I was interested in that one. And as a smoothie maker, I can understand the appeal of the Magic Bullet. But I don't need a half hour to convince me I don't need a Shark Vac n Steam. The only way to make this programming appealing is to play a drinking game using the phrase "that's not all." Don't know about my white count today, but my blood alcohol is up to 1.4!


I have to run, next up is a revolutionary new 12 in 1 kitchen tool with the kung fu grip. What's that 800 number again?


UPDATE - I arrived 7.5 hours ago. I'm not complaining, because it's not like I was forgotten about (this isn't that place after all), it's just that my stuff takes a while to infuse. As I type, I'm having an after-dinner drink (the French call it dessertif - no need to thank me for that valuable nugget) of Ca and Mg. I prefer to sip this particular cocktail, so I'll be done in 30 minutes or so. Check-out has been extended to 5 PM but after that I have to pay for another night. Might as well order some Zaxby's and spend the night here. They have a bigger TV than I do. Oh, and I did get the channel changed to CNN, thank Tedness. 

When Bad Sh&% Happens to Good People

No, I'm not talking about me. Remember my earlier post Press On? The family that started the foundation to find less toxic therapies for neuroblastoma, a terrible disease their son has had since he was 3, was robbed last week. While they were in Philadelphia trying a new medicine. 


They're not asking for help financially, but they lost all their digital pictures and videos, which they desperately want to get back. It's a long shot, but follow the links in case you happen across their items, or if you just need a good cry.


Here's a link to the video and the story .


As one commenter on the 11 alive site said, there's a special place for the people who did this, and I'd like to help them get there.