Wish me luck...
I am lucky enough to have been invited to teach SIX hours of Health Class at Mitchell High School tomorrow. This will be my third time doing this and let's just say I appreciate teachers more and more with each passing hour! Oh, in case you are wondering, I go there to teach the kids about eating disorders: what they are, how to recognize them, and how to get help.

Three Days to Go

Finally, only three more alarm clock wakings to go! :) Everybody keeps asking how radiation is going so I will give a quick update. I have not noticed any side effects but I am starting to get pretty tired. I can't decide if it is from waking up early, radiation, or having three weeks straight of class and work (no weekends off)...probably a combo. But it's starting to show. Workouts that were easy last week are much tougher this week. But with only three more days, I know I am getting off easy compared to most. I have this weekend completely off (homework aside) and look forward to sleeping in and doing a lot of nothing! :)

The COUNTDOWN Is On!!!

Today officially marks the final countdown of cancer treatment. I only have FIVE MORE DAYS of radiation left!!! Mark your calendar, February 2 is the big day! :)

Jedi Mind Tricks

I have spent the past two weekends in class...last weekend was non-optional and this weekend I elected to attend an EMDR training. EMDR is an energy-based therapy which helps people process traumatic memories in a quick period of time and does not require any talking. At first I thought it was a bunch of bull but the results are incredible. I actually am having it done on me tomorrow so we will see what happens! In case you are curious: EMDR

UofR Winter Party

Last night was our annual winter school party. Appearantly, we were celebrating the year of the Ox. Something to do with the Chinese calendar. Although, we were celebrating at a Greek restaurant so I am not sure how it all went together. The good news is I know have a lifetime 10% discount at Jake and Telly's (Old Colorado City) and I got a certificate to recognize my year on GSA (Graduate Student Association)...you know you are all jealous! :)

Recovery Speedy Gonzales Style!

Great news! I just got my most recent blood work back. My blood draw in December showed a white blood count of 900 (really low) and hematocrit of 36% (low and really sucky for a cyclist). That was December 11. I had another test on January 9, one month later, and...my numbers are up! My WBC is up to 8300 (well within normal range), hemoglobin is 14.4, and, most importantly to me, my hematocrit is up to 43.5%!!! :) Before treatment started, I was at 43.7% so I am back to pre-chemo hematocrit. My two week Cali Cancer Comeback Camp worked!!! :)

Go Chargers!

Like my cheerleader pose? Yeah...that's why I played sports and wasn't a cheerleader! :)

Take That Cancer!

An update on my recovery: I celebrated my one month anniversary of my last day of chemo with a personal best ride while in California! While my fitness is not great and I have some work to do on endurance, I was able to average 175 watts/99 rpms for 90 minutes...not bad considering I was 30 days out on chemo! :) And, I started doing a bit of structured riding while out there with personal bests on my power starts, both legs, highest power I have ever produced on my road bike during a start! :) I got about 276 miles in during my two weeks out there and was super excited about how strong I was right after chemo. I hope to keep building my base this month during radiation and want to start back to real training in February.

In regards to other updates, my hair is still falling out; although, it is slowing down and I am not bald. I do feel like a kid with tufts of hair growing back up front though. And radiation has been lengthened to 20 days (versus the original 14)...my last day if February 2 now.

Treatment Resumes
As you may recall, despite being cancer free now, I still have to go through radiation to make sure all of the Reed-Sternberg cells are dead. Technically, radiation is a much easier treatment in terms of short-term side effects with the only real anticipated problem of minor skin irritation (think sunburn). The bigger concern is possibility of breast cancer down the road from the radiation. I will be so closely monitored for the rest of my life I am not too worried about that though...what I am more concerned about right now is the fact that I have to wake up and be at radiation by 7:45am every single week day for the next fourteen days. I am really not a morning person and rarely wake up to an alarm clock; so, if I am grumpy over the next three weeks you'll know why! :) (And, yes, I did choose my treatment time...I wanted to get it out of the way early but am seriously wondering what the heck I was thinking when I choose that time!)

Home at Last

After 17 hours on the road and a night in Gallup, NM, I am officially back home in Colorado where it is 10F and feels like 2F. As you can see, Peter, my chauffer, was quite tired after our long drive home. We spent seven and a half hours on snowy highways and in zero visiblity today. I already did not like driving through NM and now I really don't like it...and I definitely miss CA already.

A Time To Pamper

One of my Christmas gifts this year was a gift certificate for a hot stone massage at the La Costa Spa. I cashed in on the GC yesterday and had a great afternoon of pampering as I was allowed to use the spa all day long. It was the type of spa where everybody walks around in white robes and you can't help but be at peace due to the waterfalls and music. It was a much needed day of relaxing after this fall and getting back into shape the past two weeks...and let's just say hot stone massages are AMAZING!!!