05-28-2011Two days since chemo and I've been feeling pretty good. Got a quick 19 miles in on the bike after work last night. I actually felt great and would have gone farther but was afraid of getting caught in the rain on my beloved Cannondale (
The Princess).
Just to break up the monotony of text, text, text, here's a boring, repetitive, already been done, predictable, you name it, kind of picture from my ride, from the bridge across the Fox at Millington:
Then I came home and mowed the front yard before dark. When I got off the tractor, I was really aware of my fingers humming, like MAD. Wonder if that's a little fallout from the chemo mixed with the vibration from the tractor?
This morning about 5:30 Tessa climbed into bed with Julie and I so I went out and racked on the couch and slept til about 9:30 which is unheard of for me. It was awesome to sleep in but Julie warned me that there will NOT be a repeat performance tomorrow. Tomorrow it's HER turn. Which is fine.
After I got up, I mowed the back yard and worked on a few things. I spent
hours running some wires for outdoor speakers on our patio, partly in the rain.
We took Austin and Tessa to get something to eat and I brought a bowl of Wendy's chili back to feast on. For $1.29 you can't beat it. And it tasted good on a rainy and chilly May evening.
I think it's supposed to be rainy again tomorrow, but Memorial Day is supposed to be dry and hot and I am DEFINITELY planning a bike excursion.
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Perspective for Memorial Day, #IA few weeks ago, one of the drivers at the company where I work got the flu. He went to the doctor and they treated him and sent him home. He didn't get better so he went to the doctor and they treated him again and sent him home, AGAIN. He still didn't get better so he went back to the doctor
for the third time and this time he was admitted to the hospital.
Eighteen days later he died. Tommy was 31 and left behind 4 children.
The old cliche about "you just never know" is not a cliche, it's a fact.
Tommy's story is
HERE*
Perspective for Memorial Day, #III have an acquaintance through work that I have to call about once a month. Even though we've never met in person, I feel like I know Alex. He works for one of our customers in far Northern Illinois and lives in Wisconsin. He and his wife enjoy bicycling so we are always swapping stories about that. We also talk about politics, family, the direction of our country and the world. His mother died recently and we had a talk about the meaning of life, etc.
Yesterday I called to check on a business matter. Then, as always, the call turned to "what have you got planned for this weekend?" kind of stuff. When I talk to Alex, the business stuff, although important, is just background, the real meat of the matter is when we discuss what's going on in our lives.
Alex told me that on Memorial Day, he and his wife are going to Wood National Cemetery in Milwaukee to visit the grave of a fallen hero. He and his wife knew this soldier and have known her family for some time. Michelle Witmer was the first woman in the history of the Wisconsin National Guard to die in combat.
Spc. Michelle Witmer's story is
HERE***
When I think about Tommy dying at 31, my battle with cancer beginning at age 52 pales by comparison.
And when I think of the Whitmers losing their 20 year old daughter and sister, our anguish over our daughter moving 2 miles away really seems insignificant.
Really, in view of Tommy's story and Spc. Michelle Witmer's story, how trivial are my problems?
My mom used to say "if you feel sorry for yourself because you don't have any shoes, wait til you meet someone who doesn't have any feet".
Indeed.
I really noticed a lot of tingling in both feet while I was riding, which I guess is more neuropathy from the chemo. It hasn't bothered me much otherwise. The doctor said he could give me something if that gets to be a problem, but if riding is the only issue, I'll just let it go.
