Well, I'm registered for the LiveStrong Challenge in Austin, Tx. No turning back now! I signed up to do the 65 mile ride. They had a 90 mile ride also, but I don't know if I'll be up to that much by then. Who knows, maybe I will. I can change it later on if I want to. Here's the link to my own little web site for the fund raising. So, if you would like to give a few dollars, it would be much appreciated. ;-)
http://austin08.livestrong.org/chadmeeh
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Friday, January 11, 2008
Port Removed
Wednesday, January 9th, I had my port removed. Thank goodness! That was the last thing to have done to say "I'm done" with the cancer treatment. If you don't know what a port is, this is it: http://www.powerportadvantage.com. It goes right underneath the skin, usually on the front upper section of the chest. They wanted to put it on the left side, but I figured "I'm going to be doing a lot of driving, and the seatbelt would go right over that. That may hurt." So I had them put it in on the right side, mostly out of convenience. Anyways, everything went well. I'm still a little sore, but it's nothing. A little Darvocet and EVERYTHING is fine. Haha (Not really. I am having to take it for the pain though.)
It's a huge relief to be on the other end of treatment. I have a lot to look forward to this year. My friend Amanda and myself have pretty much decided that we are going to do the LiveStrong ride in Austin, TX. It's not till October, so I have plenty of time to get ready for it. She's already a good rider, fitness wise, and she has experience doing charity rides. So, that's part of my motivation to get good on the road bike (so I'm not too embarrassed by being this big guy on a tiny bike with no clue on what he's doing). Some other people have expressed some interest in doing the LiveStrong ride with us, but I don't know if they will do it or not. I'm excited to be going to Austin. This is the main event, if you will, of the LiveStrong rides. It's spread out over a few days, with a lot of stuff going on in the community. I think it will be a blast.
Well, as soon as I heal from the surgery, my training begins! I won't be following a training plan yet, as I'm basically coming in to it as a beginner. Chris, the general manager at the bicycle store I work at part-time, advised to just start riding for 30 minutes at a time to begin. That way, I get use to it first. Every week or 2, begin increasing the time I'm riding, by about 10 minutes each time. I figured once I get up to about 1 to 1 1/2 hours at a time, I should be good to start a training plan. We'll see though. I'm excited to begin training. I have a good amount of extra weight that I need to get rid of (partly due to the cancer), and I know I'll start feeling better once it starts coming off. All in good time though.
I'm going to post a few pictures of my new road bike next post. It's a 2007 Lemond Alpe De'Huez. Good looking bike, in my opinion, and extremely comfortable. It's been rated as a very good bike for longer distances and people who have had back troubles, so this suits me almost to a T. There's still a few things I want to upgrade on it, as most of you know I can't help myself when it comes to putting money into a bike. It's just that I really enjoy doing it. So, be looking for those pictures here in a week or so.
God bless,
Chad
It's a huge relief to be on the other end of treatment. I have a lot to look forward to this year. My friend Amanda and myself have pretty much decided that we are going to do the LiveStrong ride in Austin, TX. It's not till October, so I have plenty of time to get ready for it. She's already a good rider, fitness wise, and she has experience doing charity rides. So, that's part of my motivation to get good on the road bike (so I'm not too embarrassed by being this big guy on a tiny bike with no clue on what he's doing). Some other people have expressed some interest in doing the LiveStrong ride with us, but I don't know if they will do it or not. I'm excited to be going to Austin. This is the main event, if you will, of the LiveStrong rides. It's spread out over a few days, with a lot of stuff going on in the community. I think it will be a blast.
Well, as soon as I heal from the surgery, my training begins! I won't be following a training plan yet, as I'm basically coming in to it as a beginner. Chris, the general manager at the bicycle store I work at part-time, advised to just start riding for 30 minutes at a time to begin. That way, I get use to it first. Every week or 2, begin increasing the time I'm riding, by about 10 minutes each time. I figured once I get up to about 1 to 1 1/2 hours at a time, I should be good to start a training plan. We'll see though. I'm excited to begin training. I have a good amount of extra weight that I need to get rid of (partly due to the cancer), and I know I'll start feeling better once it starts coming off. All in good time though.
I'm going to post a few pictures of my new road bike next post. It's a 2007 Lemond Alpe De'Huez. Good looking bike, in my opinion, and extremely comfortable. It's been rated as a very good bike for longer distances and people who have had back troubles, so this suits me almost to a T. There's still a few things I want to upgrade on it, as most of you know I can't help myself when it comes to putting money into a bike. It's just that I really enjoy doing it. So, be looking for those pictures here in a week or so.
God bless,
Chad
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Officially in the Clear
I am now officially cancer-free! Boy, what a great thing. It's such a relief to know the cancer is in remission, and the doctor doesn't even expect anything to come up again, ever. It's because the cancer such a quick and great response to the chemo-therapy, that they expect it to stay away. There's always the slight chance of it coming back though. Something like 1-5%. I'll take those odds. It's been such a journey. My good friend, Blaine, told me about 2 Cor 1: 3-4. Boy was he right on the money with that one. No sooner did I read that, then one of my co-workers, who's in his 60s, found out he has lung cancer. One of the things he told me though was that he thought of me and how I persevered through my cancer, and it gave him a good bit of encouragement. So, we talked for about half an hour about it all, and he felt a lot more comfortable about what to expect. He has stage 1 cancer, which is good (relatively) because it's in it's beginning stages. He has a much higher chance of surviving with a great outcome. So, to be able to share my experience with him was a good thing for me also. It always feels good when you can comfort someone who's going through the same thing you went through and have the experience.
Other than that, my strength is coming back, slowly. I can tell the chemo is finally getting out of my system, and things are getting back to normal. And food is starting to taste normal again! What a great thing. But I still have the occasional chemo-brain thing happening. (Chemo-brain is slang for the side effect the chemo has on short-term memory). I can be thinking about doing something, and literally within 5 minutes I will completely forget about it. I didn't normally do this before. Not too much anyways. But that's starting to get better too.
So, this Christmas is going to be a little more special to me, even though I'll be by myself. The good Lord keeps reminding me of what I've been through, and it just puts a smile on my face to know that I came out on the other side just fine, with His right beside me of course. And I'm really looking forward to 2008. I think things are going to be good for me. We'll see what happens!
Other than that, my strength is coming back, slowly. I can tell the chemo is finally getting out of my system, and things are getting back to normal. And food is starting to taste normal again! What a great thing. But I still have the occasional chemo-brain thing happening. (Chemo-brain is slang for the side effect the chemo has on short-term memory). I can be thinking about doing something, and literally within 5 minutes I will completely forget about it. I didn't normally do this before. Not too much anyways. But that's starting to get better too.
So, this Christmas is going to be a little more special to me, even though I'll be by myself. The good Lord keeps reminding me of what I've been through, and it just puts a smile on my face to know that I came out on the other side just fine, with His right beside me of course. And I'm really looking forward to 2008. I think things are going to be good for me. We'll see what happens!
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