Well, 2010 is over with

Well, 2010 is over with.  Sure went by fast.  And I feel like I didn't do nearly as much as I would have liked to do.  I really wanted to get back into exercising, riding my bike more, and really buckle down on doing more school work.  But for some reason or another, I just never really committed to any of it.  I could go on with the excuses, but I'm not going to.  So, for 2011, I'm going to try harder at everything.  I have a new mountain bike, and am still working on what goals I want to set for myself this year.  One thing I'm thinking of, as far as mountain biking, is to ride in a 50 mile/12 hour marathon.  I may be biting off a lot more than I can chew, but at least it's something to focus on and move towards.  If I can just get my knee/leg to cooperate a little more, I'll be good.  My knee should be good to go for a little bit.  After a couple of x-rays, the docs said I basically have no cartilage left in my knee.  So, I had a series of shots to help "lubricate" the joint, and hopefully they'll last at least a year.  I sure didn't enjoy the shots, but they seem to be helping.  Along with the knee shots, I am starting a workout program that is specific towards mountain biking.  There's a lot to it, and it's a little intimidating, but I'm going to try it. 

 

Okay, so other than the mountain bike thing, I finally finished my Fire Inspector II certification.  I am so glad that's over with.  There's so much to it, it's almost overwhelming.  I feel like I could do the job fairly competently, though.  I'm looking for a position with the government (I have over 12 years total in, so might as well stay with it), but it's kind of slow going.  Not a lot of open positions that I can qualify for at the moment.  But I'm going to keep looking.  In the meantime, I'm going to see if I can go on some inspections with the base inspectors, to get a better feel for how they do it, and get some actual experience under my belt.  I also want to start taking some college classes again.  I'm not too sure on what to focus on at the moment, but I can at least get the general classes out of the way. 

 

On the cancer front, I had my two year scans/tests in November.  Everything came out great!  Which is a huge relief for me.  Sure doesn't seem like it's been 2 years since the transplant.  But thank the good Lord above that I've made it two years.  And with the two year anniversary and clear scans, I've officially been released as a patient of the transplant group.  Yee Ha!  I've been released back to my original oncologist doctor, Dr. Hahm, who is awesome.  She's going to have me do a scan/test in 6 months, and another at 1 year.  As long as those two are good and clear, I should be finished with the testing!  And will be given the all clear!  Oh Lord, let me get though this next year with my sanity intact!  With all of this good news about me, I kind of feel bad because I haven't contributed back to anyone or anything.  I feel compelled to do some kind of volunteer stuff or support help for those that are still going through treatment.  I have no idea on what to do, or where to put that focus at, but I'm going to try to do somthing this year.  More to follow.

 

So, with this being my first post of the new year, I'm going to work on posting more often.  Looking back at my posts for 2010, it's not nearly enough, I don't think.  For my next post I'll put up pics of the new bike, and try to flesh out some kind of plan for my mountain bike "event".  Until then, everyone enjoy the new year. 

Bring a can of WD-40 with you to the doctor...

Had the orthopedic doctor's appointment a week and a half ago, and my knee isn't as bad as they thought.  From the symptoms, it seemed like I may have had a tear in the meniscus.  But after the MRI, it wasn't that, but a lot of the cartilage in the area, especially behind my knee cap, is just about gone.  So, short of a total knee replacement, there's not much they can do besides some "lubrication" shots (which I automatically began thinking they would connect a can of WD-40 to a needle).  Which I should start those very soon, at least hopefully.   Besides, I'm way too young for a knee replacement.  On top of the WD-40, I started taking that Glucosamine combination stuff, so we'll see if that helps. 

I was actually able to get a short ride on the bike today also.  Lord am I out of shape!  That's alright though, I have a refreshed outlook on my health and all that.  I have a long way to go to be able to do one of my "epic" trips, but a couple of books I've picked up lately and websites I've found have inspired me to really focus on the goal.  So, we'll see how things turn out.  Who knows, I may even be living in a different state by then. ;-)

May scan was great

My latest scans/tests were back in May. The bone-marrow doctor told me everything looked as good as they could possibly be. Pretty good relief for me. I told me regular oncologist, and she told me that with Hodgkin's, if it's going to come back, it will do so usually within the first year or so. So to have perfectly clear scans at this point (18 months from the transplant) is great news. Although it's still possible for something to happen, I'm feeling a little bit more confident that I'm in the clear. Now all I need to do is get back into shape. It's been so hard trying to exercise, it's not even funny. Even after 18 months, I still get winded very quickly, and just don't have much drive to work out as much as I should. I figured the after-effects of all the treatments would do this, but not for this long. Although I have read about some people feeling this way for up to five years. I surely hope it doesn't take that long for me. On top of all that, I've been having problems with my knee again. The past few months it's been hurting like crazy. I've been seeing an orthopedic, and he's fairly sure I have a torn meniscus and maybe even some damaged cartilage on the back of my knee cap. I'll be scheduling an MRI to find out for sure. So, that means probably another surgery on my knee (this will make three). So, my summer is done for. O'well, as long as they get my knee feeling better, that's all I care about. I know before, I may have mentioned some things I've been wanting to do, like some good mountain bike trips, maybe even a bike-packing trips (backpacking, but instead of hiking, riding a mountain bike). Those have been put on hold until next year, until my knee is better and I can get into shape.

On to other news. This past May I went on a trip to my mom's, up in Maryland. Had a great time, although the weather wasn't great. Took a trip to Baltimore harbor, which is really nice. Some different boats to go on, a cool aquarium, a really cool looking Hard Rock Cafe, and other things to see. I really enjoyed it. Since the trip, I've just been working a lot. Maybe too much, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. Maybe things will turn for the better on the job status soon. I'm in training to be certified as a Fire Inspector level 2. Once I finish it up, and maybe get some experience under my belt, I'll be able to get a job as an Inspector. Which would be great. Regular Monday thru Friday schedule, good pay, and I'll still be part of the fire department. Pretty cool. So, hopefully things will work out for me on this.

Well, nothing more to report on. I'll write again as soon as I know something about my knee, and any else that may happen. Hope those of you that actually read this are doing good. I know I don't communicate nearly as much as I probably should. For that I apologize. Just not much to report when all ya do is work. Hopefully when my knee gets better, and I'm able to get back in shape and all, this blog will morph into some sort of super exciting record of my amazing adventures. Haha, we'll see. Until then, God bless.