Chad's Triathlon Blog

Triathlon - Maine, Old Orchard Beach (REVOLUTION3 REV3TRI) | REVOLUTION3 Triathlon (REV3TRI)

2011-12-28T08:58:00.002-05:00

My sister Rhonda, my wife Crystal and I just signed up to relay this race. We will be doing the Olympic. Rhonda is going to swim, Crystal bike and I am going to run.

Triathlon - Maine, Old Orchard Beach (REVOLUTION3 REV3TRI) | REVOLUTION3 Triathlon (REV3TRI)

1 Year and Counting

2011-11-30T20:28:00.001-05:00

During the month of November, we celebrated my one year bone marrow transplant anniversary. Crystal made a birthday cake and her, I and the kids celebrated my first birthday with my new immune system.
I was also released by the doctor to return to the office full time. It is an amazing feeling to be contributing to society again. I have signed up for the gym. I have been running at lunch. Over the next month I am going to start swimming again. I am also mixing in P90X and weight training. It feels good. Really good!

I still have not grown my hair back. Paige keeps asking when it is going to grow back. At this point, we are starting to wonder if it will grow back.

Last weekend I spent time with my 3 best friends. It was the first time we have hung out in a long time in proper fashion. These are the kind of buddies that when we all get together, we retell the same stories from 15 years ago. You know the stories. We all have them. Every time we tell the stories, they get funnier and funnier. We sometimes do not all see each other for years at a time. When we all get together though, we pick up right where we left off. True friends are always there for you and these guys have always been there for me. Thanks guys..

When I was discharged from the hospital, the doctor told me that I had to start weaingr a Medic Alert bracelet to let emergency personnel know that I have had a bone marrow transplant. It is bright orange to symbolize leukemia. A friend recently asked me how long I needed to wear the bracelet for. I told her forever. I then thought about my response to her. I followed up my response to her by saying something like. "This bracelet is a good reminder of the important things in life. Occasionally, the bright orange catches my eye and regardless of the type of day I am having, I am reminded how lucky I am."

Race Recap and Health/Life Update

2011-10-02T17:14:00.004-04:00

Had an awesome time at the Mainiac Tri. Crystal and I relayed the Tri. Our good friend Katy did the duathlon. Her brother Jon also did the duathlon. This was his first Tri. On the way to the race on the highway, the rear end of his truck locked up while he was going like 60MPH. His truck skidded out of control on the highway and eventually came to a screeching halt. Luckily he was not hurt. There was also a State Trooper right behind him. The trooper said he was pretty sure he was about to witness a serious accident! Question is, did he make the race? He sure did! Hard core John! He called his wife and she came to pick him up off the highway to continue on to Biddeford. I think he got there about 5 minutes before transition closed.

Crystal did great on the swim. Since she was relay, she got thrown into the first wave. It was the men's 18-35 age group. She was worried about it, but she did great. She had a great transition and also a great bike.

When she came back from the bike I was more than ready to start running. My goal was to break 30 minutes on the run. During training getting ready for this race, 38 minutes was my best time. Before leukemia and the transplant, I could typically run a 5K in 22 minutes. Since this was my first relay, it felt weird to wait around for my "turn". I took off way too fast, but it felt great! I was actually competing in a race. I wasn't sure this would ever happen again. I had my heart rate monitor on because I knew I would be pumped and have difficulty pacing myself.

Sure enough, after about 5 minutes, my HR was between 177 and 180. My "normal" race HR is 165-170. I slowed down a bit and got my HR back into the 175 range. As the 10 minute mark passed, I was starting to get worried. I had not passed the 1 mile marker yet. I picked up my pace a bit. HR was cresting back up to 180. I continued that pace until about the 15 minute mark. The water station appeared as I rounded a corner. There were mostly young kids there. I asked what mile we were at. One of the girls said, "Mile one I think". I thought to myself, there is no way I am going to break 30 minutes at this rate. As that reality started to settle in, I saw mile marker 2. Looks like the water station was actually at mile 1.5 or so. I looked at my watch and it was at 18:04. I was pretty sure at that finishing under 30 minutes was going to be a possibility.

My pace picked up and up. As I passed mile marker 3, my HR was 185. I picked up my pace again. It felt unbelievable. By the time I crossed the finish line, I was pretty much at a full sprint. After I crossed, I glanced down and my HR was at 192. I have never seen it so high.

Crystal and the kids and my in laws were waiting for me at the finish. The kids had made a big sign that read "Our Dad beat cancer, now he's back in the race!!!" It was a tearjerker moment to say the least. A year ago, I was in the hospital just finishing up my first rounds of chemo and dealing with the reality of being diagnosed with leukemia.

My recovery is going very well. My doctor says that I am ahead of schedule. My counts are still low compared to a "normal" person. This means I am still very susceptible to catching something. I still should not be around sick people. I wash my hands constantly and am always carrying hand sanitizer. When I go into the hospital for check ups, I still need to wear a mask and gloves. It is a reminder every time to me that I am still sick. (Even though I feel great). I still have little to no hair. Not sure what is going on there. I have yet to gain much weight yet. I am still under 150. I am eating everything in sight with no problem. I am still limited to 1 beer a week. This could also be contributing to the reason I am not gaining any weight.

On the work front, I have been cleared to return to the office 3 days a week. I will work Monday, Wednesday and Friday in the office and Tuesday and Thursday from home. It will be nice to get out of the basement home office!

Crystal is doing the Dempsey Challenge next weekend. Saturday, she is running in the 10K and Sunday, she is riding a 1/2 century. (50 miles) She needs to raise a few more donation dollars or will have to pay from her own pocket. Here is the link to her fund raising site. Dempsey Challenge Donation Page

Also, our friend Matt Wallace and his wife Freja Folce were recently involved in a bad car accident. During a rainstorm, an oncoming vehicle lost control while passing a car and crashed head on into Matt's car. Matt broke both arms and both legs. He is a tattoo artist and as such, may be out of work for some time. A donation page has been setup. Here is the link to that site to make a donation. Donate to Matt. Click on the PayPal icon and specify "Matt Wallace Fund". Thanks!!

Just Signed up for a Race

2011-08-12T21:24:00.000-04:00

I just signed up with Crystal to do a relay for the Mainiac Triathlon. It is a Sprint distance tri. That is 1/3 mile swim, 15 mile bike and a 3.1 mile run. It is on September 17th. Crystal is going to do the swim and bike. I am going to run. Our team name is "The Dynamic Duo". My goal is to break 30 minutes on the run. In the past, I would not be happy about 30 minutes, but would be psyched if I could pull it off now!

For training, I have really just begun. I am running 15 minutes every other night on the treadmill. I go from 0% incline for 1 minute to 3% incline for 1 minute and alternate on the minute for the 15 minutes. Next week I will increase to 20 minutes, 25 the following week etc. On nights I am not running, I am doing 15 minutes on the bike trainer. Next week I will increase to 20 minutes, 25 the following week etc. Everynight, after the run or the training, I am doing 15 minutes of weights and abs.

I am gaining a bit of weight. I am up to 146-148. It varies day by day. I am trying to eat better and take note of what I am putting in my body. I want to gain about 10 more pounds, But would like them to be "quality pounds".

Here is a link to the Maniac Triathlon website.

9 Months Post Transplant

2011-08-08T20:56:00.000-04:00

Next week marks 9 months post transplant. I am still working full time from home. Next week, I have been cleared to go into the office 1 day a week. I cannot wait. I am starting to gain some weight and muscle back. Training is going slow to say the least.

Crystal had her Tri For A Cure race last week. I put together the attached video of the race...
Tri For A Cure Video

Also, just wanted to encourage people to donate to a local family. Their young son was recently diagnosed with leukemia. You can get more information from their Facebook page located at Jeffrey Davis Fund

220 Days Post Transplant and Loving It

2011-06-20T19:51:00.001-04:00

Haven't posted in a while. Been busy with work and life. My recovery continues and I am feeling good. At the time of my last post, I was working 6 hours a day from home. I am now up to 40 hours a week working from home. It feels great to be using my brain again! Paychecks are cool too! If all goes well, I may begin working a few days a week from the office as early as next month.

My chiropractor has asked me to stop running until he can get me straightened out. I was up to running a full 5K. I was extremely sore though and getting bad migrane headaches. He has been working on me over the past month and I have noticed a huge improvement in my posture, less headaches and less overall body aches.

I am eating pretty much everything I was before transplant, but just can't seem to gain any weight. After the chiropractor finishes up this routine, I am going to hit the weights and protein and work on building some muscle back. That is the kind of weight I am looking for.

Also over the last month, I attended my 20 year high school reunion. It was great to see friends that I have not seen in years. It is funny how easy it is to talk to friends you have not seen in years. It is like there is a connection there that can never be broken. It is priceless and I had one of the best times I have had in years!

My Dad is still battling his cancer. This fathers day was particularly tough for me. His spirits are still up, but it is extremely tough for me to be around him. My Mom is doing her best to be a caregiver, but she is not equipped to mentally and physically handle all the details. My sister Rhonda has stepped to the plate and I cannot express how much that means to Crystal and I. I am not dealing with this phase of my parents life very well at all.

I want to thank again my wife Crystal for being there for me over the last year. I realize how hard it has been on her as the caregiver and basically being a single parent. She had a lot of help , but it definitely took its toll. Coming out this side of the process, it has strengthened our relationship 10 fold, but it takes it's toll. I love ya hun!

The role of caregiver is a thankless job that no ones signs up for. If you know a caregiver, treat them to a night off. They deserve it and they will appreciate it.

Training, Work and Life

2011-05-15T17:03:00.001-04:00

Been a while since my last update. Been busy living life!!! I set a new post transplant PR today. I ran 2 miles in under 30 minutes. Does not sound that impressive, but it is a huge milestone for me. Also, I ran the whole 30 minutes with no stopping. Yehaaaaa!

That being said, today was the first day I got back on the treadmill in several weeks. My leg muscles have been extremely tight for some reason. They feel as though I have been running everyday. You know, that soreness that is always there when you are training hard. Problem is, I have not even been training. I have a Dr. appointment this week in Boston and will see what the doc has to say.

Things at the Davis house have been hectic to say the least. We are replacing all of our flooring on the first floor with hardwood. Crystal has wanted hardwood for years. She is now getting it under the pretense that it does not hold dust and dirt like carpet does and will make the house healthier for me. She always gets her way :) Crystal also wanted to paint. I said "Have at it Hun!"

So, she has painted the whole downstairs, removed the baseboard, ripped out the carpet and we now have a lovely AdvanTech floor. Our neighbor does hardwood and he is coming over this week to install for us. Can't come soon enough. All of the hardwood (30 boxes) is stacked throughout our first floor to keep it room temperature. The place looks like a bomb went off.

On the work front, I am now working from home 6 hours a day. I have increased from 2 hours a day over the last month. I am getting back up to speed. The company and my staff has been great during my return to work transition. We are pretty busy with close to 50 IT related projects slated for 2011. I would be worried, but have a great team of people and great support from management.

Baseball season is underway so Nolan has been busy with that. We have been working with him on his batting skills and he has really improved at the plate this year. Now it is time to focus on the fundamentals of catching and making good throws. Here are a few pics....

Bike Fit

2011-04-19T20:51:00.000-04:00

Aside from going to a bike shop to be fitted, can anyone give me any advice on my bike fit by watching this video?

Blog it, And it Will Be

2011-04-16T20:18:00.000-04:00

So, my training is sucking to say the least. You cannot even call it training. Running 1.5 miles once a week. What the hell is that??!!!

I typically work out at night after dinner. The problem is that I am usually exhausted by the time dinner is finished. So, I am going to make time during the day or before dinner to work out. I am going to alternate between the treadmill and the bike trainer. I am going to workout 6 days a week for 30 minutes at a time. I am going log my miles on Daily Miles (Orange widget in right hand column of blog).

It seems to be extremely easy for me to blow off workouts and blame it on being tired and blaming it on my transplant. That is bullshit. I am just being lazy. Anyone can do anything for 30 minutes, I vow to all blog readers that I will work out 6 days this week. I am writing this in hopes that it will force me to workout.

We got a new camcorder this week. Playing with it the other day and came across a sure sign of Spring.

Going Back to Work

2011-04-06T20:54:00.000-04:00

We finally got word from my doctor that I could return to work. After being out for over 8 months, I am pshyched to say the least.

The plan is for me to gradually build up to 40 hours a week from home over the next couple of months.. I am still waiting on final approval, but it looks like I will start working 2 hours a day, 5 days a week from home on April 18th. I will do that for 2 weeks and then go to 4 hours a day. 2 weeks and then 6 hours a day. 2 weeks and then 8 hours a day from home. I am very fortunate to work for a company that has held my position for this long. Thanks PWD!

As far as training goes, I am slowly making progress. It is frustrating as hell to only be able to run 1.6 miles in 30 minutes. I used to do close to 5 miles in 30 minutes. My progress this week was 1.5 miles in 30 minutes to 1.6 miles in 30 minutes. .10 mile improvement!!! I have added a little widget in the right hand column of the blog where you can track my training if you are really bored. Right now, the numbers are not to great. They will improve. I will run a 5K this year and I will finish in under 30 minutes. (maybe if I type it, it will happen)

Am I a Cancer Survivor Yet???

2011-03-26T15:54:00.001-04:00

When I was diagnosed in August of 2010 with Leukemia, Crystal and I were shocked to say the least. Our whole world was slapped in the face and kicked in the ass. It was an extremely difficult time.

I immediately went on high dose chemo and was in the hospital for over a month. At the end of the month, we were told the leukemia was wiped out but could come back. I was released and after 1 week, I had double vision and a rash. The leukemia was back and now attacking my central nervous system - ya know, my brain and stuff...

Another round of high dose chemo with several rounds injected directly into my spine so the drugs could make it to my brain. OUCH. Also, brain radiation. After almost another month in the hospital, I was sent home being told the leukemia was gone. That was October 2010.

Since that time, I had a third round of high dose chemo, full body radiation (I should just go help out at the nuclear plant in Japan, the damage is already done to my body) a bone marrow transplant and gallbladder surgery. I have not been checked to see if the leukemia is still in remission. They closely monitor my blood chemistry. If something is off that may be an indication of leukemic activity and they will do further testing.

It has been six months since anyone has told me I have leukemia. If you read about my form of leukemia, AML M5 with CNS involvement, on the Internet, I should not be in nearly as good of shape as I am now. I did not find one successful outcome with my type of leukemia. Not one. Looks like I may be the first successful outcome. Maybe they will feature me in the New England Journal of Medicine. :) I do know that I still get extremely tired each day. A mile on the treadmill feels like a 10K. The doctors say that my endurance will improve but will not be what it was pre-leukemia. As far as I know though, my new immune system is working like a champ. It is seeing those leukemic cells in my body and is destroying them. I do feel better everyday. My taste buds have returned and I am gaining some needed weight back. I am hoping to return to work soon. I have not worked since August. That being said, I still lay in bed at night and wonder though, is the worst behind us?? I certainly hope so!

Germs and Public Spaces

2011-03-09T20:26:00.000-05:00

Me and Nolan. I am starting to see a little hair growth.

So, now that day 100 has come and gone, I am able to go into public places. The theory for the first 100 days was my immune system was too weak to visit public areas. The only public place I went was for check ups in Boston at Dana Farber. On those days, I wore gloves and a mask into the clinic. It makes it pretty easy to see my fellow bone marrow transplant patients. We all have masks and are skinny. We are bundled up because we are always cold. Whenever I put on the mask, I think of the Bob Marley (local comedian) routine where he is talking about his father going through the Wok Inn drive through. Employee says, "Why you wear mask???" Bob's fathers reply "Love the food, hate the SARS." It is a bit dated, but still funny.

I am now able to go into semi public areas without a mask. In the last couple of weeks, I have been able to visit the Dixon's and my parents. I have been able to goto Nolan's school and meet his teacher for the first time. I have been able to pickup Paige at daycare. I have gone into the office to take care of a couple issues. I have gone to the grocery store, convenience store, Reynolds Sportcenter and Rite Aid. It has been amazing!! It is crazy how the little things make such an impact!

Eating, Training and Project Management

2011-03-02T20:01:00.001-05:00

The last couple of weeks have been great. Food has begun to taste good again, I am gaining some much needed weight back and as a result, my energy level has increased. All the parts finally came in for our treadmill and I have begun putting in some time on it. It feels good to actually break a sweat again.

Since I am still not back to work, I still have a bunch of free time. I am going to do some online training. I am going to work towards getting my project management certification. As an IT Manager, can anyone recommend which project management certification would be most beneficial? I am leaning toward CompTIA + Project.

Crystal signed up for the Tri for a Cure again this year. There is a link to the right to make a donation toward the cause. This year they need to raise $350.

Also, Crystal and I wanted to say congratulations to Shana and Chris. We are so happy for you!

Day 100

2011-02-24T16:48:00.001-05:00

So, today is day 103 post transplant. This weekend, I was able to eat carry-out pizza for the first time since transplant. I asked Crystal to pick up Pizza Hut, but she ended up getting a pizza from Lowes. It was OK. I am not crazy about their sauce.

Over the past week, food has begun to taste better to me. I can eat almost anything I could before the transplant. It is such a great feeling. I am even putting some weight back on.

We finally got our treadmill put together (almost). We purchased a treadmill for me to build my strength back up and get some exercise. It came in with about 10 broken pieces. We called the manufacturer and they shipped out the broken pieces. They said once the parts come in, they would send someone to come out and put the treadmill together for us. So, we called when the parts came in. We then were told the technician would call us. After a week, no call. We called back and finally get a hold of the installer. He says he will be here in 2 weeks to install. So he comes out in 2 weeks to install. He makes it clear he is not here to setup the machine as the manufacturer had told us, only replace all the broken pieces. Arghhh. I ended up setting up the machine. Come to find out, we are still missing pieces. We ordered the thing at the end of December. Do not order direct from Proform. They suck!!!!

The sheild

Nolan's pink cake.

One more quick story. A couple of weeks ago, I had to make a cake for Nolan’s Cub Scout awards banquet. I was told it had to be a Viking theme. He had just made a round red Viking shield with a snake on it. I thought that would be perfect. Well, come find out, it is almost impossible to make red frosting. I used almost a full thing of food coloring, and the frosting still came out pink. We later found out it was a cake competition. Poor Nolan had to walk into the Den meeting with a pink cake with what looked like a white turd on top. Poor kid…

Day 100 Approaching

2011-02-14T14:20:00.000-05:00

So today is day 95 post transplant. Day 100 is a pretty big milestone the doctors say. Once I pass day 100, I am out of the woods as far as being effected by acute (possibly fatal) Graft vs. Host disease. Now over the next months, I need to look out for chronic Graft vs. Host. Typically chronic is not fatal and treatable with meds. Could effect my skin, my eyes, intestines etc.

According to the doctors, Right now I am doing great. I feel great aside from the occasional lack of energy. I am anxious to get back to work! The days are getting pretty long and boring. Here is my typical day:

Get up at 6:30AM to help get the kids ready.
Bring Nolan to his grandparents at 7:00AM to get onto the bus.
Return home and have breakfast. Typically a raspberry toaster strudel.
Take pills.
Watch Judge Judy, Judge Shapiro, and Judge Joe Brown.
Take pills.
Watch various cooking shows while in and out of semi-conscious state on the couch.
Awake with hunger pains.
Make a shake from vanilla ice cream, peanut butter cups, protein powder and sugar and have that for lunch.
Cover up on couch with my heating blanket because I am now freezing from the ice cream shake.
Drift off to sleep again with the heating blanket keeping me nice and cozy.
Awake and realize Crystal will be home soon.
Unload and load dishwasher.
Make bed.
Fold laundry – hope it is only towels in the dryer to fold. Much easier than Nolan and Paige’s in-side-out laundry that comes out of the dryer.
Fold and organize blankets on couch to make it appear they were not used all day.
Go pickup Nolan from Grandparents. 4:00PM

So, as you can see, I have a pretty action packed day. I have a pretty eventful week this week though. Today, I need to submit some medical reimbursement paperwork, on Wednesday; I will be bringing old clothes to the Goodwill drop off at the dump. (Dump closed Mon and Tues). Thursday, I will need to let a technician into the house to work on our treadmill.

I will say it again, I am anxious to return to work in some capacity. The doctors are saying that by April, I should be able to return in some fashion. I am glad February is a short month!!

Day 74 Update - How Time Flies

2011-01-25T15:08:00.003-05:00

Just wanted to drop a line to everyone to let you know what I have been up to. Well today is day 74 and I am feeling great. I just had a checkup in Boston yesterday and got good marks. They have change my checkups in Boston from weekly to evey two weeks. My blood counts are where they should be and I am showing no signs of GVHD. (graft vs host). My eyebrows, lashes and facial hair are returning. Crystal is making fun of me because they are coming in so thick. My instructions today from her where to update your blog and shave that damn thing off (my mustache).

0 Degrees. Fool we saw on bike in Boston

Yesterday, we went and visited my parents. It was the first time I had been to their house since I went to Boston. I am not supposed to visit other people’s houses due to risk of me catching something. Crystal and I decided that we could make an exception to go to my parents. No one has been sick in their house lately and if you know my Mom, you know how spotless her house is! It was good to get out of the house and see them.

Work also extended my Medical Leave until April. This is great news on many levels. Hopefully by April I will be able to ease my way back into the real world and actually begin to interact with people again.

Only 1% of the old Chad is still kicking...

2011-01-09T15:34:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, I had a test done that tests my immune system to see how much of my immune system is my old defective immune system vs. my new donor’s immune system. Normally at this point, the doctors want to see at least 85% to 90% of the patients immune system as the donor's. Mine tests out at 99% donor. This is great news. This means the transplant is taking and setting up shop in my super sexy, boney, 150 lb elderly looking body.

We also found out that we can now stretch out our check-up appointments to every 2 weeks. This is great news. We will now only need to go to Boston twice a month vs. every week.

Even though my counts look great, I continue to struggle with eating. I think the worst of that is behind us. Certain food tastes better at times. I am having about 2 milkshakes a day to get some calories in. If they didn’t already have enough calories, Crystal bought the calorie packs that are nothing more than 330 calories. She had to buy them online.

In an effort to start to regain some muscle, I decided to setup my bike trainer in the basement. Only 2/3's of our basement has been cleaned well enough for me to inhabit. My bike was in the the furnace room. This is a room that is strictly off limits due to dust and grime. But, I wanted my bike... so I held my breath, ran into the furnace room, dug to get to my bike (covered with Christmas paper filled trash bags awaiting their trip to the dump) and also grabbed my biking shoes. By the time I was setup, I was already winded. I ended up getting a 10 minute ride in. Felt like 20 miles.

I still have no hair. My eyebrows are starting to come back along with some sort of mutant mustache.

Christmas Update

2010-12-30T16:55:00.000-05:00

Hello from sunny Hollis, Maine. I am still on the mend. Feeling OK, just still loosing weight due to the fact I am not eating much.

We had a great Christmas. The kids are at the perfect age. The grandparents went a bit overboard, but that is to be expected. The kids had a blast opening presents (for over 2 hours).

Have a Happy New Year everyone!!

Chad

Day 39

2010-12-21T16:26:00.000-05:00

Feeling good at day 39. Tomorrow we head to Boston for our weekly checkup. Our first appointment is not until 10AM. While we are down there this time, they will also be removing my last Hickman line from my chest. Not sure if you remember, but they removed the first one when I was still in the hospital with no sedation. Screaming and vulgarities were involved. Our nurse has assured us that there will be pain meds and sedation this time around.

I am eating a bit more food now. I have started having smoothies and Carnation shakes. Giving me some much needed calories. I have been walking 15 minutes a couple of times a day. Next week, I would like to add in a slow jog and get the bike trainer setup.

Hope everyone has a great holiday this year! It definitely is a special Christmas this year at the Davis household. We are ready to put 2010 in the history books.

Day 34 Post Transplant

2010-12-16T07:56:00.000-05:00

Well, we are at day 34. So far, the donors immune system has done a nice job setting up shop within my body. My white counts are up are and my new immune system is growing. We head down to Boston tomorrow (Friday) for a check up and also a followup with the gallbladder surgeon. They will also be doing a test tomorrow that measures my immune system. It will tell us what percentage of my immune systems is the new donors system and what part is left over from my old crappy, defective immune system. We are shooting for a high percentage of it being my new immune system. It will take a couple weeks to get those results back.

The biggest difficulty I have right now is that all the chemo and radiation before the transplant wiped out my taste buds. Nothing tastes good. I am down to Peanut Buttercup Cereal, PB&J sandwiches (they are tough to swallow) and chocolate pop tarts. As result, I am stuck at 160lbs. Since I am not eating much, I do not have a lot of energy. Since I do not have a lot of energy, I cannot exercise and get stronger. It is very very frustrating. They say this will eventually pass. I hope it passes sooner rather than later.

For those of you that have asked about sending me baked goods, I cannot have anything "homemade" for the first first 100 days after transplant. Just about the worst time of year to be on that restriction!

First Check Up Appointment in Boston Today

2010-12-10T17:20:00.000-05:00

Today, we had the first of many follow up appointments in Boston. These are weekly appointments at Dana Farber to check on my progress. Today's appointment was at 9:00AM. To make things easier, the kids spent the night at Reggie and Vicki's. We were out of the house by 6:15AM. Crystal had packed me snacks because I cannot eat food from restaurants for the next few months. Food tastes terrible right now. The radiation pretty much wiped out my taste buds. I am struggling to get 1000 calories a day into my system. As a result, I only weigh about 160 lbs.

We hit a bit of traffic, but ended up getting there around 8:40. They drew a bunch of blood and then we waited to speak with the nurse practitioner. She went over my blood counts and said that things looked great. I am right where I should be on the progress meter. I am at day 28. Meaning I am 28 days past transplant. We also found out that it is OK to have adult visitors at the house as long as they are not sick and have not been around anyone sick.

Overall, I am feeling OK. It is great to be home. I actually drove today and picked up the kids. It was nice to feel "normal" and be part of society again. The nurse told us today my taste buds may take several weeks/months to redevelop. Until that happens, I need to just keep trying different foods until something clicks.

Also Crystal and I wanted to also thank everyone who was involved with and who generously donated towards the benefit being held at the Gold Room tonight.

HURT 100 - Race for Davis

2010-12-09T14:46:00.004-05:00

Crystal works with a guy named Brendan Gilpatrick. In January, he is running in a race called the HURT 100. It is a 100 mile endurance run in Oahu, Hawaii. In an effort to help our family, he has setup a donation page. Please check out Brendan's page. http://www.racefordavis.weebly.com/

Home at Last, Home at Last

2010-12-08T19:49:00.002-05:00

First I must say it was amazing to sleep in my own bed last night. No nurses, weird noise, other patients, call bells, air filters or vital checks. Just silence and a comfy bed.

It was also amazing to see the kids. We did not tell the kids I was coming home. Crystal went to pick them up and I was lying on the couch. I watched them come in and take hats and coats off. Paige walked into the living room and said” hi daddy”, then ” HI DADDY!!!!!!” The Nolan came running in. It was a tear jerker moment. But then again, everything is lately for me.

Food is tasting good. I am down to 160. I was 184 when I went in. I ate very well at home today. Things still taste off, but not terrible. I think it will only take a week or two to get back to weight. I would like to get to 170 or so and hold there. I then need to build some muscle mass back.

I am basically on quarantine for the next couple of months. I do not need to wear a mask at the house. We are not to have visitors for the next month. If someone does stop by, they need to mask and glove up. If the kids start to show the first sign of illness, they will need to mask up at the house and so will I. I need to take roughly 10- 12 pills each day. I take my temp twice a day. If I spike over 100.5, I may need to be re-admitted due to the fact it could be due to some sort of infection. We have a checkup at least once a week in Boston for the next couple of months.

Looking back over the posts over the last month, there are some parts I do not remember. I can truly say, it was the toughest and worst month of my life. I missed my family, friends and had some pretty low, low, low days. There were times I was convinced that I was not returning to Maine. I was not going to be leaving the hospital period. That is a terrible feeling. What kept me going were all the well wishes and positive messages sent via e-mail, over the blog, via phone etc. I cannot thank each of you enough for everything you have done. All of you saved my life on several levels.

We still have a tough battle ahead, but I truly feel the worst is behind us. Several people have said I have a guardian angel and I am starting to believe that. Hopefully, the angel can take a break for a while, kick back and enjoy a Shipyard Prelude over the holidays :)

Hello Hollis!!!!!!!! Just Released.

2010-12-07T14:21:00.000-05:00

Got released today. I cannot explain how happy I am. I will update the blog over the next few days with the details of my Boston stay.

Still in Boston

2010-12-06T16:58:00.001-05:00

Right now, they are waiting for digestive track to "firm up" a bit before they are ready to send me home. I am down to 160 from 184. Have walked a bit today and everyday, but feel pretty beat up.

Ready to go home. Today is day 31. Ready to come home. Could be anyday now.

Boston Update

2010-12-05T13:54:00.000-05:00

The removed galbladder is pissing me off. Once things settle out, I should be able to come home. Just giving me stgrange digestive issues they do no want to send me home with.

Hope all is well with all of you this week I hope all of you people are getting their Christmas shopping done and not wasting time reading blogs!!

Galbladder update

2010-12-03T00:20:00.000-05:00

Quick update. Feeling better after a couple of rough days. Mostly surgery pain . Muscle tissue healing and feeling better. Will update later in day on Friday after speaking with surgeons.

Chad

Post Surgery

2010-11-30T14:14:00.001-05:00

Chad's surgery went well, he's resting now. He finally got back to his room last night around 11:45. The doctor came and spoke to me right after surgery to let me know how it went. Let's just say, not what they thought.

The original diagnosis was that the gallbladder was just blocked and they would remove it laproscopically, a few small holes and remove the gallbladder through one of them. We were informed that if anything changed than they would need to go the traditional route and make an incision. Well, that's what they needed to do. After they started the procedure and they were able to see his gallbladder it was more than they expected to see. It was actually gangrenous, yup that's right gangrene. From what the doctor told us, it must have been lying there from when he first went to the hospital and his body being as sick as it was just accepted it. When the new cells came in they saw that there was something wrong and started to fight, which is good news. The outcome if we were to go home and they waited may not been good to say the least. The next step is to closely monitor him for possible signs of infections and hope that he heals quickly.

Gallbladder - See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya!

2010-11-29T14:50:00.001-05:00

So, the team has decided it is going to remove it. Right now it looks like I will be going to the OR around 5:30PM.

The risks of infection will not be too bad due to how fast my numbers rebounded after transplant.

Stupid gallbladder........

2010-11-28T12:09:00.000-05:00

It’s Crystal again, with an update…….

So what brought Chad into the hospital on August 7th is keeping him here longer, go figure!!

For those of you that didn't know, Chad went into the hospital originally that August night due to abdominal pain. They realized over the course of a few days, while waiting for the diagnosis of AML, that he also had polyps in his gallbladder. We thought that they resolved themselves after he started chemo, well they are back. Chad tried his best to eat as much as he could yesterday, those 1000 calories to get him home. We thought it was going well, he decided to try a grilled hot dog and half a grilled cheese sandwich. By 4:30 he was having excruciating pain in his abdomen, on a scale from 1-10 (10 being the worst) it was about an 8, and it lasted all night and hasn’t gotten any better today. They tried all sorts of things to help relieve the pain. They thought it could have just been gas, gave him some tums, but let's just say they didn't agree with him.

So, he's long story longer, he has had a CT scan which showed an enlarged gallbladder, an ultrasound that shows his gallbladder is distended with polyps and he’s preparing for a HIDA scan to see if there is his gallbladder is emptying or if it's blocked. They are going to start him on antibiotics now, in case the gallbladder is infected. At this point we’re unsure what will happen, they could remove it, but then there’s the risk of infection given he has no immune system, or they leave it and hopefully the pain will resolve on its own and we can manage it until it can be removed.

Chad said to me that he thinks that his new cells found the polyps and are telling them to get the F’out…… it makes sense, these new clean cells are fighting what his body thought was normal, but was not!

Heading North on Sunday

2010-11-27T16:54:00.001-05:00

My counts are back. As it stands right now, I am heading home on Sunday. They have removed me from all of my pain meds and all IV feeding. My “task” for today is to eat 1,000 calories. I never thought that would be tough to do. It is though when you have only been getting like 500 to stay down. I am getting there though.

They took out 1 of my Hickman lines yesterday. This is the tube in my chest. I had no idea they were going to do that yesterday. I was not prepared at all. No pain mends or nothing. I was yelling through the whole procedure. Finally, they had to stop and dope me up. (I think because I was scaring other patients.)

Ben and Jen have the kids and the Cooks my Mom and Tammy are cleaning the house getting ready for my arrival. House must be bacteria free top to bottom.

They had told us we would be down here 4 – 6 weeks. We are outa here in 3 weeks and 2 days baby!!! See ya later Bean town.

Great Turkey Day News

2010-11-25T08:49:00.000-05:00

Just got today's counts back. They are up again. If they continue rising and I can get back to eating solid food by Sat or Sun, they are going to send me HOME!!!!

Day 11 Post Translant Update

2010-11-23T23:07:00.000-05:00

So today is day 11. My white blood counts in my body are beginning to rise. This means that the cells transplanted have begun to grow and develop in my body. This is extremely good news.

I am feeling OK aside from not being able to eat solid food. Other foods just cannot be "processed" by my body. When I say this, I mean that I cannot swallow the food once I chew it. It just stays in my throat until I eventually return it to where it came from. IE the plate. Until this passes, they are going to continue to "bag feed" me.

I have been sleeping a lot due to the lack of energy. When you sleep close to 16 of the 24 hours in a day, it gets confusing sometime knowing what time of day it is. I was off by a whole day the other day. Looking back, I was impressed at how amazingly calm my nurse was explaining that it was it was Sunday night 4:30PM, not Monday morning 4:30AM. I was pretty adamant to her that she was wrong.

As a result of the transplant beginning to take, I have developed a rash on parts of my back, legs and arms. They think it could be GVH. They are going to monitor it. If it is GVH, this is the form we want to get. Treatable and a type that appears quickly. The treatment for this type of GVH is a pill that has steroids in it. Will know more by the end of the week.

Crystal is coming down for Thanksgiving with the kids. I am very excited to see them. It has been close to 3 weeks since I have seen them.

New Pump Day +7

2010-11-19T19:24:00.000-05:00

New pump, can it get any bigger....6 pumps!

All my lines being used and my new friend the pain contoller

So, this is actually Crystal updating you all. Now know that I'm not as great a writer as my hubby, but he's making me post something. He has hit his pain med (dialudid) button a few too many times today and is feeling a little tipsy. But, all in all, everything is going as expected. Nolan's birthday is coming up on Tuesday. I plan on coming down with the kids over Thanksgiving. Our favorite nurse, Donna, has convinced us to definitely bring the kids in for Thanksgiving, see we have been comtemplating whether or not our little princess will be able to control herself while here. So, Donna assured us that there are plenty of nurses that are working and they all get paid plenty to help.....oh they don't know what they are getting themselves into.........

Day 5 Post Bone Marrow Transplant

2010-11-17T18:11:00.000-05:00

So today is day 5. Not a lot to report. I have been extremely tired. Still only able to eat soft foods because my throat is extremely sore. Doctors are saying it will get worse before it gets better. I am choosing not to believe them and feel I am on the mend. At night they give me Adavan and Oxy to help with the pain. It works really well!

So overall, doing OK, walking about 30 minutes a day, eating pop tarts and pudding and getting sponge baths... Livin the dream baby!!!

Quick Check-In

2010-11-15T17:35:00.000-05:00

Day 3 post transplant. I am feeling OK. Just really tired as a result of the radiation I had last week. I am starting to get some mouth sores which has limited my food choices. I am down to apple sauce, pudding, ice cream and strawberry pop tarts.

My room has no shower in it so I have to have a sponge bath everyday. Typically, I have this Jamaican nurse that takes care of me most days. She is pretty cool. Her name is Miss Donna. She is always asking me "How ya doin boyfriend?" She is really nice with a thick Jamaican accenct.

Donna always gets my sponge bath ready for me and washes my back for me. This weekend when Crystal was in, Donna came in early and said "Get up, we need to get you cleaned up before your lover come in darlin!" Crystal was still at the hotel. She is pretty funny..

Trevor came in for a visit today before their trip to Vegas. It was good to see him. Also, before I came in for transplant, we had some family pics taken. Here are some of the proofs. Thanks Kelly!

Out For a Walk

2010-11-13T16:57:00.000-05:00

Crystal made me get out of bed for a walk.

Day 1 Post Transplant

2010-11-13T08:19:00.001-05:00

My New Cells

Transplant went off without a hitch last night. I got hooked up a little after 8:00PM and the transplant/transfusion was done by 9:30PM. Next we wait for the new cells to start to grow within my body. This should start to happen over the next 12 days. Doctors will monitor for signs that my body may be rejecting the new cells or vice versa. I am on anti rejection drugs just like if I was getting an organ transplant. This is a pretty typical treatment plan.

I feel good and am so glad this step is behind us. A lot of people are not lucky enough to find a donor like we did. I could not imagine what that would feel like. To know that you could be cured only if....

Transplant Day!!

2010-11-12T08:31:00.000-05:00

So today is the big day. The donor cells are due to be at the hospital at 2:15PM today. From there, the lab has some work to do to them. Latest we have heard the transplant will take place between 5PM and 8:00PM. The transplant will not be any different than a blood transfusion. A small bag with the donors cells will be hung and infused into my body. It is really an uneventful event...

We are excited and nervous. We are confident we made the right decision though. Without transplant, doctors were not talking in terms of years. The leukemia I have is just too agressive. With transplant, many people go on to live normal lives and leave leukemia in the dust. I may end up with some GVHV in the form of skin rash or visions issues or maybe even a small dose of mad cow, but that is much better than the alternative!

Thank you again to everyone who has been so supportive through this whole ordeal. It has meant the word to Crystal and myself and we could not have made it through all of this without each and eveyone of you.

3 Days Until Transplant

2010-11-09T17:51:00.000-05:00

I am feeling much better today. Had somewhat of a rough night but today has been pretty good. I have been able to eat somethings and have not been exhausted all day. I made two trips to radiation today. After each trip, I spend some time walking. This morning I got in 10 minutes, this evening close to 20. It feels good to get moving again. Two more sessions tomorrow and one on Thursday. They have an iPod player so I made a "Radiation" playlist. Includes U2, Johny Cash, Janes Addiction, Kid Rock, Sons of Sylvia and Linkin Park.

I Skyped with Crystal and the kids last night. I also Skyped with my sister and Mom today. It was good to be able to see their faces...

Each bone marrow section of the hospital is broken up into pods. It is very strange. My section is a 3/4 circle. The nurses station in the middle with the rooms on the outside. Our rooms have no doors just curtains. From a remote in my bed I can operate the curtains, the blinds even the music. . (bawnggg chickee bawnggg bawngg)

I have no shower in my room, so I need to take sponge baths each day. I am the type of person that likes to take a 110 degree shower for 20 minutes. To be reduced to a quick sponge bath, it's going to takes it toll on me.

4 Days Until Transplant

2010-11-08T15:53:00.000-05:00

On four days left. I am ready believe me. The past two days of high dosage chemo have kicked my ass. They have done in 2 days what it took a week of chemo in the past to do. Think of every chemo side effect that you have heard of. I have had them all in the past 2 days...

I started full body radiation today. I have it twice a day and it lasts 20 minutes.

I am ready for transplant to be over and to move forward. We are ready to throw it into neutral after that because it is all downhill to Groveville!

6 Days Until Transplant

2010-11-06T16:44:00.000-04:00

Sorry for not posting anything for a bit. Been pretty busy getting ready for our stay in Boston. We came down Thursday night. We were coming through Seabrook around 5:00 so I sent Benny a text seeing what was up. His office is right in Seabrook. Most of the time he is on the road, but he was in the office on Thursday and ended up going to the Applebees with us. Worked out great.

On Friday morning, I was due to be admitted at 10:30. There is a shuttle that leaves from the hotel every hour that goes to the hospital. We are only about 3 miles from the hospital, so we took the 9:30 shuttle. On the way there, we were stopped in traffic and saw the funniest thing. This guy was parallel parking in a spot that his car would just barely fit in. His technique was to back in until he hit the car behind him, pull forward until he hit the car in front of him, back up until he hit the car behind him, pull forward until he hit the car in front of him. After about 10 of these maneuvers, he was parked. Everyone on the shuttle was giggling watching this idiot trying to park.

We got admitted and they sent us to a waiting area. The first task at hand was to insert 2 Hickman lines into my chest. These are lines that they will deliver my chemo, fluids, antibiotics, nutrition and draw blood from. They go into my chest and they tunnel under the skin to my jugular. Yes, I said tunnel under my skin and jugular!!! I am getting sick just writing this... They used what is called conscious sedation for the procedure. I asked them to go extra heavy on the sedation side of things. They must have, because I do not remember the procedure at all. They are extremely sore right now though. In an effort to keep me "comfortable", they have been giving me pain killers to reduce the discomfort. Hopefully I will not need them too much longer.

After that, we were brought to my new home for the next 4 - 6 weeks. In our section, there are seven transplant rooms. I noticed a guy about my age in one of the rooms. The rooms are extremely small. There is enough room for a bed, a chair and night stand. The nurse spent a lot of time going over proper hygiene due to how poor my immune system will be. Whenever someone enters my room, they must were gloves and a mask. I was also started on a myriad of drugs to prepare for transplant. I am now taking over 20 pills a day along with several mouth rinses.

Today, I had my first round of chemo. Tomorrow will be my second and last round. Mon - Wed, I will be having full body radiation twice a day. Each session will last 20 minutes. Thursday, I have only one session of radiation. The weeks activities culminate with the actual transplant happening on Friday. We are not sure what time yet.

The Countdown is Officially On

2010-10-30T10:07:00.000-04:00

We had been told I was going to be admitted to Dana Farber on November 5th for my bone marrow transplant for several weeks now. This date assumed that my leukemia was not going to relapse. On Tuesday of this week, I went into the Maine Med for a bone marrow biopsy and a lumbar puncture so they could ensure my leukemia is still in remission. Yesterday while in Boston having tests done and signing consent forms, we got the results. My bone marrow is clean! Leukemia is still in remission and the date of Nov 5th is a definite now. We are very excited to move forward with the next step of this stupid process.

Some of the tubes to be filled

Yesterday, we had to be in Boston at 9:00AM for our first appointment. We were up around 4:30AM and left the house around 5:30AM. That is early for us to say the least. We hit about 30 minutes of traffic. By the time we parked, we were at our first appointment around 8:45.

The schedule went like this:

9AM - Program Nurse. She give us the timetable of what will happen when after being admitted. Basically, I check in Friday, Have chemo Saturday and Sunday, Full body radiation Mon, Tues, Wed and Thursday. At that point, my immune system will be wiped out. On Friday the 12th, it appears I will have my actual transplant.

10AM - Met with radiologist - uneventful aside from her name, Dr. Ng (that's right, no vowel, Ng)

11AM - Had lung blocks made. Basically lead things to cover my lungs during radiation so they are not damaged by all the radiation

12PM - Blood draw!!! Typical story here. They tried sitting me in a chair. I said I need to lay down. Nurse rolls eyeballs etc... They find me a recliner to sit in. Nurse states that they will be drawing a lot of blood! Over 20 tubes!!!! They got an icepack for Crystal to use on me. The whole draw took close to 5 minutes. I must say, for whatever reason, it was one of the "easiest" blood draws to date. I am not saying that I did not whine a bit and Crystal did give me a few looks that basically said, "Toughen up you sissy!" But all and all, it was not too bad. Not sure what is going on. Am I getting used to needles???!!

1PM - EKG and signing of consent forms - uneventful

2PM - Met with social worker. Group hug stuff. Not too bad. She gave us some info on cheap hotels and parking stuff.

3PM - Pulmonary function test. This was pretty cool. They had me in a glass box blowing into a tube and a few other tests. For the most part, I am way better than average as far as pulmonary functionality. I attribute that to training over the last few years.

Got back on the road around 4:30. Hit 30 minutes of traffic again. Got home a little after 7:00M.

The glass enclosure

The keep the donor's information fairly private for the first year. All we know at this point, is he is a 26 year old male (just a young buck right Katy?), is either from Europe or has traveled extensively in Europe. They need to disclose that because there is a chance he may be a carrier of Mad Cow Disease. So, after transplant if instead of greeting you with "Hello." I say to you "Moooooo.", it is more than likely I have some Mad Cow running through my veins...

Family Dinner

2010-10-25T12:34:00.002-04:00

Yesterday, our families held a benefit dinner for us before my trip to Boston next month. Both sides of our families were there along with a few close friends. I think there were between 60 and 70 people there. It was extremely humbling to say the least.

I am going to be in Boston over Thanksgiving which is usually when I get to see the whole family. I was bummed that I was not going to be able to see everyone this year due to the bone marrow transplant. As the "cancer patient" and a self pronounced introvert without the aid of a beer or two, I was somewhat anxious. Keep in mind, this is at a gathering of my closest friends and family.

Yesterday seemed like Thanksgiving. Everyone was there and it was a great atmosphere. I did not feel like the "cancer patient". I realized just how fortunate Crystal and I are to have such amazing, caring families and friends. A few times yesterday, I had to attribute my "runny eyes" to being a side effect of the brain radiation... Not sure if anyone bought it or not.

Even though leukemia sucks and we would rather not be going through this, it has made me a better person. It has opened my eyes to the important things in life. I know that sounds extremely cliche, but it is true.

Banner that was created at yesterday dinner.

Tomorrow at 6:00AM, we head into the Maine Med for the morning. They are going to take another bone marrow biopsy (drill into my hip and extract bone marrow) and also extract some spinal fluid and inject me with chemo into my spine. The purpose of these fun procedures is to ensure the leukemia is still in remission in my bone marrow and central nervous system. We should have the results by Thursday or Friday. If I am not still in remission, it could push back transplant. I feel fine though and do not have any symptoms so we feel pretty good going into tomorrow's procedures. I also feel pretty good that they will be putting me out during the procedures :)

Back on the bike trainer and hitting the weights...

2010-10-21T12:37:00.000-04:00

Old Friends

I was discharged from the hospital 1 week ago today. Since that time, I have gained 8 of the 14 pounds back that I lost during my hospital stay. Problem is, I lost mostly muscle in the hospital and have been replacing it with mostly good old fat.

So on Tuesday of this week, I hunted around for some bike shorts (very bottom of the shorts pile in the closet) and found some body glide. I pumped up my tires and thew the Trek in the trainer and threw on my $350 dollar bike shoes I got for like $60 (Thanks Kyle and Paul LePage!!)

Our Training / Furnace Room

On Tuesday I only spent about 15 minutes on the bike, Wednesday I got up to 20 minutes. Today I went 25 and threw in 10 minutes of weights at the end. It is an amazing feeling to break a real sweat again!!! The only sweat I have produced over the last 2 1/2 months has been due to breaking a fever in the hospital.

If you are a representative from my Short Term Disability company or my Long Term Disability company researching me and you read this and say, "Hey, there is no reason this guy should be out of work!"; realize the following. Each of these workouts need to be followed up by a two hour nap. They completely wipe me out. Also realize the sole purpose of these workouts are to build up my strength and immune system so that I can return to work as soon as possible after transplant so you will not need to send me a check each week!

Real Sweat!!!

Check up today at the Maine Center for Cancer

2010-10-20T21:00:00.000-04:00

So today I had a check up at the Cancer Center at 9:00AM. Crystal was able to get the morning off so she could come to the appointment with me. Seeing that we had close to an hour to kill between kid drop off and the appointment, I took her to the International House of Pankakes. I know, I know, big spender! Nothing but the best for my Crystal!

So we got to my appointment and we were one of the first ones there. From the waiting room, I could see into the lab area and there was a person having their blood drawn. It looked like the older lady drawing the blood was hesitant and was being "overseen"" by another lab person.

"Look at that. There is a trainee in the lab. If I get her, I am going to be pretty adiment that she was not going to be drawing my blood." I said to Crystal.

Crystal just rolled her eyes... You see, at the IHOP, we had a lengthy discussion on how I was going to behave during the "blood draw". I was going to go to my happy place and just deal with the fact that I was going to give blood. After seeing the trainee, I could tell that plan was pretty much going out the window.

Out of the lab comes the trainee and she calls my name. I am sure I went completely pale at that point. She sat me in the blood draw chair. I immediately ask her if she is a trainee.

"If you consider doing this for 30 years a trainee, then yes I am." She answered..

Phew!! I then said that I would need to lay down for the blood draw to prevent me from passing out. The older lab lady rolled her eyes and told us she would find a room for us so I could lay down for the blood draw...

The rest of the appointment followed pretty much the same story line...

Bottom line, my blood counts are up. My immune system is healthy right now and I feel great... Next appointment is next Tuesday at Maine Med. They are puttingg me out, doing a bone marrow biopsy to make sure the leukemia is still in remission. They are also going to extract some spinal fluid to make sure there is no leukemia in my nervous system. While I am out, they are also going to give me a shot of chemo in my spine while they are in there for the fun of it...

First Weekend Home and Plan for Boston

2010-10-18T20:30:00.001-04:00

Just wanted to give everyone a quick update. I got home last Thursday. On Saturday, Nolan had his final football games of the season. They had a round robin between the 4 flag football teams. They won all four games and ended up being undefeated for the season. Their success can be attributed to the great coaching they had this year. Thanks Rick! Nolan played great this weekend. He got a touchdown and had a few great defensive plays.

My appetite is definitely back. Since I have been home, we have had a ham boiled dinner, home made steak and cheese sandwiches, peanut butter hot fudge sauce, yellow cake with chocolate frosting and blueberry pancakes. I came home at 173lbs, I am up to 177 today. Going to start making some "healthy choices" starting tomorrow.

We heard from Boston today as far as our schedule for Boston goes. It looks like at this point we will be going down for the day on October 29th for tests and paperwork. We will be heading back down on November 5th to check in for the transplant. This will be a 4 to 6 week stay. We are unsure at this point what day the actual transplant will happen. It will probably be about a week after I am admitted.

When I first am admitted, I will go through another high dose round of chemo and full body radiation. The goal here is to completely wipe out my defective immune system. My immune system does not see my leukemic cells as "bad guys". My white cells which should attack these leukemic cells, just think they are normal cells and allow the leukemia to grow within my body. If left untreated, the leukemia will take over, kill my immune system and will not result in a happy ending to this story.

Once my defective immune system is wiped out, I will be injected with my donors bone marrow (immune system). I will be given drugs to try to suppress my defective immune system. Eventually, my donors immune system should start to develop in my body. If all goes as planned, the donors immune system will take over, see my leukemic cells as "bad guys" and attack and kill them.

The doctors have told us there a few things that could go wrong. My donors immune system may never start growing in my body. If my donors immune system does begin to grow in my body, there is a probable chance that it will see some parts of my body as an invader because they are different organs than the donors organs. This could be my skin, my eyes, my lungs, my stomach. Basically any part of my body. This is called Graft Versus Host Disease (GVHD). When this happens, my donors immune system growing within my body will attack what it believes to be the invader. It is treatable, depending on the severity of the "confusion".

Once I come home, our house will need to be kept extremely clean. My sisters and parents have hired a cleaner to come in once every two weeks over the last couple of months. It has been a huge help for Crystal. When I come home from Boston, my immune system will be pretty much non existent for close to a year. If I go in public during the first year, I will need to wear a mask and gloves. The kids will not be able to have friends come over. The house will need to be spotless at all times. The tub / shower will need to be washed each day.

The next year is going to be tough to say the least. Crystal and I have a great support system and we thank you all! We are ready for this stupid challenge. We will get through this and we will kick leukemia's ass. People have said we have a great attitude about all of this. How can you not I ask? What else are you gonna do? Feel sorry for yourself and ask why us? Tried that for about 2 days. Didn't help one bit!

Getting iPad ready for Boston

2010-10-18T14:16:00.000-04:00

I am loading up my iPad with music for Boston. Thought I would share some of my playlist with you...

Crystal and I's wedding song...

Unbelievable performance!

Video Update from Home

2010-10-15T13:37:00.000-04:00

Going Home!

2010-10-14T12:22:00.000-04:00

Bag is Packed

Doctor came in this morning at 7:00 and said, "I think I am am going to send you home today. Even if your numbers aren't all the way there, they are trending in the right direction."

I said, "Great, that is good news, thank you!" I felt like giving her a hug but I was able to exercise some self restraint.

The last thing that happens when you get released is that they pull your PICC line. This is what they give me chemo, antibiotics, fluid and draw blood through. It is a port with a small hose attached that runs through a vein from my bicep to just above my superior vena cava (entrance to heart, I had to look that up). To start with, the thought of this thing being inside me freaks me out, but that does not take much. The thought of removing it almost makes me physically ill.

The procedure is pretty straight forward. They remove the dressing around where the line enters your bicep, tell you to bear down like you are having a bowl movement and then they "yank". The procedure does not hurt at all, but is a strange sensation to say the least. They came in at 11:00 to remove mine and were done by 11:10. Aside from a well concealed panic attack during those 10 minutes, it went well.

So, Crystal is on her way in right now. Can't wait to get home!

Numbers Going Up, Up, Up...

2010-10-13T15:59:00.025-04:00

So, I finished up radiation this week. Yesterday was my last session. I am feeling good still. They let me keep my "mask". I now have it hanging in my room. I keep telling people I am going to hand out Halloween candy wearing it...

My numbers have also started to climb. Based on the way they are rising, I should be out on Friday or Saturday. Hopefully on Friday so I can go to Nolan's flag football round robin tournament. His team is undefeated so far this season.

Crystal was in this morning and brought me in some G2 and some more Greek yogurt. My sister brought me in some on my first stay at the Maine Med, I am addicted to the stuff now. It has tons of protein and helps with maintaining stomach chemistry after chemo. Mom also came in this morning and brought me in a piece of chocolate cake that she made last night. I think I will dig into that after this blog post. That should help the stomach chemistry!

The numbers. Need ANC to get to .50 in order to go home.
Today it is at .27

While Crystal was here, the doctor also came in. She had some updated news on transplant dates. As it stands right now, it looks like I will be admitted into the hospital in Boston on November 5th for the transplant. Not sure what day the actual transplant will happen. Based on what I have read, probably about a week after admission. We have a consult with several doctors in Boston on 10/29. My doctor here is also seeing if we can speed up the process at all. She is concerned that I may relapse before the transplant based on how quickly I relapsed last time. We will have to wait and see what happens.

In Boston, there is a whole team of doctors, nurses and coordinators assigned to my case. Crystal is starting to work with the coordinators to arrange for housing for her while I am down there. She will more than likely stay on the weekends due to the 2 1/2 hours it takes to get Boston from our house. Unlike here at the Maine Med, she cannot sleep in my room. From what they have told us, I will be in Boston for 4 - 6 weeks depending on how well my body responds to the transplant. I have told my body to respond well, so I am sure I will be out in 4 weeks :)

View from my hospital room. Not bad except for the smoke stack.
When I had my double vision, there were two of them!

In real life, I love "people watching". In the hospital, this is not as much fun. Each day as I do my two miles walking around the hospital, I tend to keep my eyes to the ground. This helps shield me from the sights you see in the hospital. You see, my walking loop cover the cancer floor and the surgery recovery unit. A lot of these people are in pretty rough shape. Looking down helps shield you from the sights but there are still the sounds. From today's walk I heard the following:

Nurse to Nurse: "He had a heart attack and passed away a 1/2 hour ago. His wife is on the way in."
Patient vomiting as I walked by their room.
Elderly woman to doctor: "How much time does he have left?"
Woman crying uncontrollably as I walked past what appeared to be her husband's room.

These are only the things that I can remember hearing. For a while, I wore my iPod while walking to block out the sounds. After a week of that, my battery died and I headed out for my walk without it. I started to realize that there are some pretty good sounds also you hear while walking around the hospital if you listen closely. From today's walk, I heard the following:

Nurse to patient: "Keep your chin up, your doing great!"
Nurse1 to me: "Hey Chad, how ya doin today? How is Crystal doing? Tell her I said hello."
Nurse2 to me: "Getting your miles in? Good for you."
Doctor to patient: "Your bone marrow biopsy came back clean."

Some days there are more "negative" than "positive" sounds to be heard in the hospital and vice versa. Not sure what profound statement I am trying to make here other than I do not wear my iPod anymore when I walk around the hospital...

From my room, I have been able to watch the Gilman Street
water main renewal project.
They are finishing up today with paving. Exciting stuff!

Steak and Potatos

2010-10-10T13:18:00.004-04:00

So right now, I basically have no immune system. Every four hours, they check my vitals. A vital check consists of a blood pressure reading, heart rate check and a temperature check. As soon as I hit 100.5 or above, a flurry of activity happens. (Regardless of what time of day or night it is.) A fever is the first sign that there is some type of infection growing in my body.

On my last stay at Maine Med, I only spiked a fever twice. The first time, it was preempted with severe chills to the point where my whole body was shaking uncontrollably. The nurses kept putting warm blankets on me but the chills did not stop. Eventually they game me an IV of Demerol at around 1:00AM. The chills went away almost immediately and I entered a happy place that made me grin, giggle and drool a little bit. As soon as the shakes stopped, a fever set in.

When you spike a fever, someone comes up from the lab to draw blood. Directly from your vein. A lot of blood. They take that blood back to the lab and put it in test tubes and see if anything grows. Then, based on what grows, they know how to treat it. If you have read this blog at all, you know I am not fond of needles or blood. Also, all the nurses on this floor know that fact.

When the girl from the lab showed up to take my

blood at 2:00AM, I let her know how much I did not like needles and asked if there was any other way to do this. I was not making much sense I am sure due to the Demerol. She was a 20ish year old Somalian girl with full head dress on. I remember her being very nice and calming. During the actual blood draw, my nurse came in and actually held my hand. I know, pretty pittiful...

So, Friday night when I spiked a fever, I knew that meant a blood draw. Who else walks in from the lab but the little Somalian girl from over a month ago.

"Hello Mr. Davis, I remember you! Do you want me to go get your nurse so you can hold her hand?" She was giggling as she asked the question.... I laughed and said that would not be necessary this time around as long as she could deal with seeing me cry. She stayed in the room for a while after the blood draw and chatted with me. She is was very nice.

I spent most of the day Saturday watching the Hawaiian Ironman race live on the computer. It is truly an amazing race and it was also a great race this year. Definitely gave me some motivation and inspiration for this stupid "race" I am currently running in. I was tracking a guy from Canada. I have just started reading his blog. He is guy that just few years ago completely out of shape. He loves beer and every year has a "beer run" at his house. It consists of a 5K run and you need to drink a beer at each K. He has been triathlon training for the past three years and yesterday, he crossed the finishline of the toughest race course in the world carrying a Canadian flag in one hand and a beer in the other. It was a riot but goes to prove the point that nothing is out of reach without hard work and dedication. Check out his blog. http://trainingpayne.blogspot.com/

Crystal came in last night and spent the night. The Dixon's watched the kids at our house. From what I understand, three of them were not that well behaved. The big surprise is Paige was the good one. She said to Katy, "I am being good aren't I?" Anyway, I told Crystal I was craving steak and potatoes so she stopped by Bugaboo on the way in and got me 14oz of prime rib with fried onions, garlic butter and smashed potatoes. Man was it good.

Feeling OK today. No fever. Counts are still going down. May need some blood tomorrow as my red count is only 7.9 today.

Ironman World Championship Today

2010-10-09T08:05:00.000-04:00

Today is the Ironman World Championship.

New Blog Look and Update

2010-10-08T16:51:00.009-04:00

To pass some time, I updated the look and feel of my Blog. I have had the same layout for the past couple of years. I went with blood red.. (get it, I have cancer of the blood...)

I just finished up day 10 of 12 of radiation. No side effects aside from some dry skin on my scalp. Not even sure if those are related to the radiation. I finished up chemo 9 days ago. My counts are pretty low now. I have been running a slight fever the last couple of days, but nothing major.

We have been in touch with the doctors in Boston as far as working on a timeline for transplant. There are many tests that I need done before transplant. Most of the tests can be done here at Maine Med so my doctor here has started to arrange for that to happen so as soon as I am ready, I can head to Boston. Today I had chest xrays and a hemodynamic test. I knew what the xray was all about, but no idea what the hemodynamic test was...

Everyday, when they wheel me to radiology, we pass a department named Nuclear Medicine. I always wondered what they did there. Well, for this test, instead of pushing me past the entrance, they took a left into Nuclear Medicine.

The technician explained that they were going extract blood from me (wicked excited about that), mix into my extracted blood a radioactive isotope (wicked excited about that), stir it up "Really good." (as the technician said) and re inject the cocktail into my arm. (wicked excited about that). It is also mixed with a pharmaceutical so that blood goes right to my heart. Once this magic blood is inside me, they are able to take pictures of my heart and my blood flow and see how healthy it is. The whole procedure took about an hour. Not too bad. Now I know one thing they do in Nuclear Medicine.

So next week, I will finish up radiation, take some additional tests in prep for transplant and then just wait for my counts to come up.

In my last post, I mentioned that I was watching basket weaving videos. I thought you may be interested in seeing one of the videos. They are kind of funny..

My ultimate goal is to be able to weave a fishing creel at some point similar to the ones pictured here.

No news is good news... Day 15

2010-10-05T19:55:00.000-04:00

No big news from Maine Med. My counts have dropped and I am now neutropenic. If I leave my room I need to wear a mask. I feel fine though. Just completed day 7 of 12 of radiation. No side effects yet. Double vision has cleared up along with leukemia related rashes.

We have been in contact with with the transplant specialist in Boston to try to get an idea of when transplant may happen. He has stated that they want me in complete remission before they attempt the transplant. He mentioned mid November as a possible date. They are still waiting to confirm a donor. It is our understanding I have one (many actually) just need confirmation that they still want to donate.

Now just playing the waiting game for counts to come up. Probably will be a couple of weeks before I get to go home. Getting pretty bored. Just spent 2 hours watching You Tube videos on learning how to basket weave.

Weekend Re-cap

2010-10-03T19:14:00.000-04:00

So, didn't get to spend as much time as I had hoped at home, but I did make it out of the hospital. Here is the weekend re-cap...

I got the news on Friday that I would be able to get day passes over the weekend. Since my chemo is done, my immune system is still strong and the radiation department does not work on the weekend, it was going to be an uneventful weekend for me. Doc said I just had to get my blood work done each day, then I was free to go. As soon as I found out, I called Crystal. She was very excited. It was going to be a busy weekend though. She was running in the Dempsey Challenge 10K in Auburn at 8:00AM Saturday. Nolan had a football game at 10:00AM on Saturday also.

On Saturday morning, the nurse came in with my day pass. He said it was good for 4 hours. I was under the assumption it was going to be a full day pass. I said this may extend to 5 or 6 hours. He said fine. Just let me know when you leave and return. You see, the insurance company does not like to pay my $1,500 a day room charge if I am not here, so it is more of a paperwork thing than anything.

My sister Rhonda showed up to pick me up at 9:00AM and we were out the door! We were going from the hospital directly to Nolan's football game. He did not know I was getting out for the weekend. She asked if I wanted to stop anywhere. Since it had been over 2 months, I asked her to stop at Dunkins for a coffee and an Everything Bagel. You see, these are probably the damn things that gave me leukemia. For several years, I have had this combination everyday. To my disappointment, I do not like them anymore. They just do not taste right. Weird?

So we arrived at the football field and I saw Nolan back to. I went up to him and patted him on the back and said, "How ya doing buddy?" He was surprised to say the least. Crystal was just finishing up her race and had started the trip from Auburn back to Standish. Was a great game. Nolan's green team won (again).

Crystal got there as the game was ending. We packed up and went back to the house. It was nice to be home. I made a peanut butter and fluff sandwich. Not typical of me but it was unbelievable. Then I spent an hour or so outside with the kids. It is amazing how out of shape I have gotten in the past couple of months. I was exhausted after an hour of "playing". I ended up napping for an hour or so.

It was then getting close to 3. The plan was for the Crystal and the kids to bring me back in, spend the night in the hospital and then bring me back home on Sunday with my next day pass. We packed up and headed back to the Maine Med. We ordered pizza and had it delivered. Bed time was rough. Nolan on a cot and Crystal and Paige on a pull out couch in my room. Crystal was a "bit" sore from the 10K she had run earlier in the day and was now sharing a cot with Paige the bed hog.

Sunday morning when my nurse came in, I asked when I would be able to get my day pass. She said she would check. She came back in later with bad news. My counts had dropped overnight and I was now neutropenic. This means my immune system had pretty much crashed out. This is what chemo is supposed to do. We just did not want it to do it this weekend. So, I was not able to get released on Sunday.

We had a great day Saturday though. It was nice to be with Crystal and the kids outside of the Maine Med.

Also, congrats to a couple of close friends of ours, Jen and Mollie, who biked 50 miles in the Dempsey Challenge on Sunday. Amazing accomplishment!

Good News!!

2010-10-01T18:00:00.000-04:00

The doctor is giving me a day pass for Saturday and Sunday. I will be able to go home from 8am to 8pm. Will be able to go to Nolan's football game and then spend time with the family after. Can't tell you how excited I am.

Chemo is Done! Just Radiation Now...

2010-09-30T18:38:00.001-04:00

So I finished up my last day of chemo yesterday. Even though the actual chemo does not effect me until several days after, it just feels better to know that it is done. The only thing left now is to wait for my blood counts to drop and then rebound (may take several weeks) and 8 more rounds (days) of radiation.

They came in this morning at 6:30 AM to let me know they were going to take me down for radiation treatment. A transporter (person who pushes the wheelchair), would be here in 10 minutes. Right after that, my doctor comes in to check me out. Rash, vision etc.. Checked out OK I guess. Now, I am down to 5 minutes before the transporter arrives. So I get out of bed, head into the bathroom to "ready myself." I emerge from the bathroom in under 5 minutes and there is now a wheel chair in my room, a transporter, a CNA to take my vitals and my nurse to draw blood. Keep in mind, I was sound asleep 10 minutes earlier.

I get vitals done, blood drawn and I am off. My transporter is all of 90 lbs trying to push me in this over sized wheelchair with one hand while using the other hand to navigate my IV pole. She is having some trouble to say the least. As you leave my floor to approach the elevators, there is a slight downward slope of the floor. I knew this was going to be eventful. We get halfway down the ramp and she starts to loose control of the situation. I see my IV pole start to go past me. I quickly reach out to grab that. You see, I am attached to to the other end of that IV. By me grabbing the IV pole, she is able to use both hands gain control of the wheelchair. When we got to the end of the ramp, I made it pretty clear I would take care of navigating the IV pole. She seemed relieved!

So we get down to radiology at 6:50. No one is there. They do not open until 7:00. They need two technicians to run the machine. There was one technician there promptly at 7:00. The second person did not show up until 7:15. It appears she has a history of tardiness based on some of the comments and eye rolling that the technician that was there at 7:00 was making to me while we waited for her. Today she had a great excuse of how she had ATM trouble at the gas station blah blah...

So I had my radiation, got wheeled back to my room and was done with all my duties for the day at 7:40AM. No side effects from the radiation. I have not seen any of my brain leaking out of my ear or anything on my pillow. (I do check). Vision is at about 80% and skin rash is pretty much gone. Walked 2 miles today.

Quick Update

2010-09-28T14:49:00.001-04:00

So I just finished my fourth dose of chemo. One more to go tomorrow. Feel fine. I had my second does of brain radiation today. It only lasts about 5 minutes. It takes about 20 minutes to get all setup though. They do not want my head to move, so the first time I had treatment, they made a mask that goes over my face and bolts to the table. I asked the technicians if they would take a pic. They think I am a little weird in here.

Even after only 2 doses of radiation, I am seeing an improvement in my double vision. This is a good thing!

Crystal brought the kids in for dinner last night. It was great to see them. Been over a week.

Thank you for the care packages and cookies brought in this week. Last time I lost 10lbs being in here, this time I am approaching gaining 10 lbs!

Adjusting to Hospital Life and Treatment Update

2010-09-26T14:34:00.007-04:00

On Friday afternoon, my doctor came in to give give me an update on my treatment plan. The plan was full body chemo, brain radiation and spinal chemo. She has been working with the leukemia specialist at Dana Farber because my case is so unique. You see, my bone marrow shows no sign of leukemia, my MRI and CAT scan show no sign. But I do I have a rash on several parts of my body that has been biopsied and is positive for leukemia. My spinal fluid is also positive and I still have double vision.

The new plan is 5 days of chemo (to treat the rash) and 10 days of brain radiation (to treat the vision issue and avert any additional brain issues) to run concurrently. The chemo consists of 1 dose of a bright blue chemo that runs 10 minutes and another chemo product that runs for 1 hour. Much better than the 22 hours a day of chemo I was on before. This new plan also means no spinal chemo which is great. I am not into the needle going into my spine at all! I just had my second dose of chemo today and will start radiation on Monday. So far no side effects. In order to get my chemo going, they had to give me an IV line. You would think by now I would be getting better with needles. I think I am getting worse. When the nurse says "I have heard of being wimpy, but you are something else!" you just accept the fact that you are wimpy.

So after my 5 days of chemo, my counts will drop again. I had mentioned that I may be able to do all this as an outpatient. Not the case with this new plan. After my counts drop, I will need to play the game of waiting for my counts to come up. Hopefully will not be the 30 days it was last time. So all and all, we are happy with this plan. Last week we were not so positive. We are doing much better now. Side effects do not look to be that bad, and should not push transplant back that much.

I am bummed about being back in the hospital, but I am now a professional patient so that makes it a little better. I am walking 1 1/2 to 2 miles a day to try to stay strong for the upcoming bone marrow transplant. All the nurses know I am a wimp, so they are extra nice to me. I know the best time to order dinner so it does not take 1 1/2 hours to have it delivered. I know you have to run the hot water for 10 minutes before it gets hot. I know that when the lab (or bloodsuckers as I refer to them) come in at 5:30 AM to take blood, they will sometimes come back if you pretend you are sleeping (fake snoring increases the likelihood of them coming back later in the morning).

As I walk daily around this floor (the cancer floor) I realize how lucky I am. As bad as my situation may seem, I am in a much better situation than most of the people up here. Many of them are much older and do not tolerate the chemo nearly as well as I have. It is an eye opener as to what a terrible disease that cancer is. I came across a t-shirt the other other day with the following slogan written in bold face on the front: "CANCER, where the F!#K is the CURE?" I edited it here and would never wear a slogan like that in public, but seriously, where is the cure!!??? Are our best people working on it? Do we spend enough $ on it? Probably not if we are having celebrities put on fund raisers to raise money for cancer. When was the last time celebrities put on fund raisers for the military? Enough of that.. I am not some controversial activist, just some random thoughts...

Here is the new room:

Brain Radiation and Spinal Chemo

2010-09-23T16:45:00.001-04:00

So we got some more good news today. In addition to giving me chemo every 2 days in my spine, they are now going to give me full brain radiation treatment for the next 10 days to ensure that the leukemia does not cause any permanent damage to my brain.

I am meeting with the radiologist tomorrow and they are going to fill me in on the pros and cons of brain radiation. This is the first procedure that I am really not crazy about. Brain radiation!!! It sounds so serious. The Internet has told me it is nothing too major though. We shall see.

This will set us back a bit as far as the transplant goes. The plan as it stands right now is, 10 days of brain radiation with spinal chemo every 2 days. Once that is done, I will have consolidation chemo to ensure the rest of my body aside from my central nervous system is kept in remission. Consolidation chemo will last a week. I may be able to do all of this as an outpatient. I will find this out next week (aside from the consolidation treatment). My counts will drop at home and I will need to make a few trips into the Cancer Center for occasional blood and / or platelet transfusions. Once my counts have rebounded and I am feeling fine, I will more than likely head to Boston for the transplant. Best case scenario I would say I will be in Boston by the first of November. This would be good so I can be back home by Christmas. But, If I have learned anything over the past 1 1/2 months, it is not to make plans too far in advance...

Update on Recent Tests

2010-09-22T11:47:00.000-04:00

So, I had my bone marrow biopsy, CAT scan, MRI and spinal tap. None of them were that fun to say the least. CAT scan and MRI came back good. I have no tumors growing and my brain looks good. Bone marrow biopsy also shows no leukemia in my bone marrow. This is all good news.

During the spinal tap, they extracted some spinal fluid, about 2 oz and also injected 2 oz of chemo directly into my spine. They ran test on the extracted fluid and have found leukemic cells in my spinal fluid. This means that the leukemia has entered my central nervous system (CNS). This is why I am having double vision and currently need to wear an eye patch.

Treatment for the CNS infiltration will be every two days, they will give me a spinal tap, extract 2 oz of spinal fluid from my spine (which by the way is crystal clear), and inject my spine with 2 oz of chemo fluid. They may also start me on my consolidation chemo while I am in here. This is where chemo is dripped in via IV into my arm. Still waiting on that decision.

Aside from that, pretty quite here at Maine Med. Crystal is home sick today. She has some respiratory infection going on :( Get better soon hun... We are not sure what all this means yet, but I will update the blog as as soon as I find out.

Back in lockup!

2010-09-20T17:05:00.000-04:00

I came into hospital this morning for a quick bone marrow biopsy. On the way in, I noticed I had double vision. We told my Dr. that and she immediately ordered a CT scan and a MRI. Tomorrow will be a spinal tap. She thinks we may be looking at a relapse. If that is the case, we will be looking at some more chemo. We knew more chemo was coming, just not this soon. So for now, I am back at Maine Med.

Been home for a week now!

2010-09-19T08:19:00.002-04:00

So I have been home for a week now! It is amazing what a morale booster it is! It has been a busy week to say the least.

On Wednesday, Crystal and I went down to Boston to meet with the transplant specialist at Dana Farber. In the waiting room, there were some people wearing both masks and rubber gloves. I thought to myself "I wonder what is up with those patients?" After waiting for a bit, the receptionist let me know that the doctor would like to get a fresh copy of my labs. This means I need to give blood. I was not prepared for this. You would think after a month in the hospital, I would be fine with giving blood. Definitely not!

They call my name and lead me to a small room in back with maybe 3 of 4 technicians drawing blood from people. They sit me in a chair. I immediately let my technician know that I will need to lay down so I do not pass out and that I am not fond of giving blood. She moves me to a reclining chair. I look over and she has about 10 empty test tubes. I start to have a mild panic attack. Evidently I started getting pale. She puts an ice pack behind my neck. I am now squeezing Crystal's hand pretty hard. Yes, Crystal is in the room with me...

She puts the needle into my arm and begins the blood draw. I swear the needle feels like a turkey baster in my arm. I am heading downhill at this point. Another ice pack behind my head, and one on my forehead at this point. She eventually finishes. I am not able get out of the chair for several minutes due to light headedness.

Back to the waiting room. We are then called in to meet with Dr. Vincent Ho. He is my transplant specialist. He explains why he thinks I should have a bone marrow transplant. Basically, without one, my leukemia will come back. I could have chemo for a year or so, but without the bone marrow, it will come back and results will not be good. He was very nice and extremely informative. He then told us all the negatives of a bone marrow transplant. That was a sobering conversation. But weighed against a relapse, it is obviously the way to go. Remember those people I mentioned that had masks and gloves on, that will be me after the transplant. For a long time after the transplant. Basically, I will have no immune system for several months. Crystal and I asked how long it will take to get the ball rolling. He said once we get your search going, it will be like 2 to 3 months. We said great, lets get the search going.

The next day, while sitting at my desk trying to sort through insurance paperwork, I get a call from Dr. Ho. He says I have good news. It looks like we have close to 1,200 matches for you. It looks like the 2 to 3 months will be reduced down to 3 to 4 weeks. This is good news.

On Friday, I had an appointment with my doctor at the Maine Cancer Center. She checked me out and it appears I am doing OK. (had to give blood again. Almost same blood story as above.) It looks like I will be going in for another round of consolidation chemo soon. That is a 1 week hospital stay. Will find out next week about that. Monday, I have to have another bone marrow biopsy to ensure I am still in remission. This is where they drill into my hip bone to extract marrow. They are putting me under anesthesia this time because they have been unable to get a good sample each time they have done it in the past. This is due to my existing marrow being extremely "dry" due to the leukemia.

So, things are moving along. I am feeling good and appreciate all the prayers and support that continues to come our way. Couple pics. One of Paige with her fancy soccer outfit on with her fancy hairdew that she did - the comb over and the other is me with my new hair style.

Going Home !!!!

2010-09-12T14:52:00.000-04:00

The nurse came in this morning and said, "I have some good news." My counts had risen to .53. Crystal had slept at the hospital with me last night. We were psyched. You see, Thursday we were at .22, Friday we dropped to .19 and Saturday it also stayed at .19. We were bummed to say the least! Then this morning to have .53, we just couldn't believe it.

When we got home, we were greeted with balloons and this sign that Rhonda put up:

So I am now sitting on my own couch watching the Pats waiting for the kids to get home. I still need to wear my mask because I still do not have much of an immune system. It is nice to be home after 5 weeks in the hospital on soooo many levels!!

Thank you to everyone for the cards, phone calls, gifts, meals, child watching, visits, lawn mowing, massages, gift cards, trash runs, positive thoughts and wishes.

Counts and how to get a Bone Marrow Test

2010-09-10T11:49:00.000-04:00

Counts went in the wrong direction today. Went from .22 to .19. Doctor said it was probably due to the increase in antibiotics they have been giving me. I thought they had been hanging an extra bag or two of stuff on my IV pole. She said she was going to back off and see if that helps. Good call doc!

Also, since finding out my sister is not a match, Crystal and I have gotten several questions about how to get a bone marrow test. If you are interested in being tested, please visit the following website. www.dkmsamericas.org. It is a site where you can learn about the bone marrow testing and donating process. You can also sign up to have a test kit sent to your house.

The doctor did say that as soon as my counts hit .50, I would be released. Typically, once you hit .50, they remove you from all antibiotics and then monitor you for another 24 hours to make sure you do not break a fever. My doc has said as soon as I hit .50, I am out the door. :) Paperwork is all done.

Good and not so good news.

2010-09-09T16:35:00.000-04:00

My neutrophils are up again. Up to .22 today. We need to be at .50 to go home. I am shooting for .40 tomorrow. We shall see!

Doctor stopped by today. She let me know my sister is not a match for my bone marrow transplant. I do not know who was more disappointed, me or my sister.

Doctor then went on to say that I have a fairly common HLA type so it should not be difficult to find a match from the national bone marrow bank. I will pass on more info as I get it.

My nurse I have today lives in Buxton about 1/4 of a mile from where I grew up. Right on Memory Lane. Another nurse I have is Adam Black's fiancé. Small world..

Other than that, no big news from Maine Med. Time to figure out what to choose for dinner tonight from the expansive Maine Med room service menu :)

Numbers up, Hair Loss and Room Tour

2010-09-08T10:48:00.000-04:00

My numbers are up again today. The number we are really zeroing in on are the Neutraphils. They need to be up to .50 before I can be released. History over the last few days:

Sunday - .00
Monday - .03
Tuesday - .04
Wednesday - .09

I am hoping for .20 tomorrow. It is a stretch, but why not shoot for a high number!

Also, wanted to give everyone an update on the hair situation. It is still falling out, but the loss has slowed. Not sure if I will go completely bald or not. Here is a pic I took this morning.

I am realizing that the moles I have felt under my hair for the last several years are much larger than they felt. Just as any type of of skin growth is, they are very attractive hanging off my head.

I have also included a couple pictures of my room. It is much smaller than it appears in the pictures. The first is the table I spend most of my time at. The second is the the bathroom door where we track all my blood counts.

I am still feeling fine. Energy level gets low throughout the day. They say that comes with territory.

Crystal and I had a family trip to Disney planned for this November. Looking at my schedule for the next few months, we made the decision that I would not be able to go. I told Crystal she should still bring the kids and a friend or family member. Crystal discussed it with Nolan that night and left it up to him. She asked him if he still wanted to go but Dad would not be able to go. He said, "No. We should wait until he is feeling better." Big decision for a 7 year old. So, we were able to get a (almost) full refund on the trip. This is a good thing!

Labor Day 2010

2010-09-06T17:17:00.000-04:00

So Crystal "slept over" last night. Thanks hun for putting up with me. Also thanks for putting up with the nurses coming in at 11PM, 3AM and 6AM to check my vitals, take my blood and give my antibiotics. It also helps ensure it is impossible to ever get more than 3 - 4 hours of sleep.

So today was another big day day. I got to go outside!! Below is a picture as proof. It is just about the goofiest picture of me I have ever seen, but hey, I was outside for the first time in a month.

Amy, the nurse I had today (one of our favorites) came in and asked, "Have you gotten to go outside since you have been here?" I said "No, I went to Radiology the other day though." She laughed. She said she would get me a wheelchair and Crystal could bring me outside as long as I wore my mask. I was actually going outside. First I went to Radiology, and today I was going outside! Crystal and I were so excited.

Crystal took control of the situation, "It is sunny out so get your hat. You don't want to get a sunburn on your head. You can wear my sunglasses. Don't forget your mask." The nurse showed up with the wheel chair. Off we go!!!

The first place she wheeled me to was the little sitting area in the horseshoe of Maine Med. It was awesome. We sat out there for about 15 minutes. The only bad part were the pigeons. I am a complete germaphobe now. I thought they were going to come land on us or shit on us or something. I am not sure what I was thinking. Just not crazy about pigeons right now. I kept having Crystal throw rocks at them to keep them away. She whacked a few of them pretty good.

Next she wheeled me over to the new patio area in the new wing of the hospital. That is where the picture was taken. We stayed out there for 10 minutes or so. I kept sneaking the mask down so I could actually breath the fresh air. It was nice.

For lunch, the Brown's came in and brought Amatos. Actual food. No hospital food. It was awesome. In the afternoon, my Aunt came in. The other day, I had made a post on my Facebook page of a quote my sister passed onto me. My Aunt printed off the quote and framed it. I busted out crying when she gave it to me. Chemo must have effected my tear ducts....

More good news. My counts were up again today. This is the 3rd day in a row they have gone up. I actually have Neutraphils now. They are a measure of how effective your immune system is. They are only at .03, but I have some. There need to get to .5 before I can be released, but Amy the nurse said that once these start rising, they typically come up fairly quick. We shall see.

All and all, a great Labor Day. Can't say off the top of my head what I did last year for Labor Day, but I am sure I will be able to tell you next year what I did on Labor Day 2010.

Day 28 in the Hospital

2010-09-05T09:47:00.000-04:00

Well, today is day 28 in the hospital. Getting pretty boring. I am feeling fine though. Counts came up again today!!

Crystal came in and spent most of the day with me yesterday while the Dixon's watched the kids. Mom and Dad also came in. Crystal is sleeping over tonight. It is our "Date Night". Which by the way is a pretty funny movie. Just rented it on my fancy new iPad. A bunch of people chipped in at work and bought me an iPad and got Crystal a gift certificate to a spa. I love the iPad. I also rented Death at a Funeral on the iPad which was also very funny.

The other night I spiked a fever and the doctor got concerned. Since I have no immune system, this is a big deal to them. So Friday, I had a chest x ray to make sure there was not any pneumonia in my chest. They came right to my room with the x ray machine. No trace of pneumonia showed up.

For another test, the doctor also ordered a CT scan. This means I actually had to leave the 5th floor and go to the Radiology Department. This would be my first time off the floor in close to four weeks. Field trip!!! So this guy shows up to pick me up with a wheelchair. I get my mask on (have to wear a mask whenever I leave my pressurized room) and off we go. As he is pushing me down the hall, suddenly we take a hard left turn and almost hit the wall. Apparently the left brake had locked up on wheel chair.

He messes with it and fixes it and off we go again. Onto the elevator. Yippee. Off the 5th floor. The elevator shuts and it is just my wheelchair pusher and me. No conversation. Then he starts coughing. Uncontrollably. I am thinking, "Hey, I have no immune system here buddy!" The doors open and he stops coughing and starts pushing again. We make it about 200 feet and hard left turn again. Brake locked up again. He is now mumbling under his breath.

He parks my wheelchair in an empty area in radiology. He says someone will be right with you and he leaves. So I am sitting there in my wheelchair for maybe 10 minutes. A nice lady comes out and says "Are you all ready?" I say "Sure." She wheels me into the CT room. Lays me on the table and slides me in and leaves the room. She says you will hear breathing instructions and it may feel like your butt is getting hot. What?? What does that mean????

So I hear a pre-recorded voice saying "Breath in.... Hold you breath." This happens several times. With my mask on, I am now starting to hyperventilate. She now speaks over the intercom, your butt will start to feel hot soon. More hyperventilating. What does that mean? My butt will be hot?? Then I feel it. It was just weird is how I am going to leave it. The prcedure is now done.

They wheel me back out to the holding area and I wait for a wheel chair pusher. After 15 mintues, the same guy shows up and pushes me back. 1 one brake lockup on the way back to the room and and no coughing in the elevator.

So that was my big excitement yesterday. :)

Blood counts up today.

2010-09-04T10:27:00.000-04:00

White up from .2 to .4
Hemoglobin up from 7.6 to 9.1
Red blood cells up from 21.6 to 25.5
Platelets up from 30 to 35.

This is the best improvement we have seen to date. Keeping our fingers crossed that the trend continues tomorrow!

Slight training setback.

2010-09-03T20:10:00.001-04:00

On July 30th, I headed to Atlanta on a business trip. While in Atlanta, I felt like crap all week. I blamed it on picking up something on the flight. When I returned home on Aug 6th, I still felt like crap. Fever, body ache etc. At 10PM on Aug 7th, I went to the emergecy room. After several hours, the doctors ordered a complete blood count. It was determined at that point, I had almost zero for counts. Immediately they put me into a clean room and people began masking up before they came into my room. I had no immune system at that point.

The doctor explained that I may have some type of virus. He also mentioned that it could be some form of leukemia. I did not even know what leukemia was 22 days ago. Next came the phone call to my wife. It is 2 AM. She had stayed home with the kids. She was a CNA years ago so she has a decent medical background. That was a tough call to make.

So the next several days consisted of blood tests and my bone marrow biopsy. Keep in mond, I almost passout at my yearly physical when they draw blood. Results came in on Aug 12th. It was Leukemia. Specifically AML M5. Immediatly in went the PICK (line that goes into your arm and feeds into your checst cavity ) and induction started Chemo started. This consists of being on IV chemo for 22 hours a day for 7 days. On day 14 they tested my bone marrow (by drilling into it) and the chemo had worked. It put the leukemia into remission as the doctors had hoped.

The next step is to wait for my white blood counts to come back. It is now day 22 and my counts have not come back up yet. I have had 4 blood transfusions and several platelet transfusions. This is pretty typical treatment from what I understand. As soon as my counts come up, I can go home.

The next step is a bone marrow transplant. We have a meeting scheduled with a doctor in Boston for the second week in September for a consultation to see what that involved. The doctor feels that without the transplant, the leukemia will most likely relapse. My sister has sent in her sample and we are waiting to hear the results.

Last night I broke a fever. This is a big when this happens since my immune system is so weak. Nurses come running in, take tons of blood, I have to pee in a cup bah blah.. I just broke another fever this afternoon. Same deal, more blood, more urine. This time they took an x-ray of my chest to ensure I do not have pneumonia.

The doctor is a bit concerned my numbers have not come back up yet. She did another bone marrow biopsy today to see if possibly the leukemia has returned. We need to wait until Tuesday for the results.

Right now I am just bored and want to go home. Most of my hair has fallen out. Doesn't bother me though. We are staying positive and taking 1 day at a time. I have lost that 10 lbs I have been trying to loose for over a year :)

I just want to thank all of our friends, family, co-workers for everything they have done for us over the last month. It has been overwhelming. Just overwhelming!!

Man, I am lazy....

2010-03-30T21:46:00.000-04:00

So, I took 2 weeks off. Not sure why. Could blame it on the rain??? Life has not been that busy. I have just been well...lazy!!!

Got back on the treadmill yesterday. Felt good. Got back on the bike trainer in my 80 degree furnace room. Felt good, real good. I love the kind of sweat that runs off you when you are on the trainer. I had to cover my bike computer with saran wrap to keep it from shorting out.

I have only had (1) 6 pack of Shipyard in the last month. I do miss it. That being said, since I have not been exercising for 2 weeks, weight loss has not happened. Still over 180...

I need to loose 10 by the Polar Bear. That is a little over a month away. We shall see...

Spring Has Arrived!!

2010-03-07T18:53:00.000-05:00

Well, this weekend was unbelievable. High 60's and sunny, IN MARCH!!!!. It was great. Crystal and I got some yard work done then spent time with the kids outdoor.

Training has been going pretty good. Been getting in 3.5 to 4 hours a week for the past couple of weeks. Mostly running and biking on the trainer. Have been getting to the pool 1 to 2 times a week. Actually swimming better than I thought after not being in the pool for months.

Today was the first day I got the bike out and actually pedaled on pavement. We got the new bike trainer about a month ago. I have put over 100 miles on it. Crystal is not far behind. It has made a huge difference. My first ride last year was painfull. Averaged around 15MPH. This year first time out, average was just over 18MPH over 10 miles (5 miles right into the wind)

I followed the bike up with a 3.3 mile run. First 1/2 mile was a little tough, but the legs came into it. Just under 8:00 /mile for the run. I am happy with that for the first brick of the year.

Polar Bear Tri is about 2 months away. I would like to get up to at least 5 hours a week of training by then. Also, I need to be 10 - 15lbs lighter. It is that time of year I must say goodbye to my good friend Mr. Shipyard. I will see you in May after the race.

7 year old Nolan was able to get the go-cart out this weekend. Here is a link: Nolan on Go Cart

Polar Bear 5K

2010-02-13T14:02:00.002-05:00

Had the first race of the season today; a 5K in Portland. I ran this race last year. Last year it started at Peak Performance. There was a pretty good hill right at the start of the race that climbed from Marginal Way up to the Eastern Prom. This year they started on the Eastern Prom, went downhill and then had a very tough hill at the end. Below is the elevation map:

I went out Monday to run the course for the first time. I parked my car in the little round about at the end of the Prom. When I opened my door, the wind caught it and blew it open. I thought it was going to blow it off. When I got out, the wind took my breath away. Was 20 degrees out with wind blowing at about 20 MPH.

Today, it was much nicer!. No wind to speak of and in the high 20's. There was close to 300 entrants this year.

The race started off fast on the downhill. It was a bit crowded but thined out pretty quick. I hit mile marker 1 at 7:10. This is waaayyyy to fast for me. The first 1/2 mile was down hill and the other 1/2 was flat. I knew I had to slow a bit. The next mile was pretty much flat along the water. The sun was shining. I finally settled into a decent pace. Heart rate was around 170. I usually am in the high 170's during a 5K. I was taking it easy because I knew I had a good hill comming up.

Then the hill. It was rough. It started at just before mile 2 and is close to 1/3 mile long. By the time I got to the top, HR was at 180. I passed mile marker 2 half way up the hill at 15:30. After the hill, the course flattened for the rest of the race.

I could hear someone running behind me the whole way up the hill. SLAP, SLAP, SLAP was all I could hear. Finally this 70 year old lady goes by me. She was cruizin. She had on those running shoes that are nothing more than fabric covering your feet. Basically gloves for your feet.

With a 1/2 mile to go and my HR back down to 165, I decided to kick it up. There was an OK crowd as I approached the finish. I was feeling pretty good. I made it past the 70 year old and a few more before finishing. Overal time was 24:24. Works out to about a 7:53 pace. Not my best, but OK for my first race this year. Main goal was to stay under an 8 minute mile.

Will definately sign up for this one again.

Good week

2010-02-06T15:51:00.000-05:00

Had a good week training. Got a total of 12 miles running, 30 miles on bike trainer and possibly getting a swim in tomorrow.

Had a birthday this week. Just turned 37. I don't feel it though. Maybe late 20's. Definately not late 30's!!! Where does time go? It is sobering.

Love the new bike trainer. I have it setup in the basement in the utility room (furnace room). Average temp in there is around 78. Makes for a warm ride. But a hell of a sweat!.

Have Polar Bear 5K next weekend. Will try to get out this week and run the course a few times at lunch. Will be interested to see how my time compares with next year. I feel as though I was in better shape last year. We shall see.

Thanks for the birthday cards everyone and the birthday wishes on Facebook.

Bike Trainer Finally Arrived!

2010-02-01T18:15:00.001-05:00

Went together quick. Crystal's bike and my bike slide onto it like a glove. Going to give it a try tonight...

Signed up for first race of season

2010-01-30T15:10:00.000-05:00

On Friday, Crystal and I signed up for our first race of the season. It the Poalr Bear Sprint in May. It is a fun race. Pool swim with a pretty flat bike and run.

The sign up was at Gorham Bike and Ski this year. Hats off to Tri-Maine this year. It was one of the best sign up procedures yet for this race. They had 2 registers open so I was in and out. Doors were supposed to open at 7:30 AM for sign up. I got there around 7:15 and they were already open. This worked out great because I had an 8:00 AM meeting to get to. Got there in plenty of time..

Bike training still has not showed up!. Damn eBay sellers... Crystal is out birthday shopping for Paige. She is going over to St Joes to hit the pool when she gets back. I am going to try to get over tomorrow. Will be doing Kenpo tonight with P90X. Always a good workout!

So the 2010 season is here!!

2010-01-26T18:31:00.001-05:00

So, the new year is here! For Christmas I got P90X. I have been doing it for about three weeks and have noticed a difference already. It is a tough program. I realized last year when I did the Kennebunk Olympic race that I need more leg strength if I am ever going to get to the 1/2 Iron distance. P90X has a couple great leg workouts. The Yoga routines have helped my flexability also.

We just ordered a fluid bike trainer. We got pretty much the cheapest fluid trainer out there. It is a Kurt Kinetic. It has a lifetime warrentee so it should last us a while.

I have been hitting the gym at lunch 3 days a week to get in 5K 3 times a week. I have a 5 K in a couple of weeks. It is named the Polar Bear. Gotta love winter in Maine. Last year it was in the 30's so it was not too bad.

I just posted my planned races for 2010 in the column to the right. I put the Pumpkinman 1/2 Iron on my list again this year. Last year I did not make it. This year I will.

Of the 8 events planned, it looks like Crystal may be doing 5 of them with me include the Blackfly. That will be her longest event to date. .25, 21 and then 5. Strange distances, but it will work into my schedule perfectly!

It's official, I am now out of shape.

2009-11-24T20:05:00.000-05:00

Last time I ran - over a month ago
Last time I biked - at last race 2 months ago
Last time I swam - 1 1/2 months ago -(for 15 minutes)

I guess it is just about time to end "the off season". I am signed up for the Polar Bear 5K in February. I need to get my ass in shape if I am going to beat last years time. I am about 15 pound heavy right now. I usually call that winter weight, but it has not even snowed yet.

So, Starting Thursday before turkey, Crystal and I are going to get back into training mode. I am going to hit it hard this year. Wait and see...

The end of the season is near...

2009-09-24T20:52:00.000-04:00

Soooo. It has been a while since I updated my blog. Last update was after Beach to Beacon. Since then, I have been training fairly steadly. I completed my first olympic distance race. .9 mile swim, 25 mile bike and 6.2 mile run.

The Beach 2 Beacon was a great race as usual. I never run the course other than during the race. I really love the course. It has just the right amount of flats and hills. It is a fast course. I took a few minutes off last years time. It turned out pretty hot during the race. Way hotter than I like. I felt good though. Next year, I am looking to break 45 minutes. We shall see..

The Olympic race was TOUGH. I knew I would not be in the front of the pack. The swim was moved from the beach area on Mothers Beach in Kennebunk to a protected cove. There was a tropical storm of the coast and there were 6 - 8' seas. Kind of like the Scarborough tri last year.. It was a 2 loop swim. They were big loops though :) I never really got into a groove until close to the second loop. I felt fine during the second loop and actually passed a few people.

T1 was slow. I was not rushing. Crystal, Nolan and Rhonda were right next to my transition area. I giggled with them a bit about how slow I was. It was fun... Off on the bike.

The bike was a 25 mile loop. Fairly flat. I had just got new clip in pedals so I was really happy with my time. I felt good when I got off the bike.

Then the run. My legs felt a little crampy. I thought they would come out of it. They did not. They hurt. They just were not strong enough. I ran the whole 6.2. I was satisfied with the time though. 55 minutes for 6.2. Beach 2 Beacon 6.2 was 48.27.

Crystal and I have our last race this weekend. The Mainiac Sprint Tri. It is in Biddeford. 1/4 swim, 15 bike, 3.1 run. I may run the 1/2 marathon in a couple of weeks. Still up in the air.

After that, a few weeks off. I will then concentrate on leg strength and cardio for the next few months. I attached some pics also. Orange shirt and wetsuit is olympic tri. Other is B2B finish.

Beach to Beacon

2009-08-01T14:44:00.004-04:00

It was HOT! 48:28. Took a little over a minute off last years time. More to come.

Just signed up for Kennebunk Olympic Tri. This will be my longest Tri yet. Just starting vaca so I will update blog this week..

Another trip to Crystal Lake

2009-07-16T16:47:00.005-04:00

Well last night I got back on the bike after over a week off. I put some new straps on the pedals called power grips. They work great. I do not have any $ to buy pedals and shoes right now, so they will do. (thank you state of Maine for providing me with a $220 speeding ticket). I did 20 miles and averaged 17 MPH. I hope to get a 40 - 50 mile ride in this weekend... My toe / foot is feeling better so I may be able to get a short run in and see how it feels..

This morning at 6:00 AM, (yes I was up at 4:45AM again) I met Kyle at Crystal Lake for a swim. Air was 54. Water was mid 60's. It is funny how water in the 60's can feel warm. I got in my 1/2 mile swim. After that, Kyle headed off with his buddy to do another mile or so..

I was really tired during the swim. I only had a bagel for breakfast and had just biked 20 miles the night before. Excuses aside, I need to spend more time in the water if I am going to swim 1.2 in the Pumpkinman in September..

No Urban Epic for Me

2009-07-14T20:21:00.007-04:00

So, last Friday I got up 4:45 AM so I could drive to Gray to go to Crystal Lake. 4:45AM is way early for me. Way early. I had everything all laid out from the night before.. Wetsuit, goggles, towels, clothes to change into at work etc... While scrambling around the night before, I stubbed my toe really bad. It literally brought me to the ground for a couple of minutes. Then, right before bed, I stubbed it again.. To the ground again I went...More to come on that..

I left the house at 5:15. I was at the Lake at 5:45. There were already 10 other cars in the lot. Kyle, a guy I work with was also pulling in at the same time. He is doing the Peaks to Portland swim in a few weeks.. By the time I got into the water, there were about 20 swimmers. You start the swim at the boat launch. There was a guy putting his boat in to go fishing. He asked, "Is there a race or something this morning?" Someone answered, "Nope, just our Friday morning swim"

At Crystal Lake, there are basically 3 different swims you can do. A small across and back -1/4 mile, a swim to a point on the shore and back - 1 mile and swim the whole lake and back - 2 miles.. Needless to say, I did the 1/4 mile twice.. The water was not too cold. The first across and back I was by myself. On the second one, I joined in with to girls. Their pace was similar to mine so that worked out great. I am going to head back up on Thursday this week for another. Next week, I hope to make it up there twice. 4:45AM is rough though...

Back to the stubbed toe.. Over the weekend, we went to Acres O Wildlife camping. I could barely walk due to my stubbed toe. It is now Tuesday and is still very sore. Swelling has gone down, and pain has subsided. I am unable to run on it though. I was going to still try to sign up for Epic and run it this coming weekend though. On Monday, I went to sign up. I had not researched a lot of the details yet. When I went to sign up, I realized they were charging $105!!! ($95 for USAT members).. I am not going to spend $105 for a sprint race. That is crazy..

So between my bad toe and high race price, I will not be entering the Urban Epic this year. I will however be doing a full swim/ bike / run in Hollis on Saturday or Sunday to simulate the race. If anyone is interested, let me know.. No charge!!

The pic is Crystal Lake at 5:45AM. Notice the steam. Air was about 60. Water about 68. Summer in Maine!

LL Bean 10K finish...

2009-07-09T19:31:00.001-04:00

LL Bean 10K Recap

2009-07-07T18:27:00.000-04:00

First off, how can anyone not sign up for this race. The first 400 entrants get a free pair of decent running sneakers. Hats off the Beans and New Balance....

This was a great race. I had heard it was hilly. I think it is overall about the same as Beach to Beacon. The starts was crowded and slow. I really pushed hard after it opened up. I hit mile marker 1 at 7:40. This was gun time. I was 35 seconds before i crossed the start line. So this was a little over a 7 min mile. That is cruzin for me...

I kept this pace up until mile 4. Wheels started falling off. This is also about the time a person juggling past me.. That was humbling.. Mile 4 to 5 was tough for me.. I started picking up again at mile 5. I had energy again. Then the crowds started to appear as I got close to the finish. I sprinted the last several hundred yards. Great race. Gun time was 48:48. Chip time was 48:13.

My father in law Reggie also ran in the race. He beat his time goal and also never had to stop. Great job Reggie. My neighbor Renee also ran. She did great also after overcoming an injury recently.. This is definately a race I will sign up for next year..

Time to concentrate on Urban Epic tri in a couple of weeks..

That's right...Gettin serious now...

2009-06-30T21:18:00.000-04:00

Well, I am starting to push it.. It feels good..

Friday I went out and did a brick consisting of a 20 mile loop bike loop followed up with a 4.5 mile run. During the run, I was extremely hot. When I got home, I looked at the thermo. It was 90 in the shade. No part of the run was in the shade.. I am guessing 100. Man that was rough. Felt good though!!

Saturday, after reading about someone else (Ange) doing her 100+ mile ride, I told myself it is time to change gears. If I am going to do this 1/2 iron this fall, I need to start acting the part. We put the kids down for nap. I told Crystal nonchalantly I was heading out for a 40 miler. She gave me a few encouraging words like "Don't be stupid" "Your going to hurt yourself" and off I went. You see, I have never biked more than 25 miles in my life. She means well. Last year, I increased mileage too fast and was injured most of the season... She had to listen to me complain about being injured and sore all the time.. Love ya hun :)

Anyway... after the first 20 miles, I felt great. I was averaging close to 18 MPH. The weather was in the mid 70's and the sun was actually out. Those of you not in Maine, this is a rare occasion lately...

As I started on the second 20, I kept saying to myself this can't be right. I should be in much more pain than this. I should not be able to maintain this speed... The wind started picking up...25 miles, 30 miles, 35 miles pass by on the bike computer. I am still going????!!! When I pulled back into the house after 40 miles, I could still walk. I averaged 17 MPH over 40 miles. I could still communicate with people and I was fine. Absolutely fine... I dare say I could have done 20 more... Maybe next week....

Time to get Serious

2009-06-23T14:47:00.001-04:00

Over the weekend my buddy Trevor flew his dad from Vegas to Buxton for fathers day. We went over Saturday and visited. I drank several six packs of Shipard, along with a couple of lobstahh drenched in butter. On Sunday morning, Crystal and the kids made me breakfast in bed. 4 homemade Belgian waffles drenched in syrup... Last night I sat on the couch and finished a pint of Ben and Jerry's that I had just purchased an hour earlier. I got on the scale this AM assuming I would see the results of my weekend splurge. What, how could this be true??? I lost 3 pounds over the weekend.. Weight loss is a complete mystery to me!!!

I have been running almost every other day. Today I ran a tough 5.2 loop. I have been alternating between either a tough hill climb run or a fast 3.4 loop. I have been staying off the bike and out of the pool. On July 4th, my father in law and I are running in the LL Bean 10K. I have heard the course is hilly. We shall see I guess. Thus this is why I have been running on the hills of Hollis. There are only a couple, so I just keep running up and down them!!..

I do need to get out on the bike and back in the pool though. I think as I start to taper for the Bean 10K, I will get back onto the bike and into the pool for a few light efforts. Right after the 10K, I need to get my ass in high gear to get ready for the Urban Epic tri.. .5 mile swim, 13 mile bike and 3.7 mile swim. Should be a fun, fast race... I have never done the Epic. It was an Olympic distance in the past. They shortened it this year..

Overall, I am happy with my progress this year. I feel good. I am stronger on every run. Faster on every bike ride. I did read an article today that was talking about getting to the next level in personal fitness. This could be running a faster 5K, a longer long run or a faster or longer bike. They compared it to transitioning from a teenager to an adult. It is a difficult transition. You will make mistakes. I am at that point. I feel I am close to breaking through. I am ready.... I guess I just need to spend less time with Shipyard and Ben and Jerry's though... Maybe not though. Maybe they are the key to my weight loss??! Nothing will change though if you do not get off the couch. I have never regretted going for a run or a bike ride. I have regretted sitting on the couch... Does that motivate you Sonya :)??

I know an IRONMAN

2009-06-22T07:35:00.000-04:00

It is a pretty cool thing to be able to say you know an IRONMAN. My cousin Logan (pictured here)completed another full Ironman this weekend. Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Although this was not his first, it is an amazing feat to me still. As I read his blog and others aspiring to be an Ironman, I am amazed and inspired.

10 years ago??? Logan moved away from Maine. At that point, Logan was not much of an athlete. Unless you consider beer drinking and having a blast with friends a sport.. Neither was I by any means either. I was usually drinking with him on the weekend.. I was smoking 2 packs a day and drinking several six packs a week. I then started getting e-mail from my cousin Logan. He was running in races. These were not normal races. He had to run or crawl through mud pits, climb walls or something weird like that. I thought the TX sun was getting to him for sure. It sounded like he was having fun though!!

Then I got an e-mail that he was doing a Triathlon!! I had no idea what triathlon was really about. I knew it was on TV once a year. It looked impossible.

To get a better understanding of what it was about, I volunteered at the Wildbear Sprint tri here in Maine. I was amazed that people of all shapes and sizes were competing. I decided then and there, this was something that I had to Tri...

I entered the Polar Bear the next year and have been competeting in Tri's since.. My wife got the bug too. We train and race together now. It is an amazing spot and has changed my life in so many ways. Thank you Logan!!

His blog can be followed here: http://coachlogan.blogspot.com/

Few pics from Pirate

2009-06-15T21:40:00.001-04:00

Pirate Tri Race Recap

2009-06-08T20:56:00.001-04:00

This was my first Sunday Race. Crystal's parents had taken the kids Saturday afternoon and they were spending the night. This worked out great. Crystal and I went into packet picket, stopped by Amatos for some spagetti and then hit the grocery store on the way home. We were able to leisurely get our gear ready without having to worry about who was going to give baths, who was going to change diapers, who was tucking who in.. It was nice.. This was my 6th tri in the past three years. My First was the Wild Bear with my sister Rhonda. As I went to bed that night and thought about the race, I realized this was the first time I truely felt confident in my training. I knew I was going to finish. I knew a lot of the competition was in NH for the weekend. My only concern was the funeral home.. I will explain in a bit...

The alarm went off at 5:30. I think we both were awake around 5:00 though. We were on the road by 6:30. Things were just going really smooth. Everything just felt right.

We arrived at Point Sebago around 7:15. There were no lines. We got right to the parking lot and unloaded. There were no porta potties. There were actual bathrooms. This was a welcome change! We got to transition and I was on the first rack. No one else was there so I grabbed the outside spot. Crystal was on the next rack. We took our time in setting up, getting marked and then getting our wetsuits on. Around 8:40, Crystal's Mom and Dad showed up with the kids. The kids were excited to see us. That is always cool.

Fast forward to 9:00 AM. Crystal and I are both red caps for the swim. Red caps are wave 1. Men red caps start at 9:00 AM. Female red caps start 30 seconds later. At 9:00AM, the canon fires. Yes an actual canon. It is the Pirate Tri...

The swim was crowded. of the 225 or so, there was only 4 waves. The water was brisk, but not too bad. I never really got into a comfortable rythem due to either swimming up onto someone or being swum?? up onto.. Chalk it up to first open water of the year.. I was out of the water in a little over 9 minutes. I was extremely happy with that, A PR for me for 1/3 mile..

T1 was rough. I was extremely winded. I struggled getting my wetsuit off and my Jack and Adams race shirt on . Thanks TX cuz for the shirt.. a disappointing 3 minutes...

Off I go on my bike. I am passing people left and right.. OK, settle down.. I do after about 2 miles.. We take our first right off 302. We start to climb. We continue gradually climbing for the next 6 miles or so. These climbs are seperated with short downhills or at least gradual uphills. We then take the right onto Quaker Ridge road. The sign says Hall Funeral Home 3/4 mile. There is a reason there is a funeral home at the top. By the time I get to the top, I am thinking about going in to the funeral home to check their prices... It was tough. A lot of people passed me. I need to definately spend some time doing some hill work. The view was great though. Clear views of Mount Washington. You could also see Sebago Lake. As the decent started, I realized just how long we had been climbing. I looked down at one point and was cruising at 40MPH. I pulled off the aero bars and slowed a bit. 40 is pretty fast. There were a few bumps...

As I approach T2, I felt good. The crowd was great. I passed a few people right before dismount. My confidence was high.. Bike time was 49:21. Since I do not have clip ins, T2 was fast. Dropped of bike and grabbed race bib. 36 seconds..

I took off fast out of transition. As I approached the 1/2 mile mark, I realized I was starting to cramp in the calfs. I ran through it and was fine by mile 1 marker. It is a lollipop course. I saw Kyle, a guy I work with heading back from his loop. He was cruising along. I realized that I was too.. I was passing people left and right. I then saw Crystal heading her her way out on the run. She was looking great. She hates running. She looked like a runner!. We did a quick high five as we passed. It was a nice boost.. At mile marker 2, I passed a girl who was my age and was in much better shape than I. I do not think she was impressed. She stayed on my ass all the way to the finish. I was not going to let her get by. She propbably took close to a minute off my run time. (She did get by, right at the finish... My run was 23:45, hers 23:44.)

I ended up 49th out of 105 men. 75th of 226 overall and 8th of 25 in my age group. I was extremely happy with that even though a lot of the competion was in NH. It was a great event and hope that it is held again next year..

On the weightloss front, I lost 8 pounds since the Polar Bear. Hopefully another 8 - 10 by Urban Epic...

2 weeks to go until Pirate Tri

2009-05-26T21:51:00.000-04:00

With a couple weeks to go until the Pirate Tri, I am feeling good. Last week, I got in about 9 miles running, 35 miles on the bike and a mile and 1/2 in the pool.

Highlight of the week was that Crystal and I actually got to go for a ride together. Reggie and Vicki watched the kids. We did a nice 19 mile loop. She did great.

I took it easy running because my legs were just not there this week. Not sure what is up with that...

I started doing a 14 mile loop last week. Nice 1.5 mile downhill. The first time I did it, I average 16.5. I reversed it this week with the climb at the end. I average 16.7. I attached the elevation chart. Pretty good climb at the end. Hills are a definite weakness for me, so I am going to use this loop for training a bit over the summer. Nice route. Mostly bike lane and the uphill is freshly paved :)

It was Memorial day this weekend. I did have a few beers. 8 to be exact.. I have dropped 5 pounds. Hopefully, I can drop another 5 before the race. I have not tried my wetsuit on yet. Should be interesting....

Training, Yard Work and no Shipyard...

2009-05-17T17:39:00.001-04:00

The week started off great. I ran Monday and Tuesday at lunch. Both days I did my 4.6 loop. Starts flat with a few challenging hills. I took Wednesday off.

Thursday I headed to the pool. I got in 1 1/2 miles in the pool. Time was not fast, but I felt good. I am now confident that I can swim that distance. I am starting to feel comfortable / confident in the water. I did not think this day would ever come....

Friday, I got out and did a 5.2 mile run after work. Felt good at my 8 min mile pace.

I had planned on biking this weekend a couple of times. That did not happened.. Instead we had T-ball, mowed the lawn, fertilized the lawn, went to Lowes to get plants, fertilizer, stone edging, lumber, burned the winter long pileup of a burn pile, went to the pool store to get chemicals, went to the dump, took my studded tires off the Accord and put my summer tires on, installed 50' of gutters (twice, I am a computer guy, not a gutter guy I have found out), fixed the patio steps, rehung the flag - don't ask.. Needless to say, finding a few hours to bike was not in the cards..

Week 2 of no Shipyard.. I miss my buddy... :) But, I dropped 4 pounds this week.. It is working!!

Work week summary

2009-05-08T21:58:00.001-04:00

After seeing from pics from last weekends race, it became very evident that I need to shed a few pounds.. (10 -15 for starters...) As such, I have said good bye to my good buddy Mr. Shipyard for the next month.. I will miss you my friend. I will visit with you after the Pirate Tri and we can catch up :)

I have also changed my eating habits. Instead of several coffees xtra xtra, I am down to 1 coffee and a bowl of Total with raspberries on it. I read an article that antioxidants can help prolong endurance. I have also increased my protein intake. I did notice a difference this week in my energy level. Getting out of bed in the AM was not as tough and my energy level was up all day.. I have dropped a couple of pounds already..

As far as training for the week, time was tight.. I got a 3 mile run in on Monday at lunch. After work, Nolan had T-ball. That did not get over until 7:30. Right after that I headed to ST Joe's. I got there and there was only 1 other person in the pool. That was cool. I got my mile in and was able to practice some flip turns without an audience..

Tuesday, I got 5 miles in at lunch. I left from work and did back cove. It is a 5 mile loop from work to the cove and back. It was windy and cold, but i felt good. 39 minutes.. I was happy with that..

Wednesday, I did not have time to get out at lunch. I was bummed.. Wednesday night though, i got 10 miles in on the bike. I got a flat pulling back into our development though.. This is a good thing. Crystal needs to learn how to change a flat, so I am going to show her tomorrow..

Thursday I got in 4 miles at lunch. I was planning on swimming but the pool was closed for graduation...

Today is Friday and my rest day. It is usually the day I hang out with my buddy Shipyard... He probably misses me too..

For the weekend, I want to get in a 20 mile ride and a 10 mile ride. I also want to get in a 5 mile run and a 3 mile run.. We will see. We have a T-ball game, a load of loam that needs to be picked up, a lawn to be mowed, a mower that needs a blade put on and there is some crazy holiday this weekend...:)

Pics are Crystal's new bike, Paige with a crazy face, Nolan getting ready for the MS Walk a couple weeks ago

Polar Bear Tri recap

2009-05-03T12:48:00.001-04:00

I was laying in bed that morning around 3:00AM and woke briefly to hear it pouring on the farmers porch outside of the bedroom window.. I said to myself before falling asleep for another couple of hours, "Great, another wet one like last year.."

When Crystal and I rolled out of bed around 5:00 to start getting ready, the rain had stopped. It was 50 and cloudy, but no rain..

On the way up, Crystal and I did not talk much. This was only her second tri. It would rain for a bit and then stop. She was checking the weather on her iPhone. It said rain.. As we got closer to Brunswick, the sky started to clear. While setting up transition, (which seemed extremely tight this year) the sun started poking through. You could almost see everyones spirits pick up.. By the time Wil starting talking, the sun was out... This was a good thing!!

Crystal and I were in the same swim wave..wave 7. Right before our turn to swim, Reggie and Danny showed up with Nolan to watch the race.. It was great.. Crystal and I got into the same lane. That was pretty cool.. Crystal works with a lady named Donna. Her husband Rick entered this year. This was his first Tri. He was in the lane next to us.

At the horn, I got out a bit in front of her because I do not like someone swimming right next to me. I can be a bit of lane hog. I stayed about a 1/2 lap ahead of her. I was out of the pool in 10:45. That is a PR for me..

T1 went slow. I had to pull shorts over my new fancy tri shorts I got. Those tri shorts are just a bit to revealing for me... As I was leaving T1, Crystal was coming in from the pool. She looked great..

Off on the bike I went. My speedometer was not working. Just like last year, I hit the sensor while setting up transition (or someone did) and was fliing blind.. I felt good though. I kept my cadence up. About 6 miles in, a group of 4 girls went by me on a hill. At that point, I said, hey it's race day, let's kick it up a bit. I ended up catching them and passing a couple. I stayed with the other 2 until the end of the bike.. I saw Katy with about a mile to go. That was cool. She drove up to see me and Crystal.. Ending up doing the bike in 39. Last year I was 46. Another PR for this course for me. (Last year I cramped up on the bike)

T2 was fast. I wear my running shoes on the bike so just a quick stop. Off I went on the run. The first 500 yards was tough. Calfs were cramping.. They loosened up and I settled into a good pace. When I hit the woods though, (2 miles in the woods), I started to struggle. Not sure what is was. Ground too soft, too many roots or whatever, it was not a good run for me. You have to do 2 loops in the woods. On the second loop, I saw Crystal just starting her first loop in the woods. I yelled out to her.. "Go Crystal!" She heard me.. I then said, I should try to catch her. She was about 400 yards a head of me. I did, but it killed me... I gave her a slap on the ass when I went by her.. I am sure she loved that :)

I then emerged from the woods and onto the sports field. From here there is 200 - 300 yards to the finish. As I came onto the field, I saw Nolan. He came out onto the field and ran the last 200 yards with me. It was great!. I finished the run in 25 or so. Normally I would be disappointed with 25 for 3K, but today, the sun was out, Cystal was racing with me and Nolan went over the finish line with me. The 2009 Polar Bear was a great event this year for me. I cannot remeber ever having such a good time at any other event..

1:19:18 for the Race.. More to come

2009-05-03T07:56:00.001-04:00

Had to post a pic of Nolan doing the last 200 yards with me. This was the highlight of the race for me...

Only a few days until our first Tri of 2009

2009-04-27T21:06:00.000-04:00

This Saturday is our first tri of 2009. Crystal has been doing great. I am also in much better shape than I was last year at this time. Last year for this race, I think my bike leg was around 48 minutes. I am hoping to take close to 10 minutes off that this year. We will see. They are saying chance of rain and in the 60's.

After reading my cousins Tri blog, http://coachlogan.blogspot.com/ I feel as though I have been slacking though... My running partners also are not shown in Triathlete magazine either though... Great job on your training Logan. You have been in inspiration to me when I am having trouble getting off my ass....

As far as training, I am doing about 10 - 15 miles a week running, 1 -2 miles in the pool and 15 - 20 miles a week on the bike... My numbers really need to start climbing after this race if I want to be ready for the 1/2 Ironman this fall..

Spring is near.. I just know it...

2009-04-06T19:35:00.000-04:00

Had a good week of training. The snow is melting so it is nice to be able to get out and not be all bundled up. On Tuesday at lunch, I was heading out to do my 3.5 mile loop. Chris from work was also heading out. He was going to do a 5 mile loop. He asked me to join him so I did. It is a nice loop from the office to Back Cove and back to the office. I think we did it in around 47 - 48 minutes.

Tuesday night I headed to the pool. I have been doing 1 mile each session. 1/3 mile freestyle, 1/3 mile with flippers and a 1/3 mile with a pull buoy.

Thursday I got out for another run at lunch. I just did my 3.5 mile loop. That night I headed to the pool to get in my mile.

Over the weekend (Sunday) I went out for what I thought was going to be 6.2 My neighbor Renee told me about a nice hilly loop she is doing to train for the Beach to Beacon. After Crystal got back from her 4.5, I headed out. I got to the point in the run where the 6.2 could turn into a 7.5. I took the 7.5 turn. When I got to the point where the 7.5 could turn into a 10.5, I took the 10.5 turn.

So, almost 2 hours later I made it back home, a bit sore with a major blister on my little toe, an upset wife because I was gone for so long and she had gotten worried that I was dead in a ditch. But, I was psyched. 10.5 miles. No stopping. I have never run that far in my life! And today is Monday and I was able to walk. Actually walk!!! A little sore, but not bad.

So for the week, 2 miles in the water and 19 miles running. No miles on the bike though.. I know I know.. I plan on going to the gym tomorrow to try to get on the stationary. My bike is still in for a tune up. It is ready to be picked up, but it is in Freeport. We are waiting until this weekend to go up, because Jaimie is getting a Scott S30 in for Crystal to try out. Nolan is not feeling well tonight though. I may need to stay home with him tomorrow. If that is the case, I will not make the gym...

1 month until race

2009-03-31T18:25:00.000-04:00

Well, I have not been updating the blog much. My appologies to the many many fans I have :) For the month of March, i have been working out fairly regularly. I am running between 10 and 15 miles a week, and swimming a couple of miles a week. I just found a new five mile loop at lunch. I run from the office to back cove, run the loop and then run back to the office.

I dropped my bike off at National for Jamie to tune up. Should get it back this weekend. From there on out, I will be doing some riding. Roads are still in very rough shape right now.

I feel really good that I will have no issues with the swim and run. I need to spend more time on the bike. I plan on hitting the gym Wed and Friday to ride the bike.

Off to the pool... Here is a link to next months race
http://www.tri-maine.com/Races/PolarBear.html

Back at it

2009-03-18T21:02:00.001-04:00

Took a good week off. I was not feeling well. I did sign up for the Beach 2 Beacon. I think this will be the last year for that. It is a 10K race. It was online signup only. Site kept locking up and tons of people were unable to sign up. There are many other road races that donate a larger % of their profits to a wider array of charities... FUn event, but starting to be a project just to get into the race.

This week I hit the pool Monday and Tuesday night. Mollie, Jamie and Jen were there. They are going to be in their first Tri this year. I gave them some pointers... Do as I say, not as I do!!

Also, I was looking to get out of the lane I was swimming in. There were two other guys in the lane. One had on a wetsuit and one was related to Phelps I think. Needless to say, I was in their way...

Felt really good overall though. Much better than I did a year ago leading up to the Polar Bear. Also I have started to run at lunch. I have a 3.1 mile loop and a 4.5 loop. I am going to try to get my road mileage up to 20 miles a week leading up to the Polar Bear tri the first of May.

I really need to get some miles on my bike though. That will be my major concentration over the next few weeks. Also, Crystal is looking for a bike. 52 - 54cm in the $600 to $800 range. At least Tiagra comps.. If anyone is selling or knows someone selling, let us know!