Friday the 13th, In Your Face!

Friday the 13th my wife and I were escorted by a nurse to exam room #13. “Is the universe trying to tell me something”, I thought. It’s Friday the 13th and I am in room #13 about to here from my oncologist about my recent PET scan results. The nurse did ask if I wanted to change rooms, but I figured if there was such a thing as fate, it was already sealed for that day and changing rooms wouldn’t suddenly change the outcome of my visit. Honestly, I don’t believe in superstition and fate. Well, in your face Friday the 13th, my PET scan came back perfect – absolutely no cancer. Of course, my great results were not just random luck, I had a little influence.

So far two of my PET scans came back positive for cancer activity, but later proved out to be just inflammation of scar tissue where I had surgery. It’s not a good day when your oncologist says, “Your scan has shown in uptake, it is probably nothing, but it does indicate that the cancer is coming back and we need to watch it very closely and have you come back in a few weeks for another scan”. I reason, for good reasons, my active lifestyle with long distance running is causing my hernia surgery site to be inflamed and not to worry about it, but it still can rest heavy on the mind. So I found a way to combat it, with ice!

I figure if ice is good for reducing swelling and inflammation of sports injuries, then why not old hernia surgery sites. So about 3 days before my PET scan I start applying an ice pack to my groin each night, and oh that’s cold. That doesn’t sound like much fun does it? It beats the alternative, going through weeks of anxiety until another PET scan shows that the cancer is not coming back. Every time I have used ice packs before a scan my scan results have come back negative. Earlier this year I got lazy one time and didn’t use ice packs and sure enough, the PET scan came back positive. Now I’ll do anything to make sure I use the ice treatment.

This last week I got lazy again, waiting to the last night before my scan before using ice packs. That night I went to my parents, which is about an hour drive from my home, to visit and help out with a few things. I didn’t want to stay up late at night, so I employed my technique on my drive back home. It was good I wasn’t pulled over by the police. It would have been uneasy trying to explain why a bag of ice was stuff down my pants.

It’s amazing that we spend a lot of effort dodging superstitions, yet many times we’ll do little or nothing of the things that really have control in the outcome of our lives.

Good Luck Tasgirl

Tasgirl,

Good luck completing your second marathon after completing chemotherapy. I hope it goes well at the New York City Marathon this weekend.

Chemo-Man

Ride Chemo-Man Ride

I have found a new adventure – commuting to work by bicycle. I started riding my bike to work in July of this year. The idea came to me when I saw a TV news story on people who commute to work by bicycle and do it every day, no matter what the weather is outside. I got on Google Earth to check what possible routes I could take and was amazed to find that I could take mostly bike trails the entire way. So I tried it and now my commute to work has changed from a dull routine to a wonderful and enjoyable adventure.
This is not the first time I commuted to work by bicycle. In 2005 my family and I lived in Irvine California for six months while I was working on a temporary assignment at a Boeing facility in Anaheim. My commute started out with my wife driving me and my bike to a train station in Irvine. I would take the train to a station at the Angles baseball stadium. There I would get on my bike and ride about 7 miles to my work. About 4.2 miles of that was on a bike trail along the Santa Ana River. In the mornings when the sky was clear I had views of snow capped mountains.
My commute by bike now is just over 14 miles each way and it usually takes me about 1 hour to make the ride at a vigorous pace. This is not a leisure ride; I turn it into a good aerobic workout. Driving to work takes about 30 minutes each way. So the way I see it, I get a 2 hour workout with only 1 additional hour invested. Commuting by bicycle is more than just a workout for me. It sets up my day and evening. The ride in makes me feel better when I am at work, then the ride home helps flush out work stuff and gives me additional energy in the evening. Even though I push it, the ride is very enjoyable with beautiful scenery along most the way.

When I ride my bike I wear the same Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS unit and heart rate monitor that I wear when I run. So far this year since July I have logged about 579 miles on my bike, most are commuting miles. I try to ride to work about 3 days a week. Originally I was going to try for all 5 work days each week, but because of weather and family things I can only muster about 2 to 3 rides per week. That works out for the best anyways because I need time to continue my long distance running, which I would never give up. Last week I went for 8 mile run and my legs got pretty stiff afterwards. I would like to always be in good enough running shape to run a half marathon if one comes up, so I need to find a way to continue my running training along with riding bicycle to work.

If one wants to loose weight, riding bicycle is the way to go. When I ride 28 miles to work and back home, I burn over 1500 calories. I would have to run about 12 miles to burn the same amount of calories. I could ride to work five days a week and my legs wouldn’t get very sore or stiff, but even when I am in marathon shape I couldn’t run 12 miles a day for 5 days straight. Some runners can do it, but they are not average runners. The low impact of bicycle riding is a lot easier on the body. However, I have heard that some impact exercise is actually good for you because it helps maintain strong bones. A mix of various types of exercise is the best because it avoids injurys due to overuse. I will always be a long distance runner, but I have been looking for a way to get a more complete workout. Biking to work has added a new dimension to my physical and mental training.

Below are a few photos of my ride to work. More photos can be viewed at http://picasaweb.google.com/LKStrandjord/MyCommute#.

I have two waterproof saddle bags for my belongings. I carry my laptop and office things in the left one and cloths and my lunch in the right one. The saddle bags have a quick release so I can carry into my office.

The bike I use is a mountain bike, which is not optimum for this type of travel, but comes in handing sometimes when the trail gets rough. I had a new type of handle bar installed. Rather than the old style round handle bars, it flares out providing more flat surface for the palm thus reduces tingling in the hands on long rides.

After a short ride through my neighborhood, I take county road 19 to the bike trail. The speed limit for cars is slow at 35 to 40 MPH and I have a wide shoulder to ride on, so riding on this road is comfortable.

The wonderful views start out right away along county road 19.

I pick up the Dakota bike trail in Navarre. The Dakota trail, which runs 13.5 miles from Wayzata to St. Bonifacius, was recently constructed and opened this year. If it wasn’t for this trail I would have to take a busy road with narrow or sometimes no shoulder. I won’t ride on busy roads with narrow shoulders. I take the trail only 5.5 miles from Navarre to Wayzata.

The Dakota trail works its way through Lake Minnetonka. Some parts of the trail go through neighborhoods of beautiful homes, other stretches through dense woods and open wetlands and through the middle of the exclusive Lafayette Club golf course, while other parts past wonderful vistas of the lake. Here the trail crosses over a channel between Crystal Bay and Lower Lake of Lake Minnetonka. Early in the morning a fishing boat probably on its way to a favorite fishing hole carves its way through Crystal Bay.

This is one of my favorite vistas near Tanager Lake.

When I reach Wayzata I leave the Dakota bike trail and take Ferndale Rd 0.7 miles through a neighborhood to the Luce Line bike trail.

The Luce Line Trail is a state trail that runs 63 miles from Minneapolis out to Cosmos Minnesota and takes me very close to my work. I take the Luce Line trail about 4.1 miles. The first 2.3 miles is limestone and remainder closer to my work is paved.

I go through three tunnels on the Luce Line trail. This one goes under Broadway Ave near Wayzata.

A morning fisherman is trying his luck at Gleason Lake near Wayzata. If you look carefully you can see many fishing lures hanging from the power lines above. Fortunate for the fisherman fishing line is not an electrical conductor.

Just on the east side of freeway 494 the Luce Line Trail passes through a small industrial area.

After about 4.1 miles on the Luce Line trail I leave the trail and ride through a neighborhood near my work in Plymouth MN. This last part of my commute is only 1.2 miles long.

After 14 miles door to door I arrive at my work in Plymouth MN. It typically takes me a little less than an hour to complete my ride. I have a locker in the men’s shower room. My office is on the right. Sometimes I see deer in the woods from my office.

On my way home I take a different way through my neighborhood. This is a neighborhood beach on Lake Minnetonka and about 2 blocks from my house. My best time so far to complete a one way commute is 55 minutes and 3 seconds.

See more pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/LKStrandjord/MyCommute#

Le Sueur Giant's Valley 5K Run

My wife and I recently ran in the Le Sueur Giant’s Valley 5K run. I mostly grew up in Le Sueur, which is a little town on the Minnesota River. Remember those TV commercials with the jingle, "From the valley of the Jolly (ho, ho, ho) Green Giant!". Well, there really is a valley where the company was founded and as you enter the valley going south on highway 169 you’ll see an enormous billboard of the Green Giant. The company no longer has operations there but the spirit of the Green Giant still lives on. The 5K run is part of the annual Giant Celebration. I had a very good race with a time of 23:59 and finished 3rd in my age group (50 -54). OK, maybe there were only six males in my age group and half of them were using walkers, but I still feel pretty good with my results.

Thinker and Ticker Doing Just Fine

Last week I went to see my regular doctor about the strange sensations and headaches I have been having. It has seemed too long to blame it on caffeine withdrawals and my doctor agreed. So he ordered a MRI brain scan and a stress test for my heart. Based on how good I feel on my runs I thought the stress test was a real long shot, but couldn’t hurt to know how well the ticker is working.


The MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) is really cool. Many years ago in one of my physics classes we studied the physics behind the MRI so I was excited about experiencing it. The MRI turned out to be everything I expected. It felt like I was in a machine someone dreamed up for a science fiction movie. The noises the machine produce, oscillating buzzing noises, sounded like the best sound effects in a sci fi movie. It sounded like they were shooting me with various types of invisible ray guns.

The stress test was interesting too. I lay in a bed with exercise bicycle pedals. They hooked my up to an EKG and also took some ultra sound pictures of my heart before, during and after I exercised. I had to get my heart rate up to 145, which wasn’t easy. The machine starts out with little resistance and increases the resistance slowly every 2 minutes. I was pedaling for 15 minutes before my heart rate reached 145. My legs were about to give out and I was sweating like a pig. (Does a pig really sweat?)

Today I got the results and my thinker and ticker are doing just fine. My symptoms have been improving, so my doctor says to just see if they go away. I’m fine with that. I’m done having my body poked and scanned for awhile.

$$$ I’ve won the Lottery $$$

I feel like I have won lottery. My PET scan came back squeaky clean and my blood counts are normal. I’m back on my normal schedule of four months between PET scans. The next PET scan will be just two months shy of my second anniversary of starting chemo. After two years my odds of making it five years and beyond are pretty good and the PET scans will be done less frequently. As more time goes on with good PET scans, the more likely it looks like I am cured of cancer.

After my last post I did start to have weird feelings again. The strange feeling is hard to describe, but I feel kind of a tingling in my skin and at the tip of my tongue. I’ll get slight headaches and will feel some nervousness or a little jittery. Sometimes the strange feeling keeps my up at night. I was pretty confident that it wasn’t the cancer coming back, but I was still very anxious to see my doctor. I told him all about it including going cold turkey with caffeine. He said the strange feelings are most likely caffeine withdrawals. Furthermore, since I have undergone one of the strongest chemotherapy treatments that are administered, my body may have more difficulty handling things like caffeine withdrawals. My doctor also said that it can actually take four to six weeks to be completely free of caffeine. He ordered some additional blood tests just to be sure something else isn’t causing the strange feelings. Most of those tests have come back negative and next week I get the remaining results.

I also have a constant tingling in my toes and sometimes my fingers. The tingling in the toes started when I was taking chemo and has never stop since then. Sometimes it gets pretty intense and can be annoying. The tingling, called peripheral neuropathy, is from nerve damage cause by one the chemo drugs called Vincristine or Oncovin (the O in RCHOP). The nerve damage can take up to three years to repair, and in some cases is permanent. I can live with this; it is better than the alternative. One thing is for sure, the tingling does not get in the way of my happiness.

Some things are beyond our control and we have to live with it. But so much in our lives are within our control, like caffeine, eating well, exercising and taking the time for those things that truly give us happiness. Life is the most precious thing we have, nothing else compares to it, yet it is amazing how we so easily waste it and throw it away.