March 2016 update

Well, 2016 just continues to roll along. The weather is weird and everyone is complaining – yup, seems like March.  Spring might be around the corner and everyone wants out of the house, including the cats… I get it.

For me, it is groundhog day – waiting for the next event.  So, I work on killing some time through a little exercise, a lot of research online, some online learnin’, try some hobbies, think up some weird ideas.  I have also started to put some thoughts down on electronic paper (word doc on computer) for business ideas, blog posts, things to make/write (including some video questions ), and trying to put some scope into what to do with my future.

Short term future – Cancer update: My last cystoscopy was the first of Feb.  Details about a cystoscopy are found in a past blog post of mine HERE, or if you really want to know the comedy version, from an actual comedian (not just me) – go direct to HERE.  The results were not overly encouraging.  Although there is no direct tumor growth visible, the site shows CIS (Carcinoma in Situ) which is a good news/bad news story… the bad news – shows there is still cancerous activity at the site of the tumor, the good news – CIS is a pre-cancerous condition, so this shows that the treatments of the last year and a half are having an effect on the cancer and slowing its growth (full stop would be preferred).  All this leads to my next event – another surgical procedure at Misericordia Hospital near the end of March.  Mostly for samples and biopsies, there likely won’t be much of anything removed this time (I think).  One of the key reasons that I think the doc will make it a full procedure is that if the growth has progressed in the 6 weeks from cystoscopy, he can remove it while he is in there – makes sense to me.

Medium term future – Military paperwork continues.  I still don’t know what the path forward for a future career will be.  I know that I would bet on medical release, but these days, I don’t gamble other than buying some lotto tickets.

Long term future – pages are still blank.

Other things that I have been paying attention to is my diet, weight loss etc.  Over the last year, I have thought I would seriously try to lose weight, so I would push hard for a week, drop 20 lbs and get scared at how fast it dropped.. which leads to spending 3 weeks putting the weight back on.  This has led me to a couple of conclusions – BCG is keeping my body using a substantial amount of energy in this fight, so I need to keep it fueled, and I need to pay better attention towards “how to lose weight carefully”.

To lose weight carefully, a took a suggestion from my wife and installed an app on my phone.  It is mostly a calorie counter, which allows you to track what your intake is during the day, adjust for exercise, and compares to a number that you can dictate based on desires(weight loss or gain).  Well, I learned that my calories on a day-to-day basis were all over the place – around 4500 one day, maybe 2000 the next…. this app has allowed me the visibility to be more consistent about my daily intake, which in turn has allowed me to start looking at better “balanced” meal planning so that if we are having a heavier breakfast/lunch, we can have a lighter supper, or plan to have drinks/snacks in the evening. I am really happy with what it showed me, well – maybe more happy that it showed me I wasn’t doing as well as I thought in the way of eating balanced meals/snacks(mostly snacks – those things are horrible), but happy with what I am learning, and that I can still ensure my body is fueled for the fight, and weight loss can be a little better controlled.  The scariest part of my feelings on this concept is whether or not any reduction in calories in, takes away from the energy my bodies requires to fight… it is on my mind – a lot.

Other than little things like that, I am working on getting ready for summer projects.  I have a couple of wood working ideas that I want to try to build, some leatherwork ideas that I am trying to put together, including the ones that are mentioned in a video link at the beginning of this post, and I am planning some pretty EPIC motorcycle riding( I want 20,000 kms this season).

Some of the blog posts that I am working on are titled: what I as a cancer patient would like you to know about cancer patients, is social media destroying the ability to think critically (more of a rant post), not all cancers are created equal – and neither are cancer charities, what to do when you really don’t have a plan B, as well as keeping the mental health NEWSLETTER going bi-weekly.

Some of the charity rides already in my calendar – Wheels for our Wounded, Emily’s ride for CASA house, Erin Doyle Memorial Ride, Military Minds Inc Poker run, maybe Ride for Dad, Ride for Sight, and a I am sure there will be a few others, I hope to get down to Calgary for some of the rides there.  My plan is to tell you all about the event and the charity either just before or just after if it is something that I think worth typing something up about.

Other bigger and longer rides include trying to get some of the crew I rode with for the CwaC last summer, to go for a fun run in the BC Okanagan. I hope to get up to Yellowknife for Midnight sun run, and some Yellowknife buddies are coming down for a week of BC/AB hills and turns that will culminate in Cold Lake (at Bobs house) for the MPNMRR.

I have a couple other projects and ideas on the stove, but I haven’t applied much heat to them yet, so I don’t really know what to tell you about them… a couple of ideas are pretty wingnut-ish, but could be a lot of fun.

 

Not much else to say.  Waiting for the snow to stop, roads to clear… think I need this new helmet to protect my face from the rocks that will fly this spring as it took forever to get the sand and rocks off the roads here. Thanks for joining me on this journey.