Sunday, July 17, 2011

Getting Started

I have been back at my house in Baltimore for the last week and everything has been going really well. I have been able to resume with a light workout schedule, which has really helped with how I am feeling. It is still pretty far off, but I have made the decision that I will be running the Baltimore half marathon this year. My surgeon Dr. Q is running, and together we will be fundraising. Anyone who wants to run with us let me know and I will give you some details about the team we're putting together. I'm also willing to help anyone with a training regiment. While I am not a professional trainer I do know from personal experience what it is like to try to start from scratch and get ready for a race. I prepped for my first marathon after not being able to run at all for about 4 months. I am also about 20 lbs. heavier than I normally am and so my training has started off very light as well. I am going to be doing at least 3 chemo sessions between now and the race so there should be opportunities for people to keep up with my training regiment. Let me be clear I want people to run with me and Dr. Q but I don't want anyone to do anything they know they shouldn't or which will be detrimental to their well being. 13 miles is a lot, and I'm confident i can help get just about anyone get there, but I don't want anyone to do so in spite of their own health.

I am going to return to work this week and I will start my first round of chemotherapy on Friday this week. This is the tough part. The weeks where I am doing Chemo are very hard on me. I am tired, and just do not feel like myself. This is when I need reminders about why it is worth keeping such a positive attitude and how many great friends I have. I need everyone to remember that this is likely to go on for about a year and I'll need help the whole way. Right now I am still on high about how well everything is going. Everyone wants to help right away, but when I really need everyone is when I get 6, 8, and 12 months into this.

At this point I am feeling really great, unfortunately I go from feeling great to exhausted on a minute to minute basis so I am subject to changing my mind about what activities I am up for fairly quickly. So I want to apologize for times when I "flake out" on doing stuff with people.

A lot of people from out of town have asked about ordering dinners for me since they cannot be here to do so in person. I will put some places and some new dates on the food tidings website, so please check there.

No comments: