A brief update to documentt my biking progress...

Mount Tabor (632 ft elev.) is no longer out of my biking reach so long as I stop 5 times on the way up to catch my breath and drink some water!!!

The OHSU medical campus is up the distant hill on the far left (as you face the foto)

So even if the sky's not the limit, old volcanoes are still in reach for me. 

The weather hit 70 degrees yesterday afternoon and should be clear through the weekend so Deborah and I are heading to a friend's house at the coast Friday.

Oceanside, Oregon

 
Living the Vida Loca - in Portland,

lynn

It is sunny and gorgeous here in Portland...

where I have been riding my bicycle up to 5 miles a day this week for the first time in over 3 months including some gradual hill climbing...










BUT I discovered today as I rode with Deborah that does not include climbing nearby Mount Tabor, an extinct volcano, 624 feet above sea level, where they hold the adult soap box derby races every year.

Not only is my energy good (except for waking up every hour and needing a nap most days) but the chemo treatments somehow failed to take my hair to the amazement of my doctor.  Although I voluntarily shaved my beard, I kept the mustache and the top of my head unchanged.

Also, the reduction in the tumor gave me back much of my breathing and mostly eliminated the cough that kept me awake at night.  So all those good wishes from you and good drugs from OHSU have combined very nicely so far.

Now my job is to remember that my immunities are low, my kidneys need lots of hydration and don't overdo it to get ready for my surgeries in early November.

Thanks again for all your email, calls, cards, good wishes and good thoughts during this time.

From back on the bike in Portland,

Lynn Sanders

Intermezzo

So, we are definitely writing this journey as we live it (and this is Deborah writing)…..Right now we’re in between treatment routines. Lynn finished up with chemo and radiation October 8th, and has some time off before he begins his round of surgeries November 5^th.  What to do with this interlude?  It’s not just a chance to get back into gear with biking, hiking, and life as we knew it pre-cancer. Partly that’s because the effects of radiation and chemo actually play out during this time away from drips and zaps. Lynn alternates tired and energized,  ready to roll and ready to nap….

We’re scheduling a few excursions that allow for both variations – off to Oceanside to stay at a friend’s beach house, stocking up on good books, and continuing to enjoy visits and walks.

Great weather for walks in Portland right now – the colors are turning, and the flowers are still peeking out amongst piles of leaves.  Mount Hood is getting snow - time for me to make ski plans  maybe with Jono and Aden...and other NW family downhillers.

We’re taking advantage of all the fun stuff around our neighborhood – and we can attest that Halloween season on Hawthorne is a definite song-and-dance routine!

Lynn’s purchased his Halloween costume – at least part of it. He’s going as a surgical patient – the pre-zombie version! (No, I do not plan to don the nurse costume - just not my style :))

Lynn’s sister was in town this weekend, while Jono was off in China and I was attending a class based on the work of the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. Jon Kabat-Zinn created some very helpful exercises and “attitudes” to manage stress, pain and illness, so I thought I’d learn some of this.  His introductory book about his approach quotes from the movie of Zorba the Greek. 

Young companion: Zorba have you ever been married?

Zorba: Of course I have been married. Wife, house, kids, everything….the full catastrophe!

Says Kabat-Zinn, “Zorba’s response embodies a supreme appreciation for the richness of life and the inevitability of all its dilemmas, sorrows, tragedies and ironies. His way is to 'dance' in the gale of the full catastrophe, to celebrate life, to laugh with it and at himself, even in the face of personal failure and defeat. In doing is he is never weighed down for long, never ultimately defeated either by the world or by his own considerable folly.” 

The Kabat-Zinn materials reminded me of the value of staying focused on the present, despite the pull of the past and the future. It also made me go back to the origins of the word “catastrophe” – which turns out to have been used as early as the 1530’s to mean a” reversal of what is expected.” In the 1750’s the term started being associated with “sudden disaster”. 

Definitely lung cancer creates a reversal of what was expected – unfolding a rich life of good health, good friends, great explorations  - but  “the full catastrophe” is the reality of our existence, so why not dance?

Radiated past Three Mile Island levels and...

Counting down the chemo days

My chemo doc is amazed that I still have so much hair and no major side effects except not sleeping so well! I tell him that I am taking simple steps to try to avoid the side effects of my chemo:
1.  chew ice cubes throughout treatments to protect my tongue which has fast growing cells;
2.  rinse my mouth with warm water, salt and baking soda several times a day (same reason);
3.  take a dropperful of medical marijuana extract every morning (doesn't make me high) because some literature says this shrinks tumors;
4.  eat a Flintstones vitamin daily for iron;
5. have numerous small meals a day to keep up my weight (now at 240 lbs up from 226 lbs);
6.  walk less on heavy chemo days to avoid heart stress but otherwise walk all around (no biking right now) on good days.

Obviously everyone's situation is different, and I am lucky.  The tumor is about 1/3 its former size.  My breathing is much better.  The cough remains at night but I have better drugs with codeine for it finally and slept seven hours last night, albeit snoring to wake the dead!                                                                                                   

Heart surgery is now set November 5 to be followed  2 weeks  later with lung surgery, all subject to my recovering quickly from this current round of chemo and radiation which finally ends next Tuesday, October 8. So my November dance card  is looking quite full! 

My children, a sister and nephew, some Austin friends and Bay Area cousins are each coming in to visit me before the surgeries which will distract me from thinking about hospitals and medical issues I still only partly understand.

I am so appreciative for all the creative ways you have sent me pixie dust.  The pixie dust silo in the back yard is almost full yet more is on the way.  Keep the comments and emails and visits and calls and cards coming my way.

It all seems to be working well for me so far.

Upbeat and optimistic in Portland,

lynn sanders