12 Rounds with the Devil

Monday, September 16th.

I finished my 12th round of chemo last friday.  12 rounds?!  Never did I think this is where I would be. 12 rounds and not sure what the future holds.  Knocked down 12 times...and back up again each time.  roughly 12 weeks of feeling like crap, weakness, and fatigue.  Thats 3 months of the last 2 years just spent recovering from chemo.  Not to mention the surgeries, radiation, and a nasty infection.  

I am a few days out from the last chemo - the 12th round - and I am feeling OK.  I should be have some energy and normalcy in the next day or so (I'm getting pretty good at this routine and determining when I'll recover).  So now starts my recovery.  I've done this before - 11 times.  11 times with chemo, a few times after surgery, and once after that nasty infection.  I have become accustomed to slowly hitting the gym, getting outside, paddle boarding a little, maybe mountain bike in another week or so.  The strength comes back quickly, it's the stamina that's the most challenging.  Stamina just takes more time to get back than I have between treatments.  The 3 weeks off isn't enough.  This limits my options for getting after it a little, but I do my best!

"It's not how many times you get knocked down that count, it's how many times you get back up"

I never knew that quote was attributed to George Custer, of the infamous battle of Little Bighorn - Custer's last stand.  He graduated last in his class at West Point and got himself and all 210 of his men killed in one of the biggest fiascos of the american military.  Strong quote though.

Anyway, as I get back up from this latest round of chemo I am planning my first "Between the Chemos" adventure (my goal is to get on some kind of outdoor adventure between each chemo treatment).  There are a ton of things I want to do: learn to kiteboard, climb half dome/shasta/whitney, bike moab, ski south america, ski tour europe, ski everywhere really....  The first outing on the agenda is to paddle board around Lake Tahoe in a couple weeks.  I have a week or so to get back in shape and a 4 day weather window to rip through 72 miles of lake.  Look for a complete trip report in a couple weeks.

In the meantime if you have an idea for an adventure I'm all ears and ready to Send It!