Derelict in my duties

I know I haven't written anything for quite awhile. Which generally indicates that the rest of my life has taken over and nothing significant is happening. At least as far as "Tha Tooomah" is concerned.

I'm still taking the reduced dose, starting on Cycle 15 Monday. The last cycle felt even better than the previous. As before, there was a little fatigue, but I managed the digestion well and was able to work almost the complete week. It does make me wonder if the chemo is actually doing what it's supposed to do, but then again, there isn't clear evidence what a higher dose would be doing right now either.

The Dorland Hospital is in full swing right now, with two cancer patients, one of whom is also fighting a new boil on his face (can you guess who that might be?), and another patient with a recurrent autoimmune problem. My freighbor has become the local medic, ambulance driver, chef, and therapist, all while still working her normal full time job. If I weren't a Jew, I'd say she's a saint.

Which brings up the strangeness of the different cancers. The other cancer patient at the Dorland Hospital is currently being treated for a return of leukemia. His chemo is way more invasive than mine. His immune system has been beaten down to almost nothing, and his blood count is so low he's deprived of sufficient oxygen. Yet he's managing to push forward as well as he can. I'm not sure why I'm mentioning this other than to say that right now, he needs support more than I do. I wish I knew what could be done.

There is one thing that hopefully will help. If you recall, last March we held an ultimate tournament to raise money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. The LAF works on combating cancers of all types. Two weeks ago, there was an event in Austin called the Ride for the Roses, featuring....Lance Armstrong! I was invited (because of generous donations from many of you) and I brought along one of the keystones to the tournament, Renata. The way the event worked was as follows. Those who contributed a certain amount achieved a certain "level" of VIP status. I was at the lowest level. However, our event as a whole drew in what would be considered the highest level. While we couldn't convince them to bump us up because of that, we did get a few extra perks from Colleen, the amazing grassroots organizer for the LAF. While we were there, we promoted our event by handing out some discs and chatting it up with as many people as we met. The event overall was very inspiring, and motivated us to try to keep our tournament moving forward and possibly spreading across the country. We've already reserved the fields! Remember, there's not a person alive who isn't affected in some way by cancer.

And as it turned out, I got to meet Lance after all....