A Competitive Streak

I've been running quite a lot lately. It helps me to clear my mind and have some unadulterated "Me Time" away from Truman, Craig, The Cancer, work, and the daily grind, in general.

I ran my first 5K four years ago this weekend- the Jingle Bell 5K in Milwaukee. That was the first time that I RAN a whole race, without stopping to walk. That first year included quite a few milestones: my first duathlon- the Coulee Duathlon, my first 10K- Revols 10K in Cleveland (where I set a PR pace of 9:31/mi), and my first triathlon- the Danskin. I kept running through 2007, although my times got progressively worse leading up to the Madison Half Marathon in May 2007 (which I ran at a 12:11/mile pace).

Then, I don't know what happened. Life, I guess. I ran, but it was much more recreationally than for speed or fitness. When I got pregnant last year, I got it in my head that I would do a triathlon this fall and that goal would help me to lose the baby weight from my pregnancy. Well, The Cancer came instead and suddenly I couldn't see how I would find time to bike and swim, let alone run. But I DID find time to run. And do a boot camp this summer. And, what do you know, I lost that baby weight. Suddenly, the thought of training for a race didn't seem so far fetched.

Around this time, a girlfriend of mine who's a personal trainer (Hi, Julie!) mentioned that she was going to run the White Rock Lake Half Marathon. "Hmmmm....," I thought, "I've run a half marathon before. I bet I could do it again if I put my mind to it." A dream was born.

I've been gradually building up my distance and ran a 7 miler one morning during the first week of Craig's treatment. It was pretty much by accident. Truman woke me up at 4am. He went back to sleep but I couldn't. So, I figured, "Why not get up and go for a run? And since I'm hitting the pavement early, I've got time to go a little bit further than I usually do." And it felt great.

This morning, I did a 10K (6.2 miles) race with the goal of just getting my time back under a 12:00/mile pace. Mile 1- I ran about 10:45. I thought, "Maybe I should slow down a little so I don't wear myself out. But I feel pretty good, maybe I can keep this up." Each mile marker after that, I realized that not only was I NOT running 12 minute miles, but I was running 11 minute miles. And I kept that pace pretty steady through the whole race, finishing in 1:07:14.83. For those keeping track, that is a 10:59/mile pace!

I am ELATED!

I didn't just meet my goal, I kicked it's ass to the curb.

It feels so good to challenge myself again. To have something to look forward to and TRAIN for. It's so much different that just going out for a run because I know I need the exercise. I'm going out for a run because I need to build up my strength and endurance for the next race.

And, speaking of the next race, the "big" one is ony 5 weeks away:
Thanksgiving Day, 11/26: Turkey Trot (8 miler)
12/5: White Rock Lake Half Marathon (13.1 miles)

I guess this means that I'll have to find something else to train for after that, too. For now, I think I'll have to stick to running, since it's the easiest thing for me to fit in to my life at the moment. Maybe I'll try to keep improving my pace and endurance and do a full marathon next year. Wow. Never thought that would ever even be a POSSIBILITY.

It feels so good to dream.

Recap of Day 1 of Cancer Treatment

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for Craig. Yesterday, he started Interferon treatment for his skin cancer. While he did well in the clinic, he got VERY sick once we got home...terrible chills, throwing up, etc. I was worried. But then we got some of his prescription meds in him, put him to bed and let him rest. When he woke up around 9pm last night, he looked MUCH better. This morning, he was pretty much back to his normal self, aside from a nasty headache.

Today is Day Two of treatment. We've learned to bring food that he can snack on and keep his strength up during the 2.5 hours it takes to get his full treatment. He'll be here every day for 2.5 hours from Monday-Friday for 4 weeks. Then, he'll be able to take injectable meds at home 3 times a week for 11 months after that.

This is a long journey we're on. Please continue praying for him. Pray that:
*He doesn't get sick every day and stays relatively healthy.
*He is able to continue his MBA course on Tuesday nights.
*He is able to continue working.
*His spirits stay high.
*We all stay strong together as a family unit.

We'll continue to keep you up-to-date!

Truman 9 Month Update

Somehow in the craziness of life the last couple of months, I forgot to post a 9-month Truman update. Oops. I'm a terrible parent. So sue me.

He's now 21 pounds and 29 inches long. That puts him at the 75 percentile for both height and weight and he's at the 90th percentile for his head circumfrence. I think this bodes well for him being a highly intelligent and well-functioning boy.

He's getting FAST. Truman has successfully climbed both flights of stairs to the second story multiple times (supervised, of course). He flies around the house in his walker. We have to be careful to keep the bathroom doors closed or else we'll walk in on him playing with his favorite toy: toilet paper, strewn all about the bathroom.

He's an expert crawler and really would like to walk. I think that's coming soon.

He LOVES music, especially the piano and drums. Every Tuesday, he takes a Kindermusik class with our nanny and just loves the interaction and the music. I'm thinking that some good fun drums are in his future for Christmas.

He's becoming vocal, but has yet to say his first discernable word. Once he starts talking, though, LOOK OUT! This one has got things to say!

Fortunately, he seems relatively unphased by all that's been going on in the house with the stress and anxiety about Craig's cancer. If anything, he's been especially SPOILED with all of the visitors we've had.

While it's been nice to have so many visitors, it will also be nice once Craig starts treatment on Monday to have an excuse to just shut the rest of the world out and hibernate for a bit. To be a family unit and spend some time together, just the three of us.

Mystery Revealed

There’s no delicate way to say this, so let’s just be out with it already, shall we?

Craig just posted on his blog.

I’ve been pretty evasive on Facebook. Asking for prayers (and fervent prayers, at that), but not quite spelling out what those prayer are for.

Well, let me tell you what they’re for: For life. For a good life. For a long life. For a healthy life. For my husband.

Because about a month ago, Craig was diagnosed with skin cancer: malignant melanoma . When you first look it up, the first thing you’ll read is that it’s the least common of the skin cancers but also the most deadly. Scary, for sure. In the last month, we’ve learned a bit more than that. We now know that it is Stage IIIa- which is both a blessing and even more terrifying at the same time.

Let’s back up a bit, shall we?

In August, Craig was scheduled to go in for his annual physical. While there, he asked about a mole on the back of his left calf. He’d had it checked out by a dermatologist when we were in Florida a couple of years ago, but she said that it was nothing. A friend of ours, who is an OB/GYN at Baylor here in Dallas, mentioned during a golf game this summer that he really should have it removed. So when the doctor said that it was nothing but wanted to remove a DIFFERENT mole, Craig insisted that he also biopsy the one he was worried about.
Less than a week later, the results of the biopsy showed that the tumor the doctor was worried about was benign (nothing to worry about). But the one that Craig insisted he biopsy was, indeed, skin cancer.

Lesson #1: Always trust your gut.

The next day, we both used our frienemy, The Internet, to learn more about “Malignant Melanomas” and promptly scared ourselves. Craig coped (and continues to cope) by telling inappropriate jokes. I coped by drinking copious amounts of alcohol (and am working on coping by running). Life goes on.

Lesson #2: The Internet is not always your friend.

Once it was confirmed as skin cancer, he was referred to a plastic surgeon (to remove the tumor) and a general surgeon (to remove the sentinel lymph node in his groin to see if the cancer had spread). After some headaches around scheduling around vacations, two separate surgeons and Labor Day weekend, Craig finally had his first surgery on Wednesday, September 16th.

He had to learn how to use crutches because of the chunk that they took out of his leg and he was on some nice narcotic pain meds for a few days, but he did fairly well with the surgery.

At this point, we were really hoping that we were mostly done with this ordeal. We had caught the cancer early enough that it hadn’t spread and could just deal with Stage II.

Six days later, we got the results of the biopsy of the sentinel lymph node. The cancer had spread.

This is where I break in the story to tell you how amazing our support network of friends surrounded us with love and prayer. I was beside myself. I know Craig was taking the news pretty rough as well. But in the midst of it all, we had friends praying over us for strength, for recovery, for healing. And you know what?

Lesson #3: Prayer works!

Back in to surgery on Wednesday, September 23rd to remove the rest of the lymph nodes. Alfredo flew in from Milwaukee (after a summer-long world tour) to support us post-surgery and a former neighbor and friend stayed with me until Craig got out of surgery. The recovery from this surgery was a bit rougher, but Craig still did incredibly well.

On Tuesday of this week, we got the results of the second surgery: The cancer hadn’t spread beyond the sentinel lymph node.

Today, we met with the oncologist and discussed treatment. Craig will be on a month-long 5-day a week intensive in-clinic Interferon treatment followed by 11 months of 3 times a week in-home Interferon treatments. We have at least another year before life starts resembling ‘normal’ again.

We have referrals to a dermatologist to get a baseline ‘normal’ for his existing skin conditions and a urologist to discuss fertility issues.

Everyone we have told keeps asking if there is something they can do to help and I keep telling them the same thing: KEEP PRAYING! Pray that:
1) Craig responds well to Interferon and doesn’t get sick from it.
2) The cancer doesn’t spread or reoccur.
3) Craig is able to continue working.
4) Craig is able to finish his MBA program.
5) Our family stays strong through the trials of this ordeal.

We are so incredibly thankful for everyone’s general prayers so far and know that you will pray more specifically for us moving forward. We are facing a challenging year ahead but know that with God, ALL things are possible!

And Then Some

I forgot to mention...the boot camp was AWESOME. Totally kicked my butt and, better yet, kicked the baby weight to the curb. I am offically back to my pre-pregnancy weight (less a couple pounds even).

Now that the heat has broken*, I'll be back to taking evening walks too. This is in addition to running 3 times a week in the morning. Which I need to be more diligent about doing, but STILL.

Oh, and have I mentioned that T-man's now 20 (yes, TWENTY) pounds? I'm getting quite an arm workout. A few games of Wii boxing per week and I'll have some pipes on me in no time.

And with Craig back to school, there is less temptation to just sit like a bump on a log at home because there's no one here.

*We're down to highs around 85-90, which makes a HUGE difference when it has been 100 or higher for the last 3 months. I couldn't even attempt an afternoon walk in that heat for fear of melting my son.