June already?

Hi all,

Doing well as always. The biggest stress right now is the end of the school year. We still have two weeks before school is done and then we teachers can relax and start our summer jobs.

The swim club is open. Aborted my swim after 10 laps on opening day. Water was too darn cold. It took me two hours to warm up afterwards. The next week I swam 1000m no problem. I look forward to summer lap swimming. 45 minutes in the water with just the sound of bubbles rushing by. It's my time of mindfulness and clarity.

The girls are getting too big to throw and flip around in the pool. I will do my best before they break me.

I am waiting patiently for this to arrive to put in the basement. Sometimes with cancer you want to crush something. I am going to channel this feeling toward more fitness.

Down goes cancer!

Down goes cancer!

This is how I feel after going to NIH to receive my quarterly result today, April 25. It is stable and may even be a smidge smaller. Always a tremendous relief. Once again, I have knocked my brain cancer to the mat.

The conversation was more about seizure control meds and balancing them. Pretty routine stuff. Pretty odd what I consider to be routine.

Busy week coming up. Genet's first Communion is next Sunday. A lot of prep needs to be done in anticipation of visitors from Ohio, KC and St. Louis. Because of this, I will not be able to participate in the Race for Hope in DC on Sunday, May 5th. Consider joining in on this run with a start and finish on Pennsylvania Ave.

And yes, I know the picture shows Sonny Liston on the mat and the quote I used was a paraphrase of "Down goes Frazier." It's my blog.

Happy 2013!

Happy New Year!

Marcie and I visited NIH for my quarterly scan and report. Again, it was good news. The tumor still appears to be stable. I am now 3 years past my radiation treatment.


I am now praying for a young child in my community who has been dealing with a brain tumor for over  two years. This child is facing a second surgery.

Updates on less serious things. We had a great trip to St. Louis over Christmas to visit Marcie's family. We even got to stop and see good friends in Indianapolis. The girls are enjoying cheerleading and volleyball this winter. We had a lovely day at the Washington National Zoo today. I am very disappointed in our complete lack of snow.

I am now going to the Prince George's Sports and Learning Complex to work out. It is one of the best facilities in the Mid-Atlantic area. I am enjoying working out in the weight room at 6:00 AM before work. I really feel energized for the day. It has been long time since I have done dead lifts, squats and bench press. Doing this is not fulfilling a resolution but continuing my fitness focus that started last year. How come it is so hard to lose the last 10 pounds?

At school, I organized the school National Geographic Bee. The school championship was this past week. It was a great finals. The kids were great. I think this is the 11th year in a row for me. Have I really been teaching this long?

Re: Lance Armstrong. I was a big fan. We even were in Europe and arranged our schedule to be in Paris for his last "victory" in the Tour de France. In the back of my mind, I knew he was doping. I am very appreciative for all he has done for cancer fighters. I watched his interview with Oprah Winfrey. Boy, did he look beat down.

Cheers.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas is only 8 days away! Two more days of teaching! I really want snow for Christmas. We will be traveling to the Midwest to visit friends and family.

Health wise, I have a touch of the flu but I have amazing recuperative abilities and will shake it off quick. I am now on an anti-seizure regimen of Lamictal and Keppra. This combo has made the spells I have (tingling of right side) almost disappear. They used to happen 1-3 times a week. Now it is down to one maybe every third week. I will go back to NIH for my next routine scan in early January 2013.