Jeff's Blog

Carlos

2011-12-31T13:35:00.000-08:00

Carlos riding trail - Pacifica, CA - October 31, 2011

Limantour Beach

2011-12-31T13:33:00.000-08:00

Limantour Beach - near Point Reyes, CA - September, 2011

Birch Island

2011-12-31T13:30:00.000-08:00

Birch "Island" after Hurricane Irene - Paradox Lake, NY - August 2011

Cannon Mountain

2011-11-16T21:32:00.001-08:00

Cannon Mtn and the White Mountains; taken from Toad Hill Farm - near Franconia, NH - June 17, 2011

Peer Pressure

2011-11-15T22:05:00.001-08:00

night ride on the Bell Rock Trail - Sedona, AZ - May 27, 2011

photo taken by Ryan Denner on his killer Olympus DSLR

Angora Lookout

2011-11-13T12:11:00.001-08:00

Garuna and Mollie; taken @ Angora Lookout - Tahoe Basin National Forest - May 8, 2011

Chiselville Covered Bridge

2011-11-13T11:58:00.001-08:00

Chiselville covered bridge; taken during the Green Mountain Relay, near Sunderland, VT - June 19, 2010

Tamarancho

2011-11-13T11:25:00.000-08:00

sunrise mountain bike ride - Fairfax, CA - March 21, 2010

Pauley Creek

2011-11-13T11:16:00.001-08:00

Pauley Creek mountain bike ride - near Downieville, CA - October 10, 2009

Fall Photo Update

2009-11-02T19:53:00.000-08:00

It's been a spectacular Fall here in Northern California, with lots of fun activities to boot. I'll try to hit some of the high points with pics I snapped along the way...they tend to tell the story better than my writing.

August took Garuna and I to New York to celebrate my brother Mike and Kristin's wedding. We also had some wonderful r&r at the lake:

We did some kayaking on a trip up to Mendocino County...very cool place to visit:

I participated in an amazing bike ride from my hometown of Fairfax, all the way up to Ukiah, CA...about 150 miles in two days.

Downieville is just about my favorite place to mountain bike, amazing singletrack, beautiful vistas:

After about 5 months working with some colleagues from grad school, and helping them get their startup off the ground, I decided to jump on an opportunity to get back into the solar industry as a designer. SunLink is right down the road, and I started about 2 weeks ago...very excited.

And last weekend Garuna and I did some hiking close to home, along the Marin Headlands:

I made one of the smarter decisions in my life by proposing to Garuna, she said yes, and Annie witnessed it!

...'till next time.

-Jeff

San Francisco Marathon Race Report

2009-08-17T18:30:00.000-07:00

After 3 weeks of recovery, how about a race report?!

All-in-all, my first stand-alone marathon was stellar. Garuna and I stuck to our race plan, toughed out some challenging terrain, and finished just under our goal time.

This race gets under way early! We were in Wave 10 of 10, and our start was 6:30AM....yikes! We made the 40-min drive into the city, and averted disaster when my uncaffienated brain had us heading the wrong way down a 1-way street. Eventually we got into the parking garage, and got in (very long) line for the bathrooms with 30 minutes to spare. After dropping off our sweat bags we hit the start corral and prepared for the gun.

Our strategy was simple, start slow, eat and drink alot, get slower. We held back quite a bit on Miles 1-4 which wind their way around the Embarcadero, through Fort Mason, Crissy Field, towards the Golden Gate Bridge. In our case slow = 12+ min/miles. This took some serious restraint. One of the most interesting sights from this race was passing a pair of young ladies running in bare feet. Yes, you read correctly, running 26.2 in bare feet (they finished about 45 mins after us).

Feelin' OK early.

We took a quick pee break at Mile 4, then proceeded to jam up a set of nice hills onto the GG bridge. The bridge itself is about 1.5 miles long, so a couple of miles tick by without even noticing it. We worked our way through and around the crowded lanes, dodging the 1/2 marathoners who went out too quick, and eventually worked our way up to the 5:00 hour pacer. She wasn't running very consistantly so we decided to keep cruising on past her. The morning was very foggy so we didn't get much of a view over the bridge. However, this was not an issue since we were here to race!

Over the bridge.

Coming off the bridge is a nice downhill grade, followed by a less nice 1/2 mile climb. You would think we were in a walk-a-thon by the number of people walking this hill. Luckily we did most of our training in the hills around the house, so we put it in low gear and chugged up to the top. Miles 10-13 were pretty rolly, but not that tough. We concentrated on staying hydrated, and popping a GU every 40-45 minutes. The team rolled into Golden Gate Park, grabbed some Cytomax, and leaped over the 13.1 checkpoint at just a fraction under 2 hours and 30 minutes. So far so good.

~Mile 15.

Right around here "the hurt" started to work its way from the pavement up into my joints, connective tissue, and bones. The pounding was taking a bit of a toll, specifically on my feet, and right IT band. No major pain, but definitley bothersome. Garuna looked strong, but was having some of the same feelings. By not admitting it we managed to turn off the pain switch and drive on.

Miles 13-18 wind their way around Golden Gate Park which was nice and scenic. There were lots of bands, lots of runners, and lots of people who went out to fast which we gladly passed. This stage definetely felt like work, so we punched the clock, and go to it. Just prior to exiting the park we both started to fade a bit. We looked back and saw the 5:00 hour pacer and got reinvigorated. We busted out of the park and onto Haight St. and kept the tempo nice and even.

The next 6 miles were a bit of a blur. The course winds through Haight-Ashbury, the Mission, and Potrero Hill. All city streets, and all painful. At one point I really needed to pee, so I put in a big effort to speed up, get in, get out, and stay ahead of the 5:00 pacer. Mission accomplished, but at a serious cost...

Rounding the turn for home.

We meandered along the course as it made a turn for home. We could see AT&T Park, which is close to the finish line, but it felt like an eternity to get to it. Luckily the fans were great, and there were lots of bands, and the thought of finally being able to stop running, which helped us forge ahead. At one point we briefly stopped to walk, but honestly, it hurt just as much...so we decided to just keep running. We passed Mile 26, and I still couldn't see the finish line...what a letdown...but before I knew it, it pulling into view. We picked up the tempo, skirted around some walkers, and lumbered across the finish line. I don't think I had enough energy to lift my hands about my head...Race Time: 4:57, 11:23 min/mile.

Done!

It was a spectacular race, great course, and fantastic weather. I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in pounding the pavement for 3 to 5 hours straight. Next up is a bunch of rest, massages, and mountain biking.

30 Months!!

2009-07-25T19:08:00.001-07:00

A couple weeks back (7/7) I made a trip back to New York for a check-up at MSKCC, and to celebrate my little brothers bachelor party. My mom and dad made the trip to NYC with me, which was nice, since my appointment was at 7:30AM (and we have to drive 3 hours + traffic from Albany). Anywhoo, I had my regular CT scan (with iodine contrast), and then had some time off for breakkie. It's become quite the routine to hit the bagel shop near the hospital because they have this amazing tofu cream cheese. I make no claim for the health benefits of the stuff, but it tastes pretty darn good twice a year! Also, the bagels in NY seem to taste a bit better than most you can find in California...maybe I just don't know where to look.

After breakfast I saw Dr. Moskowitz, and his NP, Jill. They said my CT scan looked amazing, and my blood-work looked equally as good. I was super happy to hear it! We went over a strategy to get my immunizations up to date, and I got a couple of boosters to kick off the process (tetanus, polio, flu, and one other). This is another example of the completeness of care at MSKCC. They're basically writing the book on post stem-cell transplant immunizations. As they learn new things, the patients (me) get immediate benefits.

Since I've reached the 30 month post transplant milestone, I get to move to 9 month check-ups. So no trips back to MSK until next April, woop!! Back in Albany we had some celebratory dinner (thai curry :), and this weekend Garuna and I put an exclamation point on it by running the San Francisco Marathon. I'll check in soon with a race report.

'Till Next Time...

Wildflower Race Report

2009-06-03T22:23:00.000-07:00

Long Overdue, I know, I know. My blogging has been beyond lame lately. Without further adieu...

Reader's Digest:

S: 1.2 miles in ~38 min thanks to the anti-fog coating on my brand new TechnoFlex 2.0 googles. Booyea.
B: 56 mles in 3 hrs 30 min. Took it easy and handled the challenging hills much better this year.
R: 13.1 miles in 2 hrs 40 min. The run is always painful, but unlike last year I ran that whole damn thing.

Nitty Gritty:

Swim 1.2 Miles:

I swam no more than 10 times in prep for Wildflower this year. Oddly, this was designed because in my life post-transplant my biking and running are much poorer than my swim. Anywoo. I was pretty relaxed at the start, and gave some encouragement to Ryan (who's taken it to another level this year), Dan, and my buddy Adam (his 2nd triathlon). At the gun I meandered into the water and stayed out of the way of the gunners and newbies flailing about wildly.

Go!!!

I settled into a nice pace: 10 strokes, then a peek up ahead to make sure I was still on track. I figure my only asset in the swim is maintaining my composure and not going into the red-zone at any point. I kept this in mind as I plugged along and neared the half-way point. Wildflower is funny in that a new age group starts every 5 minutes. Being slow, and in an early start group means you get passed constantly thoughout the day. This began around the 2/3 point of the swim as gunners from the latter age group began swimming over me. Dang.

Just Keep Swimming

Soon enough I neared the end, and was eager to get out of the water and on with the rest of the race. I managed to walk up the 1/4 mile stretch from the water to T1, and just took in the spectacular crowd. Second only to a IM, in my sheltered opinion. By the way, it's tough to walk with people screaming at you to RUN! But nonetheless...

Vertical, after 38 min of horizontal

Bike 56 Miles:

Even though the temperature was pretty mild (mid-60's) I warmed up much quicker than last year (maybe because I've gained 10 lbs?). There's a fun (read steep) hill around Mile 2 which was a lot longer than I remember, but offered a further opportunity to warm up.

Warming Up

The next 30 miles were surprisingly boring. I concentrated on maintaining a comfortable pace, and eating/drinking at regular intervals. Vanilla GU, Mocha Clif-Shots, H20, and Gatorade Endurance make for a yummy brunch.

Along the way, every single mile is marked and it's a constant reminder of your pace so it's not easy to get "lost" mentally, which is sometimes nice for us slower folks. However, I was feeling pretty good and the miles were a constant reminder of forward progress.

Mile 40ish

Mile 42 is the beginning of "Nasty Grade", a nice 3-4 mile hill, which I felt extremely comfortable on. I passed several people, which was a nice change from the regular sound of carbon rims whizzing past me. I crested the hill and was happy to have the majority of bike climbing behind me. I kept eating and drinking and was feeling pretty good. The 45 mph descent back toward the park was lackluster as I was surrounded by unconfident descenders, and had to brake a couple of times...boooo!

I was a bit worried about the last hill coming into T2 because last year I was completely incapacitated at that point, but I was pretty stoked to just spin up it. I descended Lynch Hill and cruised into T2 feeling reasonably comfortable. A far cry from my pre-transplant speed, but I'll take a ~16mph average speed over 5000 ft. of elevation change.

Run 13.1 Miles:

The first mile of the run is always interesting as you adjust from a cadence of 80-100 revolutions per minute to 60 or so. However, I was feeling OK, and quickly settled into my pedestrian pace ~11 min/mile. Miles 2-3 clicked by, and I was happy to get off the asphalt and into the notorious trails. For my TMI moment, I'll share that I've never been happier to see the port-o-let after mile 1. Being a BOP (Back-of-the-Pack) athlete I didn't exercise the oft used technique of relieving myself on the bike.

Mile 1-ish

The temperature began to rise, and I had to make a concerted effort to stay cool, by dumping water over my head at every opportunity, and constantly filling up my GoLite water bottle holder (highly recommended product, BTW).

Mile 4-5 is a pretty sick hill, but my singular goal for this race was to "run" the whole damn thing, so run I did. It was a pretty slow jog, but I motored up this hill with a vengeance. I passed at least 10-15 people walking, and felt pretty happy about it. Miles 5-8 were basically a heat induced blur as I continued my slow-run over the rolling terrain and back through the more populated areas of the campground. Around Mile 8 I saw Garuna and got a nice pleasant burst of energy from her cheering. Her smiling face always cheers me up! At this point I got a bit emotional, as I knew I'd have the opportunity to be able to complete my goal of "running" the whole run course.

Around Mile 10 things really started to hurt. Not an aerobic hurt, but a worn-out hurt. Connective tissue hurt. Knees, ankles, hips, and mostly feet. This is a little easier to push past than the aerobic hurt, so I just kept chugging.

At Mile 11.5 Adam finally caught up to me. I was looking in my rearview all day expecting to see him as he's a much stronger athlete than I am these days, but he did finally decided to show up after mousing around all day. He was holding an enviable pace which I was unwilling and probably unable to ramp up to, so I said some encouraging words (or moans), and off he went.

It took forever to crest the hill between Miles 10-11, but soon enough I made it, and hammered (or got hammered) down the last hill. It felt pretty awesome to see 6:40ish on my watch as I neared the finish line. I took a much greater effort and an extra hour and half to get here last time. Mostly, I was happy that Garuna and the rest of the crew wouldn't have to sit around all afternoon! Anywoo, it's always a great release to cross the finish line and I was super happy to accomplish my modest goals for this year.

After gorging myself on oranges and gatorade, and congratulating my warrior comrades and support crew, I enjoyed a nice long dunk back in Lake San Antonio, completing a nice circuit for the day, and putting a stamp on another great Wildflower weekend.

Done!

Skiing, Shoveling, and Spinning

2009-03-14T21:58:00.000-07:00

It's been a somewhat interesting month, with plenty going on with family, work, training for Wildflower, and squeezing in some time in the mountains. Although it seems like I've been quite busy, the details probably aren't blog worthy...I haven't even been keeping up with snapping pictures along the journey, however I managed to put together a couple pix from recent activities.

a great day at Sugar Bowl:

a super tough day at Alpine, the Sierra Cement was in full effect:

cross training (read shoveling) at the ski house:

chasing the sun on a night ride last week:

That's it for now!

BASE

2009-02-08T18:56:00.000-08:00

Lately I've really been enjoying riding the mountain bike. I'm not sure if it's the good trails, lack of cars and exhaust, or the fact that my mountain bike skills took a beating while I was training for IMLP last year, but I can't seem to get enough of it.

With Wildflower about 4 months off I've been integrating some good climbs into the singletrack goodness. I'm determined to not fall victim to Nasty Grade again this year. Last year I limped into T2 like a wounded soldier and suffered pretty good on the run. This year I'm hoping to enjoy the race a bit more.

I'm also scouting out trails that head north towards where I work for a possible mountain bike commute. With that in mind I headed up Loma Alta for a nice climb. Anyone who needs a case for living in California, take note of the short sleeves:
After, I descended to Lucas Valley Rd. and climbed up past George Lucas's house to Big Rock Ridge:
At the top I had a little lunch (see below) and turned around for the 11 mile return trip.

I'll pause briefly for a food review. Uncle Eddies Vegan Cookies: AWESOME.

4 hours after leaving my house I was back home, sufficiently beat, but not before snapping a cool shot of the rising moon:

Article Link: Cancer's Financial Impact

2009-02-06T09:35:00.001-08:00

Not as much fun as the last post, but still an interesting article. As a point of reference I had dual insurance during most of my treatments, through my former employer and UC-Berkeley. However, I still have tremendous out of pocket expenses.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/06/MN9T15LLN4.DTL

Like this article says it's now basically impossible for me to purchase any supplemental insurance. This system is busted!!

January Fun

2009-01-28T19:52:00.001-08:00

It's be unseasonably nice in Northern California lately. We'll likely be looking at drought conditions this summer due to lack of rain. But it's hard to complain with all the nice weather...and it's been very conducive to fun outdoor activities. Garuna, Arlene, Dan and I did a little ski weekend up in Mammoth Lakes (just east of Yosemite):

Garuna's a complete natural on the slopes, so we had a great couple of days. I definetely wasn't as good as she is after 3 days on the slopes.

Back in the Bay Area I've been enjoying the 60-75' days, and mild nights, and getting out on the bike as much as possible. This is a pic from the top of Mt. Tam. If you look closely you can see Mt. Diablo in the background. It's about 60 miles away.

It does rain a bit around here, but not enough to stop me from enjoying a nice ride on Saturday afternoon. This pic taken from the top of Loma Alta. Lots of mud, lots of fun.

I'm looking forward to training for another 1/2 Ironman this spring, and possibly a marathon this summer. I'll check in here with some updates on the training!

Shield & Diamond Article

2009-01-19T11:07:00.000-08:00

Here's a link to an incredible article that my good buddy Ryan wrote about Ironan this past summer. The article was originally a letter to our alumni mailing list, but made it's way to the Pi Kappa Alpha national office, and was recently published in their magazine, which is issued quarterly. Big shout out to Ryan for a thoughtful and well written article.

24 Month Checkup

2009-01-12T17:51:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe it's been almost 2 years since I checked into Sloan for a 6 week stay in the hospital. Time has flown, and while I was back East for the holidays I had to stop back in for my regularly scheduled 6 month checkup.

I was a little anxious, but eager to head down to to the city and get the CT scan out of the way (2 weeks ago now). All went smoothly. I felt a little woosy as the iodine contrast was injected just before the scan, but I hung in there.

A week later I headed in to visit the doc, and after waiting for about 4 hours in the waiting room, I finally got seen. The CT scan was all clear and looked "great" according to the Dr. Moskowitz. My bloodwork looked normal, and even my white blood cell count was in the normal range for a healthy adult (albeit the lower end of the range).

The most exciting part was that since it's been 24 months in remission they told me it would be extremely rare to have a relapse at this point. It was super excited to hear that!

Lastly, I had to have a couple of immunizations. Since the chemo blast prior to the stem cell transplant killed all my own white blood cells, I lost most of the immunizations I got when I was a kid. So I got a nice kiddy dose of tetanus and pneumovax (pnemonia and meningitis vaccine!). Woo.

2 years ago when I was visiting the hospital on a near daily basis I remember being incredibly jealous of the people making appointments for a date 6 months in the future. I completely enjoy the experience now that it's my turn :)

What you eat matters.

2008-12-05T13:03:00.001-08:00

Boulder

2008-11-23T17:07:00.000-08:00

I was pretty stoked when my boss came up to me late last week and said "we need you in Boulder, CO for a meeting on Friday". Sales meetings aren't my cup of tea, but who am I to say no! Luckily my buddies Erik and Elyse just moved there, and my meeting was on Friday, so I conveniently extended the trip through the weekend. Boulder is the Berkeley of the Midwest and there are many reasons Boulder is awesome, but I'll limit my list to three.

1. The obvious. Epic outdoor activities. Erik and I grabbed the single speed and bomber downhill bike and headed to the trails:

2. Elevation. Boulder sits roughly the same elevation as Denver, about a mile high, but it's at the base of the Front Range of the Rockies. It wasn't 5 minutes of riding before I was sucking wind. It's also the reason people move across the world to live and train here. It's not uncommon to see pro cyclists, runners, or climbers driving their Subaru's through town.

2. Even in SF there aren't vegan fast food restaurants. Friday night we went to VG Burgers, and I had a chicken parm for the first time in longer than I can remember!!

Gotta love the Republic of Boulder.

2 years!

2008-11-21T15:05:00.000-08:00

Congrats, my friend! You continue to inspire every single day even if you are unaware of it. ppka

Boom

2 Years

2008-11-14T09:11:00.000-08:00

It's been 2 years since my relapse and my decision to make some serious lifestyle changes. Chief among them was my diet. Since then I've made every effort to remove any animal products from my plate. I also try to stay away from processed foods, and generally eat stuff as close to the state in which it comes out of the ground. I hope to post a bit about some of the challenges and benefits, but in the meantime check out some news from back home:

http://www.wptz.com/news/17972139/detail.html

Fall Photos

2008-10-25T13:35:00.000-07:00

It's been a pretty tame few months, with not too much new to talk about. I've been feeling fully recovered from IronMan, and just generally been taking it easy.

Spent some time in Lake Tahoe for Xterra National's:

Annie participated in the Xterra K9 Challenge:

Attended my buddy LJ's wedding in New Jersey:

Then headed off to San Diego for Solar Power International

Also had Mom and Aunt Kathy in town for some sightseeing:

Other than that its been work with a side of mountain biking. Mostly chasing the sun at China Camp:

Take Back the Night

2008-09-26T11:23:00.000-07:00

Back in the day I used to mountain bike a lot more often than I currently do. Therefore I thought it was justified to spend close to $300 bucks on a sick Nite Rider High Intensity Discharge helmet mounted light. I put it to good use, riding after sunset most weeks in the trails all over Southeastern CT.

Between being sick and training for Ironman, my Nite Rider made its way to the back of the closet. So after months of prodding, my co-worker Nick got me to dig it out, and come out on a night ride last night, and I must say I forgot how much fun it is! He’s a semi-pro downhiller, and I had a tough time keeping up as we rode from my house up onto the backside of Mt. Tamalpais. (no I didn’t take this pic).

You may wonder what could be fun about exercising in the middle of the night, but I highly recommend it:

- No sun = much cooler temp’s. and no need for sunblock!

- There is no need to rush home from work since you've got the entire night to ride.

- It’s very peaceful and quiet at night. There are no distracting noises so there is plenty of time think about things and bring your day some closure.

- It makes you recruit all your senses. You can't see that you're riding on the edge of a rock wall that drops 60ft. off to your left, but because of the echo, you can hear there is nothing beneath you. This is a wild feeling.

- It lets you work on skills like keeping your head up the trail. If you don’t, you end up rolling up to something like this at 35mph.

- No one can see you fall on that tough technical section.

-Trail access! No hikers or equestrians mean no one to stop you from riding on sick single-track trails that are normally off-limits. Be wary of rangers depending on where you ride.

-If you're a meat eater and like venison, you could sneak up on a unassuming deer rather easily. I was within 3 yards of at least 4 large bucks. I’ll pass on that one…

Transition

2008-09-13T10:19:00.001-07:00

It's been an interesting transition from Berkeley, to Lake Tahoe, and now to Marin County over the past few months. A new job means a new commute...something I'm not too excited about. However, now that Ironman training is over, and I've had a month and a half to recover, I scouted out a bike-able route to work.

The Pros:
1. I avoid sitting in traffic on the 101, I sit in this jam every day.

2. Gas savings. 20 miles round-trip = 1 gallon of gas in my truck according to Fuelly. That's $4 going on $5 a day!

3. Lots of fresh air.

4. Bike lanes. They're everywhere in Marin, and make the commute so much easier, versus fighting for lane space on the shoulder with motorists talking on the cell phones, or struggling to put on their makeup.

5. I cut off about 2 miles by scooting over into the next canyon on a bike path.

The Cons (the usual suspects here):
1. Mild time loss. Biking means about a 45 minute commute, versus 25-30 minutes in the car.

2. No shower at work. So I ride a bit slower to deter sweating, and bring along some baby wipes for a quick wipe-down before heading into the cubicle.

Conclusion

I'll definitely continue to bike commute to work a couple of times a week. It's a great alternative to the daily rat race, an parking is waaay easier.

August Photo Gallery

2008-08-25T18:29:00.000-07:00

sunrise over Shadow Cliffs Reservoir prior to the Tri For Fun swim start

finishing aforementioned sprint

post race BBQ with Andy, Garuna, Becca, Becca's friend, and Adam

Annie, our new collie/shepherd mix

Dan posing on a bridge above Lavazolla Creek on a recent mountain biking adventure

enjoying a break from the mountain biking action

one of the trails went through an apparently active mine

Recovery Continues...

2008-08-12T20:08:00.000-07:00

3.5 weeks post-IM and it's finally sinking in just how hard the past 6 months have been. The fatigue of so many months of training is obviously deeply ingrained. I know my body is enjoying the time off, but it has a weird way of thanking me. 3 weeks out from a cold, and I'm still coughing up some decent loogies, and I seem to get sore from the most benign things too. I'm not rushing back into anything though, since my body usually let's me know when it's ready to rock.

This past weekend we went on a leisurely hike up to the backside of Mt. Tam. It was a decent 4-5 mile hike, but felt pretty good. Afterwards I'm feeling pretty sore. Calves and hammy are a bit stiff. Other than that I suppose I'm feeling back to normal.

Lake Bon Tempe, with Mt. Tam in the background

Ironman Fallout - Symptoms, Thoughts, Recovery

2008-08-01T09:40:00.000-07:00

- The first 3 days after the race weren't nearly as bad as I thought they would be. Walking was definitely difficult, especially going down stairs. My ankle swelled to softball proportions on the plane ride home, but was fine after a round of ice and rest. I did the RTB Relay as part of a 6-man team once, and was definetely more sore afterwards.

- I have slept far less than I thought I would. I normally can sleep 10 hours per night, no problem. Post race I couldn't make it past the 7 hour mark. Only the past few nights have I been able to make it to 9-10 hours of sleep.

- I basically have no appetite, counterintuitive, yes, but I've had to force feed myself over the past 2 weeks. What's the deal?? The past few days have been a bit better, and it's been helped by some good home cooking. Tonight we made some rice noodles, broccoli, carrots, fried tofu, and a sweet peanut sauce:

- 4 days post race I was bombarded with a serious sinus congestion type cold. Runny nose, mild cough, crazy sinus pressure/headache. It has waxed and waned, but a week later is still lingering around. My immune system hasn't been bombarded like this since Feb '07.

- PTSD. Pretty much every night since the race I've had a dream (more like a nightmare) about it. Last night for example I dreamed Mike had to do 3 - 56 mile laps because he forgot his running clothes in his bike special needs bag. For some reason I was riding with him. What?!? My mind doesn't seem to want to relax.

- 2 weeks out, my muscles are feeling pretty normal. I haven't done any sort of exercise, and am willing to guess that if I did, my legs would put up a bit of a fight. I plan to wait until this cold fully clears to do any sort of exercise.

An Iron Distance Race Report

2008-07-24T17:14:00.001-07:00

Reader's Digest Version:

An absolutely amazing day. I can't describe how happy I am to have finished Ironman with the support of so many close friends, family members, and Garuna. Honestly it has to be one of the best experiences of my life, hands down. Add on top of it that my brother Mike, and best friend's Dan, Ryan, and Erik ALL FINISHED, and I don't think there is a way to put into words how happy I am.

Detailed Version (note: and Ironman race requires an Iron length race report, sorry but you'll probably want to grab a cup of coffee).

the venue

PRE-RACE STRATEGY:
- Above all...enjoy the day.

SWIM:
- Make the swim as easy as possible
- Breath bi-laterally otherwise you're working too hard.

BIKE:
- Make it in before 5:30PM with as much energy in the tank as possible.
- Don't get discouraged by getting passed by the field.
- Soft pedal the first lap of the bike.
- Be patient, repeat, be patient.
- Don't stop soft pedaling until the first real hill on the second loop (Jay to Wilmington).
- Make sure you make the 5:30OM cutoff by stepping it up on Miles 70-112 if necessary.
- Consume 60% of your nutrition on the first lap.

RUN:
-Calculate my necessary minute-per-mile pace upon leaving T2 and be consistent about hitting each split.
- Continue to eat, eat, eat, and drink, drink, drink.
-Stay positive because it's gonna be brutal!

Amazingly, I was unusually calm heading into transition around 5AM Sunday morning. Not sure why, but it might have been the sick playlist of music which was banging out of the iPod which seemed to keep me in light spirits. Strangely, I couldn't help but picture myself as a deer sitting in the highway just before a big-rig comes barreling around the corner, but I digress.

After doing some final preps to the bike and dropping off my special needs bags I met up with the first contingent of family, friends, and Garuna (hereafter referred to as the IronCrew). I sucked as much positive energy out of the hugs before giving one last kiss to the lady, rounding up my posse (Mike, Dan, Ryan, and Erik) and crossing the timing mat to activate our timing chips. IT'S ON BABY.

pre-race with Mom

Entering the swim corral it was difficult to grasp the fact that I was actually here as a competitor. I felt like a imposter. I was in a hospital bed a year and half ago, wasting away at 112 lbs and barely able to walk. The people around me were probably negatively splitting 800m intervals on the track. Oh well, best to seed myself towards the back! I also expected I would be much more emotional at this point, there was often talk of people cyring just before the gun. Yet I found myself more focused on what needed to be done in the long hours ahead rather than thinking existentially about the meaning of making it to the line. There would be plenty of time for that afterwards.

As the Star Spangled Banner played my mind turned to my best bud Dave, thousands of miles away in Afghanistan, the sacrifices he has made to serve the country far outweigh anything that would happen here, god bless ya bro.

just prior to the cannon

SWIM 2.4 miles: 1:20:52
The cannon went off and the human blender went immediately to puree. Heeding the advice of my younger brother, and Ironman vet I waited until the second verse of "Beautiful Day" blasting out of the loudspeakers to start the swim. By that time the current produced by 2500 iron-swimmers lunging forward was actually sucking me across the start line. How nice.

the blender

The first 1/2 mile was pretty uneventful. The buoys that make the course are held in place by a cable 5 feet underwater which basically acts a lane line. I made my way there by swimming over/under/around hundreds of people, each moment further amazed at the amount of energy people were expending kicking me. I just stayed calm and concentrated on breathing slowly. However, the vibrations from the helicopter hovering overhead took some getting used to.

Somewhere around the first 1/2 of the first lap the skies ripped open and a rain that hasn't been seen since the days of Noah and his Ark streamed from the sky. Little did we know this downpour wouldn't end until somewhere around 9PM.

Approaching the first left-hand turn I stopped swimming, but was actually sucked along by the current that was created by all the swimmers. It was unbelievable!

sucked around the corner

I made an attempt to head back to the cable but everyone had the same idea, and after being punched and kicked one too many times I decided to head for clear water. There were too many people to swim far off course so I settled down, got to work, and soon the beach came up to meet me. Out of the water I looked for our Iron-Crew but the sea of people was too deep, so I crossed the mat and glided back into the water for lap 2. 40 minutes had elapsed and I was pretty stoked.

Unfortunately on the 2nd lap the crowd at the cable didn't let up. In fact it seemed even worse, and everyone seemed to be swimming soooo sloooow. Oh well, I relaxed and decided to stay in the draft and save buckets of energy. Ahhh. I kept repeating to myself, easy, easy, easy.

At this point the pace was so easy my mind actually started to wander, and I started to think about the "Everyday Hero" and how he raised $140K for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I figured I need to step it up in the volunteering area and I began to think of ways to get involved. Hopefully I remember all the good ideas I came up with.

Soon enough the black abyss below turned into sandy beach, and just as quick as it started, the swim was over. I spotted the Iron-Crew near the beach, and they went nuts! It was a nice boost after an hour and half of nothing but bubbly sounds.

Having been a peeler before I knew how to navigate the peeling area and went right to the back of the line to the underworked, overexcited peelers. Lickety split they had my wetsuit off and then began what would only end around mile 8 of the run, shivering!

out of the water

T1: 13:20

I planned to walk the 1/4 mile stretch between the lake and T1 because the 30 seconds saved by running would be long overshadowed by the damage from sending the heart-rate through the ceiling before jumping on the bike. Little did I know that the path was similar to the streets of Pamplona with fellow competitors shoving me to the side as they SPRINTED into T1...good lord. These were probably the same people littered all over the marathon course, cramping, walking, even puking.

After grabbing my bags I looked at the change tent and said, ewwwww. It looked like a steam room with a mud floor. In the door I was greeted by a temperature increase of at least 15'F. NICE. Chairs were scarce so I found a empty table and pulled every bit of clothing in my bag on. I slogged through the mud, and picked up my bike, but not before joking with the handler about drying it off first.

BIKE 112 miles: 8:22:40.
Immediately upon clipping into my pedals I began shivering. Wonderful. Luckily there were tons of sketchy triathletes around me and my mind was focused on not laying down my bike instead of how cold I was. Rolling out of town the legs felt pretty good, and I looked forward to the ~3 mile climb which lay ahead. It turned out to be a good place to get warm. Some dude was blasting "we will rock you" out of speakers in the back of his minivan...sweeet.

climbing out of town

Next came a 6 mile downhill stretch into the Town of Keene. Handling a bike seemed to be one of the few skills I retained after the stem cell transplant and I passed a ridiculous number of people on the hill. Near the bottom I approached a group of 6-8 riders. As I began to pass, a motorcycle attempted to pass me, and out of nowhere some chic comes FLYING past on my left, easily going 10-15mph faster than me. Downright reckless. I looked at the guy next to me and we simultaneously said "she's crazy!". I wouldn't be surprised if she was one of the many people who dumped their machines and ended up in the hospital. Insane.

The next stretch was mostly flat, and cruising into the town of Jay was uneventful. It was a fun stretch of road, but I may have got a bit caught up with the inertia of so may riders going faster than me. It felt very easy turning the gears, but in hindsight I should have gone one to two gears easier.

Most of the IronCrew was supposed to be around Jay so I perked up upon entering town. I completely surprised my Dad when I waved and said hello. I don't think he expected to see me so soon. No one else was there, so the rest of the crew must've been stuck in the traffic jam due to the road closure.

Leaving town the course featured a nice ~1 mile hill. Traffic was stopped going the other way so there were plenty of people supporting from the warmth of their cars. Up ahead there was some screaming, and sure enough it was our IronCrew. They were out in the rain cheering insanely loud. I got an amazing boost from these guys, and it mentally split up the climb. Everyone around me was pumped up too, smiles all around.

IronFans

The next 15 miles went smoothly, and I saw Ryan, Mike, and Erik on different sections of the out and back. Despite looking cold, we each had smiles on which was a good sign.

Most of the first lap I was a really concerned about my nutrition because I wasn't hungry or thirsty at ALL. I had set my watch to beep every 20 minutes, and managed to stick to it for the first 2.5 hours. However, I saw the signs of possibly not being about to stick with the program. This was consuming most of my thoughts at this point. I didn't want mistakes in nutrition to be the end of my race. Ironman would be such a long day that mistakes made early can have drastic consequences later in the day.

Once back to Wilmington the road turned towards home on Rt. 86, and thus began the toughest part of the course. A 11 mile roller-coaster with a uphill trend. The rain was beating down pretty hard, and my neck began hurting, which was a bit discouraging. Just keep spinning, I said.

Before long I approached the last of many uphill sections before arriving back in town. The last climb was packed with fans, which was awesome. Props to the lady beating a huge drum underneath a giant rain poncho. It got my head bopping, and helped tap out a nice tempo with my legs. Some guy told me to keep drinking because "you don't realize how much you're sweating". C'mon dude, look at my lips, their purple! He was still right though, I needed to keep drinking.

Back in town I stopped and picked up my special needs bag. I restocked the bars and gels, and downed some pickles (lots of salt!) and hot tamales, which didn't taste as good as I thought they might when I bought them in the grocery store. I stretched my neck, and jumped back on the bike.

Rolling out of town I was shivering so hard that it was easy to make a really loud hummuna, hummuna, hummuna, sound. People thought this was funny but I frequently heard, "he looks freezing". I am, thanks.

brrrr

The second lap felt pretty similar to the first, but my appetite still wasn't perking up, and I wasn't eating as much as I probably should have. I tried to keep drinking, but I was peeing pretty frequently, and still shivering, so I figured my fluid and energy levels were at least passable.

Climbing past the ski jumps I heard a "woof" from behind, and it was Mike! He was killing it! We chatted for a few, and then he was off. He's now officially the best cyclist in the Hartnett household.

Just before getting into Jay I stopped at the aid station and stretched my neck a bit. One of the volunteers told me my lips were blue and I should go to medical. I told him "thanks, but no thanks" and hopped back on the steed.

Rolling into Jay I wasn't sure if the IronCrew would be waterlogged and taking shelter but I began to hear cowbells, fog horns, blasting music, and plenty of screaming. I got off the bullhorns and waved with both hands and everyone EXPLODED! It was amazing to see so much energy from everyone, even after standing in the rain for close to 6 hours. I slowed down to slap high-5's, and sucked as much positive energy out of these guys as possible. It wasn't hard because they were incredible.

they earned the IronFan badge today

I rounded the corner and saw my buddy Ben Knight and his girl Kristen who came all the way from Burlington, VT. Awesomeness!! Another solid mental boost.

After the climb I stopped at an aid station to pee, and was told again that I should go into medical to get warm. Eff that, they probably won't let me leave!

The out and back to Black Brook went by extremely fast, and I was really happy about that. I had built it up in my mind, and it turned out to go much quicker than expected. Near the turnaround a crew of people starting yelling my name and jumping up and down. I was like, "Sweet, but who are they?" I got the same cheering on the way back and it helped me kick it up a notch on the .5 mile climb back to Wilmington. Turns out it was my cousins Jeff, Alyssa, and Erin. I can't believe they stuck it out in the rain, Amazing!

Just afterwards Erik passed me. We chatted about the race a bit, but I don't remember the details because I was a little groggy at this point. Something about him having to take his jersey off to pee, because he wore cycling bib shorts. Additionally my glasses were all fogged up, so I might have been imagining the entire thing.

untrained Erik Lake destroying the bike course

Another stop at the aid station to pick up some fruit, and another guy telling me my lips are blue. Thanks, didn't notice.

The last 11 miles back to town were pretty fun, albeit slow, but I really enjoyed the last climb up Papa Bear into town. The legs felt good, and I was stoked to be getting off the bike soon. Rolling through town I saw Ryan suffering through his run. He looked like he was in a lot of pain, and didn't notice when I yelled at him. I was pumped he was having such a great race. He was finishing his half-marathon before I was even off the bike.

Ryan shredding the run course on the way to a 4.5 hour marathon and 12:10 long course

T2: 32:34
Rolling into the change tent I saw Mike and Erik and yelled "Hey Fellas!". I think they were surprised to see me. Erik took off quickly and Mike was busy fashioning a rain poncho out of his dry goods bag. Good thing Mom and Dad made us go to Boy Scouts.

2x Ironman and brother Mike with an aero rainsuit

I easily had the longest T2 of anyone in the race. You may be thinking, "what went wrong", but this was actually a calculated move. Basically I was so cold I was shaking uncontrollably. I toweled off, put on some dry clothes, and began asking the guys in the change tent if they could spare a space blanket or trash bag. These guys came up huge and drapped 3-4 blankets, some wet towels, and a trash bag over me. I figured I'd take as long as I needed to get warm before heading out to run. Otherwise I might run into trouble down the road (pun intended). Huge thanks to the 3 guys in the change tent who fashioned me a sick space blanket toga, and finagled out a giant trash bag. It kept the warmth in and the rain out. PERFECT. Without a doubt, these guys saved my race.

At several times in the tent various people tried to get me to go to the medical tent. I was worried that medical staff might not let me leave, so I respectfully declined. This was a no-brainer to me.

After 30+ minutes I felt warm enough to head back out into the rain. Let's get it on!

RUN 26.2 miles: 6:27:07
Walking out of the change tent I glanced at my watch. 5:28PM. That left 6.5 hours for 26 miles. Roughly 15 minute miles would be needed to finish before the cutoff. Time to get to work. Begin feeling of mental anguish.

The first couple of miles out of town I was just pumped to be warm, so I ran the downhills, ate some yummy pretzels and fruit at the aid stations, drank lots of cola and Gatorade, and overall felt awesome. However, mentally things were very taxing. I knew I needed to hit my pace goals, and literally every 2 minutes I was looking at my watch. I had to trust my math, and keep telling myself "you will make it".

At the ski jumps I ran into the IronCrew. Despite the rain they were cheering as loud as ever. I couldn't believe their perseverance...sticking it out in the rain all day long. It prompted me to step it up and rip it downhill past the ski jumps.

ski jumps

The main out and back section, roughly 6.5 miles long, treated me reasonably well. I was eating, drinking, and jogging. My only goal was to make it from mile marker to mile marker in less than 15 minutes. This usually meant I had to run hard the last 2 minutes of the mile, which was working out OK because I still felt like I had a lot in the tank. I power walked the rest of the time. Bobbing my head and swinging my arms to help things along.

I was stoked to be warm, and it showed, because people kept telling me I looked strong. Unfortunately most of them thought I was on my second loop, mistakingly saying "you're almost there!", when really I had a whole additional 13.1 mile lap left to run. This was discouraging, but so what, I was warm, and happy.

I knew coming back into town would be tough because it was mostly uphill, but I was excited to get to my special needs bag, which had a dry jacket and some food in it. Restocked with supplies I headed out on my second lap.

As the light of day faded the sh*t started hitting the fan. The first two miles of the second lap were TOUGH. I had trouble jogging, and my power walk was not all that powerful. I was still right around 15 minute miles, but I desperately wanted to gain some extra seconds on each mile just in case. Add to this that there were barely any runners left on the road, and thoughts of being the only guy out here began creeping into my mind. Again I kept looking at my watch and reminding myself that if I kept the pace, I would make it. Mentally though, this was EXTREMELY straining. The what-if's were overwhelming. And my mind was beginning to get tired. Focusing on my pace was really getting difficult.

Nutrition-wise I forced myself to eat and drink at the aid stations. I really didn't have any appetite, and nothing sounded like it would taste good to drink, but I knew I wouldn't finish while running on fumes, so down the hatch the food went. I had stashed some Espresso flavor ClifShot's in my special needs, and these sounded disgusting but hit the spot once down the hatch. The caffeine didn't hurt either.

Right around mile 15 I heard some yelling from behind me, and to my surprise it was Garuna prancing up behind me! She had run all the way from town to catch up. I was unable to talk coherently, and at this point my ankle was hurting so bad that I was gritting my teeth with each step. After walking together a bit I asked her to tell me a story. She told me all about her long day in the rain, how the other guys were doing, and some other funny stories. She encouraged me every time I mustered the energy to run. She's amazing.

Down the hill past the ski jumps I was literally grunting with each exhale. It hurt pretty bad, but I knew I needed to pound the downhills to keep my 15 min/mile pace. The watch told me I was doing OK, but mentally I was struggling with the possibility of not being able to continue at this pace.

Somewhere on the out and back I saw Dan again. We had passed each other a couple of times during the marathon, and we were always stoked to see each other because it meant we were getting a bit closer to the end of the pain. He was looking comfy this time, maybe because he's an absolute animal.

Dan pounding the pavement

Around mile 17 Garuna stopped and waited at an aid station, and off I shuffled to complete the remainder of the out and back. At this point I started employing the telephone pole technique. I would run from one pole to the next, then walk to the third pole, and repeat. Mentally it was a simple task, and after a while my body just began accepting the pain and inevitability of having to run. Stopping running was strangely tough on the muscles too, weird. It was dark and peaceful out here and as I accepted the fact that I would do anything to keep the pace I needed to finish, the run actually started to become fun again. Painfully fun...but fun.

Not a moment too soon the turnaround point approached and soon after I reached the mile 20 marker. Coming the other way on the road was the last runner on course, followed by a police car. I yelled some words of encouragement, but wasn't too confident she would make it before the cutoff. My watch told me I was still keeping up...in my reduced mental state I hoped I was reading it right.

Slogging along from pole to pole I was happy when I got back to the aid station where Garuna was. I figured she would've walked all the way back to town, but she waited there for me, and I was super happy to she her jump out of the shadows. I was sort of "in the zone" and she scared me a little bit!

Back at the ski jumps my bro Chris, and buddy Adam were waiting. They gave me some great words of encouragement and joined Garuna walking behind me. This was actually super helpful because I could hear them chatting, and in my mind I said "lets drop these guys". I ran hard from pole to pole, and stepped up the intensity on the power walk, and was super happy to have done miles 23 and 24 in around 14 minute miles. I knew this was clutch because once you get into town there are some steep uphills.

I charged up the big hill into town, and at this point the crowds were getting pretty loud and intense. Being the only runner in the area it filled my muscles with energy, and I even ran a bit of the uphills. I couldn't stop smiling. The taste and sound of the finish line were in my head. 2 more miles of this pace and I would make it.

The last 2 mile out and back section was crazy. I had earned back enough time to know that if I just kept a 17 minute/mile pace I would easily finish. All the hard work hitting my splits throughout the day had paid off and I finally relaxed a bit. However I could sense everyone around me was EXTREMELY tense, and not sure if I was going to make it. The uneasiness is peoples voices as they yelled, "you can make it", was palpable. For me though, there was no doubt.

My IronCrew was amazing at this point. They screamed, yelled, ran alongside me, rang cowbells, and made what should have been a tough 2 miles, almost blissful. The streets were lined with spectators all cheering me on, and I couldn't help but show off and ear to ear grin. I looked up at the sky and saw some stars, the first clear sky all day. It's about damn time.

About 5 minutes before midnight I charged down the hill into the Olympic Speedskating Oval. My tank was on "E", but my friends and family gave me whatever strength was necessary to get to the line. I was running on pure euphoria at this point. Cruising under the Ford Ironman arches and into the finishing chute I stopped, raised my hands over my head, and let out a giant scream. I could feel 2 and a half years of pain and struggles exit my body, and I couldn't have possibly been any happier.

I wanted to walk and savor every moment of the finish. The lights and screams from the crowd were simply overwhelming and my senses were overloaded. I couldn't hear the music, the voice of Mike Reilly, or anything else for that matter. I was just completely overwhelmed. I wanted this moment to last forever. As I approached the line somewhere deep inside I gathered the strength to jump over the finish line, and just like that it was all over.

DONE!

the most beautiful IronMate in all the world

IronMen! (sans Erik, he was chugging a milkshake)

brothers Mike, Chris, and Mom

The embrace of my fellow athletes, family, and friends was amazing. I felt like the anxiety in their voices and faces had finally been released and we could all celebrate unadulterated and with a clear conscious. It's a feeling I will never forget.

Looking back, the race was extremely difficult from a mental standpoint. I felt I was pretty prepared for the physical challenges, and never felt like I wasn't going to be able to make the mileage. Speed was always an issue, however, constantly thinking about pacing, nutrition, and staying warm was TOUGHEST part. Staying focused was paramount, and it was really, really difficult at times during the race. I never really relaxed until about 2 miles left in the run. I can confidently say that walking down the finishing chute was like strolling through the pearly gates.

Big thanks to all my supporters, fellow Ironmen, friends, family, and Garuna. It would've been all to easy to throw in the towel without you being there for me.

All the best,
-Jeff

PS. No I did not sign up for the race next year, but this will definitely not be my last Ironman.

Thanks!

2008-07-23T17:01:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the emails and comments! Ironman was amazing. Race report coming as soon as I unpack and take another nap!

Love Ya!
-Jeff

Final Prep

2008-07-10T14:54:00.000-07:00

Making some final preparations before I head out to New York on Saturday! Workouts have been short, easy, and fun, save the blazing heat and smoky air. I'm looking forward to acclimating to some humid but clean Adirondack air this weekend.

I probably won't be able to write from the East coast, but I look forward to writing a nice race report when I get back home. I'll also be able to write about my appointment at MSK with Dr. Moskowitz where I'll have a CT, and full checkup. This should serve a nice stamp prior to getting to the start line next Sunday.

For those who want to track me online you can do so on ironmanlive.com. I'm Bib 232.

For those who are coming up to Lake Placid the Spectator guide is essential to look at for road closures and best viewing locations:
Spectator Guide

I won't be moving too fast so you should have no trouble spotting a guy and bike that looks like this:

I'll also try to post up the address to our place in town so people can stop in and say hi, or use the facilities on race day.

Taper Time

2008-07-05T17:29:00.000-07:00

IronMan is a mere 2 weeks away, and it's very difficult to believe it's July already. This week I was planning one last batch of large workouts, but after reviewing my training plan, checking in with some other Ironman competitors, and feeling quite fatigued on my long run on Tuesday I decided: my taper starts now! My brother reminded me that Ironman isn't an exam...you can't cram for it. So I figure it's better to start resting up!

With that in mind I cut the volume way back in the second half of the week. Today I did a nice 3 hour ride, with a short brick-run. It's funny that about 2 months ago 3 hours was the longest ride I could handle, now it felt short! The weather here was beautiful, and the smoke has pretty much cleared so the ride went rather well.

I fly back to NY next weekend so this week I'll do some final prep and packing, and drop the bike off to be transported to LP. Is it too early for pre-race jitters? Maybe it's just excitement.

Fairfax to Half Moon Bay

2008-06-29T11:04:00.000-07:00

View Larger Map

Totally random thoughts on a really long ride:
- I'm a horrible route planner (see above).
- Early morning riding is awesome because you get to see lots of hungover people doing the walk of shame, especially when riding through the city streets.
- Getting lost is sometimes fun, but often leads to lots of extra climbing. Especially riding in Pacifica.
- Rte. 1 S out of SFO has some spectacular scenery, but you won't notice it if on a bike because you'll be too busy riding on the white line, simultaneously trying to not get hit by tourists in RV's, and avoiding riding into the culvert.
- Compact cranks are lifesavers for slow cyclists like myself.
- Motorcycles seem to hate cyclists even more than motorists, despite our many similarities.
- Sticking to a nutrition and hydration plan over a 9 hour ride is difficult, but I think I have things worked out for IM, and it involves force drinking a lot more.
- Never underestimate a tourists lack of driving ability.
- I would've posted some pix but between the fog and the smoke from local fires they would all look something like this:

Smog? Am I in LA still?

2008-06-25T21:04:00.000-07:00

No help from mother nature this week as it seems that nearly all of Northern California is on fire. According to NPR there are hundreds of fires spread across Napa and Sonoma Valleys due to lightning storms this weekend. As you can see by this cool NASA satellite photo there are also two huge fires in the Sierras. Luckly prevailing winds go west-to-east, but its still pretty smelly and "cloudy" out.

This made getting a long run in a bit precarious. I put it off until this evening, and even relocated down near the coast where the winds are usually pretty high. NPR told me not to spend much time outside today, but an Iron-athlete has to get his long run in right? Luckily throughout my 2:15 run I didn't experience any difficulty breathing, or bronchial things. We'll see if how I fare tomorrow morning...

Firsts

2008-06-13T21:39:00.000-07:00

Last week was my first Master's swim in about 3 years. Master's is a bunch of adults that do a coached workout in the pool. Up to now I've felt too slow to join, but at the mileage's an IM-trainee needs to swim it's awfully boring alone, so last week I joined the Tam Masters team. It was a bit disappointing in that they just followed a workout on a whiteboard, rather than having a coach dictate the workout. I'm thinking of trying a couple other groups in the coming weeks.

Another first: riding in 100+ degree heat. I headed down to LA-LA land this past weekend to get in some "time in the saddle" with Dan, and Ryan. Unfortunately it ended up being the hottest weekend ever. 95+ at the coast, where we rode up the Pacific Coast Highway, and easily much hotter than that when we turned up into Latigo Canyon to do a 10 mile climb. It's fair to say that I was well-done after that climb, and suffered pretty bad the remainder of the ride. Luckily I drafted off of them the remainder of the ride, and still got in 95 miles. Shout out to those guys for putting up with my slow butt.

Sunday was my first ocean swim in some time. Feeling pretty tired from the day before there was alot of floating, but we got about 45 minutes of swimming in. I also realize I need to work on my sighting, since I struggled trying to swim in a straight line. Regardless it was good weekend, and great hanging out with the SoCal homeboys.

26 days to Ironman...woo!

Recovery Week

2008-06-09T19:59:00.000-07:00

After 3 weeks of building up volume it was time to cut back on the training a bit...as most endurance athletes can attest, this is one of the hardest things to do, especially with the thought of IM a mere 6 weeks away. However, a well rested body will be needed for some pretty hard workouts in the coming weeks, and if there's one thing I'm good at, it's sitting on the couch.

The week passed without much to note, but I did break out the mountain bike for the first time since December, for two reasons. One was the aforementioned recovery week. The second was that my knee was bugging me on my ride last week, so I thought I would switch it up this week, and try not to overstress the problem. I headed down the road from my new apt. to Tamarancho Boy Scout Camp, and rolled through their 12 miles of sweet singletrack. The last time I rode here I was a week and half out of a chemo treatment, so it felt good to feel good. I also completed the loop a good hour faster than I did last time. A nice confidence boost. Afterwards I tacked on a hour transition run, and besides a little heat, it felt awesome.

Another note, I visited a local Doc here to follow-up on my shortness of breath issues I had with at Wildflower Half. She felt that it was likely a bit of exercised induced asthma, possibly made worse by some allergens in the air. She actually called Cali the allergy capitol of the world. She recommended some breathing exercises, and prescribed a inhaler for anytime it might come back. That puppy is going squarely in the special needs bag for IM!

Mt. Diablo

2008-06-02T18:37:00.000-07:00

For the past couple of years, while I've been riding the proverbial pine in the triathlon world, Mt. Diablo has sat quietly across the eastern horizon of the Bay Area. If you've been to the Bay maybe you've seen it's 3847' summit sitting off in the distance over the East Bay. Everytime I look at it I can hear it beckoning to go climb. Well this weekend I finally felt like my training has come along enough to try and summit it.

With 3 years of pent up animosity, my buddy Adam and I left Berkeley around 9am. We wound our way to the base, polishing off 30+ miles in about 2 hours. Then the fun began. 3239' in 11 miles. I felt pretty great most of the climb, but the last 3 miles hurt a little. My knee started to bother me a bit, and I still haven't invested in a compact crank, so the 38 tooth small chainring began to take its toll. The last .25 mi boasted a 13% grade, and I felt like I was going backwards, but I put my head down, kept pedaling, and the summit soon arrived, offering some great views:

After a break for snacks we began a 25 minute blazing descent! It was awesome. We cruised back through Walnut Creek where Adam jumped on BART to finish his ride. I kept riding, and instead of cruising over the Berkeley hills, took a wider, longer, and flater way home through Richmond. The sun going down over the Pacific was a nice end to a long day. The Bay bike trail lead me back home, for a total of 92 miles in all.

Pix and thoughts on the past week(s) events

2008-05-27T11:03:00.001-07:00

Since I last checked in training has been going pretty smoothly. Two Friday's ago I regretfully said goodbye to Lake Tahoe and moved to a new place in Fairfax, CA for a new job. Fairfax is in Marin County, just north of SanFrancisco, over the GG Bridge. Starting a new job is a meaningful milestone for me, mostly because I remember reading the pamplet given to me about Stem Cell Transplants when I first arrived at Sloan Kettering over a year ago. I distinctly remember reading a paragraph on long-term effects of the transplant, and specifically something like "some patients may eventually be able to return to full-time employment". I realize how lucky I am, so I'm taking stock in this mini-victory for me.

Two Sunday's ago Garuna and I did Bay to Breakers, a 12k "race" from one side of SF to the other.

I've never in my life experienced a road race such as this
- An estimated 80,000 "runners"
- Over half of these are dressed in some ridiculous costume
- A good portion are half in the bag (read drunk)
- Many participant build a float to carry their beverages (read kegs)
- Several runners/walkers leave their costumes/clothes at home (ick)
- I personally haven't seen so much debauchery since Mardi Gras.

We started a bit late, and thus were caught with the floats and drinkers and didn't get a chance to run much until 3 miles into the race. We also had a canoe slowing us down:

We finally got running around mile 3, and finished up the 12k pretty strong. Afterwards we ditched the canoe, turned around and ran/walked all the way back to her car which was near the start line. Most people take the bus back home, but this turned out to be great training for IM (which I suspect I'll be walking a good percentage of). All in all we traveled a bit over 15 miles. Awesome!

Ride Around the Lake

2008-05-15T12:26:00.001-07:00

Back September of '07 when living in Tahoe was just a dream, and Erik and I talked jokingly about the possibility, I always thought it would be cool to ride all the way around the lake. My lease is up at the end of May, marking the end of my full-time status in Tahoe, so I figure it would be now or never (at least for the foreseeable future).

With this in mind Team Cannondale (Erik and I) left the house in Tahoe City at 10:30am. It was a chilly 45 degrees, but the sun was out. We headed counter-clockwise around the lake, heading down the west shore first. The first 10 or so miles clicked by quickly, and we were able to shed some layers of clothing.

Somewhere along the west shore we hit a one lane construction area where we had to stop at a flag-man with about 7 other cars. When it was our turn to go we fell in behind the line of cars and proceeded to draft them at around 30 mph. Somehow I didn't notice the line of cars slowing rather quickly. Erik did, and slowed down nicely. I however continued at full speed into a stopped line of cars. About 10ft. before the last car I locked up the brakes, entered a full skid, and plowed into the back of a SUV, my face smearing across the back window. My bike and I fell to the ground, and I just started laughing! Amazingly I was fine. The driver and passenger jumped out with a deer-in-the-headlights look on their faces, and were happy to see I was allright. Their bumper wasn't allright, but they didn't notice in the frantic moments before they drove off! Woo.

After putting my chain back on the bike we resumed the ride. Around Mile 15 we began a 20 minute climb up to the cliff's overlooking Emerald Bay, and some stunning views.

The rest of the ride was relatively uneventful. South Lake Tahoe sucked, as the bike paths were spartan, and the traffic plentiful.

We endured another 30 minute climb, and then mostly rolling hills as we completed the circuitous route back to Tahoe City. All in all, 72 spectacular miles.
Erik beat me up the last hill before our driveway, claiming victory on the ride. He's headed to CU-Boulder at the end of the summer, so he jokes that CU trumps Cal, but I ran inside and grabbed my running shoes to bang out a 15 minute transition run, while he hit the couch. Advantage Cal!

Wildflower Half-Ironman

2008-05-05T12:21:00.000-07:00

Reader's Digest Version:

- Wildflower is one of the largest triathlon festivals in the country.
- I had a great swim, completing 1.2 miles in just over 40 minutes.
- The 56 mile bike was beautiful! I struggled up a 5 mile long hill but finished comfortably.
- The 13.1 mile half marathon rolled through trails and gorgeous views, I ran and walked my way to a great finish.
- Total Exercise Time: 8 hours and 12 minutes.
- Post Race I'm feeling great.

The Nitty Gritty:

Last Friday Garuna and I headed down to Lake SanAntonio, CA located about equidistant between SF and LA, deep in farm country. We arrived in the early afternoon, and both of us were amazed to find a tent city filled with triathletes. It reminded me a bit of Woodstock '01, only with pasta and bikes. Pix from the festival:

We got all checked in, had a short pre-race swim, and made our way back to the campgrounds to set up camp and make some dinner. My great friend Ryan and his compadres from TNT and TCSD had staked out a campsite and it was great hanging out with them all weekend. Dinner and sunset were beautiful, off to bed!

The next morning I rose around 5am. I had a leisurely breakfast, and made some last minute adjustments to the bike before riding from the campground to transition area. Here's Ryan and I before riding down.

Unlike NAS Ironman races we actually get to setup our transition areas, which is always interesting because you can only imagine the chaos of 2000+ Type A triathletes trying to make sure every detail of their gear is perfect organized. You can feel the tension in the air. I just tryed to remain relaxed.

The race went off with a huge roar from the crowd. The pro's went first, and each age group followed in 5 minute intervals.

The first half of the swim I had some difficulty getting settled. My goggles were extremely fogged up, and I had some trouble sighting the buoys up ahead, but I managed to stay calm and keep on truckin', I hit the half-way point in 25 minutes. The second half of the swim we had a bit of a tail wind, I settled down a bunch, and came back in 15 minutes. I was really happy with this time, since my goal was to get somewhere between 45-50 minutes. Super happy about this.

T1 was smooth, and I put on my bike gear, got some love from Garuna, and headed off on the bike.

The first 5 miles were mostly uphill to climb out of the basin the lake sits in, and I liked the roads, views, etc, but was extremely cold from the swim. It took me almost 10 miles to get feeling back in the extremities. Miles 10-40 were amazing! I rolled through vineyards and amazing country, and it was great.

However around mile 40 things got a bit hairy. Miles 40-45 were entirely uphill. The grade wasn't too bad, but I started having a little trouble breathing. I've never had asthma but this is what it felt like. As a result I had to slow down pretty considerably. At the top of the hill I also got a flat tire! It took me about 10 minutes to change, but offered a chance to rest a bit. The last 10 miles were rolling, and my neck started to hurt a bit from being in the saddle for nearly 4 hours. The last mile was a screaming descent which was a lot of fun though.

T2 went smoothly as well, only complaint was that there wasn't much room left for my bike by the time I got back in. Here I am coming out of T2. Yes, that's an orange in my mouth.

The run was a bit frustrating. My legs felt awesome, and I felt like I could have cruised along pretty good, but at this point I had some serious trouble breathing. When my heart-rate went up I was limited to short choppy breaths, and had to slow, and stop very often. This turned out to be OK, since there were alot of hills, and I probably would've been walking them anyways. Minus the breathing I felt great, and mentally I was still pretty strong, but I was getting a little annoyed that it was taking such a long time to complete.

I buddied up with some other runners/walkers to kill the time, and make the miles go by quicker too. The last mile was almost entirely downhill, and it felt great to be able to run the entire thing. Nearing the finish line I got a bit emotional, as I thought a bit about how long it's been since I've been able to compete in this sport. I also thought about being in a hospital bed about 14 months ago, and how grateful I am to be here. The best part of the day was arriving at the finishing chute and seeing Garuna there cheering me on!

Afterwards I felt pretty awesome, however I was still having trouble catching my breath, so I stopped into the medical tent and explained the situation. The Doc's there gave me a couple shots with an inhaler, and after 15 or so minutes I felt good as new.

After taking a nice dip in the lake, we headed back to camp and spent the evening eating, and trading races stories over the campfire, it was the perfect end to a great day!

Thanks to all my supporters out there, I couldn't have made it to the finish line without you!

Recovery

2008-04-29T17:07:00.000-07:00

This past week was my largest volume of training to date. Wednesday was a 3:20, ~50 mile ride on the American River Bike Path, followed by a 20 minute transition run. I actually felt really really good during this workout. Luckily the temps were mild, ~65', and the sun provided just the right amount of warmth. My neck had really been having a tough time adjusting to the new aero position on the bike, but this ride it seemed much better than usual.

My break at the turnaround at Folsom Lake:

Friday I managed a good swim, with the main set being just shy of a mile. Overall my swim is not as strong as I hoped it to be. My "muscle memory" isn't that great after taking nearly two whole years off of swimming. So I feel like I'm re-learning the nuances of the free-style stroke. Swimming is one of my favorite sports though, so I don't mind the additional time in the pool.

On Sunday, Garuna and I did a monster run. 1:45 was the total time, nearly 11 miles, and a thermometer nearly hiting 90'. We were better prepared than our last run in the heat, and brought a bunch of water, but we definetely slowed a bit throughout the run. Afterwards I felt like a limp noodle, but once I re-hydrated, and topped off the fuel reserves I felt pretty awesome.

This week the focus is on recovery since I have my first 1/2 Ironman on Saturday. Lots of time on the couch, and trying to eat and drink a bit more than usual since I know Saturday will be fairly taxing. Health-wise I'm monitoring things pretty closely, and am glad to report I feel great. My recovery times after each workout are getting better, and overall I feel like I'm getting much stronger.

Long Slow Distance (LSD) Run

2008-04-23T11:02:00.000-07:00

The ski season is beginning to wind down so I finally managed to get a weekend off. Desperately needing some new tri gear, and having some social events in the area, I decided to head down to the Bay Area. First stop was at my favorite store for some mandatory gear for my 1/2 Ironman coming up in a week and a half.

Afterwards Garuna and I embarked on an adventurous run through the Presidio, the park adjacent to Golden Gate Bridge. We started off by running directly into a 60mph headwind, which is a silly way to warm up for a long run. Nonetheless, we didn't want to finish into the headwind, so off we went.

We navigated the trails around the park, and got in some good climbing (not sure the elevation changes), and managed to click off an 1:40 of running. I'm hoping it ended up being about 10 miles, however with the wind and hills I'm sure if was closer to 9.

This was by far the longest run (time-wise) that I've ever done. I'm happy to say I felt awesome afterwards. Post run we feasted on grapes, apples, oranges, sunflower seeds, and raisins, then followed up with some burritos! Yum.

Robbed!

2008-04-16T15:02:00.000-07:00

Monday night my car was broken into and cleaned out! It was parked in Garuna's apt. complex is Sac. Apparently they jacked a screwdriver in the key lock on my door and broke in. They got away with all my bike tools, a tool box full of regular tools, my emergency kit with jumper cables, etc., my CD collection, car registration, and possibly some keys.

Who steals bike tools?? Be on the lookout for hoodlums with well tuned bikes.

Un"Bear"able Heat!

2008-04-16T14:28:00.000-07:00

Another good week of training on the books!

My Monday ride was a 35miler over the Three Bears. I rode with my buddy Wes and he definitely put my in a spot of bother on the hills, however I felt pretty comfortable with the time (2:40) in the saddle, and the elevation gain (4482ft.)

Chris came into town to do some skiing on Tuesday, and we skied Wed-Fri, and made some sick turns. These pic's were taken during a hike along the ridge off the top of Alpine Meadows. It was great to have the lil bro in town, and give him his introduction to the High Sierra's.

We did a bit of swimming Thursday, and I am up to about a half mile of swim volume.

Sunday Garuna and I did a run along the American River in Sac. Unfortunately the thermometer topped out around 93'!! After about 25 mins of running we were both overheated and needed to walk a bit. We got the temperature down and managed to continue another 10 minutes to the water fountain on the bike path. Here we turned around, about 15 mins earlier than planned. We walked/ran the way back and the heat sapped nearly all the moisture and energy out of our bodies. Even though I didn't get the volume I had planned, we still managed to run about 7 miles, and it should serve as a good prep for the conditions for the WildFlower 1/2 Ironman which I'll be running May 3.

Post run nutrition was again provided by Garuna, and her Red Curry made for some serious recovery food.

Lessons Learned:
Pre-training nutrition and hydration is extremely important.
In-situ body temp needs to be kept low, maybe running with a waterbottle/fuel belt is necessary when temps rise above 80'.

March Wrap-Up

2008-04-08T19:42:00.000-07:00

The month of March was exactly what I needed from a training standpoint, consistent, moderate base training. Each week I was able to get my long run, ride, and even a swim in.

My longest ride in March was a 2:20 min, roughly 30+ mile ride over the World's Toughest Half-Ironman course with Erik. It was nice set of hills, and some gorgeous scenery.

I ripped off a 1:20 min run, roughly 8 miles with Garana, on the trails that snake their way along the American River in Sacramento, CA. Beautiful scenery, and good company made the time go by quick.

Swimming still needs some work, and I'm working on building volume. My longest swim was 45 mins.

I ended the month with a recovery week, which featured a break from increasing volume, where I did a 30 minute run, and 45 minute ride. It ended up being a sort-of stressful week due to having to commute from SFO to Tahoe 3 times for interviews, but overall I feel ready to get some longer training in.

Overall my focus was on building volume, which I did, and keeping recovered, which I also had success with.

Of course I also got some great skiing in as well.

Here's some pix from the past week. The folks, and Garuna in town for a visit:

Pops and I on the slopes:

Relay for Life

2008-03-28T19:20:00.000-07:00

Once again this spring my fraternity from RPI has chosen to participate in the Relay for Life. It's an incredible event that raises a healthy amount of money each year for the American Cancer Society.

Most of you know that last year my family, friends, and I participated in the relay, and it was great to see everyone staying up through the night to support the event, and survivors like me. This event was a major milestone for me personally, since I was only about 8 weeks post-transplant, and it was my first encounter with a crowd of any kind. I was able to make it through the night without catching any colds, or fevers, and it was a great time. I also felt very honored by the incredible support from my family, friends, and the current actives, all of which made appearances (and extremely generous donations).

I'm hoping we can show our generosity and donate a little money to help them reach their goal of raising $16,000 by April 19th. I know the economy sucks right now, and I'm poor as hell too, but a large donation isn't necessary just a couple of bucks to show you care.

Click here to view the team page for Pi Kappa Alpha / Mrs. Wisnowski
If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address:
http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RelayForLifeEasternDivision?team_id=216900&pg=team&fr_id=8107&et=Y5Gz1TovJC7P_GqoS89Vsg..&s_tafId=117496

Feel free to contact me with any questions, and also feel free to pass on the link.

Best,
-Jeff

A Great Week

2008-03-24T17:33:00.000-07:00

This week's training was unbelievable. Tuesday I knocked off my first 2 hour ride. It was along the American River again, but 70' weather, smooth pavement, and no cars make this an appealing place to put in the miles.

On Thursday Erik and I rocked a nice 40 min swim down in Truckee. We were both are feeling a bit out of practice in the pool, but we managed to put in a few continuous laps, plus some drills.

Friday brought about 3"+ of new snow, so I did a couple of nice 20min. hikes off the lift to get some amazing skiing in. Luckily my boss is a skier and likes to give us 3 hour ride breaks during "work".

Saturday we put in a little 70 min run from the Alpine Meadows parking lot, dropping about 800' in elevation to the bottom of the access road, before turning around heading back up. The pain from the elevation, altitude (6800' ft), and weak lungs were masked by good company from Erik, and two stray dogs who kept up with us the entire time!

The best part of the week was coming home from work on Sunday to a phenomial meal cooked by Garuna. I wish I took a picture of the portobello mushrooms stuffed with chipotle mashed potatos, on top of a bed of leeks. I'm definetely a lucky guy.

-Jeff

A New Look

2008-03-17T18:10:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've face-lifted the blog, so I figured it was due. I changed it up this time last year as I sat in a hospital bed, and I can't express how thankful I am to not be in one while I change things up this time around. The picture above is the speedskating oval in the center of Lake Placid. It's home to the transition area of the Ironman. You'll see my bike in the mix here come July!

-Jeff

Canadia Eh?

2008-03-11T15:17:00.001-07:00

Just got back from an awesome trip to Whistler-Blackcomb Mtn which is located ~60miles NW of Vancouver, BC. This place is a giant ski resort, boasting around 7000' of vertical, and a decent base of snow for the year. I skied hard for 3 days, and loved every minute of it. It was great to ski with some good buddies from RPI who I haven't ripped with in years. Here's a pic of us hiking over into the Blackcomb Glacier:

Training has been coming along, I have been lucky enough to get down to Sacramento most weeks, so I got in a 20mile ride last week, and a 25mile ride this week, both in 70' weather, which has been amazing. I feel pretty great, and am focusing on staying well rested and recovered. I took some pics of my ride this week, which snaked along the American River Bike Path:

Running is also coming along with a 60 minute run last week, and hopefully another one on the books this week. Swimming however is lacking due to the availability of pools in Tahoe, which is to say, there are none. Lake temps are a bit dangerous at this point, but hopefully things will get rolling in the next couple of weeks.

-Jeff

Anniversary

2008-02-25T19:51:00.000-08:00

One year ago Saturday was the anniversary of my stem cell transplant! It's unbelievable how quickly time passes. Looking back...it was quite a scary time, and I feel wonderful to be far from the condition I was in last February. I'm also equally elated to have a clean bill of health looking forward, and can only ask for that much with each passing day.

Unfortunately I can't quite celebrate as much as I had hoped to due to getting hit with a nasty flu/cough virus. We're just finishing up President's Week at the mountain, and 7 straight days of working with the public, plus stacking 2 cords of wood at home has caught up to me. Luckily I've got a couple days off to recuperate. Hopefully it will run it's course and I can get back to skiing, working, and training, all of which are off-line until this cough evaporates! Woo.

Hope all is well!
-Jeff

Buried

2008-02-02T10:40:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure there are words to describe the conditions in Lake Tahoe over the past few weeks. It has basically been a skier's dream. Imagine waking up every morning to 6" of fresh snow. Due to the effect of elevation this means the ski resorts get a bit more (10-12") each day. This has made for some incredible skiing. I'm not sure I've ever had an entire run of completely untracked powder, nearly waist deep, in my life. I've been making the most of it, by skiing everyday for the past 2 weeks.

Luckily I landed a job at Alpine Meadows, a great ski resort about 15mins. from my house. They've got a lot of good terrain, some high speed lifts, and everyone I work with is great. I'm mostly working in the Demo Center, which is a place you can go to test high end skis. We recommend a pair of skis, adjust bindings, etc. The most important part of this job is the free season pass that comes with it.

I'll likely have to start looking for a second job soon however. Despite saving up some money, and accepting some generous donations from family/friends to facilitate my time here I've got quite a few big-boy bills looming. Keep in mind that the regular ski bum rarely carries and insurance policy. Additionally the regular ski bum menu of Easy Mac, and Ramen doesn't quite do it for me. I'll probably try to pick up a night job soon, likely as a cook, since I've got some experience there. I just need to find someone who'll hire me!

Health-wise I'm feeling great. The altitude (6800' above sea level), is tough on my weak lungs, but I feel like I'm adjusting to it well. My legs have atrophied over the past years, but again, they're getting stronger each day as well. In between skiing I'm focusing on staying well rested, eating well, and beginning to train for Ironman. I'm running and riding once a week, building a bit of a base for the heavier training which is to come.

I'll end this post with a pix of the house, I don't have many action shots from the mountain since I'm usually just trying to keep up with all the good skiers out here, but here's a pic of our front yard. Incidentily Our wood pile is completely buried in the snow, and each day we've had to dig down to get to it, which I think is hilarious!

Take Care,
-Jeff

A Clean Bill of Health

2008-01-14T11:48:00.000-08:00

Since my last post a new year has begun, and I've got another 6 month lease on life. On January 3rd, I headed back down to Sloan-Kettering in Manhattan, and had my usual barrage of tests. A CT scan, bloodwork, as well as an EKG and Pulmonary Function Test to monitor possible damage to my heart and lungs.

The results were almost entirely positive. My CT scan was clear, and there was basically no change since my last scan, which is great. My bloodwork looks good, although I need to continue taking synthetic thyroid medication, since my thyroid is under producing. My EKG was fine, which meant my heart isn't showing any long term damage from my treatments, which I'm excited about.

My PFT was a little less than stellar however. My lung capacity last January was around 89%. One year and one stem cell transplant later my lung capacity is only 54%. This basically means there was a lot of damage and scarring to my lungs, which is to be expected, since I had radiation to that area twice a day for two weeks straight. The doc says I can expect to gain a bit of capacity back, but probably never get back to where I was. I'm fine with this, and honestly, I knew my lungs were struggling a bit anyways, so this only added a quantitative value to what I knew was going on.

So basically I'm clear to begin exercising, and the Doc will monitor my overall health as I ramp up for Ironman.

In other news, I'm back in California, and spent the past week moving out of my apartment in Berkeley, and relocating to Tahoe City, CA. I'm planning on spending the winter skiing, and working at Alpine Meadows Ski Resort. I do not, however, have a job there yet, and this a detail that needs to be worked out in the days to come. I do have an apartment, and am stoked to be living with my buddy Erik Lake, a fellow triathlete, Ironman '08 participant, and veteran ski bum.

Here's a view of the house:

View Larger Map

-Jeff

Done!

2007-12-24T05:17:00.000-08:00

I've finally finished this long and arduous journey through graduate school! This past semester has been a bit of blur trying to crank out a thesis, but the majority of my school was difficult for reasons which had very little to do with academics, and for this I'm very excited to be done!

I had my thesis approved a week ago, and filed it with the graduate division, took a final, gave a final presentation, and cleared out my desk. All of which felt great! Thanks to everyone who's been by my side to get me through it.

Over the past 2 weeks I also managed to catch my first cold in about 2 years. It was a bit of a sinus infection, where I had a runny nose, cough, and lots of achyness. At first I was freaking out a bit, since these are all symptoms of cancer, but when I realized it was just a cold I was relieved. My beat up immune system and I have been working hard to fight it off, but it's still lingering a bit 2 weeks after getting it, however I'm viewing this cold as another sign of returning back to "normal", if that's possible.

I'm back in New York for the Holidays, and looking forward to seeing all my family, and friends which are still around (give me a ring if you are). I also have another Doc's appointment at Sloan on 1/3. I have another CT scan, EKG and a Pulmonary Function Test for my heart, and lungs, to check for any long term damage. I'm feeling very confident about these.

Happy Holidays,
-Jeff

PS: A pic of my roomies, me, and our sustainable xmas tree:

Stuff

2007-12-13T13:02:00.000-08:00

Please take 20 minutes out of your day, and watch this!! It's a wildly clever animation:

http://www.storyofstuff.com

Enjoy,
-Jeff

Draft #1

2007-11-29T16:28:00.000-08:00

After a good month of typing I finally drummed up a draft of my thesis and sent it off for review. I'm excited to have it done and am hoping that the comments from my reviewers aren't too tough. My board includes my advisor Dr. Dave Dornfeld, who is pretty much "the guy" when it comes to green manufacturing. Also Dr. Paul Wright, who comes from the UK and is one of the world's foremost experts on metal machining. Finally Dr. Carlo Sequin, a Computer Science professor who specializes in computer generation of 3D sculptures. I'm excited to get their comments, and hopefully get everything approved by 12/20.

If you feel like some light reading, especially the kind that will put you to sleep, you can read it here.

Otherwise things have been going great, I had a awesome West Coast Thanksgiving with my buddies Andy and Mia, along with Mia's family who came out from Clifton Park to spend the holiday. Andy grilled a turkey, which was quite the process, and I fired up some quality vegan sides, which everyone managed to choke down. It's important to take note of the weather and view in the back of this photo, since we had a ridiculously nice day, ala 70' and clear.

Next up is finishing some projects, a final exam, and getting ready for my 3-5 month vacation, more to come on that...

-Jeff

Vegan Options!

2007-11-17T11:20:00.000-08:00

I hope my blog doesn't turn into me ranting about my decision to turn vegan, but we made the "times", so check out the article describing some great restaurants around here. This goes a way to answering the question I get quite often..."so....what do you eat?". My buddy Ryan, and my Dad were both in town this week, so I dragged them to my favorite one of these, Herbivore. Love that name too!

Check it out here.

gettin' there

2007-11-04T18:10:00.000-08:00

The past couple of weeks have been a bit quiet, but I'm making some good headway on my thesis. Out of 5 chapters I have 2 almost completely done. It's a bit daunting, but I'm pressing on through. Unfortunately the last bunch of experiments I ran didn't turn out any good, so I need to redo things, and hope for the best. Once they look good, I can put a cap on the M.S. thesis.

The weather her has been beautiful, and today was too nice, so I blew of work for the afternoon and went riding with some friends, and roommates. It was a beautiful day, and we did a solid singletrack loop in Marin (just north of SFO).

Back to work!

-Jeff

M.S. Thesis Page Count: 79

Welcome to Miami

2007-10-22T17:22:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I took a couple of days off, and headed south to Miami to visit Garuna, we had a great weekend, including a trip to see the Dolphins play the Patriots. Actually, we saw the Patriots trounce the Dolphins, but it was great nonetheless. It was my first NFL game, and it was great! Pix:

We also went to the beach, saw some cool old mansion and gardens, and listened to some cool Miami jam bands, and of course, hit up the Fresh Market, which will only make sense to the Top Chef fans in the audience. Definetely a great weekend.

Now it's back to the real world, only 2 months left in the semester! I've got a midterm this week (eek!), but am making some good headway on my thesis (35 pages already)!

Health-wise I'm feeling great, making sure I eat right, and take lots of rest...and the best news is that my joint pain has vanished. 2 weeks of agony have faded into the night, just as quickly as it arrived...WOO!!

In other news, Cal is breaking my heart! We lost to UCLA...and drop to 21st in the nation! Oh well...

Have a great week,
-Jeff

M.S. THESIS PAGE COUNT: 35

7 Months Post Transplant

2007-10-09T14:26:00.000-07:00

Life as a stem-cell transplant survivor can best be described as a delicate balance. You want to act like a normal person, but sometimes your body just isn't up for the challenge.

One day you feel great, for example, I can put in a normal work-day, maybe a little exercise afterwards, a trip to the grocery store, and make a nice dinner (veggies, of course!). The only difference is I'll need about 11 hours of sleep to recover from this. It's not yet "sustainable" for me.

This has got to be the most difficult part of life a survivor for me, it's pretty easy to respond to this, "well then, just take it easy!", but it's a really slippery slope. Once I make the decision to go back to school, I don't get extra time for homework, or extensions for papers at work. My laundry doesn't do itself, nor does dinner make itself. Bills don't stop rolling in either.

So usually what gives is social stuff, which sucks because my friends are awesome, and I like spending time with them, but if I'm going to continue surviving something has to give. The biggest difference between 1 year ago, and now is that I recognize that I need, before anything, to take care of myself, otherwise I might not be around for too long. So, no stress, no getting run-down, no burning the candle at both ends. If I have my way, I'm not heading back to a hospital anytime soon.

So happy hour, parties, and mountain bike race weekends be damned, I've gotta pass! It's doubly difficult because most of friends are interested in stuff I just can't do much of right now, partying and racing bikes. But if I'm ever gonna graduate I need to keep a low profile, and hammer things out, so, back to work I go...right after this nap!

How Old am I?

2007-10-04T13:29:00.001-07:00

So I woke up Monday morning and I felt like I had been involved in some sort of drunken brawl the night before. The knuckles in both my right and left hands were all swollen and extremely painful. Not one to care about pain too much I went about my day, night, however by Tuesday night the pain was so bad that I bascially couldn't use my left hand.

At this point my respect for people with arthritis is basically through the roof, because this type of pain is awful. You can't do anything without your hands! So yesterday I went in to Dr. Behl's (my local oncologist), and had a full work-up, bloodwork, blood cultures (to check for viruses, bacterial infections, etc.). He wasn't sure what was wrong, but he thinks it may be some sort of viral infection, if not I get to go see a rheumatologist (joint doctor) yay! The pain has subsided a bit today, but only because I have been icing my hands on and off all day.

The pain has made it a little difficult to get as much work done as I would like, but things are going along well. I'm furiously trying to finish some experimental work, before beginning to type my master's thesis. I'm also taking one class, that has some tough homework's and exams, but it's all in day's work! My goal is to buckle down and finish this semster, then take the winter off and ski! Will keep you updated as things progress.

Day +207

2007-09-20T10:43:00.000-07:00

This past Tuesday I had my 200-Day checkup. Yes, it's been 200 days since my stem cell transplant, thats 6 months in normal-person-talk. Wow! Time flies! This check-up was similar to others where I get a full blood-work, a physical exam, etc. Plus I got a CT scan, mostly to track some damage I had in my left lung, and see if any of the residual tumors have changed in size, also if anything new has cropped up.

I got the results, and everything looks great. The stuff they saw in my lungs at Day +100 has cleared up, meaning it was probably an infection (pneumonia). I had as suspicion it was an infection, since I've been feeling much better since then. Also there has been no change in any residual tumors in my chest, neck, abdomen and pelvis. This is really good news! I've been feeling good, so I was happy to have some medical confirmation :)

Before leaving I broke the news to Doc Moskowitz that I signed up for Ironman. He wasn't as excited as I was about it, commenting that he's had patients do races, but usually not until much later (4-5 years). He said it's a possibility and will do some lung and heart function tests at my next checkup in early January. So my plan is to take it easy until then, and really work on postive recovery, hopefully in January, with his blessing, I'll be able to start training.

Again, thanks to all you guys for your continued support, I wouldn't be here today without you!

-Jeff

Downieville Part Deux

2007-09-06T10:53:00.000-07:00

Just checking in real quick! Took another solid trip up to Downieville, CA this past weekend. I rolled up with Dan, Ryan, Erik, and the rest of my friends from the cycling team. We had some sick riding on Sunday, where we managed to fit 15 bikes into Erik's van, in order to shuttle to the beginning of the trail:

We stopped mid-ride to take this picture at an abandoned mine. As you can see I weigh so much I crushed the entrance:

Monday we packed 7 bikes and 7 people into my 2 door explorer to shuttle to the top of the run, I was quite amazed that we made the 4000' ascent to the top. Now it's back to classes and work!

-Jeff

It's Official...

2007-08-28T14:56:00.000-07:00

...I'm $500 poorer, and have officially begun the IronJourney!

As you can see, I'll have some great friends to accompany me. Mike and Adam are Ironman Vet's, Kelly and Erik I worked with in CT, and Dan and Ryan are my boys from RPI, and everyone has been a huge supporter of me over the past 1.5 years. It's no joke to say that these people are a big reason I'm still around to register for this.

It's definetely been a dream of mine since I did my first sprint triathlon back in the summer of '02, on a road bike we found in a pile of leaves when I was 15 years old (a leftover from the previous renters in a house we moved into). After going through hell the past year I think it will be a great goal, and I'm excited to spend the fall resting, and recovering, then begin "training" in January. My hope is to have a balanced training plan that tempers rest with some enjoyable long rides, runs, and swims.

I like to post this movie, because it does a good job of answering the question everyone asks, "Why?":

-Jeff

Camping: Sequoia National Park

2007-08-21T15:05:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was a nice excursion down to Sequoia National Park. It's located in the Sierra-Nevada Mountains, east of Fresno, and south of Yosemite Nat'l Park. It was organized by the newly-engaged Dan and Arlene, and was a chance to catch up with a bunch of old friends from RPI, all of whom now live in California.

We commuted the 5 hours to the park Friday night, so Saturday we decided to enjoy the weather and not push to hard on our day-hike. We hiked about 4 miles into a sweet alpine lake, located at about 8500 ft. above sea level. We took some time to swim and have a liesurely lunch:

I felt pretty good on the hike, despite the altitude, and happy that my fitness is slowly getting better.

We got home from the hike around 3, and spent the next 9 hours chillin' by the campfire eating and catching up. It was pretty fun:

Sunday we visited the General Sherman tree, which is the largest living thing on earth. As you can see, it doesn't quite fit in the picture (Ryan, Dan, Minh, Bassam, Grant, Andy, & me):

It's the last week of summer, and classes start next week for me, so I'm resting up and getting ready for another (hopefully my last) semester.

-Jeff

Tahoe

2007-08-13T12:28:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I decided to roll up the road to Tahoe and visit my good buddy, and former EB co-worker, Erik. He's been living in Tahoe for the past 2 years, ever since he succumbed to my constant harrassment about how much fun California is. Now he splits time between a mechanic at a local bike shop, and a ski instructor at Alpine Meadows. I haven't hung out with him in over a year, so it was good to catch up.

On Saturday we rolled out to Downieville, which is a small mining town, turned mountain bike mecca about an hour west of Tahoe. It's famous for a serious network of trails, and we enjoyed a nice 17 mile ride. It was super-fun, but a bit discouraging for me because I was sucking wind the entire way trying to keep up with Erik. I also felt pretty awful when I finished, likely from a combination of my lack of fitness, the altitude (7000+ ft. above sea-level), and a incredible amount of dust. Luckily we cooled off in the river after the ride, and got some good recovery food before our drive back to Tahoe City.

Our route:

A view from the trail:

Sunday we did a much more pedestrian ride on the Tahoe-Rim Trail. It had a bunch more climbing, but we took Erik's dog, so luckily the pace was much nicer (read, slower). It was much more of a confidence builder for me, though I was still panting pretty hard on the climbs, I was loving the singletrack flat and downhill sections.

Sunday afternoon we participated in a Tahoe tradition of floating down the Truckee River. It runs from Lake Tahoe, all the way to Reno, but the section from Tahoe City to Alpine Meadows Ski Resort is particularly popular because it's so flat, and allows people to tie together multiple rafts, and haul along coolers full of cold beverages. Basically it's one huge slow moving party on the water. It was nice to sloak in the cool river, and relax on the raft for a solid 3 hour float:

I limped home Sunday evening, and will need a couple days of good rest to recover, but it was an awesome weekend.

-Jeff

Weight

2007-08-02T17:20:00.000-07:00

I often get asked how my weight is doing, so I thought I would put the tail of the tape down, it's been somewhat of a roller coaster but here goes:

Jan '06, diagnosis, start of ABVD: 150 lbs.
Jul '06, completion of ABVD: 145 lbs. (my weight would fluctuate about 10lbs each cycle, I had 12 cycles)
Oct '06, relapse, start of ICE: 145 lbs.
Dec '06, staph infection: 135 lbs.
Jan '07, completion of ICE: 136 lbs.
Feb '07, transplant admit: 135 lbs.
Mar '07, transplant complete: 112 lbs. (couldn't eat for 2+ weeks)
Apr '07, transplant +30: 125 lbs.
May '07, transplant +60: 130 lbs.
Jun '07, transplant +100: 135 lbs.
Aug '07, current: 135 lbs.

So I've leveled off a little over the past couple of months, but still about 5-10lbs under what I would like to be. Note: it's extremely difficult to gain weight as a vegetarian.

-Jeff

M-Dot

2007-07-25T12:08:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I had a wonderful trip back to NY. The main purpose of the trip was to be an IronFan at the Ironman competition up in Lake Placid, NY. Here 2500+ competitors attempt to swim 2.4miles, bike 112 miles, and run 26.2 miles. My brother was one of the lucky participants, and we got a crew of family and friends together and prepped for a long day of cheering:

The atmosphere around this race is one which is tough to put into words, there is a energy in the air that is indescribeable. Not only do you have 2500+ world class athletes milling around, you also have their families, friends, camera's, big screen TV's, music, a famous annoucer, and a helicopter circling overhead. Mike was a bit nervous, but so were we!

He had a great swim, with picture perfect conditions:

His bike looked great, we saw him 38 and 94 miles into that particular leg, and looked phenominal each time through.

The run looked great, but tough and he finished without appearing to be in too much pain (though I'm sure it wasn't easy). He was out on the course for 16 hours! Imagine exercising that long!

He'll have a race report up soon here: http://ironmanusa2007.blogspot.com

And you can view my photo's here: http://www.flickr.com/gp/9676192@N02/1o9fmz

On Monday Mike, Adam K., Dan A., Ryan D., Erik L. and I made the decision to sign up for the race for next year. It has always been a dream of mine to complete this race, and I'm pumped that so many other close friends have decided to race it as well. I figure I'm not getting any younger, so I mine as well make the commitment. The sign-up process involved arriving at the race site 2.5 hours before registration opened and camping out in line. Over 2000 entrants were in line, and the race sold out online in a matter of minutes. Keep in mind this race is 1 year away!

I'm looking forward to spending the rest of the summer and fall gaining my strength back, and hopefully beginning to train in January-February when my immune system will be back to a somewhat normal state. I'm really looking forward to next year!!

Japan

2007-07-14T17:13:00.000-07:00

Well I'm back stateside after a great trip to the Land of the Rising Sun. It was a pretty amazing trip, about a week long, the main purpose being a conference the professor I work for asked me to attend. My trip was divided up into basically 3 parts; Iga, Chino, and Nagoya:
Part I: A trip to Iga, Japan. It's on the central island, Honshu, just outside of Kyoto, Japan. Here we visited a machine tool plant. They make a bunch of the machines we have in the lab. It was interesting to see a Japanese manufacturing plant, but more interesting to see the some nuances of Japanese culture. Everyone is extremely formal, constantly saying 'thank you', and bowing. Women seem a bit more subsurvient, which was strange coming from Berkeley. They also seem to love uniforms, everyone has one!

Part II: After a day in Iga, we traveled to a small mountain city called Chino. It was basically a resort town very close to Nagano, where the Olympics were held in 1998. This place was supposed to be popluar during the winter months for skiing, and the summer months for escaping Japan's extreme heat. Unfortunately June and July are Japan's rainy season, so it rained pretty much the entire time I was there. This limited sight seeing to the couple of hours in the morning when it would sprinkle, as opposed to downpouring. The conference went well, and my talk was well recieved. I had a 1/2 hour presentation in front of about 100 distinguished prof's, so I was a bit nervous, but all went well. The food was exellent, but more western in style. We did have caviar and sushi every night though. I broke from my vegetarian diet briefly to try some caviar since I've never tasted it.

This was a river that ran through town, the mountains behind it are shrouded in the clouds, just like in the movies:
This was a cool shrine I stumbled upon during a morning walk through Chino:
Part III: After the conference my advisor Dave, and our lab manager Sangkee traveled to Nagoya. This is the second largest city in Japan. It's pretty overwhelming, due to it's size, and the fact that there is very little english signage. The first morning we visited a manufacturing plant for Denso, a major part supplier for Toyota (a company similar to Delphi here in the states). This was also pretty interesting. One of their manufacturing lines consisted of 20+ milling machines set up to completely machine a ABS brake part, with over 30 features on it. Engineers find this stuff pretty interesting, but a half a day of walking around the plant and I was ready to get out of there. That night we finally tasted some authentic Japanese cuisine, I had some tempura, udon, miso, and a couple of other things I can't spell. It was really good. Although Japanese dishes utilize a lot of seafood, it is overall pretty vegetarian friendly.

My last day was supposed to include some hard-core sightseeing, I had planned a nice route to check out some castles (dating back to the 1400's), shrines, and a couple of tea houses, but unfortunately a typhoon rolled into town...yes thats right, a typhoon: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/15/world/asia/15japan.html

As you can see from the picture from the hotel, it was raining pretty good:
So I settled for attempting to navigate the city's subway system, which went ok, and did a little shopping. This was quite an experience in Japanese culture. The shopping experience is based around a department store, which is basically a vertical mall. Instead of everything being spread out horizontally like in the states, you travel up and down these huge skyscrapers with tons of stores scattered around the different floors.

I managed to get a bunch of shopping in before having to high-tail it to the airport. I nearly got on a train going away from the airport, when lucklily I saw a number of people with large bags getting on a train on the other side of the platform, and figured I had it mixed up. I arrived at the airport, and after taking one look at a plane trying to take off in typhoon like conditions, I figured our flight would be cancelled. Pretty much all the domestic flights were cancelled, but luckily ours wasn't. The take-off, and trip back were pretty uneventful.

I'm adjusting to the time-change just fine, and don't seem to be experiencing too much jet-lag which is nice. I am a bit tired overall though, due to longer days, and trying to stay awake for day-long conference proceedings. All in all, a great trip, feel free to check out some other pics: http://www.flickr.com/gp/9676192@N02/E119Gb

Take Care,
-Jeff

Happy 4th of July!

2007-07-04T15:55:00.001-07:00

The past week has been a bit crazy, especially for a guy who is used to sleeping alot and barely working 30 hours a week. Anyways, I had to present a paper at a conference here in Berkeley, and give a 1/2 hour presentation. It was fun getting up in front of so many distinguished guests, but a little nerve racking answering questions. Nonetheless it went rather well.

A bit of sad news to report as well, a fellow cyclist on our team was in a awful accident and ended up passing away from the injuries she sustained after being struck by a car on a ride 2 weekends ago. She wasn't a close friend, but was an active member of the team who I had the pleasure of meeting and riding with a number of times. The team had a very nice memorial dinner, and a great ride from campus to the site of the accident. We had about 150 riders come out and pay their respects, it was a somber ride, but went smoothly, and felt like a pro stage race with the police escorts:
Corinne was a bright and gifted woman. You can read the whole story here:
http://www.dailycal.org/sharticle.php?id=25343
...and a tremendously well written obituary:
http://classics.berkeley.edu/news/articles/story.php?id=17

For me the ride was tough, as I've been off the bike for a while now. I've got some decent damage to my lung, so I was sucking wind up the climbs a bit more than usual. However it was great to get out and stretch my legs and pay my respects, and I'm thankful for every moment of that.

Early this week I went on a nice camping trip with Garuna, Erik, and Sarah. We camped in the Carson-Iceberg Wildnerness Area just north of Yosemite in the High Sierras. It was a trip of beautiful views, great weather, and some awesome meals. We ate like kings, and had a couple of nice day hikes from our camping area:
More pics here: http://www.flickr.com/gp/9676192@N02/045RK2

I'm off the Japan on Sunday morning, and will be sure to blog when I get back, hopefully I'll have some interesting stories and pictures.

Sayonara,
-Jeff

Sinking In

2007-06-25T11:53:00.000-07:00

It's been about 2 weeks since my good news, and it's finally sinking in that I'm in remission. After being sick for over a year and half, it's incredible to know that I'm cancer free! However it's taking some time to really appreciate it. It does indeed feel like an incredible weight it lifted off my shoulders, because although I have been feeling very good, there are always those "what if" thoughts in the back of your head. Anyways, I haven't done too much celebrating, but have been appreciating and reflecting on the past couple of years, and how great it is to be moving forward finally!

I'm back in California after a nice break in NY. We finished up the dock project that the family was working on up at Paradox, and had some good times playing in a golf tournament on Schroon Lake, and just enjoying being around the family.

Now it's back to work in the lab. I'm trying to balance work, and the chores of everyday life with getting enough rest. I still get tired pretty easily, and try to sleep about 9-10 hours per night, which I find works best. It's also a bit of a test of my immune system working in a graduate student lab, where not everyone will stay home if they have a cough or the sniffles.

So rest is paramount in the next few weeks, because I've got some fun trips coming up. I leave for a conference in Japan in the beginning of July, followed by another trip to NY to cheer on Mike in his quest to become an Ironman, and to sign up for next year!!

Take Care,
-Jeff

P.S. A few pics from home. This is Mike ripping up the Lake Placid bike course, with Adam cheering things on:

Here's the dock. This was a fun project I worked on with my grandparent's, and parent's:

Results Just In...

2007-06-12T19:00:00.000-07:00

So I'm back in New York! Last Friday I traveled down to Sloan in NYC to have a PET and CT scan. These are getting pretty routine now (my 5th PET, and probably 10 CT's scans), and are fairly uneventful. Lots of waiting around, and sitting in machines in somewhat uncomfortable positions.

I think it was Tom Petty who sang, the waiting is the hardest part. I tried and tried to not think too much about the results, but it's tough not to get anxious. I spent a nice weekend up at Paradox over the weekend, and it was beautiful, which helped a bunch. Saturday I spent in a kayak, while Mike swam back and forth across the lake, in his prep for Ironman. Sunday we spent riding a bit up in Lake Placid, enjoying the great weather, and good conversation. Adam also joined, and as always is more fun than a barrel of monkeys. Pics and video to come soon.

So It took forever for Tuesday afternoon to get here, and the wait in the waiting room felt like an eternity. My 100-day checkup entailed a routine physical by the doc and nurses, after which I got the results of the scans...and...I'm in remission!!! Doc Moskowitz says theres no evidence of any lymphoma. So obviously I am elated, and feel extremely fortunate to have made it through all this, and finish up with such great news.

The less exciting news is that there is an odditiy on my lung , which he thinks is just damage from the radiation, but could possibly be pnemonia. So I'm on a hearty regimen on antibiotics, and have to come back in a couple of months for another CT, but basically I have the summer off, which is more than I could have ever hoped for!

I'm super excited about this news, and want to extend a huge thanks to my parents, family, and friends for all the support. There is no way I could have made it this far without you guys, and I feel blessed to have such a great support system. Love you guys!

-Jeff

Day +100!!!

2007-06-03T16:51:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note of celebration. It's been 100 days since my transplant! I'm really excited to have made it this far, and consider myself extremely lucky to have come so far with relatively few problems! I hope things continue this way, and want to thank everyone who has supported me along the way. There's no way I could of made it through such a difficult process without the wonderful support of so many friends and family. I thank the lord every night for you guys!

WOO!

-Jeff

Pics

2007-05-31T15:35:00.000-07:00

Thought I would post some pics from the past couple of weeks, I've been resting alot, and trying to take it easy. Nothing too big to report otherwise:

This is the Berkeley Rose Garden right behind my house, it's looking pretty nice this spring.

View from Mt. Tamalpais over in Marin County. Took a nice hike with Garuna last week. Though I needed a couple days to recover :)

The "Hoo Koo E Koo Trail" on the way down from Mt. Tam. This is where Gary Fisher supposedly invented mountain biking.

-Jeff

Cali

2007-05-21T12:35:00.001-07:00

Again I've been a little tardy in posting, but it's been a pretty busy couple of weeks. Since the last time I checked in I've had an awesome couple of weeks recovering up in the Adirondack's and my grandparents cabin in the woods. We were working on constructing a new dock, which was a lot of fun. I'll post up some pictures when it's all complete.

Last Saturday I decided it was time to return to California. It was a tough decision since my recovery has been going very well, and things have been pretty comfortable just hanging out in Upstate NY. However I am generally feeling pretty healthy, and am probably strong enough to get back to work part-time, plus I have been living out of a suitcase since before Christmas. My original oncologist had told me that I would be ready to go back to school by March 1st...boy was he wrong. However, my new doctor told me back in December that by Mother's Day I would be feeling good. He was pretty much right on.

It was a significant milestone heading back to Cali not only because I was away from friends and my regular "life" for so long, but mostly because I wasn't sure if I would make it back at all. So needless to say I was pretty happy to step off the plane healthy and happy. I definetely could not have gotten this far without the awesome support system I had. So I am grateful to all my family and friends who have stuck with me throughout this ridiculous journey.

The last week has been spent catching up with friends, paying bills (5+ months worth), and trying to get my life back into some form of organization. I've decided to spend the summer working in my lab, part-time at first, then as I get stronger, full-time. It's pretty laid back and I can put in the hours whenever I'm feeling well. The bills are starting to roll in so having some income is a good thing, and big load off my mind.

As of today I'm at day +87 (87 days after the transplant). I'm headed back to NY for a couple of weeks around day +100, and will be sure to blog about that trip since I'm anxious for some results!

-Jeff

Delinquient

2007-05-11T17:51:00.000-07:00

It's been a little while since I've posted, but thankfully I don't have anything too important to check in about. I've spent the past few weeks sequestered away in the Adirondacks. I've been staying with my grandparents, and enjoying some beautiful spring weather in Paradox Lake. We've been working on building a new dock for all the boats, and it's been quite fun doing some wood working, and generally living the retired life.

It's been quite a while since I've ridden a bike, and with all the nice weather I was getting a bit anxious about it, so thankfully my buddy Adam let me borrow his rocket of a Cannondale, and I headed up to Lake Placid to ride a bit with my bro. He's training for Ironman this summer, and while he rode close to 50 miles, I only put in the last 10-15. It was great to get outside, and the scenery around Lake Placid is awesome, here's a pic of me on the route:

Later that weekend the family rolled over to Rutland, VT to attend my little brother Chris' graduation. It was another beautiful day, and a nice ceremony:

Last week I had another Doc's appointment, and everything seems to be going well. My bloodwork looks good, and we went ahead and scheduled my PET and CT scans for early June. I also got clearance to head back to California, so I'm headed back there tommorow morning. I'm eager to get back as I've been living out of a suitcase since before Christmas, but am a little anxious about being able to balance the challenges of everyday life and work, with adequate amounts of rest.

Will check in soon,
-Jeff

Relay for Life 2007

2007-04-29T09:06:00.000-07:00

A big thanks to everyone that came out, and especially those who donated, the relay was quite a success. As a team we ended up raising over $16,000, which is amazing. The event as a whole raised more than $100,000!!

The event itself was really fun. My family, friends, and the gents at Pi Kappa Alpha set up camp on the football field Friday evening, we had several large tents, tables, and a tons of camping chairs:

The opening cermonies were nice, and my Mom got forced into giving a nice speech. She was nervous but did great:

Afterwards we had a lap just for survivors, which was really cool. All the survivors in attendance got together and did the first lap of the night. I chatted with several, and they were suprised that I was up and walking so soon after a transplant (me too!)

After that we had a ceremonial lap with family, followed by a lap with the whole crew. These were all the Pikes that came out, they've been big supporters, and are great guys. I'm the guy with the goofy purple shirt in the middle:

The remainder of the night was spent chatting with friends and family, and walking a ton. We had a great crew, and no problem keeping people on the track all night. A huge thanks to all these guys, they've been my biggest supporters all along, and it was great hang out in a non-hospital setting!
My bro's Chris and Mike, and his girl Kristin did many laps, including some crucial early morning ones. My Nana and Papa, cousins Jill, Brittany and Corey, Aunt Debbie, Uncle Jim, and of course the Dergosits (extended family) came out and walked several laps, which was great. Mike's buddies Andre and Michelle added some comic relief and also walked a bunch:

A big surprise was my buddy Adam showing up. He had recent surgery on his back, but was super motivated to get out and do a couple laps, which he did very successfully. His parents, and fiancee Jill also walked most of the night, they're awesome:

The current Pikes were awesome too, they were a huge part of the success. They set up, walked, cooked and made coffee all night, as well as getting in some quality games of wiffle ball and horseshoes.

Again a big thanks to everyone who came, donated, and those who were here in spirit, it made the event such a success. My Mom, Dad, and Sean did quite a bit of work to pull everything off, and it was great. We're already looking forward to next year!

RFL Schedule

2007-04-26T07:21:00.000-07:00

I wanted to throw up a quick post regarding the Relay for Life, it's this Friday! We're pretty darn close to our $15,000 fundraising goal, and I think we'll make it. I hope to see a ton of people out walking, here's the schedule:

FRIDAY, APRIL 27, 2007:
5 PM - Registration Begins, Camp Site Setup
6 PM - Opening Ceremony, Survivor's Lap, Caregiver's Lap
7 PM - Dinner
9 PM - Luminaria Ceremony
SATURDAY, APRIL 28, 2007
7 AM - Breakfast
8 AM - Closing Ceremony
8-10 AM - Clean-up

If you're swinging by be sure to bring some lawn chairs, and maybe an umbrella. It's on the '86 Field at RPI, in Troy. It's right in the middle of the main campus.

Directions to campus:
http://rpi.edu/virtual_tour/travel.html

Spring in the Northeast

2007-04-18T08:01:00.000-07:00

A couple pics from yesterdays brief outing up in Vermont. Hung out with my bro and decided to take a quick run in the morning. Keep in mind this is April folks...global climate change anyone?

My bro, Chris, atop Killington Mt. yesterday.

Me taking a nice break.

It's still snowing...

2007-04-12T13:35:00.000-07:00

...and I can't go outside, so here's some cabin fever rambling.

Had another visit to the doctor's office this past Tuesday. They did the normal blood work, and screening, and things look good. In fact it was rather busy at the office, and since I didn't have any new questions or problems I only saw the doctor for about 3 minutes. Hard to justify a 3 hour drive for that, but better safe than sorry. I miss the convience of having the cancer center a 15 minute walk from where I work in Berkeley, but the good news is that as I continue to recover the visit's get fewer and farther between. I'll head back down in another 3 weeks, then again another 3-4 weeks for restaging.

Otherwise things are quiet. I'm enjoying my recovery with plenty of reading, lots of walking, and lots of cooking. Since I'm not allowed to eat any meals that aren't fully cooked and prepared by me, I've had to learn to cook. I'm not very good at it, but we have a cool natural foods market within walking distance from the house, so I've been experimenting with lots of different stuff. It's been fun to pass the time with too.

I'm also looking for some more reading material, specifically anything related to nutrition and cancer, let me know if you've heard of anything good by posting a comment, thanks!

Relay for Life fundraising is going extremely well, we've surpassed our $10,000 goal, and since there are still 2+ weeks remaining, the Pikes haved raised the goal to $15,000!! It's pretty amazing the amount of good that this money can do, and how well everyone is pulling together to help. I hope everyone can make it out on Apr. 27-28 for the event to celebrate.

-Jeff

C like a V

2007-04-03T05:52:00.001-07:00

The Relay for Life donations keep pouring in! Thanks to all who have contributed, everybody seems to be getting excited for the upcoming event, and we're getting pretty close to reaching our fundraising goal. Awesome stuff. We have a total of 6 teams under our banner, with one of them leading all of RPI in funds raised:
http://tinyurl.com/2a7exj

Things in Clifton Park are nice and quiet, and I've been on a steady regiment of rest, eating, reading, and figuring out how to update TurboTax, which may in fact be tougher than learning the actual tax law and figuring out the deductions on my own. I seem to have finally figured it out though, and not too soon as our April 17th deadline is fast approaching.

I am enjoying the free time though, for the first time in my life I have enough time in the morning to actually read the entire newspaper, and it seems as though the effects of the chemotherapy are subsiding, because for the past month and a half I would read a couple paragraphs, look up and think to myself, "What did I just read?". Some doctor's call this "chemo-brain", it feels like the clinical equivalent of ADD, I just hope it isn't permanent.

My strength is coming back very slowly, but I've gained back another 2-3 lbs over the past 2 weeks, which I'm happy with. I had a doctor's appointment last Wednesday, just a check-up. I'm told my chest X-ray looked good, and they couldn't find any other problems, so I'm scheduled to head back down next week sometime.

-Jeff

A Weekend Update

2007-03-26T09:47:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone for the generous Relay for Life Donations! We're making great progress on our agressive fundraising goal, and your support is much appreciated. For those who were thinking of donating, I've placed a link on the right side of the blog. Thanks again, you guys rock.

It's been a few days since I posted, but happily there isn't too much to report. I say happily, because in my case "boring" means no infections, or host of other things that could possibly go wrong. I'm feeling pretty good, relative to how I've felt in the past weeks. Alot of people ask if I'm feeling back to normal...I'd say I'm at about 60-65% of a normal feeling. I'm able to eat pretty good, and have gained about 6-7lbs over the past 2 week, which is good. I've been walking, and XC skiing (read walking with skis on), for up to a couple of hours now. I still sleep quite a bit, and don't have much strength, and still am on a neutropenic diet (nothing raw, no eating out, etc).

All in all, I'm happy with where I'm at, and am making progress back toward normalcy (albeit not that fast). I've got another doctor's appointment Wednesday at Sloan, there I'll get my counts checked, and a chest Xray to make sure I don't have pnemonia, or anything else brewing in my lungs.

I had mentioned to some that I'll be restaged after being out of the hospital for a month, but I was wrong about that, they'll do a whole restaging process (PET, CT, etc) once I get to Day 100 (June 3rd). So there won't be any cancer related news until then, which I'm fine with, no stress :-)

I'll leave you with a nice picture I took while walking around on the ice up at Paradox Lake, it was a beautiful spring day.

-Jeff

Relay for Life

2007-03-16T09:12:00.000-07:00

My family, some good friends, and the active bro's at my fraternity at RPI, Pi Kappa Alpha, have decided to team up and participate in the Relay for Life this coming April. The relay is an overnight event held at the track at RPI, and every team raises money to benefit the American Cancer Society. The goal of the relay is to keep at least one member on the track for a 24 hour period. The Pikes and my family have set a impressive goal of raising $10,000, and we've already raised over $6,000! This is a great cause, and I'd like to help the actives, and my fam reach their goal.

No pressure, but if you'd like, you can read more about the event HERE.

Better yet, join us by clicking on a team HERE.

If you'd just like to donate securely online (tax deductable of course!), click HERE.

You can pick any of our teams if you want to join, or if donating just pick any team, and select the 'General Team Donation' tab at the top of the page. Please email me if you have any problems or questions (harnie33@hotmail.com).

The relay is April 26-27th, at the '86 Field at RPI, we'll hopefully have a great crew, so help us out!

Thanks!
-Jeff

PS. This pic taken at the house is great, help these guys out, they're motivated by a great cause:

Doc's Visit

2007-03-16T09:02:00.000-07:00

Had a trip back down to NYC yesterday, and it was a little scary stepping back into the building where so much suffering occurred over the last month, but it was just for a quick check-up. My blood counts are doing very well (WBC is up to 5.7!), and all my electrolytes, etc. looked good as well. Must be the lack of hospital food :) So things are going to plan thus far, and I've been instructed to "Not do anything stupid" by my doc, so I'm sticking to a healthy regimen of rest, and regular solid meals for the next 1-2 months. We also talked briefly about the 'plan', but it looks like I'll have regular check-ups over the next 3 months to make sure I'm not harboring any infections, etc. Then be restaged (ie rediagnosed) with PET and CT scans, among other things, at the 100 day mark, roughly the first week of June.

-Jeff

Sprung

2007-03-13T08:09:00.000-07:00

It was one heck of a long stay but it's finally over! Sunday afternoon, after a full 4 weeks of being stuck in the same hospital room, I was released. It was a pretty important milestone for me, and I want to thank everyone for all their support, I have no doubt it would've been much more difficult without all the help.

I'm back in Clifton Park now, and although I need to take a nap after walking up a flight of stairs, it's good to be back home. Another great thing about being home is not having to eat hospital food. I wasn't eating much as it was, but being limited to the same 2-3 meals everyday for a month was horrible.

Not too much else to add, like I mentioned before, I'm basically just eating and sleeping for the forseeable future, but I'm really happy to be getting the whole recovery thing on the road.

Again thanks for the all the support,
-Jeff

Day 26

2007-03-09T15:44:00.000-08:00

It's been almost 4 full weeks, and I can hardly believe it, but it looks like I'm finally headed home. My blood counts have rised up to acceptable levels, and I've been able to drink enough on my own that they feel comfortable letting me out of this joint. I was actually supposed to head home today, but this morning I started feeling pretty awful, with flu-like symptons (severe stomach ache, and losing a lot of fluids), so they decided to keep me another day to monitor me. They're also doing all the normal blood cultures to make sure I don't have some sort of infection.

Assuming I don't feel any worse tomorrow I should be headed back to Albany! I've got quite a few restrictions on what I can and can't do, but basically I'm like an infant, and have enough strength to eat and sleep. It's a bit frusterating, but it's all part of the program. If all goes well I could be back to normal (i.e. working) in about 3 months, however some pople take as long as 6-12 months to get to that point. So it'll be a long road back, but I'm just taking it day by day at this point, otherwise it's a bit too overwhelming. So I should be in Albany for at least 1-2 months (minimum before I am allowed to fly), staying at my folks place. It'll be good since infants don't cook, clean, or do taxes well on their own.

Thanks to everyone who has visited and sent nice cards, emails, and left posts. You've all been helpful in getting be through this.

All the best,
-Jeff

Day 22

2007-03-05T09:32:00.000-08:00

As I begin week number four in the clink, er...hospital, I think I can say that Saturday (Day 20), was probably rock-bottom for me. On top of the things I normally whine about I lost the ability to speak, although it turned out to be a good excuse to rest more. So Saturday was pretty rough, and I spent much of what I remember on my back. I did get some good news at the end of the day though. They do a complete blood count twice a day, and my evening white blood cell count had shown a rise from 0.1 million cells per liter of blood, which it's been holding steady at since my transplant, to 0.2. I was pretty excited to hear that. But to put that in perspective a normal person has been 4.3 and 10.8 million cells/liter, so I've still got a bit to go.

The doc's assured me that the counts tend to rebound quickly, and they were right, by Sunday evening I was up to 0.5, and this morning I'm up to 1.0. So I'm encouraged greatly by this, and I'm looking forward to starting to feel better too!

I'll probably still be pretty bad at answering the phone for the next couple of days, because it still hurts quite a bit to talk, and I'm still in pretty rough shape. I've yet to eat or drink anything in over a week as well. They keep telling me this is normal, but is little tough for me to get over. There's nothing I want more right now than to chug a huge bottle of water, and I keep having strange hallucinations similar to those old Aquafina commericals, where everyone is in a bar, partying, and being merry, but they all have huge glasses and mugs of Aquafina water instead of beer. Anyways, keep bearing with me and I'll catch up with everyone soon.

Once my counts get to certain level, the only other criteria I have to get out of here is that I need to be able to drink 2L of water per day, and not have a fever. I don't forsee the hydration part being a problem, as soon as my throat starts to heal. As for the fever, I just need to continue to rest and hope I don't pick up any infections.

Thanks to everyone for the great support, you've all been so helpful in getting me through this ridiculously tough time, and forgive me not returning phone calls, but remember that I'm going to have the next 3 months off with nothing to do but call you during work and bug you.

Take Care,
-Jeff

PS I think this is that Aquafina commerical but YouTube is blocked here so let me know if it isn't: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEc5foJ9plE

Day 17

2007-02-28T12:17:00.000-08:00

I'm officially into my third week in the hospital, which without a doubt, has been the toughest. Like I was saying in a previous post I'm 'immunosuppressed', which means all the damage done by the radiation and chemo can't heal on its own. Unfortunately, this had made my mouth, throat, and stomach all violently painful. It hurts so bad that I haven't been able to eat or drink anything since Sunday. They do have some helpful elements around to keep the pain down, the most important of which is morphine, setup so I can give myself a moderate dose just by pressing a button. Also I have one of those suction tubes the dentist uses to clean up your saliva, this thing has been great. My newest toy looks and works like an airbrush but sprays a mouth rinse all over my mouth, it's pretty neat, though I'm still getting used to it.

I'm told things will get better when my white blood cell count begins to recover, which they typically expect around day +10 (next Monday for me). I'm currently on day +5. I'm taking things day by day (actually hour by hour), and coping pretty good.

I also got my first fever yesterday, it's very common and usually represents some sort of infection, but has cleared in about 12 hours with a change in my antibiotics, so I'm very happy about that. I'm hoping not to 'spike' too much more.

Thanks to everyone for the support, you've all been great, and forgive me for not returning calls as it's kind of hard to talk much at this point (typing is significantly easier). Hope this message finds everyone well, and I'll check in soon.

-Jeff

Transplant

2007-02-25T15:00:00.000-08:00

My rest day concluded Friday morning after 24 hours of down-time. Unfortunately it wasn't quite as nice as it sounds, but was necessary to let my white blood cell (WBC) count drop to zero. It was mostly a blur of nausea and sleep. The transplant, which sounds quite ominous, was actually pretty smooth. Around 11am I got a host of pre-medications including anti-nausea, and anti-allergy meds. About a 1/2 hour after that they brought my cells in, thawed them in a warm bath, put them in a syringe and reinjected them into me. It was a little disconcerting seeing a needle that big, but the worst part was the overwhelming smell of the preservative in the blood, which makes you feel kind of sick.
The rest of the day I pretty much slept. The body was out of it, and working hard to accept all the new cells, so before I knew it, it was Saturday morning.

Saturday was a decent day, I felt very tired, and slept most of the day, but the nausea began wearing off, and I was able to eat and drink a bit.

However, today has been a much different story. Due to a combination of treatments, and having no immune system my mouth, throat, and stomach feel pretty raw, and equivalently painful. It's been pretty rough, and has limited my ability to eat and drink, which is normal, but frustrating. I've been trying to fight through the pain, and sip water, but it's pretty excruciating. They've started to give me some small doses of morphine though, which is nice, and will increase as the pain increases, so hopefully there is some relief in sight. I'm told this stuff will heal as my counts begin to recover over the next 10 days. So bear with me, as I'm having a tough time answering the phone, and typing emails, and writing on the blog, but hopefully over the next week things will improve.

Will catch up with everyone soon,
-Jeff

Rest Day

2007-02-22T14:15:00.000-08:00

Well I finally finished up chemo this morning around 9:30, I'm very excited to put that behind me. I've got 24 hours of rest before the infusion of my white blood cells (transplant), so that'll take place sometime tomorrow morning. I'm feeling pretty beat up after so much radiation and chemo, so sorry about not answering the phone and emails. I hope with some rest and time I'll feel a bit better in the coming days. I'll check in soon with gory details on the transplant :)

Much Love,
Jeff

7, 8, 9

2007-02-20T09:40:00.000-08:00

The last couple days have been a bit up and down. Sunday, while doing some laps I spotted some open rooms on the 'good side' of the building, so I requested to change rooms, and got an upgrade to a room with a view, as well as some sun. It's nothing too much, but slightly less depressing than the last room.

Sunday also began my last onslaught of chemotherapy. I say onslaught, because a normal dose of chemo is usually injected via a big syringe, or at most a small IV bag, such as the one pictured in the middle. However, I'm getting a full 3 liters per day (bag on the right), plus a second drug, albeit in a much smaller volume. If everything goes as planned I'll finish up the chemo Thursday morning, then get 24 hours of rest before the transplant. I'm feeling better than I expected, but dealing with a large amout of nausea, fatigue, etc.

Thanks again for the emails, blogs, and calls. Will check in soon,
-Jeff

Day's 5 & 6: TLI In the Books

2007-02-17T15:45:00.000-08:00

It's Saturday evening, Day 6 in the hospital, and I've officially finished my radiation regimen! I'm pretty excited that Part 2 of the transplant is now over. All this week I recieved radiation twice a day to all of the locations seen in this picture. It's called Total Lymphoid Irradiation. The side effects have been predictable, but not as bad as I expected, which I'm very thankful for. I've got some GI track inflammation (read heartburn), nausea, etc. This is all pretty standard and I've been dealing with it just fine.

First thing tomorrow I start what will (hopefully) be my last round of chemo. It's scheduled to be 4 days long, but usually lasts 5, after which I'll get my transplant.

Beyond the constant trips downstairs to radiation therapy, I've been watching some TV, surfing the internet (quite a bit), and doing laps around the 8th Floor. I'm not sure how many laps I've done, but I hear 14 is a mile. After my white blood cell count drops I won't be allowed to leave my room, since I'll be what the doc's call "immunosuppressed", so I've been getting out as much as I feel up to.

Thanks again to everyone who's been emailing, calling, praying, and special thanks to those who have visited. I'm confident you've all been a big part of me making it this far. Much Love.

-Jeff

Blog Update

2007-02-15T16:52:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

So I was being pressured by blogger.com to move the blog over to the "updated" google verson. (I swear google is taking over the world. My dry cleaners just got bought by google...kidding)

I hope this does not mess with anyone's ability to get in the site or post. It seems as if you may have to create your own "gmail" account but they should walk you through it if you don't have one yet.

I'm sorry for the confusion/headache this causes but I really had no choice. When I tried to log in, they wouldn't let me do anything until I changed it over.

Let me know if you have any questions, tarazb@gmail.com

Bassam

Day's 3 & 4

2007-02-15T11:08:00.000-08:00

The big news around town is bad weather, however the apocalypse could be occurring outside the hospital and I would have no idea, because this is the view I have from my window: I'm told it was a nice mix of sleet and snow that fell here, at least I don't have to worry about commuting. Otherwise the room is great, but it's tough to stay occupied all day in a 12 x 12 room.

8 days of radiation is starting to catch up to me, and I'm feeling a little sick, and am starting to have a little difficulty eating full meals, but all of this is normal I'm told.

Thanks to everyone who has been posting, emailing, etc. It's all very helpful in this tough time! Take Care,
-Jeff

Day's 1 & 2

2007-02-13T06:43:00.000-08:00

I'm finally checked into the hospital! Although I know it's going to be rough in the coming days, I'm excited to get the show on the road. Day's 1 & 2 are technically Day's -11 and -10 with the transplant being Day 0. Yesterday was pretty chill, I got settled into my new pad, and had some X-rays, an EKG, and other routine tests. Today I'm supposed to start my second week of radiation, and also get ANOTHER permanent IV. Although this will be slightly different than the "port" I've had in the past. Apparently this guy will have 2-3 "lumens", or places they can hook and IV tube up to, so they can infuse several different things at the same time. Exciting.

So I'm located in Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital at:
1275 York Ave.
New York, NY 10021
Between E67th and E68th St.'s

I'm in room 835, so when you enter the hospital tell the guards that, and they'll point you in the right direction. They've told me I can take visitor's whenever, so it's cool to just stop by, however it's REALLY important that you don't come if you aren't feeling well, have the sniffles, drank too much the night before or haven't showered in more than a day (I added the last criteria due to the size of my room). I won't be able to fight off any sort of bacteria, etc., even very normal stuff, so you get the point.

For those of you thinking of driving MSK has a parking garage, with reasonable rates, on 66th Street between First and York Avenues. To reach the garage, enter East 66th Street from York Avenue. The garage is located about 1/4 block toward First Avenue, on the right (north) side of the street. A tunnel connects the garage to the hospital.

-Jeff

We're all pullin for ya

2007-02-13T03:19:00.000-08:00

Jeff,

Glad to hear you are still doing well. When you get the room number, definitely post it so us NYC guys can swing by for visits every couple of days. Looking to see you healthy for Nags Head time! I should have the slide show done this weekend, so I'll be able to swing by with a copy.

ppka always,

Mooger

The Boost

2007-02-10T19:57:00.000-08:00

My first week of "Involved Field Radiation Therapy"(IFRT) has come to close! Starting last Monday I recieved a 2 treatments a day, once in the morning, then another 6 hours later. Basically they lay me down on a bed similar to the one in this picture, then a system of lasers line up with the 10 little tatoo's I have all over my body so they know I'm properly aligned. After that they radiate the areas where I still have some large tumors, mostly in my chest. This week is what the doctor's affecionately call "The Boost". It's a additional level of radiotherapy before I start up the transplant.

Overall I tolerated the treatment well throughout the week. I watched some good movies in the down-time, and finished another book. However this weekend has been a little rougher. I think some of the organs adjacent to the treatment areas are angry, because my stomach is pretty upset, and I have what feels like heartburn, but is quite a bit more intense than any heartburn I remember. Hopefully a couple of days off will help.

I head into the hospital Monday evening and start a second week of radiation, followed immediately by 4 days of chemo, then several weeks of recovery. All in all, I'll be stuck in there for 4-5 weeks. I'll be sure to post the address and room number once I get checked in.

Thanks for all the great posts, emails and calls. I hope this message finds everyone doing well.

-Jeff

Keeping It Warm For You Big Dog

2007-02-07T09:57:00.000-08:00

Hey Kid,

I've a got board on the rack with your name on it when you finally get yourself back to SD. Some people might say that your hand signals below mean peace, love and happiness... right now however, I think there is a more appropriate interpretation...

"You mess with the Bull, you get the Horns!"

Kick ass bro!

All my best,

Johnson

Australian for Happy Birthday

2007-02-02T22:28:00.000-08:00

Hey Jeff-

You may have to turn your volume up for this one to hear it.

I verbally volunteered us to do Ironman Australia in 2009, and your newest fan & supporter said that he'd save a seat for us at the bar to have a few beers. I'm sure you'll recognize him!

Take care of yourself and Happy Birthday mate!!

Juice & Macca

Tattooed!

2007-01-31T20:43:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had what is called a 'simulation' for my upcoming radiation. It was a pretty interesting procedure. They have you lay down on a typical CT machine (see pic below), but this time you're lying on a inflatable mold. They positioned me as straight as possible, then made me put my arms up above my head, before inflating the mold around me. This locked me into a relatively uncomfortable position. Once the mold was set they took several CT scans of me, and mapped out where all the remaining tumors are located. This took quite some time, 20-30 minutes, and all the while I'm lying in the machine in a fairly painful contorted position. Once the doctor's mapped everything out, I slid out of the machine, and the technicians proceeded to draw all over my body with sharpies, they circled spots, and wrote notes, etc. Once all the mapping was complete they busted out the tattoo pen and put a small permanent tattoo on each of the spots they are planning to radiate, 10 in all. It's not quite as elaborate as this picture, more like a freckle than anything.

Today was an off day, but tomorrow I have a dry-run where they'll confirm the mold, and tattoos are all set-up correctly. Better safe than sorry when playing with x-rays. This weekend should be low key, I've got some injections scheduled, and lots of errands and things to gather up before radiation starts next Monday.

Otherwise I'm feeling pretty darn good, and trying to get rested and mentally prepared for what should be a long February. Thanks for all the supportive posts, emails and calls.

-Jeff