Roll Call

We are now officially 2 and 1/2 months away from the big race! Because of this, there are a few housekeeping things to take care of, namely, we need to know who all is going to be there.

Getting a somewhat accurate count is going to be more important for a couple reasons. First, we will all probably try and meet up somewhere before the race (stay tuned for more details in a future post) and we need to know how big of a space we need. Second, we will obviously need to celebrate the big accomplishment after the race is all over, and we need to know how many plan on being there.

So...here is what I need from you. If you could, let me or someone in the family know if you plan on being in Louisville on 11/12. It doesn't matter if you are running, walking, cheering on the runners, or crawling (side-note: Will crawls AT LEAST 13.1 miles everyday). We just need to know if you are going to be there. You can do this in several ways:

1. Simply press the comment button at the bottom of this post, and let us know if you are going to be there AND ANYBODY ELSE YOU KNOW OF THAT IS GOING TO BE THERE.

2. If commenting on blogs just isn't your thing, you can obviously call, e-mail, or text anybody in the family. Bonus points if the person you contact is the ever-elusive John. (Warning: "Bonus points" are something I just made up and won't actually get you anything. But it would be hysterical.)

That's about it. Also, today might be the first day in history where I got up early to run 5 miles while Dad slept in. This really has nothing to do with anything else in this post. I just wanted it recorded somewhere.

Much Love,

Sam

August 28 Update

Good news and other news this week.

The good news is Marti and I went back to Duke this week and I am all set to start the next leg of this journey. I will begin the next phase of chemo starting tonight and the monthly vaccinations are scheduled to begin in about 3 weeks. The vaccination will target a specific "marker" that is present in my tumor and is present in 20% - 30% of this type tumor. This trial has been going on for 8 years and has been featured on 60 Minutes.

I also got in a 6 mile run this morning and felt pretty good, although I am a long way from running 13.1 miles.

The other news is that this round of chemotherapy is for 5 days a month and then off for 23 days, however the dosage has increased significantly. During radiation I was on 160mg of Temodor and starting tonight I will be taking 435mg. It will be interesting to see how I react to this dosage.

Stay tuned and thanks for caring.

Good Weekend

This has been a really good weekend so far. Yesterday Marti and I met with my Oncologist who gave us the results of my first post radiation/chemo therapy MRI. Basically he said that for being less than 2 weeks after my last radiation treatment, the MRI could not have looked better.

On Thursday night I received even better news. My friend David Liebschutz, who you might remember is 3+ years farther along in this same battle, just returned from Duke with another excellent report. David and his family are the gold standard that we are trying to emulate.

Today Banks Hudson and I teamed up to win $2 on the golf course from a couple of saps who never saw it coming. Ken Medaris and Rick Nallinger I am not going to embarrass you by mentioning your names, but you know who you are.

Then this afternoon, after a fairly long nap, I got the chain saw out and got a little yard work done. That was the most fun yet.

Thank you for caring.

Good News

The temperature is 57 and I just finished the best 5 mile run I have had in 3 months. No more whining.

Back From St. Louis

Last weekend the boys and I made our annual baseball trip, this year to St Louis. We had great weather, saw two good games and had 1,000 laughs.

Health wise last week was fairly quiet with no radiation or chemo after Monday. I did have blood work done on Wednesday and those results were fine.

This week I have my first post treatment MRI on Thursday and will get the results of that on Friday. I am a little anxious to see where we are with regard to the potential return of the tumor. I suspect this is an anxiety I will have to learn to live with each time an MRI is scheduled.

Next week we head back to Duke for a day of evaluation and to learn exactly what the plan is for moving forward.

Thanks for caring.

August 6th Update

One more radiation treatment to go! As of next Tuesday I will have no more radiation and will be off chemo for at least 2 weeks. The next big health date is August 18th when I will have an MRI to see how effective the process has been so far. I will get the results the next day, Friday the 19th.

The next really big date however is this Friday the 12th. The boys, John, Sam, Todd and I head to someplace just west of the Mississippi River to go to a couple of baseball games. For the past 10 years or so we have gone to a different major league stadium. This year we are going to see an arch, brewery, and what some call a major league team. And the rule is we have to cheer for the home team. So far the chemo has not made me sick but cheering for the team that plays in the shadow of the arch, might.

Yesterday I had my scheduled appointment with my oncologist. The blood work was all "right on target" and everything still seems to be going according to plan.

I got out this morning and ran the slowest 5 miles in modern history. However it was good to be out there getting it done. Hopefully I can follow it up with another one tomorrow.

I am really looking forward to Tuesday.

Thanks for caring.