Cruising into Cycle 2

Ahoy Crew,

The winds have been steady and the seas favorable as we glide forward into Cycle 2. The infusion on Wednesday seemed quick and painless compared to the first cycle. I did not have any reaction to the Rituxan like I experienced the first time, not only making it more pleasant, but also much faster without the hour long break it required. Not having the port implantation was a bonus and being free of pain meds allowed my head to be clear. My knee pain is all but gone and while I still get tinges of pain when going up stairs or bending the knee I think that is from months of limping and babying it instead of the tumor so while I expect I will need some physical therapy when this is over I think the majority of it is behind me. I’m only taking minor nausea medicine regularly so as a whole I feel great, still a little run down but definitely better than I expected to feel over 3 weeks into the process. Crystal gave a much more informed and detailed account of the infusion so I will leave it at that.

Friday I spent the day with my good friend Ken Lee, a Master Chief and the senior enlisted of my teams for both of my Afghan deployments. We spent two years together on our teams and over a combined year in Afghanistan, rarely more than a few feet from each other as we sat back to back at our desks in the dusty tent rustling from the sand storms. What I lacked in experience he had 20 years of, with 6 deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, he was the tome of knowledge I referenced when we had to make decisions of how to best develop our people or how to form the 7 teams we would spread across the country. What he lacked in tact or forethought I was there to develop relationships or see the bigger picture and ensure that our vision and efforts were in line with those of the war around us. He is a great ying to my yang and now he and his wife Michelle are two of Crystal and I’s closest friends. We have both moved on to different commands but still try to get lunch every Wednesday to catch up and share our experiences as we both greatly value the advice of the other.

So Friday I got lunch with Michelle and then once Ken was off work headed over to see how his projects were coming along. Much to Crystal’s worry Ken also happens to be a classic car nut, he is currently under weigh with four projects, a 55 Chevy truck that is 85% complete, a 68 Camaro that is a hulk under a tarp on a trailer in front of his house, a 51 Mercury that is waiting for the other two to be finished, and a 69 Mustang that is his son’s but he works on as well. Over the last three years I’ve had to listen to countless hours of his excited explaining of the restoration and modifications he was making and have (again much to Crystal’s chagrin) started to get into it as well. Now Ken spends tons of time in his garage and Crystal is very concerned that I too will disappear under a rusting car hulk for hours on end instead of spending that time with her. I think there is a happy medium to be struck and maybe using my recent diagnosis and a bit of leverage I have secured permission that ONCE we have a garage and don’t live in a condo and ONCE I am cancer free, I can start and create what has become my own dream car, a 69 Mustang coupe, dark blue with white stripes, looking mostly classic but upgraded with modern engineering. I love the idea of tearing apart an old classic, fixing all the rust, pounding out the dents, and redoing it with care and attention. Taking classic muscle car styling and solid American iron and learning how to integrate the last 45 years of engineering progress into its shell, all while knowing every inch of the car. So there’s my 1 year goal, to start something like this…

Spending the day with Ken was great for taking my mind off the chemo and it got me out of the house with Crystal working in the ER until 8 that night. Too fun.

Saturday Crystal shaved my head since while it is much thinner, it is growing still and doesn’t feel great against my hats. She did a wonderful job and now I am squeaky smooth again.

Today was a big day as well. Cousin Bobby is a huge ATL Falcons fan and with the game in London starting at 0630 PST he was over good and early to watch it, so what’s the best way to improve an ass early Sunday morning? Well there happens to be a donut shop here downtown that sells out of donuts, everyday, within three hours of opening. We have never bothered with it before since the line wraps around the corner of the block before it even opens. However, we found we could order a dozen the night before for pickup to avoid the lines and with a day like this, why not? Bacon Maple bar, Raspberry Cheesecake, Red Velvet, ButterBeer (yes Harry Potter reference), Creme Brulee, that is just half of the donut amazing-ness we picked up this morning. Now I’m not meaning to flick Crystal off in the picture but I was pretty excited about the donuts… and it was damn early in the morning.

Luckily Crystal has a big test tomorrow so while she spent the day studying, Bobby and I had twelve hours of football to enjoy. Crystal can usually handle two games, but 4 back to back (with a World Series game thrown in) is WAY too much. Boomer, however, was super stoked with the company.

My command is back from the East Coast so I’ll be in at work this week, though Crystal has cautioned me that my white cell numbers are lower now then they were Cycle 1 so I need to be more careful about not over exerting myself or exposing myself to sickness. I am excited to see my office mates and hear how the exercise went. Other than that, looking forward to an easy week and starting to look forward to the upcoming wedding up in Sonoma!

Lots of off topic and random ramblings but I feel pretty damn good so these are the updates I have! Thanks for the comments and love, Crystal and I are always stoked to see them!

Count your age by friends, not years.
Count your life by smiles, not tears.
-John Lennon