Hump day and beyond

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. My treatment decided that it would punch me in the face Wednesday afternoon. I had been feeling good in the morning (and truth be told starting to get a little cocky about the treatment not affecting me) and decided to take a training walk for the Spirit of Columbus half-marathon. I had planned on walking eight miles. Well, I only got through seven and a half miles and I really started to feel like ass. I got home and I was wiped out. I had figured that since I hadn't been training as much as I should that it was just my body's reaction to a long walk. Last year while training for the Columbus Marathon when I would come home from a long run (16 miles or more) I'd be a wreck and couldn't do anything for the rest of the day. That's how I felt on Wednesday, but the ache was different.

Rather than just the muscles that I used being sore, my whole body was sore. It was like I'd contracted a really bad flu and just had a really dull ache that took everything over. I just didn't want to do anything the rest of the day. I ended up napping for a few hours, got up and just lazed around the house for the rest of the day and finally went to bed at 11:00. On Thursday when I woke up I still felt pretty bad. My appetite was still good and I hadn't had any nausea to deal with as of yet, so that's a plus. Laela and I went out and did a little bit of shopping and then came home. We rode our bicycles to lunch with my mother-in-law at Hunan Lion. That whopping three miles worth of bike ride would end up being all of the exercise I would have on Thursday.

Here it is Friday and I'm feeling much better. I certainly wouldn't say that I'm 100% but I definitely feel good enough to go out grab the day by the horns. I'll be riding my motorcycle to Dayton a little later today and am going to take in a Dayton Dragons game with my friend Dan this evening.

Lucky

I'm still working on my weekend recap. There's just too much to talk about quickly and in a short space, but I wanted to quickly talk about this. For those of you who were at the benefit show on Friday, you may have seen me get up and sing a song with ALL. I wanted to take a second and let everyone know how near and dear the song Lucky is to Laela and me.

The song Lucky was released 1997 on the "I'm the One" single and also included on the soundtrack to the motion picture Godmoney. When we picked up the single we both immediately fell in love with it and over the years it has become "our song." Each of us use it for the ringtone for the other on our mobile phones and I just can't help but think about Laela every time I hear it. The lyrics also seem oddly appropriate given the current circumstances. As always, thanks for reading. The blog is kind of cathartic for me.

Lucky Lyrics
Band:Descendents

Walking home on St. Patty's Day
I found a lucky penny along the way
Put it in my pocket
The one with the hole in it
These days things don't seem to go my day

I know it's tough sometimes to be with me
When I'm predicting rain most every day
Lately I've been right, almost every time
These days things don't seem to go my way

What would I do, if I hadn't already got lucky once with you
If I hadn't already got lucky once with you

So I keep telling myself something's going to change
Maybe I'll get lucky then I can smile again
Cause that's what I want to do
I want a smile for you
I'm waiting for some things to go my way

What would I do, If I hadn't already got lucky once with you
If I hadn't already got lucky once with you
Fuck St. Patty's Day
I'm throwing my pennies away
But I'm holding on to a single lucky charm
That's what I want to do
I want a smile for you
I'm waiting for some things to go my way

What would I do, If I hadn't already got lucky once with you
If I hadn't found you what would I do?
If I hadn't already got lucky once with you
If I handn't-a wouldn't-a couldn't-a, what would I do
If I hadn't already got lucky once with you

If you've got a Facebook account, you can watch me butcher it by clicking on this link. Rob perfoming Lucky with ALL PS: thanks to Stephen for bailing me out by getting me started on the second verse. That's two that I owe you.

"You've just taken your first step into a larger world." - Ben Kenobi

August 9, 2010 - Today was the day that I started the treatment for my condition. I'm not going to lie, I was pretty nervous about what was going to happen when I got there and completely expected the worst. I've done some research on the medicines that I'd be given and heard some first hand accounts of the side effects so I was fully prepared for a sh!t storm.

We arrived a little before 9:00am and were ushered back into the infusion room. There were about twenty La-Z-Boy Healthcare Edition recliners. They made a giant letter U around the outside walls of the room. Each chair had a tray for books/magazines/laptops. There was also a night stand for lack of a better term and a chair for a visitor. My nurse Rose came over and introduced herself. She is a sweet older lady that made me feel right at ease. I immediately felt a repoir with her and we started joking around. The infusion room is a pretty somber place and I caught a few people cracking smiles while we were having our exchanges. I was clearly the youngest patient in there today by several decades so it made me feel good to be able to make a few people smile. Rose explained the eight different drugs that would be administered to me. The first was benadryl to combat allergic reactions to the first cancer killer, four anti-nausea medications, then the two cancer killing agents, and finally the blood vessel inhibitor. Since I'm not a physician, this is obviously a simplified description of the individual drugs' purposes, but it will suffice for this writing's purpose.

I'm really glad that they had a wireless network that I could connect to because it allowed me to be online for most of the six hours that I was there. I had a few jovial conversations with friends and was able to catch up on some things that I missed over the weekend. I also was able to start working a little more diligently on the blog postings for this past weekend's festivities. Lunch time came and went and we hadn't eaten anything. Finally around 1400 hours Laela went and bought us a couple of bags of peanut M&M's. It was nice. While we were on the Great Bukkit Tour 2010, every time that we stopped at a gas station she and I each shared a bag of peanut M&M's. It was nice to have a little reminder of what a good time we head while we were on holiday.

While I'm only three hours out from the administration of the meds, it'd be a little bit premature to declare "Mission Accomplished"; however, I don't feel bad. Not even a little. The worst part for me was the Benadryl because I hate the drowsy feeling that I get from it. Hell, when we left the doctors office we headed to Taco Bell and I had a chili cheese burrito and two taco supremes all with fire sauce. I'm also planning to try to take a short walk this evening if I'm still feeling up to it.

Rumor has it that the meds will take a couple of days to start kicking my ass so I'll be keeping a close eye on it and writing about my experiences. Thanks for reading.

I'll close with this quote is from the song Brothers and Sisters by John Moreland and the Black Gold Band. It's kind of how I've been feeling since the apprehension about today set in on me last night.

"and if it all goes to hell tomorrow, we'll stand together and raise our hands, and we'll sing"

In the beginning there was bukkit...

First off, let me say that I had an awesome weekend, one of the best of my life. It was so awesome in fact that I can't seem to get all of my thoughts together to gel cohesively so I'm going to need a couple of days before I can compile something worth reading. In the meantime, there seems to be some confusion over the title of the Great Bukkit Tour, so I'd like to lay that to rest.

A little history first....When I took up running, I entered a race in May of 2008. It was the Powell Spring 5k. Miranda and Laela participated as well. On the entry form, there was a place to enter a team name so we wanted to come up with one. At the time Miranda was enamored with the Speed Racer cartoon and wanted to name the team Speed Racer. Laela and I didn't think that accurately reflected the family's less than quick style of ambulation so we asked her to come up with something else. Because of my mustache and the lolrus, Miranda chose the name Speed Walrus. We thought it was hilarious and so it stuck.

The 'Lolrus' is an Internet Meme that started in 2007 with the appearance of the images in the above jpeg. You can read a detailed description of it at the following URL: http://en.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enwiki/4480801. It is actually a seal not a walrus (but that is beside the point). We had stumbled upon it shortly after I had started cultivating my mustache and found it to be quite humorous. You can see the images here http://icanhascheezburger.com/category/lolrus/. Miranda and I would check it every day to see if there was a new funny walrus picture and somehow, walurs ended up becoming my nickname. So, there became a running joke about me always looking for bucket. The girls went out and bought actual metal pails for trash cans, etc. We had also shared it with our close friends so that everyone in our inner circle was very familiar with the Lolrus. It's not just a running joke within the family but also our close friends.

When we found out about about my condition and decided to take our vacation Laela dubbed it the Great Bukkit Tour of 2010. The idea was that the walrus was looking all over the United States for his bucket. I had no idea that there would be so many people who would be reading about our vacation and just kind of assumed that everyone who would read it knew about the walrus/bucket connections. While yes, a double meaning could be read into the "Bukkit Tour" that it was about kicking the bucket, that was not the intention.

I'm glad that so many people enjoyed reading our travel log. I hope this clears up any misconceptions about the genesis of the Great Bukkit Tour of 2010.

Kitty Ears (guest blogger Laela)

Many of you asked about the Kitty Ears you saw the show last night. If you've been following the great Bukkit Tour, you probably noticed Miranda wearing a set of black kitty ears in almost every picture. They are (currently) her signature item. Miranda was the only person under 21 at the show. I wanted to find a way that Miranda would not feel weird about being the only kid there, so I purchased several pairs of kitty ears for our close friends. They worked perfectly. In a group of people that large Miranda could see who were her peeps. If she got lost, lonely, or needed a place to hang out, all she had to do was look for someone with kitty ears. Then she would have someone who would give her some love, support, friendship, or even a coke if she needed it. This all got me thinking about friendship and relationships, and how many people are wearing "kitty ears" in support of the Behler Family.

As you all know, we are in a big old mess of a situation here at the house. Everybody who lives here is feeling a little lost, and everywhere we turn there is some horrible challenge to face. However we are finding that there are more people with "kitty ears" on than we could ever imagine. Many of you put your kitty ears on and came over to clean, I have a co-worker who puts hers on every time she drops by with food. Everyone of you makes it easier for us to deal with the mess.

When Kristi Hittepole offered to put the Benefit together for us, Rob and I were reluctant to accept. We have never looked for a hand out from anyone and it seemed weird to do it now. After much deliberation, we decided to look at it like a party. A chance to get together with our friends and hear some music, and hang out. So Kristi put on her kitty ears and stared planning. This small idea grew, and grew, and grew. It seems that every where she went there was someone else with kitty ears on ready and willing to help. Things grew so big, that it seems that every person we ever met wanted their own set of ears. Friends we haven't seen in years offered goods and services. Kristi, and us, were AMAZED and how many people wanted to help.

The icing on the cake is when ALL wanted to be added to the benefit. Who knew that Chad, Karl, Bill, and Stephen would be to willing to fly half way across the country for us? Not only to give us financial support, but also to give Rob one last ALL concert. It is such an immense gift there are no words to describe it. It was the best show and the most fun I may have ever had.

If you didn't have a pair of real life kitty ears for the show, that doesn't mean Rob and I have not been able to see your kitty ears. There were more kitty ears going on at the Benefit last night then can be counted. It is nice to know that when we get lost, or lonely, need a place to hang out, or even a coke to drink all we have to do is look up, and there will be someone with their kitty ears on. Thank YOU! Each and every one of our kitty eared friends.