Stolen Sunday

I decided to take advantage of my time off of therapy and claim Sunday May 22, 2011 as my own. Miranda and Laela were going cake testing for graduation at Sauer Cakes, shoe shopping, and having

an all around "girl's day." I took that as my opportunity to knock a couple of states off of my list and explore some of what Ohio has to offer in terms of fun motorcycling roads. I decided that I'd go grab West Virginia and Pennsylvania since they were the closest states that I hadn't gotten yet and I could get them both in and still sleep in my bed that night.

Saturday night I did some research into good motorcycling roads in Ohio that were close to the route I was taking to West Virginia. I'd read some great reviews of OH-250 and OH-536, so I mapped out my route to include those roads. When I got up on Sunday morning at 7:00 I made a note card denoting the roads I'd be on and the distances I'd be on each. I then made a photocopy of my Ohio atlas, threw it into my tank bag's map pouch and I almost ready to go. Packing for a quick day trip was pretty simple. All I had to do was grab some basic tools, my rain gear, jacket, helmet, a bottle of water, and my phone. It took me longer to determine what music I wanted on my iPod than it did to pack my side case.

So I pulled out of the driveway at about 8:30, gassed up at Speedway and made my way over to US-62 to begin my journey. I sometimes forget how beautiful Ohio is especially in spring with as much rain as we've had. Everything is vibrantly green and lush. As I moved from US-62 to OH-541 my mind cleared and it was just me and the road. Here's my first stop:

While passing through Coshocton, I was jolted out of my tranquility by an elderly woman leaving her Sunday church service in a Dodge Aries. She was pulling out of the parking lot, turning left, and didn't even apply the brakes to slow down she cut right across my bow and missed me by about four feet. I hit my rear brake so hard that the wheel locked up and started skidding. My heart jumped into my throat. it was definitely one of the top five near collisions I've ever had on a motorcycle.

After collecting my senses, I continued on. I stopped in Newcomerstown, OH for lunch at 11:30 and then kept going on to US-250. The beautiful countryside continued. When I got to Tappan Lake I pulled over and took a break. There were many other motorcycle enthusiasts pulled over to take a break there too. I snapped some photos and talked to some folks who were also out for a leisurely Sunday ride. As I ventured onward, I picked up US-40 and crossed the borders of both West Virginia and Pennsylvania. The Ohio/WV border is the Ohio river and the sign was on a bridge so there was no stopping for a photo. I had to grab a pic of the Wheeling sign once I got across the bridge. I also didn't see a sign for the WV/Pennsylvania border but I did see the Visitors Center that is on Interstate 70, so I rolled over there and got a picture in front of the Welcome to Pennsylvania sign. So now I'd gotten all of the pictures I had set out to acquire. The next objective was to hit OH-536. I had read great things online about motorcycling this road. It was described as a mini "Tail of the Dragon" at Deals Gap so I was more than intrigued. Once I got through Hannibal, OH and started on the road I realized that I was way out of my league. It's really twisty, hilly, skinny, gravelly, and pretty. It's also scary. Lots of blind turns and horse poop. Road cracks are filled with tar that gets soft when hot so when you're leaned over and your tires hit it, the bike feels like it's about to tip over. I definitely panicked on a couple of occasions. At that point I decided to just slow down and proceed with caution. After OH-536, OH-78 to Zanesville and the US-40 were picnics.

The picnic ended in Licking county though. As soon as I got there the skies to the south blackened, the wind picked up and lightning started draping the sky like spider webs. It was about 7:30 when the drizzle actually started. I pulled over into a Kroger parking lot, donned my rain gear, and crossed my fingers. I was really regretting not having my full faced helmet now. They skies unleashed and the rain mercilessly pelted my face. I was reduced to travelling at about 30MPH and this kept up for the better part of an hour. It wasn't until I was in Reynoldsburg that it finally let up.

I eventually pulled into my garage at 9:15 wet and exhausted. Other than the rain the day was perfect and the rain certainly didn't put a damper on my spirits. I've heard it said that the only difference between an adventure and an ordeal is your attitude. Last Sunday was definitely an adventure and one I was glad to be able to do. In retrospect I'm thinking that I should have picked up Maryland too. It was under two hours away from where I was in Pennsylvania. Oh well, I'll have to go get it on another day.

Final trip odometer reading for the day:

Changing Directions

May 16, 2011 - I haven't been blogging about my health much lately as there hasn't been a whole lot to tell medically speaking. The disease has pretty much stayed in check and things have been status quo for a while. Last Friday I had a CT scan and the doctor revealed the results to us today. Essentially there has still been no change. A couple the tumors have slightly increased in circumference (0.1-0.3 cm); however, the areas seem to be less dense.

The goal for chemotherapy is to stay on it until the patient has reached maximum benefit with the drug. Since the tumors are no longer shrinking, it appears that point has been reached with Alimta. I have been on my current it for eight cycles. The oncologist stated that most patients are on it for six or seven cycles. Since maximum benefit seems to have been reached I have several options:

1. I could continue the current course of action with Alimta
2. I could take a break from chemotherapy
3. I could switch to a third line of chemotherapy drug

I ruled out continuing with Alimta for the now because I'm to the point that there is no appreciable benefit at this time. It has done it's job by shrinking and then holding the tumor sizes at bay since December. I also ruled out switching to a third line drug for now because there are only so many drugs available to treat bronchoalveolar carcinoma. I don't want to burn through all of them at this point. So that leaves choice number two, taking a break from chemotherapy for a while. I'll continue to see the oncologist every four weeks and after eight weeks I'll have another CT scan to see where I stand. Since Alimta hasn't failed outright yet, it is an option to go back to due to the fact that I tolerate it well.

I am not really viewing this as good or bad news. It still feels neutral to me. The cancer isn't metastasizing any further, my symptoms aren't getting worse. I think it may be a good time to take a little break. The first part of the summer is going to be really busy with Miranda graduating from Clintonville Academy, I have a trip or two I'd like to take if possible and these things may be easier to do without chemotherapy thrown into the mix.

Taking a break is not throwing in the towel, it's just taking things in a different direction. There's an ebb and flow to the whole process of this disease. It's not a time to panic or get bummed out. I'm coming up on the one year anniversary of being diagnosed. At the time I thought I'd have one foot in the grave by now. My big goal was to make it to Miranda's graduation. Not only am I going to make it but aside from fatigue and shortness of breath I don't feel terrible or that I'm at death's door. That in and of itself to me is a big victory.

I think the most important thing to do right now is not get wrapped up in it emotionally, take the information as it comes, and make decisions that I believe are right for me and my family and given today's information I think that's exactly what I've done. I feel like right now that what's important is the quality of life that I have, not the quantity.

Spring Break - Ride Home and Wrap Up

April 22, 23, 24, 2011 - My blogging delay was due to not wanting to get on the computer at the end of the day after riding so long. For some reason the ride home always seems to take more out of me than a ride to my destination.

Our final morning at Jacksonville Beach, started off as many of the others had. Miranda and I rode our bicycles to get some breakfast at the Dunkin Donuts again. After eating a quick breakfast we went back to Nick & Sam's to pack up the motorcycle. We hopped on and got rolling at about 10:00 and headed north of Florida's A1A. I was determined not to have to go on that giant bridge during the daylight and Nick told me of the St. John's river (or Mayport) ferry. It is the last public auto ferry operating in Florida. We pulled up into a line behind some other motorcyclists. There was a couple with a sister originally from Akron, Ohio now living in Florida out for a Friday cruise and a nice older teacher riding with her husband out exploring Florida for the day. The teacher snapped the picture above of Miranda and I on the ferry.

After crossing the St. John's River the A1A continues North across the Atlantic coast for a while and then heads west where it intersects with US-1/US-23 N. We continued north on US-1 through Florida and the majority of Georgia. It was getting close to dusk and the weather was looking ominous. The next large town on our route was Greenville, SC and I knew that we didn't have time (and our luck would probably run out with the weather) so we collectively decided that the best course of action was to go 30 miles out of our way and stop in Augusta, GA. There was bound to be a national hotel chain there. Lo and behold we happened upon a Holiday Inn which coincidentally was the meeting place for a bike rally for a children's charity. We got settled in to the room and went to the hotel restaurant for what had to be one of the worst meals of my life. How do you mess up pasta with chicken? Miranda ordered pork chops which were a disaster as well.

Saturday morning, no alarms were set and I slept until 10:30. It usually takes us about two hours to get going after we wake up between packing up the room, the bike, eating breakfast, and fueling the bike. We ate breakfast at the Waffle House where the waitress exclaimed "Ya'll ain't from around here are ya. Ya'll got a accent." I thought it was funny. We fueled up at a really busy Kroger gas station and think we made some folks angry by taking so long at the pump. Oh well. it was 12:30 by the time we were underway. We finished up Georgia and moved into South Carolina then North Carolina. The real treat of the day was Tennessee. We had missed the back roads of TN on the way down because we were pressed for time but I wasn't going to miss them a second time and I was well rewarded. TN-70, TN-34, and TN-93 were really twisty and mountainous. Clearly the best riding of the trip. Unbeknown to me, all of the down shifting and leaning made Miranda really nervous. I didn't find this out until we got to the hotel in Kingsport, TN where we stayed the night at a Days Inn. It was really janky and had I read the reviews for the hotel before checking in we wouldn't have stayed there. After settling in to the hotel we hopped back on the bike and rode up to an IHOP for dinner. It was Miranda's first IHOP experience. She had some great cinnamon pancakes.

Sunday we got up at 8:30 and were on the road by 10:30. We were quickly into Virginia where we encountered our only rain for the trip. It was about a 5 minute squall that was just enough to get us to put on our rain gear. By the time we got the gear on the rain had stopped. I can be a tad superstitious at times and I thought that if we took the gear off that it'd start raining again so we left it on for the remainder of the ride home. The Virginia riding was really nice as was the souther part of Kentucky. As you go up US-23 in KY it starts to follow the Ohio river which was still pretty swollen and quite a site to behold. Then we were into Ohio. The only state that I didn't get a picture of it's welcome sign because it was on the bridge that crosses the Ohio. I was a little more comfortable exceeding the speed limit in Ohio because I knew how close to home we were. We finally pulled into the driveway at about 6:00. I had a fantastic time and was really happy to get to spend a week with Miranda by myself. Nick and Sam were great hosts. I could really get used to that Jacksonville Beach lifestyle. I'm also greatful to my Suzuki V-Strom DL650 for getting Miranda and I to and from Florida without incident.

Spring Break - Day 4

April 21, 2011 - Woke up to another beautiful Atlantic coast morning. Sam was getting ready to go visit her family in Sarasota, but she took Miranda and I out to breakfast before she left. We went to a fantastic diner. It was crowded but worth it. I had their Ultimate breakfast laden with pork products, eggs, hash browns and pancakes. Plenty of fuel to get me through the rest of my day. Miranda continued to indulge in her new found love of omlettes. Sam left for Sarasota after breakfast and I took a nap. When I woke up Miranda and I went to to the beach again. We spent about four hours soaking up the sun and the surf. I finally finished a book (been slacking on reading lately) and continued on another. By the time we got back home, Nick was home from work. We changed our clothes and went out to dinner at Mellow Mushroom Pizza. Nick and I split a Philosopher's Pizza (steak, portobello mushrooms, feta cheese, olive and garlic oil base, artichoke hearts, kalamata olives) and Miranda stuck with the standard pepperoni. We then went for a walk on the Jacksonville Beach pier. It was gorgeous to be out there at the end of the day when the sun was going down. We took Liberty for a walk when we got home, hung out for a bit and then turned in. It was a great final full day here.

Spring Break - Day 3

April 20,2011 - Today was our first full day at Jacksonville Beach and we packed a LOT of activity into the day. One of the nice things about the area that Nick and Sam live in is that you can ride bicycles just about anywhere. So Miranda and I started the day by riding bikes up to Dunkin' Donuts for our morning meal. It was more like lunch because it was 11:30. After eating we rode our bikes down to the beach. We rode up and down the boardwalk and then parked the bikes and went for a walk on the sand. It was a really beautiful day. Low 80's with a light breeze. The water was choppy at high tide and there were lots of surfers riding the waves.

After hanging out for a while we went back to the house. Nick was coming home from work and we wanted to get together and hang out with him. We ended up loading the beach cart and going back to the beach for a couple of hours. I must be getting old because it took me about 15 minutes from the time my feet touched the water to the time my chest was submerged because I was going so slow. The water had a refreshing chill to it but it was fine once you were all the way in. I fell asleep under the umbrella a little while later. We ended up staying for a couple of hours and then went back to the house to get cleaned up.

Also within bike riding distance was Ichiban Japanese Steakhouse. Miranda loves hibachi restaurants so that's what we chose for dinner. The food was delicious. I had steak and chicken. Miranda and Nick both had steak and shrimp. It was our waitress' first night. She forgot our steamed rice so it came out late. No matter, we had plenty of veggies to satiate us.

After our hearty meal we ended up going to Adventure Island to play putt-putt and go to the batting cages. Miranda's putter was hot and she handily defeated Nick and I. After the long day, we came back to the house and turned in early. I slept like a rock.