A brief update...

I am getting ready for my initial chemo treatment this coming Monday. I had an iron infusion for my anemia last week and the second will be this Friday. I will have chemo/immunotherapy treatments through the end of October and then will be re-evaluated for surgery to remove the tumor in my sigmoid colon and treat the lesions on my liver. That's the plan.

The pancreatic insufficiency that led to the cancer discovery continues to be treated and is a separate issue. Taking digestive enzyme supplements with everything I eat (sometimes 30+/day) has helped but absorption of nutrients is still not complete. I'm trying to get enough calories in to stop the 60# weight loss, and subsequent lack of energy and stamina, but it's not that easy. I now eat things - sweets especially - I never used to touch. Just have to have smaller quantities more often. I feel like a hunter/gatherer.

That incomplete digestion produces tremendous amounts of gas, bloating and cramping, though that has eased somewhat lately. The cramping translates into my lower back and hips making getting comfortable something of a challenge at times. More about drugs to help with that in a moment.

The tumor, named Bubba and the size of my thumb, is like a 2 year old who can't ever get his way. So he acts out and I have to administer some discipline in the form of oxycodone (Percocet). I am now on a fairly regular schedule, depending on wake and "sleep" (a relative term at best) cycle for any particular day of 4 doses every 24 hours. I ain't no sissy, children - I can tolerate a level of pain that would cripple most people. What I can't take is the inability to relax to a degree which will allow some semblance of rest. I average 20-24 hours of decent, uninterrupted sleep/week. Me so tired.

If that weren't enough, my cardiovascular system is stressed more than is normal resulting in extremely low blood pressure - around 100/60, plus or minus. I have never been accused of being an airhead, but I think I now qualify. I have to be extremely careful standing up and moving. I have had, weeks ago while I still took my morning walk, a case of temporary loss of temporal and spatial awareness - some might call it fainting but I was conscious as I slide down, so gently and slowly, to the soft damp grass next to the sidewalk. It's why I always walked on sidewalks even though it's not as comfortable on my legs and back - gotta identify potential landing zones.

The last 2 days have been much better. I even went to the pharmacy and Aldi and Lowes to look for pansies. No such luck there. Still have to be careful moving and watch for signs of...you know. I'm eating a little better and getting modestly greater amounts of rest. So there's that.

I haven't touched my Nikon in 4 months, taken few cell phone photos and processed none. I'm too tired and unfocused to get online, just generally text and read on my tablet. Thank Buddha for the La Vuelta and UCI fall racing, the WNBA and college volleyball. This missive has taken only two days, so I must be getting somewhat stronger.

I appreciate the concern several of you have expressed lately and hope, after some of the treatments, to at least get some degree of normalcy back. Don't cry for me, Argentina - I do not suffer because I follow the Dharma, the truth of the world. And the truth is, I is some messed up right now but am riding the storm out.  Ain't nothin' but a thang. I will update as I get more treatments and information. Carry on and mind the gap.

John