I am happy to report that things definitely seem to have improved a bit since I returned from the hospital on Tuesday. I seem to have my pain management more or less under control and my thrush symptoms are definitely gone thanks to the antibiotics. As a result, I am able to really drink a lot more and get some of my strength back.

Dave has become quite the connoisseur at making smoothies for me. Sometimes he combines an Ensure protein shake with some milk, bananas and peanut butter. Sometimes he mixes orange juice with frozen mangos, bananas and protein mix. I am very glad that we decided to invest in our fancy Vita Mix blender a few months ago. It has really made quite a difference.

Although I am happy to report that things are a bit more stable than they were the week prior, things are by no means easy. My symptoms continue to be very unpredictable. Yesterday (Saturday), I was so tired that I literally could not open my eyes until about 1:30PM. I woke up around 9:30 and felt like I weighed 1000 lbs and that my eyes were glued shut. I felt back asleep and dragged myself to shower around 10:30 thinking it would wake me up. The shower took so much energy and I found myself laying on the couch after that complete devoid of energy. Dave and I tried to take a walk and I couldn’t even make it half of a block before we had to turn around.

Today, I am having a very different day. Although I didn’t sleep very well last night, I have a lot of energy. I went for a 30 minute walk with Dave (this hasn’t happened in at least a month) and my legs are not as bloated as they have been in the past. We came home from the walk and I took an hour nap because it took a lot out of me but at least we were able to get out and enjoy the weather. So, as you can see, life is very unpredictable.

Tomorrow I go into the hospital for blood work to see how my counts are and to determine if I need any “tune ups” before I believe we will begin Cycle #2 on Friday. I am trying to make the best of the next few days because I know that I will get “knocked down” again once we start cycle #2. One of the chemo drugs I am on is so strong that it’s nickname is the “Red Devil”. It proved that it is working on my hair cells because my hair started to fall off in clumps promptly on Day #15 of Cycle 1. I have had my hair fall out at least 7-8 times by now but it is always frustrating when it happens. I’d like to think that by now, I am fairly immune to it (I love my wigs, Dave loves me bald) but it’s never fun to touch your head and pull your hand away covered with hair. I quickly shaved it off so I could focus on moving forward and healing.

Cycle for Survival is in full swing. We have over 400 bikes signed up so far.  There are a total of approx. 900 bikes across all of our cities this year so we still have quite a ways to go.  If you haven’t signed up yet, WHY NOT?  PLEASE get involved.  My Thanksgiving wish is that more than half of the bikes are gone so please help me make that come true.

I have decided that I am going to include stories that have truly touched me in my upcoming blog entries. One of the most wonderful  benefits of creating Cycle for Survival is that you are constantly in touch with how selfless and beautiful people can be. Two cases in point:

• My good friend Jodi lives in San Francisco and has been patiently waiting for us to bring Cycle for Survival to the Bay Area. This year we are making it happen! In order to get people excited for this news, Jodi encouraged a spin teacher at her local gym to dedicate a class to me and announce Cycle for Survival San Fran (March 5th). The instructor used the playlist that I had created on last month’s blog and Jodi said the class was touched , inspired and ready to bring it on March 5th. What a beautiful gesture! I am including some pictures that Jodi sent me here. They really warmed my soul!

• My friend Gary has always donated to Cycle for Survival but has never participated. He read in my blog last month that rather than ask me “What can I do to help?” just get involved in Cycle. I received an email in my inbox a few weeks ago titled, “YOU ASKED FOR IT!”. The email explained that he understands that getting involved in Cycle for Survival is most important to me and he recruited his wife and his friends and they already signed up a team to ride in NYC. I was so touched by how proactive he was. He understood what I needed and responded to me.

I am so lucky to have such wonderful people in my life.

I will write again soon. In the meantime, I am enclosing a video that was created by the Cycle for Survival Team called “Jen’s Story”. It explains the origins and the importance of Cycle for Survival. Please share this with everyone you know. I find that when they see it, they can’t help but want to participate, donate, volunteer etc.

Here’s to a more predictable next few days.