Memorial Day Weekend

Deb and I took the kids with us to Deb's annual family reunion in the Grand Rapids area. We also spent a day at her uncle Phil's cottage.

 

 

 

Chemo #6

Today was my 6th chemo treatment at Karmanos. My brother Steve was kind enough to join me for the day, as Deb had to be careful with the remaining sick days in her school year. These treatments are progressively more difficult for me both physically and mentally. Even though I realize that the most difficult period will only last for about 5 days, the mere thought of those days is dreadful. It is probably very similar to the feeling young children have before going to get an immunization shot from the doctor or visiting a dentist. The anticipation is nearly as bad as the pain/discomfort itself.

Having Steve there with me for the infusion was good, since he could understand my treatment better than I could ever explain it to him, he could monitor me when the nurses were not there (I sleep for about 50% of the infusion), and most importantly he is great company. Similar to the 5th treatment, I received 25% less chemo than my initial infusions. The body can only take so much of these drugs before certain functions, like digestion, become compromised. I will get another CT scan before the next treatment, to see if chemo remains the best option for me.

Race Day

One of my favorite hobbies over the last 4 years has been autocrossing my 1994 Mazda Miata in the Detroit region. Autocrossing is an amateur form of car racing that normally takes place in a confined parking lot. A race course is defined using cones and competitors have 4 to 5 runs to achieve their fastest time through the course without knocking over any of the cones. Cars race through the course one at a time, so there is very little risk of injury to competitors or damage to the vehicles.

Every season my car club holds an autocross school so we can dust off our cars and sharpen our driving skills. Landon and Morgan have been too small up till now to ride in the car with me, but this year I thought it would be fun to bring them along. Safety is the highest priority in well-managed autocross events. Helmets are required for all drivers and passengers on the course. Fortunately one of the members of our club had a helmet that fit the twins (thanks again Ines).

 

 

I went over basics like air pressure and suspension settings with Landon. Here Landon is suggesting that I set the rear tire pressure even higher ;).

 

Someday I hope to teach Landon and Morgan how to drive a car like mine at the limit, but for now riding along will have to do. I started off at about 70% with Landon, but the first thing he said after the initial run was "Go Faster Daddy!." By the time we finished I was driving as fast as I could and the kids just loved it.

 

 

 

We all had a great time. Thanks to the club for organizing the event.