Deadlifts, pullups, & gluten-free brownies

Went into work last night. I'm feeling pretty good after Thursday's chemo. Not as tired as round #2. Still not 100%, a little dizzy, occasional nausea, but quite functional. Yes, went into work and did a nice little workout:

21-18-15-12-9-6-3 rounds of 105 lb. deadlift and pullups

That is, 21 deadlifts, 21 pullups, 18 deadlifts, 18 pullups, etc., on down to 3 of each. Took just over 10 minutes. Quite tiring, but good to keep the veins open and push around any of the residual chemo drugs that need to get someplace important. Good too to increase circulation to my liver to help flush out whatever needs flushing.

So as the 5th man at Station 2, that means I was on Red 10, the airport crash truck. So I took it as my sacred duty to feed the other 4 guys something nice, as a way of saying, "Thank you" for going out on the pump-only calls. I made some gluten-free brownies from the Complete Gluten Free Cookbook, which Anna gave me for Christmas. I could hear the voices inside their heads:

"Oh great, gluten-free brownies, they'll probably taste like cardboard."

Well, considering that there were none left in the morning and there were a lot of comments like, "Wow! Those were better than regular brownies!" I think that I completed my duty.

Carol's Brownies (from page 276)

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 13x9 inch baking pan.

1/2 c. quinoa flour

1/4 c. defatted soy flour (recipe called for 3/4 c. soy flour only)

3/4 c. corn starch (recipe called for tapioca starch)

1 c. sugar (recipe called for 2 c.)

1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt (I omitted this)

4 eggs

1 c. vegetable oil

1/4 c. water

4 tsp vanilla

Combine dry ingredients in bowl and mix well. Combine wet ingredients in separate bowl. Stir in dry ingredients until just combined. Pour into pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes. See if you have the willpower to let them cool before cutting and serving!

Bacon Wrapped Scallops and Chicken Soup

That is what we had for breakfast today.
Chicken Soup for me - Well, today is day 2 of my being sick in bed. I have a bad cold and I am trying very hard to get better and not give it to Bob! I have been fighting something for a while now and finally succumbed unwillingly a few days ago. We are using sick protocols - I am sleeping on the sofabed, I disinfect my hands every time I get out of bed before I touch anything, I wash my hands several times while I am up and run back to bed to sneeze or cough. I am drinking lots of ginger, mint, lemon tea, staying in bed, resting, neo citran, vitamin C, smiling and laughing with Bob (from a distance!), running the air purifier full blast, and eating home made chicken soup I made yesterday.

Bacon Wrapped Scallops for Bob - Bob picked up a package while shopping during his first chemo round I think. They really appealed to him - weird since he doesn't eat bacon... They told us that his tastes would change and to be ready for not wanting to eat things he normally likes. Our chemo nurse Donna's favourite example is "don't be surprised if you think your wife put tinfoil in your grill cheese sandwich!". Ha ha. We haven't had grilled cheese in over a year! I used to make a great one with sauted onions and peppers... ah well. So Bob says tuna DOES NOT appeal to him post chemo, which is usually a staple for him, and he was so excited about bacon wrapped scallops this morning!!

Here is a picture of him in his new touque, knitted by me for Christmas, and his bacon wrapped scallop. Today I will get better and we will disinfect the house again!

Cancer fundraiser

I'll turn today's post over to Jodie, my friend, regular commentator here, and cancer warrior. I hope any of you in Central Ontario will be able to attend at least one of Jodie's events. I know I will be there to cheer her over the finish line!

Hi Friend,

On June 20 - 22, 2008, I'll will be celebrating my birthday weekend by participating in a 2-day major cycling event called The Ride to Conquer Cancer benefiting The Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation, one of the top 5 cancer research hospitals in the world.

I'll be cycling over 200 kilometres that weekend, from Toronto to Niagara Falls, with thousands of other Riders. All the proceeds will go to The Princess Margaret to support cancer research, treatment, and services. The Princess Margaret is Canada's leading comprehensive institution devoted to cancer research and care, and the work they're doing is leading-edge.

I have dedicated this race to my mother in law, Susan Mulder and my best friend, Bob Olajos.

I've agreed to raise at least $2,500, So here's where you come in, because I need your help to do that. I know many of you have already donated money to my event which I am so grateful for! Your support has been overwhelming for this exciting event.

Please keep in mind that on January 12th from 2-4pm I am having a fundraising skate at the Ontario Speed Skating Oval site in Lakefield! Please come out pay $3 to skate, tell your friends and family.

On February 9th from 8am - 8pm Premiere Studio of Dance in Peterborough is hosting a dance-a-thon for the event. Please support your local dancer, if you don't know one you can always just sponsor me for the event. I will be there dancing my heart out!

On May 9 & 10th Buddy Wasisname and the Other Fellers are coming to Market Hall to do a concert for me. Come and support this event. Purchase tickets through me for $30. They are a fabulous Newfoundland group. I would love to see both nights sell out!! Tell one tell all!

Watch for more events coming up soon! If you want to donate just to the race alone please go to my website www.yourbodyyou.com and click on the contact me page it will provide you with a link to my race page to donate on! All donations are greatly appreciated! Thank you so much!

Sincerely,
Jodie Mulder

That was easy

Hah! Easy to say!

Yes, we're home now. The roads home were wet and sloppy. Anna's about to feed me leftover Christmas dinner. Regardless, the day went smoothly. I was quite tired from the get-go, and napped much more than the previous two engagements. Di was there to see us off, then Anna took her to the train station for the ride to Toronto. Good move, considering the roads. There was a nice retired gentleman there, Randall, who has indolent lymphoma. Lynn said it was the first time in 10 years that she'd had two people doing the same rCHOP at the same time.

Dinner's ready. I'll write more tomorrow, after I've shoveled the walkway.

(By the way, Di gave me one of those Staples Easy Buttons as a stocking stuffer. It makes for great fun in the chemo room. It's a big, plastic button. When you push it, it says, "That was easy!" I pushed it a lot today.

Ready

Chemo #3 tomorrow. I'll be 37.5% finished! Or if Dr. Herst only has me do 6 rounds, I'll be 50% finished. I'm ready for this. Chemo is my ally, not my enemy. I find myself focussing on things yet undone, dreams to pursue. This keeps me going. Anna and I want to have children, and I won't leave them fatherless at a young age. I want a new home, we've far outgrown this one. I have so many places to explore, both in Temagami and elsewhere in Canada and the world. Yes, these thoughts keep me going.

Just finished four days in a row yesterday. Thankfully they were slow days, with the exception of the 23rd. I kept up with my workouts. Yesterday I did one called Barbara (five rounds for time of 20 pullups, 30 pushups, 40 situps, 50 squats). I almost threw up. The day before I made one up, and called it Gingerbread Man (21 double unders, 21 muscle ups, 21 knees to elbows, followed by 15 of each, then 9 of each, for time). A double under is skipping with the rope going under your feet twice each jump, a muscle up is kind of a pullup and dip on gymnastic rings--very difficult, and a knees-to-elbows is done hanging from a bar and, well, bringing your knees up to your elbows like a vertical situp. My time was 20:30. I got some big blisters from the muscle ups, and one of them is now infected. Silly me, I'm not supposed to be doing things that give me infections. Oh well, as long as my WBC count is good tomorrow that shouldn't delay my chemo. Anna's got a bit of a cold today as well, so I'll be doing my best to not catch that. No workout today, I'm resting up for tomorrow. Slept 10 hours last night!

The new diet's going well. It's not really all that much different. I've just completely cut out few the gluten and dairy foods that I still consumed. After all the changes I've made over the last year, that's not much of a difference. Breakfast this morning was buckwheat-soy pancakes with agave syrup and venison sausages (and Cuban coffee).

Anna's mom is up and we're celebrating Christmas today. She'll come up to Liskeard tomorrow to see the beginning of my chemo. Then Anna will put her on the train there, which she'll take past Temagami all the way to Toronto.

That's all for today. I'll write again tomorrow night and let you all know how "EASY" the day went.

Denial

Four days to chemo. I picked up my prednisone today. I'm in Denial. I'm at the top of my game. I feel great. I've been at work the last two days, and will be there the next two (including Christmas Day). We even had a little house fire today and I felt fine, no shortness of breath, no weakness, no nausea, even while on air and hauling a hoseline and axe through the house. I've done difficult workouts today and yesterday. Today was 3 rounds for time of 50 x 75 lb. sumo deadlift high pulls and 30 x 75 lb. bench presses. Time was 26:03. I've been eating well too. I've not had any gluten or dairy in the last 3 days and haven't had any problems with that, no hunger, no dizziness. It's basically the Paleo Diet, i.e. I eat the way the cavemen ate.

All this adds up to living in denial. I'll be starting the drugs in 4 days. I'll feel like crap for a week or more. The cancer books say not to look at chemo as the enemy, but to remember that cancer is the opponent. Chemo is my ally. Chemo will save my life. But it's hard to keep that front and centre.

Not our Christmas Turkey

Here is a picture of the turkeys in front of Bob's parents place. An update from Jean says that they left this morning without eating any of the feed, and haven't been back yet... maybe they thought a few days of Nikita stress was too much?