My Cancer Treatments Are Finished!!

Daily Quote: "Moments in life that are really hard and challenging, when I look back on those, those were kind of the life-changing moments for me and usually they were followed by the biggest successes because they made me re-evaluate who I was, what I was doing, and refocus on what really matters.  I'm hoping that this is the same sort of thing.  My personality is such that I usually try to find the positive in every negative, so I'm hopeful that I can do the same again and turn a situation that wasn't pleasant to live through to my advantage.  I'm pretty confident that I'll come out of this the better for it." --Shannon Rowbury commenting about her battling back from a persistent lower-leg problem, that was actually an issue with a leg-length discrepancy.  Running Times Magazine, July/August 2011, pg 48.

I realize that my lung and tongue cancer is much more severe than Shannon's leg-length discrepancy, but her above quote reflects on my own hopes with my cancer fight, which was indeed a life-changing moment, that I'll have bigger successes because of my cancer.  Not only do I wish to improve my fitness, running, chess, but also place more emphasis on smothering my wife with love!  She had my back and gave me such strong support during my time of need.  Where would I be without her love?  I love her dearly.  I have a new lease on life and don't want to waste my second chance!

Today was my last radiation treatment!!  I have this tremendous feeling of relief and freedom.  I am so very happy!  I know my battle hasn't been won until I receive a clear PET Scan at the end of this month, which will state my cancer is in remission.  Even if my cancer is in remission, I'll still need to have regular health checkups as to assure the cancer hasn't returned and/or spread to some other part of my body.  Nevertheless, I feel positive that I'm in remission and the cancer will not return.

It's going to feel weird tomorrow not having my usual 9:00 a.m. radiation treatment, I plan on exercising at the gym during that time slot instead.  I must continue to wear my feeding tube until my cancer remission is official, which makes exercising problematic.  I use extra gauze tape to prevent the 12 inch tube from bouncing around during my runs.  I also need to keep the drainage gauze dry as to prevent infection where the feeding tube connects to my stomach, therefore, after my exercise I will clean the wound and replace the drainage gauze with a new, dry gauze.  Currently, the tube's connection has been spotting a small dab of blood, but nothing serious as the stomach entry shows no sign of infection and will continue using the product "Neosporin."  I hope after my PET Scan I can immediately have surgery to remove the feeding tube, which will be the last shackle of my cancer fight.  My Registered Nurse, Charlie,  will continue to visit my home on Wednesdays until the feeding tube has been removed.

My weight is still 170 pounds, which has been my racing weight in the past, but I know my stamina, endurance and muscle fitness needs to improve before returning to racing.  Last January I had sent my registration fee for the 2011 Las Vegas Rock n' Roll Marathon in December, but doubt I'll be fit enough to race the marathon, but believe I could be ready for the 2011 Las Vegas Rock n' Roll Half Marathon.  Tomorrow, I'll start training in earnest, but will listen to my body complaints and strive to improve by baby steps, baby steps.  Last week I ran a total of six miles, with most of my exercising being walking.  Next week I plan on adding weight lifting, which will help my overall fitness to prevent injuries and make me more durable if the cancer returns.

I have so many people to thank during my cancer battles, my wife, family, friends and the motivational "Bruce's Team."  Their support and prayers had been invaluable...God Bless you all!!