Starting with that ride on the 5th, I’ve now ridden 10 days in a row. I pushed it a bit today, and averaged 17.2 mph in a 25 mile ride on Joe Pool dam. That’s pretty encouraging for me, considering the lung tissue I’ve lost, and the fact that it’s only been a little over 3 weeks since surgery.

But it isn’t all good news. The biopsy from the lung surgery found one cancerous lymph node. That makes my cancer stage 2 rather than the stage 1 it was thought to be, and drops my 5 year survival odds from 80-90 percent to 40 percent. I can raise that some by having adjuvant chemotherapy, and my surgeon has referred me to an oncologist. I won’t be able to start chemo until 6 weeks after surgery.

I also seem to have developed exercise induced asthma, whenever I ride. I never had it before, and my research finds no link between lung surgery and exercise induced asthma, but I found an old Albuterol inhaler and tried it, and it seems to help a lot, so I’m saying it’s asthma. I’m bringing it up to my primary care doctor next time I see him.

But for now, it feels good to be riding.