Friday, March 29th, I got the 6 hour cisplatin IV that started the third round. I had already decided not to ride for a week following it. The next day, my toes started aching, but since I was already on medication for that, it wasn’t nearly as severe as the last time. I felt pretty good until the next Wednesday, when exhaustion set in, but it wasn’t as severe as it was after the second round, and I went to work every day. The next Friday, April 4th, I got the gemcitabine IV. I also got my three month chest x-ray (it was clear). I was already feeling poorly, and felt bad enough after the treatment that I just went to bed for the rest of the day.

The next day was my 57th birthday. rbent, the local recumbent riders group, was having a ride and picnic nearby in Fort Worth. I had given up on trying to ride with them, but planned on joining them for the picnic. My wife was taking off work early to drive me there. Unknown to me, she was also planning on picking up a cake, and making a birthday party out of the picnic. None of those plans worked out; I felt so bad that I went back to bed late that morning, and went nowhere all day. Happy birthday, Bud.

I felt better the next day, but a bit feeble, so I settled for an easy day around the house. On Monday, I went to work, and planned on riding that evening, but the wind was howling, and I still felt a bit feeble, so I didn’t. Yesterday (Tuesday), my wife and I did 25 miles on the tandem, and I felt fine. My blood counts will bottom out this week, so I plan on just doing short, easy rides. Next week, I plan on slowly starting to ramp things up again, with some 60 mile club rides and such, this month. I probably won’t try a 200k brevet until May or June.

I’ll be visiting with my oncologist a week from Friday, which is when a fourth round would have started. He still wants me to come in for blood work, to see how I’m doing, and to discuss what’s next. I’ll be getting chest x-rays every three months and CT scans every six months.

Chemotherapy was pretty tough for me. I plainly don’t tolerate it as well as many people do. The only part of it I really aced was the gastro part. Most patients on the drugs I got suffer either serious constipation or diarrhea, and many people suffer both, at different times. I had neither. My taste buds are shot; there are so many favorite foods I can’t eat right now. But, my wonderful wife did such a great job coming up with and preparing healthy meals that I was always able to eat, lost no weight, and I think all of the fiber I always eat helped keep things moving through correctly.