Back to Work!

Erinn's birthday was a couple of weeks ago.  For her birthday, I've returned to work.  It's great to be getting back to what a normal person does.  I never thought I'd want to go back to work but this is no way to take time off.  It also helps that I work with a fantastic group of people and they're a great pleasure to see again.

It's been a full year since this cancer ordeal began.  The big unknowns are all behind me.  The testing I ran through in November and December, the treatment plan laid out in late December and the fright of what lie ahead.  I was naive about colorectal cancer as I felt assured it couldn't kill me but I was also worried about what I might lose during the treatment process.  Well, Erinn's been following about three colorectal cancer blogs since we started down this path.  Unfortunately, one of the bloggers died a couple of weeks ago.  She was 35 with two young kids.  One of the other blogs, Doug 2.0, was a blog I started to read this summer on Erinn's recommendation.  He is similar to myself in that he's 40 years old, a lawyer (not me, but I'm a professional engineer so, yes, I can get sued by a lawyer) and he's very active.  Unfortunately, where I started was his entry was that a good friend from his colorectal cancer group died.  She was 40.

You see, the cancer can spread.  It's something I didn't realize.  Colorectal cancer in itself is treatable but if it spreads then it can be problematic.  Or a death sentence. I worry about a recurrence but I'll take assurance in that fact that if the cancer recurs in ten years, then medicine will be that much more advanced.

I spoke to a medical doctor last night.  I started road racing motorcycles only a couple of years before him.  Like myself, he's done a decade of fun weekends at the track and thrown in some national competition in there as well.  Also, like me, he's quitting now after some bad events happened at the track.  For me, I was administering first aid to someone at the track and it didn't end well.  I went home and sold everything.  A few months later I got cancer.

This doctor told me that risk is everywhere and many people die in mundane things like traffic accidents.  True, but racetrack involvement elevates risk and exposure to injury.  Of course, sometimes you eliminate that risk and put that phase of your life behind you and then you get cancer.  Getting cancer from cycling daily to work, eating a vegetarian diet, not smoking or drinking and eating lots of chocolate.

We're both glad we raced.

Now I'm going dirt biking.

Kate and Maggie are really excited about next summer.  So am I.