Holiday Weekend Check-In

I hope where ever you find yourself this weekend ... at the shore, in the mountains or perhaps in your own backyard ... that you are having a nice weekend and that you stop and take a moment and remember all those men and women who have given their lives to protect our personal freedoms both today and in generations past. HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!
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It's been a good weekend so far on many levels. The week was hard and Thursday and Friday my white blood cell count continued to climb back into the low ranges of "normal", however my liver is still in a bit of shock. As a result, Dr. Butler (oncologist) ordered that my treatments on Thursday and Friday be reduced to 10 million units (from 40 million units) of Interferon. This is frustrating and a little worrisome for me since that is the "low dose" level and the efficacy is questionable at this stage of melanoma treatment.

But I only have one liver and I need it to do Ironmans in the future AND to survive and function normally, so I am glad that my Dr. isn't just going for broke just because I feel the need to "stick to the plan." Dr. Butler is a Liver's best friend.

Still I wonder, did I really need that one last Black and Tan three weeks ago? And all that wine in France last summer?

Ahh ... Could of, would of ... I'm glad I did.
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Since I have been on "low-dose" levels of Interferon, I have been feeling good and able to enjoy this holiday weekend and the beautiful weather here in the Northern VA/DC Metro area. Hold your hats, cause I have some milage for you -

•Friday - 2 mile walk - slow and steady, felt good
•Saturday - 5 mile walk - 15 minute pace, felt GREAT and the Ipod Mini and I were rockin!
•Sunday - 7 mile walk - 15-16 minute pace, walk along the Mt Vernon Trail - Just me, my Ipod Mini, the smell of hunysuckle and about 25-30 random fellow athlete's getting their weekend workout in.

Tomorrow Jim and I plan to go on a mini "Bike Picnic". The goal is 30 minutes OR 10 miles, whatever feels right for me. Then we are going to sit on the grass and enjoy baguettes, jambon et fromage (ham and cheese) and some non-alcoholic beverage and relax. It's been almost a year since our trip to the French Alps to watch the Tour de France and we miss our favorite French meal.

The Tour de France - now that was an epic vacation - I blogged that too ... you can read about it all here if you get bored later this week. (AUTHOR'S NOTE: Visually this blog is bad but to follow the story, click on July 2004 link under Archieve and SCROLL all the way to the bottom - It's a good story, worth some scrolling - but I am biased - - HG)
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Speaking of epic ... WAY TO GO TEAM DISCOVERY CHANNEL and Paolo Savoldelli for winning the Giro d'Italia!