Your friend, Logan
I was at the gym working on my “clean and jerk” (which looks like this graphic), when the song “Complex“ started playing through the sound system. The band was Little Tin Frog. The drummer was Logan Whitehurst, a long time friend, fellow drummer, and the most well-respected musician/awesome guy/creative talent among my peers between 1997 and the...
Students needed: specializing in the field of brain tumors
Coincidence? I think not! (But it probably is.) Since joining a new gym in mid-July I met a woman who lost her mom to a glioblastoma, a young man with a oglioastrocytoma who recently finished Temodar, and the woman who is the scheduler for the doctor who performed my shoulder surgery! Coincidence? Probably. And this,...
Lift with your head: the other 90% of my brain
In the past I have viewed exercise as a chore. Repetitive weight lifting and mindless jogs on a treadmill were never my idea of fun. But I still have cancer in my brain–so I need to do something to feel like I am fighting back. I strongly believe in the power of advocacy as an important...
My brain: 16 months after Temodar
What’s the status from my latest brain MRI? No growth! Also, my new neuro-oncologist is proud I’ve started exercising. He mumbled something about exercise helping build a stronger immune system and remarked, “You’ve lost six pounds since you were last here.” What-what?! Say that again? Really? And oh yeah, a stronger immune system is also...
Back on the exercise wagon, for reals this time
I’ve always loved this Henry Rollins quote, Keep your blood clean, your body lean, and your mind sharp. As a long-time straight edger, it’s been easy to keep my blood “clean”. I don’t smoke. I don’t drink. I don’t do drugs. (Except for Temodar, I was HOOKED on that stuff.) <– inside joke for those...
Living is hard work
An acquaintance of mine posted a photo to a social media account of her working out at the gym. The caption read: Dying is easy. Living is hard work. I wanted to comment on the photo caption. But then I stopped. The more I thought about what she said, the more my response changed. Was...
Not a pretty sight
I have long held the belief that New Year Resolutions were stupid, because if you really want to do something, why let the year you begin hold you back? I am now going against that belief because, for some reason, I really need the excuse of a new year to motivate me into doing something...
Use it or lose it: the no-exercise confession
Confession: I haven’t exercised in three months. Actually, I exercised once since this blog post back in April. I can make all kinds of excuses why, but you know what excuses are like. I felt so bad about it yesterday that I cried. Brett comforted me and even gave me an inspirational speech about how...
What are your post-brain surgery deficits?
Back in November I started exercising again. And then about two weeks ago I hired a personal trainer to get my body back in shape. Of course, I told her about my medical condition, weaknesses and medications I am taking. She’s suggesting a new diet and all that good stuff. I’m going to build muscle...
The last week of chemo
Right when you think you’re awesome because you’re having a good workout, you suddenly heave and want to blow chunks all over the exercise ball because you’re on chemo. Good times. Almost done.
Being cool with everything
I take a chemo pill one week a month to destroy a cancerous brain tumor. By the end of the week I am exhausted, tired and nauseous. And I’m cool with that. During the following weeks my strength returns and I start to feel almost normal. And I’m cool with that. By the third week of the...
Mind over matter
Throughout my life I’ve developed a mantra for whenever I have to do something unpleasant. I tell myself, “You will do this right now. It will suck for right now. But when it is over you will never have to do it again.” I developed this mantra when I got my first tattoo. I went...
