Hi George,

You are not alone, others are in it with you. I’ve just finished a round of surgery to remove a tumor in my thigh and ten sessions of radiation treatment to zap two tumors in my abdomen. This is the latest part of a cancer that was first detected twelve years ago, a cancer that prompted me to post my first tour journal about my trip to Iceland. I’ve since posted a few more about touring in my adoptive home France. And I will say that I found in doing so that I had inadvertently found a community that took me in and encouraged my pursuits, a community I haven’t suspected existed. My illness has also revealed a community of people both those who share the illness and the careers who surround, treat, and encourage us. 

So, here’s the plan. Get over this current problem and heal. Don’t take everything as a setback in the process, I am almost 73 years old after all, and I never did my body any favors when I was young, so many of the aches and pains are just aging, not relapses. I will experience good days and a few bad ones, but I shall do my best to keep a positive attitude. I will do what I can when I can. I’ll tell bad jokes, laugh as much as possible, and try to be patient waiting for the day when I can be back on the road. In the meantime, I’m sending you my best wishes for your recovery. 

By the way, immunotherapy, if you haven’t had it yet, is easy, but boring. A good time to catch up on your reading. I did about a year of it during the pandemic, and I got a lot of books off my bucket list.

If you need me for anything, all you have to do is ask. The usual conditions apply!

Cheers,

Keith

As I lay on my bed for three months with four broken vertebrae I wondered if I would ever ride again.  But I never let defeat consume my thoughts and that was important.  I think you have a similar attitude which tells me you will eventually be back touring.  The body's ability to recover is really amazing.  Slowly, slowly.  

I am way behind in reading journals and I want to read all of yours too.    

Thanks for the encouraging words Keith.  I looked at the list of your journals and found the "What to Do Between Doctor Visits" journals quite apropos for my situation.   I've added those to my reading list for my upcoming downtime.   BTW, you are about 2 years older than me and it seems that we are both challenged with tenacious diseases - perhaps we should start a club or something.  Best wishes with your future tours, I'll be following along.

OK, I'll join in: I went through 12 chemo infusions, followed by 18 proton radiation sessions, in 2022 to fight Hodgkin's Lymphoma - which was only discovered when a very large tumor started pressing on nerves to my heart and cause me to "feel funny" and check my heart rate, which was pegged at 172. Which led to the emergency room and a surprise on a chest X-ray...

I  thought I'd be dead by the morning, so I spent all night in the emergency room figuring out how to make sure my wife had all my passwords to our financial accounts - of course, I've worked in what is now called cybersecurity for 45 years...

All that cause the cancellation of a planned week long tour of Nova Scotia and a bunch of weekend biking getaways. I've now had 2 clear CAT scans over 6 months and back biking but spending time with grandkids has kinda moved up the priority list, too.  My strategy is to try to nudge my daughter (typically an immovable object) towards them taking family vacations in areas I want to ride! My wife's offer of free babysitting services on any trips seems to be a powerful lever...

Thanks for sharing John. I read your GAP journals, it's good to see that you are continuing to tour. I'm encouraged by your experience, and the experiences of others who simply refuse to give up. It's obvious that I'm in good company here! Looking forward to following your future tours, best of luck to you.

CB Friends and Folks; I've reincarnated this thread from last year as a means of updating things and encouraging everyone to keep touring while they can.  I had to postpone a planned tour last year (2023) due to some pesky health issues. I had trained well last year (January - July), done my planning and made numerous reservations, and I really didn't want to postpone the tour - but this was a serious health issue and it had to be addressed pronto.   A couple of surgeries, laser treatment followed by topical chemotherapy, and some state-of-the-art immunotherapy has fixed the root issues of my health concern - so that's good news.  

I started all over in preparation for the tour.  I trained all this year (2024, Jan - July) in preparation for a planned 2,200-mile tour to commence next week.  I rode through various treatments and was consistent in my efforts, and slowly increased my weekend long ride until I reached my goal of 75 miles.  In total, I have ridden 3,200 miles this year in preparation for the tour. 

Unfortunately, my immune system responded too well to the immunotherapy - it accomplished in 3 months what the doctors had hoped it would do in 12 months.  In and of itself that would be good news - but my super-charged immune system is now acting like a drunken sailor looking for a brawl.  It killed the enemy within me, and since it has no one left to fight it has commenced attacking my liver.  The therapy for that is to use drugs that tamp down my immune system - this has all occurred over the last several months, so it is still new and the doctors are reacting to each week's lab results and adjusting my drugs as needed.   

I still intended to do the tour in 2024 as planned, and had the support of my doctors to do so.  However, my compromised immune system is not playing nice - any bacteria that happens along can now take hold and grow before my weakened immune system can muster a response.  I was  hospitalized in July because of this - it happened suddenly, I went from noticing that I was getting ill to being too weak to even walk in 2 hours - it was no fun, but antibiotics administered by i.v. in the hospital did their job after a few days.  Still I planned to go on tour, and I tried to resume training after the hospitalization.  But it was just too much - despite all my training this year, I was too weak to even ride 20 miles.  And to be quite honest, at the moment I'm afraid of being in some isolated small town on tour and getting ill and not having an easy way to reach a large city hospital.  

So I have made the very difficult decision to postpone the tour once again.  This time is harder for me than last year - this time I am more concerned about my future ability to ever tour again.  It's definitely a psychological downer. But I will try.  I have a surgery and some procedures scheduled for this fall (they had been scheduled to take place after my now-cancelled tour), and I will recommence training afterwards (likely in late Nov or Dec).  Once again I will train for 4 - 6 months to get physically ready.  And maybe the 3rd time really will be a charm. 

All that is to say, once again; tour while you can.   Best wishes to all,

Buddy

George

I just read this entire forum page, which I hadn't noticed before.  I keep harping that I want to do 2 tours per year both to make up for lost time (when that trifecta of time, money, and health didn't occur) and while I still can, because who knows when something will happen...

I hope to see you posting about a fantastic tour next year.

Jacquie

Hi,

Hang in there, Buddy!

I’ve just gotten back on my bike as of last week, and I’m still too weak to do much more than go to the bakery in the morning, but hey, it’s a start. My last scan was negative, so that’s a relief. I am still taking an anti cancer drug, which leaves me with a lot of skin and digestive problems, but as we say “ c’est la vie”. Anyway, just to let you know, there’s still people in your corner waiting for the next round, cheering you on. Let’s keep our feet on the ground, our hopes up high, pray for rain and keep the humor dry!

Cheers mate,

Keith

Glad you’re back on the bike, Keith. Been thinking about you.

Tough decision, Buddy, but you know what you need to do. Here’s to a grand time next year.