It’s been a while! Several rides on a trainer when I’d normally have been outdoors; the transition from warmer weather to colder has not been kind to me, especially as I very gradually got rid of the hacking cough following the flu. That took about three weeks???!!! Even riding home, I couldn’t get very far without a severe hacking fit, and sometimes had to stop. It wasn’t fun, but that’s now in the past, thank Goodness. Had a really nice ride last Sunday with Kevin, Kevin and Mike-something, through the foothills the hilliest way, managing 3000+ feet of climbing without heading up to Skyline! I started out pretty slow but got stronger as things went on.

Tuesday morning I was pretty slow up Kings but we still did the full ride, including West Old LaHonda. Partly because… well, just because! Had to prove I could. And it was one of those rides where I felt a lot better at the end than the beginning.

Today we have Karen’s PET scan, to see if there’s evidence of her cancer anywhere in her body other than the tumor in her lung that was removed four weeks ago. Praying for a clean scan… from here on out, she’ll be getting an updated PET scan every three months, for the rest of her life. Talk about creating scheduled anxiety! But if we find something, that’s better than something being there that we didn’t find. Something to work with.

And then there’s my own crappy bone marrow issue, where my meds are now doing a number on my hematocrit (red blood cells), not just the platelets that need to be reduced in number. Hematocrit is now down to 37-something, a long ways from the 43-44 that would be normal for me, and the lower your hematocrit, the less oxygen is being carried to your muscles, which means… yeah… even slower climbing than before. After we get Karen’s stuff figured out, I’ll start working on my own issues again.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and yes, that means the annual Thanksgiving ride to the coast. Unfortunately not in shape to make it to Pescadero this year… just have to do a quick run out to San Gregorio and back Tunitas. Worst of all, San Gregorio store won’t even be open (they may or may not be open Thanksgiving, but if they are open, it wouldn’t be until 11am and we’ll be riding through earlier than that). Leaving from the Bakery in Woodside at 8:15am.

More later, after we get the results from the PET scan and talk with Karen’s doctor(s).