"Pimp Your Singlet" Party

On Tuesday night, my mentor hosted a "Pimp Your Singlet" party, complete with fabric pens, ribbons, puffy paints, and photos of our team honorees. I feel like I'm official now that my race jersey is all decked out!







Yippee! Can't wait!

"Pup" and Circumstance

Doggie classmates from left to right: Scooby, Chili, Fred, and Kuma (Fred's sister).

It was a big week for Fred! On Tuesday, he graduated from Puppy 2. We are such proud parents!!!


Today, we also took Fred to Tomales Bay State Park (Millerton Point), where he got to go off-leash for a bit and play in the marsh!!!






Only 1 more week left until my half-marathon! We've started tapering, which means no more long strenuous workouts until the actual race. Yesterday, it was a 35 minute run at Dillon Beach, also part of the Tomales Bay State Park.

Thanks for reading! Hope you all have a good week!

Brrrr!

Yesterday's run was at Point Isabel / Richmond Marina in the cold, WINDY weather. It didn't take us too much time to warm up though... and eventually, we ran our highest mileage to date: 10 miles! At mile 9.5 or so, as I was sprinting to the finish line, I felt as though my legs were totally detached from my body, like those Looney Toons cartoons where the Roadrunner's body is in focus, but his legs are just a blur ("mheep mheep").

When I got home, I took the advice of my running friends, and finally got up the courage to take an ice bath, which is supposed to reduce swelling and inflammation. For those of you who aren't familiar with ice baths, basically you fill a tub with cool water, then empty bags of ice into it and sit there for about 15 minutes. TORTURE! But, I'm finding today that maybe it's worth it... my legs feel pretty good!

Fred also seemed to enjoy the ice bath, but more for a nice, cool refreshing drink!

The Avenue of Giants half-marathon is just 2 weeks away! It's hard to believe that it's so close! Can't wait!

Inspiration point?

Yesterday, Carey and Nick (my TNT friend Angela's husband) graciously volunteered to be the water boys at yesterday's Coach Run. Carey very fondly nicknamed their water stop "inspiration point". Those of you who know Carey may understand the humor... In any case, I just wanted to thank Carey and Nick for getting up at 6:00 AM so that they could "hand out" water for 4 hours in the hot sun.

I ran 9 miles yesterdayat the San Leandro Marina! We have one more 10 mile run next weekend before we start tapering down. I can't believe that there are only 20 days left before the race! Yikes!

Just a reminder that if you haven't donated, it's not to late! Please visit my fundraising site... THANKS!

Fred also had a bunch of puppy play dates this weekend. Last night, Lucy (who is so big now!)came over, and today we went for a walk with Heather and Nico around Lake Merritt.

Fred and Lucy

Fred and Nico at Lake Merritt

Off leash & Off treatment!

Last Sunday morning, we went on a hike with my TNT mentor (Sarah), her friends (Kieran and Jane), and 2 dogs (Timm and Granite) at Redwood Regional Park in Oakland. It was a nervous moment when we let Fred off-leash for the first time ever during the hike, but he did a GREAT job recalling and staying with the pack. Thanks, Timm and Granite!!! I don't think he would have done it without you two!

Here are some pictures...

On Sunday afternoon, I also went to an End-of-Treatment party for a patient who I took care of during my intern year of residency. Three years later and several inches taller, Cameron has now BEAT leukemia!!! Congratulations, Cameron!

Here's a picture of me, Cameron and Carla, the Child Life Specialist who also works at Kaiser. She's also training for the Avenue of the Giants half-marathon with Team in Training.


One of the most striking things on display at Cameron's party was his Beads of Courage necklace. During his 3 years of treatment, he got a different bead for each course of chemotherapy, bone marrow aspirate, lumbar puncture, surgery, hospital stay, etc. that he had braved. Would you believe that his necklace was over 10 feet long?!?!? It really put into perspective all that cancer patients have to endure during treatment...




Beads of Courage Color Guide
Beige - Bone marrow aspirate / biopsy
White - Course of chemotherapy
Orange - Central line/Port/PICC line insertion & removal
Blue - Clinic visit
Magenta - Emergency/Ambulance/Unusual occurrence
Brown - Hair loss/thinning
Lime - Isolation/Fever/Neutropenia
Tortoise - Lumbar puncture
Purple - Morphine/Dopamine/PCA infusions
Silver & Black - Pokes (IV starts, blood draws, IM injections, port access)
Glow in the Dark - Radiation treatments
Light green - Tests/scans (EEG, ECG, ECHO, MRI, CT, bone scan, gallium, etc.)
Red - Transfusions
Aqua - Tube insertions (catheter, chest, NG, Foley)
Yellow - Inpatient admission
Dark green - Stem cell harvest/Dialysis/TPN
Silver - Surgery and dressing changes
Square heart - Transfer to PICU
Special glass beads - Act of courage
Special selection - Special accomplishments and recognition
Glass selection - Bone marrow transplant
Purple heart - Completion of treatment

In other exciting news, our friends Heather and Gian just rescued a black cocker spaniel mix who they've named Nico. Pictures of him to come soon...

Busy day!

Today was the first day that I missed a group run with Team in Training. :( Because we had an appointment to take Fred to his first resource training appointment with Sandra Mannion of The Village Dog, I couldn't make it to the mentor led run at the Alameda Creek. Instead, I ran two laps around Lake Merritt (= 6.4 miles), plus walked to and from our house to the lake (an additional 1 mile or so) all by my lonesome. I must say... long runs are much more enjoyable when you have friends to run and chat with!

We also stopped by my friend Sruti's house to see her and her adorable dog Buckley, who was recently diagnosed with metastatic perianal adenocarcinoma. He's a little bit weaker, but has incredible spirit, and was able to go on a walk with all of us today. I'll think of him too before my training runs.

A few recent pictures of Fred:


Fred (right) and his brother Rufus (left)


Fred chewing on his new octopus toy

By the way, I got a shout-out in the last team manager's email for being a fundraising superstar! To date, I have raised over $6000, which I think is more than anyone else on the East Bay Bay Side team! I feel a little bit like a fraud because it's all of you who have donated who should be getting the credit! So, THANK YOU for being so supportive of me and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society!!!

If you haven't donated, it's not too late... my fundraising deadline is Thursday, April 17. To donate, please go to my fundraising website. Thanks for your support!!!

Honorees

Every season, each team picks a few people to recognize as their team honorees. Our team has 6 honorees, each which who have had very personal experiences with blood cancers or lymphomas. Here they are in no particular order...

Louis Lai

Diagnosed with multiple myeloma in August 2004, Louis is now 2 years cancer-free after receiving a second stem cell transplant. Besides being a cancer survivor, Louis is also amazing because he is on our run team, training to run either the Avenue of the Giants Half-Marathon or the San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon! I've had the pleasure of running with Louis and have found out that underneath his somewhat shy personality is a very kind soul.

Michael Friedman

In July 2000, Michael was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), just 4 months after running his 5th marathon. Since then, he has been placed on 4 different drugs and now has been in remission since February 2004. As a cancer "survivor" (he refuses to be called a cancer patient), he continues to run endurance events, including 3 additional marathons and 2 more half-marathons.

Cole Regan

Cole was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) at just 7 weeks of age in December 2002. After undergoing several rounds of chemotherapy, blood transfusions, antibiotics, ventilator support, and more than 75 procedures (surgery, imaging requiring anesthesia, bone marrow aspirations, etc.), unfortunately, Cole took his last breath in July 2004 after sustaining 3 strokes. However, Cole's memory lives on in Cole's mom, Brandy, who continues to be a "honoree mom" for Team in Training.

Brenda Donato

Brenda was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in February 2005. After 3 months in the hospital and receiving a stem-cell transplant, she became very active with Team in Training, and eventually went on to complete 1 marathon, 1 half-marathon, 1 triathlon, and was training for another half-marathon with TNT before passing away in April 2007.

Brenda was an avid blogger and documented her life on My Space.

She is also being remembered in the Brenda Donato Rainbow 5K Fun Run and Walk on April 13, 2008 in Walnut Creek, CA.

Michael Parrott

Matt is currently a Ph.D. student at UC Berkeley in Philosophy. He was diagnosed with Stage 4 Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma in July 2007. He is currently in remission.

Adrianna Tucker

Adrianne was 9 years old when she was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). Now at age 11, she is doing much better and enjoys playing soccer and doing karate. She is a true inspiration as she continues to help raise funds for Children's Hospital Oakland. If she could do anything in the world, she would "save all the animals and end the war".

In addition to our team honorees, thank you to all of you who have given me names of your loved ones so that I may run in their honor. I think of them before every run when we do our team "shout-outs" and moment of silence.

And even though I cannot list all my patients' names because of hospital confidentiality laws, they are a constant reminder and motivation for my runs...