adventure daily.
At some point last summer, probably on one of our early morning pre-chemo rides, I asked Whitney if she would have any interest in taking a bike trip with me in the spring. It was a hopeful thought, optimism that I'd be in remission and have regained enough fitness by then to be able to …
It was a little over a year ago that I discovered a lump in my armpit. They'd been really itchy -- my armpits, that is. I wasn't itchy anywhere else, so I thought I had developed a sensitivity to my deodorant. I switched brands, then quit wearing deodorant altogether for a while, but the itching …
October is one of my favorite months, and one in particular was extra special. We've had the most amazing weather the past couple of weeks, with plenty of 60-70 degree days and abundant sunshine. The leaves have been especially colorful and it's seemed like the foliage has lingered for a while. And I've continued on …
It's been almost two months since my last chemo treatment. The time has flown, and it's been an incredibly busy couple months -- selling two houses, buying a new house, moving, running an event, hiring and onboarding someone new at work and becoming a supervisor for the first time, and trying to soak in as …
I've fallen way behind on my original goal of writing a blog post for every round of chemo, but it's been a pretty busy past month and a half. Some of it has been an exhausted busy -- the 5th and 6th rounds of chemo were tougher than the rest both mentally and physically. But …
My fourth treatment has been the roughest yet, by a significant margin. The nausea came early and with a vengeance. By Friday evening, a few hours after treatment ended, I was horribly queasy, and nothing helped. I still refuse to take more meds than I have to, so the two bottles of anti-nausea pills remain …
I'm beginning to get used to my life being dictated by the chemo cycle. There are always unknowns, and each two week period between treatments has been a little different, but there has also been a level of consistency to hold on to. The first 4-5 days after each treatment are still a bit of …
Four days out from my second treatment, I couldn't imagine doing another three or more months of this. The side effects seemed a little more heightened than after the first time around. I'm not sure if they really were or if my expectations were different. I expected to feel bad the first time, and when …
My first chemo session (which, for lack of a better word, is what I’ll call the 2 weeks following each treatment) has been a breeze physically compared to what I expected. The day of treatment I started to feel a little weird a couple hours after my infusion ended. My stomach started to hurt and …
Mammoth Endurance Gravel had been on my radar all winter, so when Evan mentioned that he'd volunteered to sweep part of the course, I decided that would be my big spring ride. 140 miles and almost 15,000 feet of climbing -- not the longest ride I've ever done, but the most elevation gain in a …
helena kotala 