Two Weeks in Wisconsin

I recently had the pleasure of traveling for two weeks. Technically I was gone for 11 days, but it felt like 20. My new company has an office in Wisconsin and was bringing all of the sales reps out for training. Since I'm new to the company and still learning as well, I joined the group for the whole training session. 

Um - Good to Know Guns Must be Kept in Your Car

My Two Weeks in Training

I had the opportunity to fly back home to San Diego over the weekend between the two weeks of training, but decided to stay in Wisconsin for the weekend instead to visit my family in Madison which was a 90 minute drive away. I hadn't been to Wisconsin since I was 4 years old back when my cousin David got married. Its been about *cough* 20 years or so since then and my cousin has grown children of his own, two of whom are married themselves now. I was looking forward to the opportunity to see family that I hadn't seen in years, and also meet family members I've only gotten to know on facebook. See? Facebook is actually good for something.

Picture of My Dad & Uncle on the Family Photo Wall

Little Monika - I Look Unimpressed

On Saturday my family took me to the farmer's market in downtown Madison. I was told that this farmer's market is known as one of the oldest and largest in the country. I was amused by the difference in vendors at this farmer's market in comparison to the ones I've seen in California. The farmer's markets here are almost entirely filled with produce since we have the luxury of year-round favorable weather. At this farmer's market, occurring at the very end of winter, the vendors were mostly cheese, meat, cheese, plants, and cheese. Did I mention they had cheese? 

Freezing at the Farmer's Market

I saw cheese curds in person for the first time but as a life-long cheese hater I had no desire to try them out. Advertised to "squeak" as you eat them? Um, even less appealing.

Squeaky Fresh Cheese Curds

After the farmer's market my cousin Sarah took me, my other cousin, and her daughter on a little Wisconsin sight-seeing trip. We went to visit one of the most famous landmarks in the state - the House on the Rock! She had tried to explain what this attraction was before we got there, but upon starting the tour I realized why the explanation was so unclear. The House on the Rock was um .... a weird house with a museum of random "collections" of everything you could imagine. Complete with a carousel, automated musical instrument scenes, and various bizarre knickknacks. 

Collection of Strange Guns

One of Many Pipe Organs That Played

Horse Drawn Carriage

Collection of Model Trains and Railroad Certificates

Walking through the tour of the whole house and the museum almost took two hours! Darn, should've worn my Garmin so I could log the miles. :o) jk  The tour was bizarre but interesting, and if you're ever in the area I recommend checking it out.

Collection of Toy Cars

Collection of Burma Shave Signs

A Car Completely Covered in Ceramic Tiles ... Why??

Collection of Crown Jewels Replicas

That night we had a 15 person family dinner at my aunt's house. It was quite an impressive feast! I had happened to visit the family on the weekend of my aunt's birthday so not only did we have a family dinner at her house that night, the next day we had a birthday lunch at my cousin's house as well.

Panoramic Family Photo Attempt

Complete with "Twin" Babies

Serving Bowl My Dad Gave My Aunt/Uncle as a Wedding Gift 50ish Years Ago!

Happy Birthday Aunt Barbara!

After a fun weekend with the family it was back to West Allis and back to training. Checking back into the hotel for the second week was much sadder than it was for the first week. Being greeted with a warm chocolate chip cookie (signature of the Doubletree brand) wasn't even that exciting the second time around. The next few days went pretty quickly and I even had the chance to see an old friend while I was in town. 

A former coworker of mine who I worked with in San Jose at my first job right out of college had relocated back to Wisconsin years ago. We had kept in touch via facebook (thanks again facebook!) but hadn't seen each other in 12 years! Talk about time flying. I had been complaining on facebook about the lack of fresh vegetables I had been able to eat for the past week aside from the meals my family had prepared and Pete was nice enough to scour the Internet for a more appealing option for me. I've been trying to eat vegan for the past few months and let me just tell you this - eating vegan on the road, especially while in Wisconsin is near impossible. Even options that are vegetarian aren't something I can eat since the restaurants usually replace meat with tons of cheese ... which I hate. 

Engineer Reunion Dinner

Fortunately there was a vegan restaurant only about 10 minutes away from my hotel. Fresh vegetables, noodles, and green juice? I was in heaven!

Noodles, Tempeh, and Veggies - Oh My!

My 11 days in Wisconsin soon came to an end and I was able to escape the freezing cold weather and snow (yep, it snowed while I was there!) to head back to San Diego. I actually left training a day and a half early because I had to be back in town for one of my bi-monthly scheduled blood tests. Thanks cancer!

Thank You Gift Basket My Company Sent David

Consolation Prize for My Absence

I couldn't leave the state without purchasing some cheese head gear though. Although I can't stand cheese, I'm slightly enamored with cheese heads. They're so cute!! I spent about 15 minutes in the gift shop trying to decide if I should buy my dad a cheese baseball cap, cheese head beer coozie, or a cheese necktie. In the end I decided to be practical and took a picture of the items I shouldn't buy because they'll just end up in a closet somewhere, and bought little cheese magnets. You'll get yours next month Dad!

Foam Cheese - What's Not To Love?

Being away from home for 11 days for work was no fun, but getting to see my family was a really great experience. Thank you Carlson family for the hospitality!

Integrative Oncology

Since the beginning of the year I have been trying to move my diet more and more towards a plant-based diet.  A plant-based diet is essentially a vegan diet, but one where you make sure you eat mostly plant-based food versus just eating anything that falls under the "vegan" label. Vegan cookies and other processed foods are NOT a staple in a plant-based diet. Most of my motivation to eat a plant-based diet has come from my desire to do more for myself to help increase my chances of beating brain cancer. I've been reading more and more about how alternative therapies including supplements and significant changes in diet have helped some people beat cancer and its something I'm totally willing to try. It can't hurt right? I feel like I have little to lose. 

Vegan Lunch - Quinoa, Veggies, & Tempeh

One of my struggles so far with moving towards a plant-based diet is that I'm not sure what to eat. Eat vegetables - okay I get that, but how do I eat them to form a complete meal that is filling and nutritious? I've been eating a high-protein diet for so long with the primary focus of each meal being on meat and carbs and changing that has really been a challenge. My friend Devika pointed me towards the website Veg-Appeal recently though which listed vegan cooking classes that were offered not too far from my house. Score! While I was looking around on the Veg-Appeal website I also saw a posting about an event that was being held at UCSD called Integrative Oncology 2013 put on by the UCSD Center for Integrative Medicine. I had never heard of Integrated Medicine or Integrated Oncology, and had no idea that UCSD even offered something like that! 

In Lecture - Getting My Learn On

About the Center for Integrated Medicine:

The Center for Integrative Medicine operates virtually across UC San Diego’s departments and divisions, focusing on whole-person wellness by addressing your physical, as well as lifestyle, emotional, psychological and spiritual needs. We offer clinical and specialty care, group classes, education, research, and overall, an integrative, whole-person philosophy to medicine.

About the Integrative Oncology Conference

Join national experts, health professionals, cancer survivors, and community members in a landmark event hosted by the UC San Diego Center for Integrative Medicine:  Integrative Oncology 2013. This conference discusses the complex relationship between tumor, host, and dietary, lifestyle, and environmental factors, and what can be done to foster an “anti-cancer” diet and lifestyle to help rectify imbalances and reduce the drivers of cancer.  Integrative Oncology addresses all aspects of cancer care, using evidence from cancer epidemiology, basic science, and clinical research – together with the ancient wisdom of natural healing systems such as Chinese medicine and Ayurveda.

This was exactly what I had been looking for since I had started treatment! Sure I believe that radiation and chemo are my best bets for killing my tumor, but this whole time I've really felt that there must be something more that I could do to become an active participant in my treatment and to do the best I can for my body as it goes through this fight. Thanks to the generosity of the mAss Kickers foundation I was able to attend the two-day conference with two other cancer survivors, one who founded the organization. 

Kicking mAss - One Day at a Time

The conference kicked off with a session on "The Role of Diet in the Development of Cancer" by T. Colin Campbell, author of The China Study which is featured in the movie Forks Over Knives. I've had several friends recommend his book to me and I was able to buy it and get it signed right at the conference! 

With Author and Scientist T. Colin Campbell

Some of the other sessions for the day were:

• Dietary Prevention of Cancers of the Breast, Prostate, and Colon
• Role of the Mind in Cancer Development
• Putting Prevention Into Practice (information from the Natural Healing & Cooking program)
• The Chinese Medical Approach to Cancer
• Dietary & Mind-Body Combined Intervention
• Naturopathic Therapeutics for Cancer

The sessions were really interesting to me and even empowering. It made me feel like there is more that I can do! I'm not helpless in this treatment process and there are natural interventions which have been proven to be effective in cancer care. Are any of these things going to be the magic potion that cures me of cancer? Who knows, maybe not. But they can't hurt and its worth me trying.

For the second day there were a variety of other interesting topics that were presented:

• Use of Integrative Medicine in Pediatric Oncology and in Bone Marrow Transplant Patients
• Biofield Therapies in Cancer Care
• Cannabis in Pain and Palliative Care
• Overview of Integrative Modalities in the Support of Cancer Patients
• Self-Expression to Promote Cancer Wellness
• The Essential Role of Community in Cancer Care

All of these sessions seemed to reinforce that there is so much more that you can do on top of just taking your chemo. There are things you can do to relax, reduce stress, address side effects, and improve your overall health which can hopefully improve your cancer outcome. I'm thrilled to find out that UCSD has an Integrative Medicine Center which focuses on the patient as a whole, and I'm looking forward to consulting with a doctor there.

"For any condition considered 'incurable' at this time, 

an answer may be around the corner"

Since the end of last year I've been under the care of a Naturopathic Oncologist and a Homeopathic Doctor in Arizona. (We talk by phone once a month.) I've been taking a round of supplements daily to help fight the side effects of radiation and chemo, and to hopefully work together with my chemo to kill as much of my brain tumor as possible. I've given my neurooncologist the first right of refusal on all of this treatment from the start, didn't take anything during radiation per his wishes, and have kept him informed of everything that has been recommended to me that I'm taking. Several of the supplements I'm taking are "normal" supplements I've taken before (multi-vitamin, fish oil, etc), and others are ones that are currently being studied on brain tumors with promising results. Curcumin (PubMed Article), boswellia (PubMed Article), and quercitin (PubMed Article) to name a few. 

I've received a good amount of criticism from a handful of people on the validity of this care which completely annoys me. I'm still following the direction of my neurooncologist and taking chemo as prescribed, I'm not taking any wacko supplements which aren't known to be safe, and by pursuing these alternative treatments I feel like an active participant in saving my life. I'm following the treatment which is proven to do the best for me pharmaceutically ... but that treatment isn't believed to ever cure me of cancer, it will just buy me some time. If this was your life, wouldn't you want to do more too? Sure I miss eating bacon for breakfast, but not as much as I miss being healthy and cancer free. And that's something I plan to be someday. People out there beat the odds everyday with cancer. I'm doing what I can to be one of those people.

Guest Post: Hope in a Difficult Situation

Recently a cancer caregiver reached out to me via my blog wanting to share the story of his wife's battle with cancer. Diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2005, she was given 3-12 months to live. It has now been 7 1/2 years since her diagnosis and she is doing great! I love hearing stories of hope like this since I have a cancer that is considered "incurable", and I've been given little hope of living a long and cancer free life. This doesn't mean though that I do not have hope - I am filled with hope that I will some day be cancer free and I'm doing what I can to prepare for that to happen. People beat the odds with cancer everyday, so why can't I?

Hope in a Difficult Situation

My wife Heather and I will always have the date November 21, 2005 etched into our minds. Unfortunately, this was the day that Heather was diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma, and it was the day I began the job of caring for a cancer patient. Three months prior to Heather’s diagnosis, we celebrated the birth of our daughter Lily. We were looking forward to her first Christmas with us, but instead of celebrating that year, we began a fight to save Heather’s life.

Even before we left the doctor’s office, I understood how difficult my new job would be. After our doctor gave us a little background about mesothelioma, he informed us of our treatment options. We could either go to a local hospital, a regional hospital, or a mesothelioma specialist in Boston. We opted to go with Dr. David Sugarbaker, the mesothelioma specialist. I knew that if my wife were to have any chance of surviving this disease, she would need the best care possible.  I could only pray that this specialist in Boston could help her.

Over the next two months, our lives were turned upside down. Before Heather was diagnosed with this awful disease, we both held full-time jobs. After the diagnosis, Heather could not work, and I could only work part-time. I also was responsible for Heather and our daughter Lily. This was an overwhelming experience, and I often found myself dwelling on the worst case scenario, despite my best efforts to stay positive. I often feared that Heather would die, we would become broke, and I would have to raise Lily all alone. As a result, I would often break down and cry alone. But, whenever I was around Heather, I would never shed a tear. I knew that Heather depended on me to be the strong one, and the last thing she needed was to see my fears.

Heather and I had many family, friends, and even strangers to help us during this time. Many offered comforting words, and others offered financial assistance. I always encourage other cancer caregivers to use all the help that is offered to them. It will allow you to realize that you are not going through this by yourself, but you have people who care about you.

Being a cancer caregiver is an extremely difficult job, and you will definitely experience many different negative emotions. However, this is a job that you cannot simply quit; therefore, you have to remember to hold on to the hope that everything will get better.

The odds were against Heather, but after months of painful treatments, she beat this disease. It has been seven years since she was diagnosed with mesothelioma, but Heather is still cancer free today.

After going through this situation, I understand how precious every minute can be. Two years after Heather’s diagnosis, I found myself working full-time, caring for our daughter, and being a full-time Information Technology student.

Being a cancer caregiver prepared me to return to school. I had learned a lot about stress and time management, and with those skills I graduated with high honors and was asked to be a graduation speaker. During my graduation speech, I told the audience and my classmates that five years earlier, I would have never dreamed that my life would turn out as it did. My wife taught me that within each of us is the strength to accomplish incredible things.  As long as we believe in ourselves, and never stop fighting, we can achieve anything.

- Cameron

LA Marathon - Powered By Chemo

Its been about two weeks since I ran my last marathon. I still can't believed it happened! This was my 19th marathon ever, but first marathon while battling brain cancer. I ran this race fresh off my new peak dose of chemo, ready for whatever my body was capable of, and aware that I might not make it to the finish line due to chemo fatigue. 

Thanks to years of marathon training though, a lot of determination, the support of my amazing friend Tara, and the grace of God, we finished the race side by side 5 hours and 24 minutes later. This was my slowest marathon ever, but the most fulfilling.

I could blather on endlessly about how amazing this race was and how happy I am that I ran, but I'll just let these pictures tell the story.

Wonder Woman Outfit Ready to Go!

Tutu by Glam Runner

Picking up my Number at the Expo

Race Morning - Ready to Run

"Powered by Chemo"

and

"Impossible Things Happen Every Day"

Students Run LA Kids

Some of them were as young as 13!

First Photo Checkpoint - Mile 5

Bumped into SF Marathon Ambassador Laura

Mile 10 - Almost Halfway Done

Bumped into Glam Runner Norma - Go Tutus!

Glam Heroes Cheer Station at Mile 11

Look Who Made it to Mile 15? We Did!

Super Girl Showing off her Flying Skills

Mile 20 - Seriously? We're almost done!

Photo with Firemen, Why Not?

Mile 26 - Nothing but Victory From Here to the Finish

Met Another Wonder Woman Cheering on the Course

A Third Wonder Woman Joined Us for the Picture

Approaching the Finish Line

These Moments Make it All Worth It!

LA Marathon 2013 - WE DID IT!!!

And so did the guy with the box of Krispy Kremes??

Happy Finishers - Can't Smile Much Bigger

My Favorite Fan - David Showed up at SIX Locations

My Awesome Support Crew - Cousin Giselle, Christina, & David

Love my SF/LA Marathon Challenge Medal

It's hard to believe its been almost two weeks since the marathon. I wish it hadn't passed yet so I could experience the day all over again! I had so much fun running in costume through the streets of LA, and each mile that I ran made me feel more and more like my old self and let me believe for just a few hours that I was a strong and healthy person, not a cancer patient.  Huge thanks go out to my friend Tara for running with me. She trained with me for months, ran as slow as I needed to, walked whenever I asked, and never complained once. Her selfless attitude really made this whole experience possible for me, and I couldn't have run without her. Also huge thanks to David for spending the morning driving from one spot to another on the course and for showing up and making me smile six different times. I also loved seeing my marathon wifey Christina at a couple spots on the course, and my cousin Giselle at the finish.

Next up on my calendar is the San Francisco Half Marathon in June, and then mayyybeeeee Tara and I will run the Long Beach Marathon in October. I'm already at marathon #19 - might as well run one more and get to marathon #20!

Marathon #19 - On Chemo

Tomorrow I will be running the LA Marathon! On chemo! Okay, well not technically on chemo - I took my last pill for this round on Monday night. Even though its been almost a week, I still feel the effects. I'm on chemo 5 days a month, and then get the next 23 days to recover. I usually feel pretty tired during the two weeks after the chemo, enjoy several days of feeling "normal" again ... and then its time to start the next round.

LA Marathon 2006

Marathon #4 on my 4 year anniversary of racing!
First race was the Mercury Times 10K in 2002.

Last year before I was diagnosed with a brain tumor I was in the middle of training for the Marine Corps Marathon. I had run marathons #17 and #18 earlier in the year, Carlsbad (recap) and San Francisco (recap), and was planning to run #19 and #20 in October and December. Well, life had other plans and my training came to a screeching halt and I soon found myself in the hospital for brain surgery, followed by radiation and chemo for six weeks. As soon as I was cleared to run post-surgery, I started to go for easy 3-4 mile runs in Balboa Park. The more I ran, the more I felt like my old self. After a few weeks, the idea of running marathon #19 crept back into my head. I thought about it for a while and looked at what races were coming up next year and decided on the LA Marathon in March. 

First Long Run with GOTR Friends

In December I officially started training for the LA Marathon and started up with my Saturday long runs. As always, life had other plans. Chemo was pretty rough on me in January and I barely got off the couch for two weeks. February was much better but still had me out for a full week. I'm proud to say that in March though .. I ran throughout the whole month! Granted I missed a lot of training runs here and there since I was starting a new job and had less time in the morning thanks to a terrible commute, but I was still out there.

Mermaid Half Marathon - My First On-Chemo Race

There are so many reasons why I want to run the LA Marathon. First and foremost, its because I love running and I love running marathons. The second reason is because I feel like marathon #19 was stolen from me by cancer, and I want to take it back. Other reasons? I don't know, there are so many. Being able to run regularly makes me feel invincible, it makes me feel like I don't have an "incurable" cancer, and it makes me feel like anything is possible.

16 Mile Run - Furthest Since My Diagnosis

20 Mile Run - Unstoppable!

If you told me 10 years ago that I could run a marathon I would have thought you were crazy. It seemed as impossible to me as lifting a car with my bare hands. In the past 7 years though I've managed to do what I thought was impossible 18 times, and hopefully 19 after this weekend. Running has been an amazing part of my life, and I think it has conditioned me to face my new life challenges with cancer with more hope and determination. When you're tired, you keep going. When you doubt yourself, you try to dig deep and push further. If you think a goal is out of reach, try to create a plan for how you're going to get there, and then go for it.

LA/SF Marathon Challenge Medal - Getting Mine Sunday!

LA Marathon Outfit - Powered By Chemo

Tutu by Glam Runner

Tomorrow I'll be running the LA Marathon to prove to myself yet again that nothing is impossible. Its going to be a slow race for me, but one of the most meaningful. If you want to track my progress you can sign up for text or email alerts online here. If you're up early, say a prayer for me. And if you're out on the course, give me and Tara a high five!

Cheering at the San Diego Half Marathon

My LA Marathon Story

Next weekend on March 17th I'm planning on running the LA Marathon. This marathon means more to me than any other marathon I have ever run. (Well except possibly my first one.)

I was on the LA Marathon website recently and saw that you could submit your story. I immediately wanted to share my story in case it helps others going through something similar. When diagnosed with cancer it is easy to give up on life and stop living. I refuse to do that though and have kept on living my life - with a huge part of my life being running. I may be slow now, but I'm still out there.

My Marathon Story:

Last fall I was training for my 3^rd marathon in 2012 and my 19^th marathon ever when I received terrible news. The headaches I had been experiencing for the past six months weren’t from a neck sprain, stress, or some other “normal” condition. They were being caused by a brain tumor. Just a few days after completing a 16-mile long run, I was in the hospital discussing a treatment plan for the next few months. As the neurologist talked to me about surgery, radiation, and chemo, one of the first things I asked him was if he thought I could still run the Marine Corps Marathon the following month. He looked at me dumbstruck for a minute before telling me  “No, don’t plan on it. You’re going to be very busy.”

Busy meant a number of things. I was in the hospital two weeks later for brain surgery. Due to the location of the tumor it could not be removed surgically, so the course of treatment for me would be radiation and chemo. The purpose of my surgery was to biopsy the tissue and to install a shunt to drain the fluid that was building up in my brain and causing my headaches. Following the surgery I wasn’t allowed to be physically active for a month. A whole month! The month was difficult to wait out but I made it through the month …. Only to be confronted with radiation and chemo as soon as I was “recovered”. 

When I first consulted with the radiation oncologist and we discussed the course of treatment, he warned me that most people ended up on disability by the end of the six weeks and weren’t able to work. I was scared by this possibility but I was still hopeful. I had made it through my surgery with flying colors and recovered faster than expected, so maybe this would be the same. Fortunately I was right! I was able to work throughout the six-week period AND I was able to continue running 4-5 times a week. As I continued to run throughout my treatment I started to think about running marathon #19 – the marathon that had been taken away from me. After looking at a few races in the area I set my eyes on the LA marathon. I ran LA once before in 2006 and loved it. I had also run the San Francisco Marathon in 2012 so running LA in 2013 would qualify me for the LA/SF Marathon Challenge medal.  I talked to one of my favorite crazy marathon friends who is always down to race with me to see if she’d run LA with me, by my side. She was in!

Although I left radiation treatment behind me in 2012, chemo is still a part of my life. I’m currently on a 5 days on / 23 days off regimen for 2013 and possibly 2014.  During the chemo week and part of the week following, I’m pretty tired. At times I’m not just tired, I’m exhausted. If I’m able to run, I’m running pretty slowly. I get winded really easily now and need to take frequent walk breaks, but I’m happy to just be able to get out there. I PR’d in the marathon in December 2011 with a 3:57. After years and years of trying, I was finally able to break 4 hours! In my current state I’ll be happy to finish the LA Marathon in under 6 hours. Training has been difficult and my long runs have been incredibly slow, but getting myself out there helps me prove to myself that I can still do things in life that I could do before my diagnosis. Running is a huge part of my life that I don’t want to give up. Running marathons is a part of who I am.

Throughout my treatment and training this year I wasn’t even sure I’d make it to the start line of the LA Marathon. If I do, I’m not sure I will make it to the finish. I will have one of my closest friends running and walking by my side the whole way, and I can’t wait for us to get to the finish next Sunday, regardless of the time on the finish clock. LA Marathon – my brain tumor and I are coming for you!