Slowly but surely!

While I'm still not sure what's going on with my throat and all, what I do not is that it's not GERD or stomach cancer.  It might be esophogeal spasms, it might not.  I'm kind of fed up with the medical system at this point in time as they've done a great job of telling me what my problem ISN'T, but not a whole lot about what it is.

So, while I wait, when whatever it is isn't flaring up, I'm running with my buddy, Sue and our dogs. We crawl out of our beds, get dressed and meet at the corner near our homes on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

At 4:30.

A.M.

Yup, that's right, 4:30 a.m.  It's the best time of day for us to run together and still have time to get showered, dressed and to work.  Sadly, she has a bit of a commute, so she doesn't get to catnap like I do before I go in. But, we get our 5 miles in and we're good.

A couple of mornings have been cancelled because my throat starts to spasm and it's going to be a rough one.  I can't hardly swallow when it hits, let alone breath, so I have to back out of the run.  This screws up my training schedule royally but I have to keep plugging away. When it feels good, I have to run, even if I don't run with Sue.

Saturday, I woke up, no pain, everything felt good, so with Maddie by my side and Carl on his bike, we hit the road and I was able to get in 6.17 miles before the road hit back.  Unfortunately, I forgot about all the hills in the route we took and by mile 3.5, I was sucking air so loudly, Carl could hear me without his hearing aids.  A couple drags on the albuterol inhaler, with short walk breaks as needed and boom, we were done. 

So, it's coming together.  Slowly, but time is stealing away from me so quickly. It's 4 weeks until the Light the Night walk and I have many more miles to run, many more dollars to raise. 

And it got a little personal last week.  My dad's first cousin, my second cousin, Larry, just announced that he's receiving chemo for lymphoma on his Facebook page.  I'm copying his status here:

Worked four days this week, hope to put in a full week next week. The week after Labor Day will be two days. I will work tuesday and wednesday and have my second Chemo. For those that don't know yet, trying to kill those bad cells in my lymphs. I was diagnosed with Lymphoma few weeks ago. No sympathy, no pity, maybe a prayer. There will be no changes on my part, still Larry. No time for anything else.

I remember Larry as this really "cool, older" cousin, who lived on the farm outside of Greenbush that our great-grandparents lived in until they moved to town.  He graduated from the same high school that my dad and I did, served time in the military, came back, married Nola and took up residence in the same farmhouse he grew up in.  I probably have more memories of that farm than I do of Larry because we were separated by a lot of years, but he and Jack, my dad's other first cousin, were still the "cool, older" cousins (until the Nelson cousins, Dale & Rick came to town.  They were from the city, so they were much, much cooler).  Dad had a lot of shared memories with Jack and Larry, sometimes he'd share them with us, sometimes they'd share memories of Dad.  I vaguely remember a wedding dance or two at Leo (aka St. Aloyius Catholic Church); Larry and Uncle Aulie getting up to do chores before school; the excitement when they got indoor plumbing and I think I can still hear the sound of Larry laughing at me when that damn goose would chase me into the outhouse prior to that new addition!

This is someone with whom I have some shared memories and some of the same genetic makeup.  It's not a child that I meet a few times a year or one of the many survivors I know or with whom I work.  It's family and family is everything.



And so I run.

Update

It's been so hard to run lately.  I've been dealing with a very disconcerting health issue.  It's a constant feeling of having something stuck in my throat and spasms in my chest. 

The first time it struck, I thought I was having a heart attack. A quick trip to the urgent care ruled it out and started off the first diagnosis of acid reflux/GERD.  Another episode led to a trip to the ER followed by a subsequent visit to my regular doctor before seeing the gastroenterologist who ruled out GERD.  More tests have been scheduled to determine if it's esophogeal spasms.  Until then, I'm stuck with this "issue" with no relief to be had. 
The feeling can strike at any time. It's hit during my runs and while I sleep. The pain can be quite disconcerting and all I can do is wait it out.  My running time has gone from 10:30 per mile to almost 13 minute miles. 

I have to keep going, I'm only at 40% of my goal and I need your encouragement more than ever.

Would you consider leaving a note? The name of a song to add to my playlist?  Of course, I'd love your donations but I'll take encouragement of any type.