Yes, I was supposed to do it last year.
No, I had to defer it to this year.
Yes, something happened.
I'm excited to be teaming up again this year for my Ironman Wisconsin race with the BASE Performance Team, 5 awesome years and counting as a team member! I am also excited to announce that this year I'll be part of another team, the 2019 FXCK Cancer Triathlon Team. Yep. Thats right. FXCK CANCER!
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| Five Years and counting.... |
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| Year One...Looking forward to raising money for Cancer. |
All I can say, is it's been one hell of a last 10 months. I have debated for quite awhile how much I wanted to share. And honestly, only a handful of people actually know that this even happened. Even some of my closest friends don't know. But ultimately, I have come to realize that....if my story gets just one person to go get screened early for cancer, then sharing my story is 100% worth it.
My Story: The short version (Ha... okay...My version)
The last few years- (2014 to Present)
* I have been having on and off constant pain in my back (thinking it's my old back injury getting worse with my bulging discs, etc.)
*What felt like excessive fatigue (which I chalked up to Ironman training)
* Then crazy period pain the last few years, specifically lower right quadrant pain (unofficially diagnosed as possible endometriosis, with plans for exploratory surgery after IM WI 18).
*I even went to the Urgent Care in 2017 while in Reno on travel assignment due to pretty significant right sided pain, which had been happening for several months a few days after my period. With no real official diagnosis except.... possible kidney stones.
Then when I moved to Fort Bragg for my next travel assignment and I started my training for IM WI 2018. I continued to have increased back pain, with abdominal cramping, and constant fatigue.
I had (what I thought) a sinus infection that knocked me out in April. I got antibiotics, felt better for a week or two, then, I was back to feeling the same. I went back for a follow up with my doctor, got blood work, which all came back normal.
But, I had this nagging feeling that something else had to be going on. That's when I noticed a small amt of blood in my stool. When I brought it up to the doctor for the follow up from my sinus infection and still feeling crappy, it was politely/respectfully brushed off as possible hemorrhoids.
I spoke to a local GI doc who I became friends with here, who agreed with all the comments above, but suggested for peace of mind, to have my doctor request a FIT test. An at home test, where you collect a sample and get it tested. If it came back clean, I could relax and get tested when I was 50, the recommended pre-screened age for colon cancer. So, thankfully, my doctor listened to my concerns (see below) and agree to it.
I discussed my medical history about my concerns with having my gallbladder removed and the only other person in my family history was my Grandma Dodge, who I'm essentially a genetic twin. She died in her 70s from colon cancer, approx. ten years after her gallbladder was removed.
If I am honest, this has always lingered in the back of my mind for many years, ever since mine was removed in 2010. While I was told it had to be an immediate family member to consider it a genetic connection (research shows, it's now only 15% genetic, and it's more related to diet). I am honestly not fully convinced. My symptoms were only a few of the many that were signs and symptoms of colon cancer.
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| My Awesome 1992 Graduation Photo |
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| My Grandma(and Grandpa) Dodge at their 1929 Graduation Photo |
My training at this time was slowly getting less. I'd have two good days of training, feeling great, and then three days where I would just want to sleep and barely make it out of bed. Cycle repeat. One week, two weeks, repeat cycle. Weekends were the hardest because by then, I was exhausted from the whole week of training and barely could get motivation to get on the bike. I was scheduled to race a 1/2 Marathon at the Ave of the Giants up in the Redwoods on May 6th. At this point, I had ran/swam/biked exactly 6 times in the last 2 1/2 weeks leading up to the race. I was not sure I should do it, but I woke up on race day, felt good, so I decided to just make it a training run/race. Only to have one of my best times ever in my career. Running a PR, beating my best 1/2 Marathon time from 2014 by 5 minutes. I was on cloud nine!!! Until I wasn't three days later. More symptoms arrived, more results arrived that gave me a clear indication that something was wrong.
I was scheduled for a colonoscopy at the end of May. The worst day of my life became this day, because I was diagnosed with a 2" tumor in my large intestine. The rest was a blur, I was set up the following week for a consult with a surgeon down in San Francisco, who essentially prepared me for worst case scenario, while he couldn't "technically" say until the final results were back, he could see by the scans/pictures that he felt positive it most likely was some stage of CA. he talked potential options with chemo vs radiation depending on the stage. We talked about joining a research study for individualized genetic testing for customizing the chemo, set up more doctor appointments, pre-blood testing, pre-surgery appt to clear me for surgery, CT scans to scan for CA in the rest of my body, more blood work to look for cancer markers, more doctor appts, more medical bills, more testing, etc., etc.
The amount of anxiety, panic, fear, depression, anger, disbelief can never fully be understood unless you are truly suddenly right smack dab in the middle of it. Staring at potential life altering moments can really put everything pretty quickly into perspective. I can fully appreciate how some people go completely crazy with their actions, doing things you think are very out of the ordinary for them. I've always read about it, listened to my patients talk about it and try to understand some of it as an OT when helping patients. But man...there really are no words.
I was scheduled for surgery in early July at a hospital in San Francisco. My co-worker dropped me off, two days before surgery, because surgery prep is just as bad a colonoscopy prep. (I won't bore you with how expensive that Super 8 was in San Fran). I ubered it that morning to the hospital, and I had surgery to remove the tumor from my large intestine. About 1/3 of my large intestine also had to be removed. I spent four days in the hospital before my friend picked me up and drove me home, where I spent 3 weeks recovering before I was able to slowly get back to work. Bless my boss who not only helped me during this time, but also allowed me to come back and work in out patient, where I could work with my restrictions for the next 6 weeks. My co-workers for putting up with my crazy mood swings. And my recruiter and his wife, who were nothing short of amazing with helping me do anything they could to help me through this process as a traveling therapist.
Luckily, my guardian angel was watching over me. My doctor called me the following week after surgery with the results. The tumor was essentially benign. Meaning, while it was pre-cancerous, and it was caught in time. I would not need to do anything, just a follow up in three years. My surgeon said that he was honestly stunned, and very happy that his was completely wrong. Thankfully, I am one of the lucky ones, because I pushed to get prescreened early, then have surgery that I needed to remove the tumor. I. Saved. My. Life. If I waited until I was 50, my story could of had a very different ending.
March is Colon Cancer Awareness Month. Along with being my Birthday Month, it now holds even more special meaning to me. I hope you will forgive me, but you are going to see more statistics and information then you ever thought possible in your entire life on Colon Cancer Awareness and getting Pre-screened. Like I said earlier, if my story gets just one person to go get screened early for cancer, then sharing my story is 100% worth it. If anyone has questions, please feel free to contact me privately, and I'll answer anything I can. So yeah, This time it's personal.
For those that may be curious.....I was ok'd by the surgeon to race my 70.3 IM in Wisconsin in June. But, for obvious reasons, my full in September was officially out. I was able to request a deferral thankfully, with the plan to do it in 2019. At that moment, my future was unknown "until further testing". The 70.3 unfortunatly didn't go as planned (see previous post). While the water was tough to handle and I struggled, it really wasn't the main reason I had the DNF. (the desire to redeem this race will probably not happen this year, I can't swing it finiacally. I'm also not sure how I'm going to do the hotel in September for the full either. Most likely I'll be camping out in the car. But I'll deal with that when I need too. One thing at a time.)
So......This Year, I decided that I'm going to fundraise for the first time ever. I'm fundraising to raise money for FXCK CANCER. The mission statement is one I truly believe in and I'd ask that you consider donating to help me raise money for this cause. I only pledged to get 250$ because I had to cover anything I couldn't raise. But I hope that I can do a lot more than that.
My link below explains more of what FxckCancer.org is all about.
I hope that you will help support me in my cause as I navigate the year on a whole new level of training and learning. And to those who really know me and my avoidance of certain colors. I'm serious enough about this cause....that my race kit this year is..... dare I say it..... Pink. Yep, shit just got real.
MY FXCK CANCER FUNDRAISING PAGE LINK:
https://my.crowdchange.co/kltbyj
Fxck Cancer's Mission: "To fight cancer by raising awareness and to educate about early cancer detection, ultimately putting an end to late stage cancer diagnosis. Through our Dyin 2 Live Dreams program, we look to enrich the lives of those fighting cancer by offering them an experience that will bring hope, joy, inspiration, and courage into their lives. In doing this, the program hopes it can help give the cancer fighter a chance to forget, even if it’s only for a day, what they are battling. We hope it can be used as a source of inspiration to those needing a brighter day in their darkest hour." (www.fxckcancer.org)
The Details of my Current Prep for Training:
While, I'd love to hire a coach as I have in previous years, I can't afford it, so I'm currently trying to piece together all my old training plans and trying to figure out the best one for this year. (Still a work in progress.) If I'm honest, I'm a bit worried if I can pull this off. As I am so far limited to 30 min at a time for all my activities.
But in the end, I'm so grateful for just the ability to do it. If these issues mean I'm alive and I don't have cancer, then I'll deal with it the best I can. That is enough for me right now. Let the journey begin.
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