Good week - so far

I have been to the gym for the past 3 nights and all three workouts went pretty well.  I was gassed in last night's metabolic conditioning - a 12 minute rotation of rowing, kettlebell swings and box jumps with no rest (do each for one minute at a time and then move to the next until 4 rounds are done).

But, my strength work was solid this week and I'm feeling better.

Which means....

It must be time for more treatment.  Today, I get a chemo port installed.  I have had a chemo port in the past and I have to say I hated it.  Last summer, when it looked like chemo might be in the past, I had it removed because I disliked it so much.  It's terrible in the gym.  If I'm doing burpees and bump it, it hurts like hell.  Front squats and thrusters are also scary as any pressure from a barbell touching the port is painful.

But, my first treatment with gem/tax left me with a sore vein in my arm.  Twelve days later, I can still feel the vein.  I don't want my veins to get scarred, and a chemo port gets the chemo into the bloodstream and diluted quickly, so it's the way to go.  I guess.

I will have it installed on my left side rather than my right this time.  This should reduce irritation when I'm fly fishing and it will make my normal sleep position more comfortable.

Tonight, the first workout for the CrossFit Open will be announced.  The Open is a series of 5 scored workouts over 5 weeks, and starting at age 55 (my current age), the workout is scaled for masters athletes.  And, if the scaled workout isn't doable, there's even a scaled version of the scaled version.  So, being my first year in the new age group, I signed up.

I also have chemo tomorrow.  So, I will go to the hospital for chemo and then go immediately to the gym.  Right after chemo, I will have had some anti-nausea medicine, and I have a small window where I will still feel OK.  My plan is to squeeze the Open workout into that time window and hope that I do OK.

For 3 of the 5 weeks of the Open, I will go straight from chemo to the workout.  The other two weeks will be "off weeks" from chemo, and I hope I feel good on those weeks.  Last week, I felt pretty rough through Wednesday, but things turned around a bit on Thursday, so I'm hopeful.

For anyone wondering, I do have my oncologist's permission to do this, as long as I don't have a fever or other signs of illness.  It's not how most people deal with chemo, but I refuse to just sit around and rest and mope after a treatment.  There's too much life to be lived out there.

Regretfully, I know I won't be up for skiing this weekend, so it will be a fairly calm weekend.  Saturday is supposed to be warm, so I'm hoping to get the dog out for a walk.  I hope to tie some flies and get more of my gear organized for trout season (39 days until the season opens).  And, I'll do some meal prep work for the following week.  With our long commute, I really need to be able to put dinner on the table in 30-45 minutes when I get home at night, and that simply requires some weekend cooking to make it happen.

Hopefully, the Monday after chemo will go much better than last time.  I think that the use of more dexamethasone should help.  I am "sensitive" to this medicine and I have to be careful how much I use, but it helped a lot in the first round, and I'll talk to my oncologist tomorrow about how to use it for this round.  Instead of just 3 days, I'm sure we will continue it for a week or more after chemo.