Tag Archives: WalkLoud

A peek behind the scenes

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Early yesterday morning, I headed down to the KING 5 news studio in Seattle to join a fellow CRC cancer survivor and discuss the upcoming Seattle Walk to End Colon Cancer. Before we went on the air, we got to hang out in the studio area and it was fun to watch the producers at work.

You can see the clip here, and it’s live TV, so there are a few moments where I slipped up, but we definitely got the point across.

They cycled through some photos from last year’s Seattle Walk event, and this one of me brought back (very hazy) memories. I was connected to a portable chemo pump at the time, and I was very bundled up due to cold sensitivity, which is a common chemo side effect. It’s a reminder of everything I was going through last Fall, and it does me make happy to be through with that!

A peculiar power

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At some point during treatment, I started following this blog, where an author writes about her cancer treatment experience (and much more). Her post today jumped out at me:

In those months of chemo, I’d worried my mind and imagination might dull, my fierceness lessen. Six weeks out from surgery, I’m diminished in body but a peculiar power blooms in me. A determination to do what I want. An impatience with artifice. 

Well put! Without question, chemo dulled me mentally last year; thankfully that doesn’t appear to have been permanent. Nowadays, I too am reveling in life and vitality.

Among other things, I’m continuing to serve on the planning committee for Seattle’s 2025 walk to end colon cancer. Through this work, I’ve met many fellow colorectal cancer patients and survivors; most of them younger than me. June is National Cancer Survivors Month, and as I celebrate the conclusion of my treatment experience, I recognize many others still going through treatment, and also those who have sadly passed away. My heart really goes out to the 20- to 40-somethings who keep getting hit with this. They need all the help they can get, going through all the scary complexity of cancer treatment. Please consider joining me in supporting this year’s walk: https://impact.ccalliance.org/team/650712.

#DressInBlueDay

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Today is #DressInBlueDay: a day for spreading awareness about colorectal cancer. I sported blue in the office today, wearing my shirt from last year’s Seattle Walk to End Colon Cancer.

I am really loving being a part of my local CRC community; we’ve got an active text thread today, sharing photos of ourselves in blue. And we are all gearing up for the M’s game on March 30. These tickets are selling fast, but there are still some available, here: Strike Out Colorectal Cancer Day

Lots going on throughout March, as it is #ColorectalCancerAwarenessMonth. Learn more: https://bit.ly/25MarchAwareness

I was on the radio today!

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Over the past month, I’ve enjoying working with the planning committee for this year’s Seattle Walk to End Colon Cancer. Although the walk will be happening in October, we’re already actively preparing for it. As part of these efforts, I was interviewed in a radio spot that aired this morning on Northwest News Radio.

You can check out my interview here!

March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness month, and we’re getting the word out about the Strikeout Colorectal Cancer Day Mariners game (Mar 30). Tickets purchased through this link help support this year’s Walk to End Colon Cancer: mariners.com/strikeoutcrc.

I’ll be there at the game with other members of the planning committee, helping pass out materials at the booth. Hope to see others there! Buy your tickets before Mar 28.

Clean margins

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Yesterday I met with various members of my care team at Fred Hutch, where I learned a key piece of good news: pathology results from my surgery have been analyzed, concluding that the margins are clean.

What does this mean? I’ll do my best to explain it, here, as I had no previous familiarity with this terminology. Basically, with a surgery that removes a cancerous tumor, the surgeon cuts out extra tissue that surrounds the tumor. The goal here is to ensure that there are clean margins fully surrounding the excised tumor. I found an image online that breaks this down. A positive (“unclean”) margin is bad news, which apparently can necessitate a followup surgery to cut more out.

Source: https://perimetermed.com/patients/why-clean-margins-matter/

Clean margins = surgery success: the cancerous tissue is considered fully removed. But, I asked yesterday, is this equivalent to NED (No Evidence of Disease)? No, they told me. They wouldn’t be able to declare me NED until my next set of scans (not sure, yet, when these will be).

I’m eager to confirm that NED date, honestly because in the colorectal cancer survivor community, everybody celebrates their NED anniversary. Certainly, in years hence, I want to be able to proclaim my NED anniversary as well!

But for the time being, I’ll gladly celebrate all of the information I do have. My last set of scans occurred just a few months ago, in late November. And according to those scans, there wasn’t cancer anywhere in my body, except for the tumor itself — which is now gone. At this time, there is no need for me to do any additional treatment. The big remaining step for me is the ileostomy reversal surgery, which is yet to be scheduled, but may potentially occur sometime in April. I learned yesterday that two diagnostic steps must occur before that surgery: a barium enema (yikes, doesn’t sound fun), and a sigmoidoscopy. They are working on getting those scheduled.

Was my surgery recovery process difficult? Yes, it had its challenges — especially in the first 2 1/2 weeks of recovery time.

Was chemo hard? Definitely.

Did I complain a lot throughout these treatment phases? Yep, just browse through past entries in this blog…

And was it all worth it? Absolutely. This is a no-brainer! These have all been critical steps in ensuring my lifespan is extended. I feel grateful to have had the opportunity to fully focus on the “three act play” of cancer treatment over the past nine months (Radiation, Chemo, Surgery), and am looking forward to shifting my focus to living a normal life, later this year.

Plenty more to share in this blog, though. I haven’t said much yet about life with an ostomy, and associated diet. Also, I’m honored to now be part of the planning committee for the Seattle Walk to end Colon Cancer — I’ll certainly have more to say on that topic in future posts. 🙂

Whoa!

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It was just yesterday when I posted about my participation in the Seattle Walk to End Colon Cancer, and my fundraising goal for this event. In the past 24-odd hours, my team received a surge of donations and we surpassed my team goal by a healthy margin. Amazing!

Here’s what I sent out to the donors and team members earlier today:

My mind is totally blown by all the donations that came in, over the past 24 hours! We’ve blown way past my goal. Wow!

I’m touched, seriously, feeling the love and support from all of you — and I’ve got to call out, way to go, Lenati alumni network!!  All the lovely folks who I worked with at Lenati Consulting, back in the day have really been the driving force behind this recent wave of donations. Many have gone on to other ventures over the years, and there also many who have remained with Lenati, as it has evolved (now part of a much larger company, Concentrix). 

We are all part of multiple social circles, and this past day has me reflecting on the power, and the magic really, of these networks. Amazing. I am grateful.

If you scroll down in the Seattle Walk page, you’ll see my team is now in 3rd place for fundraising for this event; Natalie and Brianna are in the lead (with team names much more interesting than my own). They are the cancer survivors I met with earlier this year, both very inspirational. Brianna actually is the person who started the Seattle walk.

I’ve been reflecting on something they said to me in that conversation. They both noted that I’m unique — because there’s a notable lack of male team captains in this event — and in related cancer advocacy causes, in general. Seems to be mostly women leading the charge. On a similar note, in the Colontown forums (amazing resource for colorectal cancer patients and caregivers — highly recommended), I can’t help but notice all the posts from women, on behalf of a man in their life. Why? This is ridiculous. Why are men not capable of going into these types of forums themselves, and doing their own research? I very rarely see the converse (men posting in the forum on behalf of a woman). This is embarrassing. Dudes — let’s step it up. Stop being babies.

Seattle Walk to end Colon Cancer – coming up!

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I confess I have not been doing the best job in promoting this, so I’m going to try and correct that now — the Seattle Walk to End Colon Cancer is right around the corner (Oct 5)! A few months back, I got to connect virtually with the amazing folks putting on this event (both of them have survived stage 4 CRC diagnoses), and I’m excited to support them however I can. I put together my own team page for the event — replete with a cute photo of my dog, back when he was a fuzzy little puppy in the snow. Totally not relevant, but it’s a good fundraising tactic … maybe?

I want to express huge thanks to the folks who have helped with donating to my team and also mobilizing others to donate, such as my friend Jessica Didion, who put together her own page and whipped up many donations – amazing!

In addition, huge thanks to others who have assisted with this — my sis Katy, and Dorje, and Henry. THANK YOU!

I’ll be making sure to get thanks out to all the folks who have already donated as well. At this point, my team has raised an impressive almost-$4k — making very good progress against my goal of $5k. You can donate here — also feel free to spread the word!

If you’re in the Seattle area, you are also absolutely welcome to swing on by Gas Works Park on Sun Oct 5. The walk will start from there at 10am. I am planning on being there (arriving 9 – 9:30am), but realistically, I won’t be able to do the walk, as that’s my next “pump disconnect” day. Those are typically pretty challenging days, in terms of chemo side effects — I’ll have a pump attached to me at the time, delivering chemo into my body, and will be going to Fred Hutch later that day to get it removed. So my plan is to definitely be there, make an appearance and say hi to folks, and then go back home and crash in bed.. sucks, I really wish it were an off week, so I could actually participate in the walk. But that’s how it goes.

Thank you, thank you again to all of the folks who have offered generous donations thus far, and those who have helped get the word out. I appreciate y’all very much!!!