All posts by Mike

Good news on latest blood tests!

Personal stuff

Today was my once/monthly bloodwork, checking to see where I am in my journey with Essential Thrombocythemia, the thankfully-mild bone marrow cancer I was diagnosed with last May. And the numbers are looking very good! The platelets are the thing that goes wild with Essential Thrombocythemia (generally called ET), and my platelets continue on a downward path towards normal. It’s also comforting to see the RDW,RBC coming into a normal range; that’s a measure of cell size uniformity. In general, you don’t want super-size cells floating around in your body.

More info after Monday’s visit with the doc. I was, frankly, a bit concerned about how good I felt riding yesterday, and wondered if something bad was going to show up in the blood work. Like maybe a big spoke in Hematocrit, that would deliver more oxygen to my muscles but also be an indication of something turning for the worse in terms of the cancer itself. Not the case fortunately. All systems go! –Mike–

The return of Running Lady and WOLH

Tues/Thurs 7:45am ride

No picture, no proof, right? We’ll get to that later.

Yes, it’s getting cold. Or maybe I should say colder. Cold has to be in the 30s, and we’re still bottoming out around 40 right now, so it’s not all that bad. Yet. It’s also staying nice and dry, unlike last year! Why we’re not seeing more people out there is a bit of a mystery. This morning it was just me, Kevin (son, not pilot) and JR. Surprisingly I’m feeling pretty decent, only a week after my return from 10 days off the bike while in South Africa. Yes, the cold is definitely messing with my lungs, but the legs, they feel pretty darned good.

The big surprise was being able to ride the West Old LaHonda loop of our ride for the first time in a few months. You still have to climb over the barriers, but they seem to be mostly done with the major work.

Another surprise was seeing “Running Lady” for maybe the first time in a couple years? She was a regular each Tuesday & Thursday, putting on a lot of miles with a very distinctive high-swinging-arms style.

Overall a much nicer ride than expected, if measured in terms of how strongly I rode, the views from West Old LaHonda and the company ridden with.