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Repercussions of war

He doesn’t talk about it much, but Chuck is a Vietnam War vet. He spent a year (1970-71) stationed in a place called Vung Tau. He was in the Navy, but was land-based for his entire tour (long story that involves among other things volunteering – which common wisdom says you never do in [...]

Chuckstrong!

It’s been a nerve wracking week here at Chez O’Shea. This week marked nine months since the end of Chuck’s chemo treatments, and six months since his last PET scan. Monday they did a new PET scan and today we got the results. It was all good news. Mister Fatty Necrosis, of whom I [...]

Off to a strong start!

Well, it’s 2010 and we have started it off with a bang – at least as regards our running & training. So far this year (the last five days) we’ve run 18 miles. What are we chasing, you ask? The Paris marathon in April, I respond. Oh, and another race is also looming: the [...]

The year in semi-review

It has been pointed out to me recently (hi, Meagan!) that I have become a slacker blogger. This is in part due to to my focus on Facebook and Twitter and the fact that we have been busy entertaining family and doing the holiday hokey pokey. I know, lame excuses all. Oh, and also because I [...]

Getting strong now

<cue theme from Rocky> So here at Chez O’Shea we have been all about the physical fitness/getting in shape thing of late. I’ve been training for an Olympic distance triathlon that is (gulp!) next weekend and Chuck has been struggling to get back in shape post-chemotherapy (they don’t really tell you how long that [...]

Good news

It’s been a while since the last official Chuck-date, but it’s been for all good reasons. He’s been recovering from chemotherapy (and let me tell you, chemo kicks some serious ass so it requires a lot of recovery) and growing hair and starting to run again and regaining his taste in food and wine. [...]

The waiting is the hardest part

Chuck had a PET scan this past Monday, his first since the one that declared him in remission from his follicular lymphoma last April. The test itself was uneventful: he had to eat a weird diet the night before to get his blood sugars low, then got a dose of Ativan and went sleepy-tie-tie [...]

Run-around Chuck

Time flies when you’re getting your life back to some semblance of normal. It’s been six weeks (!!) since Chuck’s last chemo treatment and he has actual hair growing (versus chia fuzz) on his head and his beard is also returning. His energy is returning and his taste buds are starting to work. The [...]

Follow up

I started this post on April 21 with the words, “I am sitting in a waiting room at the City of Hope…” I was doing that yesterday as well. Over the past six months, I realize, I’ve done a LOT of waiting in waiting rooms at City of Hope. But yesterday’s doctor visit officially [...]

Chia Chuck

Chuck is starting to let his hair grow now that he’s done with chemo. It’s early days yet but so far it appears to be coming in kind of like a chia pet – fuzzy. Color is indeterminate. It’s not black or straw, but it’s too soon to tell if it’s his former grey. [...]