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Part 9 – A Look Back on my Cancer Journey – Bonding over Blush, a Burned Bum, & a Scheduled Cry
(Adapted from family emails and journal entries in 2006.) Monday, June 5, 2006 I've seen posters around the Cancer Center advertising an upcoming seminar and I hear they give away some [...]
Part 8 – A Look Back on my Cancer Journey – “Poster Child” attends Picnic for Survivors
(Adapted from family updates, journal entries and notes from 11 years ago, May/June 2006.) Tuesday, May 30, 2006 Tootie's Last Stand Hey family. I can tell it’s time for an update [...]
Part 7 – A Look Back at my Cancer Journey – Blood work, balding and other business
(Adapted from journal entries and an article written in May, 2006. I never thought I’d be shopping for hair one day, and it’s the weirdest experience to pull handfuls of hair [...]
Part 6 – A Look Back on my Cancer Journey – Flights, Hikes, and Hair Loss.
(Adapted from journal entries and family email updates from May 13 - 18, 2006. I flew to Boise to drive back to Colorado with our daughter, Tess, who had just finished [...]
Part 5 – A Look Back on my Cancer Journey – Hello side effects!
(Adapted from journal entries/family email updates from May 2-7, 2006) I now have several radiation treatments under my belt -- or more accurately, below my belt. It is a daily appointment and [...]
Part 4 – A Look Back at my Cancer Journey – MAYDAY!
(Modified from a journal entry/family update email dated May 1, 2006. It may have been a day to celebrate Spring and May baskets, but for me it was "Mayday! Mayday!" -- [...]
Obstacle Racing – 2016 World Competition, Toronto Canada
(Adapted from a 10/2016 family update email. As a result of my Spartan Sprint 2nd place age group finish in Minnesota, I was eligible to attend the Obstacle Course Racing World [...]
Part 3 – A Look Back at my Cancer Journey – PET Scans and Ports
(Note: The following are three excerpts from family email updates in 2006.) Thursday, April 20, 2006 Tootie the Toomah must die! Rather than conduct a family participation contest to “Name the [...]
Shifting Gears – life changes and new directions
(From June, 2016, about a month after being laid off from my job of 24+ years) When you’re on a road or mountain bike with multiple gears, the goal is to [...]
Part 2 – A Look Back at my Cancer Journey – Diagnosis, Tests and Staging
(Note: I just realized that the calendar days from 2006 are the same as in 2011. April 10th was a Monday and Easter was on the 16th in both years. Weird. According to [...]
First Spartan Race – Minnesota Sprint 2016
Spartan Racing - the Senior Version! As some of you know, I participated in my first Spartan Race last June, 2016. Prior to that, I could not have told you much [...]
Dates with Dirt
As the 5th child of 10, I grew up in rural North Dakota on land that was as fertile as my parents. We planted, weeded, harvested and put up crops via [...]