Days 10-14 - Snowmass to Boulder, Co.

Snowmass Village is primarily a ski resort, around 20 minutes from Aspen, but it's a beautiful place to stay in summer too (and a little less pretentious than Aspen!). The highlight of our stay was renting bikes to ride from the village into Aspen, mostly downhill but with a couple of challenging climbs. It was only ten miles, but the altitude and the heat took their toll so we made frequent water stops. That was ok though as the views were amazing.

Boulder is a great little town - a base camp for outdoor pursuits nearby. I love the energy created by all the activity as people prepare for their next adventure or wind down from their last one.

Spectacular drive no. 3 on this trip was today's journey along the 'Trail Ridge Road' (link), the highest continuously paved road in the US. It winds along the north edge of the Rocky Mountain National Park  and climbs to a maximum elevation of 12,183ft.

A number of things made the day great - playing in the snow, scrambling up to the highest point (and running back down in a hailstorm), and generally enjoying the drive and the scenery. However, we were all blown away once again when we got within 20 feet of a couple of male elk. Anna brought our attention to them with a sharp intake of breath and some hand gestures, but no words. As we jumped out of the car and started to approach them they seemed unfazed by our presence and just carried on chewing the cud and looking majestic. (I swear I heard one of them say "Have you seen my antlers, they're quite marvelous, aren't they?") We were told that the females and young were just over the hill and sure enough we walked a little further and saw about 40 of them down in the valley. Amazing to see them in their natural environment just doing their thing.

(c) Anna Mongan - she's quite proud of this one!

Well, that's it! We fly home tomorrow after a journey filled with "Wow!" moments and a lot of fun and relaxation along the way. This was the road trip I always had in mind and the reality was so much better than the dream. I hope one day the boys look back at these notes and remember some of the amazing stuff we've seen and done.
Until next time...

Days 7-9 - Moab, Ut, to Grand Junction, Co.

It seems like every place we stay on this trip, we feel like we need another few days to take advantage of all there is to do. Moab is famous for great mountain biking, hiking, and rafting on the Colorado river. It's been added to the list of places to come back to, maybe when the boys are older and we can do more of the adrenaline sports.

We spent most of yesterday hiking and scrambling in Arches National Park, which we've all said has jumped above Monument Valley in our list of spectacular-ness! Most of the morning was spent hiking to Delicate Arch, (pictured below), which blew us all away as we turned the corner and caught our first glimpse of it. Actually, it almost literally blew us away as the winds were terrific. The boys and I climbed into the arch itself and gave Anna some mild heart palpitations as we stood in front of the 300ft drop on the other side. It had to be done!

We visited another five or six arches and spent quite a bit of time in the visitor centre learning about the history of the park - mostly to help the boys complete their third Junior Ranger badge, and partly because this trip has turned me into a geology nerd!

This morning, outstanding drive No.2 on this trip connected Moab to Grand Junction and followed the Colorado River along the valley floor, surrounded by the redstone walls of the canyon. Splendid!

Next stop, Snowmass Village near Aspen, Co.

Days 4-6 - Monument Valley to Moab, UT

This post might be a little fuzzy. We just landed in Moab, Utah, after a few days on an Native American reservation where there is no alcohol sold or served in restaurants. A quick visit to the liquor store on arrival, a glass of wine with dinner, another glass in the hotel room and the world makes sense again!

We've had a relaxing few days in Kayenta, around 20 miles south of Monument Valley. After the intensity of the Grand Canyon visit, we felt like a couple of slow days with plenty of swimming and reading time. Patrick and Richard appreciated more time around the pool too.

We did squeeze in a visit to the Four Corners yesterday - the only place in the US that four states meet. The boys wanted to go there from the time we first announced the road trip and had great fun putting themselves in all four states at once.

A few posts ago I said that the drive from Vancouver to Whistler was one of the best I'd ever done. I would now add the Monument Valley drive to that (short) list. There's a 17-mile dirt track that takes you right into the valley and around some of the biggest rock formations. It's bumpy and sandy and requires a little focus, but I loved the sensation of driving next to those imposing monuments. I talked to one of the Navajo horse-trail riders and he told me they'd just returned from a four-hour ride where they saw wild mustangs. If only we'd had more time.

The boys in front of the 'Three Sisters' and a Monument Valley Ranch

After a three-hour drive north we arrived in Moab, Utah, and already love the place...a stunning redstone backdrop, off-beat stores, good coffee, and a book shop. I'm glad we booked for three nights!

Road Trip - Days 2 & 3 - Sedona to Grand Canyon

The red rocks around Sedona all have nicknames which represent their shapes (although sometimes you have to use a little imagination!) and everyone agreed we had to go and see 'Snoopy' (see photo below) before we left. We also had a quick walk through uptown Sedona but we were all keen to hit the road and head towards the Grand Canyon.

One of my favourite moments of the trip so far is the boys' reaction to their first view of the canyon..."It's so big!" and "whoa!" stick in my mind. No matter how many photographs I'd seen of it and whatever preconceived ideas I had, nothing prepared me for the sheer scale and unusualness of it (I'm sure there's a better word out there for the sight of weird rock formations, but for the moment I can't think of one).

We spent most of today, Sunday, exploring the viewing points on the south rim. There are shuttle buses running from point to point to discourage people from driving. Anna and I both said that we couldn't tire of taking in such magnificent views.

As a final treat for all of us, and to get a unique view of this amazing place, we took a helicopter flight over and into the canyon. I won't go into details here as I don't have the words to describe the experience, but a couple of moments were unforgettable. The first four or five minutes of the journey were over forest and we could see the canyon rim approaching - the feeling of crossing over it and seeing the one-mile drop below was simply mind-blowing. Another personal favourite was flying a few hundred feet below the north rim and having the sensation of actually being 'in' the canyon.

Next stop...Monument Valley (home of the Navajo Indians and cowboy movies)...

Road trip - Day 1 - Phoenix to Sedona

I'm very happy to report that my hip pain has eased enough so that I could take our planned road trip. (We had a backup plan, but two weeks on a beach isn't really our dream holiday.) I'm writing from the hotel on the first evening, reflecting on a great start to the trip.

A friend of mine keeps a micro-blog (short, concise posts about day-to-day events) and I'm going to attempt the same thing for this trip.

The first leg was planned as two hours to get to Sedona, but was broken up by a stop at Montezuma Castle, an Aztec farmer dwelling built into a cliff recess and dating back to the 1100s (pic below). The boys both got their first 'Junior Ranger' badge, a series of challenges and questions designed by the parks service to ensure kids are getting the full benefit of visiting these amazing places. A few stops at viewing points near Sedona to take in the red rock formations, followed by a quick dip in the pool, dinner, and a view of the sunset over the rocks..perfect!

(The next post will be a micro post, honest!)

A hip update

I went for a two week post-op appointment on Thursday and had a good discussion with one of the orthopedic team, not the surgeon. It seems that our expectations of how long the pain would last were not realistic. He wasn't surprised at all that I was still in a lot of pain after two weeks and admitted that the surgeons have a tendency to underplay how long the recovery will be. It makes sense when you think about it that any procedure where the bone is traumatised (by drilling a hole into it) would take quite a few weeks to recover. The surrounding muscle tissue also needs to heal. He expected that I would get some relief in the next couple of weeks and explained that it would probably be 3-6 months before we really know if the surgery has been successful.

I have found over the last couple of nights that I can sleep for longer between doses of pain meds and during the day the pain hasn't been quite as intense.

It seems like it's going to be a longer recovery than we expected but at least there's light at the end of the tunnel.

These posts are way too dry....here's some hip humour...

A Pain in the A***

When I signed off my last blog, I'd hoped that the next post would be a review of some exotic foreign city I'd been to on my travels. Unfortunately, things haven't quite worked out that way and I'm conscious that we haven't updated many of you on the last few weeks events.

Towards the end of my cancer treatment I was also having physiotherapy for what I thought at the time was sciatica (lower back pain, caused by a herniated disc). After six weeks without any improvement I went for an MRI scan and the results came back showing that I have avascular necrosis (link). In a nutshell, this is the degradation of my hip bone most likely caused by the steroids that I was taking to reduce the swelling around the tumours.

After a couple of cortisone injections that weren't effective, the orthopedic team I'm working with decided to perform a core decompression (link). This involves drilling a small hole into the femur head to relieve pressure and stimulate bone growth. Sounds like fun, eh?

I had that surgery a little over a week ago and have been recovering at home, on crutches, since. The pain from the original condition was bad, but since the surgery I've been in more pain than I ever thought bearable. I'm trying hard not to over-dramatise, and regular readers will know that I generally tell it like it is, but this has been tough. I find I'm counting the hours until I can take the next dose of (very strong) painkillers.

A lot of people have asked "how long until you'll get some relief?" and it's very difficult to answer. The surgeon told me beforehand that results from this procedure are 'mixed' and each patient recovers at a different rate. I can only hope that the pain I'm feeling now is the bone regenerating itself and that the decompression will achieve what was intended. If it does, then I've been told I should be able to resume normal activities (cycling, but no running) in six weeks or so.

That's been one of the hardest aspects of the last couple of months. This all came to light just as Minnesota was entering its beautiful springtime and the cyclists started flooding out onto the roads. It also means that I've had to pull out of the MS150 in June that I talked about last time - bugger!

So, there we are, another chapter. I'm just hoping it will be a short one and that next time I can bring more positive news.

Notes From a Survivor

Wow! Where to begin...???

A year and five months since my diagnosis, my neurosurgeon told me today that last Friday's MRI scan was all clear. As I write the words, they just don't seem big enough. What he actually said was "your scan looks wonderful", which from him is quite a statement. He was brutally honest when giving us tough news, so it was quite refreshing to hear him use those words.

I couldn't do a thing at work this afternoon. My boss sent me home to be with Anna and the boys. Nothing I would do at work would be as important as sharing this sense of relief and happiness with them.

Here's my sister, Michelle, and Anna and me, celebrating on both sides of the Atlantic.

I guess the sense of relief was heightened because we had to wait over the weekend for the results and, although we didn't talk about it much, it was in the back of our minds the whole weekend. It feels like the start of life getting back to normal. I've been so frustrated having to tell the boys that I couldn't play a game because I was too tired during chemo week, and missing out on Patrick's basketball tournaments because I couldn't get out of bed. I've mentioned before that I can't wait to get back to travelling too. Although that'll feel strange for all of us at first, it will also be a visible signal to the boys that life is getting back to normal.

Somebody once said "it's not work when you love what you're doing". That's how I feel about getting back to overseas projects. That's what I signed up for. I work with an amazing, diverse group of colleagues; we get to travel together to interesting places, learn from each other and learn from the people we're visiting; we get to experience a little of the culture in those places, try the food, and drink whatever the locals drink; and all of this while trying to help Cargill be a better organisation. I can't overstate how satisfying it is and how much I'm going to enjoy getting back to it.

I'll still complete the February round of chemo, then give my blood a month or so to recover and hopefully be on the road in April.

All of that said, we're still keeping our feet on the ground. We know that the grade of tumour I had was very aggressive and I was fighting it in two places. In my mind that just makes me more determined than ever to follow my own advice on eating well and exercising (link).

With that in mind, my next challenge is to complete the MS150 - a two-day, 150-mile bike-ride from Duluth to Minneapolis, all in aid of Multiple Sclerosis. More to come on that.

With regard to the future of the blog, I think I'm done with talking about my cancer journey. I found it really beneficial to write down how I've been feeling, how this journey has affected Anna and the boys, the painful and the peculiar aspects, and how we tried to deal with it all. The support and comments I've had through the blog have been truly touching. Thank you, sincerely, to all of you who read, commented, and supported all of us throughout it all. We couldn't have come this far without you.

Big hugs