Good News From My MRI Ride and UCSF Medical Center Appointment!, Semi-Inverted, Lance Armstrong Challenge Bike Ride October 24-26, Major Tom

I have great news from my MRI Ride and UCSF Medical Center Appointment! My MRI shows no tumor and just some scar tissue where my tumor was. We started the vaccine and so far I have not suffered or experienced any side effects from it. I feel very good.

I asked Dr. Chang when I can start exercising. She gave me permission to start exercising as if I was a normal human being and I promised to monitor my heart rate and take things easy. I will be practicing yoga more vigorously but I am going to stay away from beneficial fully inverted poses until I speak with my surgeon. I plan on doing yoga in the sun today so I can break a sweat. I feel like doing a shoulder stand but I promised Dr. Parsa I would not until I spoke with him. I will keep the promise.

I received permission to participate in the Lance Armstrong “LiveStrong Challenge” Bike Ride, http://www.livestrongchallenge.org/site/c.frKPI1PAIoE/b.3920225/, in Austin Texas on October 24-26. I have a great friend who lives near Austin who will put me up for a few days and suggested the benefit for cancer ride. I need to raise $250 dollars in donations to participate in the ride along with my $50 registration fee. I will be posting the donation information on this site as soon as I register. The ride is only 90 miles which is almost a training ride for training for the Cascade Cream Puff 100 Mountain Bike Race. I looked at the course and I should be able to do the ride and keep my heart rate below 130 beats per minute and still finish the ride strong. I will be home training on my trainer soon and Mojo and I will do about a 5 mile walk today.




This is pretty much how I feel when I go into my one hour and a half long, head scan MRI’s. For the yogis and yoginis in the audience, I have learned how to practice no handed, alternate nostril breathing while riding in the MRI capsule. The thought of the claustrophobic space of the MRI machine made me think of the beautiful song by David Bowie I thought I’d share with you all. With all fairness to Major Tom, he probably was not riding with 10 milligrams of Valium on board his body on his space ride.
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David Bowie - Space Oddity
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Ground Control to Major Tom
Ground Control to Major Tom
Take your protein pills and put your helmet on

Ground Control to Major Tom
Commencing countdown, engines on
Check ignition and may God’s love be with you

Spoken:
Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two, One, Lift-off

This is Ground Control to Major Tom
You’ve really made the grade
And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear
Now it’s time to leave the capsule if you dare

“This is Major Tom to Ground Control
I’m stepping through the door
And I’m floating in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today

For here
Am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there’s nothing I can do

Though I’m past one hundred thousand miles
I’m feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go
Tell my wife I love her very much (she knows!)
Ground Control to Major Tom
Your circuit’s dead, there’s something wrong
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear....

“ am I floating round my tin can
Far above the Moon
Planet Earth is blue
And there’s nothing I can do.?

The lyrics are not as powerful in writing as they are in the wonderful singing of David Bowie and his feeling he demonstrates for the power he has for the words.

Be well,
Jack