Tom's Big Day Out

Yeah, Buddy; I was at the ToC time trials in Solvang to see Levi Leipheimer not only win the event, but retain the yellow jersey for another and quite possibly into Long Beach for the second year running.  

Not only was the day a success for Levi, but for me as well in that it was my first adventure out of the house other than back and forth to the hospital or doctor appointments in a long while.  It felt really good to be out in public, even though I was a bit self-conscious about my wheel chair; I'm walking very well these days, but I think I would have been too fatigued too soon without the chair.  I have to swallow my pride for a while, I guess.

As far as the impending surgery is concerned, it has been cancelled for now.  That's a double-edged sword for me in that I'm really glad and relieved to not by looking at another week in the hospital between the procedure and the follow up. However it also means that the infection has not cleared up enough to where it would be worth while to do the procedure.  The closure of the wound is pointless with the active infection because it will look for and find another way out, which would cause more problems than just leaving it the way it is and waiting to see what it does with the new antibiotics that I began yesterday.

What a soap opera, right?  "One of these days I will write, "Today I got on my bike and had the best 25 mile ride!"  That day seems further and further away at times.  

Tomorrow morning I will help to start off the ToC Stage 6 in Santa Barbara by representing the local cancer community for Amgen.  As long as I don't take a header off the edge of the stage it should be fun!