Old timer forum members may have noticed my abrupt return to this forum and I’d like to say a few things.
First, I still regret selling my ' 04 America pretty much everyday. I had a blown meniscus at the time and I just couldn’t stand seeing it sit unridden; in retrospect some patience then would really be paying off now. This community was always a great place to be and I missed it, too.
Second: I no clue. I didn’t know why I lost all interest in riding last year but I sold every two wheeled machine I had. It was a slow walk away that began in '16 and really accelerated last year. I thought maybe I’d aged out in the same way that cataracts had made it impossible for me to continue touring. Now I’m thinking that wasn’t it at all. I’m thinking it was the cancer.
Third: Get yourself checked out. Do it now, get that colonoscopy and have them ultrasound your pancreas, liver and gall bladder. It was a totally serendipitous moment when the ultrasound tech found the mass on my kidney while imaging my gall bladder. I hadn’t registered any symptoms to speak of, I’d lost some weight but I was trying to reduce a refined sugar habit so it didn’t register with me that I was well past a casual diet.
Four: Advocate for yourself. The doctor didn’t catch it at all. I was the one that said, “whoa, I’ve lost a bunch of weight!” when I was seeing him for a torn muscle. Their computerized charts don’t show that as an over-time graph it just shows today’s measurement. If I hadn’t complained that I’d mistakenly lost 65 pounds I’d be past the point of no return today. It took two specialists, endoscoping my esophagus and a colonoscopy followed by ultrasound to see a blurry mass that then sent me for a CT scan. That revealed a 8.6 cm mass on my right kidney. The surgeon gutted me like a fish four weeks ago today and removed my right kidney, mass, the adrenal gland and a suspicious lymph node. By then the mass was 9cm, it had expanded 40mm and was into the blood vessel. The mass was malignant, the others were clear. The surgeon believes he got it all by taking the blood vessel upstream of the cancer but of course there is no guarantee and I’ll be going for scans the next five years. Because of the malignancy the torn muscle can’t be repaired for two years as the required mess is a cancer magnet.
The change in my demeanor is amazing me, I’m interested in life again and I’m looking at bikes. Once I’m off being restricted to lifting a gallon of milk or less I’ll be able to rebuild my core muscles to the point where I can ride again...I have a strong desire to be in the wind and I’ve set a goal to ride before autumn. Plus, I sat on a new Speedmaster on it just fits me as if I’d been tweaking it for years like I did the America. So, that’s my story and I feel like I can share it here without shame.
