Grab life by the Throat

"When life gets tough, grab it by the throat until it gives you what you want!" Triple H on WWE Raw 11-30-2009.

Well that's what I have to do. I've got a large line on my chest which I realized is kind of like the one Kratos has (sans the muscle definition).

Like Kratos I rose from the depths after the wound was sealed up. And now I have quite a battle ahead of me. Just like Kratos I have to alter the threads of fate to get through this mess.

Fate hasn't smiled upon me, so I have to grab it by the throat until it gives me what I want!

Remember the 5th of November?

I totally forgot November 5th was Guy Fawkes Day. I won't forget again.

Post Surgery

It's not as horrible as I thought it would be. Not to say it's been a cakewalk. The surgery was 9 hours long, the surgeon found the bile duct was more compromised than originally thought. Nonetheless it went as well as possible for such a thing. The first day was miserable, and moving was painful, felt like my abs were spasming and cramping. Just sat and watched tv while trying not to stress my horribly sore abs. By the 2nd day they wanted me walking around, so I did wasn't too bad. After 4 days I was able to move better and was able to have a Popsicle. The next day I had some soft food with no problem, and the next "regular" food. That made me noxious, but I really think it was just the horrible hospital food that I wouldn't have eaten before the surgery. Then the incision area got tight and I couldn't stand up straight anymore. The back hurt as I hunched over when I walked. Then they took out all my IV's and one drain tube (wish they took out the other one), and kicked me out. It's better at home, the food doesn't make me want to vomit, and I have my PS3. The only thing's annoying me are this drain which nothing is draining into, my tight abdomen (I miss standing up straight), and that I never heard anything from pathology. So I'm still in the dark and probably will be until I can get another appointment, which I hope is soon the drain is pointless and I still have all 30 staples on my gut.

I've already started riding the trainer, mainly because I can't walk around without killing my back. That's about it. Don't feel like really elaborating, as this is boring.

Just One Week To Go

One more week left until my anatomy is completely altered. I remembered it's not the second time I had something removed. I've had 6 teeth removed to make room in my jaw for my other huge teeth, but that's peanuts compared what's going to happen on November 5th. The past few days I've been riding real hard trying to make a final decent showing at my last "race" (low key's aren't supposed to be races...) of the year. Also trying to be as fit as possible going into this mess, and anticipated 2 month hiatus. Brain freeze. Darn work.

Anomalous Pancreatico..what?

That's my dilemma. Well it's called an Anomalous Pancreaticobiliary Ductal Junction. Normally during embryonic development the Pancreatic Duct will join to the bile duct right at the Ampulla Vater at the Duodenum. This allows the Pancreatic Juices and Bile to not intermingle before entering the intestinal tract. Somewhere in development of this system a small small portion of people will oddly have the junction created well before (>5 mm) the Ampulla Vater. The will result in a slew of digestion, pancreatic, gall bladder, and bile duct issues. This is because the pancreatic juice is free to back up into the biliary tree (which isn't equipped to handle it).

It's first caught in by those cases that develop choledoctal (spelling) cysts, mostly in young children. It's treated by surgical resection, and a Roux-En-Y (if possible), rarely results in cancer. Then there is the segment of those with an APBDJ who don't develop one of those cysts. They often aren't so fortunate, they often suffer with pancreatitis for years, living in pain when the eat certain things. Then at some point all the irritation to the bile ducts manifests itself in strictures, tumors, and gallbladder problems or CANCER.

I'll get to the point. I don't know if I have cancer but there's a wall thickening mass (14X17 mm) growing in my distal bile duct. I have an APBDJ. It probably should have been found months ago, but the doctors weren't looking for it, their concern was my ductal blockage. With what I have there is a high likelihood of developing cancer. I don't know what the doctor plans, the Roux-En-Y or the Whipple, depends on the "mass."

For the metrically challenged...


Been riding terribly the last two weeks, going to turn that around, stop driving to work... I don't even think I made the top 10% on Tunitas today, just couldn't hold the pace past 15 minutes. Feel great but just blow up, mostly breathing problems, need to do more long threshold intervals, and more than 100 minutes of mid week riding...

I found a spent shell casing on Lobitas Creek Road this morning, careful of those Bay Area rednecks!

2009-11-05

Nov. 5 is D-Day.

Really hoping Nov. 4th isn't my last day at BAE.

Ce que sera sera....

2009...."Is it over yet?"

2009 Started terrible as I was getting over a cold or something I got in Hawaii. Got worse with a terrible showing at Snelling, then began to turn around when I finished the longest race of my life at the Merco RR. It was up and down 'til the first big race I stayed with the pack the whole time (Sea Otter). Little did I know I was in for a shock in May. After pulling out completely drained at Berkeley (a race I never DNF'd before) I took a look in the mirror and saw the yellow in my eyes. Not a good feeling. A week later I was in hospital dealing with a slew of problems losing 15 pounds, and feeling like my season was over. Had more important things to worry about. I spent over a month sorting things out going in and out of the hospital. At one point my hematocrit was down to 25 due to a cholangitis infection. Finally feeling like I could go again I jumped into a Time Trail, and finished dead last in the P12's but wasn't too far off. Leesville started bad, but by the last hour I knew I could still hammer, and my liver was still working fine. In August I was in the hospital again with a fever of 103, but recovered quick, learned I most likely don't have Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis, and was on a plane to Hawaii. Had an out of body ride up Haleakala, flew back to SJ. Rode great but ran out of water at 105 degree Winters, then was back to Hawaii. I don't remember feeling so good physically in a long time at a Dick Evans but I did.

Now I'm just waiting, and waiting to get word on when my world turns upside down officially. Below are my results for 2009 for what they are worth. I'm still "racing" low key hillclimbs until I get one large abdominal scar....sometime this month.

JAN 1 SAN BRUNO HC 11/13 16:53
FEB 21 SNELLING RR DNF/120 ---
MAR 1 MERCO RR 90/145 4:28 26.4 MPH AVG 118 mi
MAR 21 OROSI RR 5/10
MAR 28 WARDS FERRY RR DNF/26 4/5 LAPS
MAR 29 WARNERVILLE RR 7/14
APR 5 SANTA CRUZ CLASSIC DNF/105
APR 11 COPPEROPOLIS RR DNF/81 4/5 LAPS
APR 17 SEA OTTER RR 43/80
APR 25 WENTE RR 37/75
APR 26 WENTE CRIT 71/100
MAY 3 SONORA RR 6/13
MAY 10 BERKELEY HILLS RR DNF/60
JUN 28 BENICIA TT 9/9
JUL 3 LEESVILLE GAP RR 19/34
JUL 18 WATSONVILLE CRIT 9/19
JUL 19 ALBANY CRIT 39/80 I actually pulled out 1/2 way
AUG 2 TIMPANI CRIT 40/85
AUG 6 SWANTON TT 2/40 OPEN
AUG 9 PATTERSON PASS RR DNF/40 14 FINISHED 3/4 LAPS
AUG 23 CYCLE TO THE SUN 3/180 OPEN
AUG 29 WINTERS RR DNF/50 3/4 LAPS
SEP 6 DICK EVANS RR 3/165 OPEN
SEP 19 HENLEYVILLE RR 21/26
SEP 20 FREMONT PEAK HC 6/9 42:15 14.2 MPH
OCT 3 LOWKEY #1- MONTEBELLO 5/104 OPEN 28:35 11.3 mph
OCT 10 LOWKEY #2-OLH 8/?
OCT 17 LOWKEY #3- TUNITAS ------------------

2.5 weeks

I get basically 2 1/2 weeks to get everything in order before prototype production begins. The docs are giving the option to wait and see if a major reconstruction is necessary. There will be one last test imaging and ERCP in the coming days before the final "design" will be decided upon.

In the meantime rock on!

Thomas v2.0

Coming late Winter 2010

Thomas Novikoff version 2.0


Press Release:
Literally I am going to be redesigned. A major system malfunction has necessitated the redesign. The goal is to eventually have an operating system with all the same features as the current model but without the crippling yellow screen of death popping up then degrading hardware. System Engineers determined that a simple patch, or hardware replacement would not fix the issue. This necessitated the redesign. Power may be significantly lower at first but continuous system upgrades are anticipated, and the goal is no further redesigns in the future.

Features:
New operating system
Sleeker design
Less multi-day battery life

Expected weight 63-64 kgs
Expected Cost: Hopefully free, as insurance should cover damages to current version 1.13.3b

Exact date of beginning alpha testing is unknown, beta testing is to commence Jan 1st 2010. Expected pre-release event[barring complications] is February 20th at Trimmer Springs Reservoir east of Clovis, CA
Official release is TBA, most likely March 14th 2010.

Stay tuned. More details will be available in the coming days.