Inspiration

I met a lady yesterday when at the Cancer Center for my shot. She has breast cancer, has finished the brutal AC chemo and is now doing Taxol. I am doing Taxol as well as Herceptin. She was telling me that she has not been able to go to work or to go anywhere, in fact, other than the Cancer Center for appointments. I felt badly for her, because it is the determination to keep pushing forward that keeps me going some days. It is too nice out to never go anywhere.

Last night the pain in my legs was so bad I had to take pain killers to get to sleep, but still managed to get up and go to work this morning. Must be that "Fight Like a Girl" mentality. I think you just have to do your best to ignore the distractions, whether it be fatigue, pain or whatever and do your best to keep on keeping on.

I read this the other day and thought it was pretty apropo...

Erik has worked as a middle-school teacher, run marathons, and performed acrobatic skydiving stunts. He's also a scuba diver, downhill skier, and long-distance bicyclist. Those are impressive accomplishments for any 32-year old. However, Erik has been blind since age 13, when a degenerative eye disease destroyed his retinas.

But being blind has not prevented him from embracing all life has to offer. Recently Erik hit a new personal high by becoming the first blind climber to reach the top of Mount Everest, the tallest challenge in the world for any mountaineer and this guy did it blind.

"I just kept telling myself: 'Be focused,'" Erik explained to a CNN interviewer after his ascent, "'Be full of energy. Keep relaxed. Don't let the distractions — the fear and the doubt — creep into your brain, because that's what ruins you up there.'" Keep focused on the basics.

That's good advice for climbing any kind of mountain, be it made of rock or something more personal.

There are days when that doesn't work as well as others, but you just have to keep trying.

Later.