Welcome back Lance Armstrong!

Maybe unnoticed by most non-cyclists, non-triathletes or non-cancer fighters (speaking as a non-US resident), cancer survivor, 7-times Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, who started his athletic career in triathlon, came back to his original sport in the Panama Triathlon 70.3 Ironman. He accomplished the amazing feat of finishing in second place, only 31 seconds behind the winner, Bevan Docherty.
Considering Lance's age - he is 40 - his lack of experience in triathlon (especially long ones, where balancing your effort across the race is critical) and his incredibly busy life leading one of the largest cancer fundraising organizations in the world, Livestrong, this is quite an amazing feat.
When we consider that he was only 31 seconds behind an Olympic champion that is significantly more experienced in the sport, this is simply incredible. Thank you for doing this Lance, you are a huge inspiration!
I am not sure if this was the final boost I needed to get back to triathlon but several things are conspiring in that favor, and I am trully determined to be back soon. OK, maybe not as fast as Lance, but I will be happy just finishing one. And definitely no Tour de Frances wins, but maybe as a spectator...
The first great news is that my head no longer hurts. This has not only allowed me to sleep better but also to get my first haircut since my surgery! When I run my head doesn't hurt either, although I have to admit that my doctors intimidated me into not running yet.
The second great news is that I finally move into my own house in 5 days, and will be only a few minutes from work. This means that after 8 long months my stuff is finally leaving the moving container, including my bike trainer, a gift I got from my "older brother", the person that got me into cycling and to whom I owe so much personally and professionally! I am going to start biking at home until I feel confident enough to go outside without the fear of having a seizure. With the two extra hours I get in my day simply from reducing my commute time I will have plenty of time to dedicate to my girls and to the sport I learned to love.
My last few weeks have been so amazing that I am starting to believe that Temodal is a magic drug that even improves my energy levels. Today I walked nearly 10 kilometers around the city, got a haircut, had lunch with my dad, came home to work for a few hours on my taxes and still had the energy (in fact quite a lot) to write this post.
Last week was Carnaval in Brazil and we headed to the mountains with the family. We hiked quite a bit and played a lot with the girls, who all got a little sick afterwards. Interestingly I was the only one that did not get sick in the house, which is quite surprising given that my chemo is supposed to mess with the white cells in the blood in most cases, hammering the immune system.
Once again I feel incredibly lucky, my oncologist shared that my first post-chemo blood exam showed no signs of blood changes, and that I must have an excellent blood marrow. Wonder if triathlon contributed to this. Oddly in my life things seem to always conspire in my favor, nobody ever understood what has gotten me to start waking up at 5AM to torture myself swimming, biking and running, but this might be why, I was getting prepared for my next battle.
Just as being diagnosed as soon as we moved back to be closer to our families in Brazil, this might be another sign of incredible luck. I once again feel like God is carrying me in his arms, just as in footprints in the sand (http://www.footprints-inthe-sand.com/index.php?page=Poem/Poem.php).
This week was very important to me, I exchanged a few notes with Scott Vickroy (check the Survival Stories section in this blog) and his caregiver Shelly Francis. He is doing really well, inspiring me to follow his example, and Shelly is publishing a book about her experience with Scott. To anyone who, like my wife, was frightened by the idea of what can come with a glioma, her book is certainly a welcome gift. For more details check caregiverhope.com, the book should be out very soon. These are heroes who are yet to save lots of people by delivering hope and optimism, the most important things we need in our journeys.
Finally I just wanted to reassure all of you that follow my blog that I am as well as I can be, my life is completely normal and that there is still a lot for all of us to do with our lives, except wasting our precious time doing nothing.
Wether I am doing my taxes or walking barefoot to spend energy I am as thankful as I can be for God's ability to teach me how to lead my life. Yes I can live with glioma and today I feel like a better person than I have ever been before, and as long as we always learn to appreciate everything we have, and to have the fortitude to chase the things we love, we will be happy.
To close I want to share my biggest wish: I hope God continues to give me the strength to change the things that need to be changed, the patience to deal with the things that I can't change, and the wisdom to distinguish between the two.
My glioma might fall into the "things that I can't change" category, but I will continue to fight it until it is totally gone, I owe my friends a big party to celebrate life and I am determined to make it happen.
Friends around the world, get ready for Brazil!