The Results Are In: The Mother of All Power Walk Races

[TuffNuttoCrack]

To pump myself for the power walk race, I listened to “Go the Distance” sung by Dan Vasc about a dozen times on the way to the hospital. Four hours later after my appointments, my young doctor of 35 years young (me being double her age) and I power walked the 1500 foot skybridge.

Some of the Lyrics by Michael Bolton…

“I have often dreamed of a far off place. Where a hero’s welcome would be waiting for me, Where the crowds will cheer, when they see my face. And a voice keeps saying this is where I’m meant to be.”

“I’ll be there someday, I can go the distance. I’ll find my way if I can be strong. I know every mile, It will be worth my while, when I can go the distance I’ll be right where I belong”

“And I won’t look back I can go the distance. And I’ll stay on track, no I won’t accept defeat. It’s an uphill slope but I won’t lose hope. Til I go the distance and my journey is complete”

For our cheerleaders, my doctor brought a couple of her nurses and I brought my pharmacist and the palliative care nurse I had raced with a few months ago. They were our formal cheerleaders aside from the dunebuggy drivers, doctors, and patients we met along the way.

The only thing strange was that midway thru the race I was slightly ahead and her pre-stationed nurse started ringing a bell; then her nurse turned turncoat and started yelling for me” Go TuffNut, Go TuffNut!” I yelled “How come you doing that” Her nurse said “I know her too well”

As we neared the finish line, complete strangers were yelling for us with about 50 yards to go. Then one of the racers slipped a step ahead. The pace was blistering, the final time was three minutes and 20 seconds to travel five football fields via walking. Try it sometime those who can! This time was nine seconds faster than my race several months ago with my palliative care nurse.

It’s purported an individual with tan compression hose (Klinger?) used his stride to drop his foot over the line first. It’s also being reported the individual used an unsportsmanlike shoe with tiny rubber cleats that served to propel him forward from the carpet. As of this moment the hospital is pulling all the security camera footage and empowering a panel of experts to declare a winner.

Whoever the winner didn’t matter….my doctor had the sweetest expression on her face for having sprinted such an arduous race as we crossed the finish line. I was just trying to catch my breath from having had RSV in June. It was really courageous of my doctor to accept my challenge and she rose to the occasion by walking extremely fast. She helped save my life 7 months before, during my bout with pneumonia.

Our group picture was the best, hugs. all smiles and so much fun. It included my pharmacist, my nurse whom I had raced several months before, and my young doctor and me. With these two races, an incredible bond had been formed between caregivers and their patient. Definitely a model of patient doctor interaction to accept the risk of getting to know a patient better.

It was an unforgettable experience for us all that we will cherish forever irrespective of the winner.

“And I won’t look back, I can go the distance. And I’ll stay on track, no, I won’t accept defeat. It’s an uphill slope but I won’t lose hope. Til I go the distance and my journey is complete.”

If my doctor or I touched one patient or you to do your best to hang on…

it truly will have been worth it.

Nothing in life is all Kum ba Yah. Friday morning I have a 2 inch mass removed from my collar bone, it got involved with my chest muscle. If you believe in the power of prayer, please pray the surgery will go well and that I won’t get another infection. Thank you, God bless all of you impacted by this horrific scourge.

Never give up!

[j-o-h-n]

I prayed for you and btw I like you. It's Friday and hope your procedure went well. Race around the hall when they let you out of bed. God Speed and "see ya in the movies".

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n Friday 11/22/2024 6:32 PM EST

[TuffNuttoCrack in reply to j-o-h-n]

Thank you John., I feel repressed from the mods putting me in last place so nobody could see my post. Ha, ha! They didn’t want the world to see my beautiful legs that swell up like chicken legs in the evening!

The note below is what I put out to 50 of my close friends from cross the country who follow my cancers progress. in short the op was very successful. I can’t tell you how worried my wife was due to my aspiration of pneumonia during a hospital procedure last April. I now know the mechanism and I may share it at a future post.

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I'm home! The surgeon told my wife the lipoma was 50 mm long. At 25.4 mm/ inch. It was roughly 2 inches as I had hypothesized. From my research on lipomas, 50 mm is the break point in which a high preponderance of lipomas turn malignant. The surgeon made a 2/1/2 inch by 1/4 inch incision and instead of stitches put super glue.

Both my oncologist APN and the my providers dermatologist said” leave it alone”and when I told my APN Friday that I was having the surgery by a Methodist surgeon…. she seemed to be shocked that I didn't seek their approval before hand...this “leave it alone” advice has been going on a year enabling the Lipoma to embed its tentacles into my chest muscle. My personal dermatologist said “get it out ASAP,” within the month. I now am lumpless, and can’t lift weights for a week.

I want to share with you I meet many Christians at my provider and at Methodist along the way, a parking attendant who prayed for our friend Kathy with liver cancer several weeks ago, and was so good about expressing her condolences as I left the complex this week, Caroline, a lady in her 30s facing breast cancer metastasized to her bone, liver and brain and two sisters Marge and Betty from Birmingham in the blood letting waiting area. Betty is thought to be cured from liver and bone cancer, Marge prayed for me on the spot next to chairs of people in the diagnostic lab, a wonderful Christian prayer that only we as Christians know how to pray.

In the recovery area today, I met Sally, a spunky Filipino nyse ministering to me after I woke up. Somehow I asked her if she was Christian, and when I learned that she was, I praised the Lord with her.

I want to share this personal card she left me. I can identify with all the words on this card and you may too as well.

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Unfortunately I can’t post it at the moment as I need to edit out my name and reply to you John. Thank you for all your encouragement and yes I believe I will beat my cancer. You’re a great guy and I appreciate your sage wisdom and yes I did race some fine looking young women over the last three months on the order of “Ms. Universe” and “Ms. Galaxy.”Really sweet women who cared about their patients.

[TuffNuttoCrack in reply to j-o-h-n]

John the secret to my success. Scroll thru the pics till you see the rows of rubber cleats. I sent a message to my Doc saying “ watch out, I got the Ultraboost DNA shoes for that make me run as fast as the speed of light” and she wrote me back” you aren’t trying to intimidate me?”

I just sent her a note to get these pinky shoes below and she would be formidable.

a.co/d/j64fLSM

[TuffNuttoCrack in reply to j-o-h-n]

best, Tuff Nutt

A prayer from my caregiver