Life Cycles

During the second week of June, 2012, my mother began what would be the last week of her life here with us. Of course, at that time, we didn’t know that. My family and I went about the routine we had established in the previous 7 months, caring for her as the cancer, which began in her pancreas, was tearing through her body like a school of ravenous piranha. My sister, brother and I went about our usual routine, which typically included us bossing her around — a fact which she was quick to share with the hospice nurses. “Mom, …

Lessons about pancreatic cancer and triathlon

When I started this blog several years ago, my concept was that I would write about my training and racing, and all of the lessons I learned from it. Hence, my tagline: Learning about life while pushing the limits of the body.  At the outset, there was no way I could have understood just how significant some of these lessons would become. Today, I’m writing from my mother’s bedside. She’s been hospitalized, again, as a result of the complications of pancreatic cancer and its treatment. This time, it’s dehydration, which is not uncommon in cancer patients, nor is this the …

A series of stressful events

The last month has been stressful. Now, I know that “stress” is a word that can be overused and misapplied. So, let me be clear. According to the American Institute of stress, a basic definition of stress, originally coined by Hans Selye in 1936, is “the non-specific response of the body to any demand for change.” Change, in and of itself, is not naturally or automatically good or bad. An appropriate amount of stress can aid in human productivity, as the graph to the right illustrates. For example, training sessions are carefully calculated to introduce an appropriate amount of stress …