I’m feeling like the latest iteration of this blog is turning into a cranky old man’s rant, yelling at the clouds.
I’m trying my best to not be a cranky old man, but holy shit, how much stuff does one person have to endure? I realize I have (very) broad shoulders, but I can’t/don’t want to put anything more on them.
Before I start (rightfully) ranting about cancer, I’ll begin with ranting about my business. As most of you know I am co-owner of a natural foods store. A few years back, our Chamber of Commerce merged with this new entity called Elevate. The guy who was running Elevate at the time was hell bent on getting a Natural Grocers here in town. A direct competitor to us, the co-op, and the other natural foods store in town. He wanted it because that’s what he had wherever he was from. And he got his wish, with one opening just 3 blocks from my store, and he’s not even with Elevate anymore. What the fuck. This fucking ass-clown got his wish, dumped gasoline all over the small, locally owned businesses, threw a match on it and rolled out. Didn’t create any competition for the big grocers in town but just fucked the little guys. Nice work dipshit.
But let’s get to the 900 lb. gorilla in the room. The Boi’s cancer. If you follow his Caring Bridge page, you know we had high hopes for an immunotherapy trial we tried to start in Boston, but got set back even further by finding his cancer had spread to his skull/brain. MOTHERFUCKER. Now we’re in full-on fuck cancer mode, with his total course of treatment changing. He just wrapped up radiation at Mayo in Minnesota on the skull/brain lesion, which the team at Mayo thinks is very treatable. The other positive of this now the doctor that was getting ready to start the immunotherapy trial at Mayo is overseeing his treatment, so we have a constant link to the person that can get him back into the trial.
Now I will bitch about myself for a minute. We all have been going nonstop for 3 weeks now dealing with this, and I’m trying to juggle keeping my Boi alive (by far my main priority) and keep my business viable, but this isn’t only for me, but a number of my employees that use this as the source of their livelihood. It all makes it so riding a bike is low, low, low on my list of priorities.
And it shouldn’t be. If I had more opportunities to ride my bicycle I could work out many of the things in my brain that are bugging me about both of these situations, then I could be clearer about what I need to get done. My bike is my transportation. My bike is my stress relief valve. My bike is my personal trainer. My bike is my therapist. I always feel better about everything when I’m done riding.
The Boi and my Lovely are traveling home today, with a little more than a week to just regroup, relax, and hopefully get a few rides in before we get back in the car and head to Mayo for the next round of treatment.
