Author Archive
Sunday, April 1st, 2012
Cross Florida Ride – Finished
Eastside Cycling Club
at start of Cross Florida Ride
The 167 mile Cross Florida Ride looked like a suffer-fest to me, but instead the event turned out to be really fun. The hills were challenging between miles 120 and 150, and we had a west wind (5-10 mph) all day to ride against, but I was able to ride in a group the whole way and avoided bike breakdowns, cramps, and overheating. I actually felt better at the end of this ride than I do on many Saturday morning group rides of one third the length. We finished the course in 10:00 hours, including stops, but our rolling average speed was 19.6 mph. My heart rate monitor said I burned 11,200 calories.
I would ride it again next year.
No Comments » - Posted in Orlando by Jerry
Saturday, March 31st, 2012
Cross Florida Ride – Track Jerry’s Location
On April 1 I am attempting to ride my bicycle across Florida in one day (Cross Florida Ride) with some friends from the Eastside Cycling Club. From Cocoa Beach to Weeki Wachee Springs (east to west), the total distance will be 170 miles. I expect the real work to start at 120 miles where the route gets hilly.
You can track the progress of our group here. It’s in real time, but you’ll have to refresh the page to see updates.
GPS tracking powered by InstaMapper.com
Easier viewing:
http://www.instamapper.com/ext?key=1902577887064436155
http://mobile.instamapper.com/ext?key=1902577887064436155 (mobile version)
3 Comments » - Posted in Orlando by Jerry
Monday, March 19th, 2012
Round 6 done
Although Cathy hates them, each of her chemo doses have been mostly routine. Today was no exception. She’s exhausted and laying down now. She will have no energy this week, but if this week is like others, on Sunday she will bounce back again. 6 down, 2 to go. Thanks for praying for Cathy!
2 Comments » - Posted in Cathy by Jerry
Sunday, March 18th, 2012
Tour de Cure – first 100 miler
Tour de Cure – near halfway
Today I finished my first cycling century, a 100 mile ride. I did a fund raiser for Tour de Cure, the American Diabetes Association event to raise funds for finding a cure for diabetes. Several of my extended family and friends live with diabetes, so I was happy to do something productive and fun at the same time.
At the 52 mile mark my tire blew out. Had it been the inner tube, I would have been back on the road quickly, but I wasn’t carrying a spare tire. So I called for the repair truck and was back on the road 60 minutes later and $60 lighter. I was also taken back 7 miles on the course route to the repair truck, so I resumed with a greater challenge than I had expected.
Fortunately for me, one of my Eastside Cycling Club friends also had a mechanical failure, so he was just getting his chain repair finished at the repair truck as I pulled up for my tire repair. We were able to ride the remaining 55 miles together. Together we averaged 20 mph the rest of the way.
After the event, my friend, Jim, who helped organize this event, starting working on me to do the Cross Florida Ride April 1 (170 miles). We’ll see.
No Comments » - Posted in Orlando by Jerry
Monday, February 20th, 2012
Chemo Round 4 – Another good one
Cathy left the MD Anderson Cancer Center today amazed again at how good she felt. They made another adjustment to the combination of chemo drugs she gets, and it left her with greatly reduced side-effects. She is still wiped out tired, but that is much better than wiped out and horrible side-effects. This last phase, chemo treatments, have been a welcome answer to our prayers!
No Comments » - Posted in Cathy by Jerry
Friday, February 10th, 2012
mLearning in a new era
On Wednesday two events marked a new era for our mLearning project.
First, we had the launch event of a major new version of the software we have been using, Allogy Digital Press. This new software will make it possible for non-technical people to publish their own mobile learning course for smartphones or tablets.
The second event was a planning meeting where the 8, or so, member mLearning team identified ten projects that are either under way or in the developing stages.
We are now out of the initial development stage of this project and into a growth stage. I’m excited about what this new phase will bring!
No Comments » - Posted in GTO,Ministry,mLearning Project by Jerry
Friday, February 10th, 2012
Chemo Round 3 – Best Yet
One of the side-effects of the type of chemo treatments Cathy is getting is an annoying tingling feeling in your fingers when she touches anything cold – like you get when you wake up in the middle of the night and realize you’ve been sleeping on your arm. Cathy had ten days of that tingling after her last session. Funny, she never complained about it, and I never knew it until she mentioned it to the chemo nurse last Monday. She just figured it was normal.
Ten days is too long, the nurse said, so they eliminated one of the chemo drugs that causes that issue from this round. This was the drug that has given her the most difficult side-effects.
As a result, Cathy felt pretty good this week during her third round of treatment. She had more energy and didn’t have the tingling and cold-sensitivity from previous weeks. This was great!
She is helping to plan a big church event this weekend, so the timing was good. She had energy to work on making the plans happen. Granted, she has probably over-done it, but the fact that she had capacity at all is amazing. She is grateful at how God has answered everyone’s prayers for her so far.
No Comments » - Posted in Cathy by Jerry
Saturday, January 28th, 2012
Chemo Round 2 Went Well
Cathy expected her chemo treatments to get progressively more difficult, but this was not the case for dose #2. This time Cathy had a better understanding of how to use the medications at her disposal to keep the usual nasty chemo side-effects at bay. So Round 2 ended up going better than the first week. We are really happy about this! We recognize that God is allowing this to be less difficult than it could be, but either way Cathy has continued to experience God’s peace and patience in this.
We are so grateful for everyone that has been praying for Cathy. The sense of peace she has had in this is truly a gift from God.
1 Comment » - Posted in Cathy by Jerry
Friday, January 20th, 2012
Training Team On The Way
Training Team
Today three of our team left for Accra, Ghana and Nairobi, Kenya to train the technical coordinators who will be teaching the orientation sessions for our mobile phone pastor training course. These are most of the people who developed the training. It took a lot of work, but we expect it will pay off when we see the first wave of 2400 pastors-in-training start this course!
No Comments » - Posted in GTO,Ministry,mLearning Project by Jerry
Saturday, January 14th, 2012
Chemo Week 1 Completed
Week 1 of Cathy’s chemo treatments is complete, and she is doing fairly well. Fatigue and a weird sensitivity to cold temperatures were the main difficulties. Knowing there are 7 more to go has not exactly encouraged her, but she recognizes she is doing a lot better than what is possible.
On Monday (Jan 9) we spent half the day at the MD Anderson Cancer Center while Cathy got her first round of infusions. Later that evening a home nurse connected a small pump to another infusion that lasted for two more days at home. The pump sits in a little shoulder bag that Cathy carries around with her. It’s a lot better than being at a hospital, but it’s odd carrying something like your purse all the time around the house.
What was really interesting, and annoying, is the cold sensitivity. It hurts her fingers to pick up anything cold, and it feels like gravel in her mouth when she drinks anything cold. Now we have a pair of gloves sitting on top of the fridge for whenever she needs to get something.
She continues having an incredible endurance about this whole thing. We’re praying she doesn’t feel too badly over the next three and half months remaining.
1 Comment » - Posted in Cathy by Jerry
Tuesday, January 10th, 2012
600 memory chips coming right up….
Last minute software bugs are now fixed, so today we begin copying the first 600 memory chips that will go into each student phone. We will ship another 1800 blank memory chips, along with two mass duplicators, to the program coordinators in Ghana and Kenya. It is these memory chips which hold the content that each pastor-in-training will go through during their training. Without an Android smartphone, though, these memory chips are useless. Each one must be installed into a phone and activated before the training course will be available on the student-pastor’s phone.
For those interested in the geeky details; each memory chip is a 16 Gb Class 10 microSD flash memory card, similar to the ones that come in nearly every new Android smartphone these days.
1 Comment » - Posted in GTO,Ministry,mLearning Project by Jerry
Monday, January 9th, 2012
Chemo Day 1
Today looks familiar for Cathy as she begins her first day of IV chemo treatments. It’s at the same hospital, MD Anderson, that she had her surgery in, but everything else about the day is new.
Everyone reassures her that she shouldn’t be experiencing any terrible nausea, but they also reassure her she will have extreme sensitivity to cold temperature, difficulty sleeping, headaches and other odd side affects.
This may be an interesting few months. We’re praying for endurance.
No Comments » - Posted in Cathy by Jerry
Thursday, January 5th, 2012
Three trainers going now….
Today our team decided to send three people to do the training in Ghana and Kenya instead of two. This will increase the number of people on our team who can lead other mobile phone training projects in the future.
At the same time we are working on some minor last-minute bugs in the mobile phone training system. It seems that when you submit a quiz from one country to the “system” in another country the quiz answers get dropped. D’oh.
(I thought I’d start the new year by writing more about the smaller details that go into making a larger mobile phone pastor training course work.)
No Comments » - Posted in GTO,Ministry,mLearning Project by Jerry
Wednesday, January 4th, 2012
Chemo starts Monday
On Monday Cathy will have her first chemo dose of this last phase of her cancer treatment regiment. She’ll get eight in all over the course of four months.
Honestly, she is pretty apprehensive about it, and we’re praying the side effects aren’t too bad. Everyone has said it should not cause her any hair loss, but nausea is pretty likely.
1 Comment » - Posted in Cathy by Jerry
Wednesday, January 4th, 2012
Training for Accra and Nairobi
Today we confirmed our training dates for the coordinators who will be facilitating the mobile phone pastor training. Looks like two people from our team will conduct two days of training in Accra, Ghana and two days in Nairobi, Kenya.
It looks like I probably won’t be going on this trip, as it will be during Cathy’s second week of chemo treatment.
No Comments » - Posted in GTO,mLearning Project by Jerry
Monday, December 19th, 2011
Chemo to start in 2012
Cathy received some good news for Christmas recently; her chemo treatments will not begin until after the Holidays. This is really good news, as she was not looking forward to being tired and nauseated for Christmas and her birthday on New Year’s Eve.
Brother Jim and family will be here for Christmas, and we are really looking forward to their visit. Cathy is in full “Christmas spirit” mode now, even if not in full energy mode. We have lots to be thankful for this Christmas!
2 Comments » - Posted in Cathy by Jerry
Tuesday, December 13th, 2011
Minor Surgery Today; a port
Cathy gets a port installed today, near her shoulder, to make chemo injections easier. The nurse she had was really good and talked about all the benefits of having a port. She even suggested keeping it in after chemo treatments are finished to make follow up medications easier. It was then that I knew we have become citizens of a different world, where having permanent medical hardware installed is considered a good thing.
We’re praying today’s procedure, requiring full anesthesia, goes without complications.
2 Comments » - Posted in Cathy by Jerry
Friday, December 2nd, 2011
No Second Surgery!
We met with Cathy’s surgeon today who recommended NOT to pursue a second surgery. After reviewing her situation with a group of doctors on a “tumor board” our doctor didn’t think it was a good idea going back in with no certainty that there was anything malignant there.
So that is really good news for Cathy!
This also means that chemo treatments will begin in the next couple weeks. We will be praying that Cathy responds to them as well as she did the first phase of chemo treatments.
5 Comments » - Posted in Cathy by Jerry
Saturday, November 19th, 2011
Fourth good day at home
Today was another good day at home. Cathy’s recovery has gone really well since she got home. She has had no nausea and is eating well. We took a walk around the neighborhood tonight, too.
No Comments » - Posted in Cathy by Jerry
Thursday, November 17th, 2011
Yesterday ended well
Cathy finally got over her nausea by the end of the day yesterday. Today she is like a new person; had a good night’s sleep, is ready to eat breakfast, and is pain and discomfort free. Her mobility is good, too. She doesn’t hesitate to get up and walk around if she needs something. Recovery is moving faster than I expected. She even said she might write something to post here today.
1 Comment » - Posted in Cathy by Jerry
Tuesday, November 15th, 2011
Home and trying to get over nausea
It sure feels good to be home! But Cathy doesn’t yet have an appetite and is still struggling with nausea. We are praying she can get over this so her recovery can proceed.
7 Comments » - Posted in Cathy by Jerry
Tuesday, November 15th, 2011
Going home today!
Cathy Going Home
After getting past more nausea this morning, Cathy finally got clearance to go home today. She is feeling pretty well otherwise and is ready to leave the hospital. Both of us are going a little crazy here.
She’s looking forward to her own bed and her own food again. And if she makes the same recovery progress at home that she has made at the hospital, it won’t be long until she is feeling better again.
1 Comment » - Posted in Cathy by Jerry
Monday, November 14th, 2011
Not today
Cathy’s primary doctor made rounds this afternoon and decided today was not the day for Cathy to go home. No one argued with her. Tomorrow looks likely, though, and Cathy has been feeling better this afternoon.
She walks whenever she wants now, and it’s not a big deal. I suppose the next big goal will be getting back into street clothes again.
2 Comments » - Posted in Cathy by Jerry
Monday, November 14th, 2011
Home today?
This morning the doctor making rounds thought Cathy might make it home today. I’m beginning to believe this could happen, given how much progress she’s made. If not today, certainly tomorrow.
Dealing with nausea has been the biggest challenge over the last 24 hours. The anti-nausea meds have not seemed to be effective, so Cathy’s gone through waves of feeling really bad. When it backs off she sleeps for a while and wakes up better.
Good recovery overall continues happening.
1 Comment » - Posted in Cathy by Jerry
Sunday, November 13th, 2011
Good progress today
Cathy’s recovery goal for today was walking one lap around the hospital floor. She did 4. She was also in and out of bed several times and in and out of the chair many times. She’s doing great.
Pain management was a learning experience, though. Having had the “Mercedes Benz” of pain meds until today, it took a few hours before understanding how to manage discomfort and pain levels with a new system. Cathy ended the day uncomfortable but surviving. Hopefully tomorrow will look better in this area.
They say she should be able to come home on Tuesday. We’re praying.
