Saturday Patrick drove up this way and we went for a nice 40-45 mile ride into Snohomish and on the Centennial Trail. It was a great ride, great conversation, and some simple climbing at the very end. It was nice to climb just a little since we were both fighting off head congestion.
However, the powerful part of the ride was the individual for whom I was riding. Matthew Coles passed away in December of 2010. He fought brain cancer and was alive to experience the birth of his third son. A fellow parishioner was great friends of Matt and told me that Matt was the biggest influence in his life. Chris was raised Catholic, but it wasn't until he met Matt that he truly embraced his faith in a new light and transformed his life. Chris said of Matt, "He's the most devoted Catholic I've personally known and a true friend." Below is a prayer that Matt wrote about 2 years ago:
"Vivre d'Amour" (To live in love)
To live your life, oh Christ - here, now, and with my whole being.
To give every one of my days to You, and with each of my actions to live in Your presence.
To put others before myself - and to give myself for them.
To focus on taking care of myself only insofar as it is an act of love towards you, Lord and towards others - especially Lucy and our family.
To love without measure and without fear.
To be misunderstood by this world, and to love you all the more!
Monday, April 25, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Spring Riding, Winter Gloves
Despite the much cooler than normal spring that we've been having the weather is starting to turn a bit clearer than recent days. Great news for riding. However, our mornings are still hovering around 38-40 degrees and we are lucky to just cross over 50 during the day. Now for the most part that isn't bad. 38-40 degrees I'm ok with bibs, leg warmers, arm warmers, base layer, jersey, and windfront vest. It's my hands...
A few weeks back I went on a ride with some of my riding buddies, and had on my full finger Pearl Izumi Cyclone gloves which are known to be "heavy/warm" gloves. It was true for that day when we were riding since it was about 45. However, by 3/4 of the way through the ride I realized that I could have gone heavier. Similarly, on the mornings I need to be wearing the pair of gloves that Sarah told me to get after I showed her my finger one night at dinner (about 45-60 minutes after getting home). I almost wonder if I need to wait until 70 degrees to even think of fingerless gloves.
Now I've never said that I was a medical professional but here is what I think is going on. On my 2nd chemo they accessed a vein in my hand. At one point it felt really weird so they came over. Adjusting the saline/poison ratio that I was getting my reaction was delayed. I thought that it was feeling better at one point and the nurse was surprised since she had completely blocked the saline. Then it came. BURN. Wow did that hurt. Ever since I've noticed a dark smudge under my skin on my pinky. Now I dont know if they are related and I'm not speaking medically but I think it is an internal burn. One of the benefits of getting a port is that the chemo goes into a vein with a higher volume of blood so it dilutes faster rather than beating up veins. Patients that continually use their arms/hands sometimes find it more difficult to access the vein because the chemo makes the veins collapse. This is what I think, to an extent, happened to my middle finger. One those cold days at my top knuckle there is a very specific line of coloring to white. The tip of my finger gets VERY little blood supply and the only way to warm it up is to massage and push the blood back up, combined with heat.
Oh well, I live with that now, but at least I can just put on the winter gloves and get riding.
LIVESTRONG
A few weeks back I went on a ride with some of my riding buddies, and had on my full finger Pearl Izumi Cyclone gloves which are known to be "heavy/warm" gloves. It was true for that day when we were riding since it was about 45. However, by 3/4 of the way through the ride I realized that I could have gone heavier. Similarly, on the mornings I need to be wearing the pair of gloves that Sarah told me to get after I showed her my finger one night at dinner (about 45-60 minutes after getting home). I almost wonder if I need to wait until 70 degrees to even think of fingerless gloves.
Now I've never said that I was a medical professional but here is what I think is going on. On my 2nd chemo they accessed a vein in my hand. At one point it felt really weird so they came over. Adjusting the saline/poison ratio that I was getting my reaction was delayed. I thought that it was feeling better at one point and the nurse was surprised since she had completely blocked the saline. Then it came. BURN. Wow did that hurt. Ever since I've noticed a dark smudge under my skin on my pinky. Now I dont know if they are related and I'm not speaking medically but I think it is an internal burn. One of the benefits of getting a port is that the chemo goes into a vein with a higher volume of blood so it dilutes faster rather than beating up veins. Patients that continually use their arms/hands sometimes find it more difficult to access the vein because the chemo makes the veins collapse. This is what I think, to an extent, happened to my middle finger. One those cold days at my top knuckle there is a very specific line of coloring to white. The tip of my finger gets VERY little blood supply and the only way to warm it up is to massage and push the blood back up, combined with heat.
Oh well, I live with that now, but at least I can just put on the winter gloves and get riding.
LIVESTRONG
Monday, April 11, 2011
Fundraising update and request
(text from email sent to family and friends on 04.10.2011)
Hello to all!
Hello to all!
Happy rainy evening in the Greater Puget Sound region, and even a stormy evening to my friends in the Midwest who I hear are getting hammered with some tornado watches right now. I wanted to send an update on how things are going in our world of fundraising, awareness, and my riding.
First and foremost, thank you so much to the many individuals that responded to my first email and provided donations to get to our goal. We are so appreciative of those donations and I wanted to include you on this email to say thank you, provide you with an updated, and also, you never know when someone may want to forgo that morning coffee and give an added $5 to a great cause - you can always give more too!!
Things are going well here. We topped $1,000 in January, however, for the most part February and March were extremely flat. That is okay, though, because people were focusing on paying their taxes, getting ready for some spring projects, and saving up for spring break trips. However, I also hope that in the meantime it has added some pennies to a few pockets and that you would be willing to help us out.
Why should you help us? You know, that is a great question. I'm sure that many of you wonder how we will even get remotely close to any of our goals just by targeting family and friends. Let me be honest and say that you are definitely a big part of this endeavor and even if it is just $5 we will take any bit that you can offer up. I wish that we could tell you about the various fundraising that we have done, but much of it has been in the planning stages. Some things are too big and will have to wait for next year (like the Wine Night at Januik Winery), other things are too early to tell if they can happen this year (like a spinning relay with Anytime Fitness), and others are forthcoming in the upcoming months. For example, we will be hosting a trivia night with various swag from local breweries and potentially some specials on beers at the Wedgewood Alehouse 1 or 2 weekends this spring/summer. We have donations jars waiting for a home at local restaurants, businesses, or whoever wants to offer to help fill them. Sarah and I have been stretching our arms out and finding those who would be looking to downsize or get rid of things, and this summer will be hosting a Livestrong garage sale (hoping the neighborhood may even jump on the bandwagon). So trust us, we are doing a lot of the behind the scenes work right now which will be bearing fruit in the future.
Throughout the winter I was also fortunate enough to be able to commute quite a bit. This has helped keep my legs in tolerable shape, and now we are back to building up miles. Myself and some guys I ride with went 45 miles last weekend over the top of Lake Washington, took on the Kirkland hills, the wind of the I-90 bridge and back into Seattle. It was a great ride and I really felt like my legs could keep going. Great signs for the improving weather since, now that Gabbie is the center of our lives, most of my 60+ mile rides will be on days off during the week. The greatest part of our ride the other weekend were the hills. Last year I was always lagging in the back. However, this year I'm not. I've focused a lot on my climbing and I'm definitely getting better. This will really help with the first ride of the season in June (Flying Wheels Summer Century) which has a fair bit of climbing in the Redmond/Carnation/Duvall region. I'm also planning between the end of May and middle of June to take a weekend and bike up to Anacortes one day, meet Sarah and Gabs, and ride back the next. Between the rolling hills, possibly some added riding on Fidalgo Island, and the 2 days of miles it will be great prep for the Seattle to Portland ride.
It is not difficult to keep the focus on this challenge and the reason why we are doing this. A man I knew during my diagnosis has had his cancer spread into his lungs and the family is beginning palliative care. The mother of a family at church was recently diagnosed for a second time with breast cancer. Another friend had a spot removed which thankfully was benign. Another friend was missing her mom who she lost too many years ago. And then there is the little girl from church who comes in every weekend with her backpack holding the tubes supplying her dosage. This ugly disease needs your help.
My experience in the grand scheme of things has been good. In the next month or 2 I will be scheduling my 1 year check up. They skipped my 9 month scan to give my body a break from the radiation of the CT scan - no sense in encouraging a secondary cancer. I want to put off my 1 year scan as long as I can, but I'm also very excited for it. Our oncologist has said that the greatest probability of recurrence is in the first year. However, that also doesn't do much for anxiety - especially when your wife likes the temperatures warmer and the spring weather leads to warm - almost sweaty nights. Or when a lingering sinus infection makes you wonder. Still I trust the Lord that He will take care of our family and that there is nothing to worry about for years to come other than the scars on my body and decreased circulation in my pinky and middle finger of my left hand (damn chemo burns).
So to that end, what can you do to help us? Were you thinking of going to lunch this week? Could you put that off for next week and make a donation? Is there someone you know who's name you could make the donation in their honor - or if we've lost them, in their memory? I know that everyone can help out, but I also know that everyone has to do what is best for you. I'm just asking you to think about it. We would really appreciate if you'd help us get that 1 step closer to never having to talk about this again.
Please generously consider supporting us in our efforts to end cancer and provide the support needed for all of the cancer community who has to hear the words "you have cancer"
You can make a donation online at http://austin2011.livestrong.
Thank you for your generosity and remember that I will ride 1 mile for every $5 donated. You just let me know who I should ride for.
LIVESTRONG!
Andrew J Steinbrecher
Andrew J Steinbrecher
Sunday, April 10, 2011
The Bernsteins
There have been so many incredible people that we have met through our time at Blessed Sacrament - hence the reason to drive the added miles to church every weekend. One of these families are the Bernsteins. They are a family with 2 little girls, a little boy, and another on the way. As odd as it sounds they are partially to thank for the miracle that Gabriella is in our lives. Michael and Monica teach the NFP class and Blessed Sacrament and it was through that course that my eyes and heart were completely opened to NFP. Sarah planted the idea in my head which I had never thought of as a "normal opportunity" in the past and it has been one of the best realities in our life. So without going into all of the detail (this is a cycling blog and all) the understanding of Natural Family Planning is to understand your body and get to know it in terms of when you are fertile and when you are not. This knowledge helps you to achieve pregnancy or avoid depending on what God is calling you to do. Men... well we are always fertile, but it is very interesting to get to know your wife on a very different intimate level. Well, because of those courses and their shared knowledge, when we were diagnosed we had a much greater likelihood of conceiving a child because of NFP. For this and many other reasons, the Bernsteins have a special place in our hearts.
One weekend after mass Michael shared with us 2 very contrasting things. They were pregnant and could use our prayers during the earlier times, and also that Michael's mother was rediagnosed with breast cancer. They were blessed to find out that the cancer was at stage 0 but still, surgery was recommended. Last we heard, Mrs. Bernstein was doing well, but still never a thing someone wants to go through.
The family also made a very generous donation to our fundraising efforts and so this last weekend when we were out for our ride, I wanted to ride for their family. We did a ride over the north end of Lake Washington, up Juanita hill, through Kirkland and Bellevue and over the windy I-90 bridge before re-entering hilly Seattle. It was a victorious 45 miles and I was very happy with the added energy I had after pounding through those hills. Great to be improving as a climber!
LIVESTRONG
One weekend after mass Michael shared with us 2 very contrasting things. They were pregnant and could use our prayers during the earlier times, and also that Michael's mother was rediagnosed with breast cancer. They were blessed to find out that the cancer was at stage 0 but still, surgery was recommended. Last we heard, Mrs. Bernstein was doing well, but still never a thing someone wants to go through.
The family also made a very generous donation to our fundraising efforts and so this last weekend when we were out for our ride, I wanted to ride for their family. We did a ride over the north end of Lake Washington, up Juanita hill, through Kirkland and Bellevue and over the windy I-90 bridge before re-entering hilly Seattle. It was a victorious 45 miles and I was very happy with the added energy I had after pounding through those hills. Great to be improving as a climber!
LIVESTRONG
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