My birthday today...

Another year has come and gone..  Got the text from my son this morning wishing the "old man" a happy 54th birthday.  This year has been a good one and I'm looking forward to my next year being 54.  A lot of crazy things happened last year. So I thought I would take a moment and remember how blessed I am to be here still and the blessings of family, friends and the new friends I have in the Blogispher & Facebook.

The year started out kinda rough.  My PN hit me hard.  I was unable to exercise because I kept falling and I started falling just getting out of my car.  I started walking funny , like I was 90 !!  Really scary but I soon found out it was just a reaction to my medication.  I went off it and BAM I was mostly back to normal.

The spring was wet so I got behind on my training and I missed 2 rides that I had signed up for.  I kept going at the gym and as soon as the weather cleared I was back out riding my bike and loving life.  I had a great year riding, 3489 miles on the bike and 50+ hours in the gym.    It all came down to me doing the Tour De Tahoe.  It was a great day to ride it and I had a great time.  I finished it much faster than I expected !! 

I had a second round of cancer testing late October early November and everything came out great.  My numbers have stayed fairly stable and so I'm not moving any closer to needing treatment yet!  Having Smoldering Multiple Myeloma is a crazy place to be.  Yes, you have cancer, and no they don't do anything for it!  That is where the diet and exercise comes in.  No real research on the "true" benefit of it but I know this... My first 9 months with it, my cancer numbers were climbing every time they were checked.  After the weight loss and exercise kicked in, the numbers started to fall and now have leveled off.  I feel better than I have in years and that is enough for me right now!

The year has ended up with Shingles.. NO FUN AT ALL.. but I got to get to know a blog friend better because of them, so I guess there are blessings in everything God puts in front of us!!!  The Big EZ helped me figure out what I had and then walked me through the tough time... Thanks Big...  Now I have a cold but the body is doing a good job handling it.

Not the best ending of the year but I got to spend a lot of time with family and the celebration of my Lord's birth is always a great time at the Ritter household.

So...  Here is how I sum up 53 years old.  Full of ups and downs but as long as I stayed out of treatment it was a great year... 

Now on to a treatment free 54....

The body is sick, but thanks to Jesus the soul is alive and well...