Update

I will be hosting a RAW, drug-tested powerlifting meet at the Blackfoot Inn on July 31st. This is a National qualifier for the World Championships in Las Vegas, but all lifters of all abilities will be welcomed to the event. I don't care if you've been lifting for years, or if you have just begun to lift, if you share my desire to test yourself under a bar, you are welcome here.

This event is also dedicated to giving 100% of the proceeds to the Alberta Cancer Foundation. I refuse to take a single penny for my time organizing this event, and my personal goal is to raise $25,000.

If you would like to compete at this event, or if you wish to provide sponsorship or volunteer help, please email

rawpowerliftingcanada@hotmail.com

My long term goal is to give back all the money that the Alberta taxpayers spent on my treatments. By conservative estimation, I figure that I owe Alberta about $300,000, and I will not stop until every last penny is paid back. After that, the sky is the limit, and I intend to dedicate myself to raising as much money for the Alberta Cancer Foundation as I can.

Happy Lifting everyone.

Day +1851 The Last Post

So Hello Again

I guess if we go by the chart, I’m on day +1851 post bone marrow transplant. That means 1851 days of joy, pain, tears, laughter, boredom, and practically every other emotion you can name. To be honest, I have no clue as to how to even begin describing what’s happened to me in the last 1594 days since I last wrote in this journal. I guess in the absence of any formal plan we should stick to chronological order. And I have to apologize in advance. I have a lot of people to thank so bear with me if this starts to sound like an Oscar acceptance speech.

When I last wrote here our family consisted of myself, my wife, my two kids, two cats and two dogs. There have been some additions and subtractions to the roster since then.
Sad news first. We lost one of our cats. Bruno was an adventurous soul who enjoyed long excursions away from home. Well, he took off for nine months a couple of years ago, and then in August of 2007 he decided to make the trip permanent. Caity and I recently decided to get two new cats and our furniture has begun to depreciate at an exponential rate. They have added that little bit of needed chaos Caity and I seem to crave since the whole transplant recovery thing.

The other news is nothing short of a miracle. In 2007 we increased our daughter count by 1. Apparently, after being declared 100% sterile, my body decided that it wanted to heal that part of my anatomy as well. Addison Megan Lyon Price was born in October and is one of the most beautiful creatures I think I have ever seen in my entire life. It’s amazing to go back and read how happy I was with just two kids. Now I can’t imagine my life without her.

I still work downtown in the Oil and Gas Industry, but I’m at a new company. After 4 great years of working at Storm it was time to make a change. It was one of the most difficult decisions I’ve made to date because the people at Storm are an amazing group of people, but after doing the same job for four years, a person requires a change of scenery in order to continue growing as a person. I want to publicly thank Brian Lavergne, Don McLean, and the whole group at Storm for supporting me and standing by my side during my darkest hours. I don’t think you’ll ever understand how hard it was for me to leave, but I hope you understand why I had to do it.

My current employer is Iteration Energy and once again I find myself working with some of the greatest people I’ve ever met. Brian and Carmen Illing have been absolutely amazing in supporting my powerlifting endeavours, and I am continuously blown away by how wonderful they are as people and as employers. The work has been hard, but I’ve learned so much more than I ever thought possible, in the last year and a half. I also get the pleasure of working with people I consider friends, more than I consider them co-workers. 6th floor? You guys ROCK!!!!! I don’t know what I’d do without you.

Getting back to family, my wife is the amazing woman she always was and has stepped up the fight against Cancer. She’s done the Light the Night Walk for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, twice, and is currently signed up for the Ride to Conquer Cancer (have you seen the link? It’s at the top of the Blog, Hint hint, wink wink nudge nudge). She continues to be my rock, my pillar of strength, my provider of sage advice and ass kickings. After everything we’ve been through I think I can honestly say that we are a 7.5 year old married couple with 40 years of experience and I wouldn’t trade a day of my time with her for anything. I love you Caitlin Marie Price, you are amazing.

About two years ago, Caity gave me another one of her famous kicks in the ass. I had started weight lifting again and she encouraged me to return to powerlifting. I had been making moderate progress in my basement but because I wasn’t getting out of the house, I was getting a little disgruntled with my lack of success. After several days of searching the Internet I found the single hardest working group of people I’ve ever met in my entire life. The guys and gals of the Independent Powerlifting Association are simply the best of the best in Canadian Powerlifting. If you want to truly learn how to train properly, there is no other place in Canada to do it.

Training with the right people makes all the difference because they push you in ways you couldn’t or wouldn’t push yourself. Since joining with them, I’ve competed in 4 National competitions and 2 World Championships. This November, I found myself at the top of the podium in France at the 2009 World Championships, getting a first place medal placed around my neck. Not bad for someone who 5 years ago was living at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre with tubes going into his chest!!!!

I continue to beat my previous totals with each competition and my goal is to attempt the 90kg bodyweight Bench Press World Record at the next Nationals if my training goes well. I can do it in the gym, it’s just a matter of finding the energy to do it in competition. Currently, my best numbers are as follows.

Competition Squat: 315kgs/693lbs
Competition Bench: 215kgs/473lbs
Competition Deadlift: 235kgs/517lbs

My lifts in the gym are much better than that, but that’s the trick to competing, trying to get all the best parts of your training to appear on one single day. I’m still waiting for that magical day to happen, but until then, I’m happy with the fact that I’m continuing to progress in my lifting.

So why do I choose to powerlift? I’m not sure what the answer is anymore. It hurts, it leaves me aching for days, my cardio is crap, and I don’t fit into any clothes or airplane seats comfortably. All I do know is that I love doing it. I love the feeling of the bar on my back, I love seeing stars in my eyes and hearing popping in my ears when I’m at the bottom of a lift. I love the way my face and neck get covered in tiny bruises from exertion after a really big squat. I think deep down, I love the fact that for a brief moment in time, it makes me feel like a superhero. In the heat of the moment, under a very heavy weight, there’s no time to worry about life or work or whether or not I’ll have enough cash set aside for retirement. It’s just you and the moment, nothing else exists. It’s peaceful, in a weird sort of way I think that’s the best way to describe it.

I want to personally thank Brian Johnston, Mario Piattelli, Corey Evans, Gary Bobrovitz, Lora Greco, Matt Arter, Michelle Senger, Andrea McDougall, Norm Lewis, Peter Jakobowski and everyone else for putting your time and energy into helping me get to where I am today. I’m really hoping I didn’t forget anyone because to train with this group of amazing athletes is an honour I do not take lightly.

Another facet of my powerlifting life is volunteering with the Special Olympics. If you get the chance, you need to do this yourself. It is one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had. Thanks to Paul Manual, a member of the Calgary Police Service and Head Coach of the Calgary Special Olympics Powerlifting Team for encouraging me to take this experience as far as I can. In 2010, I am acting as Head Coach for Team Alberta for the Special Olympics National Games in London, Ontario.

If you were a reader of my blog back in the past, you’d know that I talked about volunteering with organizations focused on beating cancer. I did the Light the Night walk last year, and to be perfectly honest, I don’t think I could do that again. The entire time we were walking, my brain was bringing up emotions that I wasn’t ready to deal with. It left me very uncomfortable and that makes me very sad, because events like Light the Night are deserving of as much support as we can give. I hope that one day, I’ll be able to join my wife in the fight to end cancer, but I hope you understand that I’m still a little emotionally worn out from the last one. For now, my wife Caitlin fights for the both of us. She’s currently doing the Ride to Conquer Cancer (have I mentioned that yet?). If you felt so inclined, you could click here to send some money her way.

So, have I recovered fully from the last 5 years? I honestly don’t know. Physically, I still get sick a lot more than most people, and according to all the research Caity and I have read, the 5 year mark is where the chronic graft vs host starts creeping back into your life. Google “chronic graft vs host” and it’ll put a sour mood on your day, I guarantee it. I would say however that I came out of the entire thing mostly unscathed. My GI tract is still a little messed up and requires a daily shot of Metamucil to keep things normal, but other than that, my body is treating me fairly well. I’d have to say that the bone marrow I got was some top notch stuff from a decent human being. I had the great luck to finally meet him a couple of years ago, and yes he really is an amazing person. I’d thank him here, but he’s done so much for me that I wouldn’t know where to even start. I’ve met his whole family in fact, and they honestly treat me like one of their own. I can still remember the first time I met the whole clan. My bone marrow Donor’s father was cooking an amazing barbeque in my honor, and I thanked him for making me feel like part of the family. He looked at me for a minute with a puzzled look and simply stated

“You ARE part of the family”

In their minds, I have their blood inside me, so I’m part of the family, no questions asked. To this day, I can’t think back on that day without getting emotional. They’re an amazing close knit group of people with so much love in their hearts. Not only did I get a second shot at life, but my family tree grew a new branch or two overnight. And in case you were wondering about Addison’s two middle names, Lyon is a family name on Caity’s side of the family, and Megan is my donor’s mother’s name. When Addison was born, we asked my donor to provide us with one of Addison’s middle names. Without him, she would not exist so it seemed fitting and appropriate that he get to be a part of the naming process.

So that’s about it. I know a few of my friends were excited to hear that I was writing again, but this is a one shot deal. I came out of retirement to make sure that people coming to this blog knew I was still alive and kicking. For those of you who have been recently diagnosed with cancer, or are currently deep in the fight, I hope this helps to show you that the fight can be won. The important thing is to never give up permanently. You are allowed to give up for brief periods of time when you get knocked on your butt, but that’s when your friends and family kick you in the ass, and tell you to stand up again. And you WILL fall, make no mistake about that. You WILL have setbacks, you WILL have days where you really wonder if you want to go on. I can’t tell you why you need to keep getting up again (that’s for you to figure out), but you have to find something to fight for. For me, it was my wife and my kids. For you, it will be something else, but in your darkest hours, you need a singular thought to focus on when life gets too much.

And for those people on the sidelines watching friends and loved ones go through the process of fighting cancer, please know that frequent ass kickings are required when dealing with one of us. The human spirit can only be strong for so long, and when we aren’t strong we rely on you to get us through the really dark times. Never underestimate how important you are to your friend or loved one and never give up on us. I believe with all my heart that my wife pulled me through this, and I really have to wonder where I’d be today if she hadn’t been there for me. She was there for me when I was doubled over puking my guts out, she sat quietly beside me in the hospital when I was mostly unconscious and hallucinating from the medications and the pain. But most importantly, she was there when I couldn’t (or wouldn’t in some cases) go on any longer, she never gave up on me, and she never allowed me to quit.

And I can’t end this note without thanking, Elli Armstrong(my mom), and Jim & Sandi Price for putting their lives on hold to come live at our house for three months. When I went into the hospital, these three people came to live with Caity to help out with the twins, and to give Caity the time she needed to come see me every night. If we hadn’t had the three of them, I’m not sure how we would have made it through the first couple of months, and to this day I still feel like I owe each of them more than I’ll ever be able to repay.

After all is said and done, I know I’m supposed to end this blog with something witty and poetic. The problem is that cancer is neither witty or poetic. It’s one of the most terrible aspects of the human condition I’ve personally experienced and I don’t believe that I am equipped with the correct words to truly explain how I feel about it. I could end with the same words I ended my last blog entry on “Goodbye everybody, I'm Adam Price...Cancer survivor”, but that’s not right. Quite honestly, upon reading it again, I find it a little ego-centric. I guess the only real way to end this blog is with the only words that are left in my heart on the subject of Cancer.

Thank you Caitlin Marie Price, for saving my life. I will always love you.

Day +257 The End....For Now

I've been getting a lot of subtle and not so subtle hints that I'm not writing enough on this website right now. People want to know what I'm doing, how I'm feeling, various opinions on life, but the truth of the matter is that I'm sick and tired of writing about my cancer. I'm a dry well, and I just want to forget that it ever happened and pretend like I've got a normal life again. I go back to work part time in September, and full time in October and with life the way it is right now, I simply don't have the time to write a daily journal. Besides, in my humble opinion there are far too many people out in cyberspace who feel the need to broadcast their deepest darkest secrets to the world. I'm really trying not to put myself up on a pedistal, but I feel that what I have been writing about was much more important than John Q Public's opinions on shopping malls and the latest celebrity gossip. I've said what I needed to say in order to help others out there like me, and now I'm going to get on with my life.

I now consider myself to be cancer free, and if that ever changes I'll be back at the keyboard telling it like it is. I've even got a digital camera now, so if I do end up in the hospital again, I'll be sure to take pictures of all the fun stuff.

Goodbye everybody, I'm Adam Price...Cancer survivor.

Day +242 A New Beginning?

So, I need to explain about that last week before I get any more emails yelling at me that I'm already a day late. Let's start from the top.

I finally was strong enough to take the motorcycle training course that my family got me for my 30th birthday back in February. It was a lot of work, and I slept very well after each day of riding, but I ended up passing and am now fully licensed to operate a motorcycle in Canada. The next part is the actual purchase of the motorcycle, but I don't think that will happen for a while. You'll see why in a few paragraphs.

The next item on the list was the bank. As many of you know, Caity and I bought stock in my company last year, and July 1st was the end of the hold period for us to be able to sell the stock and turn a profit. Well, the bank managed to screw up practically every aspect of what should have been a simple set of transactions. The even lost my stock certificate for a month, which sent me into a dreadful panic. I guestimate that I've spent about 5 hours at the bank getting things sorted out, and another 5 hours on the phone trying to fix other mess ups. The good news is that we now have a nice little chunk of cash in our bank account that is about to disappear just as quickly as it entered our lives.

The sperm test was quite an experience. I went to the lab, and was given a specimen container and a room number. I entered my designated room to "produce a sample" and noticed that there was a TV set up, and several naughty magazines available to help produce the sample quicker. Now, I'm a normal guy. I was first exposed to pornography when I was about 10, and I've seen, read, and watched just about every naughty thing you can do with the human body in my travels as a testosterone filled under-sexed teenager. As a result, I require a certain "level" of visual stimulation in order to get the job done so to speak. I hit the power button on the TV hoping for the best, only to be filled with disappointment seconds later when the most famous bunny symbol in the world appeared on the screen. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, the Playboy symbol manages to accomplish two things at once in the heterosexual male brain. Number one, it tells the brain that it is about to see naked breasts. Number two, it tells the brain to expect not much else in the way of visual stimulation. Hugh Heffner may be known around the world for pornography, but his idea of pornography is so mind numbingly dull and boring, I'm amazed he's still in business. I know many husbands will laugh at this, but I actually got the job done by thinking about my wife. Yes gentlemen, my wife is that damn beautiful to me, and I still find her the most stunning creature in the world today.

Oh, and by the way. Despite the fact that sperm testing is the only reason for the existence of the lab that I went to, there is nothing more embarrassing than walking out into the waiting room to hand the technician a sample of your swimmers. There isn't a thing you can say to the nice lady as you give her some of your sperm that makes the experience less awkward.

Now to the big thing that happened this week. With the fresh injection of Canadian currency into our bank account, Caity and I decided that it was time to go house shopping. We figured that it would take us a couple of months at least to find what we wanted so we set up the first group of viewings for last Wednesday. Well, it just so happens that the first house we walked into was the house that we ended up making an offer on. Yes folks, we started looking for a house at 1:00pm and by 7:00pm we had an accepted offer of sale in our hands. We did go look at other houses after the first one, but nothing even compared to the first one. It was everything we have ever wanted in a house, and both of us can see ourselves growing old there. If the extra cash hadn't come along when it did, we probably would have needed to wait a few years before moving out of this one, but when you find yourself with the means to get the house of your dreams, you usually end up going for it. Besides, after this move, we never have to deal with another real estate agent, or house lawyer ever again. We also don't have to pack up all of our belongings and live like nomads ever again which makes me very happy. This time however moving might not be so bad as we're hiring movers to the job for us, rather than enlisting the Price family and the caravan of minivans that usually happens when one of us moves.

Finally, we move on to the car accident. Now, let me start this off by saying that Thursday was the six year anniversary of my last car accident, which means that as of Thursday my insurance rates go down. I'm sitting at a stop light on my way home from the latest bank fiasco, and there is a car in front of me. The light turns green, but the guy in front of me didn't go, so I was happily waiting for him to start moving when I was hit from behind. I guess the guy behind me figured that he didn't need to wait for the people in front of him before he proceeded through the intersection. No body was hurt, and the guy who hit me from behind was going 20kph at the most, but he still had enough force to throw me into the guy in front of me. Both of my bumpers were destroyed, but luckily there was no other damage to my car. My insurance company is saying that my insurance rates will not be affected by the accident, and the guy behind me is going to be paying for any costs that my insurance company won't cover, so other than a bit of inconvenience, I'm not affected at all.

It's a good thing that I'm not working right now, because dealing with life this last two weeks has been a full time job. I've found out though, that I'm a lot stronger than I used to be. I'm able to get through a full day of life right now like a normal person. The only problem I have is that I need a full day of rest between busy days in order to function. It's much better than I was a month ago, and I'm taking that as a positive sign. I'll most likely be better next month and the month after that, so all I need to do is keep moving forward and I'll be back to normal in no time. I had a talk with my replacement at work yesterday, and we both agreed that October 1st is an acceptable back to work date for me. We're going to use September as a warm up period where I come in for a few hours a day, every other day to get back in the saddle.

As far as working out goes, life has been so tiring as of late that I haven't been to the gym in about a week. I think I'll stick to my weights downstairs for a while though, because my body made it very clear to me that I'm not ready to go back to the gym full time. That being the case, it makes no sense to spend 90 dollars a month on a gym membership if you don't use it all the time.

If you want to live in a very pretty house that is only 10 months old, check out our MLS listing. Our number is C3178369. We want 239,000 for it, but if you mention our website we'll throw in two very lovable dogs for free. Oh, and we're selling our car as well, new bumpers and all. Everything in our lives is priced to sell people, so lets see some wallets opening.

New house, new minivan, bank troubles, car accident, dealing with lawyers and insurance companies. You think that Caity and I would be avoiding stress at all costs after what we've been through. I guess we've become so used to being completely engulfed in stress that we can't live without it. I wonder if there's a support group for stress junkies out there.

Yep there is!!!!

Day +240 Not Such A Typical Week

So, I haven't written in a while and I'm sorry about that but I've had a busy week. Here's a quick summary of where I've been for the last 10 days.

I got my motorcycle license, I spent about 5 hours at the bank sorting out finances, got my sperm tested, bought a house, got in a car accident, and had to crash clean the house we live in now to prepare for showings next week. My hospital visit was the same as always, and I don't have to go back until September. So not too much for the average week. I'd love to elaborate on everything, but I'm wiped out. I'll fill you in tomorrow.

Day +230 Workout Aftermath Redux

I'm able to walk again, but there's been a lot of cursing between Sunday afternoon and now. Every step was followed by a curse word and stairs were a near impossibility for most of Sunday afternoon. For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, I worked out my legs on Sunday for the first time in almost a year and a half. I'm actually so weak right now that they wouldn't let me squat on Sunday. I had to use the machines, and while I'm disappointed about not being able to squat, I'm glad I didn't. I ended up struggling with such a small weight that I was almost embarrassed to be there. And while I was struggling with my pathetic body, the big boys were doing 500+ pound deadlifts. However, every day I workout is one step closer to being back in the action, and while it's easy to be embarrassed about what I can lift, the true test of my character is that I keep going back. I haven't been to the gym since Sunday, but Okotoks is in a flood emergency, so I think I'll just force myself to work out in my basement until I can get my car to the gym again. Caity and I need to sell that thing in a month, and I bet the resale value would decrease a bit if it were 10 feet under water like the rest of Okotoks.

I've got my monthly hospital visit tomorrow, and on Thursday I have to make a pit stop at the fertility lab to see if I've got any swimmers left over from the chemotherapy. I'm actually hoping that I'm sterile, because that means I don't need to go in for a vasectomy. I've had so many medical procedures in the last year that I'm starting to consider them a normal part of life. I've never been to the fertility lab to make a "deposit" before, but it should make for an interesting afternoon. At the very least, it should provide some funny material for a journal entry so stay tuned for that one.

Sorry for the short, uninspired journal entries as of late, but how many times can I write that I'm tired and weak before I bore the crap out of everyone in cyberspace? But if you look at it from another perspective, if I've got nothing to write about, then that means that there's nothing new that's wrong with me. In this case, no news is most certainly good news

Day 227 Workout Aftermath

I haven't hurt this bad for a long time. My body is not on the same page as me when it comes to working out, and it's fighting back with a vengeance. My chest hurts, my arms hurt, my neck hurts, my back hurts, and tomorrow when I go to do squats, I'm sure my legs will hurt. I've been working out for most of my adult life, and I was prepared for the fact that when you don't work out for a while, the first week back at the gym is usually uncomfortable, but this is full blown, just been in a car accident kind of pain.

It's also taking a lot more out of me then I can remember being normal. I guess my body just doesn't have the stamina it used to, and I find that I've got the energy for the workout, but then I lie around all day afterwards like a lump. There is supposed to be a neat little side effect of exercise that increases your energy, the more you work out. That's why the person you know that runs marathons always seems to have the energy to run a marathon at any given minute of the day. Well, I have the feeling that my body has forgotten how to do that. So, I'm in a ton of pain, I'm tired, and I'm going back for more. I seem to remember chemotherapy being easier than this.

That's it for today, it actually hurts to type if you can believe that. Wish me luck for tomorrow.