It goes to show you never can tell.

A lot of this blog content has involved my recently discovered brain metastases - but my primary cancer is lung. When I was first diagnosed, I sat despondent in my hospital bed and looked at the survival rates for lung cancer. I tossed my phone to the bed with the screen faced down as if that would make the statistics on the screen disappear from existence.

The truth of the matter is, lung cancer affects everyone differently. I've been lucky enough to carry on most of my daily routines - and even ride my bike some. I plan to start resistance training next week, and really do want to start riding my bike a little more. The humidity and heat make riding up hills kind of tiring (there's a 5% grade I have to ride up every day I bike from work).

I biked 150 miles only a couple weeks before I was diagnosed - looking at me then (and even now) you wouldn't be able to tell that I have cancer at all.

The Lung Cancer Alliance has a page called Faces of Lung Cancer where those who are fighting or who have fought their own battles with lung cancer are encouraged to post photos of themselves in hopes to end some of the stigmas associated with lung cancer (as of this post, I'm on page 2!).

The point is, you cannot look at someone and begin to understand the hardships they could be facing at that very moment. I smile, and am positive as often as I possibly can be - but with smiles and hope, there is an all too real illness that if left unchecked, would undoubtedly take my life.

Take a moment and look at some of the people on the Faces of Lung Cancer page. If you click on individual images, you can see the stories of the people who have posted their pictures there. It doesn't have to be lung cancer, though - lots of people fight all kinds of battles every day and you'd never know it because it's not necessarily on display.

My hair is doing this unruly fuzz thing, and I half expect it to start falling out soon (it could, as a side-effect of the radiation). If I had enough styling product and hair dye, I could seriously rock Anne Burrell's hair-do right now. I have that "I just stuck a fork in an outlet" look about me, right now. I'd post a picture but I'm rocking that fabulous "steroid skin" that I just love SO MUCH. 

Did I mention I can start tapering off the steroids on Monday? I know I did, I just have to say it again because I am SO HAPPY ABOUT IT. 

I'm editing this post to say that I did in fact just lose a chunk of hair. I'm not upset... It was just weird.