Weekend Update - April 20th
Weekend Update
I hope you all or y’alls had a great weekend. I was teaching on Saturday morning and grading papers on Sunday. Fortunately for me, it was be cool and partially overcast all weekend so I will not feel too badly having to stay inside.
I had a phone call from the Princess on Friday, after my visit with the oncologists. We talked for a while about my treatment plans and what will happen next. I told that I feel confident and positive going forward.
We also talked about my trip to Salt Lake City and to Seattle. The Salt Lake trip is fairly well settled now. The trip to Seattle is close to being settled with the only likely contingency being when I am going to my PET scan [see below in Me and the Cancer].
The Golfer [the Princess’ husband for you new readers] seems to have developed a fondness for the tea leaves I sent her. He hasn’t cracked open the bags of gourmet coffee I added to her shipment of tea. I am beyond highly confident when I type that I know that Emily and Maggie loved their coffee.
I tried some of the new Dove Chocolate ice cream today. I went to the market and picked up a small container of Unconditionally Chocolate Ice Cream. My first taste was superb. The container comes with a layer of Dove Chocolate, much like a seal or cap, on the ice cream. The ice cream was rich and creamy and I exercised extreme restraint in not finishing it off in one sitting. That would be excessive and unwarranted on my part.
Extra Rich Light Ice Cream.
That struck me as being one of the best oxymoron’s that have seen in a very long time. How can an extra rich ice cream be considered light at the same?
In the interest of science and my own love of really good ice cream, I will investigate this seemingly contradictory idea. I purchased a small container of Haagen Daze Extra Rich Light Coffee Ice Cream and I will thoroughly test it this week. Naturally, I will provide a complete report, without drippings or other messes, for the blog.
Doug called me this afternoon after returned from a free concert at the Los Angeles Central Library that featured Miko Mika and No Age. He was one of the lucky 250 who got to sit in the small auditorium for the concert. The Central Library was built in the 1930s and it is one of those old classic building or what passes for an old, classic building in Los Angeles.
Doug had to pay for car parking but the cost of parking USD$8.00 was less than the USD$25.00 to USD$30.00 that he would pay to see the groups play in a different venue. He would also have crummy seats, if any, and not enjoy himself as much.
Doug said the concert was almost surreal; it was wonderful, fantastic, and great. Miko Mika is one of his current favorite groups so that made the concert all the more worth while He was so glad he got up early and got to the Library in plenty of time to one of the first 250 concert goers. I guess the rest had to listen to the concert from outside speakers.
Visitors
We had another good week for visitors to the blog. This is always encouraging if you are a writer. We had some new first time visitors as well.
We had visitors from Hong Kong [2], Thailand, Germany [6], United Kingdom [8], Italy [4], Australia [8], Japan [11], Malaysia [3], Brazil [4], Canada [16], Netherlands [4], Austria [3], Madagascar, Ireland, Iran, Chile, France [3], Turkey, India, Philippines, Sweden, Singapore [4], Lithuania, India, Qatar, South Africa [2], Switzerland, Texas [5], Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Saudi Arabia, Mexico [2], Portugal, and Bulgaria.
This was the first time that we have had visitors from Madagascar and Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. I hoped you enjoyed your visit and will return often.
I do appreciate all of you who stopped bye the blog and spent some time here.
Me and the Cancer
I assume that almost all of you are better off than me; you don’t have cancer. Even with my cancer, I feel pretty good today. Of course my mood may have been influenced by the Heineken’s lunch brew [a can of cold beer with my lunch] that accompanied my roast beef sandwich at lunch. Doug says that lunch brews are almost always a perfect way to wash a meal down. I think he is on to something here.
Friday was my scheduled visit with the oncologists. The big issue was the results from my MRI examination a couple of weeks ago. The MRI results were likely to determine the course of my treatment regime.
The MRI showed that the spots on my right liver had metastasized. We, that would be Doug and me, were expecting this result. Dr. T [Dr. Aileen Takahashi], when she cut me open in October last year, said the spots were likely cancerous and the likely course of treatment, after a round of chemotherapy, would be to surgically removed that section of my liver. This is a simple and elegant solution. I have another scar but Dr. T said it would look fine along side the other scars. The good news from the MRI was that the spots on my liver had not grown in the last six months; they are about 2 centimeters by 1 centimeter or about the size of my thumb nail. The nice thing about this procedure, removing part of my liver, is that our livers grow back in time.
The oncology resident, Dr. Bryan King, said that he was scheduling me for a PET scan which is designed to see if my cancer has spread beyond my liver and colon. PET stand for Proton E[something] Tomography. I’m sure this has clarified so much for you. This ought to happen in the next few weeks. The PET scan didn’t sound too terribly bad to me as Dr, King explained it. I don’t think I will be drinking any wall paper paste liquid. I get to drink a sugar based, radioactive trace and then get scanned. The trace will cluster where there are cancer cells and the scan will, in Dr. King’s words, light them up.
The PET scan results will determine the next course of my treatment. If there is no spread of the cancer, then I can look forward to a simple operation and a two to three week recovery. The recovery takes two to three weeks because the surgeons will have to cut through six layers of muscle in my abdomen. Dr. King explained that the hospital has to conduct a review before going forward with the surgery; this is largely a formality, given the established treatment regime for my condition.
There is no decision yet on whether I will continue with my current plan to have eight cycles of chemotherapy or to stop at the six cycle level. Dr. King said whether to go on to the full eight cycles will depend on how well I handle this next infusion. But, as he observed, since I have handled the treatment well, it is likely that it will go the full eight cycles which means this round would end in early June.
What else can I say now?
I feel good and I tolerate the treatment regime well. I have all of my grey hair. I have lost some weight and I discussed this with Dr. King. He seems to be fine with my planned loss of weight. I would like to drop another 5 to 10 pounds / 2 to 4 kilograms over the next few months. I think this is an achievable goal; I dropped a kilo in the last three weeks. My platelet count is back up and is not too much of a concern. My blood pressure is well within the desired range. All of the other test results were in the normal ranges.
I guess you can say that I feel good and feel confident of the future.
I sent out my usual post major visit email to a growing circle of family and friends on Friday. I do this for several reasons, primarily because I don’t have the blog visitor’s email addresses.
I received two responses from two former girl friends. Yes, it is possible to be friends with someone who was once so very close to you and then to have moved on. They both offered to help me out if I need any assistance. I did send them a nice thank you. Right now, I am able to get along without any outside help. Doug has cut back on his visits here because I don’t need his assistance. He stills comes when I see the oncologists and will be with me when we talk about the surgery later on this year.
This Friday is infusion day for me. Normally Doug would go with me but he has plans to go to San Francisco to see a concert with three of his friends. I told that he should go and not worry. I will be in a hospital after all so if something adverse happens, I will have lots of skilled professional help; maybe even the Baby Blues would be there to help me.
One of the other consequences of my email to close friends and family is that well meaning acquaintances have sent me information on food, supplements like vitamins and herbal remedies, and plans or programs on how to eat well and live better. This is all very thoughtful of them and I do appreciate their interest in me.
Sometimes, I have found the information confusing or contradictory. For example, when I had my first infusion, the hospital gave me a pamphlet on food and nutrition that suggested that ice cream was a good source of calories and that it could help sustain my weight. We’re setting aside my desire to lose some weight right now. Another article said that ice cream was bad for me because it contained sugar and cancer cell like to grow with the energy and resources provided by sugar.
Doug and I talked about this when we had dinner at Flemings Steak House and Wine Bar on Saturday in Newport Beach. We came to the conclusion that if I eat healthy foods in moderation that I ought to be alright at the end of the day.
Be well and stay happy.
I hope you all or y’alls had a great weekend. I was teaching on Saturday morning and grading papers on Sunday. Fortunately for me, it was be cool and partially overcast all weekend so I will not feel too badly having to stay inside.
I had a phone call from the Princess on Friday, after my visit with the oncologists. We talked for a while about my treatment plans and what will happen next. I told that I feel confident and positive going forward.
We also talked about my trip to Salt Lake City and to Seattle. The Salt Lake trip is fairly well settled now. The trip to Seattle is close to being settled with the only likely contingency being when I am going to my PET scan [see below in Me and the Cancer].
The Golfer [the Princess’ husband for you new readers] seems to have developed a fondness for the tea leaves I sent her. He hasn’t cracked open the bags of gourmet coffee I added to her shipment of tea. I am beyond highly confident when I type that I know that Emily and Maggie loved their coffee.
I tried some of the new Dove Chocolate ice cream today. I went to the market and picked up a small container of Unconditionally Chocolate Ice Cream. My first taste was superb. The container comes with a layer of Dove Chocolate, much like a seal or cap, on the ice cream. The ice cream was rich and creamy and I exercised extreme restraint in not finishing it off in one sitting. That would be excessive and unwarranted on my part.
Extra Rich Light Ice Cream.
That struck me as being one of the best oxymoron’s that have seen in a very long time. How can an extra rich ice cream be considered light at the same?
In the interest of science and my own love of really good ice cream, I will investigate this seemingly contradictory idea. I purchased a small container of Haagen Daze Extra Rich Light Coffee Ice Cream and I will thoroughly test it this week. Naturally, I will provide a complete report, without drippings or other messes, for the blog.
Doug called me this afternoon after returned from a free concert at the Los Angeles Central Library that featured Miko Mika and No Age. He was one of the lucky 250 who got to sit in the small auditorium for the concert. The Central Library was built in the 1930s and it is one of those old classic building or what passes for an old, classic building in Los Angeles.
Doug had to pay for car parking but the cost of parking USD$8.00 was less than the USD$25.00 to USD$30.00 that he would pay to see the groups play in a different venue. He would also have crummy seats, if any, and not enjoy himself as much.
Doug said the concert was almost surreal; it was wonderful, fantastic, and great. Miko Mika is one of his current favorite groups so that made the concert all the more worth while He was so glad he got up early and got to the Library in plenty of time to one of the first 250 concert goers. I guess the rest had to listen to the concert from outside speakers.
Visitors
We had another good week for visitors to the blog. This is always encouraging if you are a writer. We had some new first time visitors as well.
We had visitors from Hong Kong [2], Thailand, Germany [6], United Kingdom [8], Italy [4], Australia [8], Japan [11], Malaysia [3], Brazil [4], Canada [16], Netherlands [4], Austria [3], Madagascar, Ireland, Iran, Chile, France [3], Turkey, India, Philippines, Sweden, Singapore [4], Lithuania, India, Qatar, South Africa [2], Switzerland, Texas [5], Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Saudi Arabia, Mexico [2], Portugal, and Bulgaria.
This was the first time that we have had visitors from Madagascar and Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. I hoped you enjoyed your visit and will return often.
I do appreciate all of you who stopped bye the blog and spent some time here.
Me and the Cancer
I assume that almost all of you are better off than me; you don’t have cancer. Even with my cancer, I feel pretty good today. Of course my mood may have been influenced by the Heineken’s lunch brew [a can of cold beer with my lunch] that accompanied my roast beef sandwich at lunch. Doug says that lunch brews are almost always a perfect way to wash a meal down. I think he is on to something here.
Friday was my scheduled visit with the oncologists. The big issue was the results from my MRI examination a couple of weeks ago. The MRI results were likely to determine the course of my treatment regime.
The MRI showed that the spots on my right liver had metastasized. We, that would be Doug and me, were expecting this result. Dr. T [Dr. Aileen Takahashi], when she cut me open in October last year, said the spots were likely cancerous and the likely course of treatment, after a round of chemotherapy, would be to surgically removed that section of my liver. This is a simple and elegant solution. I have another scar but Dr. T said it would look fine along side the other scars. The good news from the MRI was that the spots on my liver had not grown in the last six months; they are about 2 centimeters by 1 centimeter or about the size of my thumb nail. The nice thing about this procedure, removing part of my liver, is that our livers grow back in time.
The oncology resident, Dr. Bryan King, said that he was scheduling me for a PET scan which is designed to see if my cancer has spread beyond my liver and colon. PET stand for Proton E[something] Tomography. I’m sure this has clarified so much for you. This ought to happen in the next few weeks. The PET scan didn’t sound too terribly bad to me as Dr, King explained it. I don’t think I will be drinking any wall paper paste liquid. I get to drink a sugar based, radioactive trace and then get scanned. The trace will cluster where there are cancer cells and the scan will, in Dr. King’s words, light them up.
The PET scan results will determine the next course of my treatment. If there is no spread of the cancer, then I can look forward to a simple operation and a two to three week recovery. The recovery takes two to three weeks because the surgeons will have to cut through six layers of muscle in my abdomen. Dr. King explained that the hospital has to conduct a review before going forward with the surgery; this is largely a formality, given the established treatment regime for my condition.
There is no decision yet on whether I will continue with my current plan to have eight cycles of chemotherapy or to stop at the six cycle level. Dr. King said whether to go on to the full eight cycles will depend on how well I handle this next infusion. But, as he observed, since I have handled the treatment well, it is likely that it will go the full eight cycles which means this round would end in early June.
What else can I say now?
I feel good and I tolerate the treatment regime well. I have all of my grey hair. I have lost some weight and I discussed this with Dr. King. He seems to be fine with my planned loss of weight. I would like to drop another 5 to 10 pounds / 2 to 4 kilograms over the next few months. I think this is an achievable goal; I dropped a kilo in the last three weeks. My platelet count is back up and is not too much of a concern. My blood pressure is well within the desired range. All of the other test results were in the normal ranges.
I guess you can say that I feel good and feel confident of the future.
I sent out my usual post major visit email to a growing circle of family and friends on Friday. I do this for several reasons, primarily because I don’t have the blog visitor’s email addresses.
I received two responses from two former girl friends. Yes, it is possible to be friends with someone who was once so very close to you and then to have moved on. They both offered to help me out if I need any assistance. I did send them a nice thank you. Right now, I am able to get along without any outside help. Doug has cut back on his visits here because I don’t need his assistance. He stills comes when I see the oncologists and will be with me when we talk about the surgery later on this year.
This Friday is infusion day for me. Normally Doug would go with me but he has plans to go to San Francisco to see a concert with three of his friends. I told that he should go and not worry. I will be in a hospital after all so if something adverse happens, I will have lots of skilled professional help; maybe even the Baby Blues would be there to help me.
One of the other consequences of my email to close friends and family is that well meaning acquaintances have sent me information on food, supplements like vitamins and herbal remedies, and plans or programs on how to eat well and live better. This is all very thoughtful of them and I do appreciate their interest in me.
Sometimes, I have found the information confusing or contradictory. For example, when I had my first infusion, the hospital gave me a pamphlet on food and nutrition that suggested that ice cream was a good source of calories and that it could help sustain my weight. We’re setting aside my desire to lose some weight right now. Another article said that ice cream was bad for me because it contained sugar and cancer cell like to grow with the energy and resources provided by sugar.
Doug and I talked about this when we had dinner at Flemings Steak House and Wine Bar on Saturday in Newport Beach. We came to the conclusion that if I eat healthy foods in moderation that I ought to be alright at the end of the day.
Be well and stay happy.
posted by Chuck Reinhardt at 5:09 PM
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