What's that Sculpture - Addendum to August 24 post

I knew that it wouldn't take long for a WSU alum to set me straight on the mystery sculpture on campus. Also for setting me straight that the correct abbreviation for Washington State University is "WSU" and not "WASU". So the credit for the detective work goes to Craig Brown who sent me this today:

Turns out the Campus Arts Committee purchased the sculpture following an exhibit of bronze sculpture on the WSU campus in 2004. That particular piece by Brad Rude is named "A World Beyond" (I'll say).
http://content.wsulibs.wsu.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/photo&CISOPTR=1628&REC=3
http://washington-state-magazine.wsu.edu/stories/04-fall/sculpture/sculpture10.html
http://washington-state-magazine.wsu.edu/stories/04-fall/sculpture/map.html
You can even give your own artistic interpretation (careful, artists have feeling too!):
http://pbj.ctlt.wsu.edu/cbruce/articles/479.aspx
Before putting it on display at WSU, Rude loaned it to the city of Reno for display:
Sept 10, 2003
Wednesday, the Reno City Council approved the loan agreement for display of the sculpture, valued at $120,000.00, for an indefinite period. Rude will transport and install the sculpture so the only expense to the city will be about $200.00 a year for insurance, based on the value of the sculpture. According to a story on Rude in the July 2003 edition of Southwest Art, the artist "renders animals in extreme detail in the tradition of the western masters he admires. Then he places them at the center of a surreal, emotional world." The story says many of his sculptures incorporate basic man-made tools like a wagon, bucket, wheel, canoe, tractor, etc. in conjunction with animals that appear to be conducting an investigation. "A World Beyond," follows Rude's style by depicting a mule atop a wagon with a track of animals overhead. Various images are also etched onto the mule.

For those of you who have the opportunity to visit WSU, the sculpture is in front of the veterinary school on Stadium Way.

Vacation must be a good thing

Vacation must agree with me - another short vacation this past week, this time to Pullman, WA to visit Washington State University. WASU is a possible contender as the institution of higher learning for our college-bound senior high school student next year. It was a relatively pleasant 5 1/2 hour drive across the state through the high desert, channeled scablands and wheat fields that make up central and eastern Washington. The campus tour and orientation were nice and the Edward R. Murrow School of Communications is impressive (complete with a picture of the esteemed Mr. Murrow in nearly every room, which I thought was just a little spooky). We also enjoyed the fresh ice cream and Cougar Gold cheese at the campus creamery. For my readers who are WASU alumni, can you please offer an explanation of the statue on campus that is shown in the picture to the right? I don't know what the heck is symbolized in the statue, but it sure is weird.

I say that vacation must agree with me because after our trip back east a few weeks ago, my PET scan pictures came back looking pretty decent. My marker numbers did go up, but this past week's little vacation must have done something more, since my marker numbers dropped to an all-time low of 4.3! Dr. Gold called home on Friday morning and Nancy got the call...."Are you planning on any more vacations any time soon?" Uh, why? "4.3 - I don't want to let him out of my sight - no more vacations." Personally, I think he has it backwards - I think it was the vacations that caused the stable scans and drop in the marker numbers. If I can just get him to write up my next prescription for "Take vacation as needed"... It may also have something to do with the incredibly uncomfortable and nasty looking rash from the Erbitux this time too. My face and throat were kind of a horror show, but I have to keep the following question in mind: "Which is worse - bad zits or tumors?". It's kind of a no-brainer, but a little hard to focus on it when you scare yourself every time you see yourself in the mirror. To my friends who are just starting with the Erbitux - sure it's ugly and uncomfortable, but remember the goal at the end. Maybe we should get t-shirts printed up that say "I'm Erbitux Ugly - what's your excuse?" (sorry - that's the mean-spirited part of cancer that slips out from time to time). Maybe the folks at Imclone Systems (the makers of Erbitux) will give us the shirts as a product promotion with our next dose...

Taken through the windshield in Eastern Washington - painted on the side of the barn:

"Go Cougs"!

Thank You Wally

I usually manage to meet someone new every week that I go to the treatment clinic. Sometimes, we end up becoming regular visitors every Thursday, sometimes it's a one time meeting and we never meet again. I always hope that the one time meetings are just because we end up on different schedules. On Thursday, an older gentleman was seated in the next station to me and the nurse was explaining to him how his infusion pump operated. He asked a lot of questions and it was clear that this was a new experience for him. I started a conversation with him, offering him some learnings that I've had with my pump (good old "Silent Bob") over the past year - I think that part of the dues of the cancer club is to "pay it forward" by helping new patients. When you are a tumor newbie, you have nothing but questions, doubts, and fears and the experiences of others help give you hope. Wally is 76 years old with white hair tied neatly into a pony-tail, and I might have guessed that he was ten to fifteen years younger. This is his first bout with colorectal cancer, with a Stage III diagnosis. What struck me most me most about him was his attitude - very upbeat and positive, even after what was his third round of treatment. That positive attitude is very infectious and goes a long way - I hope that I can help pass it on to my other cancer friends who are having a tough time right now. Thank you , Wally.

In my visit to the treatment center two weeks ago, I was still pretty upbeat after getting the radiologist's report that my scans were starting to look a little better. I guess I was so distracted by this, that I forgot to find out what my last set of marker numbers were. I waited until Monday to call - Alice was good enough to pull up my file and let me know that the last measurement came in at 11 - up from the 5.8 that I had before my vacation. Before I could comment, I could hear Dr. Gold yell out from his office "TELL HIM NOT TO WORRY ABOUT IT...!". Sorry Phil - we patients can be a little obsessive about these things, since we have a slightly vested interest in the outcome. But he's right - I did skip three weeks of treatment and my tumors were still pretty alive when I started my vacation, and they enjoyed my vacation too. But vacation is over, and by the looks of my Erbitux rash right now, it's over for the tumors as well. We'll see with a new set of numbers this coming Thursday.

Today's picture is a seed head from a Western Pasque Flower, taken on a visit to Mt. Rainier.

Welcome back!

To those of you who've wondered where I've been for the past few weeks, I've returned from a vacation to New York, the main purpose of which was to serve as "best man" at my father's wedding. And as the shirt I'm wearing clearly states, "I'm not dead yet". Before you think that I've dwelt on this anti-cancer mantra too much, the shirt is from the Broadway stage production of "Spamalot" - the stage version of the film "Monty Python and the Holy Grail". I saw the shirt as we went into the theatre and I knew immediately that I had to have it. More about the wedding and show later.




It was really quite nice to be "off cancer" for a few weeks. Sure, there was quite a bit of conversation about my cancer with friends and family that I haven't seen in some time (or new family that I was just meeting for the first time), but it was nice to get a few weeks off from treatment. I love my "family" of caregivers at the hospital, and as much as I missed them (you do get kind of attached to a group of people who are trying to save your life), it was nice to give them a break too. It took a little while to shake the nasty skin rash and itching from the Erbitux, but the last week off before resuming treatment was the best vacation ever. I started to feel like my old self and had more energy (enough to hike a brisk 30 New York city blocks from the Carnegie Deli on 55th St. to Penn Station on 33rd St!), slept better, and generally just felt a lot better. The therapeutic value of taking a little break was the best treatment I've had in over a year, and was a little teaser on what the "new normal" will be like when I finish this whole thing up some day.

So, was skipping a few weeks of treatment worth it? Did I worry about losing ground and giving the beast inside a new start on me? It was definitely worth it, and from what I can tell from the PET/CT scan I had on Tuesday, the beast took the time off too. When I went in to discuss the new scans with Dr. Gold (who really deserves a nice pastrami sandwich from the Carnegie Deli), he was all smiles - no evidence of progression, and although no obvious shrinkage in the tumors, they've become harder to identify but are still showing some activity. So, yes it was definitely worth it.


The doc wasn't willing to let me extend the vacation from chemo any longer though (I did ask), and so I started back with another full round of treatment on Thursday - vacation officially over. A little extra fun this time - with nothing to run through my chemo port and catheter for a few weeks, it clogged and had to be cleaned out with an enzyme. So one extra poke in the left arm to get blood samples for the lab work, and one extra poke in the right arm to start administering the chemo while we waited for the enzyme to clean out the chemo port catheter (thanks to nurse Jennifer B who realized that we'd be there all day if we had to wait for the port to clear, and starting the treatments via the arm). And now the progression of side effects has started again - fatigue, queasy stomach, no sleep for a few days, sore bones from the white cell booster shot in the belly....back to the "old normal" again for a while. Sigh. But it was still nice to have that little break and the teaser for "new normal" to focus on.

We flew to New York on July 23rd and had activities to cover almost every day we were there. Thanks to Mike and Jean for being such fantastic hosts during our visit. Bro' Mike is the master at the barbecue smoker and treated us with smoked sausage, pork ribs and turkey, which lasted us for days. It was also good to see old friend and college roomate John Laverty, who braved the drive up from southern New Jersey. We went to Manhattan to roam the city, visit old homesteads, Ground Zero (which is a flurry of construction activity now), and see Spamalot. If you are a Monty Python fan and the touring company of Spamalot will be in your city (hint to Seattle area residents - it's here in October!), go see it by all means - I've never laughed so hard in my life. We got a chance to get all of my brothers and sister and all our kids to the beach and enjoy a day of sun, sand, and surf - I can still body-surf!

The wedding was nice - I've told people that it's not often that you get to marry your parents off. My siblings and I did get into a little mischief and managed to slip out during the reception and decorate my dad's car and house - they'll be finding plastic bugs and critters for months. Sorry to my Dad and all the guests who waited for us to return to the reception while we were out "redecorating". A good time was had by all at the reception with some fairly impressive dancing by my Dad's friends.

We finished up our visit with a graduation party for my sister's daughter and another trip into Manhattan before boarding a train to head back to Seattle. The train ride home took three and a half days, with a change of in trains in Chicago. We got sleeper cars so that we could stretch out and get some sleep - the accomodations were a little tight but way more comfortable than having to do the trip in coach seats. The food in the dining car was pretty good and the scenery from the sightseeing/lounge car very relaxing. You get to see some gritty industrial rust belt scenery along Lake Erie and Michigan, and then more pastoral scenes beyond Minneapolis with plenty of wheat through North Dakota and Montana. Glacier National Park was beautiful, although the eastern side of the park was experiencing a number of serious forest fires as we passed through and we could actually see flames on the ridgelines after dark. Our final morning on the train started with sunrise in Wenatchee WA and breakfast as we went under the Cascades in an eight mile long tunnel. The grand finale of the train adventure was a foggy trip along the Puget Sound from Everett to Seattle, and home at last.

To see a few photos of our trip, point your browser to the link below. The best way to view the pictures is to scroll part way down the opening screen and click on the "view as slideshow" on the right side of the screen, and a slideshow will start. The pictures sort of ended up in reverse order of how they were shot, so the end of the trip is the beginning of the slideshow. I'll get it right next time.

http://s195.photobucket.com/albums/z85/haydnprong/