email address - if you double-click on the title of this posting in the email message, it will actually direct you to the blog page, which may be easier to read than what shows up in the email message (some mail programs lose some of the original formatting).I just finished reading Robert Schimmel's "Cancer on $5 a day* - How Humor Got Me Through the Toughest Journey of My Life " (*chemo not included). I first mentioned it in my March 14 th posting about cancer books that have been recently released Schimmel is a Las Vegas comedian (and NOT family friendly, so be forewarned), who was diagnosed with Stage III Non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 2000, after being named Stand-Up Comic of the Year, having a successful HBO special, and a new Fox sitcom. All of that disappeared quickly as he refocused his life on getting well and in the process, doing what he does best - making people laugh. His initial meeting with his oncologist has this line after being informed he has Non-Hodgkins lymphoma - "Just my luck...I get the one not named after the guy." And so it goes on. His oncologist tells him that if he can continue with his sense of humor, it will go a long way towards successful treatment. And it does - he's not playing comedy clubs any more while undergoing a grueling treatment regimen, but the treatment center at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale AZ. He finds himself seated next to a sourpuss of a patient, and the nurse warns him that he might want to change seats - his neighbor has a terrible attitude, to which the neighbor agrees and warns him that he's wasting his time. This is like waving a red flag to Schimmel who makes it his mission to make this man laugh. It takes a few tries, but he eventually wears him down with a tasteless joke about someone in a cancer support group that finally has him exploding with laughter, much to the surprise and delight of the nurses. On Schimmel's next visit, this same grumpy patient has been transformed and has a long list of jokes to share with him and the nurses. There is also a priceless story about the visit from the wig salesman when he's in the hospital - there are apparently wigs for everything (hint - Google the word "merkin"). I enjoyed the book and took a few bits of advice from it - one in particular from his oncologist - "Embrace your cancer". It sounds hard, but denial simply won't work if you are trying to get through this. I've taken those words with a slightly different meaning - a variant of the "keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer." It can't be much closer than inside of you, ya' know? It is still my intention to kill that enemy. I suspect that this book will have been an easier read than the Arlen Specter book which I'm tackling next, but I'll let you know after I get through it and offer my opinion.
The Hero of the Week has to be my neighbor Mark, who single-handedly (after I begged out) emptied the neighborhood of teenage girls this past week, took them to the beach to dig razor clams, and got skunked in the process. Between the five of them, only two teeny, tiny clams (I mean like less than 1/2" long) to show for the effort. The weather was pretty lousy on Sunday night, and not particularly pleasant on Monday morning when they went out to dig, but nonetheless, everyone really had a good time. Mark - I promise you that we will do this again, and we will bring home something to show for it.
My Relay for Life campaign started out with a bang, with the first pledge coming in just hours after I sent out the first posting about it last week. Please keep those pledges coming in - I'm at 16% of my goal of $2000 for this year. As I said before - I have kind of a selfish interest in cancer research - it may be what keeps me around a bit longer. While some research is conducted by the drug companies to get another cancer fighting drug on the market (at considerable profit, of course), important research is also be conducted at universities and other non-profit institutions. The American Cancer society funds research not only for cures, but also for prevention and early screening programs. Here's the link to my Relay web page (also posted with the widgets on the side of the blog page) where you can make an on-line contribution safely and easily with a credit card:http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RelayForLifeGreatWestDivision?px=3638111&pg=personal&fr_id=5800
Treatment this past Thursday, well...just didn't happen. For the first time now since beginning treatment, my white blood count wasn't high enough. It was a little low last time, and I guess that fighting the cold or whatever I had that was knocking me down. Two weeks with low counts was too risky, so no treatment. I got a shot of Neupogen, which causes the cells in the big bones to start working overtime to produce more white cells (and also make those big bones really sore too) and was sent home. Wow - I guess I should have studied harder or something to pass that blood test. So I went back to work, and then came back on Friday afternoon to try it again. The Neupogen worked like a charm (count up much higher, thank you), and I swear that the cold I've been fighting seems to have let up a bit. Bad news though - the pre-treatment Neupogen shot might have to become a regular thing, with someone around the house getting the official job of sticking me in the belly with a needle on the day before treatment. I either learn to do it myself, or start being nicer to my wife (whom I've seen handle sharp objects in the kitchen - blood is sometimes drawn - oops, my bad - she reads this). So treatment this week was off a day. Treatment Friday, deaccess Silent Bob on Sunday. Silent Bob kind of freaked out on the way to the hospital today - almost finished administering his final dose of bad stuff and he just went off howling and I couldn't turn him off - not easy while driving. So he just kept screaming (it's a real annoying tone) until I could get him into the treatment center. The best we could figure was that his batteries were low, and he was pissed. I took out the batteries and that took care of the problem. Numbers this week - up! Up a bunch from 15.4 to 29. Hard to say why, although we did back off the dosage of the Erbitux last time. As usual, the warning not to get too mental about the upswing, and a reassurance that he (Dr. Gold) has a few more tricks up his sleeve.
I go in for a bone scan on Friday - another sort of PET scan with the radioactive glucose. The reason - the nagging back pain that I have nearly constantly now. In the best of all worlds, it's a manifestation of that loud popping noise from my back on that last razor clamming trip. Although it didn't hurt afterward, and not really even for at least a week after that, it could be that, and maybe a good deep massage will help. In the more sinister of interpretations, it could also be another metastasis - on spine or hip bone (which would really, really stink). The scan will provide more information and we'll take it from there. So, a few more portraits to be done, and then a routine CT scan the following week before treatment, so we can see what else is going on.
A little laugh now, courtesy of my friend Angie. This is a You Tube video, entitle "The Colorectal Surgeon's Song": http://youtube.com/watch?v=_N0w2rORwSc. Enjoy.
Pictures this week are of a dog-toothed lily in my shade garden, one of the first tulips out, and a new lace-leafed japanese maple I recently added to my collection.
