ZimKids

Please check out our web site to see what we are doing in Zimbabwe.

http://www.zimkids.com/new/

Carpe Diem.

Ollyn with her "old" friends

Carpe Diem.

Our visitor

This afternoon we picked up an old friend from BWI airport. She will be staying with us until Saturday. Ollyn (Nyatanga) is a Zimbabwean who came to work for us when Michael was born in 1991. Robyn, at the time, was only a year and a half old so we needed all the help we could get. Especially with my travelling and being away. She was a G_dsend. It was very weird how we came to meet. Maybe we will save that story for some other time.

Ollyn stayed with us for a couple of years in Dallas and was amazing with the kids. In true African fashion she gave them all the love, affection and protection a mother could give even though they weren't her kids. She still lives in Dallas with her two older daughters.

Well, fast forward eighteen and a half years and we are still good friends with her and are forever grateful for what she did for us. We asked her to come and visit to see how the kids have grown up and to see us. Ironically, she is now trying to take care of me for the few days she is here.

Carpe Diem.

Meds and massage

What a combo. I visited with Dr. Ward (my psychiatrist) today just to chat and check on my meds. I'm still feeling a bit low even with the encouraging news but my sleeping (or lack of) has been bloody awful. It's wearing me down. The eating is going ok but it seems that it will be a while til I'm able to get back to hamster cheek stage!

As usual, the massage was awesome. It's a big help in my overall recovery and well being. I love it.

Well now that the chest tube hole has finally closed I was able to have my first swim of the season. It was great to be able to do this again.

Carpe Diem.

Chemo 1 (Round 6)

Yes indeed. I've started up again. My blood work was fine and my PET/CT was good news. Overall Dr. Schraeder was pleased with the scan results as there was no evidence of any spreading of the cancer. Whoopee. Today I started back on Alimta which will be given every 3 weeks. Next cycle they will add Avastin. Both these drugs were shown to be favorable on the genetic and molecular testing.

Dr. Sidransky called today to inform me that one of the "MouseSkins" is showing signs of tumor development. This is encouraging for future testing. Keep on plugging my little "MouseSkin" family and thank you for your rather expensive contribution!!!

Carpe Diem.

Chemo ???

Today I'm meeting with Dr.Schraeder (my oncologist). Hopefully we will be starting up the chemo treatments again. It's not that I'm looking forward to the chemo and all the side effects but hopefully positive results. I had my PET/CT scan done this past Friday and we hope to get the results today. I'm trying to be optimistic and positive about the results but it's always a tough time for me.

Carpe Diem.

Hi all

Hi all. I'm sorry it's been such a long while that I have written on the blog. No I haven't given it up!!! I've just hit a bit of a rough patch. I will try and keep up to date and as I add new stuff you may have dig backwards.

Carpe Diem.

Fathers Day

Happy Fathers day to all you Dads out there. All things considered, I had a good day. I got the most beautiful note from Robyn. I wanted to publish it but for obvious reasons she said no. I fully understand. Mike made me a really good lunch time cheese and Picante omelet. Yummy. Max, as always, took the afternoon nap with me. Diana was her usual self. Food shopping, caring for me and checking up that I was doing as best I can to reach 2000 calories a day - minimum. In the evening we went to our neighbors Fathers Day BBQ (Braai). I ate quite well there as their BBQ's are always really good. Excellent food. I know I bust 2245 calories. It doesn't sound like much but it is for me trying to make this comeback and put the weight back. Where are those steroids when you need them!!!

Carpe Diem.

The "MouseSkin" update

For those that don't know or forgot, I had some pretty extensive (expensive) genetic and molecular studies done on my Tumor. The info they come up with is pretty remarkable. I briefly spoke to Dr. Sidransky (the Doc in charge) and he told me that he had a good discussion with Dr. Schraeder about my next course of treatment. It seems the drugs that I am and should respond positively to are Alimta and Avastin. I have had both these drugs before and seemed to tolerate them OK.

The MouseSkin family is doing fine. Because my Tumor seems to be slow growing it could take about another 5 months until we see results from these tests. I will keep you up to date. In the mean time.

Carpe Diem.

My meeting with Dennis

Let me introduce Dennis. I can now honestly say that he is a good friend of the family. The best way to describe Dennis is to have you go to this web site:

http://www.zimkids.com (NOT.ORG)

A number of years ago Dennis (along with Phil) was instrumental in setting up a sculpture competition in Zimbabwe in honor of our late Dad. He did all the leg work in Zimbabwe by travelling the country to gather info and pictures from all the prospective competitors. He did an amazing job. But what stuck out most was his honesty and dedication to our cause.

Recently, I have been working with Dennis to do my small part in helping ZimKids. Having realised that it was a logistical nightmare trying to establish an orphanage I did the best thing I could do. I accepted a position as Trustee with ZimKids. I am honored and grateful to be an intricate part of this very worthwhile cause. If you have a moment please look at our website. We are not associated with any religious organization but we do have a number of churches that collect and forward the donations to us in Zimbabwe. We are not a registered charity here in the USA as it would be cost prohibitive to set it up and we want 100% of the funds to go to the kids. We are, however, a registered charitable trust within in Zimbabwe and we even have the ability to wire funds to our account there. I know I'm repeating my self but 100% of funds collected go to helping the kids. Please look at the web site and tell me what you think by commenting on the blog or emailing me. Thanks.

http://www.zimkids.com

Carpe Diem.