Weekend update

Late Friday I had an MRI scan of the brain done. Even though I am asymptomatic they are doing the scan as a precaution. With lung cancer the two most likely places for recurrence are the bones and the brain. I should have the results on Monday.

Lots of soccer games this weekend to watch. Would have preferred different results for Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal (losses) but at least Man U beat Aston Villa 3-2. It was an incredibly exciting game and yes, we are still top of the league by 1 point with a game in hand. The weather was spectacular this weekend but the Cardinal is still at it. He must have a bloody sore head!!!

Carpe Diem.

A fresh start

Yesterday I had my PET/CT scan. I was hoping that my Sinai oncologist Dr. Kumar would call us with the results. But no, they thought it would be appropriate for me to wait 8 days to get my results. Dr. Kumar is on holiday right now. Needless to say, this didn't sit well with me at all.

Fortunately, today we had our appointment with the doctors at the new facility at St. Joseph Medical Center. They were able to explain the PET/CT results, which seemed to be slightly improved from my last scan in January. There was no spreading or increase in growths anywhere else. The doctors, staff and facility were all very nice and I will be starting maintenance treatment there on April 13. This should be very tolerable as I am only having 1 chemo - Alimta, every 3 weeks over a 9 week period. Then another CT scan. And we'll take it from there. It was a long day, emotionally draining and overwhelming for me. But I still feel we're on the right track. Hopefully Dr. Erlich will re-enter the picture once he has established himself in a practice. But for now, we press on.

Carpe Diem.

Dennis and Zimkids

The pile of 10kg bags of maize meal ready for distribution.

Making dolls - Girls.

Sithibile with advanced case of scabbies. Found her this way when I arrived in October. No money for medicine. She's fine now but it's making it's way through the group. Most get it when they go to the rural areas.

When I sell a doll I ask that the buyer write a note to the child who made theirs. Here the children are reading their notes. Then they will write a thank you note back. When I sell a doll I take a photo of the buyer so the child can see the person who bought theirs.

Making dolls - Boys.

Recent food distribution.

Silethemba carrying 10 kg meal home along with veggies, oil and meat

Brian Dube about 6 weeks before he died

Check out this link and video. You will get a good idea about what the Zim project is doing.

http://www.zimkids.com/video.htm

Carpe Diem.

I'm home

This morning I, once again, slept in. It's so cool. After my walk on the beach and a quick shower I went downstairs to schmooze with my mom and her friends at a party she was throwing for one of her friends who was leaving the building. Phew, all in one sentence. Ilan drove me to the airport for a nice and uneventful flight back to Baltimore. It was a wonderful couple of days with my mom and friends.


I just wanted to also mention the incredible generosity of my cousin Martin (aka Marty). I was elated to find a note with a check enclosed for our Zim project. I would prefer not to disclose the exact amount suffice to say that it almost matches everything I have collected to date. I and everyone helped and assisted by this project thank you from the bottom of our hearts. You re-define the word "Mensch".


Carpe Diem.

I figured it out

I figured it out. After all these years I finally figured out who my mom is. She is a cross between Don Vito Corleone and Mother Teresa. She really is an amazing woman and mother but I new that all along. She has wonderful friends in the building she lives in and sometimes it seems like she is Don Corleone the way she handles things there. I mean that in a positive light.

What a beautiful day. I got up this morning, kind of early compared to the other mornings and went for my walk on the beach. Green flag today compared to reds and purples. The water was calm, no wind and no man-o-wars.


My mom, Sue (one of her many good friend neighbors) and I went for lunch to Stir Crazy. Then we went to the Apple Store to check out computers. No, not for me, but for Mike when he goes off to college. They make such amazing stuff. Maybe I need to spoil myself?

Ilan, Robin and I went to a movie late afternoon called Duplicity. Not bad. Afterwards we went to McCormick and Schmick for dinner. Howard Palte met us at Starbucks for an after dinner coffee. It was a cool evening. I guess I really ate my way through today or at least it seems that way. But that's a good thing.

My mom was playing cards with her friends so she was busy!

Carpe Diem.

Weekend update

Mike's recovery is still going well. He is managing the pain with some good meds. Yes, legal meds!

Saturday lunch time Ilan and I watched Israel play Greece in the world cup playoffs. It was a 1-1 draw and a fair result. No premiership this weekend while they play these international matches.

Sunday morning I slept in again and almost missed our boat trip. We went with some friends of ours, Wayne and Karen (the boat owners), my mom and Ilan and Robin. We just stayed in the inter coastal waterway here in Boca and then stopped for lunch along the way. It was a really nice way to spend a couple of hours and I can certainly see where people get the sailing and boating bug. The weather cooperated for the most part.

Carpe Diem.

Here in Boca

Mike stayed Thursday night in hospital and was discharged Friday afternoon. He is doing well at home. I guess now he does have a reason for missing some school. Sorry Mike. I should have listened to you trusting (and listening) to your own body.

What's really nice about being here in Boca, other than the obvious good time spent with my mom, is that I have no timetable or agenda. I'm just chilling. Friday afternoon my mom, Ilan and I went for the obligatory Jamba Juice. Friday evening we then went to Ilan and Robyn for Shabbat dinner. We had a really nice time talking and eating. The food was great.

I have been sleeping quite well and doing my morning and evening walks on the beach to the pier. I'm just trying to wash away all the past pains and stresses. I think I'm doing ok.

Carpe Diem.

Mike is home from school

Mike got up this morning and said he had a stomach ache and wanted to go to school late. Diana said sure and I had a slight rant. Diana and I went downtown for her US citizenship interview and before I could park the car and finish breakfast she was done. Passed. They could have sworn her in that afternoon but she couldn't stay. So she should be getting her Naturalization certificate and swearing in sometime in the next 4 weeks. Now back to Mike. We got home and he still wasn't feeling well so we just had him go back to bed. Well there was more to it than just go to bed! We tried to get him in to see a couple of different doctors but no one could see him. Diana drove me to the airport and I headed out to Boca. No sooner had I landed in Boca Diana called and said that she took Mike to the ER room at Sinai and that he had to have his appendix removed. Fast forward a couple of hours and no more appendix. Removed laparoscopically.

Carpe Diem.

What's this all mean

I wish I knew. I spent most of the morning on the phone but still had time for a good rest. The pain meds are really doing the job. Now I have to keep the balance of being somewhat pain free and reducing the pain meds intake. I did not have to go today to the infusion center at Sinai Hospital for my blood work as I was able to explain, to those that needed to know, that they had all the blood work and tests they needed from my Friday night hospital stay. Phew, all that in one sentence!

So the chronology of upcoming events are as follows:
PET/CT scan April 1st.
Consult with Dr. Krasna and his team at St. Joseph's April 2nd.
Meeting with Dr. Noga (sitting in for Dr. Kumar) and his team at Sinai April 8th.
Somewhere amongst all of this we will be in touch with Dr. Erlich.

Carpe Diem.

Weekend update

Boy. Lots going on.

Friday evening I started to feel a bit of chest pain. I attributed this to the Neupogen shot from this past Tuesday. I won't go into the details of what Neupogen does to you, suffice to say, bone and joint ache is common. Well the pain got progressively worse as the evening went on and now I started to think about cardiac problems!!! I had never quite experienced this kind of pain before so we went to the Sinai Emergency room. We really did not have a choice.

I stayed the night and had a whole bunch of tests done. Well, to make a long story short, cardiac problems were ruled out and so were blood clots. Phew! I was discharged early afternoon and went home to the wonderful news that Man U had lost to Fulham 2-0. I wonder if there is any shit news linkage here? We had better start winning again or I could be screwed.

The meds for the pain have really helped but I'm so bloody tired. More later.

Carpe Diem.