Commentary

Thomas Covenant

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I’m a big fan of the books by Stephen Donaldson in the Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever series. He wrote an original trilogy, then a second trilogy. Now he is completing the work with a quartet of books. The second trilogy was on the New York Best Seller list for a long time, over a year I believe.

Thomas Covenant is the quintessential anti-hero. Most books in the genre feature warriors determined to overcome great odds, heroically battling against ridiculous odds, and of course, prevailing. Covenant is named the Unbeliever because he refuses to believe he can be of consequence in these huge battles.

He has leprosy, so his health plays a large role in how he combats things. He has already lost a couple fingers on his hand due to his disease. so he must be wary of everything, since it could wind up costing him a limb. Unable to feel in his extremities, any injury could lead to putrefaction, and more amputations.

The Land, where he is transported to, is peopled by amazing characters, races and creatures. Bannor and Lord Mhoran in the early books help him, and their humanity is remarkable. It’s a great series of books, and I have enjoyed them very much. Both Pam and I have read them several times. My first edition of the first novel has been read so many times, that virtually none of the pages remain attached to the cover!

Anyway – the third novel of the final quartet was released a while back, and I was looking for it on the internet. I found a professor’s website where he was offering the book to some lucky person who sent an email. And he chose me! How lucky can you get?

All Donaldson’s books require a commitment from the reader, since they are generally over 500 pages, and always contain words that you don’t normally see in everyday life. It’s just a terrific way to spend a few days. I started the book, and basically didn’t put it down until I was finished.

All About Max, Grand Cayman

Spring in Vancouver

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Max among the daffodilsThis time of year is so lovely in our neck of the woods. The cherry trees are blooming, the daffodils are everywhere, the tulips are getting ready to bloom… it’s just a great time of year. We’ve been planting some new bulbs, and weeding out the winter sludge. The grape hyacinths have really come along, and they fill the border all along our garden with a profusion of purple!

Max and I took Pam to her appointment and we went for a short walk through Green Timbers Park. It’s about $4.50 to park at the hospital, so that’s why we head over to a park for a short walk while she gets radiated. Today, I managed to get him to sit still and I snapped a few pictures of him sitting among the daffodils. Nice picture I think.

I’ve included a short movie taken the other day at the Serpentine dog off leash park. A lot of the grey Hydro boxes have been painted with a mural on them, with scenes of flowers, woods, and trees. I think they are terrific really. So lo and behold, they’ve painted the garbage bin outside the dog park! We both thought it was cute enough to take a movie of it so you can see it in the full 360 degrees.

Health Issues

April 4th 2011 # 14 treatment

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Today is going to be my 14th treatment of radiation out of 25  so over half way done. 🙂 woo hoo! I can’t wait for my life to get back to normal. We have a routine now, where M drops me off at the cancer clinic and I go do my thing, and while I am off getting zapped, M takes Max for a walk at a nearby park or he goes and sits where the parking is free and reads and waits for me. Parking at the hospital is expensive so its our way of not having to pay close to a fiver ever day! 🙂

Last treatment on friday I saw the Dr and she told me they were taking me to another room to get marked up so they could measure and mark where they were going to do the more focused beam around the location where the tumor had been. So I ended up with a diamond shaped thing inked onto my right breast, and they said they will be drawing that mark on each time they do the focused beam. I forgot to ask the Dr how many of those more focused ones they do, but I suspect it will be the last week of the treatments. I still have 12 to go, including today’s.

My skin is holding up pretty well. I do notice it feels somewhat heavier in the area between the two incisions, almost like a “cooked” feeling, where flesh is firmer. The nipple on that side continues to darken, the skin gets redder especially right after the zapping but then seems to resolve back to it’s normal color, however I am left with the skin looking different shade than the right (a bit). So far no skin breakdown but I have been pretty diligent about using the olay moisturizing body wash and then the lubriderm moisturizer every day. Dr thought things looked good.

Fatigue continues to be an issue, and I find myself pushing myself to do things so that I don’t turn into a lump. My first inclination would be to not do anything, but I can’t sink into that. Yesterday Maurice was out pulling weeds out of the garden and I took a small rake and was able to pull a few out too using it. Nothing to strenuous but it felt good to be helping 🙂

I’m over half way done and my right arm numbness is persistant. The dreadful pain from the nerve irritation is gone now. What I feel is that my arm feels heavy, but it’s more because there is a big numb area in the back that feels like a blob I’m lugging around, as I can’t feel it except when it hits my body. It is a weird feeling but I’m getting used to it. Hopefully it will resolve itself, but I suspect I’m going to be stuck with this numbness for the rest of my life (my prediction) , the surgeon said that whatever I have at the end of one year, is what I will have the rest of my life… so we shall see, there might be room for improvement.

One thing I have been doing is eating junk food. I think I have been feeling sorry for myself and using that as an excuse to eat like crap. That has to stop. I know that the meds I am on raise cholesterol, and I don’t want that, and I won’t be helping myself at all if I continue to help raise my cholesterol on top of the meds, because I’m stupidly eating high fat crap.

_____________________________________ _______________ ________________ <– the line in the sand has been drawn.

Many thanks to everyone who has been emailing me, calling or coming over for visits. I’ve appreciated all. Also thank you to all the gals at work who sent the condolence cards and gifts for me on the loss of my dad. I was very touched. Thanks Sharman and Nikki for bringing the cards and gifts and the nice visit.  You are all a great bunch of people to work with and the care and attention you’ve given to me while I’ve been off is a testament to that. Special thanks to Maggie, for her trips in to visit, and take me to radiation some times, for being a swell friend, and to Gen who unerringly calls to see how I am doing, to my sister Cathy and brother Peter who always check on me, to M’s parents who call and who’ve sent gifts, and especially to Maurice, who has always been there for me in every way. 🙂   I am a lucky gal.

…Pam…

Health Issues

Mar 27 Radiation Treatments done so far 8/25

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Well it has been a few days since I put a post in about the radiation treatments. So far, I think I am doing pretty well. I have had 8 treatments and have 17 more to go. They do them Mon-Fri except on holidays. The set up is what takes the most time, they have to position you in just the right spot exactly, and I have to be put in the mould they made me before the treatments started. It takes some time to set up, but once the radiation starts, it’s only a couple of minutes. I would say from arriving in the cancer center, to leaving is about 30-40 min each day, depending on if they are on time. Sometimes it’s behind schedule as the machine is finicky in the area I am in and gives them grief sometimes.

I saw the radioncologist friday and she examined me.. she thought everything was looking good so far. No skin breakdown. I am having some burning sensation on the skin, but it’s more like a mild sunburn at this point. There is a darkening of the nipple on one side (sorry if TMI, but it’s a truthful accounting of what is going on.) but so far nothing to bad. I have been told symptoms can worsen around end of week 2.. so I’m not quite there yet.

Maurice has taken me to all radiation treatments but on Thursday Maggie came in, and sat with me while I waited my turn to be on the machine. She was allowed to come in the room while they set me up (I asked if she could and they said sure) and so she saw them mark me up with their pens, position me exactly so… and then they all left the room and the radiation started. She was allowed to be in the room with all of the monitors and the techs explained what they were doing, how the radiation was directed etc, and she said she found it interesting. 🙂

…Pam…

Health Issues

Cancer Fundraiser – Thanks Tim :)

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This is an email I got from a dear friend, Tim. He is married to Maggie, who I’ve been friends with for since 1968… that’s 43 years now. 🙂  If you had thought that you might want to support the effort to fight Cancer, this is a worthy cause, and I believe you can get a  tax deduction as well. Please read his email to me below

Hello: I am riding in the Canadian Cancer Society, Ride 2 Survive 2011 fund raising initiative. Recently, two people very close to my wife and I have been stricken with the disease. Pam, my wife’s best friend for 40 years and my wife’s mother Ida are in the fight now, both demonstrating amazing positive outlooks.
In the very early hours of June 18th, the Ride 2 Survive (R2S) cycling team will be departing Kelowna BC with its destination being Delta BC; 400 kms and eighteen hours later!! With the support of the Canadian Cancer Society, the R2S fundraising initiative is completely volunteer run. The event strives to raise awareness and seeks funding to help research a cure for cancer. All generous donations go directly to the cause. Donations are used for research and to help in the ongoing care for those fighting cancer. Remember, the Canadian Cancer Society is a resource for those who have any questions relating to cancer or may need help in dealing with the disease.
Call 1-888-939-3333 or visit www.cancer.ca. For those of you who supported me in the past, I remain extremely grateful. This year my cause is more personal than ever. With your continued support, I know the R2S event will reach and exceed our goals again. I appreciate all that you do in support of my efforts and if you would be so kind, please share the R2S cause with those around you.

Let’s make cancer history!

Tim

Follow This Link to visit my personal web page and help me in my efforts to support Canadian Cancer Society – BC and Yukon Division

******************************************************************************
Some email systems do not support the use of links and therefore this link may not appear to work. If so, copy and paste the following into your browser:
http://ride2survivefundraising.kintera.org/anctil?faf=1&e=4368166772
******************************************************************************

Here is the direct link to my donation page.

http://ride2survivefundraising.kintera.org/anctil

If you want to share the story and the link in a different manner than the Cancer Society email I just sent, here it is.

Thanks for helping me help you!!!

Tim Anctil

Canadian Cancer Society

Ride2Survive

www.ride2survive.com

Thanks to everyone for reading about this and for supporting Tim in his efforts to battle Cancer. The sooner we find a cure, the more of us survive.Thanks Tim for everything you do, and for putting your cycling skills to good use fighting this very worthy cause.

…Pam…

All About Max

Max and the Vet

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Yesterday we took Max to the vet as he was limping and lifting his front right leg and not wanting to weight bear. It was difficult to watch him like that. We took him to Scottsdale Veterinary Hospital where his vet Dr Lewellyn looked at him. He advised we get an Xray to make sure he had not Fractured anything, and also a blood panel as he was also running a temperature. His temp was 40.5  which is high. His resps were high too. He was off his food yesterday.

Xrays did not show any fractures, but we could all see how swollen he was around the “wrist area” of the leg on a dog, he was very tender and would not let the vet touch it, so we had to muzzle him as he was giving a warning , but good boy, didn’t bite. He was in pretty bad pain though, so I’m glad we did take him in to get assessed. It cost us 510 bucks, which was painful to part with, but he’s our boy and so we did it.

For that we got:

The bill is as follows:

1 geriatric panel (blood)       119.90

1 blood collection and prep   23.85

1 office visit                                  59.00

1 Nail trim w exam                    13.21

1 Xray – 2 views                        141.67

.70 Metacam injection              13.04

1 Metacam Oral suspension   51.76

14 tramadol 100 mgm capsule  33.76

=====

456.76

HST                  54.74

Total this invoice                         ======

510.93

Today we had to take Max back to get his temp checked. It had gone down to 39.2 but because his White blood count and other lab values were high, the vet advised he be on antibiotics. I asked her if they had any “donated” antibiotics that they could give us, so we would not have to incur more expense and they did, so we are grateful for that.no charge today.

Today he’s at least weight bearing on that foot, limping but will walk. Yesterday he wouldn’t, and so there is some improvement. I put ice packs on his leg yesterday x 2 and he tolerated them because he was so zonked from the tramadol.. 🙂 today he’s more perky so it’s a challenge. But.. I will perservere, as he needs it to help reduce the swelling. We have been bringing his food down to the family room because we don’t want him going up and down the stairs ++ to irritate the joint. Things are looking up. He’s still in pain, but not so terribly like he was. 🙂

…Pam…

Health Issues

Day 1 Radiation treatment March 16th

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Today was my first actual radiation treatment. They told me it would take about an hour, and it did. Most of the time was taken up by getting me in exactly the right position. There were 2 guys and 1 gal who moved me about on the table and got me in exactly the right position that I needed to be to zap me. They also did some imaging, so that is why it took longer. The actual radiation didn’t take that long.. less than a minute or so in each position. They added some pen marks on my right breast and side. I asked them to make it in the shape of a dragon, but they just laughed..    They told me that tomorrow I just need to go to the treatment room, put my card up on the desk where they showed me, and get changed and be ready for appointment time, so that seems pretty straightforward. Today the gal in reception showed me around and told me the routine of what to do.

Because of the radiation I was warned that there will be skin changes. I was given a list of different lotions to use daily, and also a list of different body soaps I can use for showers. It has to be really mild stuff, as harsh soaps will irritate an already irritated skin. I will try to follow orders :)The main thing I can do to try to help myself is good skin care. They said the breast creases is one of the main places that tends to get irritated, so I’ll try to be vigilent.

I go to radiation mon-friday, and the times are not always the same.. it’s how they can fit everyone in, so tomorrow’s time is different than todays. They write it all down on the card you are given so I don’t have to remember and they only give you the next weeks times on the friday.

…Pam…

Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao