Update #73

If you missed the last 71 or so updates I'm not sure what's wrong with your computer, but I swear I've been writing them on like an hourly basis! Ok, I'm lying entirely. It is week #6 ish almost done me thinks (radiation appointment 24 or 25 or so for those keeping score at home). I'm not sure how I'm ranking in the various fantasy drafts and playoff pools you guys had going for me with this season's radiation treatments, but I think I was a good pick for doing pretty good! May you win the office pool of $13 and some coupons is what I'm saying.

HELLO! Blog starts now. Radiation for me ends Wednesday January 26th (next week) which is AWESOME! Not that I'm hugely against radiation or the radiologists at the HSC. They've all been great! I'm just not a fan of the driving down there and back each and every day mixed in with school and all life's other adventures. I get that a "radiation self home kit" is impractical and an overall "bad idea" and I shouldn't complain as I already got off pretty easy with having my chemotherapy pill based instead of IV based but I'm still looking forward to the end of it. I met with the surgeon who cut me open originally earlier this week for a check-up. He showed Nicole and I some brain images of before and after my surgery. It was quite impressive to see how big the tumor was prior to the operation! That thing was like... huge! I can't describe it in real terms (you have to see the picture to get a sense of it) but it shocked me. When I said I had headaches prior to being admitted to the hospital? I wasn't kidding.

So how has me been lately? FANTASTIC! This past week (to a week and a half) have been the best since my treatments started. ZERO illness, ZERO headaches, ZERO anything bad! Even my hair loss has seemed to have found the point it wants to stay at for now. It was pointed out to me that in any past January (2010, 2009, etc) I've felt worse than I do now. I usually have a terrible cold after Christmas (I think for the last 3 or 4 years at least). At best I have allergies that are driving me nuts. No cold, no allergies. I'm breathing fine, sleeping fine, and still have enough energy to get through each day.

How's the apartment lately? FANTASTIC! It's still in one piece. I got tenant insurance so if it breaks into two pieces I'm covered! I think it's time to vacuum again, which is totally just an excuse to pull out the Dyson again. Nicole and I have almost finished our interior decorating as we are 98% satisfied with the way things look now. We have a mirror to put up, a plant to buy, and a chair to buy and put in our bedroom. Otherwise I think we're good. Oh, and I want a kitchen counter stand or something. But I'm still working on finding the product in the real world that matches the image I have in my head. Doesn't that suck when you want to buy something that may or may not exist?! I had it happen a while ago with an awesome stick on battery powered fluorescent light. Not some crappy LED touch light like we've all seen on TV, but a real light that works! Turns out it doesn't exist.

How is school lately? FANTASTIC! I'm on week #3 of that now. I'm happy to be there for sure. It is a little bit of a burden with the homework and readings and all, but not anything I can't manage so far. I am in my very last term in the faculty of Management at the Asper School of Business at the U of M, and all going well I will complete the four year degree this April. Truth is I have some pretty easy courses to wrap things up (which was NOT what I was expecting... but I will SO take it). I finished writing all of my final assignments for last term's work so I'm anxiously awaiting the results of 3 or the 4 courses I had yet to complete from last term (and thanks again to the GMGT 4010 group for getting me out of that one with the final project)! I think part of me secretly hopes I get a B in one of the courses to take the self-imposed pressure off of getting A's this term. I had a streak going at one point of about 20 or so straight A's, which I think should have been more had I not slept through a politics mid-term bringing me to a "C" at one point along the way. Too much pressure. I'll be happy just to get my degree at this point. At the same time I feel the need to reverse the low GPA I suffered when I "stopped going to university" which I put in quotations as it is not the same as "withdrawing from the university" which involves TELLING them about it. I simply stopped attending classes at one point and received F's in every class for which I was registered (about 5). Afterward I made some half hearted attempts to repeat the courses with little luck, and probably amassed 8 or so "F - No Paper"s before a couple of years had gone by. Lesson to you kids out there, Don't do drugs, Stay in School, but if you find yourself not going to school, VW from your courses! And if you do find yourself doing drugs, don't share needles?

How are cheap puns and chemical cleaning solutions? FANTASTIC! Sorry for that one.

I few comments at random. I think I'm about the nicest most upbeat person the HSC has ever seen (or maybe tied for first)? The lady at the GB-1 clinic said I was always in a good mood whenever she spoke to me. The receptionists at Radiology always seem to appreciate me stopping by. I think that continues to be my best tool in fighting this cancer thing... ridiculous optimism and a good attitude. Putting modesty aside I love how I'm handling this all so far. I know I'm helped by not having any major side effects, but part of me thinks "maybe that's in part because of my state of mind?" Perhaps the two interact and build off each other? Perhaps it's because of the hand sanitizer Nicole reminds me to apply multiple times daily?

That brings me to the usual Nicole update. SHE'S ALSO FANTASTIC! I keep going on about how great she is, but that's only because she is, and my only way to repay her / embarrass her is to tell the world about it. She thinks she's not really helping me still (the silly girl) but she truly truly is. She's been on top of my diet for the past few weeks and feels guilty about telling me not to eat sweets and deserts knowing how much I love them. The truth? I've gotten quite used to the whole "no sugar" thing and haven't even missed it all that much. It's not as though I eat NO sugar, but compared to "Old Tom" I've significantly reduced the amount of sugar I put into my body. I've actually found myself reading ingredients lists and nutrition information on product packing! Crazy eh? One teaspoon of sugar in the coffee or tea (unless its Tim Horton's in which case saying "double double" just comes out on its own). I've been eating FRUIT (FRUIT?!?) as a snack lately. I think I facebooked the world about when she brought me a bowl of freshly cut pineapple when I was studying the other day. She does nice things like that :)  For supper tonight I had some leftover salad c/o the O'Leary's, as well as an apple and a banana. I've been eating cereal each morning and even added some chopped up fruit to it like the commercials always make it seem like you should do! Truthfully I'm actually rather enjoying the 'new diet challenge' and figure since I plan on living forever and such, I might as well take care of my body eh?

Other random news, I have titanium in my head! The surgeon told me the bone he cut out was put back and held in place with mini titanium plates which shall remain in my head forever. Cool eh?

Kudos also goes out to "the boys" who provided me with a (here comes that word again) FANTASTIC night just last week with the badminton and the near closing Little Caesars and such! That was one of the best times I've had in quite a while. Thanks to Tim for driving me, thanks to Nelson for providing the venue which made me feel like I was 10 years old and could get into trouble at any point, and thanks to Andrew for the points about my receding but potentially returning hair line.

The next week might be busy with school work and the such. Highlights shall involve a consultation with S&M Inc. (top notch people), some time spent with the greatest people Steinbach has to offer, and with any luck the combination of a classy gentleman and some sushi. If I can fit it all in it could even top this past week! Plus I'm turning 27 this coming weekend eh? Shenanigans! 27 and the receding hair line (albeit rather uneven). Should I be complaining about the weather more? Surely I should complain about the "kids these days" and their "rap music"? Back in my days we didn't have iPods that could phone each other! We had compact discs. We used them to illegally download music onto so we could listen to them on our "Disc-mans"!!! Artists like Madonna, U2, R.E.M., Bryan Adams, and Sting were on the radio. Ok, so they still are but they weren't so old back then! And we didn't have 200 Facebook friends! We had a moderate number of MySpace friends... and most of them were just bands we sort-of-liked! Kids these days. How am I doing? I think I'm ready.

Well I think I should end it there before even I get tired of me. Thanks to all of y'all for the continued support and thoughts and hopes and prayers. It all makes a difference eh? CHEERS!!!
--
TOM

PS: FANTASTIC!