I bought the CD from one of those CD Sampler racks in a Shoppers Drug Mart back before the became part of the Loblaws Empire (think Star Wars Stormtroopers Death March). Nicole shook her head, but allowed the purchase to occur, which is reason #862 why I love her so very very much. Did I mention it is a 3 disc set? Or maybe it was from Costco? I love Costco! Seriously. Costco kicks Shoppers Drug Mart's {cough} behind {cough}. I must write a family friendly blog for those young ones who follow my writing... lest they find my writing to be anything less than the most eloquent prose on the interwebs (or "Googles" as a fictitious grandparent might say).
Did I mention I was weird? So, on to the update. ME!?!? I'm great, thanks for asking! How are you?
I'll take your silence to imply you are doing quite well. I'm glad to hear it! It's been great talking about you, but this blog is called Tom's Thoughts so back to me.
Tom's Thought #222: Typing can be done quickly when listening to fast tempo scottish bagpipe tunes :)
Seriously though... about that whole cancer / tumour thing. It's still there, but it isn't getting bigger. At least I think that is what...
"The surgical cavity with hemosiderin staining in the right high frontal lobe with surrounding residual T2/FLAIR hyperintensity extending into the anterior cingulate gyrus is again identified. The previously identified plaque-like enhancement in the posterolateral aspect of the surgical cavity shows some reduction. No new enhancing lesions are identified. No hydrocephalus.
IMPRESSION: No interval change is identified in the surgical cavity and the surrounding tumour bed since the previous MRI studies from March 2013."
...means. I didn't take medicalology in school, and so I'm only combining common sense with what my nurse told me, but the "no new enhancing lesions", "No hydrocephalus", and "shows some reduction" all sound good! I do not believe the reduction of "plaque-like enchangement" means the tumour itself is actually getting smaller (though I'd love it if that were true), but all-in-all I'll take no growth of the tumour any day!!!
How do I feel? A bit squishy, but that's mostly due to the combination of flesh and muscular mass that I as a human being am primarily made of. Beneath that I feel hard and very skeletal. Oh, I see... you meant health wise. My apologies. I feel "Grrrrrrrrreeeeeaaat!!!" (to borrow a line from that corporately trademarked animated tiger). No headaches, no dizziness, no loss of balance, no bouts of unconsciousness... essentially nothing even close to any of the times I may have overindulged at the bar. This is not to say I ever did overindulge in a night out on the town with a couple of good mates / top lads, simply to say I know what that would have felt like should have done so. Yes, that is what I meant. {Cough} Drinking is bad kids.* Stay in school, Don't do drugs**. Only You Can Prevent forest fires***. Keep fit and have fun****. You gotta play it safe around electricity!*****
*Me
**Mr. T
***Smokey the Bear
****Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod
*****Louie the Lightning Bug
In other good news I have not experienced a seizure in over three months! [quickly knocks on wood] So that's cool. It means I'm only 3/4 of a year away from being able to drive again! Driving is cool. I like driving. I attribute my lack of seizures to my being awesome (obviously), but also upon my being on a whack of meds to prevent them from occurring. One particular medication I'm on is called Valproic Acid. While Wikipedia calls the drug "an acidic chemical compound, [...] use[d] as an anticonvulsant and mood-stabilizing drug, primarily in the treatment of epilepsy[...]" I simply call it "those massive yet magical orange pills I take three times a day to keep the shakes away".
SIDE NOTE: 30 minute of Scottish Bagpipes and still going strong!!! I feel like I'm in the Highlands! :)
I'm now up to 3,000 mg of the pills per day, which seems to be doing the trick, despite putting me at a "toxic" level of the drug in my system. It's funny how these things work. Doctors define some arbitrary level as being "safe" anything above or below a certain level is deemed "toxic" or "unsafe" yet here I am experiencing none of the side effects that are associated with a so-called 'toxic' level of the drug in my system. Granted this is only as measured in my most recent blood test, which could be biased based upon when I took my pills relative to the blood test, how much food I had in my body, etc. My neurologist explained that while having a set of numbers to compare to helps doctors keep most people in line with what is considered safe, some people can exist well outside this range while not experiencing any problems. I'm lucky to be one of such people it would seem. Thus my recent bout of seizurelessness! So seizures being non existent plus tumour not growing = "none too shabby". It's just great getting to live a stress free life not worrying about a single thing. Oh wait, that's not what I do at all...
Stress is something that must simply be managed. I try to put my stress in any containers we put in the recycling. That way it is taken out of the apartment at least once a week, and can be sent to a facility where it can be combined with other people's stress and reused... saving the planet one panic attack at a time! (Did I mention I was weird?) My sarcasm is meant to highlight the fact that great results do not take away from the reality that is my life. This is not to say "poor me" or expect / desire sympathy. I don't like sympathy and I don't want it. I don't live my life for any other reason than "because I want to". I rather enjoy my life, despite its crazy roller coaster ups & downs. Roller coasters are terrifying and I would never get on one voluntarily (short of a million dollar pay off), however when you wake up and find yourself in the front seat of train-like object heading full speed down a set of tracks... it's nice to know you have someone in the seat next to you holding your hand along the way. I could never do any of this without Nicole. If any of you get tired of me saying this STOP READING MY BLOG!!! This blog is about my life and she is my wife, thus she is 99% of my life. She is the 99% awesomeness that makes up for the 1% crappiness that forms a mass of cells in my "right high frontal lobe". I love you so much Nicole.
Outside of medical news, life goes on. My Grandma (who is the best Grandma in the world... sorry to break it to those of you who thought you might have had the world's best Grandma... you don't... unless you are one of my cousins) recently underwent surgery to remove a cancerous tumour in her colon. This makes her only the 6th member in my extended family to experience a fight with cancer. Luckily her operation went well (considering she is an 85 year old woman who until last month was still working 6 days a week), and she is now out of the hospital recovering at home. She is an incredible person and a source of inspiration in my life. I look up to her for her strength, love, set of moral values, strong sense of family, and so much more. My thoughts are with her as she goes through this less than pleasant experience (though I know she'd call me silly and assure me she is still praying for me every chance she gets). I love you so much Grandma.
I'm now listening to "oldies music" that Nicole let me purchase. This one was definitely purchased from Shoppers Drug Mart! I think I got this one confused with the Bagpipes CD. "Rock Around The Clock: Early Rock & Roll" Did I ever mention how much I love music? I think music is part of my therapy. Music calms me down if ever I need to be calmed. It energizes me if ever I need to go for a 5K run. It makes me happy if ever I am feeling down. It can also make me cry if I feel like having a good cry. Nicole got me an iPod Nano for my birthday and it is like the best gift ever! Every song I could want at my fingertips every morning on the bus ride to work? If that doesn't put you in the best mood ever, I don't know what will.
At this point in my blog I like to thank those who have a marathon runner's stamina and simultaneously apologize to them for the rambling nonsensical nature of my writing. They say "do what you do best" and... well, here we are. I'm loving my employment with WOW! Hospitality Concepts. Just to plug the company while I can, we operate 7 (soon to be 8) concepts in Winnipeg. An all-star list of restaurants including 529 Wellington Steakhouse, Terrace in the Park, Peasant Cookery, Los Chicos Restaurante Y Cantina & Finn's Pub and Muddy Waters Sports Ribs & Wings at the Forks. We also have Celebrations Dinner Theatre, which I recommend to any "Friends" fan as the current show is "Best of Friends Reunion". The 8th to be open late 2013 (Late August? Early September?) is "Food Evolution" to open in the Peguis Pavilion within Kildonan Park. How's that for shameless self promotion! I work out of the head office as the guy who looks after the IT & Social Media. Check out our many concept's Facebook Pages and click like to make it seem like I'm doing a good job and simultaneously increase my self-esteem! Or you could visit "http://tinyurl.com/wowmail-signup" and sign up for the company's email blasts (of which I am the "editor/writer"). Or not.
Now that I'm done whoring myself out for my place of employment. Oh right... the kids! Sorry children. Don't read that last sentence. Just pretend I had said "shamelessly selling myself out". Yes, let's all just go with that. IN-BLOG-UPDATE: I'm now listening to "Jessie's Girl" as "NOW 1980's" has entered my playlist. I can't wait until track 17 (Rapper's Delight)!
Other stuff: How are other people? Doing quite well I think/hope/assume! Close friend of Nicole & I, Shauna (the one allergic to everything but who has two of the cutest kids in the world... and now one of the cutest fetuses in the world) is due to have a baby girl in the weeks to come. I say "weeks" because I forget the actual due date. Meanwhile other good friends Mark & Steph (aka: S&M Inc... it's not what you think) have a beautiful baby girl who is approaching her first birthday! Avery Nicole Leonhart has the ability to melt the hearts of both Nicole & I with a single smile. I can't understand how Mark & Steph have managed to avoid sustaining significant damage to their hearts due to overwhelming happy emotions over the last year. We also look forward to the wedding of two very very very funny, good looking, intelligent, bipedal carbon-based organisms. You guessed it! I'm referring to Karen & Nelson! FYI Marriage is awesome! You never fight! You never get even the slightest bit upset by another pair of socks found on the bedroom or living room floor just as she never finds your general inattentive nature or inability to cook even the most basic of meals annoying at all! We love all of you guys. Not in a creepy hippy commune love way mind you. That would be wrong.
Am I still blogging? Turns out I am! I should check on my wife. She hasn't called to make sure I'm still breathing in the last few hours. I usually get a "Are you okay?" once every 20 minutes. I'll be right back... Yep! As I suspected, fast asleep (and looking quite cute too I must say). I checked to make sure she was breathing as to ensure her motionless nature was not misinterpreted leading to an unfortunate late night ambulance ride for all the wrong reasons. I should wrap things up soon though, as the next album up on my iTunes playlist is "Once Upon a Christmas" featuring Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton. My music tastes are eclectic okay!!! Back story on that one is that my Grandma always played that CD (which I think might have been a record back then*) when I was growing up. At Christmas time. I felt I should add that just in case someone was like "That's odd that his Grandma would have played a Christmas album during his entire childhood!" She only played it at Christmas, and I loved it! I saw it at the checkout of a Wal-Mart one day (it was one of those spontaneous 'checkout buys' for $5.00) so I said "HECK YES!"
*NOTE to the children: A record was like a big black CD that used a needle instead of a laser. That's how old I am.
Well, I should wind things up now. I'm on track 16 ("Rebel Yell") so if timed correctly, I can finish this blog entry as "Rapper's Delight" wraps up (PUN INTENDED!!!) My next MRI is on September 11th, because they felt facing the most aggressive form of brain cancer wasn't enough of a challenge... I clearly needed to have a scan on the date associated with the greatest tragedy of the past several decades. Thanks HSC!!!
♫"now what you hear is not a test--i'm rappin to the beat and me, the groove, and my friends are gonna try to move your feet"♫Yep, that sound means it's time to call it a night. Thanks for reading all my peeps! I ain't proofreadin' this blog yo 'cause I just decided I'm from da streetz, and we'z don'ts gotsta spells the wordz right! (I think the music might be having an effect on me). STAY IN SCHOOL KIDS!!!
Fin
