...then again, there was that day I was married. Okay, second best day ever!
It would be fair to say my wife Nicole & I have had our share of "bad news" & "tough times" over the past couple of years. Things don't generally tend to "go well" for us. 50% of us have a terminal illness, our vehicles tend to end up written off or falling apart on us...
RIP: Nicole's '94 (Literally flooded while parked in front of my Mom's house in Transcona)
RIP: Tom's '00 Hyundai Tiburon (Pretty much rusted away / fell apart on me)
RIP: Steve & Pat's '02 Chrysler Concorde (Taken out by an errant driver on Corydon)
...etc., etc., (please read former posts for more).
When we have a day when things don't go badly, we consider it to be an amazing day. When things go well, we nearly have heart attacks while running around with excitement laughing aloud with glee. If I go shopping and cashier forgets to charge me for an item, I nearly wet myself... that's all I'm saying. Well, today I should have been wearing a diaper because IT WAS AN AWESOME AWESOME DAY!!! This whole weekend has been pretty darn good, likely a direct result of it having been my wife's birthday on the 29th. She must have emanated "birthday luck". That is the only logical explanation. We went to her parents' on her actual birthday after a day of running around and just "being regular people". Okay, not really, as we had my blood work appointment at the HSC at 9:30 am, and my monthly "exam" (which is pretty much just a day to weigh me, and give me my next month's medication calendar and speak to a nurse... this last visit was "71 kg, no seizures since last time, see you in a month"). After that we started our day of "being normal". We hit up George's (Burgers & Subs) for a breakfast special, where Nic's eggs were a little runny. Keep in mind that they were still eggs. The fact that the plate didn't come out with a chicken fighting a gopher on it means we were still on track for a good day. Even when we went to Starbucks and her green tea frappuccino had waxy bits of chocolate mixed in (obviously from the last drink they made) it was made out of mostly what she ordered, which for us is amazing. The evening at her parents' was fantastic (as always) as Steve made more food than any of us could eat if someone forced us to with threat of physical harm. Jen may have had raw meat thrown in her face by her fiancé, but Nic & I officially had NO RAW MEAT thrown at us!!! (clearly this was a great weekend already)
Nic enjoyed her gifts and we went home for a good night's sleep. The next day we got to SLEEP IN!!! It got even better for me when my wife (who should have been celebrating her day after birthday, woke up before me and made me pancakes with fresh fruit which she then brought me IN BED along with a hot cup of coffee. Paradise. She puts up with my bad jokes and brings me breakfast in bed? I married the right girl :)
Afternoon saw us go to the Farmer's Market in St. Norbert. Just being able to walk around with my wife in the nice afternoon sun without having a seizure or facing any other medical issue was a real joy. There was an ambulance and firetruck that arrived to help someone else in need (as if to point out "this is usually you guys!")... though I hope the other people were not in any serious harm.
A quick stop off at Winners was enough to cap off our excursion, as we headed back to our apartment. We were incredibly productive... getting laundry done, sorting through bins and boxes that someone (unbelievably one might say) that we STILL have not unpacked since moving to our current "home" in late April of this year. I think we only have 10-15 of such boxes & bins to unpack before we can remove the quotation marks and call it a home! Then we can invite family & friends over without having to say "this is where we almost live!"
In our productive bin/box unpacking Nicole came across a lottery scratch ticket that had never been scratched. Again, the fact that it wasn't an envelope filled with anthrax would have been enough to keep me happy, but an unscratched lottery ticket? It had to be too good to be true. I told my lovely wife that it was probably expired and to check the date. The ticket expired TODAY!!! Ok, I could feel my body pulsing and adrenalin pulsing through my body. After scratching the ticket... it couldn't be... double check it... YES! IT WAS A $3 WINNER!!! I nearly had a heart attack while peeing my pants! We had to cash it in by the end of the night or it became a worthless piece of paper. So, we found a wonderful convenience store that is sure to be a hit. It was called Seven Eleven, though I'm not sure why the name (I can only assume it is meant to reflect the class of the joint, much as the name "529 Wellington" does). The well dressed Seven Eleven "customer service representative" scanned my ticket, and the screen above him shouted "WHOO HOO!" as the word "WINNER!" appeared just above the "$3.00 payout" line. This was the best day I had had in... well probably since my wedding. I raced to the car where my day-after-her-birthday-girl was waiting for me. It was time to treat her to a proper meal. I took her to Sydney's at the Forks, where (after taxes and gratuities) we had a meal that went over the $3.00 we had won. It was well worth it, as the food was simply amazing. Not that I'm saying it in any way compares to the food one might enjoy at any WOW! Hospitality Concepts restaurant, but it was certainly up there. After our four course meal we enjoyed a nice walk along the river walk where we were not stabbed or mugged or even bitten alive by mosquitoes! Surely this was a dream. If so I'm still dreaming, because it hasn't ended yet.
We went to the Casino's of Winnipeg "Club Regent" (named as such because of it's close proximity to the "Regent Mohawk" I can only assume). I had been mailed out a card notifying me that I had been awarded $10.00 of "Gold Play" to use by a certain date. Since we had overshot our lottery ticket winnings on our meal, we figured the best place to come to make up the difference would be the casino (pretty much a no-brainer), and with a free $10.00 to burn through, how could we go wrong?
After walking around a casino we clearly had not been to in a while (as EVERYTHING THERE IS DIFFERENT NOW!) Except the fish tank that is, as I suppose that would be hard to move. They'd even upgraded the free coffee/hot chocolate/mocha dispensers... so we had already won. Putting in my player's card into a $0.01 slot machine of Nicole's choice we proceeded to put in $5.00 CAD to try to figure out how to access my $10.00 of "Gold Play". The machine was not as simple as we might have thought, as we had not taken any courses in University that covered the operations of slot machines. After losing the $4.90, and being no closer to figuring out how to use our $10.00, we decided to cash out. Pressing the cash out button lead to an interesting course of events...
The machine did not "cash us out". Instead it made a lot of annoying sounds and did a whole lot of nothing. We pressed the "CALL HELP" button (button may or may not have specifically said "CALL HELP"), and waited for an attendant to arrive. After some time one did walk by clearly unaware of our situation. I flagged him down and he came to service our machine. After 10 minutes of clearly having no idea what he was doing, he called for help. After 10 minutes the help came, only 5 minutes after the Help gave up, she called in what I can only assume was the Backup Help. Backup Help managed to reach in and remove our "cash out slip" which had simply been jammed in the machine. We now had our $0.10 cash out slip and the WORLD WAS OURS!!!!
I asked Nicole which machine to choose next, and she said that having waited so long on that machine, it was pretty much ours, and we should just wait for Backup Help to put it back together. Upon regaining the machine Nicole took her Birthday Luck and went to town. Lights & Music & Sounds OH MY!!! She worked it up to a nice $65 (okay, $64.90... but who's counting?), which was all based upon having put in a $20.00 bill and using only the $10.00 free "Gold Play" (Meaning we had won $45.00!!!). We cashed out our ticket without issue and took it to the cash out machines. There was one free on the left side, which Nicole put our cash out slip in to and a few seconds later the machine was giving us a combination of paper and metal money that added up to $60.90, a mere $4.00 short of the $64.90 that we had actually won. I grabbed an attendant (Not physically! I don't know why you think I would do that. I'm not a violent person) and she opened up the machine. After looking over it and seeing no reason why our $4.00 never came to be she called her Help (though not the same Help as we first encountered). The two of them eventually found out that the $1.00 dispenser within the machine had jammed and actually had what looked to be around 10 unclaimed loonies stuck in it. The Help handed me my $4.00 and we were off!!!
It is about 2:00 in the morning, and I have five times promised my wife that I'll "only be 5 more minutes", so I think I should actually go to bed, being that it has been over an hour since I first started promising such. I just wanted you (the world) to know that Nicole & I had an AWESOME DAY in which we broke not one, but two Casino machines, found an old unscratched scratch ticked... which was a winner... on the last day it could be claimed, and weren't both killed by bears!!!
Hard to believe even for me, but I was there and saw it happen. If this trend continues tomorrow my incurable brain cancer will be cured. One can never give up hope, even if that hope is a single electron in a single atom of a single molecule of aluminum in a single needle of a single haystack, assuming that haystack was the size of the entire known universe. I might even buy a lotto 649 ticket tomorrow???
Cheers everyone!!!! & HAPPY CANADA DAY :)
PS: There is no way I'm proofreading the above, being that it has been 12 minutes since I said I would stop.
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Thursday, June 21, 2012
It's been a while eh?
DISCLAIMER: I wrote the below some time ago (Sunday June 10th to be exact), so some of my references may already be out of date. I guess I was too tired to hit "post" at the end of it. Nonetheless I present it to you now, complete with extra CHEERS! See? I'll do it again... CHEERS! That was worth the wait now wasn't it? I think so. Cheers to ye all eh?
--
Tom
So most of you probably thought I'd dropped dead long ago, but guess what??? I'M STILL HERE!!! Turns out I'm just lazy! That and life seems to still be keeping me busy (what with all the taking of the pills and all). I'm thirsty, so I'm going to get myself a glass of cold water... BRB! {I've been told by "the youth" that "BRB" is a clever abbreviation for the phrase "be right back". Someone else told me it was the ISO 3166-1 three-letter (alpha-3) code for Barbados, but they were a computer nerd and thus not to be trusted in knowing modern slang}.
Ahhhh... Very nice. So where were we? Oh right... Acronyms, lol... jk ;)
Always good to start with the medical updates right? Am I still alive? I think by writing this very sentence I have indirectly answered your question. How am I doing? Wow you ask a lot of questions! Doing quite well actually. I'd complain about the chemo and how it has made me feel ill over these last few days, but the fact that I'm here and actually able to complain about it... reminds me that I really shouldn't complain about it. I was nauseous and ill this past round of chemo (with today being day 5 of 5... yay!), however my wife/doctor/nurse/bestfriend/chauffeur/consultant/nutritionist/green-loving-significant-other thinks that may have had something [more] to do with me giving myself food poisoning. She might be on to something there. Nicole and I have come up with some "rules" which are really a list of things to do in order to "stay alive". Among these are to:
i) always take my pills
ii) always take my pills on time
iii) always eat PROPER meals on time (with pills where appropriate)
iv) never leave the apartment in the morning without having fulfilled the above three points
Being on day #2 of chemo I managed to break those rules. I did take my Ondansetron (anti-nausea pills), as well as my Temozolomide (chemo meds), however in running late for work, I simply grabbed my "other" pills (Dexamethasone, Phenytoin, Valproic acid, and Ranitidine) and hit the road. For me "hit the road" means crossing the street to the good ol' #50513 Bus Stop to wait for my #55 or #59 to take me to work. Don't know if I told y'all, but I'm pretty much the king of the Winnipeg Transit System. I'm so good I rarely get lost getting to/from work these days. I got to take the Rapid Transit the other day! Turns out it's just a road that only busses go on. It's not that long, and I don't really see the point of it all. Is it cool? I guess. Is it $138 million cool? I'm not so sure. But I digress...
My rush to leave in the morning meant I missed the last bus that would get me to work on time (for 9:00 am). My next best alternative was to use my Winnipeg Transit App Combo Pack (which is nothing more than three or four free or really cheap apps I downloaded for my iPhone to calculate routes, find stops, and see when busses will be arriving). My best alternative route to work had me dropped off in front of a Burger King at Osborne Junction. I learned that "Osborne Junction" is really just another name for "Confusion Corner" adding to my confusion about that particular intersection. I saw an ad on the BK window that read "TWO ORIGINAL CHICKEN SANDWICHES $5!" and thought... hells ya!
This is where my mistake(s) began. I've been told by my wife that the "chicken" in the name "chicken sandwich" could be considered something between "massively deceptive" and "false advertising". It really didn't taste all that great (after eating only the healthiest of foods for well over a year, I guess my body was unprepared for the low quality food of a "2 for $5" deal at Burger King for breakfast. The chemo I'm on technically poisons all of the cells in my body while trying to focus primarily on the brain tumour cells. Nicole explained to me that the 2 OCS's could be considered a "poison for my body that make no differentiation between tumour and regular cells". My second mistake turned out to be keeping my second (uneaten) OCS in my backpack in the office (which was quite warm on this 30 degree day), very unrefrigerated. Mid-afternoon I went into my backpack for my cell phone charger only to find my uneaten OCS! To throw it out would have been a waste (ignoring all principles of "sunk cost" I learned in Economics 101), and did the only logical thing... and ate it. Nicole then had to explain to me that "mayonnaise" is made out of eggs which don't tend to keep well in warm climates over long periods of time, and that our bodies don't tend to react well to having this (along with "fake chicken") in our stomaches while already suffering the effects of being on chemotherapy. This is probably why I found myself with my head in a pail around 8pm this past Thursday. I have promised my loving wife that I will never again eat an Original (or in fact ANY) Chicken Sandwich from Burger King, and that furthermore I will stick to our "rules" in the aim of keeping me alive. Once again... my apologies love, and thanks for looking after & out-for me :)
Another update... WE HAVE A CAR!!! Those of you who don't talk to us regularly might not know we've been sans car for quite a while. Way back in the fall of 2010 my sweet sweet Hyundai Tiburon (Tim would surely agree) was falling apart. It would have been an issue had I remained healthy and in need of a car. As luck would have it, I was diagnosed with a terminal illness! That and the following seizures meant I would have no need for a car! It's what we call a "silver lining" (or what the casual reader might call a "twisted sense of humour"). Meanwhile Nicole managed to see her Honda Accord flooded and written off in the months prior to all of this. He parents (also known as my "in-laws"), who happen to be wonderful fantastical people!, lent her their Chrysler Concorde (a vehicle we liked to call "the boat"... I assume because of its submersible nature?) as they had just upgraded to a life of luxury in their new Lincoln MKZ. The Concorde would remain in our possession until a lady driving down corydon decided the car was far to undamaged and thus drove her car into the side of it when Nicole was on her way to pick me up from work, causing around $4,000 worth of damage to the car. This meant we were once again out of a vehicle. I'll gloss over the fun time of MPI deciding the car was a write-off, then changing their mind and wanting us to fix it for a lower cost, and then changing their mind and paying out the value of the damage on the car. Nicole's parents with their ESP decided to upgrade their truck in advance of this event. This meant that when the Concorde (that belonged to Nicole's parents) was written-off they were attempting to sell their Ford F150 Pickup Truck. Given that they are ridiculously and inexplicably nice to us, they lent us their truck while we searched for a new vehicle. One would question them on such a decision given our track record with vehicles and keeping them in an un-written-off state.
I could write a whole blog entry on the "fun" process of trying to buy a used car, and perhaps I will soon enough, but it is enough for me to say that we have finally found one from a reasonable person for a decent price, and so for the first time in well over a year Nicole and I are driving our very own car! Provided I can stop having my damn seizures I'll be able to drive it on the road!!! Nicole was kind enough to supervise me while I took it for a spin around a parking lot... it is a NICE car!!! What kind you ask? Again with the questions!?! It's a 2008 Ford Fusion. What colour? Do you not know my wife? It's green (of course). I should put a disclaimer that it's not as though Nicole is some unreasonable person who restricts my freedoms by keeping me from the joys of life, such as driving a new (preowned) vehicle on the road. Such is a decision I have made for a few reasons.
#1) I'm not spending all of my hard work & energy (and your taxpayer dollars... thank you Pharmacare & Today's NDP!) fighting terminal brain cancer, just to have a seizure while driving and get killed in a terrible automobile accident.
#2) Nicole is always with me, and so the choice between someone prone to seizures and someone who has never had one, the choice is clear.
#3) I really don't want to kill anyone else on the road, or even some poor innocent bunny. Just because it can't perceive the dangers of pavement that is decorated with those white and yellow lines, and my brain has neurones firing off in an abnormal and frequent fashion does not mean it deserves to die.
So both Nicole and I would love it if I could still drive, however we both realize the practical and moral obligations as good citizens.
--
Tom
So most of you probably thought I'd dropped dead long ago, but guess what??? I'M STILL HERE!!! Turns out I'm just lazy! That and life seems to still be keeping me busy (what with all the taking of the pills and all). I'm thirsty, so I'm going to get myself a glass of cold water... BRB! {I've been told by "the youth" that "BRB" is a clever abbreviation for the phrase "be right back". Someone else told me it was the ISO 3166-1 three-letter (alpha-3) code for Barbados, but they were a computer nerd and thus not to be trusted in knowing modern slang}.
Ahhhh... Very nice. So where were we? Oh right... Acronyms, lol... jk ;)
Always good to start with the medical updates right? Am I still alive? I think by writing this very sentence I have indirectly answered your question. How am I doing? Wow you ask a lot of questions! Doing quite well actually. I'd complain about the chemo and how it has made me feel ill over these last few days, but the fact that I'm here and actually able to complain about it... reminds me that I really shouldn't complain about it. I was nauseous and ill this past round of chemo (with today being day 5 of 5... yay!), however my wife/doctor/nurse/bestfriend/chauffeur/consultant/nutritionist/green-loving-significant-other thinks that may have had something [more] to do with me giving myself food poisoning. She might be on to something there. Nicole and I have come up with some "rules" which are really a list of things to do in order to "stay alive". Among these are to:
i) always take my pills
ii) always take my pills on time
iii) always eat PROPER meals on time (with pills where appropriate)
iv) never leave the apartment in the morning without having fulfilled the above three points
Being on day #2 of chemo I managed to break those rules. I did take my Ondansetron (anti-nausea pills), as well as my Temozolomide (chemo meds), however in running late for work, I simply grabbed my "other" pills (Dexamethasone, Phenytoin, Valproic acid, and Ranitidine) and hit the road. For me "hit the road" means crossing the street to the good ol' #50513 Bus Stop to wait for my #55 or #59 to take me to work. Don't know if I told y'all, but I'm pretty much the king of the Winnipeg Transit System. I'm so good I rarely get lost getting to/from work these days. I got to take the Rapid Transit the other day! Turns out it's just a road that only busses go on. It's not that long, and I don't really see the point of it all. Is it cool? I guess. Is it $138 million cool? I'm not so sure. But I digress...
My rush to leave in the morning meant I missed the last bus that would get me to work on time (for 9:00 am). My next best alternative was to use my Winnipeg Transit App Combo Pack (which is nothing more than three or four free or really cheap apps I downloaded for my iPhone to calculate routes, find stops, and see when busses will be arriving). My best alternative route to work had me dropped off in front of a Burger King at Osborne Junction. I learned that "Osborne Junction" is really just another name for "Confusion Corner" adding to my confusion about that particular intersection. I saw an ad on the BK window that read "TWO ORIGINAL CHICKEN SANDWICHES $5!" and thought... hells ya!
This is where my mistake(s) began. I've been told by my wife that the "chicken" in the name "chicken sandwich" could be considered something between "massively deceptive" and "false advertising". It really didn't taste all that great (after eating only the healthiest of foods for well over a year, I guess my body was unprepared for the low quality food of a "2 for $5" deal at Burger King for breakfast. The chemo I'm on technically poisons all of the cells in my body while trying to focus primarily on the brain tumour cells. Nicole explained to me that the 2 OCS's could be considered a "poison for my body that make no differentiation between tumour and regular cells". My second mistake turned out to be keeping my second (uneaten) OCS in my backpack in the office (which was quite warm on this 30 degree day), very unrefrigerated. Mid-afternoon I went into my backpack for my cell phone charger only to find my uneaten OCS! To throw it out would have been a waste (ignoring all principles of "sunk cost" I learned in Economics 101), and did the only logical thing... and ate it. Nicole then had to explain to me that "mayonnaise" is made out of eggs which don't tend to keep well in warm climates over long periods of time, and that our bodies don't tend to react well to having this (along with "fake chicken") in our stomaches while already suffering the effects of being on chemotherapy. This is probably why I found myself with my head in a pail around 8pm this past Thursday. I have promised my loving wife that I will never again eat an Original (or in fact ANY) Chicken Sandwich from Burger King, and that furthermore I will stick to our "rules" in the aim of keeping me alive. Once again... my apologies love, and thanks for looking after & out-for me :)
Another update... WE HAVE A CAR!!! Those of you who don't talk to us regularly might not know we've been sans car for quite a while. Way back in the fall of 2010 my sweet sweet Hyundai Tiburon (Tim would surely agree) was falling apart. It would have been an issue had I remained healthy and in need of a car. As luck would have it, I was diagnosed with a terminal illness! That and the following seizures meant I would have no need for a car! It's what we call a "silver lining" (or what the casual reader might call a "twisted sense of humour"). Meanwhile Nicole managed to see her Honda Accord flooded and written off in the months prior to all of this. He parents (also known as my "in-laws"), who happen to be wonderful fantastical people!, lent her their Chrysler Concorde (a vehicle we liked to call "the boat"... I assume because of its submersible nature?) as they had just upgraded to a life of luxury in their new Lincoln MKZ. The Concorde would remain in our possession until a lady driving down corydon decided the car was far to undamaged and thus drove her car into the side of it when Nicole was on her way to pick me up from work, causing around $4,000 worth of damage to the car. This meant we were once again out of a vehicle. I'll gloss over the fun time of MPI deciding the car was a write-off, then changing their mind and wanting us to fix it for a lower cost, and then changing their mind and paying out the value of the damage on the car. Nicole's parents with their ESP decided to upgrade their truck in advance of this event. This meant that when the Concorde (that belonged to Nicole's parents) was written-off they were attempting to sell their Ford F150 Pickup Truck. Given that they are ridiculously and inexplicably nice to us, they lent us their truck while we searched for a new vehicle. One would question them on such a decision given our track record with vehicles and keeping them in an un-written-off state.
I could write a whole blog entry on the "fun" process of trying to buy a used car, and perhaps I will soon enough, but it is enough for me to say that we have finally found one from a reasonable person for a decent price, and so for the first time in well over a year Nicole and I are driving our very own car! Provided I can stop having my damn seizures I'll be able to drive it on the road!!! Nicole was kind enough to supervise me while I took it for a spin around a parking lot... it is a NICE car!!! What kind you ask? Again with the questions!?! It's a 2008 Ford Fusion. What colour? Do you not know my wife? It's green (of course). I should put a disclaimer that it's not as though Nicole is some unreasonable person who restricts my freedoms by keeping me from the joys of life, such as driving a new (preowned) vehicle on the road. Such is a decision I have made for a few reasons.
#1) I'm not spending all of my hard work & energy (and your taxpayer dollars... thank you Pharmacare & Today's NDP!) fighting terminal brain cancer, just to have a seizure while driving and get killed in a terrible automobile accident.
#2) Nicole is always with me, and so the choice between someone prone to seizures and someone who has never had one, the choice is clear.
#3) I really don't want to kill anyone else on the road, or even some poor innocent bunny. Just because it can't perceive the dangers of pavement that is decorated with those white and yellow lines, and my brain has neurones firing off in an abnormal and frequent fashion does not mean it deserves to die.
So both Nicole and I would love it if I could still drive, however we both realize the practical and moral obligations as good citizens.
Friday, May 4, 2012
MRI Results
MRI scan showed no growth. This is not bad news. Not bad news = good news. Good news = happy Tom. See? --> :)
Saturday, April 14, 2012
I still write a blog?
Last published on February 17th eh? That seems like a while ago. Just in case you were a regular reader and thought the lack of posting meant I was dead, good news... I'M NOT!!! :)
So what caused my disappearance from the blogoshpere? Life! You see in December of 2010 I was essentially told I had a year to live (if that) and so it made little sense to put in a full 9-5 trying to earning a living just to pay the bills. What made more sense was saying "Why not do whatever the heck I want for the next 12 months eh?" So I got married to the girl I love and we went on a few trips (of varied success), I took a train out to beautiful BC, crossed the Capilano Suspension Bridge (despite my massive fear of heights). Went to the top of the Seattle Space Needle, shopped for some new clothes & shoes, and tempted a Mexican resort known for exploding! Then December 2011 came. I was told I was doing quite well and that the new "plan" was to continue on the current chemotherapy treatments and reassess the situation in one year from that point. At that point you ask yourself "Ok, so now that I've taken a year off from "life" just doing whatever, what do I do now?" The answer for me might seem odd to some, but I just wanted to get back to the 9-5. I always enjoyed work anyways, and the bills still needed to be paid. In addition I felt like a return to a "normal" life (or something close to it) was the best way to be happy and maybe live as though I was going to for quite some time (beyond December 2011). Here it is April 2012 and I'm like the Energizer Bunny®!
The plan medically is the same as always "Keep going and see how things turn out" with a "fingers crossed" undertone. My next MRI is April 23rd, with results to come early May. As per always that means stress and anxiety for the wife and I until then, and though you might think one would get used to that sort of thing by now, somehow you never truly do.
On a life story note, Nicole & I have decided to get the heck out of our current apartment complex (c/w noisy neighbours, dimly lit halls, poor air circulation, and expensive laundry machines a ways down the hall) for a new complex featuring an elevator, fresh air circulation, brightly lit hallways, in-suite laundry, and best of all, the complex is inhabited over 65% by senior citizens... SO I'LL FIT RIGHT IN!!! I can meet with George from down the hall and swap stories about the pharmacy technicians, healthy eating tips, and "those damned kids these days". It should be fun!
Once we are moved in and have the internet all transferred over I'll try to post a quick update to say "we're in and still doing adequately well!" Till then, Cheers ALL!!!
--
Tom
So what caused my disappearance from the blogoshpere? Life! You see in December of 2010 I was essentially told I had a year to live (if that) and so it made little sense to put in a full 9-5 trying to earning a living just to pay the bills. What made more sense was saying "Why not do whatever the heck I want for the next 12 months eh?" So I got married to the girl I love and we went on a few trips (of varied success), I took a train out to beautiful BC, crossed the Capilano Suspension Bridge (despite my massive fear of heights). Went to the top of the Seattle Space Needle, shopped for some new clothes & shoes, and tempted a Mexican resort known for exploding! Then December 2011 came. I was told I was doing quite well and that the new "plan" was to continue on the current chemotherapy treatments and reassess the situation in one year from that point. At that point you ask yourself "Ok, so now that I've taken a year off from "life" just doing whatever, what do I do now?" The answer for me might seem odd to some, but I just wanted to get back to the 9-5. I always enjoyed work anyways, and the bills still needed to be paid. In addition I felt like a return to a "normal" life (or something close to it) was the best way to be happy and maybe live as though I was going to for quite some time (beyond December 2011). Here it is April 2012 and I'm like the Energizer Bunny®!
The plan medically is the same as always "Keep going and see how things turn out" with a "fingers crossed" undertone. My next MRI is April 23rd, with results to come early May. As per always that means stress and anxiety for the wife and I until then, and though you might think one would get used to that sort of thing by now, somehow you never truly do.
On a life story note, Nicole & I have decided to get the heck out of our current apartment complex (c/w noisy neighbours, dimly lit halls, poor air circulation, and expensive laundry machines a ways down the hall) for a new complex featuring an elevator, fresh air circulation, brightly lit hallways, in-suite laundry, and best of all, the complex is inhabited over 65% by senior citizens... SO I'LL FIT RIGHT IN!!! I can meet with George from down the hall and swap stories about the pharmacy technicians, healthy eating tips, and "those damned kids these days". It should be fun!
Once we are moved in and have the internet all transferred over I'll try to post a quick update to say "we're in and still doing adequately well!" Till then, Cheers ALL!!!
--
Tom
Friday, February 17, 2012
Q&A #2
A short while back Nicole, my lovely wife, created a sort of FAQ for those of you who might have wanted to ask a question of me, but were too afraid to do so (or perhaps simply didn't feel comfortable doing so). This is / was quite understandable and the feedback we got from people was quite positive, so I thought I'd take it upon myself to create a second such document to answer some of the questions I still get asked since...
#1) Tom, I've noticed you have an amazing physical appearance and what can only be described as rugged good looks, is this the result of the brain tumour?
No, while I can see why you might think this, my handsome appearance is a result of the same DNA and genetic structure that likely was part of the reason for my developing GBM in the first place. Good question though!
#2) Tom, does your brain tumour give you any super powers?
Again, I'm afraid the answer is no, and again I can see why you'd be confused. I just wear the cape because it suits me.
#3) Hey Tom, I was wondering, if you had to choose between a delicious piece of pizza or having GBM, which would you choose?
This one is easy. I'd pick the pizza. The pizza is much less likely to kill me. I might get some heartburn, but they have pills to treat that which are much more effective than my chemotherapy is on my tumour.
#4) Oh, Tom! I didn't see you standing there. Hey, while you're here, would you mind telling me how you deal with the everyday stress of living with a terminal illness?
If I had to use one word it would be "hope". If I had to use three with a hyphen, they would be "Nicole O'Leary-Sontag". She helps get me through each and every day. This means she must bear the burden of more stress than any other human on Earth (in my humble opinion), but together we forge ahead in our journey.
#5) If you had to guess what the 5th question someone would ask you in a list such as this, what would it be?
Probably "If you had to guess what the 5th question someone would ask you in a list such as this, what would it be?"
#7) Is this question an inside joke that only Nicole will get?
Yes. Why? Everything Nicole references is in 7's. I have just inadvertently turned the inside joke into an outside joke by explaining why it should have been funny to her. Should an outside joke just be called a "joke"? Please answer in the form of a blog entry which you update infrequently and constantly feel guilty about not making more regular posts.
#8) Heads or tails?
You're not even holding a coin. Even if you were, how would I know what it had landed on? Could I trust you? How would we find a way to figure all of this out in a reasonable amount of time? Why were we flipping a coin in the first place? This is stupid.
#9) What are your plans for tomorrow?
This depends on when you read this. February 18th (which is tomorrow for me as I write this) I plan to scout out a new countertop dishwasher to replace the one that broke down on Nicole & I, while partying like it is 1999. We will also spontaneously dance... perhaps in a Sobey's. We probably need more milk.
CHEERS!!!
Post-Script: I am far to tired an uninterested in proof-reading the above. Please do so for me and post any errors in comment form. I will then go back and amend the document as necessary. It's called outsourcing, all of the cool bloggers are doing it.
#1) Tom, I've noticed you have an amazing physical appearance and what can only be described as rugged good looks, is this the result of the brain tumour?
No, while I can see why you might think this, my handsome appearance is a result of the same DNA and genetic structure that likely was part of the reason for my developing GBM in the first place. Good question though!
#2) Tom, does your brain tumour give you any super powers?
Again, I'm afraid the answer is no, and again I can see why you'd be confused. I just wear the cape because it suits me.
#3) Hey Tom, I was wondering, if you had to choose between a delicious piece of pizza or having GBM, which would you choose?
This one is easy. I'd pick the pizza. The pizza is much less likely to kill me. I might get some heartburn, but they have pills to treat that which are much more effective than my chemotherapy is on my tumour.
#4) Oh, Tom! I didn't see you standing there. Hey, while you're here, would you mind telling me how you deal with the everyday stress of living with a terminal illness?
If I had to use one word it would be "hope". If I had to use three with a hyphen, they would be "Nicole O'Leary-Sontag". She helps get me through each and every day. This means she must bear the burden of more stress than any other human on Earth (in my humble opinion), but together we forge ahead in our journey.
#5) If you had to guess what the 5th question someone would ask you in a list such as this, what would it be?
Probably "If you had to guess what the 5th question someone would ask you in a list such as this, what would it be?"
#6) So how are things going with you and your head lately?
Well, my head is doing quite well. My face is shedding like a Great Pyrenees in the spring. This is still due to the Acutane which may or may not be helping the chemotherapy in fighting off my tumour cells. Given the choice of a shedding face for the chance something might happen to extend my life, or a non-shedding face and a potentially shorter life... I go with my current flaky situation. As for my hair, it is regularly cut by the best hairdresser in the world (or at least Winnipeg). Her name is Monika and she is awesome. Thank you so much Monika for all of the many hair cuts over the past many years (and hopefully many years to come). But you were probably asking about the brain/tumour part eh? Well, I have not had a single headache for as long as I can remember. I have not experienced any nausea. The worst that has happened recently was a seizure earlier this week. After a rough couple of days finishing the chemo (with the after effects of the seizure tacked on) the earlier part of this week wasn't fun. But today I was feeling top notch as Nicole and I hit the town, and I ordered a pizza pop the size of a city bus. There will be a picture coming to a Facebook page near you. Maybe I'll even get it up on here somehow. Right now however, it is 1:23 in the morning and I must be up at 8:00 to take my morning pills.
#7) Is this question an inside joke that only Nicole will get?
Yes. Why? Everything Nicole references is in 7's. I have just inadvertently turned the inside joke into an outside joke by explaining why it should have been funny to her. Should an outside joke just be called a "joke"? Please answer in the form of a blog entry which you update infrequently and constantly feel guilty about not making more regular posts.
#8) Heads or tails?
You're not even holding a coin. Even if you were, how would I know what it had landed on? Could I trust you? How would we find a way to figure all of this out in a reasonable amount of time? Why were we flipping a coin in the first place? This is stupid.
#9) What are your plans for tomorrow?
This depends on when you read this. February 18th (which is tomorrow for me as I write this) I plan to scout out a new countertop dishwasher to replace the one that broke down on Nicole & I, while partying like it is 1999. We will also spontaneously dance... perhaps in a Sobey's. We probably need more milk.
CHEERS!!!
Post-Script: I am far to tired an uninterested in proof-reading the above. Please do so for me and post any errors in comment form. I will then go back and amend the document as necessary. It's called outsourcing, all of the cool bloggers are doing it.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
I have a new job! WOW!
Ok, I really shouldn't deserve much (if any) praise. I'm not working at either job full time, and neither are of the physical nature.
At my new job I kind of do a little bit of everything and must say I absolutely love it! The people I work with (and for) are all super friendly and have accommodated all of my "special needs". I have this amazing wife (who I might have mentioned before) named Nicole who is beyond words. She wakes up early each morning just to drive me in to work, dealing with the wonderful drivers we have on our Winnipeg roads. It is most amazing that we haven't been killed yet. I always thought my terminal brain cancer was my biggest threat, turns out it's either the lady turning the wrong way down a one way (onto Pioneer from Main street), or the soccer Mom who turned the yield from Donald onto McMillan at confusion corner into a TWO lane merge. Needless to say Nicole and I were both surprised to see a minivan suddenly appear beside us from nowhere. Alas, after dealing with this rush hour traffic to get me to the office, she then heads back home in the same anarchy that is the morning traffic rush to return home to work on her distance education courses (which she does via distance ed. so that she can be my very easy-on-the-eyes chauffeur). Amidst her studies she cleans the apartment and gets the supper meal ready. She then fights the afternoon rush to come to pick me up and get me back to the sanctity that is our two bedroom apartment.
Our lives are returning to what one might describe as "normal" if one were to ignore the 102 ways in which our lives are nowhere near normal. Since I don't say it enough in person, I will take this moment to say to you Nicole:
Nicole got me the GREATEST GIFTS EVER! Not just in terms of what they were, but also in terms of how she arranged them.
At my new job I kind of do a little bit of everything and must say I absolutely love it! The people I work with (and for) are all super friendly and have accommodated all of my "special needs". I have this amazing wife (who I might have mentioned before) named Nicole who is beyond words. She wakes up early each morning just to drive me in to work, dealing with the wonderful drivers we have on our Winnipeg roads. It is most amazing that we haven't been killed yet. I always thought my terminal brain cancer was my biggest threat, turns out it's either the lady turning the wrong way down a one way (onto Pioneer from Main street), or the soccer Mom who turned the yield from Donald onto McMillan at confusion corner into a TWO lane merge. Needless to say Nicole and I were both surprised to see a minivan suddenly appear beside us from nowhere. Alas, after dealing with this rush hour traffic to get me to the office, she then heads back home in the same anarchy that is the morning traffic rush to return home to work on her distance education courses (which she does via distance ed. so that she can be my very easy-on-the-eyes chauffeur). Amidst her studies she cleans the apartment and gets the supper meal ready. She then fights the afternoon rush to come to pick me up and get me back to the sanctity that is our two bedroom apartment.
Our lives are returning to what one might describe as "normal" if one were to ignore the 102 ways in which our lives are nowhere near normal. Since I don't say it enough in person, I will take this moment to say to you Nicole:
"You are simply amazing! I love you more than there are grains of sand on every beach (an inside joke referring to a creepy youtube video she made me watch). You have had to deal with the absolute worst that life could ever throw at anyone. I know when you started dating an old man like me you would have figured I'd develop health problems before you, however neither one of us ever saw any of this coming. I've lost some of my hair and the ability to hold a glass of water steadily in my left hand (sorry for burning the both of us with that freshly poured coffee the other day by the way), but I assure you I have not lost any of my love for you. I'd say you're my "other half" as you so often say to me, however I'd think allotting a mere 50% to you would be unfair. You are my other 99%. I'm the part those wall street protesters were/are so mad about. I am the 1%! Had we not met in that silly ol' Psych lab way back in the day, I'd probably be dead (A), but B) I'd have been robbed of the great times we've had together ever since we started going out on January 31st, 2008. A few more hours and we'll get to say we've been "going steady" (as the cool kids say) for four whole years! I know to most people this sounds like a small number, but I also know that for us small numbers are nothing to trivialize. Speaking of fours, we only have four months to go until we can say we've been married for a full year! None too shabby if you ask me. Since I'm starting to ramble I'll close off by saying you have no idea how grateful I am for everything you do for me and how happy you make me. I hope that my terrible jokes and questionable puns are enough to bring some joy to your life, because you deserve that... and so much more. I love you Nicole <3"Otherwise what can I say? Medically all is going well. I'm suffering from dry skin especially on my face these days, but again... considering what the list of side effects from my drugs could be, I'll take the flaky face with a painful smile (due to the cracked lips) and be pleased I am even alive to have dry skin to complain about. My next MRI is April 23rd (which I just found out by asking Nicole... as she knows everything at all times), so until then it's just blood work, pills, more pills, and more blood work. My last blood work was a lot of fun. Three holes in total with a lot of what I call "fishing" (where the needle is moved in/out/back/forth to try to find the blood flow... GOOD TIMES!!!). I've been working mostly at my new job these days (which I love!), however I do miss the MCP folk. I've tried to put in a few hours where I can. Thanks to my family for their birthday gifts/cards/wishes! OH!!! AND...
Nicole got me the GREATEST GIFTS EVER! Not just in terms of what they were, but also in terms of how she arranged them.
- She managed to get me an AWESOME Dr. Who shirt that I know Andrea would approve of. Très cool!
- She actually managed to simultaneously order me the TSN Jets channel AND get our overall bill reduced. Jets games AND save money? Heck ya!
- I got a promise of 3 Dr. Who episodes per night any time with the payment of kisses (before and after each episode). That is the equivalent of telling a Star Wars nerd that he can watch the whole trilogy back-to-back-to-back ANYTIME! HECK YA! For those of you who do not understand let me try another perspective. That would be like the average wife telling her husband he could watch a full afternoon of sports without protest.
- She will be my personal shopping assistant at Moores to pick me out "proper" clothes for my new "proper" job.
- She convinced me to get an iPhone. Yes I now have the new iPhone 4s. Yes, it is wicked cool! I have wanted it for quite some time now, however I considered it an unnecessary expense given that I already had a Blackberry, and couldn't justify spending anything on what was surely just a "waste of money". People have been overly generous with me in many respects over the past year, but having received financial support from family & friends gave me the mentality that I should live well within my means and not waste a cent. Nicole rightly pointed out that those same people who supported me likely did so wanting me to get the most enjoyment out of life that I could. She helped me see it would be surely stupid being frustrated with my Blackberry when I might well not even live to see the end of my 3-year phone contract. It was the "nudge" I needed and we got me all signed up. Thank you Nicole ;)
I should also throw out a couple more big "thank-you's". Firstly to Nicole's Dad Steve, who managed to score both Nicole and I tickets to the Feb 23rd Jets game versus the Lightening - THANKS!!! Secondly, to Doug & Kerri and who got Nicole and I tickets to Disney's Beauty And The Beast playing at the Centennial Concert Hall this coming weekend - THANKS!!! And of course thanks to Jen & Randy for their shwag :)
I had an awesome birthday / birthday-week! I'm writing this update from a place called Elkhorn Resort in Riding Mountain National Park, a scant 4 hour drive from home (if you count the pitstop for lunch and a Tim's). Nicole and I are out here until Tuesday to escape life and hopefully enjoy some snowshoeing, skating, and NOT WORKING or CLEANING AN APARTMENT. Sadly Nicole has had to bring her school work with her to finish up some assignments, which has allowed me time to write this lengthy blog while she slaves away on the couch behind me. It being midnight I think we should both call it a day and maybe enjoy ourselves tomorrow.
CHEERS EVERYBODY!!!
--
Tom
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
I was going to blog... for real!
Dear world of my blog readers (a very small percentage of the world),
I was going to "blog it up" good tonight, but alas I was sucked into a void called the "Internets", or more specifically the "Facebooks". This "Facebooks" I speak of is actually located in the very heart of the "Internets". As both are specifically designed to suck time out of your day, this means my time was sucked at an exponential rate. I blinked and an hour had passed (though apparently I had made upwards of 10 posts and sent a couple of messages). I do not regret it (as I must continue to my policy of "not regretting anything in my life... ever"). My life has gone great, and I cannot argue with where it has placed me now! I mean aside from the whole "terminal cancer" thing of course. So a long and detailed writing will have to wait for a day when I am not facing my self-imposed and rarely met deadline of 12:00 MIDNIGHT for a bed-time. Odds are I will not be able to brush my teeth, inject myself with Dalteparin Sodium, make up my pills for tomorrow, and get changed into my PJ's in less than three minutes. So Hope you all have a good night. I shall have to post the story of the fan on the roof & various other neighbourly noises (including "Screaming baby in 207" & "The best of East Indian Late Night from 203"). Tonight was good. It included dinner & a show with the O'Leary folks. Specifically the Rankin Family at the McPhillips Street Station Casino. Music was great, venue was questionable at best. Somehow though, if you are with the right people, where you are matters not. Well, it is now midnight and I've not done anything on my list. Mark January 17th as a fail in my bedtime challenge book.
NOTE TO SELF: Buy a blank notebook & label "Tom's Bedtime Challenge Book".
GOODNIGHT ALL!
--
Tom
PS: Cheers!
I was going to "blog it up" good tonight, but alas I was sucked into a void called the "Internets", or more specifically the "Facebooks". This "Facebooks" I speak of is actually located in the very heart of the "Internets". As both are specifically designed to suck time out of your day, this means my time was sucked at an exponential rate. I blinked and an hour had passed (though apparently I had made upwards of 10 posts and sent a couple of messages). I do not regret it (as I must continue to my policy of "not regretting anything in my life... ever"). My life has gone great, and I cannot argue with where it has placed me now! I mean aside from the whole "terminal cancer" thing of course. So a long and detailed writing will have to wait for a day when I am not facing my self-imposed and rarely met deadline of 12:00 MIDNIGHT for a bed-time. Odds are I will not be able to brush my teeth, inject myself with Dalteparin Sodium, make up my pills for tomorrow, and get changed into my PJ's in less than three minutes. So Hope you all have a good night. I shall have to post the story of the fan on the roof & various other neighbourly noises (including "Screaming baby in 207" & "The best of East Indian Late Night from 203"). Tonight was good. It included dinner & a show with the O'Leary folks. Specifically the Rankin Family at the McPhillips Street Station Casino. Music was great, venue was questionable at best. Somehow though, if you are with the right people, where you are matters not. Well, it is now midnight and I've not done anything on my list. Mark January 17th as a fail in my bedtime challenge book.
NOTE TO SELF: Buy a blank notebook & label "Tom's Bedtime Challenge Book".
GOODNIGHT ALL!
--
Tom
PS: Cheers!
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