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Welcome! |
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| This web
site is very much a work in progress as time permits. I hope
you find a few of the postings worth reading. I am not posting any
material here specific to my work with the exceptions of my bio and the summary of my participation in
various conferences and standards meetings.
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I will be discussing
things related to my work over at my work blog
which I try to update regularly. This site has morphed over
time into a journal of the
things going on in my life. I have been slowly adding more content as
time permits. Feel free to have a look around and also feel free to
send
me an e-mail if you have any comments or suggestions. In October 2007 I
was diagnosed with colon cancer so it will come as no surprise that
several of the entries below document my experiences as I go through
the treatment cycle for that.
Older entries, that previously appeared on the
front page of this site have been archived into the
Archived entries section.
Please feel free to leave a message in the Guest
Book.
No Sidebar?
If you do not see a frame on the left hand side of this page with a
selection
of menu choices you may have come here via a search engine or some
other
means that did not cause the page to load correctly. If so, click
here
to re-load this page with the sidebar displayed correctly.
Patents
I discovered by accident today (I promise I was not doing a "vanity search") that Google now offers a way to search issued US patents.
Having found the site, I will admit that I keyed in my first and last
names and it gave me back a ton of hits. I then remembered that patents
carry my full name so I added my middle name to the search and was
impressed to see that it found almost all of my issued US patents (I
think I have about 77 now). I also discovered that some of my issued
patents have my name spelled wrong (Kevin instead of Kelvin) so a few
don't show up in the search on my actual name!
If you are curious, you can find my patents, courtessy of Google, here and here.
In case you are wondering (having looked at my search results), no, I
did not invent the system for organ placement during surgery!).
Anyway, if you have patents yourself or are just curious to see what you can discover I recommend doing a few searches.
Graduation, Summer and More Tests!
I have been so busy at work and at home that a month has flown by,
it seems, in the blink of an eye, since my last post. School here in
Texas is now out for the Summer. Robyn (who turned 11 in May) is no
longer in Elementary School. When school goes back in late August she
will be in Middle School. The Elementary school held a graduation
ceremony for all the fifth graders which, while cute, to my mind is a
bit over the top. Jack meanwhile will be in second grade when
school goes back.Where does the time go?
So now that school is out, I am wondering once again if I am going
to be able to work from home as much as I usually do now that my work
environment has become very LOUD!! I have turned on parental
control on the playroom computer which forces them to unplug for at
least part of the day. We are instigating a rule for the Summer that a
certain amount of time must be spent outdoors. We also have the kids
signed up for a few camps that will hopefully keep them distracted (and
out of the house) for at least part of the time.
On the medical front, last week I had my latest scheduled round of
blood tests. As far as they can tell, everything continues to look
normal.
It's already in the mid to high nineties Fahrenheit here, it's going to be a long, hot Summer!
Best wishes to all
My "End of Chemo" Anniversary
I realised yesterday that this week is exactly one year on from my
last chemotherapy treatment (May 7th 2008). While I am still feeling
some of the side effects of chemo (neuropathy and fatigue mainly) I am
still alive to play with my wife and kids and enjoy spending time with
my friends, family and colleagues. For that I am very grateful.
Test results
When I first began posting here about my cancer diagnosis back in
October of 2007 I adopted a policy of being very open about my
"adventure" in the hope that I might be able to provide some comfort
and information to others embarking on a similar journey. By far the
highest proportion of visitors to my web site get here as a direct
result of colon cancer or chemotherapy related searches. I have made a
lot of new friends along the way, most of whom I have never met in
person, and I continue to wish them all the best for successful
outcomes in their respective battles with this evil disease. I am very
humbled by the number of people that have written to me or posted a
message into the Guest Book telling me
about their battle with cancer and thanking me for sharing my
information which helped them better understand that they were not
alone in terms of symptoms, side effects of treatment etc.
Thankfully my tests continue to show that I am (as far as can be
determined using current technology) cancer free. However, my journey
is far from over and I am continuing to run into additional issues that
were most likely caused by the FOLFOX chemotherapy that I underwent
between December 2007 and May 2008. Chemo has become a lot more
effective over the years but for all the good it does it definitely
comes at a price, but as my wife constantly reminds me, I am still
alive to gripe about it! Most recently, as I mentioned in my
prior posting, I have been suffering some fairly bad fatigue. A week
ago I went to see the oncologist and they ran a set of tests on me. All
of my basic blood work (white count, platelets, haemoglobin) came back
fine and there was no sign of any issues with my Thyroid. The only test
that seemed at all off was my Testosterone level which was at the low
end of normal ("is that chemo or my age?" I ask myself!!). Anyway, the
oncologist has decided to put me on a regimen of monthly testosterone
shots for a while to see if that helps. I had my first shot last week
and it may be my imagination but I already seem to have a bit more
energy!
Anyway that's it for now. Thanks as always for all the messages of
concern. It's great to know I have such a great set of people cheering
me on.
Fatigue
Just recently I have been suffering fairly chronic fatigue. I start the day with plenty of energy but by about 4pm I'm ready for a nap. This is not like me at all. My legs have also been somewhat restless again, which if you remember how my journey began back in October 2007 is a bit scary. My next scheduled round of tests is not until June but (hopefully using an excess of caution) I have scheduled an appointment with the oncologist for Monday morning to get checked out. The fatigue seems to have been getting slowly worse each day for about the last two weeks and I want to make sure nothing unusual is going on. Suffice to say I'm a bit nervous.I'll keep you all posted as soon as I have some results.
World Autism Awareness Day
Today is World Autism Awareness day.
This is a subject near and dear to my heart as my son Jack is on the
Autism "spectrum" and has been diagnosed with Aspergers and ADHD among
other things. We have other family members that are also dealing with
autism on a daily basis. Whether you are a parent of an autistic child
or a person dealing with the austism spectrum disorder (ASD) on a
personal level, today is a day on which we can show our support for
each other.
Entries from 2008 are now in the Archive
I did a little Spring cleaning of the web page today. All entries from 2008 have now been moved into the Archive. Please let me know if you run into any broken links or other problems.
Spring is here in Texas
I can't believe that a month has flown by since I last posted here.
Things have been very busy both at work and at home. For the kids, the
outdoor soccer season is again underway. I am the coach of my son's
team and the assistant coach of my daughter's team. This means I am
involved in three practices a week and they each have games every
Saturday now.
Although Spring does not officially start for a few more days (March
20th), as I type this it is close to 80F outside and the Red Buds are
in full bloom. This week is Spring Break for the kids. Robyn is at a
Girl Scouts camp all week and Jack is enjoying a series of extended
play dates with some of his friends. I have a lot of work to get done
(which is bad planning on my part) so I am hiding in my home office a
lot, with the door shut! Last week we finally got some much
needed rain as a cold front arrived and stayed for a few days. I think
we are still below where we need to be and if we don't get some good
storms during the Spring we could be in for a very hot Summer. As is
typical around these parts at this time of the year, the week before
the cold front hit, the temperature was in the 90s F. Several of my
colleagues were in town that week to attend the SHARE
conference which was held in Austin for the first time. I'm glad they
got to enjoy some nice weather while they were here and in these times
of reduced travel, it was great to see them.
This past Sunday, we went to see the Broadway touring production of
"Spamalot" here in Austin. It was excellent. Richard Chamberlain was
great as King Arthur and it's hard to believe that he is now 75 years
of age. This coming Saturday we have tickets to see Elton John and
Billy Joel live in concert. I have seen them together before and am
hoping for another great show. We don't get out that often so having
two great events on back to back weekends is a real treat!
One of the reasons I have been posting here a bit less is that I have been trying to give more real time status updates on both Facebook and Twitter.
I have to say though that the recent changes made to the Facebook web
page (I think it's a real mess now) probably mean I will be spending
less time there in the future
On the medical front I am continuing to get my strength back but lately have been feeling a bit more tired than usual and I think I have overdone it a bit both in terms of trying to get back into shape and also in terms of housework and other errands. Lorna and I debated buying a treadmill but after researching how much a decent one costs we ended up joining a local gym which offers a pay by the month plan. I have been trying to get to the gym one or two times a week. I feel like I am in hand to hand combat right now with the drugs that help with my neuropathy. I love that they cure the pain but I hate that they help me gain weight!
That's it for now then - I hope you are well as you read this.
Another year older - and that's a good thing!
A few days ago (February 1st), I celebrated my 44th birthday. I was overwhelmed with all of the nice messages that I received. Thank you all very much! When the journey that I have been on began back in October 2007, I had serious doubts I would still be here at this time and I am so grateful and blessed that I am.
A few days after my birthday it was time for my next round of blood
work and physical exams. The worst part about the blood tests are that
they can give you you basic numbers (white count, platelets,
haemoglobin) almost right away but it takes a day to get the "CEA marker"
test back (and those are the ones that can indicate a recurrence of
colon cancer). I am happy to report that all of the tests (both blood
work and physical exam) came back clean and as far as the doctors can
tell, I remain cancer free. I have no more tests scheduled until June
(so I get four months to try and relax a bit). The neuropathy continues
to be an issue. As an experiment, n discussions with my oncologist, we
agreed to try reducing the amount of Lyrica I am taking to see if the
pain remains under control while hopefully stemming the weight gain
that I have been experiencing since I started on this drug. For the
benefit of fellow patients that I know are reading this blog, the
Lyrica has done a really good job with the pain but it seems to be the
main cause of my weight gain. I'm also trying to focus on exercise and
fitness to see if I can win back a few pounds. I'll keep you all posted
on my progress!
I hope everyone is off to good start in 2009 and I particularly want
to send out best wishes to all of the other cancer patients out there
that I have met because of this blog.
My use of "social networking" tools
While I still like having a journal of significant events here
(especially the medical ones), and I fully plan to continue making
regular updates, I have been finding that lately I spend a lot of time
posting updates and communicating with people using so called "social
networking" tools and web sites. Specifically I find my self using four
web based tools a lot. For me each one fulfills a different and yet
interesting, role. One thing I like is the real time nature of these
tools. When I write a blog posting (such as this one) I try to put a
lot of thought into it and I have to carve out a fairly substantial
chunk of time to do it. By contrast, it takes no time at all to update
my Facebook status or to post a quick "tweet" on Twitter in answer to
the basic question of "What are you doing now?". So whereas I may
update this blog on avaerage about once a week. I will update Facebook
and Twitter multiple times a day typically. Below is a table of the
four sites I use the most. If you click on the links you will get to my
specific page on each site. Alsongside each entry in the table is a
brief summary of what I use each one for. If we are not already
connected on any or all of these tools please feel free to reach out
and make a connection!
| I view Facebook as the primary
place that I interact on-line with my family and friends. Facebook is
also the tool I have been most actively using for the longest time.
While I also do find work colleagues there, the discussions, at least
the ones I am most involved in, tend to be more about non-work
activities. Unlike some, but like many others, I also enjoy many of the
games that are available on Facebook. I tend to play mostly word games
and puzzle games and for the most part avoid collecting fish! I tend
to know most of the people I am connected to on Facebook. I am
less likely to accept a friendship offer from someone I don't know
unless the person is recommended by a person I trust. I mostly interact
with Face book using their web page but I also use their Blackberry
client. The facebook tools for finding people you know seem pretty
good. |
|
| I am fairly new to Twitter. I
have been using it since last October. I view Twitter as a mix between
so called "micro blogging" and instant messaging with persistence.
Unlike Facebook, I do take part in many technical discussions with
people on Twitter. You can chose to have your messages be open to all
or just to your followers/fiends. Each message you post is limited to
140 characters. I have many people that I "talk" to via Twitter and
many of them I have never met before or even knew of before we found
each other on Twitter. These type of connections work best when people
have a common interest. You will find all types of people on Twitter
including many celebrities. Many of the people follow tend to discuss
technical things related to computers but I also follow people
discussing topics like autism, local events in Austin and of course
people that I just find interesting. Twitter has a lot of applications
that you can run on your computer or handheld to read and post "tweets"
but I tend mainly to use the twitter.com web interface. I do however
run a couple of Twitter clients on my Blackberry. The one I use the
most at the moment is TwitterBerry. I find it quite difficult to easily
find people I want to connect to. I usally have to rely on spotting a
conversation between people I know or stumbling upon an ongoing
conversation that looks interesting. The tools provided fot finding
friends need some work in my opinion. |
|
| I view LinkedIn as my primary
on-line resume/CV and business contacts database. Sadly in recent weeks
I have been getting a lot of requests via LinkedIn to recommend people
who are tidying up their resumes. My best wishes to all of them. I
almost always interact with LinkedIn using the web page interface. As a
general rule I will only accept a connection request from someone I
have either met in person or on the phone. Likewise, I am very careful
with my recommendations. I try to view LinkedIn as a very professional
environment and treat it and the people I find there in that way. The
LinkedIn tools for finding people you know seem pretty good and I have
even managed to find old university class mates from the 1980's using
the tools provided on the web site. |
|
| Plaxo | Of the four,Plaxo is the one I
use the least. I am not 100% sure what Plaxo wants to be and I am still
trying to decide if it should be on my list here. It is sort of a
mixture between Facebook (without the apps) and LinkedIn. One thing
that Plaxo is very good at is aggregating information from multiple
sources (blogs, del.icio.us,Flickr, etc) into a single place. That is
the primary reason I use it. I have very few connections on Plaxo that
I am not also connected to elsewhere (typically on LinkedIn or
Facebook). I only use the web interface and don't know if other options
exist. |
There are a lot of other sites that offer similar facilities, but
these are the four that I currently use and they, I think, cover
my personal life connectivity needs! I do also use sites like del.icio.us
and Digg to store my bookmarks on-line but I am not including those
sites in this list. I also use photo sharing sites like Flickr and
Picasa but for now I am not listing those here either. I am finding
that I use e-mail and dedicated instant messaging tools less these
days, especially since Facebook added an instant messaging facility. Of
course I also use a lot of additional tools for my day job including
the more traditional tools like e-mail, instant messaging, news groups
and discussion lists, as well as some of the more interesting web
conferencing and collaboration tools but the the web sites listed above
I view as more the ones I use in my personal life. I could also get
into my use of virtual worlds like Second Life but that deserves a
whole posting of its own at some future date.
An interesting footnote to this posting is that I feel so well in
touch these says with my friends and family around the World that I
think Christmas cards, at least for us, are probably a thing of the
past (sort of sad but also the reality of the times we live in).
Brief medical update
I haven't posted a medical update for a while and several of you
have been kind enough to inquire as to my status. So, here is a very
quick update. I have no more tests planned until early next month. As
far as I know the next round of tests will just be blood work. The
biggest problem right now is the neuropathy left behind by the FOLFOX
chemotherapy (that ended last May). Specifically this is caused by the
Oxaliplatin drug. I am told that it can take a year or more (from the
day chemo ends) for this to go away. I am currently taking Lyrica which
does a really good job of reducing the pain but seems to have the
unfortunate side effect of causing substantial weight gain. Lately I
have been exercising regularly (riding the bike, walking, in-line
skating, lifting weights) but no matter what I do I am finding it
impossible the weight I have gained since I started taking Lyrica.
Usually I find it very easy to lose weight so this is, to say the
least, a bit frustrating! A week ago, I decided I would try an
experiment and stop taking the Lyrica. Three days after I stopped the
pain in my hands and feet became unbearable and I started taking it
again. The pain almost immediately subsided. So I feel as if I am stuck
in a situation where I can be in pain but losing weight or pain free
and heavy! I plan to talk to my oncologist again next month about
this. That said, my wife keeps reminding me that my body has been
through a lot in the last year or so and that I need to be patient. I
know she is right but it really bugs me that most of my clothes are
tight!
I continue to be humbled by the fact that I am still being contacted
by fellow cancer patients (usually colon cancer patients like myself)
who have found my web site while searching the internet for
reassurance as they start their treatment. That was one of the main
reasons I started keeping the journal here of my treatment and I am
really pleased that it has been useful to others. If you are a cancer
patient reading this, e-mail me and I will always reply and I will help
in any way I can by sharing my experiences. You can reach me by sending
e-mail to gfxman@yahoo.com.
That's the medical news for now. All in all not too bad. I am, as ever, extremely grateful for all of your support.
Happy New Year and now it's back to work!
First of all I would like to wish all of my friends and family around the World a belated "Happy New Year".
I'm back to work today for the first time in several weeks and the
kids are back at school. The house feels extremely quiet. I took
an extended break to burn off all of my unused vacation time and I feel
a lot more rested as a result. I have spent a lot of time over the past
few weeks playing with the kids both indoors and outdoors and finally
catching up on many house projects and also on my reading. Our video
games and our bicycles all got an extended workout too andI even got both my daughter's bedroom the garage tidied up!
We celebrated Jack's seventh birthday on December 17th. I cannot
believe that he is seven already. I need to upload the photos from my
camera and post a few here.
Looking back, 2008 as far as I am concerned, was truly a year unlike
any other. I was in chemotherapy for the first 24 weeks of the year and
then recovering from the side effects for a long time after that. In
fact, I am still dealing with some of them and probably will be for
some time to come. I'm not complaining however. I'm still here for my
family and that's all that matters. There was also the seemingly
endless schedule of blood tests, CT scans, surgeries and other fun stuff.
Thankfully I have no more tests or other medical procedures scheduled
until next month. I can finally feel my energy returning and I have
started trying to exercise regularly. Over the holidays I spent a lot
of time riding my bike and working out with weights. I also want to get
my Rollerblades out of retirement once it stops raining!
One of the post chemo side effects I need to address somehow
is the weight that I gained due largely to the medications I
still have to take daily. Right now I weigh about 50 pounds more
than I did a few weeks after surgery in October 2007 (which of course
caused me to lose weight) and about 30 of those pounds seemed to appear
very soon after I started taking a specific drug back in August. So, to
a large degree I had little control over the weight I have gained but I
have decided to draw a line in the sand and try to fight back!
Check back here periodically for news (hopefully) of my progress!
Meanwhile the weather here has been crazy. It was 83 degrees
Fahrenheit two days ago and I was out in shorts. Today it's raining and
barely above freezing. It's supposed to be back in the seventies by
midweek - such is a Central Texas Winter !
Anyway, this has been a nice diversion but I need to get back to
work so here's wishing everyone all the very best for a safe and happy
2009.
I am very interested in computer graphics and I was one of the authors of the original Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C. I am no longer a member of the SVG Working Group but I do still try and keep up with SVG developments which, if you are interested, you can follow here.
When I originally created the web site I intended to create a site dedicated to SVG but I never quite got around to that. I was also well along the road to getting an SVG book published but that project got put on hold by the publisher. I am still going to try and publish some SVG stuff here sometime soon. In the meantime, part of the unpublished manuscript for my book was published by Manning on their web site. You can take a look at what we had done and see what you think. I think we had the makings of a very good book, but I am a little biased!
So for now this site is a bit of everything but mostly still very
much a work in progress and in many ways exists to give me a place to
try out various HTML ideas and experiments. And in case you are
wondering how this site is edited, it's mostly done by hand using a
text editor. I also use Composer (from the Mozilla Sea Monkey suite) to
edit some of the pages. As I mentioned above, I mostly, use Mozilla
Firefox to review changes I make before submitting them to the server.
Anyway, please do check back from time to time as I plan to try and
make regular updates.
| Contact me. | Last updated June 15th 2009 |