Kelvin's Web: A journal of things going on in my life.


Welcome to my web page....a journal of a few of the events taking place in my life...I recently added a guest book, feel free to leave me a message...thank you everyone for your best wishes on my medical issues....please come in and look around the site.

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Older entries, that previously appeared on the front page of this site have been archived into the Daily log archive section.

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.

September 3rd 2008

Having grown up in England, where August is the height of Summer, it still feels odd to hear people in Texas talking about Summer being over by the time we are less than midway through that month. Moreover, the temperature in Central Texas as we enter September is still in the high nineties Fahrenheit almost every day - feels like Summer to me! That said, the kids have now been back at school for almost two weeks and in fairness people here tend to view Summer as over once school starts. I was hoping we might get a little rain as a result of Hurricane Gustav but it has gone inland well to the North East of us. We have not had a lot of rain recently and the garden is looking a bit parched in places despite my best attempts to keep it watered.

Looking back, I am really pleased that with all of the medical things going on we have still managed to do a lot of fun stuff this Summer as a family. It feels a bit strange not to have the kids around today as I work from home in a very quiet house. I do feel more productive though - imagine that !

This is a short work week due to Monday being the Labor Day holiday here in the US. We had a fairly lazy "long weekend" and I spent a lot of time either swimming in the pool or trying to catch up on my reading. It was really nice to not have a full agenda of things to do for a change. On Saturday evening Lorna and I went to the opening game of the University of Texas (UT) football season. The stadium has been enlarged yet again during the off season and now has a capacity of around 100,000. Indeed the official attendance for the game on Saturday was 98,053. I hear they are talking of adding even more seating in the future! This is a stadium that apparently pays for itself and yet hosts an average of just six (yes six) games a year!! As someone who played both Cricket and Soccer at University in England where it was a good day if five people turned up to watch us play it still blows my mind to observe the sheer immensity of collegiate sports, especially football (not to be confused with the kind of football/soccer I play), here in the US. It must be an amazing experience for those lucky enough to compete in such an environment. Apart from perhaps Wembley stadium in London, I cannot think of any other venue in England that compares in sheer size to the UT stadium - and this is (non professional) college sports!! We had a very enjoyable time at the game and we're both looking forward to the next home fixture in a couple of weeks.

Another indication that Summer is actually winding down is that our local baseball team (the Round Rock Express) have now played their last home game for the season. While the major league parent team (the Houston Astros) still has a fair number of games left to play, the triple-A season is now over and the NFL is about to get underway. Meanwhile on the other side of the Atlantic the English Premier League has started (seems like that season gets longer every year) and the cricket season is winding down. We also have the Ryder cup to look forward to of course.

So I guess perhaps, at least in this part of the World, Summer is "officially" over - now if someone could please tell that to the weather......

August 26th 2008

Sorry for the title. My sense of humour can be a bit weird at times but it has also helped me get through the last eleven months. Yesterday I had surgery done to remove my chemotherapy port. It feels weird to finally have the port removed as it has been an ever present part of me since it was surgically inserted back in November of last year. The surgeon who performed the procedure is the same one who did the five hour colonectomy on me last October and he will also be responsible for monitoring what's left of my colon (which is not much but it's enough!!) for the foreseeable future. As such, he was kind enough to also do my first follow up colon check since the major surgery while he had me sedated yesterday. I am happy to report that for now at least I am polyp free. I don't recall if I mentioned this in earlier posts but in my case polyps are a lot more dangerous than they are for an average (more lucky) person. On average my doctors tell me a polyp will go cancerous if left untreated in about ten years. In my case that time is about one year. So they'll be keeping a close eye on me for the rest of my life. As I have mentioned before and I'll say it again, if you have been sitting there thinking "I really should get a colonoscopy done" then please go get it done. It really is not a big deal and it could save your life. It's one of the reasons I'm still here to type this today - makes you think doesn't it? My next colon check will be required in six months, so that is one thing I can check off my todo list for a while at least. Now we just have to get the blood under control, the neuropathy contained and the swelling reduced and life will be good. I'm starting to sound like a bad country song so I'll stop rambling on about the medical stuff for today.

Meanwhile, today here in Texas is "back to school day". Apart from the agonising sounds coming out of my iOmega external hard drive (I think the fan is going - this will be he third one to die on me in about three years) the house is silent. The kids left early for school today and won't be home until after 3pm so I have a very quiet work environment indeed - I almost miss having them around but don't let them know I said that ok! It probably seems odd to my friends and family over in the UK that school is back so soon but we broke up in May whereas I think you all still break up for the Summer in July. So we've actually had the kids home for about 3 months. It's time for them to go back! Jack is starting First Grade this year, and hard though it is to believe, this is Robyn's last year before moving up to Middle School as she starts out on Fifth Grade.

A few of you have again written to me saying you have had problems posting to the Guest Book. As far as I know, this only ever happens if you are using Internet Explorer 6. I do have a message on the Guest Book launch page that warns about this known problem. I have confirmed with one of the people that recently had problems that they indeed were using IE6. If you are seeing Guest Book problems with other browsers, please do let me know.

August 24th 2008

I'll keep this post brief as I have to be up early tomorrow to get ready for surgery and it's already quite late. I went in to the oncologist's office again on Friday for more blood tests. My white count and platelet count remain quite low but not low enough that they need to treat it directly. They did however give me a prescription for some pills to fight the swelling (and weight gain) that is being caused by the meds they have me on to fight the neuropathy caused by the chemo meds - you with me?

I have to go back again in two weeks to be tested again to see if things are improving. My haemoglobin count is thankfully continuing to improve and is now almost back to the typical range for male of my age.

Tomorrow morning at 9am I am having surgery to remove my chemo port. It will be weird after all of these months not to feel it there. I am also having a follow up colon check which I am nervous about but it's something I'll have to get used to as this will be a regular part of my life over the next few years.

August 19th 2008

I'm trying to get caught up after a week away- consequently, two postings in one day - I think this may be a first for me!

Anyway, here's a quick medical update as there is still quite a bit going on. It has now been over three months since I ended chemotherapy. As I have documented here in detail, during chemo I suffered through a whole collection of different side effects at various times. Many of those went away fairly quickly after chemo ended. A few have stuck with me however. By far the worst is the neuropathy (numbness and pain in my hands and feet). Interestingly, the neuropathy only began during the last week or so of chemo but has since then become incrementally worse. It is caused by the Oxaliplatin (one of the three drugs that make up the FOLFOX chemo regimen). I am on medication that is supposed to suppress some of the pain that the neuropathy causes but for the most part I just have to be patient and wait for it to take care of itself. My oncologist has told me that it can take over a year for the effects to fully wear off. For the benefit of the many other folks that have found my web site and have been kind enough to contact me, all of whom are fighting their own battles with colon cancer, and all of whom seem to be having the same basic experience as me, the doctor has tried a couple of drugs to help relieve the neuropathy pain. At first we tried Cymbalta which did help a little but had nasty interactions with other medications I am taking (primarily the Paxil) so I had to stop taking it. I am now trying Lyrica which again seems to help some but seems to itself be causing some nasty side effects that I am not enjoying. The biggest issues to date are weight gain (just what I needed!), trouble concentrating and swelling of my feet, legs and hands (the swelling is also in part, I believe, caused by the Oxaliplatin). So, while I am really excited by my test results from a week ago, I still find myself with a lot of issues to handle on a daily basis. Don't get me wrong however, you won't find me complaining too much for if the chemo and surgery have done their job I'll live with the rest for as long as it takes to resolve itself.

Talking of tests, just when I thought I was almost done it turns out to not quite be the case. My oncologist's office called last week while I was in San Jose. They want me back for more blood tests this Friday as after further thought they have decided that my white cell count and platelet count really are a bit too low and they want to check me again and if necessary take steps to help those numbers improve. I'll keep you all posted as to how that goes.

Also, next Monday I have an appointment to see the surgeon who did my colectomy back in October for a check up. I'm not going to go into details but I think you get the picture (or at least I hope he will!). He is also going to take out my chemo port (a fairly minor surgical procedure) at the same time. So I'll be back at the hospital again next week for I think the fifth time in the last 10 months. I'm a little nervous about the checkup as if he finds any polyps we are going to have to take immediate steps to try and prevent them from becoming cancerous. Hopefully everything will be OK.

So that's the medical update, I'll make another posting when there is anything worth sharing.

I'd like to end this posting by sending my very best wishes and prayers out to all of the people who have contacted me during the past several months to thank me for sharing my experiences and for telling me that in doing so I had also helped them as they faced their own struggle with cancer. It is not always easy to share something so personal in such a public fashion but my goal in doing so was in large part to reach out to others in a similar situation to myself. I am both happy and more than a little humbled to have heard from so many of you. Good luck all of you, and please keep in touch. I have made many new friends in the last six months which has been one of the good side effects of this whole experience.

August 19th 2008

Last week I flew out to San Jose to speak at the SHARE conference. I am the IBM rep to one of the Projects at SHARE which means I help find speakers, set the agenda for the project, do a little speaking myself and also chair sessions given by other speakers. This was the first time I have been on a plane since March of 2007 and I was a bit nervous how my body would react to the stresses of air travel but thankfully, everything seemed to go fine. Interestingly, nothing much seems to have changed in terms of the overall travel experience while I have been away and I was pleasantly surprised with how smoothly and efficiently the check in process went at both Austin and San Jose. Of course it helps to be a multi-million miler on American Airlines which enabled me to jump the queue for the security checkpoints in San Jose, which can get really busy at times. My flights left on time, the weather was great and as a result the flights were smooth both ways. My checked baggage even arrived quickly after arrival. I guess it was just a good week to be travelling!

An odd side effect of the medication I am still on is that I don't remember too much of either flight but I took some nice photos of the Grand Canyon and some interesting video of the approach into San Jose so I guess I had a good time !! This was also the first time I have done any public speaking in quite a while. This is something I really enjoy and it was great to be "back in the saddle" as it were. It was also really nice to see so many good friends and colleagues, many of whom I had not seen since before my surgery last October. San Jose as a city has also improved immensely as a place to visit since I first went there in 1987. I decided not to get a rental car and basically just walked everywhere. The conference was at the Convention Center and the hotel is very close to there. Plenty of places to eat are just a short walk away and there is also the must see "Tech Museum". Among the many restaurants is Gordon Biersch, a place I always try to visit at least once when in San Jose. Garlic fries and a glass of locally brewed Heffeweizen out on the back patio - sweet!!! If you want to get merry in a hurry then drink the Blonde Bock (7% alcohol with an o.g. of 16.5) but just don't do what I did the first time I went there and ask for a Guinness!

The conference hotels (Marriott,Hilton and Fairmont) were all sold out when I made my reservations so I ended up staying, for the first time, at the Sainte Clair e hotel. The rooms were clean and felt modern, the WiFi was free and they have a great Italian restaurant (Il Fornaio) on the ground floor. What more could you want?......well a bar or at least somewhere to hang out in the evening would be nice but in general a perfectly OK hotel to stay at.

For those who want to read a little more about SHARE and what we do there, I have posted a few times recently over at my work blog on the topic.The next SHARE conference is actually going to be in my home town of Austin, Texas next March so I won't have far to travel for that event!

On the medical front I am still suffering through some really annoying and painful side effects from the chemotherapy and also the medications I am on that are supposed to help suppress the first set of side effects have their own set of side effects! I'll make another posting soon on the overall medical situation as there is still quite a lot going on.

August 7th 2008

So, as I mentioned in my last post, this week I underwent a series of tests to effectively see how well my treatment (surgery followed by FOLFOX chemotherapy) has gone. I had several tests done including a lot of blood work and a set of CT scans as well as the usual vital signs checks etc. During chemo I had my blood tested every other week so I should be used to it by now but for obvious reasons I found myself much more nervous than usual this time around. I think in part it's knowing that as well as looking at the using things such as white cell count, platelet count and haemoglobin number they are also looking for cancer markers or CA's (cancer antigens) which would indicate that treatment had failed. So at 10am this morning Lorna and I went to meet with the oncologist. We sat for a few minutes in one of the patient rooms waiting for him to arrive and you can imagine my sense of total relief when, upon entering the room, the first words he said even before he said hello were "no cancer". My CT scan showed nothing unusual except for a slightly enlarged spleen which could well be due to the chemo drugs and my blood tests were all negative. The doctor is going to do another CT scan in three months time to make sure that the spleen issue is not getting any worse, mainly as a precaution at this point. So from his perspective, as of this moment in time I am cancer free. In about two weeks I am meeting with the surgeon who did the colonectomy back in October for my first follow up exam and to get my chemo port removed. Hopefully those tests will be negative also. So I'll see the oncologist again in November and begin a series of fairly regular checkups, at least for the next year or so but I am not going to worry about that tonight.

I cannot begin to express my feelings and emotions right now. No one knows what is in store from one day to the next but tonight at least I am going to go out and do something fun, actually I'm hoping we can go to the movies and see Dark Knight which I still have not seen.

As always thank you everyone so much for your continued support, e-mails, phone calls, visits and messages in the guest book during this ordeal. It means the World to me.

August 4th 2008

It's hard to believe but it has been three months since my chemotherapy ended. A standard part of the treatment process is for me to now have a set of follow up tests. Tomorrow (Tuesday) I have blood tests scheduled. On Wednesday I have a CT scan and then on Thursday I meet with the oncologist to get the results and to discuss where we are. Although, apart from the neuropathy in my hands and feet which is driving me crazy, I feel pretty good, I am still nervous about these tests and I will be glad when this week is behind me. It's hard to ignore the fact that they are looking for any continued presence of cancer in my system. I'll post more updates as the week progresses.

Meanwhile, I want to extend my best wishes and prayers to my good friend Dion down in Sydney, Australia who is in the middle of his own battle with cancer and starting out on chemotherapy tomorrow. I hope he will get the same level of support from his friends and family around the World that I have been lucky enough to receive. If you are so inclined, please include Dion in your thoughts and prayers.

As for my kids, this continues to be a very busy Summer. Robyn has Karate camp this week and both Robyn and Jack spent last week in "British soccer camp". A bunch of great lads from the UK come over every year and run the camp at a nearby park. It's a lot of fun and the kids had a great time. Robyn is also continuing to appear in the local community theatre production of "The Witches".

July 30th 2008

Just a quick pointer to/reminder about my work blog. I try not to discuss much work related stuff here except for maybe some travel and conference related items. I keep a separate blog over at developerWorks that I discuss my work related activities in. However, during the height of my chemo treatment I found it hard to maintain both this site and the work blog. Consequently the work blog has been quiet for some time. Now that chemo is behind me I have started trying to post frequently to the work blog again. Several of you have commented to me that you had forgotten I even had a work blog! Therefore I am posting this entry as a reminder that the work blog exists and that it is active again. Please feel free to pop over there are see what I am up to work wise and leave a comment or two if you feel so inclined.

July 24th 2008

In recent years I lost my Mum to cancer as well as a very good friend here in Austin. As you all know I have also now been in a personal fight with cancer and I just found out that another good friend is starting his own fight. On top of that, I have been contacted by numerous fellow cancer patients who found me through this web site and I have also got to know many of my fellow patients at the local cancer center where I am being treated. I am therefore, as you would expect, a strong supporter of genuine efforts to help fund cancer research. A colleague of mine, Don Harbison, is about to embark on such a fund raising effort and asked if I would mention it here. Of course I agreed. Rather than try and explain it in my own words I asked him to provide me a short description of the event which he has done below. If cancer research is important to you, please consider supporting Don's efforts. Here is his description of the event.....

By way of introduction, for those who don't know me, I work with Kelvin in IBM's Open Standards organization. Like you, I was first shocked to hear news of his cancer diagnosis late last year, and then extremely pleased to learn how successful his treatment program is going now.

Cancer has also directly affected some of my family and friends. For the past three years I have worked to raise funds to support cancer research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. I do this by signing up to ride the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge, a 2 day, 192 mile ride here in Massachusetts. By signing up I commit to raise a minimum of $4,000 but I aim higher. This year I'm targeting $8,500. Please check out their web page ...you'll see it's an amazing event that attracts participation from all across the country and the world. This year we are aiming to bring in $34M, so you can see what a huge impact this has on supporting the excellent research programs at Dana-Farber that benefit us all.

Many PMC people ride in honor of a friend or family member directly affected by cancer. This year I am pleased that Kelvin accepted my request to dedicate my ride in his honor. Like you, I've been incredibly impressed with his courageous approach to beating his cancer. I can't think of a better way of expressing this than to continue to work hard at the fund raising, and then go out and break a sweat by riding with 5,500 others from Sturbridge to Provincetown here in Massachusetts.

This year the ride is on August 2nd and 3rd. Please join me in this effort by sponsoring my ride.

To do this, just visit this site

Click on 'Sponsor one rider with one donation', then open up 'Select a person by eGift ID'. You'll see my name and the field to enter the amount you wish to contribute. It's very quick and simple. The PMC staff run a lean operation. As they say: "Not one cent of each dollar raised through riders' sweat and determination is used for administrative and organizational expenses." Using the web is a major component of this success.

If you work for IBM or a company that has a matching gift program, this is an excellent way to double your gift. Last year, almost $2,000 was directly matched by IBM. Here's the link for IBM's Matching Grant form

Just fill in your employee serial number and the amount of your donation. Then snail mail it to me at:

Don Harbison
3 Thoreau Dr.
Chelmsford, MA 01824

I will take care of mailing it in to the PMC/Dana-Farber team.

I'm looking forward to the ride, and re-connecting with the amazing community that comes together once a year. When it's over, I'll post an update on how it went.

Thank you for your support!

Don Harbison
dpharbison@mac.com

July 16th 2008

Yesterday we lost a very dear and very loyal friend when one of our two Golden Retrievers, Toby, passed away. He was 12 years old. Lorna and I got Toby and his twin sister Brandy (who is still with us but very confused as to where Toby has gone) in 1996 just after we were married. Over that long a period of time it is hard not to build up a very close bond with such a great dog. As any book on the subject will point out, Golden Retrievers make great companion animals and Toby was the epitome of that. He just adored people and was always beside one of us as often as he could be. Many times he would quietly creep into our bedroom at night and go to sleep at the end of the bed. More than once I almost fell over him during the night! As I mentioned in my prior posting, we knew that his remaining time with us would be limited but we were expecting it to be measured in months and not days. Sadly, the cancer had apparently metastasized further and faster than we realized and he was a lot worse off than we had hoped. His passing has affected all of us, especially Lorna and I as Toby in a way was like our first baby. We raised him from an eight week old puppy at a time when we were not exactly sure what we were doing and in a way he trained us as we tried to train him! The kids seem to be handling it better than we are which is actually a good thing. They were sad for a while but have rebounded quickly and are already wanting a new puppy to get the dog count back up to three. They even have a name picked out already! We still have Brandy and our three year old spaniel, Scamp and I think Lorna and I need a little time to get over Toby's departure before we give in to the puppy idea but I'm sure it will only be a matter of time. I am fortunate that I have had a lot of great friends and companions around me in my life and Toby was definitely one of them. No matter how bad a day I had at the office or whatever my mood, Toby was always there with a smile (see photo) and a tennis ball. We are very grateful to have had him with us for as long as we did and we all miss him very much.

July 10th 2008

June 24th 2008

I took last week off from work and we drove up to Dallas (actually to Grapevine which is effectively a Dallas suburb). We stayed at the recently opened Great Wolf Lodge. Situated, adjacent to the DFW airport, the Lodge is actually a combined hotel and water park, with both indoor and outdoor water parks. They claim that the indoor water park is in fact the largest of its kind in the World. The hotel also has all kinds of other things for kids and grown ups alike to do, such as the Magi Quest which has you running all over the hotel looking for clues to gain runes and solve magical puzzles. I think the kids enjoyed the quest as much as they enjoyed the water parks. In fact we all had a great time and are thinking of going back again at Christmas time. If you follow the link above you can read a whole lot more about what the Great Wolf Lodge has to offer. I would thoroughly recommend it as a great place to let off steam for a few days.

The weather here in Central Texas continues to be very hot. Every day for the past several weeks we have been close to (or above) 100 degrees Fahrenheit. This week I am back at work while Lorna and the kids are having fun at vacation bible school at one of the local churches. I have also been trying to keep up with the Euro 2008 matches and with Wimbledon (both of which are being shown live on TV here). This coming weekend Robyn has a 3 v 3 soccer tournament which should be a lot of fun although it is likely to be very hot during most of the games.

On the medical front, the numbness in my feet and hands continues to be quite painful, in fact, typing has become very uncomfortable for me so I will keep this posting brief. I am visiting the oncologist's office on Wednesday to get my chemo port flushed and I am hoping they can do something more for the numbness. The meds they gave me have so far not improved things at all.

June 13th 2008

I have not posted here for a couple of weeks as things have been a bit hectic, so here are a few updates.

Last week I had business meetings in Orlando. My wife and I decided we would drive there with the kids so that they could have some fun while I was working. Even with the price of fuel at its current level, driving is still cheaper than flying the four of us and to be honest I am still a bit nervous of taking a plane ride given some of the lingering chemo side effects (my legs seem to swell up really easily at present). In any case, I really enjoy driving and the drive to Orlando from our house, a trip of about 1150 miles each way, is quite a pleasant one and almost all on freeways. We have done the trip many times before so we know where a lot of good places to stop for breaks are and we usually break the trip into two days, spending the night in Gulfport which is almost exactly half way between Austin and Orlando. As a side note, I really feel for the people of Gulfport. Even two years after hurricane Katrina, there is still a tremendous amount of evidence left of the devastating effects of the storm.

Anyway, it was nice for me to get away for a few days, even if it was primarily a week of business meetings for me. I had not been out of the state of Texas since before my surgery last October so a week away was really quite a treat. I did not manage to make it to the them parks with the family but we did get to spend a fun evening together at Disney Quest (a five storuy building full of all types of video games both old and new and some really cool virtual reality rides). On the night before we started driving home we all had dinner at the Arabian Knights (you eat while watching the horses and actors perform). By all accounts a fun time was had by all and I feel refreshed just from being out of the house for a while.

This week I had a series of business meetings at the office and it was really nice to meet so many colleagues, many of whom I had not seen for many months due to my ongoing medical issues.

Talking of medical issues, it has now been five weeks since chemo ended. Some of the side effects have definitely improved, others however are lingering on. In particular, the numbness in my fingers that had just started by the end of chemo has now also spread to my feet and has generally become quite a but worse. It has reached the point in fact, where driving the car feels strange as I can only barely feel the pedals. I called the doctor and he has put me on some meds that are hopefully going to help with this (yet more pills to remember to take!). Apparently this numbness can take many months to fully go away and is caused by the Oxaliplatin (one of the chemo drugs) which messes quite badly with the nervous system.

The kids are already well into the various camps and other activities that we planned for them this Summer and seem to be having a lot of fun. The weather has been extremely hot here in Texas. We have already had multiple 100 degree days in the Austin area. Heaven only knows what August will be like at this rate. Thankfully we have so far escaped most of the severe storms that have all passed to our North. Anyway, that's all the updates for today. I'm taking next week off so I can spend some quality time with the family and forget about work for a few days. After that I hope to get back into a routine of more regular updates here as the Summer progresses.

May 29th 2008

I haven't posted for a few days in part because there has not been a lot of news to share on the medical front (which is fine by me). It has now been 22 days since my last chemo session ended (on May 7th). The "fog" seems to have left me now finally for which I am very grateful. It has been replaced however by a feeling of total exhaustion - I think I have finally let myself relax a bit and it's past time to catch up on a lot of missed sleep. Most of the other chemo side effects are still with me which is no great surprise as my doctor told me to expect it to take between four to six weeks for them to subside. The thing that is bugging me the most right now is a constant feeling of numbness in all of my fingers and toes - it actually makes typing and even walking bit uncomfortable. This is a known side effect of the Oxaliplatin medication, so I hope it goes away soon. I visited the Oncologist's office yesterday to get my chemo port flushed. I have decided not to have it removed until August so that I can have all of my interim blood tests done via the port (rather than having to endure a lot of needles being stuck into my arm). The port has to be flushed every four weeks to prevent any risk of blood clots. The next major medical milestones are scheduled for August when I'll need another CT scan, a lot of other tests and an exam by my surgeon. When all of that is done I'll need minor surgery to remove the port.

So let's see, what else is going on? Well, we had a very nice and relaxing Memorial Day weekend. The weather was (and continues to be) very hot and we spent a lot of time out by the pool. The kids had lots of friends over and had fun in the water. I spent a lot of time in "slug mode" sitting by the pool and reading.

Today is Robyn's actual birthday (although we held her party several days ago). I cannot believe that she is ten years old already - how time flies. She doesn't know it yet but we're planning a surprise dinner with one of her best friends at her favourite restaurant tonight. School ends on Friday so this will be the last week I have a quiet work from home environment! Thankfully the kids have a lot of Summer camps and other activities planned already to help keep them busy during the long Summer break. I'm a little concerned about just how hot this Summer will be as temperatures in Central Texas have already been in the high nineties Fahrenheit for the last couple of weeks. Well above average for the time of year. We've also seen some nasty storms come through already. Our roof (which was replaced in 2005 after a hail storm) has again been badly damaged by hail and Lorna's car also needs work done on it to get the hail dents removed. In the USA in general this looks like being one of the worst years in a long time (maybe ever) for damage, and sadly deaths, caused by Tornadoes. I don't know if this is due to climate change or not but suffice to say the weather here this year has been pretty unusual in many ways.

May 15th 2008

Last night, multiple storm lines containing several super cell clouds (the type that frequently generate tornadoes) went through this area. This led to a very rough night and some very frightened kids. Multiple funnel clouds were reported in the area, the closest one passed less than three miles from here. As a result, we experienced strong winds, heavy rain and a lot of hail. A few of the pieces of hail were about the size of a billiard balls. The hail was so bad it even killed a duck which sadly we found dead on our back porch during one of the breaks in the storms. This morning we began the cleanup. There were leaves and twigs everywhere and several pieces of our shingle roof had broken free and were laying on the ground. We had our roof replaced in 2005 after another major hail storm. Today I called the roofing company again and they are coming out to assess whether or not we need to again replace the roof. All day around our neighbourhood you could here chain saws and other power tools being used as people cleaned up the mess. Several trees nearby have lost limbs or have become uprooted. Thankfully our trees are mostly large and well established and all seem to have survived the onslaught. I got a few good photos of the piles of hail on the back porch, I'll try and post one or two later.

Luckily, we managed to host my son's soccer team pool party during the afternoon and early evening yesterday before the storms arrived. There is no way we could have hosted it today. When we awoke the pool was full to overflowing (the emergency drain seems to have become blocked by all the tree debris). The pool was also full, and I do mean full, of leaves and twigs. We have been cleaning it out off and on all day and we are still not done. Later today I need to figure out what is blocking the drain and fix it and do more raking up of all the leaves and twigs that are spread all over the front and back yards. It really is quite a mess. I wish I had more energy but at least this will keep my mind of my other worries for a while!

The past week or so we have had several big storms (although this was by far the worst) and it seems we have had a lot more tornadic activity (even this far South of "Tornado Alley") than usual. When I moved to Central Texas, while the realtors were busy telling me how great a place it was to live in I think they somehow forgot to mention how much "fun" Spring can be!

May 9th 2008

It's hard to believe but I have made it through my scheduled twelve rounds of chemotherapy. The treatments officially ended on Wednesday but I have been too wiped out to post until now. The fatigue still has me firmly in its grasp but I am hopeful that it will wear off in a few more days from now (although lately it has been taking almost a full ten days to clear out). The staff at the oncologist, who have been great all through this process, showered my with confetti and gave me a certificate of achievement to send me on my way. I was very close to tears, they have all been so terrific in the way they have treated me. I will not be meeting the oncologist again now for three months at which time he will test my blood and do a CT scan to make sure nothing bad is trying to creep back into my system - that will naturally be a nervous visit. I also have a call into my surgeon to see when he wants to take out my chemo infusion port (minor surgery) and do my physical exam. So while chemo is behind me for now, I still have some more near term worries to get past but we have for sure reached a major milestone now with chemo ending. When the "fog" wears off I am sure I will feel happy about where I am. I am not up to writing a long posting right now but I do want to close by again thanking all of you that have stuck with me throughout this whole ordeal. I could not be where I am now without the fantastic support of my family and friends around the World. As always a big THANK YOU to you all.

May 5th 2008

So here we are. It's Monday morning and I am sitting in my chair at the oncologist's office beginning my twelfth and final chemo treatment! My first treatment was back on December 26th of last year and since then the time seems to have (for the most part) flown by. I must admit that I am now more than ready to be done. By all accounts my body has handled the treatment very well but the fatigue in particular has reached the point where it never fully goes away so I'll be glad in about four to six weeks from now when the side effects are supposed to fully subside and my system will hopefully become "normal" again.

After this week we go into a monitoring mode at approximately three monthly intervals where I will be tested for any signs of the cancer coming back, both by my oncologist and my surgeon who will be monitoring things too. So those visits will be nervous times for me I am sure but I am not going to worry about them right now as this is a major milestone and I plan to celebrate a little once we get through this week.

In about two weeks I'll need to schedule surgery to have the chemo infusion port removed from my chest , yet more hours of blood tests and filling out CYA forms at the hospital, for what is hopefully a 20 minute procedure. At the same time as the port is removed, while I am sedated the surgeon plans to do an initial internal exam to see if there are any signs of the polyps that can turn cancerous coming back. If there are that will have to be dealt with as my genetics are such that the average time it takes for a polyp to go cancerous is one year or maybe less. I believe the average for a person that does not have my genetic makeup, is 10 years (quite a difference).

When I started writing about each of the chemo visits, I made the analogy to a 12-round boxing match. I wondered at the start if my opponent (the chemo meds) would be too much for me. For sure he landed a few good blows but my blood levels and other numbers continue to improve and we have not had to delay any of the rounds so I think when all is said and done I am hoping for a "points decision" in my favour !!

I'll post again soon but for now I need to sign off as I just got a shot of Ativan (Lorazepam) and I am getting drousy!

April 25th 2008

A couple of nights ago (Wednesdsy), along with our good friend, Brian, my daughetr (Robyn) and I went to the Frank Irwin Center here in Austin to see Canadian rock legends Rush in concert. This was the first time they had come to Austin in 14 years! My wife is not a big Rush fan so I had taken Robyn to San Antonio to see them last Summer and she had enjoyed it so much that when the Austin date was announced we did not hesitate to go looking for tickets. I think we enjoyed this show even better than the prior one. The set list had been changed and I think it was a better blend of their newer and "classic" music. The nice thing about the 2008 tour is that the band are only playing venues that they have not played in at least ten years. I am really thankful that the side effects from my ongoing chemo treatments held off long enough for me to enjoy the show. The band played for close to three hours with a short intermission midway through. I'm also glad the show was Wednedsay and not Thursday or Friday as the chemo has definitelky hit me quite hard the last couple of days. Anyway, as promised in my prior post, here's what I think was the set list from the show:

April 23rd 2008

So I'm home from the oncologist and chemo round eleven is now officially over (side effects over the next few days notwithstanding). That means I have only one more round left to go commencing on May 5th. So as far as the chemo phase of my treatment goes we are almost there.

As I mentioned yesterday my focus for the evening now is fighting off the fatigue long enough to enjoy the Rush concert that starts at 7:30pm at the Frank Erwin Center here in Austin. I'll try and write up a bit of a post conference report tomorrow. I am interested to see how much they have changed the set list since we saw them last year (apparently there are going to be some changes).

April 22nd 2008

As I type this I am in the nice comfy chair at the oncologist's office getting my second day of infusions as we are about mid-way through round eleven (the penultimate round - yay!!). So far the fatigue has not hit but I expect, based on the last couple of weeks, to start sometime Wednesday evening or Thursday morning. The later the better - read on to find out why.....

Hopefully I will be in pretty good shape still on Wednesday evening as Canadian rock legends Rush are performing in Austin for the first time in years. In fact I was not even living here (and I have been here since December 1995) the last time they were here. One of the local papers did an interview with lead singer Geddy Lee about coming back to Austin, you can read it here. Last year they came to San Antonio and I took my nine year old daughter Robyn. It was her first concert and I was not sure how much she would enjoy Rush but she loved everything about the show and has since learned the words to most of the songs on the tour album (Snakes and Arrows). I have been a Rush fan since my university days when my good friend Mike introduced me to them. Since then I have seen them in concert multiple times both in the USA and the UK and I honestly think they are playing better now than they ever have - and they were always good. The Austin date was added as part of some extended venues that were not part of the original tour. I am hoping that they jiggle the set list a bit but even if they don't I am really looking forward to the Show. In San Antonio they played for about three hours with a short 15 minute break in the middle. Certainly great value for money.

The professional baseball season is now well under way here in the US. We renewed our season tickets this year to the Round Rock Express (the AAA affiliate of the Major League Houston Astros). Their stadium is less than 10 minutes by car from our house and it's a great night out for the whole family. We went to the game last night as I am keen to do as many things as I can before the fatigue hits for this round. Last night the Budweiser Clydesdale horse team were their outside the stadium and we all enjoyed meeting the horses and their trainers. They told use they are on the road touring 300 days every year! The game itself was also very exciting last night, aided by the fact that the home team came out on top. So we had a fun night of baseball and ball park food plus a visit to the in-stadium kids play area.

That's my updates for now, I need to get back to working on my e-mail in box and some other work tasks. The oncologist has a better wireless network than I have at the house so it's actually a great place to get work done!

April 19th 2008

The weather here today has been just gorgeous after some nasty storms passed through on Thursday night and left us with a beautiful but cooler day on Friday. Today we have been in the mid 80's Fahrenheit under clear blue skies. Jack and I have the house to ourselves as Robyn and Lorna are off having fun at a Girl Scouts camp for the weekend. The campsite is at Inks Lake which is about about two hours West of here. They have a ton of things for the girls to do (most of it outdoors) so the great weather is a real plus.

Meanwhile, It's been good for both Jack and me to have some quality "guy time" together. Last night we spent some serious time working together against hordes of evil aliens trying to save planet Earth from imminent doom - or put another way we played co-op mode in Halo 3 for about four hours before (a very extended) bedtime! Today Jack has been helping me with some house chores and he has also been trying to teach me how to play Super Smash Bothers Brawl on the Wii. Somehow I don't think I'll ever give him any decent competition at this game but he seems happy enough beating me into the dirt so what the heck!

I woke up this morning finally feeling less foggy from the last chemo round. This is the longest amount of time it has taken so far for my fatigue to subside between rounds. Of course round eleven starts on Monday so I had better enjoy it while it lasts. The doctor had warned me that the amount of fatigue tends to be cumulative and that certainly seems to be true in my case. Given I felt a bit more with it, after watching some of the English soccer on TV this morning and doing a bit of housework indoors, I decided it was time to take on the huge mess that used to be my nice tidy garage! The garage had somehow become our dumping ground for a lot of stuff over the past few months and the mess had really started to bug me (even over the effects of the "chill out" pills they have me on so you know the mess was bad!!). Thankfully I managed to get it mostly cleaned up but I could not believe how quickly I ran out of steam. I had to take lots of breaks. Hopefully when chemo finally ends my energy levels will return to something like they were back last Autumn (pre-diagnosis and pre-surgery). As people who know me will tell you I am not good at sitting still. I need to be busy and it's starting to frustrate me how weak I still am. I guess I have to keep reminding myself I have been through a lot and my body has taken a pounding the last five months or so. I also need to remind myself to just be grateful for what I have as things could easily have been a lot worse than hopefully they are. On the plus side, the fact that I am getting frustrated is probably a sign that at least in some small way I'm getting more back to my old self!

As an aside, I am typing this entry using the Apple Mac Book Pro laptop which I now use for almost everything I do computer wise. I continue to be really impressed by this machine. I originally bought it as an early Christmas present to myself so that I would have something fun to play with and learn to use during the long hours in the "chemo chair". As you may recall from some of my prior postings, I have never before owned an Apple machine of any type but this laptop has quickly progressed to being my principal machine. I just love how reliable it is and I really like the "feel" of the machine and it's applications and I am unquestionably more productive on this machine than I am on any of my others.

So anyway, that's my update for today. As I mentioned above, chemo round eleven starts on Monday (just two to go now) so I'll try and post some more updates in the early part of next week. Now I need to go power up the XBOX 360 as Jack wants to see if we can kill a few more aliens before bedtime tonight!!

April 11th 2008

Round ten finished on Wednesday and as with the last couple of weeks the fatigue has hit me almost instantly. The last day or so it has been a real struggle to get much done. On a happier note, with ten down I only have two more chemo sessions to go before we go into more of a maintenance mode and my body has a chance to recover from all of the chemicals it has been subject to the last few months. I'm certainly looking forward to the second week of May now (when chemo will hopefully be behind me). Given how tired I feel right now I will keep this post very brief. As always I appreciate all of the messages I continue to get from people keeping tabs on me - it really means a lot and my thanks to you all as always.

April 7th 2008

I am sitting at the oncologist as I type this, about two hours into round ten. I met with the doctor this morning and we chatted for a bit. He is pleased with my progress to date and we discussed some of the next steps that he has planned for me post chemo. The net is that I'll need to get another cat scan once chemo ends to re-establish a "baseline picture" of how I look and then I'll start seeing him on a frequent but more periodic basis to keep tabs on how I am doing. This is more or less what I expected. He is hopeful the treatment plan will have done the job but I'll still need to be monitored closely for the next five years at a minimum in case (Heaven forbid) of a recurrence. I know I am going to be nervous every time he tests me but he is being very positive so that is as much as I can ask for at this stage.

Thankfully my eyesight seems to be improving even though I am still in treatment and I am finding it much easier to keep up with my reading than had been the case during the earlier weeks of treatment. I have managed to read several books in the past few weeks. I just finished reading The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. I have not yet seen the film that was recently released but having read the book I definitely want to see it now. The Kite Runner was a refreshing change from my staple diet of action/suspense and science fiction books. I won't spoil the plot here but I will say it gives a great perspective of life in Afghanistan over multiple decades from the time before the Russian invasion all the way to the present day. I found myself really attached to the main characters and I found myself suffering along with them as I read the book. If you have not read this book yet, you might want to add it to your reading queue. In many ways a sad story about people trying to make the best of their situation but also uplifting at other times, definitely well written and well worth reading.

I also recently finished The Broker by John Grisham. This was different from his normal style in that it was more about spies and espionage than it was about court rooms and lawyers. That said, I really enjoyed it, although I have read reviews from Grisham purists who viewed it as one of his worst books. The book is mostly set in Bologna and other parts of Italy and by the time he is done describing the place you are left wanting to hop on the next plane a go visit. So while definitely not a typical Grisham book, I enjoyed it - I guess I am not a purist!

I hadn't had much time to play video games lately nor the right state of mind probably given how "foggy" my head has been. That said this weekend between lots of outdoor activities I made time to sit down and finally finish the single player missions of Halo 3 (XBOX 360). This is a thoroughly enjoyable and well engineered game. I am really grateful to my friends who gave it to me as a get well present back in the post surgery days. It has been one of many useful distractions that have helped keep my mind off things. I have now started playing BioShock which was a birthday present from the family back in February. So far this looks like another very interesting and high quality game but more violent than Halo 3 I would suggest based only on about two hours playing time. With Summer weather already here I need to keep my gaming to a minmum and set the right precedent by doing a lot of things out doors and thus, hopefully, encouraging the kids to do the same. That said I do have my PSP sitting here with Metal Gear Solid loaded and ready to go should I need a fix during the five hour long chemo session today!

This weekend, the weather was gorgeous, blue skies and temperatures rose to the high 80's Fahrenheit by Sunday afternoon. Both Robyn and Jack had soccer games on Saturday and I played on Sunday. We all are a bit sun burned today. It's supposed to be in the eighties each day of the coming week. The kids decided that the weather was so nice that they were going to jump into the pool which they duly did and I must say despite the water being barely above 70 degrees, they had a great time. So I guess this means the pool is now officially open for business for the 2008 season. I would usually have jumped in there with them, anything above 68 degrees I will swim in happily but the meds I am on right now make me so sensitive to cold I am going to need to run the pool heater for a couple of days before I'll be able to join them in the water.

In my prior post I mentioned I was hoping for an Arsenal win against Liverpool in the first leg of their Champions Leage match. Sadly the match ended in a 1-1 draw which gives Liverpool a definite advantage as the teams head into the second leg of the tie. With the away goals rule, Arsenal have to score at least once at Anfield as a 0-0 draw would hand the match to Liverpool. Having also watched the teams tie 1-1 in the league right after the first leg, I am not confident Arsenal can pull this one off but I guess we'll see. For sure they need to rediscover their goal scoring ways from the earlier part of the season. On a related topic, I really enjoyed watching the FA Cup semi-finals from Wembley this past weekend. It's great to see the FA Cup magic is still alive with many of the big clubs having been knocked out by lower division opposition. I look forward to the final, which has the unlikely lineup of Cardiff vs Portsmouth. I'm really happy for my friend Graham who is a huge Pompey fan. I hope he can get a ticket for the big match.

It's been about three months or so now since I got my Mac Book Pro laptop. I continue to be really impressed by this machine. The fact that every night I can put it to sleep and in the morning open the lid and have it wake up and start downloading my mail without me having to anything is really great. I have re-booted the machine twice since the start of the year and one of those time was just part of installing a major OS update. This really is a robust platform. By contrast, if I put my Windows XP laptop to sleep (hibernate) more than about 3 times in a row I have to reboot the system to get it working properly again. I'm not a Windows hater it's just that with the Mac I have found a machine where I feel very comfortable, a machine that I trust to work the way I expect it to and most importantly of all, a machine where I am definitely more productive. As I learn more and more of the Mac's features I'll keep on posting updates. I will also note that the one negative thing I have observed lately is that if the processor is working hard, the metal casing gets very hot and if you have it sitting on your legs while wearing shorts it can get pretty uncomfortable - of course this is just what you need on a cold night flight across the Atlantic - so that could be viewed as a plus!

So that's it for this round of miscellaneous updates. I'll try and post again soon as I progress through round 10.

April 2nd 2008

Hard though it is for me to believe, it was six months ago yesterday that I underwent the colonoscopy that discovered the cancer in my colon and changed my outlook on life substantially. At that time I wrote about it here . A lot has happened since then but I guess the overall summary is "so far so good". I have three chemo rounds left to go now which really is not that bad but the side effects, especially the constant sense of fatigue, do seem to have become cumulative. My last chemo treatment is scheduled for the week beginning May 5th so I can at least see the light at the end of that particular tunnel now. Round ten begins next Monday (April 7th) and at that time I have a meeting scheduled with my oncologist where I want to have a "what happens next?" type discussion. As far as I know I go into a sort of frequent checkup maintenance mode at that point (both with him and my surgeon) but I have several questions I want to ask him. I will also need another (minor) surgery at some point to remove the "power port" that is used to infuse the drugs into my system. The one question I really want an answer to is the one question he cannot answer. That of course is "am I cured?". All he is able to give me, and this is not his fault, it's just the nature of the beast, is statistics and a prognosis based on experience in treating similar cases. In spite of this, and I try not to dwell on it, it is frustrating having undergone all that I have in the past six months that there is no definitive test that can tell you how well the combined surgery/chemo treatment plan has worked. As I have joked with him in the past, the bottom line is that if I am still here for my checkups in five years then he has cured me! That said, my spirits are pretty good and I am not wasting too much time worrying about things that I really cannot do much about. Of course the little pink pills help there too! On a positive note, an experience such as this really helps remind you of the things that are truly important in life. I feel that I am closer to my wife and kids than ever before (and we have always been a close family) and I have been reminded how many wonderful friends I have all over the World that have been there for me these past six months. My oncologist commented to me that years from now I will actually look back on this as a positive experience on many levels. I think he is right. Not only have I been reminded of how much my family and friends mean to me I have also bonded with so many brave fellow patients that I meet week in, week out at the oncology clinic. I am humbled by many of the stories I have had told to me by other patients describing what they are going through - it really does stop any small amount of self pity from rising to the surface when you are constantly reminded that things could be a lot worse. It has also been hard lately to see a few people who are probably still in high school being brought in for treatment. Sadly cancer is a very indiscriminate predator.

On a lighter note, Spring is in full bloom here, and although we have had several cloudy and rainy days lately, Summer is clearly just around the corner. Even on the cloudy days our temperatures are getting into the high 70's or low 80's Fahrenheit and the water in the pool out back is now up to 70 degrees and the kids are begging me to turn the heater on so they can start swimming. Last year I started swimming when the water was 68 degrees but one of the side effects of the meds I am on is that I am very sensitive to cold so I suspect they won't have to twist my arm too hard on this one. I could certainly use the exercise!! Talking of the kids, they are already counting down the days left until the end of school (which for us happens at the end of May - much earlier than for my friends and family back in Europe). We have started discussing what we want to do this Summer which has been great fun. We are already planning a few fun things to do with the kids in June once I am done with chemo which really is a pleasant change in dinner time conversation from some of the other daily issues we have been dealing with the past six months.

Oh and completely off topic, hopefully Arsenal will beat Liverpool later today in the Champions League which will definitely raise my spirits! The match is being shown live on TV here so I'll probably record it and watch it after work tonight (apologies to any Liverpool fans I just offended but I have been a mad keen Arsenal supporter since I was about five years old).

I'll post again soon, probably after I talk to the oncologist again on Monday if not before.

March 27th 2008

Yesterday marked the end of my ninth chemotherapy cycle. So that's nine down and three to go. My last one will be the week of May 5th so not so far off now. The side effects (mostly the fatigue and some annoying bouts of nausea) have hit me quicker than usual this time so I'll keep this update brief. Hopefully this means I'll be more with it by the weekend when both of my kids have soccer games that I very much want to be at. I am both excited and anxious to see the chemo treatments getting close to done. On the one hand I will be glad to be rid of the side effects but on the other, seeing my oncologist on a weekly basis and having him re-assure me that things are going well has, to some extent, become my safety blanket and I think it will take some getting used to being off the treatments once we reach that point. Of course, having said that I'll be going in for regular monitoring so I guess I'll get enough interaction to keep my spirits up. I really love the oncology team I am working with they really are a great bunch of people and they are so up beat that it definitely rubs off on me and as far as I can tell the other patients as well.

I continue to be very grateful for all of the e-mails and messages in the guest book and the messages I have been getting on Facebook. You guys out there have done more than you probably realize to help keep my spirits up. As always, a very big Thank You!

March 24th 2008

Today I started round nine of the chemo treatments and I also got some good news on the blood work front. While my platelets are still on a bit of a roller coaster ride, my haemoglobin level is up to 13.1. This is the highest it has been since I was diagnosed back in October 2007 and the level was down to a frighteningly low value of eight. For an adult male "normal" is considered to be between fourteen and seventeen so I am tantalizingly close to the normal range now. Because of this, my medical team are suspending the weekly iron shots and are going to let me fend for myself for a while to see if my blood levels continue to hold their own without help. I'll still be getting the chemo meds as normal but I won't have to go in on the "off weeks" for iron, unless of course the numbers start going in the wrong direction again. I was hoping to post this from the oncologists today but for some reason their network was not able to connect to the internet at all today so I am posting from home instead with day one of round nine now behind me (except of course for my little IV pump full of 5FU that goes everywhere I go for the next two days! It seems a bit hard to believe but after this week I only have three chemo treatments left. My last scheduled chemo visit is the week of May 5th. If all goes well I should have chemo behind me before the kids break for the Summer in mid to late May.

On Saturday Robyn took the first part of her Tae Kwon Do black belt test (called a mid-term) and we believe she passed. She will take the final part of her test either in May or August depending on the scheduling. We are very proud of her as this is a non trivial achievement.

This weekend the weather here was wonderful and it looks set to stay that way all through this week. We have clear blue skies and temperatures are forecast to be in the 60's today and up to the eighties by the end of the week. Spring is a wonderful time of year here (except for the days when the super cell storms come through!). We had no soccer matches this week as we were all off for the Easter break but both kids have practices and games this coming week so I am going to be quite busy in the evenings and on Saturday with that.

I had promised to post some of the San Antonio photos here. I haven't yet had the time to work on doing that but here at least is a photo of the Alamo. Please ignore the man pushing a trash can. I took this photo in a hurry while my son was having a melt down and did not have a lot of time to think about perfect composition !!

I am feeling very tired today so I'll keep this post brief and aim to post again soon as the week progresses. I hope everyone has a great week.

March 17th 2008

Chemo round eight officially ended last Wednesday (March 12th) around 1pm. After that we rounded up the kids, loaded the car and set off for San Antonio for the remaining few days of the week. We knew we were taking a bit of a gamble not knowing what kind of shape I would be in from the chemo the days before but thankfully the main side effects held off until we were back home a few days later and did nothing to spoil our trip. From our house, it's less than 100 miles to San Antonio and we probably do not make the effort to visit often enough as there is a lot to do there. Most people think of the Alamo when they think of San Antonio but that is just one of the many fun things available to go and visit. For this trip, our main reason for going was that we had tickets for travelling performance of "Saltimbanco" by Cirque Du Soleil at the AT&T Center on Thursday night. We decided it would be more fun however, to get a hotel and turn the trip into a mini-vacation. We got to our hotel (the Doubletree Suites) around 6pm and after enjoying the free snack buffet the hotel provides each night we went for a very pleasant stroll along the River Walk to get some fresh air and to explore some of the local shops along the way. This hotel, by the way was perfect for a family with kids. Each room has a separate living area with kitchen and a very respectable breakfast as well as the sizeable happy hour buffet are included in the room rate. There is also a very small pool on the roof but our kids still managed to have fun splashing about in it a couple of times during our brief stay. On Thursday moring we got up early, had breakfast and walked along the river to the IMAX theater where we all enjoyed "Dinosaurs of Patagonia" in 3D. After that we had lunch at the River Center Mall and took a guided tour boat ride around the river. It's very "touristy" but still fun. If you have never been to San Antonio, the River Walk is great. Whether you circumnavigate it on foot, by tour boat or by river taxi, there is no end of historical sights and restaurants to enjoy along the way. After the tour we walked back above ground rather than along the river (which is actually set down below street level) so that I could take a few photos of the Alamo. Although I have been back several times since, The last time I had been to the Alamo with a camera was in 1989 when I was still carrying my trusty old Canon 35mm SLR. I wanted to get a few digital shots this time. I only had time to snap a few though, as by this time, given the very warm Spring weather, my six year old son Jack was both literally and figuratively melting! We finally got back to the hotel and rested for a few hours (the kids took the chance to visit the pool again) before heading off to find the AT&T Center in time for "Cirque". We had been to Cirque Du Soleil once before, in Orlando and thoroughly enjoyed it. That time we had seen the La Nouba show which has the advantage of being on a permanent stage and feels considerably larger in scale than this show. However, Saltimbanco was still very good and well worth seeing.

On Friday morning we got up and packed, had breakfast and set off for the San Antonio Zoo. However, on arriving at the Zoo we realized this had been a bad idea. All of the parking lots were full and even though the San Antonio Spring Break is the week after ours, we could see that the Zoo was packed full of school parties getting off to an early start on their Spring Break plans. In the end we did not even try to park, we just got back on the freeway and started to head home. Our daughter, Robyn, was not at all pleased by this turn of events as she had really been wanting to see some animals. Clearly we needed a plan B. Luckily my wife knew of a wildlife park near New Braunfels called the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch. The park is just a few miles west of I35 and more importantly right on our way home. We had seen the signs by the side of the road before but never been there so we decided to give it a go. It turned out to be a great idea. The park was not that busy and the main attraction is a "drive in your own car" safari tour. The highlight for all of us was when a group of Zebra came up to the car and stuck their heads in and let us feed them some of the animal food we had been given as we entered the park. Despite the warning signs about not hand feeding the animals both by the roadside and in the guidebook, the animals are clearly used to cars and people and expect to get fed! We saw several animals walk up to a car, wait to get fed and then on realizing the car had no food walk on in disgust to the next car. OK so it wasn't quite the full African experience but it was a lot of fun. That said, we decided not to try hand feeding the osteriches as they all just looked too cranky to take the chance! While in New Braunfels, we also took the opportunity to enjoy a really nice lunch at the famous New Braunfels Smokehouse - the food is great and if you are ever passing through I recommend it for a lunch or dinner stop. They focus on barbecue but they also serve salads and other lighter fare.

We arrived home around 5pm on Friday afternoon, by which time the crazy Texas Spring weather was up to 97 degrees Fahrenheit! Weather wise we have been on a real roller coaster ride (as is normal for the time of year) with high temperatures ranging from the mid sixties all the way up to almost 100 degrees. Today as I type this it's in the eighties outside but very cloudy and we are under a severe weather watch with the chance of both hail and tornadoes before the end of Tuesday - such is life in Texas during the Spring time. A few years back we lost our roof to a Spring time hail storm so you learn rapidly down here to take these weather notices seriously.

On Saturday the "chemo fog" finally caught up with me, and today (Monday) I am still struggling to shake it off. Consequently, I stayed at home to rest on Saturday while Lorna and Robyn got up really early to go to a 3 v 3 soccer tournament. They came home tired and sunburned but as best as I can tell they had a good time despite by all accounts having had to play some very tough teams in the competition. Sunday was another rest day for me although I forced myself to go and play soccer during the afternoon just to get myself out of the house. Suffice to say my reactions were not that sharp and I mostly stood in the goal without too much to do but it was nice to get out for a bit.

Today I was back at the oncologist for my iron shot and other (non chemo) meds but at least I have a few days now before round nine gets underway next week. Sadly two of the meds make you sleepy - just what I needed !!

That's all the news for now. I took a lot of photos during our brief trip to San Antonio. I'll try and post a few over the next few days, but I need to do a little cropping and Photo Shop-ing first!

March 10th 2008

Today is the first day of Spring Break here in the Austin area so naturally the weather is lousy. We awoke to thunderstorms and driving rain, and given we started Daylight Savings Time (DST) this past weekend (earlier than in the past under the new rules that recently went into effect), it was still almost dark outside at 8am this morning! Getting the kids out of bed was a real challenge, but we had to wake them up as they start a three day Karate Camp today. At least that will give them a chance to have some fun indoors out of the rain and away from the TV and video games - works for me!

On the topic of DST, for the benefit of my friends and family in the UK, given that your clocks do not go forward until the end of March, I am now one hour closer to your time for a couple of weeks. So, for example, 12pm (midday) here is currently 5pm in the UK where it is normally 6pm for most of the year.

As well as getting the kids up early, I also had to leave the house at the same time as round eight of my chemo treatments starts today - again what a great way to Start Spring break! I am currently sitting in one of the comfy reclining chairs at the oncologist's office as I type this (which is no mean feat I might add given all the meds they pumped into me a few minutes ago that have made me very dopey). They tested my blood an hour ago and I just got the results. Thankfully my platelet count has gone up again and there is no need to adjust my treatment plan at the present time. I am very happy about this. I'm into a routine now and as a creature of habit I am hoping I can stay on my routine until May when my chemo treatments end.

I'm looking forward to Wednesday when this round ends. I am taking the rest of the week off so that I can spend some quality play time with the family.

I'll post again soon as I get through this round. Only four more to go after this one!!!

March 7th 2008

It's hard to believe that it's already March. We have had a very mild winter here in Central Texas. We did not have a single "ice day" this year so far. The temperatures the last few days have been all over the map which is fairly typical for early Spring here. On Wednesday when I went to pick my daughter up from school I wore shorts as it was right around 80 degrees Fahrenheit. I really like living here! Yesterday it actually rained a lot and today has been cooler but all in all the weather remains, for the most part very mild. Yesterday I was speaking to a colleague who lives in Toronto and he was moaning about "yet another snow day" so I guess for large parts of the US and Canada it's not quite Spring yet! Today a cold front blew through and it was somewhat cooler even here but it is supposed to be back into the 70's again over the weekend which is good as both of the kids have soccer games on Saturday and I have a game on Sunday. Next week is Spring Break here. For my friends and family in the UK it's basically the same concept as half term. The kids are off all week and I am going to take part of the week off once I get done with round eight of chemo which is on Monday, Tuesday and a small part of Wednesday.

I have been trying to keep up with my reading as it really does help me relax and thankfully my eyesight seems to have improved a bit in the last couple of weeks from where the FOLFOX cocktail had taken it to during the first several weeks of chemo. This week I finished another of the Harry Turtledove books in the Colonization series. I enjoyed it so much that I immediately started reading the next one which is in fact the last in this set of three (although it's really book seven in a series of eight related books). I am grateful to my friend Roger who introduced me to this author and I have really enjoyed every book in the series. The books are science fiction in nature but take place in an alternate view of history where an alien race invades the earth right in the middle of the Second World War and the various human nations have to put their differences aside to confront the high tech invaders. If that concept for a story line appeals and you have not read any of the Harry Turtledove books then I highly recommend these.

Some of you may have noticed that the Guest Book has changed. My web hosting company recently upgraded their server software and replaced the guest book tool with a different one. I have had a few people tell me that they have had trouble posting to the new guest book but as far as I know it is working correctly. I am a bit nervous however, as since I switched over no one (except my wife and I who were testing it) has posted. If you feel the urge I would appreciate a few of you posting to let me know it is actually working correctly. All of the old messages are still available in an archive that I have created and provided a link to on the main Guest Book page.

While speaking about hearing from people, I would like to mention that I have been contacted by several people who found my web site while doing web searches for information on colon cancer treatment. I am both humbled and pleased that these people have contacted me and also hopefully found some of the information I have been posting useful. As I have mentioned before here, one of my goals when I decided to be very open about my diagnosis and ongoing treatment was to provide some relevant information and perhaps also a little hope and encouragement to others that find themselves in a similar place to me. I am glad that people have found this site and I am grateful that it has proven useful for them to be able to compare notes with me. To all of you who have contacted me, we're in this together, try to stay positive, the treatment for colon cancer these days has come a long way even in the last ten years or so. My thoughts and prayers are with all of you. Keep up the fight!

On the sports watching front this has been a mixed week for the teams I follow. I was really happy to see Arsenal beat AC Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday but I am not quite so happy with the way the England cricket team is performing in New Zealand this week. Still you can't have everything as they say.

For my Mac owning friends who ping me regularly to ask about the (still fairly new for me) Mac Book Pro - it's official - I'm in love. This week I did not even open up my Windows laptop once. I was able to do all of the things required by my job as well as a bunch of personal projects during the evenings solely on the Mac. I have only found one program so far (Quicken) for which the Mac native version will not work for me. This is because for reasons I do not understand, the makers of Quicken decided that the file formats used by the Windows version of Quicken and the Mac version would not be 100% compatible. As I like to share my files between my machines (for backup purposes as well as pure convenience) I decided to try installing the VMware Fusion product this week that lets me run Windows applications on the Mac. So far, after two days of using it, I have to say that this seems like the perfect solution. I do 90% of the things I need to do using native Mac applications and then run Quicken using Fusion when I need to. As one of my good friends commented after I had been saying how much I was enjoying using the Mac - "I told you so". For the technically minded, I installed Windows XP Service Pack 2 in the VM and so far it seems to work just fine. So now I have the best of both Worlds as far as I am concerned with Mac applications and Windows ones running side by side on the same desktop without me ever needing to re-boot the Mac to switch to Windows or go to another machine to run the Windows applications that I need to run. I guess you can sign me up for the Mac fan club at this point. I really do like this machine a lot.

So anyway, that's about it for now. I'm looking forward to another busy weekend with lots of time hopefully being spent outdoors. Chemo round eight starts on Monday but at least next week is Spring Break as I mentioned and I have a few days off with the family to look forward to at the end of the week.

February 27th 2008

I just got back from the oncologist having been unplugged from my portable pump which marks the end of round seven. Only five more rounds to go - yay! Apart from the setback on my platelet count (that I described in my prior posting) I'm feeling pretty good overall. Later today I get to go and coach my son's soccer team and tomorrow I get to go and help couch my daughter's team. Both teams have their first games this coming weekend. Hopefully the fatigue will hold off enough to enable me to actively take part in and enjoy all of these activities as the weather here continues to be fabulous. Mostly blue skies and temperatures during the day that have ranged from the high 80's F a few days ago to the mid sixties today. Right now it's about 66 degrees and just about perfect weather for being outside and running around with the boys (which I shall be doing around 5pm today).

Several of you have written to me asking how I am liking my Mac Book Pro now that I have had it for a couple of months or so. In short I love it. It is by far the most reliable computer that I have ever owned. I still use my trusty IBM Thinkpad during the work day to get some work specific things done but even most of those I could do on the Mac now that I have the appropriate software installed. In the evenings when I tend to try and find time to work on more personal things like surf the web, my non work e-mail or working on the web page I have been using the Mac almost exclusively for those tasks. I just installed the Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5.2) upgrade and it seems to be working well. I particularly like the new Time Machine enhancements.

As a side note, my web hosting company just upgraded all of their server side software. As far as I can tell the migration has gone without a hitch but please do let me know if you see any unexpected behaviour from the web site over the next few weeks.

That's about it for right now then. More updates to follow soon and as always thanks for the continued messages of support. Although as far as I can tell things are going pretty well this remains a very nervous time for me and all of the e-mails, calls and messages in the Guest Book really do help me a lot keep my spirits up.

February 25th 2008

It's 10:41am here in sunny Round Rock Texas as I type this. I am currently in my chair at the oncologists office commencing round 7 of the planned 12 chemo treatments. I just finished all of the regular blood tests that they do at the start of each cycle and they have now started pumping the prep meds into me before they serve the "main course". A couple of the meds make me very drowsy so I hope that this posting stays somewhat coherent!

Today for the first time since we started working with the oncologist my blood test results are heading in the wrong direction. This is another side effect of the FOLFOX cocktail that they have me on.. My bone marrow is not keeping up with production needs and consequently my platelet count is significantly down. My haemoglobin level is slightly down. While these side effects are often to be expected and are a common occurrence with chemotherapy patients, it is still a bit depressing to have any kind of setback. If my platelet levels get much lower they may have to suspend treatments until they rise again. Among other things, platelets help the blood congeal (clot) and stop bleeding from occurring. If my count drops much lower I will be told to suspend all of my physical activities that involve any chance of me getting cut - this would mean no more soccer for a while and would be really depressing. I have really started to look forward to my weekly Sunday soccer match now that I am back into the routine and that my body seems to have enough stamina to get through a game OK. I played again yesterday in fact and felt more alert than I had the week before - which is good given I am the goalie!

In other news ......the Girl Scouts cookie drive which has been running for the last five weeks finally came to a close yesterday. I think Robyn has sold something in the region of 500 boxes of cookies so I think she has more than done her part for the cause! It will be nice to see more of both Robyn and Lorna again now that they won't be rushing off all the time to man a cookie booth.

That's about if for now, and given the meds really are making me sleepy I'll close this posting.

As a footnote, you may have noticed that a few days ago I archived all of the remaining 2007 entries from this page. They are all still available in the archive.

Happy Monday everybody!

February 18th 2008

This weekend I heard my wife call from the other room to see if I could figure out what was wrong with the mouse on the new computer (it turns out she already knew what was wrong but wanted me to see first hand!). My six year old son had been sitting by the computer and had found a pair of scissors lying nearby and for reasons known only to him had decided he wanted to turn the corded mouse into a wireless mouse. When I got there I found, to admittedly a mix of horror and, yes, amusement, that he had cut the mouse completely off it's cord using the aforementioned scissors! For those who may be wondering this does not turn a corded mouse into a wireless mouse - so don't bother trying it! Note to self, do not leave Jack and scissors alone EVER ! I went off to the local Wal-Mart and bought the cheapest replacement mouse I could find and he has promised never to do it again (of course he actually swears it was an accident and not on purpose this last time!).

On Friday evening the kids were invited to an indoor skating party so I broke the roller blades out of retirement and decided to have a go too. When I lived in Florida I was a mad keen in-line skater but since moving to Texas (which is not flat like Florida) I have not skated so much. That said it all came back to me pretty quickly and while I didn't push myself very hard it was fun to skate with the kids and also to find another way to start getting a bit more exercise. Meanwhile, the weather here this weekend was a real mixed bag. A front came through on Saturday and it rained and stormed all day. Meanwhile, on Sunday it was a gorgeous blue-sky day with temperatures right around 70 degrees Fahrenheit. This is not unusual for this part of Texas as we get close to Spring. Luckily, both Robyn and I got to play our soccer games as hers was indoors on Saturday and mine was outdoors on Sunday. I played in goal this weekend (my usual position). My family came to watch which was great and the kids had fun playing outside and burring off some steam. I could tell I was a little timid in goal, my wife told me she could see a difference too (those who know me might find that hard to believe as after all you do have to be a little crazy to play in goal as they say). Hopefully as I get a few more matches under my belt both my confidence and my energy level will return. Despite my feeling a little sub-par my team won handily as we have an extremely good set of on-field players in front of me this season - thanks guys for carrying me!

On Saturday morning I went over to some other English friends for a wonderful, full English, cooked breakfast to watch the Man Utd. vs Arsenal FA cup match live on the BBC. I am ashamed of the way my Arsenal approached the match and the 4-0 thrashing they endured was no more than they deserved for the "we don't care" way they seemed to approach the game. It seems that with all of the money tied up these days in the Champions League and the Premiership that a lot of clubs are not taking the FA Cup seriously. This really breaks my heart, as when I was a boy growing up, the FA Cup was the competition everyone wanted to win and I used to love getting up early every year to watch all of the festivities leading up to the FA Cup final, played each year at Wembley Stadium in May. As far as I can tell the FA Cup has lost its magic and a whole generation has grown up since I left the UK not able to enjoy the passion and excitement that we all felt watching the matches - if this is progress you can keep it!

On Sunday evening we went to one of my Sister's-in-law for dinner and they surprised me by throwing a little "half way through chemo" party - which included my own personal and extremely delicious carot cake. This was really nice of them and it did help lift my spirits which have been down a little lately purely because the fatigue seems to be getting more prolonged each week. To be fair, the oncologist had warned me that this was likely.

This week is going to be busy both at work and in the evenings after work. Both my son and daughter have their first practices of the new outdoor soccer season and as coach of Jack's team and co-coach of Robyn's I am going to be busy. The good news is that this weekend sees the end of the Girl Scout cookie selling season so I will be seeing a lot more of my wife and daughter!

Today is President's Day here in the U.S.A and while I am not off work a lot of people are. My e-mail in-box has been noticeably quiter than average today and I am ok with that.

So that's about all the news for now, wherever you are reading this I hope you have a safe and pleasant week.

February 13th 2008

I just got back from the oncologist again which marks the end of round six. So I am halfway there! May 5th still seems like a long way off but at least it's downhill to the finish line from here on. The fatigue has already started to hit me but other than that this round seems to be progressing much like all those that have gone before. I don't have much other news today so I'll keep this posting brief. Thanks as always for all the messages of support in the Guest Book and elsewhere that I keep receiving and very much appreciate.

February 11th 2008

The weather in Texas this weekend was truly beautiful. While much of the country is still fully in the grips of some severe Winter weather, we were able to enjoy clear blue skies, cool breezes and temperatures in the mid 70's Fahrenheit. On Sunday I played soccer again. This time for my outdoor 7-a-side team. It was a great day to be outdoors and I came through the game fine (albeit still lacking in stamina). I feel a lot better for having had some exercise and also having spent some time "with the guys" again. The kids soccer teams (both of which I help coach) will also both be starting up again for the Spring season in another week from now. So I am going to be busy weather permitting. It gets really hot here in the Summer but I don't mind that and I love how moderate the Winter weather generally is which allows us to start doing a lot of outdoor activities quite early in the year. We have not even had the usual ice storm or two this Winter, which, admitedly is unusual. The forecast shows that we will have a lot of days of 70 degrees or higher over the next ten days. So it would seem that Winter may be winding down already for those of us that live in this part of the World.

Today, I am back at the oncologist to begin chemotherapy round six of my twelve planned rounds. So by the end of this week we will be half way there - yippee !!

I'll keep this posting short as the meds they just gave me are making me sleepy!

February 4th 2008

One of the reasons I decided to be very open about my colon cancer diagnosis and treatment plan here on this site (starting with the October 10th posting) was of course to keep my many friends and relatives around the World updated as to my progress and in return I have been extremely grateful with all of the support and encouragement I have received. However, I had a secondary goal ,which was to share with others who may be faced with a similar diagnosis some of my own personal experiences and perhaps in some small way to help them also by allowing them to compare their notes with mine. I was looking at the statistics that my web hosting company keeps for me this weekend and noticed that a lot of the traffic coming to this site is as a result of people doing cancer treatment related Google searches. In particular I seem to have a lot of people looking for others sharing insight into the side effects of the FOLFOX chemotherapy. With the caveat up front that all chemotherapy treatments are tailored to the individual patient and that the medicines used vary depending upon the type of cancer being treated I decided I would make a dedicated posting here discussing the side effects that I am experiencing now that I have been on the FOLFOX regimen for 5 cycles (of a planned, 12 cycle, one week on, one week off, program). I described the specific medicines that I am receiving in the January 2nd entry so I will not repeat that here.

Every time I visit the oncologist, which for me is at least once a week, they run down a list of possible side effects and ask me if I am getting any of them. I decided I would try and replicate that list here and share my current view of which ones I am seeing and which I am not (there's not a lot to be squeamish about here but if medical stuff is not your cup of tea, skip to the last paragraph of this entry now).

UPDATE: I updated this entry on January 5^th 2008 as I realized I had left fatigue, probably my biggest symptom, out of the original list below:

So there you have it. That's my summary of what five cycles of FOLFOX has done to me. I hope those of you that got here by way of a Google search found this useful. If things change over the next seven rounds I will post an updated version of this table.

As always thanks to everyone for their support and especially for all of the birthday wishes I received over the past few days. I had a very nice birthday on Friday. The Wife and kids took me out with some good friends to the local Tokyo Steak house and a good time was had by all. On Saturday I was pretty tired but my energy came back in time to enjoy the Superbowl on Sunday.

Finally, if you are reading this as a fellow patient I wish you all the best towards a cure.

January 31st 2008

Five down, seven to go. Thankfully so far this round the side effects have been a lot less. Maybe I am adjusting finally or maybe I am just lucky this go around. Either way I am not complaining. Tomorrow is my birthday as I mentioned in my prior post. Maybe I'll get to celebrate on the actual day after all! I'm looking forward to the weekend, especially the Superbowl of course and my usual fix of soccer from the UK. I managed to catch the Arsenal vs Newcastle match on TV here earlier this week, now if only Man Utd. would lose a couple of matches life would be almost perfect on the soccer front! It's Girl Scout Cookie season here in Texas for the next few weeks which means Robyn and Lorna have been off sitting outside various stores and other venues trying to sell cookies to the passers buy to raise funds for their troop. The weather here has been a real mixed bag lately with temperatures all over the map (70's F one day 30's the next) so I really feel for them sitting out there trying to sell the cookies. At least I think when people see a bunch of cute girl scouts out in the freezing cold they make a few sympathy purchases. Meanwhile I think Jack and I have the better end of the deal. We sit at home and play video games or watch TV while the ladies are off freezing!

I don't have a lot of other news to share today other than I am trying to work a full day today which is keeping me busy so I'll keep this update brief.

Part 1	Part 2	Encore

Limelight	Far Cry	One Little Victory
Digital Man	Workin' Them Angels	A Passage to Bangkok
Ghost of a Chance	Armor And Sword	YYZ
Mission	Spindrift
Freewill	The Way The Wind Blows
The Main Monkey Business	Subdivisions
The Larger Bowl	Natural Science
Red Barchetta	Witch Hunt
The Trees	Malignant Narcissism
Between The Wheels	Drum Solo
Dreamline	Hope
	The Spirit of Radio
	2112: Overture / The Temples of Syrinx
	Tom Sawyer

Fatigue	About two or three days after each chemo cycle I get hit with fairly severe fatigue that usually lasts about two or three days. So, as I typically do my chemo on Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday I usually find myself getting very tired by mid afternoon of each of the following few days. Usually by the Sunday I am back to normal again. The only way I know to deal with it is take a sleeping tablet or a Xanax as needed and go to bed and sleep it off. I rarely make it past 7pm before "crashing" on these days.
Hair loss	With this chemo there is not supposed to be much hair loss if any. I am maybe seeing minimal thinning of my head hair but basically I am not experiencing any hair loss so far and in fact I need a haircut right now.
Nausea	I have had minimal nausea. The worst was the first week. I have not even come close to vomiting.I have two different prescriptions for nausea but I don't find myself needing to use them too often and then only the weaker of the two.
Diarrehea	This one I am experiencing. Sometimes it can get pretty rough but there are medicines like Limotil that can be prescribed (as was done for me) that really help. I also find eating lots of yogurt really helps too.
Eyesight	Apparently the meds can cause a hardening of the cornea which can effect eyesight. Even with my new glasses, in less than very bright light, I am noticing some problems reading books for more than a few pages at a time.
Bruising	I have not experienced any bruising but I do notice that on a few days right after chemo treatments that some parts of my body, often large muscles, are a bit more tender than normal if I bump into things.
Heartburn	Heartburn has been fairly common. Generally I find a few "Tums" or equivalent antacid tablets take care of it.
Sensitivity to cold	This one was the biggest surprise. One of the three medicines, the Oxaliplatin, effects the nervous system and has had a lot of odd side effects. The good news is that this drug is credited with a lot of the recent successes in treating colon cancer and also it's worse effects wear off a few days after each chemo cycle. Fundamentally it makes me incredibly sensitive to cold. Both food and drink and also to things that I touch I learned early on to only drink warm (or at least room temperature) drinks for the first few days of each cycle. Drinking cold liquid leaves me feeling as if my throat were swollen - trust me on this one, it's a very odd feeling. I also find it hard to hold on to anything cold (say a pot of ice cream from the freezer) and I never put my hands into cold water.The oxaliplatin also causes my jaw muscles to hurt (quite severely) from time to time a lot like I imagine TMJ pain would be.
Mouth sores	They always ask me about this one but so far I have only had one and I am not convinced the chemo caused it (I think I may have burned my mouth on hot food). Either way their are good meds to nip this one in the bud if you experience them.
Rashes and/or breaking out	From time to time I have experienced something like being a teenager again in terms of my skin but generally it has not been that bad and it seems to always clear itself up pretty fast.
Bleeding	I have had no abnormal bleeding thus far.
Shaking	From time to time I have experienced some shaking in my hands but as I type this I am actually back to normal again - it seems to come and go.
Pain	I have not experienced any unusual pain that could be attributed to the chemo.


Welcome!
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.

Welcome!

September 3rd 2008

August 26th 2008

August 24th 2008

August 19th 2008

August 19th 2008

August 7th 2008

August 4th 2008

July 30th 2008

July 24th 2008

July 16th 2008

July 10th 2008

June 24th 2008

June 13th 2008

May 29th 2008

May 15th 2008

May 9th 2008

May 5th 2008

April 25th 2008

April 23rd 2008

April 22nd 2008

April 19th 2008

April 11th 2008

April 7th 2008

April 2nd 2008

March 27th 2008

March 24th 2008

March 17th 2008

March 10th 2008

March 7th 2008

February 27th 2008

February 25th 2008

February 18th 2008

February 13th 2008

February 11th 2008

February 4th 2008

January 31st 2008