Dec 28: Christmas was fun. I got Gloria a DVD player that wasn't compatible with our TV. Today I got the appropriate converter cable and got the DVD running. Right now I am watching Saving Private Ryan.
Gloria got me gift certificates for Old Chicago, ChopHouse, and Peaberry Coffee. That and chocolate, a Broncos blanket, and some Mets paraphernalia. There is some talk of heading to Florida to catch some of Mets spring training again this Feb/March. Nothing firm yet. Interesting that he thinks I'll still be alive in March.
My AIM ID is caoriez. Feel free to say hi if you have AIM installed.
My oncologist has decided to cut back on my zometa. No more treatment until March. However, he says that Iressa isn't appropriate for me. It works, but only under certain circumstances that don't match mine, so the previous plans to start that in January have been dropped.
Gloria got a distinguished service award at the RMC Christmas party, as did Ann Bonnell. Mike Mueller got Conservationist of the Year. I ended up as the only person in the car heading home that didn't have a current award. We have gotten to the point where our Love Me Wall had filled up. We ended up moving our diplomas over to another wall and rearranging the other stuff.
Dec 10:Decided I didn't like the navigation buttons. We had our group christmas party last night. New people showed up. Fresh meat for the excomm :-)
Dec 1:I registered oriez.com now, and put it out on pair.com. For the moment, all I have out on it are personal photos, but we intend to use it for selling stuff. I also applied for a part time job at KGNU managing their network, having gotten tired of laying around waiting to kick the bucket. Since the domain may not resolve yet, having just updated the domain name server information, I put the IPA in the trips link temporarily.
Nov 20: Just back from two weeks in the northeast. I started off in Rhode Island at the AITP conference, then headed for New Jersey and New York. I managed to catch up with quite a few friends from the good old days. While there, I attended a function to discuss the current program at Sing Sing prison where they were discussing the current program to help some of the inmates complete college degrees while they were serving their time. When I asked whether the program had adequate hardware for the inmates to have adequate computer skills when they completed their degree programs, the superintendent said that they were "terrified of computers" and one of the graduates complained that when he got out, he didn't even know how to "send an email". Obviously, they have problems adequately training their graduates. I sent an email off to one of the program sponsors offering help in that area. I sent it late Friday, so no chance for a response yet.
I woke up this morning at 5:30 with a nightmare. I couldn't figure out where we were going to get the 51st vote to save the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from drilling. No matter how hard I tried, I kept stopping a vote or two short. Then I woke up for real and realized that my nightmare was for real too. I still don't know where the 51st vote is coming from. Sometimes I'm glad that I won't have to live through the next four years of the Bush administration.
Oct 20: Scan was negative. No blood clot. Some minor growth in the tumor was placing some pressure in an uncomfortable area. Kaiser tweaked my pain meds regimen. My doctor was on vacation, so the on call doctor decided that he wanted me back in two weeks to see my doctor and discuss added chemo.
Someone searched my web site for references to Cthulhu. No, I don't list Cthulhu in my whacko cults page. Cthulhu was a figment of H.P. Lovecraft's imagination. If anyone knows of someone actually setting up a Cthulhu cult page, I'll add it, but I don't plan to expend energy looking for it.
Oct 12: I got a flu shot on Saturday. I've been having some problems, probably coincidentally, with a tight chest, some coughing, and shortness of breath. I decided to call Kaiser yesterday to see if there was a connection. They decided no, but they wanted to see me anyway. The oncology center wanted my primary care doc to get involved, so I went to see Dr Massey for the first time since April of 2003. Surprisingly, my blood oxygen level immediately registered 95 on his machine, which is as good as it has ever been at the oncology center, and there it only got to that number after I took a few deep breaths and sort of willed it to that number. He took chest x-rays to rule out pneumonia. Nothing there. Then we talked about a CT scan, which has to happen downtown. That's because the other most logical explanation for my symptoms was that I had a blood clot. Options were to go through the emergency room, but it might take 6 hours to get the process completed and get me home, or go in today as an out patient. Downside of that was that I could die overnight. I decided that if I were going to die overnight, I'd die overnight, and opted to wait. So I get my scan done this afternoon.
It was a rude awakening though. I've known since May of 2001 that I have a short life span. Someday, I am going to die. Getting told that it could happen tonight without any further warning or opportunity to prepare or say my goodbyes puts it on a different level. Now it suddenly seems to be real.
Oct 9: Where did the time go? I turned 52 without noticing it. Biggest problem now is the folks who want me to focus on the cancer and ignore the rest of my life. A cancer discussion group actually didn't want me on their list because my email sig block indicated that I was involved in other things as well. I figure that's their problem rather than mine, and left. I had just about decided at the time to leave anyway because I wasn't seeing much value there by comparison to alt.support.cancer. So don't look to ACOR for much in the way of help.
We watched the debate last night. I was amazed at the margins on CNN and MSNBC saying that Kerry had won. I was focused on facts being raised, and thought it was closer. Everyone else was focused on how petulant that Bush sounded. 76% on CNN say that Kerry won! That is based on 400,000 responses. 67% of 1,000,000 picked Kerry on MSNBC! The Rocky Mountain News actually had it 92% Kerry. Yeah, I know those aren't scientific. But if the only ones watching the debate and then voting are Kerry supporters and undecideds, those numbers make me feel good.
Meanwhile, do check out http://electoral-vote.com for the latest polling information. I like the numbers, and hope that Kerry's momentum continues.
Sept 25: Got my part of precinct 172 walked. Not enough energy anymore to walk the entire precinct, but volunteers are coming out of the woodwork, so I know that the whole area will get covered.
Sept 15-22: My aunt Ruth Hutton visited from Tampa. As long as they were evacuating to avoid hurricanes, why not have her visit Colorado? Of course, everything then missed Tampa entirely, but we still had fun. I had spent my junior year in high school as a refugee from Illinois
Sept 13: Dear Mike et al -
I want to thank you for nominating me for the Susan Miller award. As life winds down, I worried that I wasn't leaving something permanent behind. Not a believer in life after death, I have to assume that whatever I accomplished in the last 50 years is basically it. I don't come back for a second chance. The Miller award says that at least some people think I did something useful. I am going to treasure that in the months ahead.
Remember though that we're a team. I'm doing part of the work. I'll accept that it is a useful part of the work. It is important though that we all continue to contribute. Something on a web page somewhere may change enough votes in Florida to put Kerry in the White House, or give an activist the information he needs to win a lawsuit that saves lives, or help a new member figure out how to get involved for the first time, going on 10 years later to be president of the Club. We didn't file the lawsuit or ring the doorbells or assign the first task to the new activist, but our combined efforts behind the scenes are an important part of the Club's work in preserving our environment. Your role in that, at a minimum is as important and significant as mine. As club volunteers and staff carry on in the years to come, remember that you are doing critical work in an important cause. Web developers will probably never get a pen used to sign a wilderness bill into law, but we still were there helping to make it happen.
I will treasure the award and remember the respect for my work that the award symbolizes. Thank you for the tribute.
Sept 4: I got the scanner working on Gloria's machine. I now have 50 years worth of photos to scan into my computer and post. Not to worry though. I have broadband now, so I don't have to reduce the quality all that much :-) You never know what photos I may find digging through the scrapbook.
We managed to watch the Broncos disgrace themselves in the final pre season game on Thursday. I think my chances of surviving through the playoffs is better than theirs are right now.
Sept 1: Well, it now looks like I survived my final summer. I have every expectation that I will make it through election day and vote my yellow dog Democrat ticket. I might even make it through inaugural day, which will be nice. Word came today of another idiotic appointment by Bush in the medical and scientific arena. His hamstringing of basic scientific and medical research has probably killed as many people, or at least shortened as many lives, as his foreign policy has put into coffins in Iraq. There apparently is an FDA panel that deals with women's health issues. According to the guy that Bush just put in charge, the medical solution to everything from PMS to premature menopause is more prayer, and reading the bible.
This is probably the point though where I need to start thinking more seriously about dying. Gil has been working up towards that in recent sessions, and I suppose that he has a point. As we get closer to November 2 though, I don't know how I will contain myself enough to avoid more rants like the last one above. I promise to try though.
A few minutes ago I put the finishing touches on my own obituary. How many people get to plan ahead enough to do that? I had sent my first draft off to my brother Richard who is attending J school at U of Missouri, who ran in by an expert there. Professor Vultee has my thanks for his constructive comments, all of which got incorporated into what I hope is now my final draft. I've also been playing with a list itemizing some of the personal items that I would like to give away when I go. I have everything squirreled away on my home PC in a directory called end-of-life in the "My Documents" section. I should email the directory to Gloria and a few others.
I got our LAN quasi functional, installed Qwest DSL, and got wifi working between the Qwest modem and my HP laptop. Now I just have to figure out how to communicate between the computers so that I can access the printer hanging off Gloria's PC from the other PC's. For any techs interested in helping, the printer hangs from a Win2K box. I have Win2K, a WinXP, and a SUSE v9.0 OS's that need to talk to it. I see Gloria's Win2K machine from my Win2K machine, but passing files and accessing hardware is not happening just yet. That is tomorrow's technical triumph.
Aug 25: Congrats to Tyler Hamilton and Bobby Julich on their cycling medals.
I had radiation done on my hip bone. All this time I thought the cancer had spread to my right hip. Turns out it was in my left hip. I have a CT set for Friday. The radiation did not reduce my pain any. It wasn't expected to. Regrettably, they have given me as much RT in my ribs as I can tolerate.
First Broncos pre-season home game is Friday. I have tickets, of course.
Aug 5: Yep. Lance won. Tyler Hamilton pulling out was a surprise. Lance won so big that maybe he'll come back again next year. He didn't look like someone on his last legs.
Speaking of last legs, my pain levels are up. Last night and today I decided to up my morphine 50%, which significantly improved things. I'm also seeing more signs of spread.
In mid July, I got the word that I had won the Susan Miller award at the Sierra Club this year. I'm in something of a state of shock. An environmentalist winning the Miller award is like a reporter winning a Pulitzer. Mark Collier was the second winner this year, which is appropriate since we have always worked together on running the chapter's computer services. I'm still sitting here thinking "They have got to be kidding" though. Given the number of things that people have done for various chapters, it doesn't seem right that the little I have done, by comparison, merits any special notice.
July 14: Happy Bastille Day. Looks like Lance Armstrong has them where he wants them. Now that the Tour is in the mountains, I expect to see him pick up some time and move quickly to the front. Tyler Hamilton lost a little time today, and one of the guys that had been ahead of him lost a lot. Virenque however moved ahead of him by a couple of minutes. Lets see if he can hold it.
Fun time fly fishing in the Yampa on Friday with Don and Mike. Didn't catch anything, but it was a nice way to while away a couple of hours. Then onto the chapter excomm meeting in Steamboat. A fun time was had by all.
June 23: Dan Bihn turned me on to an interesting web site. Concept is to put the war on hold for a month, and use the savings to fund enough research to cure cancer. I sent my postcard in, although I have to think it is hopelessly naive. Bush's concept of finance is that we're borrowing at record rates to pay for the war, and our grandchildren will actually be paying for the war, 40 years from now. If we stop the war for a month, that just means they'll be paying it off two years sooner well after I am dead and gone. Anyway, click on the link and send a postcard in. Address is Resident Bush, White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington DC 20500. Send a copy to Sonia for her count.
May 25:Did I wrong Jim Martin? One person who read my blog pointed out that he has been more critical of the program than other Regents. Checking the archives of the Post and News, there is no doubt that this statement is true. However, I can't find any statement from him calling for resignations, or the firing of Hoffman. Meanwhile, read Diane Carman's column in the Post today. Vine Deloria should be congratulated. Regent Susan Kirk's comments on the relative importance of things shows that the Regents still don't get it.
Enough politics. I am going fly fishing this afternoon.
May 22:Jim Martin, one of the members of the Board of Regents who collectively have been trying to sweep the CU sex scandal under the rug, had to come in front of our Democratic Party's state convention to be renominated today. Jim Martin - if you are reading this, this is your wake up call. I'm part of the 57% who voted for your opponent Wally Stealey and gave him the top line on the primary ballot. I only wish that another 11.1% had voted against you and kept you off the ballot entirely. You won't call for the firing of Betsy Hoffman. You won't even call for the firing of David Tharp and Gary Barnett. That's called an absence of leadership. When Wally got up on that stage with his broom and called for a clean sweep, he was our guy. If it wasn't for the fact that he decided to run at the last minute, I bet we could have organized the floor so well that we did keep you of the ballot. As it is, you have until August primary day to reinvent yourself as part of the solution instead of your current positioning as part of the problem. Next time one of your fellow regents tries to tell the world that the parents of the people accused of rape have had a tougher time during this investigation than the people who were raped, show some leadership.
May 18:Gloria contacted the Dianna Price-Fish Foundation. I now have a fly fishing starter kit, donated half by them and half by the Orvis store at Park Meadows. DPFF is sending info to Reel Recovery so that everyone can take advantage of it. I intend to have fun with it.
May 17: Back from two trips. First, Gloria sent me off to summer camp to teach me how to fly fish. Accomplished that, kind of, in a three day effort on the Big Thompson River up near Loveland. I got home just in time for the SPG excomm meeting, then headed to San Francisco for the Sierra Club Council meeting. Got home Sunday night somewhat late. Photos from the fishing trip.
This morning I headed for chemo. Instead, just did the Zometa for the bones. I'll have a cat scan in three weeks, then in four weeks I'll either stick to Zometa, or add navelbein (which I am probably misspelling) and another drug. More on that after some more research. Seems like every time I get a new medic alert bracelet, Kaiser changes the drugs. I was so tired of chemo that cutting it short is definitely not a hardship for me.
May 5:Yesterday was election day around here for special districts. The Sierra Club had backed four candidates for the West Arapahoe Conservation District. Three of them won, big. With a little more effort on my part I think I could have gotten the ten votes needed for the fourth guy, which bugs me. Julio Iturreria was largely responsible for getting the Arapahoe County Open Space question passed on the 2004 ballot, and payback was losing his WACD seat by nine votes. In The South Suburban Park and Rec District election, Kay Geitner and Dennis Reynolds won. Kay helped build the Colorado Trail, the 400 plus mile trail between Denver and Durango. Seeing her run so far ahead of the pack was satisfying, and a tribute to her campaign skill. Littleton also turned down the Marathon rezone, finally.
I found a couple of new toys yesterday. Tell me what you think:
About that last one. Gay bashers are fond of quoting Leviticus to show that God hates gays. Someone who took the time to read all of Leviticus showed that God was down on quite a few things around the time that Leviticus put pen to papyrus. I've updated my Whacko Cults of the Internet page to discuss it further.
May 4:Today is Gloria's last birthday with me. Likelihood of making it to next year seems very remote. This is the third year I've thought that. Today J published links to the 4 part cancer FAQ on alt.support.cancer. I provide links on the left side of this page. I separated out a cancer risk study put together by Harvard University that might be worth looking at.
May 1: Why I'm a Democrat got nicely demonstrated today. Judith Johnson from the Rachel Carson Group of the Sierra Club connected up with Brett Traudt and me at the Jefferson County Democratic Convention. Brett and I are active in the South Platte Group of the Sierra Club. Our goal - collect as many signatures as we could for FasTracks, the mass transit initiative that, if passed, will provide funding for light rail build out in the Denver metro area. Meanwhile, Roger Wendell, another Rachel Carson Group activist, was a delegate to the Jefferson County Republican Convention at the same time, with the same goal.
At the Democratic Convention, the powers that be assigned us a table right in an ideal high traffic location. They charged us the same $10 that they charged anyone else who wanted a table, which is not unreasonable, given their need to cover the costs of their convention to the extent possible. Then after we got 300 signatures or so, one of the county officers on the credentials committee, who happened to be a notary, volunteered to notarize our completed petitions for us so that we could turn them in more conveniently on Sunday at the FasTracks rally. When we took him up on it, he dropped what he was doing, got our stacks of completed petitions notarized, and we walked away happy.
Meanwhile, how did Roger fare at the Republican convention? I'll let him tell you in his own words:
At 0547 PM 5/1/2004 -0600, Roger J. Wendell wrote:
"I obtained about a dozen signatures today, at the Jefferson County Republican Assembly, after which they asked me (directed me) to stop. They actually produced a copy of the rules showing that petitioning, throughout the assembly, is forbidden."
There you have it folks. Republicans wondering why the environmental community seems to be mostly over in the Democratic camp should read and comprehend that, and perhaps do some soul searching. Which party went out of its way to advance the cause of mass transit in Denver on Saturday? And for the undecided masses reading this, which party are you now more comfortable with knowing that their hearts are in the right place when it comes to protecting Colorado's environment?
I believe that average Republicans are decent people who care just as much about the environment as their Democratic neighbors do. Those average Republicans need to compare the difference in reception when a Republican environmentalist tried to accomplish something at his convention, and Democratic environmentalists tried to accomplish something at our convention. There are still opportunities to change this year of course. The Arapahoe Republicans meet this coming weekend, and both parties still have their state and congressional conventions coming up.
Apr 30: Got my confirmation from Reel Recovery. I am wait listed.
Apr 29: Gloria came home from Qualife with something called "Reel Recovery". A free three day fly fishing trip for recovering and surviving cancer patients. It happens just before my San Francisco trip. I have to clear the schedule and actually get invited, but I will do everything possible to make that happen.
Apr 28: Monday was chemo. Interesting developments. I have a bone scan to schedule. I am tolerating the chemo well enough to push treatment out to 8 cycles. I was kind of looking forward to being done in six, but the liver lesion was reducing. Doctor also thinks my fatalistic attitude about being dead in 6 - 13 months is a problem. He gave me lorazepam to deal with anxiety.
I'm heading to San Francisco for the May BOD meeting. I arrive Thursday AM and stay through Sunday afternoon. I'll be at the Crown Plaza. Chemo happens the day after I get back.
Went to my home owner association meeting last night. They need a new webmaster. Never could leave well enough alone. No they don't. Lance Foreman and I agreed to tackle it as a team. Lance is the Republican precinct committeeman and former city councilman for our district, but otherwise harmless. We could be a good team.
Apr 19: We got everything we asked for in the way of environmental planks. If anything, there were a couple of places where I proposed that we cut back some on the rhetoric, and I got out-voted by the "environmental extremists" on the platform committee. For instance, the Sierra Club has a milder position on public access to Rocky Flats than the committee took. One pleasant surprise - we got a plank banning commercial logging on public lands. I had not expected to preserve that one, and the vote to keep it was lopsided. The Democrats have our county convention this weekend. We'll see if the platform survives unscathed.
Meanwhile, tomorrow is the Littleton hearing on the Marathon Oil property. Developers want a big box (Lowe's). Neighbors don't. The property is currently zoned for energy research facilities. I intend to ask what efforts have been made to approach energy companies and NREL to come up with a use to preserve existing zoning and turning Littleton into a leader in renewable energy research.
Apr 13: Taxes are done. Caucuses are tonight. I'm going with a set of environmental planks (see page 3). It looks like Kerry is a shoe-in. I intend to vote for Ken Salazar for US Senate. I think his environmental platform is better, and Mike Miles decided to add me to his email lists and start spamming me without my permission. I never vote for spammers.
Apr 6:Chemo yesterday. Haven't hit my downtime yet. A CT done last week says that the lesion detected on my liver in December is now only 13x13cm in size. Chemo seems to be doing something. Only one more round to go though. Doctor wants to evaluate me for some clinical trials as well as schedule a bone scan after the final chemo on Apr 26.
Mar 29: FIRE! 1:30
AM I wake up to a strange light in my window. Always curious, I look
outside to see my neighbors running across the street in their PJ's and
flames shooting up the side of their house nearest us. They had some
construction detritus stored there that the fire marshals apparently have
decided had spontaneously combusted. They suffered about $150,000 in
damage, even though the fire was contained by the garage firewall.
Our preliminary loss estimate is $7200, not including my car. My
Saturn has a plastic body. Exposure to substantial nearby heat causes
white plastic to melt and take on the appearance of toasted marshmallow.
Pictures taken the next day can be enlarged
by clicking on the first picture and scrolling through them.
Mar 26:This is interesting. 3 months and 10 days since I got my death sentence. I was told 8 months, with the last 2 probably being on my back. I'm not feeling that way though. I'm making plans to attend the national Sierra Club meeting in May. We just got back from Florida and the Caribbean. First a cruise, then a week watching the Mets in Spring Training. Photos should be up on my trips site shortly. Meanwhile, the Dems named me co-chair of the Arapahoe County platform committee. All I asked was to have a seat at the table. I didn't expect a seat at the head of the table.
Jan 6:Interesting conversations over the last couple of weeks. No one is offering any hope over the liver, and they'd be lying if they tried to. However, both the radiation oncologist and my regular oncologist want to throw everything they can at this to slow it down, relieve pain, and generally make life pleasant, or at least less unpleasant. If it were only the liver, I wouldn't bother continuing treatment. But they seem to have hope about treating my bone pain and lung involvement, so Friday I go in for both radiation and chemotherapy. The chemo will include the heavy duty stuff that I did for the first 9 months back in 2001, except they are no longer using
taxol, having come up with alternative drugs with fewer severe side affects. We'll see what happens. Dec 16:Results of my CT Scan came back today. It's official. I'm screwed. They found a 13 x 17 cm hypodense lesion in the lateral aspect of the right lobe of the liver. I always knew that it would eventually spread to somewhere fatal. I guess this is it. It's been a fun run. Dec 2: Finished radiation. I think I've been seeing some improvement, but it is hard to be sure.
The radiation therapy was performed at St Joseph's Hospital. The waiting room there has a couple of old Catholic nuns who keep the patients company and keep our minds off our troubles. They have a silly graduation ceremony when someone finishes
rad, complete with cap, gown, etc. Dec 1: My spam debate went live on W3 radio. I have a link to it on the
Nov 14: Started next round of radiation. On Oct 28 they only popped me once. They had changed their minds about hitting the spine, and went directly to the ribs. That let them give me a higher dosage all at once. This time, they are targeting my spine and will do it over 10 treatments, one per day, with a lower dosage. I had some nausea the following day, but nothing terrible.
Nov 6: Polis Foundation made me 2003 volunteer of the year. big dinner. I didn't think that I had done all that much. However, we do have Recycle I.T. off the ground and running.
Oct: Hawaii was marvelous. Photos are up elsewhere on the site, so I won't repeat myself here.
Oct 3: I can't believe I turned 51. Two years ago, more than one doctor told me that I wouldn't see 51.
Sept 30: Radiation consult today. I start radiation therapy on Oct 28. They're going to pop me for 5 days. They want to wipe out the cancer in the center of my spine that has been causing some of the back pain.
Sept 26: Contributed the first computers to a school from the Sierra Club RecycleIT project.
Aug 13: From http://atrios.blogspot.com/
Fair and Balanced Friday
Neal Pollack has given the Fair and Balanced Blogger Army a call to arms. Friday is Fair and Balanced Day. It shall be our solemn duty...nay, our solemn Fair and Balanced Duty, to use the phrase Fair and Balanced in as many Fair and Balanced ways as we can. Preferably while mocking the shit out of the Fair and Balanced Fox News Network in as many viciously funny ways as we can think of. As Neal says:
Yes. This Friday, August 15, is Fair And Balanced day on the Internet. You are all hereby instructed to use the words Fair And Balanced in very creative ways on your various websites. My cosponsor in this effort, Atrios, informs me that many of you are already using "Fair And Balanced" in your taglines. Very good. Sometimes, I swear you don't even need instructions from me. But we can go further. Tell Fox News to take its Fair And Balanced slogan and shove it up its Fair And Balanced hole. Feel free to be more subtle than that, if you wish.
To repeat. This Friday is Fair And Balanced day. Use the slogan at will. I will not be keeping track of the uses on this site, because it made me tired last time, but I still trust that you will spread the virus in funny and creative ways. We cannot let Fox News cannot beat us, people. If they sue one, they can sue all. Al Franken has resources. Fox News' next victim might not be so lucky.
Aug 10: Doonesbury had a cute one (link gone and removed). Of course, a true blogger would be more casual about working words like "nude photos of Brittany Spears" into his blog to drive search engine traffic. :-) I also think that references to Anna Kornikovina would draw more traffic than Pamela Anderson and Demi Moore combined. And if you came here looking for nude photos of Brittany Spears, you're a pervert.
Aug 08: Word came that Sue O'Brien died of cancer. Politicos will remember her from either the Lamm or Romer administration. More recently, she ran the editorial page for the Post. She had previously had cancer, relapsed in April, went to the hospital in June, and died in the last few days.
The Sierra Club Foundation backed away from Recycle IT! Happily, while they were doing that, Jared Polis was contacting a member of our task force. His foundation may end up partnering with us on this effort.
UCITA is dead. While we were focused on one piece of bad legislation, several others passed.
July 30: Recycle I.T. is born, or so it would seem. Mayor Hickenlooper asked Denver businesses to support the schools. Greg Casini asked me to come up with a way to recycle computers. We're going to get donations from businesses, refurbish them, install linux, and set up some computer labs. Details to be worked out, but DPS administration accepted the idea in principle this morning.
July 23: So today I posed the question "why did my bone scan show less cancer in my spine than my MRI in 2001 did?" Apparently an MRI is easier to fool. The bone scan is more sensitive.
I watched Tyler Hamilton win a Tour stage today with his broken collar bone. With a good time trial on Saturday he still has a shot at the podium as the third place finisher, but my check of the past time trial performances of the people still ahead of him suggest to me that he's most likely to move up one more place to fifth. It makes me want to get out on my bike and see what I have left.
I also noticed less need for pain meds today. Maybe the Zometa is working.
I just got a note from a friend that her mom started chemo. I told her about the support groups.
July 20: Side effects receding already. No reduction in bone pain yet though.
July 19: I joined two cancer support groups on Usenet. Why I didn't do this ages ago escapes me. The Zometa side effects kicked in big time, and I wanted to know how long they would last (answer 2-3 days most likely). The side effects are temporary increased bone pain (similar to the side effects of neupogen) and flu like symptoms.
July 18: results from bone scan showed improvement. It also showed that I had some rib trauma not related to the cancer. That must have been some party. Doctor started me on Zometa, which attacks cancer on the bone. Not really chemo, but same concept with less side effects.
Andrea Fine's daughter came home.
July 11: bone scan at Kaiser
July 9: I've been happily watching the Tour De France this week. First I listen on the web at 7 AM, then watch the tape at noon on OLN. Link from my home page.
July 5: Finished a series of articles on spam for Information Executive, then decided to write one more for the package.
I ran into the story of Andrea Fine, dying of cancer with a daughter attached to our forces in Iraq. Her daughter was denied compassionate home leave. It turns out that Andrea Fine lives in Longmont, in Mark Udall's district. I have friends in that office, and asked them to intercede.
US drug prices without prescription drug coverage are outrageously expensive. Turns out I can get twice as much Vioxx from a Canadian pharmacy for half the price. Of course, now that consumers have discovered a benefit to globalization, the Congress, the FDA, and the drug companies are all upset. Their response to consumer benefits from globalization is to figure out ways to regulate, control, and restrict it. Isn't democracy fabulous? Canada drugs
July 2: Found mom's disposable camera from her trip here last summer. Not many pictures on it, so I ran around the backyard taking pictures of our garden. (since removed to save server space)
It turns out that Kaiser doesn't cover Vioxx or any other Cox 2 inhibitors for pain. I'll probably get the prescription from Canada. Much furor in the Congress right now over all the senior citizens getting drugs cheaper from Canada. Globalization of the economy wasn't intended to help consumers, so they're in an uproar over the unintended consequences and trying to figure out ways to cut off the flow without being too obviously anti-consumer. Competition - what a disaster for the US drug companies. You'd think that we lived in a free market economy or something. My heart bleeds for them - NOT!
Denver City Council killed a strong smoking ordinance Monday night. My letter to the editor ran in the Post today. I'm the last letter on the page.
June 30: Results from latest cat scan are back. Amazingly, after 3 months with no chemo, I am still stable. No growth. Still not restarting chemo. Dr. Mughal ordered up a bone scan so that he can decide whether to attack the cancer in the bones with a new drug therapy. Scan is July 11. Meeting to make the decision is July 18.
I got a little tipsy last night and called some friends. Whether this thing kills me in a month, or a year, or a couple of years, it's going to kill me. I know that someone is going to propose the usual memorial contributions thing. I want mine to be used to go after the tobacco companies. Hit their profits by hitting smoking in Colorado. Maybe that means litigation. Maybe that means legislation. I don't want it to go for nambie-pambie education. That isn't my style. I asked Myrna Poticha and Peggy Malchow to head it up because they best understand the combination of political possibilities and Sierra Club process. Peggy is our political chair. Myrna is a former elected official who sponsors the current Greenwood Village smoking ordinance. I want Pete Bialeck from GASP in the loop on this because I don't want it forgotten that this is a big state, and some of the cutting edge legislation in this area is happening well away from the Denver metro area.
May 7-May 28: Tour of Europe Lots of fun. I'm in the process of writing the account and posting photos.
April 23: Most interesting. The doctor at Kaiser thinks that I should not have been kept on Taxotere as long as I have. My research doesn't find anything to support or dispute him. He wants me to take a hiatus from treatment for two months (actually, closer to three) and let my body recover. On the negative side, he also wants me off the aptosyn. I'd be more confident of his judgment if not for the fact that his recommended treatment wasn't also the cheapest way for Kaiser to proceed.
On a side note, that Springbank rum conditioned scotch is darned hard to find.
April 6: Happy Tartan Day. I haven't gotten this drunk in a long, long time. Scotch tasting at Pints, followed by a tasting of anything liquid. Happily, Gloria was driving. Found some neat new scotches. If you get a chance, try the Springbank rum conditioned. Springbank is a Campbelltown distiller.
April 2: Had my 'get acquainted' meeting with my Kaiser PCP. He immediately gave me a referral to their oncology center, and I go there for treatment on April 15.
RMCC could not get permission for me to stay on the aptosyn study if I don't get treatment from them. That was cause for some serious alarm on my part, because Kaiser didn't sound that encouraging to me when I raised the issue. However, one of my bright ideas was to find out if Aptosyn/Exisulind was available in other countries on a non study basis, so I had some friends outside the US investigate for me. The short answer was no. However, Sid Tan (remember Sid? He chaired the Vancouver, BC group of the Sierra Club when we were fighting Shell over Nigeria) took my question a step further, and asked some folks to propose alternatives. And hot damn, there is an alternative. Merck makes something called Clinoril (generic name sulindack) which seems to attack cancer in the same way with the same results. Even has the same side effects and the same recommended monitoring regimen.
March 20: Okay. I've fixated on cancer long enough. I'm also going to start doing entry at the top of this thing. Entries from 2001-2002 run downward if you want to go back that far, but from now on I'm going to top post like a Gatesian. Too much pain to drill to the bottom. I've also renamed the thing.
Today is the third day of the Oh-Oh-3 snow storm. The snow stopped yesterday. I put a web page up. Major accomplishments were getting the driveway cleared, with some serious help from neighbors, cutting a path to the BBQ grill, and backing my car out of the drive and into a snow drift. After putting the car back in the driveway I decided I could wait awhile, like until Spring. We are getting some serious melting action though. It will be 50F on Saturday.
March: This is my last month at RMCC for treatment. Seems Gloria's insurance is switching to Kaiser. They get to treat me starting next month. First downside is that treatment moves from RMCC which is around the corner from my house to St Joseph's Hospital on the east side of downtown Denver. RMCC is trying to get permission to keep me on the apotsyn study. That study may be the reason I've outlived most of the medical predictions so far. Aptosyn supposedly slows tumor growth. Watch here for news. My friend Don Teronde says that Kaiser may refer me to RMCC to keep me in the study.
February: In Honduras, thanks to friends. Film at 11. I intend to convert my Alaska section to Trips shortly.
January: Making plans for our Honduras trip next month. Chemo continues. Mayo Clinic reviewed my most recent cat scan and said there wasn't enough bone involvement to warrant my coming up there for their treatment. Said they'd see me in a year or two.
Begin 2003, and top posting
On Monday, May 21, 2001 I showed up at my doctor's office with what I thought was bronchitis. Surprise, it was something called a pleural effusion. Shortly thereafter I was flat on my back in the Swedish Hospital emergency room. Eventually, a pulmonary specialist took something like 5 liters of fluid out of my chest cavity. The diagnosis was a stage IV non small cell lung cancer, which had metastasized. I'm told that I have 6-18 months to live if I don't start chemo.
June 8: Started chemo. Nowhere near the side effects I was told to expect. White blood cell counts are varying like a yo-yo. Joints are sore a few days after chemo, but they have a drug for that. The nausea is prevented by a medication that would cost me $400 for a 4 day supply if I didn't have insurance.
June 10:Gloria organized a surprise party for me at Old Chicago. Massive turnout.
click on selected photo for enlargement (slow download)
photos by Blake Ressmeyer - thanks, Blake
June 23:Ran half a mile in the Relay For Life Cancer Cure Fundraiser, supporting the Rocky Mountain Cancer Center team. 6 min 20 seconds isn't too bad for an old fart with lung cancer who hasn't run competitively since High School (third fastest on the track that morning - it pays to wait until most are too tired to compete).
June 28:Cancer survivor Lance Armstrong won the Tour de Suisse by 1 min 2 sec over his closest opponent. Won stage seven of the nine stage race two days earlier. He's ready.
June 29: Chemo session 2. No significant side effects so far as of evening of July 1 other than fatigue, and that could be caffeine withdrawal (no caffeine or alcohol 48 hours either side of chemo). Nausea hasn't hit, even without bothering to take the anti-nausea drug. Joints aren't even sore yet, which is one side effect from last time. Pain in my back where I think some of the tumors are, which might be caused by shrinkage. Trying to avoid taking the strong pain reliever.
July 6: 40 mile training ride. Pain in back pretty much gone. Must do research on endorphin production from long distance bike riding.
July 7: Tour de France begins. Lance Armstrong trying to three-peat. Finishes third in the prologue, 4 seconds behind Moreau who has the yellow jersey. Don't expect Armstrong to make his move before the mountain stages.
July 11: Cat scan and MRI to see how much the cancer has been affected by the therapy. Visual Basic final in the evening - last coursework for my MCIS at DU, with only the final paper to go. I expect to spend next winter on the paper, and get my diploma in the spring.
July 14-15: MS 150 Bike Ride. 150 miles from Highlands Ranch to Royal Gorge. I'm in it. I didn't finish first, but I did finish, with the energy left for a standing sprint at the finish line.
July 17: Lance Armstrong wins the Alpe d'Huez stage of the Tour de France, climbing back into contention for the yellow jersey.
July 20:Chemo session 3
Aug 10: Chemo session 4
Aug 31: Chemo session 5
Sept 21: Chemo session 6
It's been awhile since I have updated this. I went for a second opinion at University Hospital somewhere in here. Two things got determined.
My cancer is stabilized but not in remission
My health permits me to push past the normal six chemo sessions
Oct 15: Chemo session 7
delayed from Friday until Monday so that I could take a trip.
Nov 2: Chemo session 8
A little nervous here. The delay in session 7 almost meant that my white count didn't recover enough in time to revert to my Friday schedule here. On November 1, my white count was too low. Happily, I just got under the wire.
Nov 12: I am now teaching Oracle SQL at DeVry Institute (formerly Denver Technical College).
Nov 21: Done with my MS-CIS at DU!!!!!!!
Nov 29: I am now teaching Web Development 101 and Decision Support Systems at National American University.
Nov 30: Chemo session 9
Yep. CT scan and other tests say that I can and should keep going. I had delayed one week because I thought I was done, and delayed the Nov 21 doctor's appointment so that I could put the finishing touches on my Capstone project at DU (Internet's Impacts on National Borders). Got an A on the Capstone.
Dec 28: Chemo session 10. During the pre chemo physical Dr McMahon tells me that my five year survival chances aren't all that bad. Worst case is 18 months. Seven months ago I was given 18 months max.
Jan/Feb 2002: Nothing but physicals. Chemo is over and the cancer is stable but not in remission. I got asked back to teach a second semester at both colleges. Guess they like me.
Mar 2002: I'm not the only one with cancer. Figuero has a malignant Mast Cell tumor that has invaded at least one lymph node. We're taking him to the CSU vet school for treatment, which he seems to be tolerating. We'll know next Wednesday whether what we're doing is enough.
Mar 16: Official graduation date on my diploma.
May 2002: On the first anniversary of the original diagnosis, I'm informed that a CT revealed that the plural effusion was coming back, and that they had to start treatment again. So now what? They're going to use a slightly different drug which is similar to Taxol without the same level of side effects. Meanwhile, I'll be taking an experimental pill twice a day for the rest of my life. The pill has the side effect of causing some liver damage, but I won't live long enough for it to matter. I have four bottles of really good scotch (and one bad one) on my bar, and a wine cellar at home that I have to finish before Tuesday though, since that is when the pill starts.
Oh, and Figgie came through his surgery okay. Then we found another tumor on his cheek, which his primary care vet took out. No results back, but we got a really tacky card from the CSU vet school asking us to contribute a plaque in his memory. You'd think that they'd wait until he was dead before they asked us to memorialize him.
May 28, 2002: Started the experimental drug this evening. My last alcoholic drink was a glass of sake with lunch at Wild Ginger. I finished off two of the bottles of scotch last weekend. If the blood tests show no effect on my liver from the experiment I may decide that I am on the placebo and finish off the rest of the scotch.
May 31: Second round of chemo starts.
August: Chemo continues. Spent a week on the Zandaam on the inland passageway in Alaska. Lots of fun and games. CT scan set for Aug 20. First Broncos exhibition on Aug 19.
September: Chemo continues. Working some for Rollie Heath for governor. Incidentally, either the experimental drug is a placebo, or the milk thistle really works, because liver problems seem non existent and I'm enjoying my various adult beverages.
October: Chemo continues. Turned 50 here and celebrated what will probably be my last birthday with friends at a Thai restaurant. Also spent Halloween on the Riverwalk in San Antonio with friends drinking way too much.
November: Chemo continues. First trip to Europe, where we visit Myra Holmes in Spain. Finished up the month with a trip to San Francisco, then brother and kids show up for Thanksgiving. Mayo Clinic announces new treatment for bone pain related to metastasized cancer. Early this month, Figuero loses his fight with cancer, dying while I am returning from San Antonio.
December: Off to Austin where nephew is getting a Phd in Physics. Read the dissertation. Extra credit if you can find the math error.
