Archive: April 2004

Update on the physical side:

Pain - down to discomfort during bowel movements; skin is much better (starting to peel).

Fatigue - still sleeping 10 to 12 hours a day.

Radiation damage - bladder and urinary tract have definitely shrunk, resulting in more frequent and sometimes painful bathroom trips; no pubic hair growing back yet; very diminished sexual appetite; frequent mucous discharge results in bowel incontinence.

Although the physical side still shows problems, I'm not bogged down by them. I look forward to every new day, especially with spring approaching.

Any good April Fool's jokes I should know about?

Thank you Karen, for an uplifting message about God's Cake.

Lovely day to chop some more ice, and now the pond is ice free...

Getting some emails that people don't really know what to say to a person with cancer. I used to feel that way too, and it still is hard. The important thing is to make contact with that special person and tell them you don't know what to say...

The contact makes the difference. The reply may surprise you!

Did some more yard cleaning today. Collected 4 bags of straw and leaves.

Happy birthday, Fred! I'll save the "insulation" straw and leaves for your new garden.

Found out today that Donna had a lumpectomy last week. Donna, God is not done with you yet. Breast cancer and colon cancer are close relatives, so I can relate. Call if you want to talk...

Also found out that Joevan's wife has cancer, and I just pray that God will lay His healing hand on both ladies.

Another gorgeous day for spending outside. I'll have to watch and not overdo staying in the sun too long.

Very tired today. Over-did it going to the annual staff meeting at work, which started at 8:30AM (felt more like 7:30AM as we just went to daylight savings time). Considering that I only had about three hours of sleep last night, and then the early morning, I found I kept falling asleep all day... Yikes...

Much colder today, and a few hours of rain this morning. Took the fun out of garden cleaning, so I filled just one bag today.

Recovering from yesterday. Not ready for prime time, I'd say.

On a brighter note, the BMs are now almost painless, though still frequent.

Changed the water in the pond. Almost ready for the waterlilies...

Went to A&B Sound to check out some of there new recording devices. I'm looking for a unit that records my favourite shows to a hard drive, can copy my old VHS tapes to DVD, etc. They had none in stock but the new 120 gig Panasonic model is expected in May. Very cool technology.

Fairly cool today. Yellow crocuses are blooming. That's a nice pick-me-upper. :)

Waterlilies are in the pond today. Later than last year and I hope they still get their cool period. They need that in order to flower. I keep them in my 6 ft aquarium during the winter, along with my koi and goldfish. The fish don't go outside until late May or early June.

Happy Easter! Was watching Robert Schuller's Easter service and he quoted Albert Einstein, "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." I'll leave it to the reader to ponder that quote...

Some martagon lily seedlings are coming up. :-)

BMs are painful again. Bummer... Yet considering it's been a month since my last treatments, everything has MUCH improved in that month!

Cooling off fast today, and expecting snow tonight. Brrr...

Checked online about my laptop order, but could not locate it, so called Dell. Turns out CIBC VISA would not release payment because they still had my old telephone number. Now why could nobody be bothered to call me or email me to fix this? Sheesh, so much for April 15th delivery... Very disappointed in that (lack of) customer service.

Another picture of a martagon seedling. This one is laying on top of the soil ... is that good?

Last year today, is when the first martagon lily came above ground. Considering I took the straw and leaves off later this year, we're still in good shape, I think.

A little bit of snow fell overnight, but most of it is melting. More wet snow during the day. High of only 1°C.

If you have time to kill, check out eBaum's World for a lot of nonsensical fun...

BM pain is on again and off again. I guess the inside tissue is healing, but slower than I expected.

Woke up to a winter wonderland, and watched an all-day wet snow storm... Received a total of 20cm (8") of the white stuff. Good for garden moisture, I guess. Pond looks so pristine... Good day to watch movies.

Hank sent me a cute poem, called God's Boxes. Thanks, my friend.

Scanned some photos that Cecile took during my last day of treatments on March 12th.

Snow is not expected to be melting in a hurry without sun and a high of -1�C, but I was surprised that the few sunny breaks we had, worked wonders.

Had a follow-up call from Frank Roper at Dell this morning. Frank got the laptop order rolling again, and took $300 off the price for inconveniencing me. I am revising my opinion of Dell's customer service!

It was pointed out that the gland men have is called the prostate. "Prostrate" is an adjective meaning "lying face downward." Oops...

Dell is weird. While I was paying my payroll deductions at Northlands, Purolator was at the door delivering a surge protector for the laptop. Why don't they do just a single shipment? I ordered four accessories and one is here in town, the second one is on the way, and no status on the other two. Now I have to be home for five individual deliveries. Good thing Dell is paying for the shipping!

Started transplanting some seedlings from the jiffy peat pots to a bit larger pot. I noticed mold developing under the nylon container. Hopefully I can contain that now with nodamp.

A lot of snow has melted, except where the sun does not shine. That will likely change tomorrow when it's supposed to warm up to "normal" temps.

I think the moisture from the snow kick-started the martagon lilies. Other flowers I see are scilla, snowdrops, and puschkinia. And then there's a mystery bud. I'm sure I put a lily in that area, but it does not look like a lily nose...

Continued the transplanting. A number of seeds had not germinated so this was a good time to "weed" those out.

Nancy M. tells me there is a Canadian Cancer Society Relay For Life coming up on May 28th. Check the CCS website for details about participating or volunteering. While on the CCS site, you'll also see that April is Daffodil Month. Please donate generously!

You may have noticed a two day gap in the diary. Nothing to worry about, just had nothing to say other than spending a fair bit of time outside.

Picked up some laptop accessories today from Purolator. Got all those now, so now I wait for the laptop.

Looks like my mystery bud (see 17th) is a martagon after all.

BMs are just fine now. No pain, just the mucous discharge at VERY regular intervals, every one to two hours.

Today would have been my dad's 83rd birthday, had he not passed away of cancer in 1984.

Actually got an email wondering why there were no updates for a few days... I'm impressed! Thanks for your faithfulness, Edward!

I feel I have to share some physical stuff under this column, rather than the left side column. For whatever reason, I am hornier than I have been in years. I am really puzzled. During the treatment days and the few weeks after that, I figured it was to prove I could still get it up. There was also the oncologist's comment when I said I was not impotent, and he replied, "not yet." There's a cold shower...

Had a great lunch with Paul. Got a bit caught up with the business side of Northlands, and also had a great time just being with a good friend. On the way home Paul related how he almost drowned a month ago, trying to save his dogs. Talk about a close call...

Spent the afternoon cleaning up some more in the yard. And afterward spent time watching birds. Tough to catch them on camera...

If you have sent an email recently, please be patient for a reply. I have a lot to catch up with.

Still waiting for the laptop. According to the tracking site, it's been in production since the 16th. Too bad the site does not give more detail, like waiting for parts, backlogged, or something...

Had a freak wind storm this evening, and when the sky grew dark, there was tornado talk among the neighbours. Wind gusts were reportedly up to 100km/hour. There are a lot of leaves I don't have to bother raking.

Cold and windy, so I did not take the seedlings outside today, but my mystery bud is doing real good.

Still pretty cool outside, although I did take the seedlings out for some fresh air. The wind keeps mold from growing, so that works for me, and the stems should be getting stronger too.

Figured is was time to do my taxes (why wait till Friday!), so fired up QuickTax and net-filed both returns.

Started adding some more photos to my photo site last night. These are from Vancouver, BC. I'm by no means done. Next will be more photos for the Vancouver Island page.

Saw Dr. Stewart this afternoon and the scoop is that as soon as his office can schedule me, I'm going under the knife. Surgery is typically done on Tuesdays, so it can be as early as May 4th. He could not give the exact date, as he has no control over the Royal Alex's resources.

Before surgery there will be a pre-admission clinic of about three hours of information and instructions. At that time, they will also mark the location of the ostomy. Two days before the surgery I needs to start emptying my bowels so they're clean. Surgery lasts 2.5 to three hours at which time three incisions are made, one general incision from below the rib cage to about the bladder area, one for the stoma, and one to remove the rectum. (Removal of the rectum is still needed because there is still not enough room to attach the colon after the cancer has been cut out.)

Recovery will be a week to ten days in the hospital, after which I go home and Home Care will assist the first little while with the "appliance" changes, and re-dressing of wounds. At home recovery will be about two months.

One month after I go home, I see Dr. Stewart again, and also Dr. Pedersen, the oncologist, for chemo consideration. According to Dr. Stewart, follow-up chemo is fairly certain, but not a 100% given. Should chemo be needed, I'm looking at another six months before returning to work.

The big shocker at the doctor's today was that chemo might be another six months... Wow, another surprise... I don't really need these kinds of surprises.

Dr. Stewart has already told me that the stoma will be above the belt, and then the ostomy attaches to the stoma and the bag hangs below the belt. Wondering whether the belt would obstruct the feces, he said it should not. Perhaps I should look into suspenders... Mind you, he was just eyeballing it. The final location (X marks the spot) will be determined during the pre-admission clinic.

Had a wonderful chat with Chris about her prayer group and what is happening there. Keep the faith, young lady!

Had a very good conversation with Pastor Walt last night. We got talking about St. Paul's journeys and his shipwreck experiences. The sailors he was with just wanted a "Fair Haven" to survive the storms. I have lately been led to the idea of writing about my experiences, and Pastor Walt reinforced the idea. Of course my first thought was, "yeah right, you're not good enough for this." But why won't I let the public and the publishers decide? If you look at the premise that one in three Albertans will be affected by cancer before they die (not sure about North American statistics), and secondly that gardening is the number one hobby in North America, and thirdly, doesn't everybody look for that PEACE that (among others) a garden could bring? Could this be the torch that Sharon wrote about?

The laptop has shipped, but it's in the US. I thought I bought from Dell Canada?

Received confirmation today from the Royal Alexandra hospital that the surgery will indeed be on May 4th, and the pre-admission clinic will be Friday morning.

Somebody asked, "so you opted for surgery?" Surgery has never been an option to choose. The first round of treatments was to reduce the tumor so that when it was time for the surgery, the doctors did not have to cut away tissue and organs that were in the way. Without the surgery, I would be facing cancer again in a year. With the surgery, I can live to a ripe old age (I'm shooting for 80).

Another question, "why did the doctor never order a full colonoscopy for you?" I was always under the impression that a colonoscopy had to be scheduled several months in advance. The real answer is that they would not have been able to do one as the cancer was all around the colon wall and they would not have been able to get the equipment through. A colonoscopy will probably be done within six months of the operation.

My blue koi died today. Seems like when koi die, they die in pairs. In 2002 I had two of them die, about six weeks apart. Perhaps they miss their buddies? But if it had to die, I'm glad it did not happen while I was in the hospital, or I likely would have blamed Cecile.

Laptop ETA is May 3-5 timeframe. Would be nice to get it before I go into the hospital...

Tried watching some movies, but could not keep my mind on them. I guess I'm somewhat distracted or stressed now that I know when D-Day is. And it's raining outside, so I'll go and reply to a few more emails. :)

So how do I really feel? A bit nervous, but not really afraid. I have faith in God and the medical staff...

Got 7.5 mm of rain yesterday. Must be those April showers bringing the May flowers. And my first tulip has opened today! Had an interview this afternoon for an article for the Alberta Gardener magazine. Very cool! Don't know when it will be published.

Cecile and I spent a few hours at a staff appreciation function at Northlands. I was touched by the General Manager's public well wishes in front of the whole group. Thank you, Ken. Thanks also to Opal for a very nice lunch, and I don't just mean the food...

Could it be? Purolator tracking says my laptop is "on vehicle for delivery." For the other two shipments, that meant delivery that same day. That would be a great diversion at the right time!

By golly, it showed up just before 3PM. Now to see what's on it, and set it up to my liking...

Wireless worked at first, then not, and now again... Don't know how it got fixed, but it did.

Have to be at the hospital at 7:45 for the pre-admission clinic. Better get up real early.

Got up at 4AM so the plumbing would not give me trouble when we got to the Royal Alex. We were done around 12:30, and had numerous sessions. First a training session to help us become familiar with what would happen before and after surgery, pain management options, and care when we go home. When I say "we", there were other "to be" patients in that orientation session with Cecile and myself. Then Cecile and I occupied a private room for the duration of the morning.
First Gwen (RN) came to discuss my medical history, and talked about "bowel prep." Do you really want to know, Fran?
While talking to Gwen, someone else came in to take blood samples, some 4 or 5 vials. However, this person was kind of a klutz. She's poking in an area where there is supposed to be a vein, and when I go ouch, she asks if she is hurting me. Duh... So Gwen said not to let anybody touch me on Tuesday unless they had a hot towel on my vein first. Also, after the bad poker left, a young lady came in to do an ECG. While we were talking to Gwen, this gals goes ahead and puts stickers with electrodes on me, and all of a sudden she is yanking them off. She was done...

After what seemed a real long time (I had Cecile put a blanket on me because I was cold, and fell asleep), Donna came in to talk about the stoma, what it was, why that's a "good" thing, and figured out where it will be located. You really want visuals here, right Fran? ;) Donna was such a joy to work with, reminded me of the CCI staff. She even joked with Cecile that this is her way to get guys to drop their pants for her... Of course if she thinks that loosening one's belt is the same as dropping pants, well, what can I say?

Then, the totally opposite kind of person came in, a Dr. Tooz (?). He was talking to me because I have high blood pressure, and he first of all questioned my family doctor's opinion whether my BP was under control. I guess for him, under control means darn near normal. He asked all kinds of questions, one of them, and how is your bladder function at night? Helpful person that I am, I was going to take him from "before" to "today", but he goes like, never mind, how about now. So much for interview techniques to glean more information...

After that, some chest x-rays, and we were on our way.

Very cool. While I'm up early, I may as well play a bit, right? So this update is facilitated by a "VNC" connection from the laptop to my desktop computer which does all the work. VNC is a remote control program that allows one computer to take over another. We use it at work to support our users. The advantage? I don't have to buy MS Office for the laptop... This only works when I'm close to my wireless access point, though.

After almost five hours in the hospital, and having had breakfast at 5AM, I was ready for some fine lunching, so Cecile and I went to La Boheme and I had a nice arctic char plate. It will be a while before we go out for lunch or dinner again, so why not treat ourselves? I can heartily recommend this restaurant. Too bad they only serve lunch on Fridays, but it's only $10.95, choice of three courses. And if you happen to see some crazy guy doing tango steps while you enjoy your food, that'll be Ernst, the proprietor, a very cool dude! :)

Just some comparison with the CCI and the Alex, I find the CCI in a much better position to deal with people in my situation. I wish they surgery was at the CCI, but that can't be helped. In general, at the Alex half the people were rather business oriented, where the staff at CCI was totally people oriented. I'm sure both facilities feel the funding crunch, but why are they so different when it comes to patient treatment?

And more tulips are blooming... Check them out.