Speechless

New Shocking Video Of The Japanese Tsunami by timbarracuda

I No Come Wok Today

Hung Chow calls his work and says, 'Hey, I no come wok today, I really sick. Got headache, stomach ache and legs hurt, I no come wok.' The boss says, 'You know something, Hung Chow, I really need you today. When I feel sick like you do, I go to my wife and tell her to give me sex. That makes everything better and I go to work. You try that.' Two hours later Hung Chow calls again. 'I do what you say and I feel Great. I be at wok soon. You got nice house'.

A Little Information Never Hurt Anyone

If you are planning to have a colonoscopy (and everyone should!) this could be an good resource for you. It's available for free download here.

Brief Update

I know I know. Big fat lack of blog posts this past week. Lots has been going on so I'll summarize:

1) Andrew turned 3 on the 26th. He had a great time and was really excited to have two parties (one for kids/friends, one for family). He was a little confused and was saying for a while that he had two birthdays. I'm not sure a difference exists in his mind. Thanks to all of you for the generous gifts and the fun day.

2) I had my scan on Monday. No results yet but I should get something Friday. I will share here when I get the news.

3) I did more chemo last week and it was crappy (surprise!). Lots of sleep and not much appetite. My mouth is fried and eating anything hot (temperature and spice level) is not happening. Even drinking fizzy drinks and brushing my teeth is uncomfortable. Can't wait for that to go away so I can enjoy some real food!

4) We are off to Germany again on Saturday. Only for 8 days this time so it should be short and sweet. Weather there is great with highs in the mid to high teens and lows in the high single digits at night. Better bring some shorts.

Chemo Today

I'm on my way to the hospital for chemo this aft. Not looking forward to it but it's just gotta be done. We also have some semi-firm dates for our next trip to Germany. We will leave Saturday April 2 and return Sunday April 10 (or maybe Monday April 11 if the flight is full). That's all. Short and sweet.

Remembering Mr. Hockey

When you live in a hospital for a month you're going to meet some great people. Following my first surgery and the ensuing complications which forced me to reside for a month at the Foothills hospital, I shared a room with one such person. Murray Copot was his name and during our stay we, and our wives and families, became friends. All his family, including numerous children (he had 5) and grandchildren (he had 9), came to visit him daily. He was obviously well liked by his family, and evidently, the Calgary hockey community. In the early 1990's he had a hockey rink named after him in North East Calgary. This was following many thousands of hours spent volunteering for Hockey Calgary as a coach and in administration. He is also a veteran of the second world war and was on the HSCS Alberni when it was torpedoed off the coast of France in 1944. You realize right away with Murray that being in his company is special. He has left a great legacy and will be missed.

The following is from the Calgary Herald today:

Calgary's "Mr. Hockey," who dedicated most of his life to the game he so loved, has passed away.

Murray Copot died Monday at a hospice, with his wife Mary at his side. He was 87.

"He enjoyed his life," said Mary Copot. "His hour was up, now he's on to a new journey."

The couple would have been married 62 years this June.

He leaves behind five children, nine grandchildren and one great grandson, said Mary, 87.

"He did his family proud and his community," she said.

Copot, who was honoured to have the Thorncliffe arena renamed the Murray T. Copot Arena after him in 1991, was legendary in the hockey community, and won many awards for his dedication to the sport.

He began as a hockey dad, then went on to coaching in 1955 and ultimately held various administration roles with the Calgary Minor Hockey Association, Hockey Alberta and the Alberta Junior Hockey League.

He eventually won the Canadian Hockey Associations' Volunteer of the Year award and a lifetime achievement award from the Alberta Amateur Hockey Association.

In 1993, at age 69, he was named the city's 40th Sportsman of the Year by the Calgary Booster Club.

The hockey community is mourning the legend's death.

Hockey Calgary president Perry Cavanagh called him a mentor.

"Two guys can carry the title of Mr. Hockey," said Cavanagh. "One of them wears a No. 9 (Gordie Howe) and the other is Murray Copot."

"To have a sports facility named after you before you are deceased proves that you are well respected," said Cavanagh. "He was an incredible human being who will be missed by Hockey Calgary."

Copot's death is being felt across the country. On Tuesday night, the Western Hockey League posted a statement on their website:

"Murray was not only a great friend to many of us involved in the game, but he was a special volunteer who gave so many years unselfishly to ensure young hockey players had every opportunity to excel and enjoy the sport," WHL commissioner Ron Robison said.

Copot served in the Second World War and was on the Canadian Navy ship, the HMCS Alberni when it was torpedoed off the coast of France in 1944. Copot was one of 31 to survive. Fifty nine others died that day.

"He became involved with young people because he wanted them to become good citizens, be involved in sports and be a part of their community," said Mary.

"He wanted young people to enjoy life and have fun. He was proud to be part of that."

Car Trouble

Flight Home

Flying for 9.5 hours during the day is pretty nice. No kids to watch/entertain, lots of new movies on the little screen and food (and drinks) brought to your seat. Sweet.

Movie reviews so far this flight:
Black Swan: Need the Coles notes for that one. Should have started with something a little easier on the mind.
True Grit: Jeff Bridges and that girl are awesome.
Love and other Drugs: It was a little awkward to watch all the sex and nudity with a little girl sitting in the seat behind me.
Incendies: Very dark. Should have been best picture of the year. Bar none.

290 miles out of Calgary now. Landing soon.

A Slow Day in Germany

Charlie Sheen?, originally uploaded by DPC Tutt.

Plans have been formulated for our return trip to Canada. We will leave here on Saturday afternoon on a direct flight back to Calgary. We still plan on returning back here to Germany in about 4 weeks. Plans for that trip are still up in the air somewhat but it's coming together slowly. Today the weather here was pretty poor with lots of wind and overcast skies. Had it been good weather I wouldn't have been able to take advantage of it since I'm so tired. Either the chemo or the detox infusions have taken a lot out of me these past few days and I spent the morning in treatments and the afternoon in bed. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

We had a great Skype with the kids tonight and are looking forward to getting back and seeing them and all of our friends and family at home. I hope everyone is doing well.

Full Body Hyperthermia

Hooked up and ready to go, originally uploaded by DPC Tutt.

Well, on Monday I had the full meal deal, the full body hyperthermia. It went very well. As I explained briefly before the whole process takes about 4 hours from start to finish. FIrst they get you out of your clothes and partially covered with what they called a towel and I would call a wash cloth. Then they weigh you to see how much you weight you loose through sweating and pop you on the table. The table is actually made of a hammock-like mesh that supports you over some infrared lights. There are also infrared lights that are lowered from above once the procedure is started. Before they get you really going they stick thermometers all over you. Under you back, in your arm pit, on your ear, under your knee and yes, up your arse. That way they can tell when you're cooked. I was half expecting them to jam a pot roast thermometer in there somewhere. You know the ones that come in the roast from the butcher where the little red bit pop out when the roast is done? Luckily they were a little more technically advanced than the butcher shop in that respect.

Once all the prep is ready they put you to sleep. They don't use a general anesthetic just a propofol drip (yep the same stuff that killed MJ). It works well but it takes more to put me to sleep than most other people since I've had it so much so there was a few minutes spent half awake, half asleep babbling like an idiot. Penny said I asked her if I could get a motorcycle. When she said yes I apparently asked her if I will have to ride on the back... Stupid drugs.

So the next thing I remember is being hoisted out of the bed, naked and sweaty and bandaged up with very cold creme and dressings. I guess I had a few sunburn-like red blotches on my back, elbows and legs. They are all gone now and things are good in that respect but for 24 hours I looked like a cross-dresser with a whole bunch of fish-net like gauze stuff holding my bandages in place. Luckily there is no photographic evidence of that particular phase!

During the hyperthermia they got my core temperature up to 40.9 degrees C. and held it there for about an hour. Once I reached that temperature they infused my irinotecan chemotherapy. Giving it to me at my hottest temp supposedly increases the effectiveness of the chemo. They gave me the same dose as I get at home so the past few days have been sort of crappy. The side effects are way less intense here but I still feel sluggish and sickly. The night following the whole body hyperthermia and last night I got infusions of another chemo, 5FU. The infusion during the night decreases the side effects and increases the effectiveness of the chemo.

The plan for the next few days is to continue with my normal daily treatments (local hyperthermia, magnetic field therapy, massages, and ozone therapy) and start on a detox protocol. That should put me in a good position to leave here this weekend and head home to see the little ones. Leaving a week early will allow me to do a round of chemo at home (for free!), recover in my own house, maybe go to work and save a little $ for another trip back here to the kilinik in about a month for another round of whole body hyperthermia.

I know, I know. The "towel" in the picture doesn't cover nearly enough. Sorry about that.

This turkey is cooked!

I had my full body hyperthermia this afternoon. It went well and I'm feeling fine. I'll write about the details another time. Just wanted to let everyone at home know that I'm ok. Now two days of chemo then some detox and the resumption of my other treatments (local hyperthermia, magnetic field, vitamin c etc.). I hope everyone else is good. We're sure missing the kids...

Frankfurt

Frankfurt Main Haufbahnhoff, originally uploaded by DPC Tutt.

Today is Sunday which means a day off here at the klinik. Besides one infusion (which I have yet to receive) I had no treatments scheduled for today. Instead of hanging out around the town here we decided to hop the train to Frankfurt and see what was going on. It turned out we picked a great day to go.

Right now in Germany it's Karnival time. I'm not sure what the celebration is all about but it's definitely a celebration. People dress up and drink and there are parades in all the towns. In this region people yell out "Hellau!" all the time during Karnival as a celebratory greeting.

We left Bad Salzhausen on the train, made a transfer in Friedburg and arrived at the Main train station in Frankfurt exactly one hour after our departure. Once we arrived at Frankfurt Main Hbf we were amazed. This is the largest train station in Germany (and maybe Europe?) serving 300,000 people daily. It's huge and awesome and clean and well organized with 24 separate platforms.

Once we arrived we got a coffee and a muffin and started our walk. The weather was cool and windy but manageable with a toque and gloves. We headed through the park (avoiding the red light district) and went to the Main tower. 3.50€ each got us a ride up the high speed elevator to the viewing platform at the absolute top of the building. From there we could see all of the city and the rest of our walking route for the day.

We left the Main tower and headed east. All of the shops and businesses seemed to be closed but we found a vendor on the street selling wieners and beer so we sat down for lunch. We both tried the curryworst with beer and hot wine. It was devine and seemed to satisfy our stomachs for the moment. As we sat there more and more people came to the street and pretty soon it was packed with partygoers dresed up in full regalia to celebrate the Karnival.

As we kept walking more and more people came out of the woodwork to the point that some street were packed with partygoers. We soon came to the realization that today was parade day. We finished our walk over the Main river and came back on a different bridge right to the start of the parade. We walked "upstream" against the flow of the parade and were able to take the whole thing in (it was massive!) in about 45 minutes.

There is one huge difference between parades in Canada and parades in Germany. In Canada we throw candy, sometimes. In Germany they throw candy AND give out beer form the floats. It's great. And on top of that everyone in the parade is drinking too. We saw one marching band whose bass drum player had a beer holder on top of his drum! We didn't stick around to see the aftermath of the parade but I can imagine more than a few partcipants and observers may have a hard time making it to work tomorrow morning.

After our parade watching we headed back to the train station and caught the train back here to Bad Salzhausen. It was good day. It was especially good to get out of this little town and see something new.

Mistletoe And Other Things Of Interest

Mistletoe, originally uploaded by DPC Tutt.

We got out for two long walks today. It seems to be one of the recurring themes here along with lots of fruit, lots of salads, lots of treatments and lots of relaxation. We met a new couple here yesterday. This is his third time coming for full body hyperthermia. They live on the road up to Sun Peaks just outside of Kamloops. He and his wife were/are both teachers and are very interesting people. That also seems to a theme here, interesting and diverse people. I suppose that arises from cancer being the great equalizer. It affects young and old, rich and poor and everyone in between. We've met lots of other patients here and it's been like one big support group. The carcer people talk and share stories and the support people comfort each other and provide some perspective on the cancer battle. It's been all around a great experience: people, food, doctors, nurses, treatments, the town, the country.

I'm scheduled for my whole body hyperthermia treatment on Monday. In talking with other patients here who have already undergone treatment we've learned a lot. The whole procedure takes about 5 hours. Two hours to get up to temperature (41.7 degrees C), one hour to cook at full temperature, and two hours to cool down. While you have the treatment they give you a sugar solution via IV (to get the cancer cells active and open up the metabolic pathways so the chemo gets absorbed efficiently) and chemotherapy. In my case they will be giving one chemo drug during treatment and one or two drugs in the two days and nights that follow treatment. During the entire procedure you are asleep, not under general anesthetic, but just heavily sedated. I'm hoping they will let Penny into the room with the camera so we can get a shot of the apparatus. I'm looking forward to it and am hoping it will do it's job on the nasty bits in my lungs.

My only complaint thus far is the reccurring pain I get associated with my drain. The doctors here did a culture of my drain fluid and found that the antibiotics I've been on won't kill all the bugs in there so they are switching me to another antibiotic in the hope that it will kill the bugs and help with the pain. Fingers crossed.

Apparently the bunches of green up in the oak tree pictured above are mistletoe. The birds carry the seeds up into the trees and "deposit" them up there where the mistletoe grows happily. When you get up close you can even see the little white berries. I had no idea this was how mistletoe grows.

What's the deal with Charlie Sheen?

Warm Walk

Road, Bad Salzhausen., originally uploaded by DPC Tutt.

We got out today for a good walk. It was nice and warm but windy. Lots of treatments today. We signed up for a shopping trip tomorrow and we're going to a local basketball game on Saturday. It's a busy schedule but it's been fun so far.