Maybe this can be made into a show... apparently the CBC does not care if anyone watches...

Ha.  Ha.  Ha.  It 'tis to laugh.

So the radiation pnenumonitis that has been such a pain spiked because
I had gotten pneumonia.  For the last three weeks.  They decided to do
a culture test... somehow they figured this out despite my not having
any culture... badumpcha!  Anyway...it's walking pneumonia because I have
been walking... and swimming... and doing lots of things I apparently should not have been doing.

Which I thought was a great idea for a show.  Walking Pneumonia.  A
horror drama.  I immediately pitched it to a production company I know
but apparently there was a big hit show this year called The Walking
Dead about these slow walking zombies that are trying to eat your
brains.  It was suggested that this was scarier than a lurching sick
guy coughing phlegm being out and about when he should be in bed.

I do not know about you, but don't you think think that seeing an
overly skinny, sickly looking dude moving slowly towards you down the
airplane aisle, coughing up great big wet wads of phlegm and you
realize that the only free seat still available on the plane is...
beside YOU!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!  I am having nightmares just thinking about it... and
I am the skinny dude with cough.

Anyway, I am now on another course of antibiotics to be followed by a
course of penicillin (just to be sure this time).  The reality is that
this diagnosis is actually good because you like to know why you are
not feeling as good as you should be (or were last week).  I have been
told I am pushing things (the cancer group I went to looked at me like
I had two heads when I mentioned I was out and about after a stem cell
transplant in January) so I am going to try and be a better patient.
It is just hard.  When you learn to look at each day as a gift and
that there is joy everywhere (even in this weather), you really do not
want to spend it inside taking it easy.  But, patience is a virtue and
discernment is something else probably good.  Like chicken wings.

I hope this finds you all healthy and happy (or healthier and happier
than when I last wrote).

Cheers,
Rob

One way, or another, it's going to get you, it's going to get you, get you, get you

Hello all,

I have been a bit remiss with the updates so I will dive in with what
is going on:

I had my Hickman Line removed.  Not really a big deal - a little local
freezing of the area, a LOT of tugging on the line (seriously, I
thought the doctor was trying to land a record sized marlin) and then
nothing.  The doctor then showed me the foot and a half of line that
was in my chest, still covered with some blood.  I was tempted to
cradle it in my arms and take a photo but apparently that is not the
standard process after getting these things removed.  Oh well.  Yet
another opportunity for a relatively original Facebook profile picture
gone.

I had two PET scans.  Both were considered inconclusive as they did
light up but this was at least possibly due to the radiation
pneumonitis.  It did mean I did not qualify for the drug study that I
was looking into but the reality is this is not necessarily a bad
thing.  This drug could have been a gateway drug and who needs to be
all hooked on phase 3 clinical cancer trials - constantly searching
for the next new cancer drug to cure my fix?  Best to just pass on the
whole process, I say.

I mentioned the radiation pneumonitis - I got a chest cold and that
seemed to spark a recurrence of the pneumonitis.  Not as bad as the
first time which completely knocked me out but it certainly weakened
me.

We went down to Florida to get some much needed sun in the middle of
March (and get away from Toronto's one day "It's Spring!" teases
before slamming us with frigid, cold, rainy weather).  The kids loved
the warmth, the beach and especially the pool.  It was great to get
away but I was having issues with the cough and fatigue down there and
had to go see a doctor.

I had an interesting discussion with him... the probable cost of my
treatments for the lymphoma would exceed $500,000 (and possibly get to
$1 million) in the US.  Try paying for that with no insurance... ouch.
 I really wonder why so many Americans were against universal health
care.

Anyway, when I returned I got a script from my doc for a steroid to
minimize the inflammation of the pneumonitis.  Unfortunately the
steroid also affects the immune system (lowering it) and allowed me to
get my first case of Shingles (adult chicken pox if you have had
chicken pox as a kid).

You kind of have to laugh.

I am now on an antiviral to minimize the effect of the Shingles.  It
does not look pretty but it does not seem to bother me too much.  It
is not particularly contagious as unlike chicken pox it is not
airborne.  You would have to touch an open blister (and almost none of
mine have opened) and I am wearing turtlenecks to cover up anyway.  It
is also seemingly only contagious to those who have never had chicken
pox.

Anyway, this could take a week or weeks to clear up (everyone is
different) so of course we suddenly finally get some nice weather here
in Toronto so my turtleneck style choice looks totally ridiculous.
Ahhh, what we we do for fashion.  Anyone who wants to support me by
wearing turtlenecks as the temperature approaches 20 degrees Celsius -
 feel free to join the revolution!  Summer is obviously the time for
neck wear!

Anyway - the bottom line is this, I feel pretty strong despite some
complications and I am in a good head space.  I hope that this finds
all of you in a similar situation.

To all the mothers out there, have a very happy Mother's Day.  I know
that my mom, my mother in law, and my wife all deserve it, they are
fantastic people who do a tonne and sacrifice a lot - especially for
me.  So, please accept my thanks from the bottom of my heart - I
definitely do not say it enough.

All the best,
Rob