Today I go to VGH for my regular Echo Scan……

Herceptin, a new drug for us poor saps that possess the Her2 gene…..I get it every 3 weeks intravenously……I’ll tell you more about it later but while it does a lot of good, it also can harm your heart…..hence the regular Echo Scans.

Do you Twitter?

If so, do you find it useful or a time waster? I can argue both sides on this one…….but I do know that I will continue to use it regardless.

I see a lot of self wanking on twitter, and close networks wanking each other, (wanking…not sure why I’m using this word but hopefully you get the picture). Some solicit others to follow their friends. Quite a few are patting themselves on the back for using twitter and love to tweet about it……enough already……get on with using twitter for good instead of trying to feel important…….who cares how many followers you have or how many tweets you made………..isn’t the point to add value? The old ‘quality’ over ‘quantity’ thing.

I do think Twitter is something that you get out what you put in…….and I still haven’t jumped in fully…

So yesterday I headed out to find glasses…..

I immediately realized that this wasn’t going to be an easy task. I know they’re not going to be tattooed on my face permanently but still – vanity – my face exposed for the world to see while my hair grows back. I needed some cool glasses to distract from my follically challenged head.

I spent over an hour trying on a kazillion pairs but none could distract from my Mia Farrow look (the chubby version) from the movie Rosemary’s Baby. I decided to call it a day and head home. As I walked along Davie street….still bleary eyed (even more so now because my pupils were still dilated)…..I wished there were such things as ‘face reductions’.

These are the glasses the shop owner said looked the best……..I need a 2nd, 3rd, 4th opinion. Tomorrow I’m going to try the place the ophthalmologist recommended. The black line under my left eye isn’t a botched makeup job, just the sticker sporting the designer’s name on the lens “William Morris, London”

Choice #1 - What do you think?

Just call me four eyes……

I realized a few weeks ago as I was walking down the street that I couldn’t make out the facial features of the people walking towards me. I’ve had 20/20 vision all my life…..(other than the need for readers once in a while). Surely this symptom was a by-product caused by the chemo I received over the past 6 months…..it couldn’t be an age thing….naaaah…

So I had my eyes tested on Monday by an Ophthalmologist (Dr. Paton) at the Eye Care Center at 10th & Willow. A referral from my Oncologist Dr. Sun. As you enter the building and start walking around you notice that the lighting is super dim……like mood lighting. I thought it odd as it made it harder to see…….but was soon to realize why.

Once they get you in the chair they’re putting drops in your eyes to freeze your eyeballs so they can touch them with various tools with you realizing it………then they drop in some stuff that dilates your pupils and send you back out to the waiting room……..it was then that I was grateful for the dim lighting. Bright lights make it very uncomfortable for anyone with dilated pupils.

Met a woman sitting next to me who was blind in one eye due to a tumor behind her eye……….she says she was seeing out of it one minute, then the next nothing. Doctor’s thought she had had a stroke until they found the tumor. Ok….so now I have tumors to think about……what if. Sometimes I think it’s best to keep to yourself while in waiting rooms……ignorance is bliss. Plus, right behind this woman’s head to her left was a light on at a receptionists desk that was blinding me.

In the end it was determined that I have astigmatism in one eye. No big deal. They said they saw a few other things (things and words that went over my head) that would have to be monitored.

Doctor writes me a prescription for glasses and sends me on my way. Sooooo……I’m going to be one of THOSE people who wear glasses……..

A year ago today………

I received the “your biopsy results are in….we need to see you…..might be a good idea if you brought someone with you” call. Nice……why not just say “We’ve got bad news, I think you know what it is and you may cause an accident driving home after we tell you, so bring a friend so they can drive you.”

A lot sure happened in this past year……I started keeping a written journal about the time I started chemo back in February…….I guess I will slowly start sharing it here……wish I had of thought of doing this from the beginning (ie. starting a blog to record how I was feeling and what was happening…..mostly because I can hardly understand my own handwriting!!)  I really want to remember what happened and what I learned this past year.

Dinner with a good friend Thursday (Nov 27)

My good friend Graham here on business from Toronto. Had a great Thai dinner, and some very nice wine!

Here are some pic’s of us monkeying around with the camera.

Headed to the BC Cancer Agency yesterday

Went for my Herceptin treatment….go every 3 weeks, usually on a Tuesday. I can’t believe it’s become so familiar and routine for me…..I show up, sit in the chair……and by the time they’re sticking the intravenous in my hand I’m already engrossed in a conversation with the person in the next chair or the nurse that I don’t even flinch. I can’t help think about how far I’ve come. I am now the veteran in the room being questioned and sharing my experiences with the scared and the strong, all eager to know or get a glimpse into their future. They are me 10 months ago.

Went golfing Sunday (Nov 23rd 2008)

Received a call from my friend Wayne, a member of Marine Drive, asking if I was up for a game of golf. At first I was going to thank him and decline the offer. I was too stiff and my feet hurt (the lovely left over side effects of chemo). Thankfully I came to my senses and said “hell yes!!!”

Hit by Virus or phishing victim (gmail).

At first I felt a bit panicked wondering what I should do first. I’ve never had a virus before. I’m still not certain it was a virus as nothing showed up in any of my scans. Maybe someone hacked my gmail account? Whoever or what ever it was….inserted their message promoting some website into my “signature” box and emailed to all contacts.

This Peter Schiff is one smart dude…….

My dad (another smart dude) emailed me the link to this video and I just had to share it. Check out these financial analysts laughing on national TV at Peter Schiff’s economic predictions and keep in mind it was taped over a year ago!!!

These people are supposedly “experts in their field” and some are very familiar faces. They publicly snicker and emphatically state that the economy is fine and will only get better…..AND that Peter Schiff is ‘out to lunch’.

Who on earth would take their advice now? Would you?