How many cancer patients does it take to change a light bulb?
None. They're too weak to climb the ladder.

What's the real reason Biggie was bald?
Chemo money mo' problems!

What's the difference between a skinhead and a cancer patient?
The skinhead's not going to die from a horrible, incurable disease.


oh snap!

Belly Up to the Potluck Bar

It turns out that San Gabriel Valley bloggers know their way around the keyboard and the kitchen.

Take a peek at some of the food at our Primavera in Altadena Potluck Picnic and find out how to make a simple California Salad at Open Mouth, Insert Fork.

Don't touch the kitty

Today, WCK and I took Garland to the vet for her yearly checkup, and the doctor found a little lump under her skin. The doctor looked nervous and then noticed how nervous I looked and then tried really hard to not look nervous. Garland has to go in next week to have surgery to get it removed and find out what it is.

I am mad. Just mad. Look, Cancer Fairy, you got me. Fine. Whatever. But you do not mess with my cat.

Back to the doctors

Saw my endocrinologist today, it was a pretty good visit. I got a new one touch machine to track my sugars (steroid diabetic) since I need to monitor my vitals more closely since I am going to be more prone to rejection now (kind of like the first year out from transplant).

Inhibitory effects of omacetaxine on leukemic stem cells

Inhibitory effects of omacetaxine on leukemic stem cells and BCR-ABL-induced chronic myeloid leukemia and acute lymphoblastic leukemia in mice, by Yaoyu Chen and 5 co-authors, including Shaoguang Li, Leukemia 2009(Mar 26) [Epub ahead of print][PubMed Citation]. Examples of related news items:

Data suggesting that omacetaxine can eradicate leukemic stem cells may offer a breakthrough for CML, Physorg.com, March 26, 2009. Excerpt:

Data showing the ability of omacetaxine to kill leukemic stem cells in mouse models with drug-resistant chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) are the subject of an advance online publication in the journal Leukemia, ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals Limited (ASX:CXS and NASDAQ:CXSP) announced today. The findings of this study provide new insights into the problem of minimal residual disease and may open the door to the development of a curative treatment strategy for some patients with CML. .....

Leukemic stem cell killer ‘omacetaxine’ help rises Chemgenex’s share, Stem Cell Research Blog, March 28, 2009. Excerpt:

ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals announced on March 26th, 2009 through online publication in the journal Leukemia, about the ability of omacetaxine to kill leukemic stem cells in mouse models with drug-resistant chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). .....

Mauled by a Student Nurse

Alert readers will recall that Cancer Bitch has a rare blood disease that borders on cancer. It becomes cancer when plaintiffs' lawyers go after the people who allegedly caused it in their clients. Otherwise it's pre-cancerous. It appears mostly in men over 60, so she doesn't know what she did to get it, besides having a certain JAK2 gene mutation. The condition is called polycythemia vera and those that have it have too many platelets and red blood cells. One of the symptoms of the disease is itchy skin, especially after a hot shower.

Cancer Bitch has not taken a hot shower in years because of this. She has taken very quick warm showers and jump-in-jump-out baths because she wants to avoid hot water. In the past few weeks, she's been itchy all the time, and it ranges from regular old dry itchy skin to just-like-the-time-she-kneeled-on-the-ant-hill: itchy and painful pins and needles. It seemed for a while that benedryl could tackle the itch, but then it seemed it could not. Friday she itched and scratched during dinner. Saturday she was itchy and uncomfortable and on the way home from grading papers, she whimpered and cried in the privacy of her car. She couldn't tell if she was weeping because her skin hurt so much and she felt feverish, or because she felt, It will always be thus, why do I deserve this? She never asked, Y Me? about the cancer, but she was asking it about PV. She could understand how Spalding Gray killed himself because he couldn't relieve physical pain. She didn't know, either if she was scared and panicky because she'd run out of Effexor for a day and half, and didn't know what is fear caused by pain and what is fear caused by fear of pain.

She stopped at the drug store to pick up the Effexor and she asked the pharmacist if there was anything stronger than OTC cortisone cream. The pharmacist said her doctor could prescribe cortisone. And Cancer Bitch thought how terrible and impossible it would be to take cortisone for the rest of her life; it would dissolve her bones and maybe make her crazy, out of one's tree, as Stanley Elkin once put it.
She became Scarlett O'Hara asking, What is to become of us?, us being herself and her rare blood condition.

It was early evening and she was still weepy when she arrived home and her husband L said Why not call your hematologist? She was too choked up to do it so he called and left a message with a real live person to leave a message with the hematologist on call. Soon a hematology Fellow called the Cancer Bitch residence and said, Your itchiness may be due to a higher platelet count, so before I prescribe something you should go to the ER and get your blood count. So that is why Cancer Bitch and consort spent four-and-a-half hours in the Fancy ER. During which time a student nurse chased after a vein in the crook in Cancer Bitch's elbow, digging into it, really, and that is why Cancer Bitch yelled out, Shit, shit! when she has never before cursed or yelled out anything during any procedure ever before involving a needle in pursuit of a vein. L said that she would have a bruise the next day, and it was so: it's fuchsia and about three inches across and one inch high.

The blood was drawn and then it was examined and then it was told to Cancer Bitch that her platelet count was high, and then the ER doctor prescribed a lovely drug called Atarax, which STOPS THE ITCHING.

The question is, Why didn't Cancer Bitch's hematologist recommend this before? She will find out Wednesday, at her next appointment.

Meanwhile, Tuesday she is getting her womb opened up slightly so the gyne can examine her cervical cells to see if the abnormal cells she gathered for a biopsy are widespread and to see if there's a polyp still hiding in there. When the doctor described the procedure to her Monday, Cancer Bitch said, Is it a D & C? and the doctor said Yes, it's a D & C. D & C always sounded so mysterious, as if it were a cover-up for an abortion. It does take place sometimes after an abortion. But not in this case. In this case the doctor is probing for secrets of the womb, wanting to know if any cells have started down the road to becoming cancerous. Cervical cancer, we read, is slow-growing and it's one of the easiest cancers to treat. Taking tamoxifen can lead to cervical cancer, which is why the Cancer Bitch and her doctor are so wary.

Then Wednesday is the appointment with the hematologist who wants to put her on a pill that could eventually lead to leukemia, just like the condition itself, polycythemia vera, might.

Might might might. May. Quien sabe?

Life moves on, whether we act as cowards or heroes. Life has no other discipline to impose, if we would but realize it, than to accept life unquestioningly. Everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from, everything we deny, denigrate or despise, serves to defeat us in the end. What seems nasty, painful, evil, can become a source of beauty, joy, and strength, if faced with an open mind. Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognize it as such. -Henry Miller

a bright light lost

Smart, funny, creative, talented Sara has passed away.

I only knew her as an online presence (although we did once spend more than an hour on the phone together) but I am grieving tonight and for all the people that love her.

I am told that Sara loved red wine and good tequila so if you partake of either of these tonight (and even if you don't) please raise a glass in her honour.

I am going to put on the lava earrings I bought from her (they are my favourites).

Damn. Cancer really sucks.

A Shoe-In at the City of Hope

While my doctor is writing out my prescriptions or making arrangements for future appointments, I sit perched on the exam table, dangling my legs and scrutinizing his appearance. I find comfort in the predictability of his wardrobe.

Today I looked down and saw that he was wearing a new pair of brown, lace-up shoes. They were the identical color and style as always, but looked as though they had just been lifted from the box. "Why, you're wearing new shoes, but they're just like your old ones," I blurted out as though I was talking with a six-year-old.

He explained that he's worn the same style for years. When it's time to replace them, he simply brings the box with him to the store, hands it over to the clerk and requests an identical pair.

No wonder he has time and energy to heal his patients, write thought-provoking essays and search for a cure for cancer.

(Imagine what I could accomplish if I ever found the perfect purse. My brain could move on to more lofty goals.)

Rest and More Rest

Resting or trying to rest. My ribs still hurt from the surgery and I need to start trying to do some sort of work out to help break-up all the new scar tissue I have accumulated from this wedge resection (that hurt like hell). Guess I will sleep in the recliner and watch some basketball (if I wagered I would wager on UNC).

On a shift in focus for CIRM

CIRM Close-Hauled, Seeks Bonds to Sustain Headway by Constance Holden, Science 2009(Mar 27); 323(5922): 1660-1 [PubMed Citation]. Excerpt:

A $210 million, 4-year program of "disease team grants," to be awarded this year, is the centerpiece of this thrust [toward support for translational research]. The program will entail perhaps 10 large grants to teams combining academic and industrial researchers working on a specific stem cell product for, say, Parkinson's disease. .....

Found via: Science Magazine on the State of CIRM, David Jensen, California Stem cell Report, March 27, 2009.

Updates sent to Twitter, March 22-28

Updates about CSC sent to Twitter during the fourth week of March:

Understanding the cancer stem cell hypothesis, Portal (OICR Newsletter) Winter 2009 [March 27]: http://tinyurl.com/ckcdab
[Full text is publicly accessible].

Stem-cell driven cancer: "Hands-off" regulation of cancer development [OA][March 26]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19279406
[Full text is openly accessible].

MicroRNA-199b-5p Impairs Cancer Stem Cells through Negative Regulation of HES1 in Medulloblastoma [OA][March 26]: http://tinyurl.com/ccgt8y
[Full text is openly accessible].

Making Connections between Stem Cells and Cancer, NCI Director's Update, Mar. 24, 2009 [March 25]: http://www.cancer.gov/ncicancerbulletin/032409/page4
[Full text is publicly accessible].

Transitions between epithelial and mesenchymal states: acquisition of malignant and stem cell traits [March 25]: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nrc2620
[Full text is publicly accessible (free registration is required)].

Nuclear signalling by tumour-associated antigen EpCAM (reference 1 in Micromet news item [see below]) [March 24]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19136966

Micromet Has Started a New Phase 2 Trial with Adecatumumab in Colorectal Cancer Patients [March 24]: http://tinyurl.com/d9oc9j
[Full text is publicly accessible].

Oncolytic reovirus effectively targets breast cancer stem cells, Mol Ther 2009(Mar 17) [March 23]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19293772

Pancreatic cancer stem cells and relevance to cancer treatments, J Cell Biochem 2009(Mar 19) [March 23]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19301275

Free at last (once again)

Free from the hospital once again, they kept me over night after my bronch because of the elephant drugs they use to knock you out during the bronch. I had to check myself out seems when the orders were written for me to be admitted on Friday they forgot to include my transplant meds. Luckily I had enough meds in my truck for Friday but not for Saturday so after missing two doses this morn. I decided it was time to go.

The bronch hurt my joints or the medical staff from the 3 floor must have come in the room during my bronch and pounded on me. My joints haven't hurt this bad in well over a decade trying to get up and function on Sunday after a Saturday football game. I had to ask for some pain meds and several heating pads. Next bronch I think I will wear rib pads and hip pads.

Good news I didn't miss soccer game number 2 soccer game was canceled due to the cold weather in TX.

Looks like I will be burning up the highways between Dallas and Fort Worth next week.

Let's roll

You'd think nothing could top WCK's first trip to the bowling alley, but you'd be wrong. On Wednesday, we made WCK's first trip to the roller-skating rink. I have to say that I was really scared to go. I had visions of screaming and tears and constant falling and broken bones -- and that was all on my part. Don't get me started on what I thought would happen to WCK. It turned out to be the FUNNEST. TIME. EVER.

A nearby roller-skating rink opens up one morning a week just for preschool-aged kids. The moms are allowed on the rink in regular shoes to hold the kids' hands. The little skates also appear to be rigged so the wheels don't turn very fast. They shine all of the disco lights and play a mix of Disney music. They even played "Let's Get Together" from The Parent Trap, which has to be one of the greatest Disney movies of all time. At the end of skating, all of the kids got to sit down on the rink and eat a little dish of goldfish crackers and drink a cup of Sprite. WCK has never had pop before so she refused to drink the Sprite, but she still had a splendid time.

I haven't been roller skating since the '80s, but it seemed to be exactly the same, right down to the decor. The only thing that was missing was a couples skate to Journey's "Open Arms". Maybe next time.

John Dick interviewed by Monya Baker

John Dick: careful assays for cancer stem cells by Monya Baker, Nature Reports Stem Cells 2009(Mar 26) [Full text is publicly accessible]. Excerpt:

What does the field need to move forward now?

It needs controversy.

The field of cancer stem cells needs controversy?

That's a little tongue in cheek. But it does. Controversy sparks better and better science. What it does is it actually eliminates sloppy thinking. There's been a real rush onto the cancer stem cell bandwagon in the last couple of years. People are talking about cancer stem cells here, there and everywhere, and in any old cell line. There was a huge slippage in the kind of criteria and rigor. People were using this terminology without any thought or any rigor based on some cell-surface marker or something like that. .....

[Thanks to Alexey Bersenev, via Twitter/cells_nnm].

End times #3

I'm struggling a bit with this series of posts....I want to be positive and hopeful that everyone will fight and survive and beat their cancer odds. I want us all to be survivors and to live long and healthy and productive lives. I want us all to be poster children for cancer survival.

But I've been in the cancer community for almost 8 years now, and I have come to know and understand that everyone will not survive. Some who deserve to live for many reasons that are right and just and honorable won't survive. It is so unfair. So wrong.

We all felt Randy Pausch should have been the example of rightness and golden hope and survived against all odds..he was strong, tough, intelligent and determined and had so much potential to inspire. He could have been our ultimate survival poster-child, he should have defied his terrible odds. He could have been the evidence that determination equals survival. But he succumbed to his cancer. It was so wrong and so unjust that he left a great career, good marriage and young kids who needed him behind. We wanted him to survive, to continue to inspire us. But cancer claimed him, as he said it would.

I've got a special place in my heart for mothers of small children who have cancer, as I once was one. And I've communicated with, and lost, several. A nurse like myself had a four year old son who had no father or paternal granparents and whose maternal grandmother had died of cancer. She wanted so bady to stay alive to raise her son, but didn't. I developed a relationship with a mother of children ages 1, 4 and 6 who desperately wanted to stay alive to raise her children...and she succumbed. She was in her 30s. Another mother of two and four year old sons who desperately wanted to live and who I advocated for as she sought the most advanced treatment for her disease also lost her battle recently. I learned today a woman and friend I advocated for and had lunch with in Washington DC just a few months ago lost her battle 2 days ago. She had two children.

I am a nurse and have recently worked with two former oncology nuses who have left that field...oncology nurse turnover is huge. One nurse told me she attended a Christian church for 30 years...but working in oncology made her doubt her faith. She no longer attends a church and is uncertain of her faith based on all of the pain and unfairness she's seen.

I have still a strong faith, though I don't have answers. I'm waiting for the answers, though I know I may not get them in this lifetime.

I only know what is...that some survive cancer, but many don't. And we need to be here to support those who lose their battles.

A close friend, a woman I love a lot, received a terminal diagnosis this week. I want a miracle for her. I don't want to lose my friend. I want her to survive all odds. I am angry, again, at cancer. But I loved that her sister said she will be here for her children when she is gone. If I were dying I'd want someone I loved to be there for my kids.

Maybe the one thing we can do to make it better for those who don't survive is to help fill the voids they leave, to let them know we will be there when they can't.

Maybe cancer advocacy is that, too.

artwork Nicoray via fecalface.

I wrote a letter to myself to be mailed five years from now, but it suprised me so much in its sincerity that I thought I'd post it here instead.

Dear FutureMe,

Are you alive?

If so, I am happy.

You are now a long-term cancer survivor. Reoccurance is unlikely. YOU DID IT. All of the pain and anguish of chemotherapy has been worth it. Can you still taste your foods? Can you still taste success? I hope you've had a little.

If you've had a reoccurance, stay strong. The good days alone are enough to keep fighting. The blue sky, the fresh air, a shared smile. I hope you have found love. Even if it has come and gone, you've had it in your grasp.

Always remember the hollow, nauseous days of chemo, and all that you've learned from cancer. Remember your humility. Remember to give back. Remember to smile, because people say you are more beautiful that way.


If you are dead, I love you, I'm sorry, and I hope someone else can read this.

DE STRUISE BLACK ALBERT (READ CAREFULLY!!!)

We have recieved a small shipment of BLACK ALBERT. It is available for reservation by members of the BEER OF THE MONTH CLUB exclusively until 5PM this Friday. After that, it will be first come first serve.
You can call to reserve your bottles at 415-255-0610.


cheers,

dave

NEW ARRIVALS

1. Haandbryggiert Dobbel Dram

(Norway)

2. Huvila Arctic Circle Barleywine

(Finland) (I have been trying to order this one for awhile. It's made with Juniper!)

3. Reutberger St. Josefi Bock

(Germany)

cheers,

dave

Back to the Spa on Friday

Well I guess I have to go back into the Spa on Friday for a bronchoscopy. The transplant doctors want to make sure that I don't have some sort of infection going on. I hope I don't get stuck on the third floor again.

I love to watch.

There is a site called FutureMe, on which you can send an email at a future date. Some of the emails are public and this one sucked me in. I like the format. Personal essay with a smattering of mediore poetry and a couple of spiritual debates for good measure. Seems like something I'd probably write, actually.

I like the idea of sending yourself something from the future. I think I'll send all of you my secrets, to be read 5 years from now. I'm not sure if I'll be around 5 years from now. If I am, I will be considered a "longtime survivor".

fancy that.

www.futureme.org

NEW ARRIVALS

1. Beer Valley Leafer Madness Imperial Pale Ale

2. Beer Valley Highway to Ale Barleywine

3. Beer Valley Black Flag Imperial Stout

4. Beer Valley Pigskin Pale Ale

5. Oskar Blues Mommy's Little Yella Pils (can)

Keep an eye out for more great stuff. I'm expecting some interesting things later in the week.

cheers,

dave

Multipotent stromal cells as a Trojan horse?

Link between cancer stem cells and adult mesenchymal stromal cells: implications for cancer therapy by Christian Jorgensen, Regen Med 2009(Mar);4(2): 149-52 [PubMed Citation][Publicly accessible full text]. First paragraph:

A new concept has emerged in tumor biology suggesting that tumoral growth is derived from cancer stem cells (CSCs) present in the tumor. Moreover, these CSCs share common features with adult stem cells. In parallel, recent works have highlighted interactions between multipotent stromal cells (MSCs) and carcinoma, and the possible use of MSCs in cell-based anticancer therapies. Thus, translational research between fields of stem cells and tumor biology has changed our perception of carcinoma progression. The therapeutic implications are considerable and imply that to eradicate cancer we need to identify and target the CSCs as well as the MSCs that have migrated to the stroma.

Thanks to Alexey Bersenev, via Twitter/cells_nnm.

author not pictured

Some time between when we pointed the car towards Florida and made our way back (we had a glorious time, by the way. Few photos this year but it's still this beautiful in Siesta Key), my book was published.

The dogs were less than impressed but the human members of my family are all very proud and I am so pleased to actually have a copy to hold in my hands. You can get yours from Women's Press or wait for details of the launches we are planning in Ottawa and Toronto.




And last night, S. won an Honourable Mention in the short story category (for 9-11 year olds) in the Awesome Authors contest, run by the Ottawa Public Library. His story, "The Man in the Photographs" was about how he never wants to seem as uncool as his father. "Pure fiction," he said at the awards ceremony.

This is going to be SO easy next year

Half the fun and half the work of throwing a tea party is figuring out the menu and recipes.

Now I know we can't miss with the Julienne scones and the miniature pecan tassies. Click on the links for the full recipes at Open Mouth, Insert Fork.

End Times #2

I was reading a bit about death anxiety.

"The anxious person experiences a state of heightened tension that Walter Cannon described in 1927 as readiness for "fight or flight." If the threat passes or is overcome, the person (or animal) returns to normal functioning. Anxiety has therefore served its purpose in alerting the person to a possible danger. Unfortunately, sometimes the alarm keeps ringing; the individual continues to behave as though in constant danger. Such prolonged stress can disrupt the person's life, distort relationships, and even produce life-threatening physical changes." Encyclopedia of Death and Dying :: Anxiety and Fear

Prior to cancer I'd had health issues/threats that though serious, had been overcome. My life returned to normal functioning. Any anxiety was also overcome as the problem was resolved and in my past.

A cancer diagnosis keeps the alarm bell ringing, though. We are never sure the threat has passed. We feel in constant danger, always on guard and ready for the next sign of cancer, the next likely recurrence. We want to be ready so we don't have to be devastated to the same degree if our cancer recurs. We can never truly move on as we are continually tested for signs of recurring cancer, often for many years. We are vulnerable with every cancer test. We are reminded of our vulnerability when others in our cancer community succumb to their disease; especially those we thought had "made it ". It makes us a bit afraid to join support groups of cancer patients...will we become close to someone who loses our battle? The alarm is a bit quieter after a clean test, but the alarm is never silenced.

Even those of us with great faith struggle with potentially facing the end of our lives and our health as we know it. What we have here is all we know. What we have here is all we love. Even if we believe in the afterlife, we know nothing about the transition; we have no one to ask about the journey, we have no evidence of what awaits us. We'd hoped to contemplate our demise as octogenarians, not in the prime of our lives.

When I had been told my diagnosis was likely terminal, few of the people I talked to after my diagnosis wanted to hear of my fears of possibly dying, my preparing for that possibility. I just heard "You'll beat it!" "Don't think negative" "I know you'll survive". Cancer patients sometimes truly need contemplate the possibility of dying, though. Some are terminally ill and know their time is limited. They need to physically and psychologically prepare, but they don't have many friends or family members willing to help them or listen to them as they contemplate and prepare for the end of their life.

We live in a death-denying society. We value wellness and youth. As a society we are uncomfortable planning our funerals, buying burial plots and making out wills. As young nursing students we were all uncomfortable when the required reading was Elizabeth Kubler Ross' "On Death and Dying". We thought she was a very strange woman, a physician, an MD dedicated to healing, who spent her life surrounded by the dead and dying. She forced medical students to confront people who were dying. She developed seminars based on interviews with the dying. She made us uncomfortable...though she possessed profound wisdom. Wasn't medicine about keeping people alive? Why was she focused on the dying?

We as Americans leave death and dying to hospitals, to institutions, though. We don't want to deal with it on a personal level. It makes us feel vulnerable. So those who are losing their battle, who are terminally ill, often feel isolated.

Kind of interesting that we so avoid thinking about the one event we are all destined to share. The ultimate elephant in the room we will all one day have to confront.

Pin pals

Last week, WCK and I went bowling with our stay-at-home moms' group. I think I've only been bowling two or three times in my life -- not counting the times I'd sit and read a book while my grandma went bowling -- and I am terrible at it. I don't think I've been inside a bowling alley since college.

This bowling alley, however, set up a few lanes just for our group of mostly three-year-olds. The lanes had bumpers on the sides so that the balls would head toward the pins every singe time. I discovered that bowling with a bunch of three-year-olds is wildly hilarious and wildly frustrating at the same time. First of all, the kids all got teeny little bowling shoes (hilarious), but then they discovered that they'd have to take turns with the bowling ball (frustrating).

Why was taking turns so frustrating? Have you ever seen a three-year-old "bowl"? The child rolls the ball. It wobbles slowly toward the pins. You wait. And wait. And wait. You go home. The child grows up. She graduates from college. She goes to med school. At her med school graduation party, you talk about that time you went bowling together when she was three. You decide, for old time's sake, to head back to that same bowling alley. As you walk in the door, the original bowling ball she launched when she was three is just now hitting the pins. This is how slowly three-year-olds bowl.

In the end, WCK bowled an 80 and beat the three three-year-old boys she was bowling against. I was bursting with pride, because I have never won any kind of athletic contest whatsoever, unless you count mini-golf. One of my friends pointed out that WCK might not have followed bowling regulations when she chose to lie on her back and kick the ball down the lane with her feet, but I'm going to overlook that for now. We'll talk about it at her med school graduation.

Unrest in Bear Country

A while back, I complained bitterly about My Little Pony. Today's victim: The Berenstain Bears.

I really liked The Berenstain Bears when I was little. I thought they were funny and cute. Now I'm realizing that 99 percent of their books are long, droning sermons on the benefits of cleaning up after yourself, behaving yourself at the dentist, and not crying when you get a shot.

The most disturbing book is The Berenstain Bears and The New Baby. I had this book when I was little, and I found it in a box of my old stuff in the basement and thought it would be fun to read to WCK. Now I read it and wonder: Did my parents buy this book for me to prepare me for the arrival of my sister? If they did, I am sure that it did not work. It is the Most. Unrealistic. Book. Ever.

Seriously. Ever. And I'm including the previously mentioned My Little Pony book Pinky Pie's Spooky Dream. I can believe ponies can be pink, have spooky dreams, and eat waffles. I cannot, however, believe the events that transpire in The Berenstain Bears and The New Baby. Jay and I complain about this book on a regular basis.

Here's what happens: The mother bear, father bear, and little boy bear (I believe he is called "Brother Bear" in future books) all live a happy life in a hollow tree in Bear Country. One morning, the little bear wakes up and his bed is too small for him. Little Bear and Father Bear go off into the woods, chop down a tree, and build a big bed. When they return home with the new bed, presumably a few hours later, the mother has apparently given birth all by herself, completely recovered, slimmed down to her pre-baby weight, and single-handedly moved the old crib into the new baby's room. The new baby is happy and smiling and bops the big brother on his nose. Everyone is happy. No one is the least bit shocked.

I guess I could forgive the authors if there were a sequel: The Berenstain Bears and The Day The Mother Bear's Hormones Kicked In and the Baby Screamed All Night. I'm sure it would be a bestseller.

SIKE.

My counts were too low again for chemo. Everything will be pushed back a week, again.

sigh.

last night on Ruby st.

Tomorrow I get the red devil for the LAST time.


I can't sleep tonight. The anxiety involved with this drug is debilitating. Last November really was hell- I couldn't walk, talk, eat, sleep. Every movement involved pain. Of course I dread that happening again.

wiki says:

The history of doxorubicin can be traced back to the 1950s, when an Italian research company, Farmitalia Research Laboratories, began an organized effort to find anticancer compounds from soil-based microbes. A soil sample was isolated from the area surrounding the Castel del Monte, a 13th century castle. A new strain of Streptomyces peucetius which produced a bright red pigment was isolated, and an antibiotic was produced from this bacterium that was found to have good activity against murine tumors. Since a group of French researchers discovered the same compound at about the same time, the two teams named the compound daunorubicin, combining the name Dauni, a pre-Roman tribe that occupied the area of Italy where the compound was isolated, with the French word for ruby, rubis, describing the color.

My ruby tattoo has a whole new meaning. As in, if you're on doxorubicin, you're "on ruby street".

Not after Tuesday!

Media coverage in two time zones

Cancer Bitch has been in the news lately:

Grand Rapids Press, March 15, 2009

Time Out Chicago, March 19-25, 2009

Tea for Ten for A3m

Today Nancy and I hosted a "Tea for Ten," one of our silent auction donations to A3M (Asians for Miracle Marrow Matches).

We had a great time as the chefs and hostesses at this fun event for an important cause. Will we do it again next year? Do minorities need to sign up for the National Bone Marrow Registry? (That would be a "yes" answer to both questions.)

Read more about it and find out how to make lemon curd at Open Mouth, Insert Fork.

Updates sent to Twitter, March 15-21

Updates about CSC sent to Twitter during the third week of March:

Turning cancer stem cells inside-out: an exploration of glioma stem cell signaling pathways [March 20]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19286664 [Accepted manuscript version is publicly accessible].

Immune-Induced Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition In vivo Generates Breast Cancer Stem Cells [March 20]: http://tinyurl.com/ckz6r7

HER-2, Notch, and Breast Cancer Stem Cells: Targeting an Axis of Evil, Clin Cancer Res 2009(Mar 15);15(6):1845-7 [March 19]: http://tinyurl.com/c3bvo9

Genomic instability en route to and from cancer stem cells: Cell Cycle 2009(Apr 11);8(7) [March 19]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19270518

Oncogenic Kras Initiates Leukemia in Hematopoietic Stem Cells, PLoS Biol 2009(Mar 17); 7(3): e1000059 [March 17]: http://tinyurl.com/ckp23s [Full text is openly accessible].

Treatment encourages more and more aggressive brain cancer stem cells [March 16]: http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/stemcells.2009.38 [Full text is publicly accessible].

Cancer stem cells and the cell cycle: targeting the drive behind breast cancer, Expert Rev Anticancer Ther, Mar09 [March 15]: http://tinyurl.com/bbwe33 [Full text is publicly accessible]

A star is born

First Soccer Game.... Ravyn had her first soccer game she didn't score any goals but she showed signs of improvement in her confidence and independence; she had fun too. Her team won by the way, they don't officially keep score but I DO.

Good-bye, Grand Rapids

Cancer Bitch has returned from Grand Rapids, the town where Gerald Ford is still a hero. She had many adventures there. Among them:
She found that her friend B, who invited her to Aquinas College (after she asked him to), is more nature-phobic than she is. She did not know that that was possible. She is a Fresh Air Fiend in comparison. Unlike B, she can identify common flowers and and likes bugs and worms. She especially likes to watch the beetle family. B does not. He considers nature to be dangerous partly because there are bugs. She became self-conscious about pointing out flora and fauna to B because she thought that he would think that she did not deserve her nature-fearing credentials. Cancer Bitch is mostly afraid of nature because it gives her asthma. Also, it bores her and makes her feel empty and that the universe has no meaning.
B and Cancer Bitch, therefore, walked around looking at Italianate and Romanesque buildings downtown. They also visited the outside of the only Frank Lloyd Wright building in GR. It is owned by Steelcase, one of the furniture manufacturers in town. Herman Miller is HQed there, which explains the Aeron chairs in the Writing Department meeting room at Grand Valley State University. Wright built the house for Meyer May. Cancer Bitch read the historic marker in front of the house: This house was built in 1908-1909 for local clothier Meyer S. May and his wife, Sophie Amberg. Frank Lloyd Wright designed the house in the Prairie style. It was his first major commission in Michigan. May was the son of Abraham May, founder of A. May and Sons clothing store. In 1906, Meyer became president of the store, which was the first in the nation to display clothes on Batts hangers. Meyer May lived here until his death in 1936. The house was used as a private residence until 1985. In 1986, Steelcase Incorporated began the complete restoration of the house, its interior and grounds. Meyer. Bing. Amberg. Bing bing. Son of Abraham. Bing bing. Clothier. Bing bing bing. Sophie. Bing. Her Jew-dar had sprung into action. She wanted to mention this to B but she was embarrassed at how Jew-centric she is. Though on GR campuses there seemed to be a dearth of Jews, so that being Jewish was odd enough to make Jews an *interesting, exotic* minority. As a Jewish student told her: I don't want to be exotic.
The question is, of course, what are Batts hangers and why are they important enough to be mentioned in a historical marker? And a corollary: Was May so unremarkable that his second most famous purchase was hangers for his store?
Batts, Inc., in Zeeland, MI, made wooden hangers until that division was bought out in 1999. So May bought local.

Open Mouth, Insert Flan

This rich and easy flan will make you want to dance the "flandango."

For more details, flandango over to Open Mouth, Insert Fork. (I've added photos and cooking notes since I originally added the post on Tuesday.)

Double Date

I hope I will have a double date with the girls R² this eve.

Since this most recent surgery and the cancer recurrence my meds have changed slightly. I take Prednisone (steroid) 5mg once per day and Bactrim double strength on Monday and Thursday now.

With the med change I am now walking a tight rope because my doctors and I are in a delicate balancing act. By lowering my Prednisone I will be boosting my immune system yeah fewer viruses GOOD and fighting the cancer (Jack's army, Jack's brothers, Jackass part two....).

With a stronger immune system (NOT GOOD) I increase my chances of rejection, I white blood cells want to aggressively attack foreign objects in the body (i.e. transplanted lungs in my case).

NO ONE SAID IT WOULD BE EASY.

Painter Banter (By popular demand)

The inspiration for our house's paint palette

Before

After: A house of a different color.
I miss the ivy, but, like my hair, it'll grow back.

About the California-Canada relationship

San Diego's strong ties to Canada, by Sean Barr and Catriona Jamieson, SignOnSanDiego.com, Union-Tribune Publishing Co., March 19, 2009.

About: "San Diego's strong trade and biotech ties to Canada". Excerpts:

The California-Canada relationship makes sense on many levels. California and Canada have similar-sized populations and economies, and both economies are based on high-tech and innovation. Canada and California share $39 billion in bilateral trade, which supports more than 800,000 California jobs. California is Canada's second-largest market, and the total exports of goods from California to Canada are larger than those from Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Italy combined. ...

.....

The Canadian Consulate has helped foster these growing relationships. Hundreds of Canadian senior executives, research pioneers and government officials have come to San Diego to work with local business and research communities. The Canadian Consulate has organized a number of initiatives designed to facilitate bi-directional science and technology exchanges between San Diego and Canada. One of the newest and most comprehensive programs is the Canada-California Strategic Innovation Partnership, a program established to oversee and foster collaborations in areas ranging from health care to cancer stem cells to computer networks to environmental change. Last June at the BIO2008 International Convention in San Diego, Canada dedicated $110 million toward a Canada-California Strategic Partnership in Cancer Stem Cells. This collaboration brings together Canada's leading stem cell researchers with those from California, including Moores UCSD Cancer Center and the Burnham Institute.

SPECIAL RELEASE: HAIR OF THE DOG MATT-READ CAREFULLY!!!

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY!!!

Hair of the Dog's MATT-a bottle released exclusively for Bottleworks in Seattle, has found it's way to Healthy Spirits.

Due to limited quantities, we are offering this bottle exclusively to BEER OF THE MONTH CLUB MEMBERS until 5PM this Friday. Members may either call and reserve bottles, or come in to claim them. After 5PM the bottles will hit the shelves, and it's every man for himself.

Come and get it!

dave

Uh it's Thursday

Busy Busy Busy day.....

I had to drop yet another class as I was attempting to get my 4^th Masters.... through this whole round of medical stuff SMU Bobby B. Lyle School of Engineering has been very understanding and accommodating throughout all of this. I did have a hard time doing the right thing in this situation (dropping the class) makes me feel like I am quiting.

If dropping the class was not enough I really really feel bad that I let Ravyn down today. As I was getting the girls ready for school this morning I told her that I would come and watch her at dance class today. When I picked her up she reminded me several times that I didn't come to dance class today. I had a scheduling conflict due to the war on lung cancer, I was being interviewed by the New York Times which will help break the stigma and raise awareness about lung cancer, but I sure do feel bad about missing dance class (very rarely do I get a chance to go to Ravyn's dance class). I have already promised to attend next weeks class but I already see a conflict there too, I have all day doctors visits in Dallas.

Soccer practice was good Ravyn is becoming more independent and comfortable being in a new environment.

End Times

I was going to do a single post here on "end times", but I have so much to say I think I will make it a series of posts.

A few years after I had survived my cancer without recurrence, a cancer that I was initially told was untreatable and that most statistics indicated was not survivable, I decided to take on the noble cause of helping others survive my same cancer. I wanted to help everyone beat the odds, help them to stay alive, help them become cancer SURVIVORS. I thought that with enough information and aggressive enough treatment everyone could be like me, alive and cancer free following our devastating diagnosis.

After awhile, though, I had to accept that many I communicated with would not survive our cancer. Sometimes their disease was too extensive for treatment, sometimes it didn't respond to the best of treatments, sometimes it recurred aggressively after treatment and there were no treatment options left.

On a personal level, I'd had to deal with my own mortality up close and personal after I was diagnosed. I think those of us who have had a cancer diagnosis never again feel invulnerable. We are forever acutely aware of our mortality. We learn of people succumbing to cancer recurrences after five years cancer free. In my case, I've even learned of a recurrence of my cancer in an 8 year survivor. We never feel safe again. We can't go back to our old before-cancer selves, who lived in denial of death, who assumed that someday when our life work was finished and our bodies were old and used and a burden to others we'd just die in our rocking chair, or in our sleep of old age.

After cancer we can no longer can just intellectualize that we will one day die, our pending death becomes a daily emotional reality. We have trouble contemplating a future, making long term plans. We know, we really know, how fragile our reality is.

As an advocate, I couldn't abandon the people who would not survive and only help those seeking treatment...the cold hard fact was that if I was going to be a cancer advocate, I had to be available to help those who also were succumbing to their disease, who were dying. Every story didn't have a happy ending. Sometimes even those who fought hard and had positive attitudes and who lived a healthy lifestyle in every way died. Some who were treated with the latest and best and most aggressive therapies would not survive. Even those who were young with small children at home and who had every right to survive lost their battles. I needed to get comfortable with death if I was going to spend time in the cancer community. Death is a profound and common reality in the cancer world.

For 6 months I volunteered at a local hospice. I did respite care and spent time talking with people who were dying. Listening to their fears, reading them books, feeding them when they couldn't feed themselves, talking to their family members. That experience helped me a lot, it helped me to accept that death is a natural transition in all of our lives, that the transition can be done well, that it can be painless and peaceful. That in many cases death is liberating.

I had to also come to terms with my own feelings about death. I read lots of books about death and dying. A few by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross. I read The Denial of Death. I read books like Final Gifts written by hospice nurses. I read books by medical professionals and clergy who had spent much time with the dying. I read books about heaven written from a religious perspective. I read books about near death experiences. I recently ordered Jane Brody's Guide to the Great Beyond: A Practical Primer to Help You and Your Loved Ones Prepare Medically, Legally, and Emotionally for the End of Life . I immersed myself in literature about death and dying. I had to, cancer kills over 500,000 people a year in the US, and I was communicating with many of those who would become part of that dismal statistic. I needed to learn to accept and deal with death as a reality equal to survivorship.

We all like to read the books and hear the stories of cancer survivors...but many don't survive. We need to acknowledge that and be there for those who will lose their lives to cancer. They need advocates too.

NEW RELEASES

A couple of very interesting things to get you through the week.

1. Stone/Nogne-O/Jolly Pumpkin Holiday Ale Collaboration-12oz.

2. Ommegang Ale (Cave-Aged in Howe Caverns 2005-2006)

3. Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale (A re-release of the very popular 11th Anniversary Ale)

cheers,

dave

Smack Down

Not much to do today, I have to go to the hospital and lay the smack down CALMLY explaining to the hospital bean counters that they have made a gross billing error and it shouldn't happen again. Once I have straitened out the hospital billing problem I think I will take a nap or two; by my old calculation for everyday you spend in the Spa it takes you at least a day and a half to recover once you have been paroled.

au contraire

love this collaborative art concept:

http://www.bornmagazine.org/

I'm going to submit some of my poetry, just to see what happens.

There was a moment last week. I was lying with my friend in bed, listening to a mix tape, our hands together. That's it. It was the perfect example of why I want to keep living life. Holding hands is underrated.

Tonight I am sick of being sick.

Coattails

I have been trying to figure out for the last week and half why we want to get our pictures taken with the famous. We're projecting a false image to the world; this is a person we got to stand next to us for a millisecond and he already forgot who were were before the flash went off.

My friend M says it has to do with power. He has an ex-alderman friend whose office was littered with pictures of him next to Democratic luminaries. My little cousin M has a picture of himself and Obama from an early fundraiser. We went to a dinner honoring longtime activist Quentin Young on his 85th birthday. L's labor union bought a table and it was right next to the luminary table: Quentin, Gov. Pat Quinn, Congressmen Danny Davis and John Conyers. At one point I said to my photographer friend M: Take a picture of me with the governor.

Why did I want that? My immediate reason was to send a picture to my mother to impress her: I'm in the same place at the same time as someone you've seen on TV. Therefore.... It's the therefore that keeps tripping me up. Am I therefore important? Noteworthy? Immortal? In the know?

As it turned out, Quinn left right before dessert, so M couldn't take his picture. A few days later we had dinner with the Youngs at Greek Islands and ran into the governor again. We shook hands.

That's what politicans do; they shake hands and kiss babies. The are ingratiating. They reach out. They press the flesh. It's as if they have to touch their constituents to assure one another that they're real. I am somebody because I got my picture taken with somebody. I am a traveler because I got my picture taken in front of the Eiffel Tower/Notre Dame/Leaning Tower of Pisa/Mt. Rushmore. In that case we may be creating proof: I was there. And we're creating a memento. But deep down, are we also hoping that some of the celebrity of the Grand Canyon or Hollywood Hills will rub off on us? Syllogism: Mount Vernon is important. I was at Mount Vernon, therefore I am important.

If I had a picture of myself with Obama, I would be saying: I agree with him. I endorse him. We approve of one another. We're a mutual admiration society. Or: he approves of me. The leader of the free world is on my wavelength. We were in the same space at the same time. We connected.

There seems to be something so pathetic about this. We did not really connect. We do not know one another. We don't toss around political notions. He took a picture with a voter, that's what politicians do. All a photo with Obama would prove is that we wanted to have a photo taken with him.

The picture above is of an Illinois Congressional candidate named John Laesch, who sought and obtained Quinn's endorsement when Quinn was merely lieutenant governor. Noam Chomsky also endorsed him, though they weren't shot side by side. But Laesch and Quinn are on the same plane, the same page, in the same room at the same time. A visual is quickest in conveying a message. Pat approves of John. The associative principle: If you like Pat, you'll like John. More people recognize Pat, therefore it's good for him to appear with lesser-knowns because that raises their cache. He can do that for them. The familiar next to the unfamiliar.

Can I taste your fame? Can I take it? You're not using it all right now.

***
L said the other night, Pat Quinn is such a decent guy. They're going to crush him.

Free

They let me go last night (2106 CST)...Free at last

They're always after me lucky charms

Years ago, long before WCK was born, one of my regular freelance-writing jobs was to write a short magazine column called "With Kids". Every month, I had to write about a fun craft you could do, well, with kids. I have no idea how I got this assignment, considering I knew almost nothing about crafts and even less about kids. Still, every month I would search the Internet and somehow manage to come up with a craft idea, and nobody ever wrote angry letters to the editor because, say, the craft was faulty and exploded on their child or something.

These days, I've forgotten all of the crafts I wrote about -- except one. The Leprechaun Trap. I've carried this craft idea with me in my head for years. When I wrote about this Back In The Day, I thought it would be the GREATEST CRAFT EVER, and I knew I would do it whenever I had a child who was old enough. I guess the idea of lying to my future child really appealed to me. To create a leprechaun trap, you simply decorate a cardboard box and set it out the night before St. Patrick's Day. In the morning, the leprechaun has managed to somehow escape the trap, but he's left some kind of a treat behind. I suppose you could rig it up to collapse on the leprechaun in a dramatic way. I never paid attention in physics, though, so I told WCK the trap would just magically fall over on top of the leprechaun when he walked inside. She believed me. I guess she never paid attention in physics, either.

Of course, we had to put some kind of bait inside the trap to lure the leprechaun. We used Lucky Charms cereal, which I told WCK was leprechaun food. I mean, there is a picture of a leprechaun right on the outside of the box, just like with cat food or dog food. What else would it be?

This morning, our box had magically fallen over. WCK cautiously approached it twice, and then twice ran upstairs and hid in her room, because she wasn't sure if the leprechaun was going to jump out at her or what. Finally, I had to go explain that I'd checked the trap and that he'd escaped, but he'd left behind a tiny St. Patrick's Day snow globe and a bag of gold. Interestingly, the gold pieces looked exactly like Chuck E. Cheese tokens. Do you think Chuck E. Cheese machines accept leprechaun gold? We will have to find out.

CIRM Funding Priorities

Clinic vs. Basic Research: CIRM Funding Priorities, David Jensen, California Stem Cell Report, March 12, 2009. Excerpt:

Director Jeff Sheehy, a communications officer at UC San Francisco and a patient advocate representative, said the disease team project is already a year behind schedule. He said,

"We do not want to hamstring the disease team."

Requests for preliminary applications in that round have already gone out. It is scheduled to be awarded in September or October.

The goal set by the board of directors is just that. ...

Grand Rapids, the West Coast of Michigan

(The photo to the left is not from Grand Rapids.)

I am in Grand Rapids, home of the Gerald Ford airport, which doesn't bother me half as much as the George H. W. Bush airport in Houston. I came by car with my student A, who is an alum of Grand Valley State University, and will be reading along with me there Tuesday night. If you are ever in Grand Rapids, you must go to downtown because there are lovely, pleasing brick 19th- and 20th-century buildings. That is, you must go downtown if you like old buildings. There are a number of "ghosts," those faint vestiges of painted advertisements on old buildings.

We went to dinner at San Chez Bistro and Cafe, a tapas restaurant (which brought tapas to Western Michigan) that has tall indoor columns covered with mosaics. They were done by Jose Narezo, a local artist who exhibited internationally. He died in December.

Cancer.

His paintings are all around the restaurant too.

But it is the mosaics, or *are* the mosaics that I wanted to stay and stay and look at. We went to Chartres some years ago and the cathedral was nice and everything, and the famous British guy gave the tour, and the stained glass was impressive, though I wished I'd had binoculars, and L was enchanted, but then we took a city bus to Maison Picassiette, and that thrilled me utterly. I remember the whoosh of happiness I felt just being there.


The man covered every surface of his house and property with pieces of tile and glass:

If I'd found good pictures of Narezo's columns, I would have posted them here.

If I'd found good pictures of downtown historic buildings in GR, I would have posted them here.

At GVSU, students are protesting police brutality after a sheriff's deputy shot a GVSU student in the chest while they were about to execute a search warrant. The student is hospitalized.

Breaking out of the spa today

I wouldn't feel right if I didn't bend the rules every once in awhile. No more chest tubes, no IV's right now, so I just went for a walk (without borders). I kept walking and walking and walking....

March 26th, 2009 Loehmann's Fashion Funs Hope to benefit the OCRF-Ovarian Cancer Research Fund

On Thursday, March 26th, fashion-savvy, budget-minded shoppers can support Ovarian cancer research while receiving special savings on leading designer apparel for one day only, at any of the sixty-four Loehmann's stores across the country.

As part of its chain-wide Fashion Funds Hope in-store event, Loehmann's will offer an additional 15% discount above its standard 30-65% savings to any customer who donates five dollars to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (OCRF).

In addition, Loehmann's will make a contribution to OCRF of 5% of total purchases by donors.Loehmann's customers will be able to pick up information about ovarian cancer, from risk factors and symptoms to the three programs run by OCRF, at tables set up inside the stores that day.

Doo- Wop Concert for Ovarian Cancer

In Line

(On Line, for you East Coasters.)

I stopped at the Large Pharmacy to pick up two prescriptions before I leave town on Monday for the first stop, Grand Rapids, on Cancer Bitch's World Tour. I was in a hurry and there were three people in front of me. I arrived at the end of the line from the left while someone else arrived from the right. She was gracious and said I could go first. Since people were coming over in about 20 minutes, I accepted. She and her friend were talking about the grandfather of one of them. He's 88, widowed and went to a dance place. The announcer welcomed him, and two women asked him to dance. He took both of them out to dinner. His social life is better than mine, said the one who was his granddaughter. He and his wife had been in the competitive square dance circuit.

In elementary school was had square dance lessons every Friday in something called Rhythms for some reason. I remember the boys' sweaty palms and them holding on too tightly and jerking or pushing with their arms. I recall that we had a dance when we finished sixth grade and some kids didn't participate because they were Baptist. They couldn't play cards, either.

I paid a king's ransom for Wellbutrin XL because the insurance company hasn't accepted that the generic doesn't work. Believe me, it doesn't. My autumn was quite autumnal because of this.

Grand Rapids is known for Gerald Ford and Amway. I will be staying in the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel for two nights. On the third I get to stay in an old house that used to be a college president's residence.

The photo above is of the groundbreaking for the building where I'll be reading on Thursday.

**
I am up at this ungodly hour because I have been wrassling with the ungodly National Endowment for the Arts fellowship application. It was designed to frustrate the prose writers of America and lead us further into despair. You have to submit the application online unless you can prove you live 30 miles away from internet service. Thus the application instructions contain such gems as this: "If it appears that your submission is not being successfully transmitted to Grants.gov (e.g., you do not receive a confirmation screen), it is possible that your application actually was submitted.... An application may not be submitted successfully for a number of reasons, such as heavy usage on the Grants.gov system or security settings on your computer or your firewall." The government is trying to make the writers of this country go stark raving mad.

Emily Wells

I have such a crush on this girl.

I sent off a bunch of mixed tapes for you all and am sad I didn't include her.

No more chest-tubes

My ladies have gone, so now I will raise hell in this hospital to mask the vacancy void that exists once again.

My last chest-tube was pulled today. Surprisingly it was not that bad as the previous chest-tubes that I had at other Spa institutions. Apparently they use a different technique here where they place the tubes through the skin and into the lungs in such a manner that the holes are not parallel to one another. No stitches, no pain, just take a deep breath and pull.

I feel bloated since the procedure.

I am now under the care of the post-transplant team and the oncology side of the house; surgery turned me over as they pulled the last tube out. Since the tube was pulled I can taste the rustic taste of blood in my mouth from belches,

Updates sent to Twitter, March 8-14

Updates about CSC sent to Twitter during the second week of March:

Inferring clonal expansion and cancer stem cell dynamics from DNA methylation patterns in colorectal cancers [March 14]: http://tinyurl.com/cezflq

A radical bailout strategy for cancer stem cells, Cell Stem Cell 2009(Mar 6);4(3):196-7 [March 12]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19265655

Cancer stem cells and tumor response to therapy: current problems and future prospects [March 10]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19249647

In vivo imaging, tracking, and targeting of cancer stem cells. E Vlashi et al, JNCI (Mar 4) [March 8]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19244169

SleepOver

My Spring Spa retreat lingers on. The chest-tubes are still in and still hurt.

Earlier this week while going to get a sonogram the sonogram person (I don’t know what you call them exactly) almost caused my tubes to be yanked out as she quickly and without any warning tried to lower my head. That crap (replace word if so desired) hurt like hell after about 30+ minutes of cussing I settled down let the procedure take place but come on you have to be kidding me is this how patients are treated everyday.?.?.? That was a story I told my ladies as they are here to visit with me and spend the night. The reason that I told this story to them (TWICE) was because Ravyn seems fascinated with my one remaining chest-tube (I got the other out just a little while ago) she wants to pull on it. Rhonda seems to want to trip over the IV cord hanging from my PICC Line and that is not good. I hope I survive their visit (with my health), like a young child with a pet they are going to love the life out of me.

Lung Surgery

photojourney

Ottawa, Ontario. March 12th. 10:30 am.


Scranton, PA. March 12, 4:15pm. S. is a huge fan of The Office. We made a detour for this photo.


Harrisburg, PA. March 12th, 6:30pm. T. checks GPS while the boys ham it up.


Port Wentworth, Georgia. March 13th, 10:45pm. He feel asleep with his arm around my neck.