Dude, Cancer sucks. I will prove it to you.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

9-14-11

Yesterday (Tuesday), Cole and I spent an enjoyable morning at the clinic while he was infused with IVIG.  I can honestly say with no shame at all that I have no idea what the IVIG is, nor what it does.  It seemed important to the doctors; however, that we do it, so we did. 

While we were there searching for the lost ark (come to find out it was made of legos…..and to think, they had legos way back then), I talked to the doctors about Cole’s upcoming immunotherapy.  I will discuss it more in detail in a later posting because we are still in the planning phase right now.  They did try and schedule one session for the week that we will be at DisneyWorld (thanks Make-A-Wish for hooking us up, and especially thanks for the Virgin America flight.  Not sure which is more exciting, having the super awesome Virgin America flight or the excuse to repeatedly say Virgin over and over again…hehehe), but I told him, buddy….er something.

For this past month, I have really been enjoying only working 2 days per week (other 3 days are spent watching Cole and saving Lego Gotham from supervillians and/or superheros; however, tomorrow is payday so I am sure that the unfortunate business of reality will soon set in.

In that light, I have picked up a little second job working for a wellness organization that arranges for doctors, message therapists, etc. to go into businesses and give wellness lectures and dole out free messages (along with a catered lunch from Subway) for employees.  It probably won’t generate a bunch of money, but I can do the work remotely which is a good thing.  If anyone out there has a company that is interested let me know.  It is totally free to the company…..ok fine, enough pitching (but since I will be working as an independent contractor, and since I did some work via this blog, and since I am writing this blog on BART, I will be able to write off all my BART fees (despite that they are already pre-taxed), right?).

Now on to Cole……………………………………………………………………………………. (holding down the period button reminds me of when they came out with the turbo controller for Nintendo (or Sega?).  Remember how many Contras you could wipe out with that thing?)…………………………..  Cole has hair.  Think I already told you that, but it is so awesome that I told you again.  Expect me to keep telling you. 

He has been feeling really great lately.  Radiation finished up on Monday, and he seemed to not have any ill side effects.  He gets the rest of the week off, and then next week he has all the tests (CAT, MIBG, SAT, ACT, GRE, MCAT, ETC) on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Other than that he has a bunch of free time on his hands for the next couple of weeks.  He is still not cleared to go to school, but he can go out and do things.  Here is where you come in.  Any ideas on cool stuff to do around the Bay Area?  Now I know all the normal stuff, so don’t tell me about museums and such, but if you have any interesting, off the wall, kind of fun places to go, I would love to hear about it.  Otherwise I ask that you please raise your glasses and toast Cole, Backpack designer/manufacturer/retailer/consumer (fully streamlined).

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

9-7-11

I know that it has been a while since I last wrote, and I know that many of you have been concerned by the lack of updates.  For that I am sorry.  You see, I find it so very difficult to write when all seems to be going well (by that line of logic you can assume that if I am writing things are, or I am, less than stellar).  This weekend has given me fuel to pick up the proverbial pen again.

To start, please rest assured that everything is going well with Cole.  He is nearly done with radiation (last day is next Monday), and thus far has had no noticeable side effects.  Everyday he goes into the room with the very funny Russian guy, Alex, and they have a grand old time. 

Cole has had great energy, and little to no loss of appetite.  His hair is even growing back.  Within a week or so, his hair will be longer than mine (not really too much of an accomplishment if you have seen my dome, but at least it is a start).  He has been getting schoolwork from his teacher in San Bruno that he will have as soon as he gets cleared to go to school, and has been enjoying having me home 3 days per week (cuz I play games and video games) and has also not enjoyed it (cuz we butt heads when it comes to school work). 

The week of the 19th of this month we have the full battery of tests (MIBG, CT, ECHO,  and HEARING), and assuming that all is how it is supposed to be, we will jump right into immunotherapy.  That should last about 5 months, give or take.  I am going to go ahead and assume that his awesomeness will continue.

Heading into this last weekend, I was upbeat.  Cole was doing well, and I had just spoken with the Make-A-Wish people and was informed that they were able to get us on the Virgin America non-stop flight for our trip to DisneyWorld.  Elisa is very tired of me blabbing on and on about getting the Virgin America flight, but she has never been on one of their flights, so please excuse her ignorance. 

Then, on Friday, the fit hit the shan.  First I lost power to some lights and plugs in my garage (including the plug that makes the washing machine wash and the freezer remain freezed).  I tried to replace the fuse (yes my house is that old) only to blow two more fuses just as soon as I popped them in.  Of course that means that I have a short in my electrical line somewhere.  Super!!!!!!!  The only slightly silver lining is that I still have my home warranty so hopefully they will take care of most, if not all, of the cost.

If that wasn’t enough, on the way home from San Jose, I get an engine overheating warning and I almost blow my engine.  I was able to get the Tourag back to the Rinde’s house (thanks to Bob’s help and the boys constantly asking me, “When is the engine going to start smoking” about 10000000000000000000000000000000000000 times).  The next day I had it towed to the shop and have since discovered that the water pump and the thermostat are bad, and that both my belts are about to snap.  $3K to fix.  Super!!!!!!!!!

I know that these are not really big things, but with everything else that is going on, it is just crap that I don’t really need.  I understand that all of this stuff is just the universe balancing itself out after giving me such amazing looks (wait, I am not that attractive, WTF universe?  I don’t even know you anymore.)

The weekend did finally turn itself around.  Liz brought Marty over for the first time, and while we did not sneak in and steal the black box that renders all encryption devices mute, we did have a nice time, and Mother ended up with some nice ramen leftovers. 

Then on Monday we had a small BBQ with some of the other families on the block.  There were a bunch of kids from brand new to 2nd grade all running around having a great time.  I love having these little get togethers because it reminds me that even though all my stuff (house, car, hairline) seems to be breaking down, I live on a kick ass block.

That is all for now, so please raise your glasses and toast Cole, winner of the 2011 under 14 Wipeout Championship.