Doug's final battle with cancer did not last long. He passed away on Thursday, February 27 (US time). Please send some Good Vibes to his wife, Phyllis and their families.
Mike
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Maureen, Doug, and Mike
This will serve as a bit of an update on Maureen Vellia, Doug Sommer, and me--as you will see it's a mixed bag, and cancer still sucks.
We don't have an update on Maureen's health status, but did hear that the fund raising event went well and brought in more money than expected. There will be more events soon, so hopefully some of the ATL folks can come out for one of them.
I mentioned a little while back that Doug Sommer (my sister's next door neighbor) had prostate cancer and was fighting for his life with it. Marie tells me now that Doug has lost the fight, and is in terminal hospice care at his home. He is expected to live for only another week, maybe two. I only met Doug and his wife Phyllis a few times, but could tell that he was was a great guy, a loving husband, and wonderful father to their two kids. You can learn more about Doug here:
http://www.atlantasymphony.org/About/Artists/ASO-Musicians/Douglas-Sommer.aspx
He was a professional musician, playing bass in the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and teaching lessons to lots of kids over the years. Please send your best Team Mike Good Vibes to Doug and Phyllis so that his remaining days can be pain-free and peaceful.
The rest of this posting comes with one of those warnings that
"The following content contains gross and yucky descriptions...squeamish readers might want to exit here or refresh their cocktail while others proceed."
About six months ago I detected another large fragment of dead bone making its way to the surface in my mouth. I predicted that it would take about six months for the whole process to complete. Almost exactly on schedule, it did that yesterday. As you know, my pain level recently spiked and I found it difficult to eat, drink, and even swallow water. After taking a dose of pain meds and the resulting nap, I did my weekly thing of poking around in my mouth with one finger, to feel any new developments in there. I immediately felt the sharp exposed edges of a bone fragment, and could tell it was a biggun'--maybe another "Trophy Shard." I was able to wiggle it, and sure enough, it started to come loose--like when a kids' tooth starts to come out. After a few wiggles, I heard a little "pop", which was the fragment being fully dislodged from my jaw. What came out was "Trophy Shard II", a disk-shaped piece, about 3/8 inches in diameter--jagged and very nasty looking. It hurt just to look at it, knowing it had been wreaking havoc in my mouth for so long.
As when Trophy Shard I came out, the pain level in my jaw went down immediately, to about half of what it's been lately. Still running about a steady 3, but a very welcome change after the 6-7 it's been for the last 6 weeks. It still hurts to chew and I'm still limited to soft foods, but I can now swallow pain-free, which allows me to eat more at one sitting.
Now, that does not mean Team Mike is off the hook for those Vicodins I mentioned last time. It's too soon to know my new rate of daily consumption, and if I have enough to get me home--so keep trying to find some to send to me in NZ. Just so you know, I'm keeping track...
Mike
We don't have an update on Maureen's health status, but did hear that the fund raising event went well and brought in more money than expected. There will be more events soon, so hopefully some of the ATL folks can come out for one of them.
I mentioned a little while back that Doug Sommer (my sister's next door neighbor) had prostate cancer and was fighting for his life with it. Marie tells me now that Doug has lost the fight, and is in terminal hospice care at his home. He is expected to live for only another week, maybe two. I only met Doug and his wife Phyllis a few times, but could tell that he was was a great guy, a loving husband, and wonderful father to their two kids. You can learn more about Doug here:
http://www.atlantasymphony.org/About/Artists/ASO-Musicians/Douglas-Sommer.aspx
He was a professional musician, playing bass in the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and teaching lessons to lots of kids over the years. Please send your best Team Mike Good Vibes to Doug and Phyllis so that his remaining days can be pain-free and peaceful.
The rest of this posting comes with one of those warnings that
"The following content contains gross and yucky descriptions...squeamish readers might want to exit here or refresh their cocktail while others proceed."
About six months ago I detected another large fragment of dead bone making its way to the surface in my mouth. I predicted that it would take about six months for the whole process to complete. Almost exactly on schedule, it did that yesterday. As you know, my pain level recently spiked and I found it difficult to eat, drink, and even swallow water. After taking a dose of pain meds and the resulting nap, I did my weekly thing of poking around in my mouth with one finger, to feel any new developments in there. I immediately felt the sharp exposed edges of a bone fragment, and could tell it was a biggun'--maybe another "Trophy Shard." I was able to wiggle it, and sure enough, it started to come loose--like when a kids' tooth starts to come out. After a few wiggles, I heard a little "pop", which was the fragment being fully dislodged from my jaw. What came out was "Trophy Shard II", a disk-shaped piece, about 3/8 inches in diameter--jagged and very nasty looking. It hurt just to look at it, knowing it had been wreaking havoc in my mouth for so long.
As when Trophy Shard I came out, the pain level in my jaw went down immediately, to about half of what it's been lately. Still running about a steady 3, but a very welcome change after the 6-7 it's been for the last 6 weeks. It still hurts to chew and I'm still limited to soft foods, but I can now swallow pain-free, which allows me to eat more at one sitting.
Now, that does not mean Team Mike is off the hook for those Vicodins I mentioned last time. It's too soon to know my new rate of daily consumption, and if I have enough to get me home--so keep trying to find some to send to me in NZ. Just so you know, I'm keeping track...
Mike
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Brother, Can You Spare a Vicodin?
We did some touring this weekend to a central Canterbury town called Lake Tekapo, with ice-blue lakes, Mount Cook, and some of the best start gazing in the world. We were not disappointed. The weather was great, Mount Cook was humbling, and the skies gave us the Milky Way ,the Southern Cross, and a few pulsing strands of the Aurora Australis--Antarctic's version of the Northern Lights. Terry stayed up late one night, and woke in the middle of the next night to see a few glimpses of the lights--very rare for this time of year. Even without the lights, the sky was magnificent--the lights were just some cosmic gravy for us.
So, we are back in Christchurch for the coming week, and then off again next weekend--no decisions yet on that.
But we are facing the need to add to my Vicodin stash. My added pain and swelling has put me over the daily estimate of what the doctors calculated I would need, so if it keeps on this schedule, I will run out with about two weeks left here. So, I am calling on Team Mike to find a local pill mill in your town, and convince a sympathetic doctor that you need some Vicodin to take care of your "pain." Hurt yourself if you need to--I don't care. Be sure to specify that you need Vicodin ES 7.5-300. No generics. And know that I'll count them on arrival to make sure you didn't take a few off the top for yourself.
Once you score, please send them to "Jerry Garcia" at 2-50 Kirkwood Drive, Riccarton, Christchurch, NZ. Like Team Mike has done so many times in the past, I know that you'll come through again.
Mike
So, we are back in Christchurch for the coming week, and then off again next weekend--no decisions yet on that.
But we are facing the need to add to my Vicodin stash. My added pain and swelling has put me over the daily estimate of what the doctors calculated I would need, so if it keeps on this schedule, I will run out with about two weeks left here. So, I am calling on Team Mike to find a local pill mill in your town, and convince a sympathetic doctor that you need some Vicodin to take care of your "pain." Hurt yourself if you need to--I don't care. Be sure to specify that you need Vicodin ES 7.5-300. No generics. And know that I'll count them on arrival to make sure you didn't take a few off the top for yourself.
Once you score, please send them to "Jerry Garcia" at 2-50 Kirkwood Drive, Riccarton, Christchurch, NZ. Like Team Mike has done so many times in the past, I know that you'll come through again.
Mike
Friday, February 14, 2014
This is How Cool New Zealand is
Terry and I arrived in New Zealand just about two weeks ago now. In that time we have been busy settling into our nice apartment right off the University of Canterbury campus, learning our way around Christchurch, doing a bit of local touring, and spending five days in Auckland at a conference. We are now back in CC and will be here for the rest of our stay, except for some planned excursions on the South Island, and maybe one on the North Island.
The picture above was taken at the Hilltop Tavern, overlooking Akaroa Bay and the small village of Akaroa (be sure to hover over the image and enlarge it to max size).. Built in the late 1800's as a mid-point hotel between CC and Akaroa, it has now become one of the most scenic watering holes on the planet. I was there in 2000 and knew that it would blow Terry's socks off, so made sure we got a great seat for her first visit. The beanbags came available and we spent about an hour in them, soaking in the sun and scenery, which included a cute billie goat that clearly knew how to sucker food from guests. Too bad for the goat, but we only had drinks.
It seems like every day has brought something in the category of spectacular, whether it's been scenery like this (yes, there is more--lots more), meeting the great Kiwi people, seeing new birds, or just being happy that we missed the second Ice Storm of the Century in Atlanta a few days ago. Thank you, Charlotte NC for letting ATL's time as the laughing stock of the South last only a few weeks.
So, other than rubbing it in ("We're here and yer not"), what's the point of this post? Well, just as they have for the last 5+ years, the Prairie Dogs are showing their ugly heads when we try to enjoy some return to normalcy in our lives. We knew we were taking a calculated risk to go this far from home for such a long time--sort of racing the ORN clock, hoping to get home before the jaw replacement surgery becomes necessary. My pain and swelling have escalated again and eating any food that requires chewing is now out of the question. Terry eats a big, fat lamb burger, I eat soup. 600 people around me at a local sports award banquet eat tender steaks last night, I get a double helping of mashed potatoes. Terry eats a grilled cheese sammy, I drink a bad NZ "Boost"-imitation product, that makes me long for...well, real Boost. You get the idea.
On the optimistic side, this is not the Prairie Dogs returning, so don't worry about that. This is just the latest installment of the twin "Gifts that keep on giving"--the continued progression of side effects from chemo + radiation five years ago.
Last night at the banquet our host, Ian, asked me why I would come to NZ, knowing the pain levels and food restrictions I would be facing here. I just shrugged my shoulders and said, "Because it's New Zealand--if this were any other opportunity, I would have stayed home and waited for the surgery to happen." That got his attention, and appreciation, I think.
I have made a promise to myself and Terry that I would make every effort to fight cancer. Five years ago, I was doing that every minute of every day. Now, the fight is against the continued side effects from treatments, and the ORN surgical "clock." Terry made a comment the other day that this is looking and feeling like my treatment period did five years ago. She's right, and that helped me to put it into perspective. It sucks, but that's what it is.
In the end, no one BEATS head/neck cancer--with its long list of side effects, the best you can do is SURVIVE it, and keep plugging along, looking for things in life to enjoy--like having a beer while sitting on a bean bag chair at the Hilltop Tavern in New Zealand.
Mike
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