Health and wellness

6 month scan – all clear

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Today I had my 6 month post treatment CT scan. It checked out ok — no big lymph nodes or tumors. Woot!
 
They had told me that I’d get pretty anxious as my various post-treatment scans approached and as it turns out, they were right. Good lawd!
 
My recommendation: don’t get cancer in the first place.
Entertainment

X-Men: The Last Stand

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This past Saturday Will gave me 3 passes for 2 to see X3. So yesterday, Heather, Vick, Geeven, Karthik, Spivey and I all went to see it at Pacific Place.
 
I don’t want to give out spoilers, but let me say this: you should see this movie. And not just because I’m a Marvel shareholder. It was really very good. All six of us liked it a lot. Because of my memory, I can’t say for certain whether it was better than the first two or not, but it most definitely may have been.
 
I’m definitely going to see it again in a while — once I have time to forget some of the details.
 
So thanks, Will! The movie was awesome!
Food and drink

Breakfast at Tiffany's

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I’m not 100% sure what to catagorize this under. But in any event, we had breakfast at Tiffany’s this Sunday morning. It was pretty clearly a girl’s dream. Very strange indeed. It had no allure for boys, but the girls there were just loving it. Mimosas and tasty little pastries, champagne, cakes frosted to look like tiffany’s boxes. And to top it off, famous ballerinas from Seattle’s Pacific Northwest Ballet. Apparently, one of them was quite famous if you follow that sort of thing.
 
So while drinking mimosas, eating pastries, and hanging out with famous ballerinas, the girls tried on hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of jewelry. Huge rings, necklaces, etc. Apparently, this is a very appealing thing to do for girls.
 
Anyway, it was good to see people so happy.
 
After the event, we went to the University District Fair, which was really pretty fun. They had something there called a sweet Johnnycake, so obviously I tried that. It was really very good. Reminded me alot of a beignet.
 
Will the comic book guy gave Vick and me 3 passes for 2 to tonight’s sneak peek of X-Men 3. So that’s cool. I’m going to head out of work early and work from Pacific Place while waiting in line (good thing there’s WiFi there).
Health and wellness

Diet, cancer, etc.

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In other news, my health is doing ok. This past week I was sick with a lingering cold. I’ve still got the tail end of it as I write ths, in fact.
 
I’m supposed to go in for my 3 month post treatment scan soon. I called the doctors a couple weeks ago to schedule it and they said they’d call me back, but they haven’t yet. I guess I should ring them again and see what the deal is.
 
My weight has increased slightly over the last few months. I need to draw the line here and get back on top of that. I haven’t exercised for some time now and my diet’s been a bit out of whack.
 
Personal life is going very well. Thanks for your concern.
 
Night Watch and V For Vendetta are both good movies. I think the comic for V was better than the movie and Night Watch had some slightly annoying cinematography, but what can you do?
 
Until next time!
Computers and Internet

Messenger

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Sorry I haven’t posted anything in a while, gentle reader. I’ll try to get back on the wagon.
 
Windows Live Messenger is coming along quite well. Our beta refresh has been out for a while now and people seem to be loving it. I’ve been spending a fair bit of my time improving the performance of login and I think everyone will be delighted with the results.
 
If you haven’t tried the new WLM beta, I encourage you to do so and give some feedback. You can find out more about it here.
Health and wellness

Radiation side effects

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I can’t help but notice that I never said much about the actual side effects of radiation. So here goes: they were pretty bad, but could have been worse.
 
I had a tremendous sore throat for about 3 weeks which is just almost gone. It’s been hanging in there pretty well for the last week. I think I also got a bit sick at the end of radiation, becuase I gave a cold to a friend. I feel bad for passing it on, but I didn’t really notice I was ill since the radiation sore throat masked the sick sore throat. I only realized it when I started coughing non-stop and got a stuffy nose.
 
Anyway, the sore throat made it excruciatingly painful to swallow without chewing the daylights out of even the softest of foodstuffs. One really does get more pleasure out of eating and eat less if one chews more. I’ll try to carry this habit into my normal life.
 
I also lost my voice for about two weeks. That was pretty frustrating, but I borrowed Heather’s magnadoodle for writing notes and whistle for alerting people to my jotted pearls of wisdom. At other times, I carted my laptop around and did my best Stephen Hawking impression.
 
The craziest side effect was that all my hair in the path of the beam fell out, basically one day. Poof! Out it went in the shower. It just couldn’t take it anymore.
 
I feel it’s pain, but one carries on.
Health and wellness

Happy New Year

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Well, 2005 is over. It was quite the year.
 
Lost 70 pounds over 7 months.
 
Led a new project at work.
 
Got cancer.
 
Led a different new project at work.
 
Tore all the tendons in my ankle.
 
Went through chemotherapy.
 
Fell in love.
 
Hurricane in my hometown.
 
Bought a condo.
 
Moved into my new condo.
 
Got zapped with radiation.
 
Cancer gone (we hope for good).
 
Nuts. Hopefully 2006 isn’t nearly as eventful.
 
Random fact: Medical providers charged my insurance $66,713.43 during 2005.
Uncategorized

Long time, no post

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Yeah. Well, I’ve been busy. But now I’ve got some time — I’m taking the rest of 2005 off of work to stay at home, hang out with friends, get my condo set up, etc. For now, a quick update:
 
Went to Vegas for Ed’s wedding reception. That was super fun. Saw good friends, went out into the desert, rode the rides on Stratosphere, had some great food, saw ‘O’, lost a bunch of money, got drunk, gave a toast (not in that order).
 
On the 1st of December, I started in on radiation. They’ll hit me 17 times for a total of 30 Gy of radiation absorbed by the bad areas. I’ve had 6 treatments now and will finish on the 23rd. Side effects are just starting and the first one I’m noticing is a sore throat. It’s not too bad so far, but I expect it to get a fair bit worse. I’m suppoesd to start to have trouble swallowing and have to eat softer, blander food, etc.
 
The good news, though, is that after radiation, it’ll be over and I’ll be back to normal in the middle of Feb or so.
 
Bill came into Seattle last Wednesday for work, so it was awesome seeing him. We went to Shiro’s for sushi and it was phenomenal. Definitely my best Shiro’s experience and one I’m going to try to replicate this coming week.
 
On the list for this weekend is my usual Saturday excursion to the comic shop. Only now, the comic book guy has comics and coffee (and great coffee at that), so I may not get bubble tea. I’ll also probably cut back my subscriptions now that I can read the books in the shop whist enjoying a tasty beverage.
 
I’ll post pictures of radiation and my new condo in the not so distant future.
 
See you next time!
 
O Oriens, splendor lucis aeternae, et sol justitiae: veni, et illumina sedentes in tenebris, et umbra mortis.
Hobbies

Pumpkin Carving

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Heather had a pumpkin carving get together at her place. I carved a wicked awesome pumpkin. Other people carved some great ones, too. After we carved, we ate a l33t k-rad pumpkin spice cake in the shape of an actual pumpkin. Crazy times we live in.
Health and wellness

Clear PET

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The results of last Friday’s (extremely unpleasant) PET scan came in today: all clear, no evidence of disease. This was the expected result, so everything proceeds according to plan. I should contact the radiation oncologist and start radiation treatment in a few weeks after Ed’s not wedding.
 
r0x0r~

How you should use your powers