Back from a Week Off

In case you haven't noticed, I've had a week off from nearly everything (except chemo of course!). The reason that I haven't posted any blogs is because I thought that the Inspiration posting and the Who Are You postings needed a little time. They were just so cool that I wanted to keep them at the top of the list for a while.

Also, we spent the week at Silver Strand State Beach. We did some motor home camping with Robin's parents. It was great. One one side of the campground is the beach and the other side is the harbor. The beach provides the usual beach entertainment (boogie boarding, sand, surf, etc.) and the harbor side is very calm water (great for Erica to swim in). Erica learned to boogie board and has become quite the shell collector. She also has a knack for "rescuing" live sand dollars ("Daddy, I'm rescuing them!"). We just arrived back in beautiful Riverside about 3 hours ago.

As for this week, I have quite a schedule. Monday is a work day for me. I'm happy about that. I really enjoy my job. I also have Angels tickets for Monday's evening game courtesy of Sam and Mona. Thank you Sam and Mona (and Cindy too)! I can't wait to go. They're great seats. On Tuesday I have a full day of chemo (8ish to 2ish). Wednesday I'll be tired. Thursday is a Genetics appointment and a CAT scan in the morning, followed by a visit back to Kaiser to remove my portable chemo pump. The Genetics appointment is a follow up from a previous appointment. We're hoping to hear that it's not possible for Erica to inherit cancer problems from me (to the extent of modern medical knowledge). The CAT scan is to hopefully "see" my cancer so that we can tell whether or not chemo is working. If we can't see anything, then I will schedule a laparoscopic surgery to let my surgeon peek inside and see how it's going. I'd prefer the scan. Friday is the 4th and I'll be tired from the week.

Have a good week,

Tim

Inspiration Strikes Where I Least Expected It

To everyone who commented on the last blog post--thank you. It was great to see some of you getting your names posted. I know that you get a lot out of reading the blog and I have to tell you that I get a lot out of your comments and emails.

This has been one heck of a week for inspirational stories. I have 3 inspirational stories to share. The first one came when I was tired from Chemo. I sat down on the couch and was channel surfing. Nothing was on, so I had to settle on Oprah (nothing bad meant about Oprah). Well, she had a show about people with cancer. Unfortunately, I missed her first guest so I went to her website. She had Kris Carr on the show. Kris Carr is an actress/model who was diagnosed with liver cancer. She had something like 24 tumors on her liver. She made a documentary of her cancer struggle, starting with day 1. The movie was aired on TLC and was called "Crazy Sexy Cancer". It's very positive and uplifting. She also wrote a book called "Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips". I've rented the DVD and bought the book. She has even gone on to create a really cool website community. She seem to be winning her cancer through diet and lifestyle. It's a direction that I've said all along that I'll switch to. I'm not quite ready yet, but major diet changes are certainly in my future. Also, Oprah also had Professor Randy Pausch who was talking about his "Final Lecture". Wow--more inspiration, but I won't talk about that one here or now.

Story 2 comes straight from Craig's List. Who would know that I would find inspiration there?!?! I was looking for a bicycle for myself and wanted a nice, used mountain bike. I used to ride a lot in college (you would too if you had a Yugo!) and was ready to get back on 2 wheels. Also, Robin and Erica have new bikes and I wanted to be able to cycle with them. I found a bike on Craig's List and arranged to meet "David" to see his bike. While we were haggling about his bike, I mentioned chemotherapy. He asked about what type of cancer I had. It turns out that his mother has been battling colon cancer for 5 years. She spent 1 year at stage 3 and 4 years at stage 4. Erica and I were invited into their house and got to meet his inspirational mother. I can't even begin to tell you how amazing it was to meet someone who's survived 5 years when the doctors have told me things about the "textbook average" of 2 years. As if that weren't enough, David told me that the bike came with lifetime tune-ups. It was in need of one, so I took it into Sports Chalet. Unfortunately, Sports Chalet told me that they didn't do lifetime tune-ups. I called David and asked him about it. I had no doubts about his honesty--I just wanted to see if I had missed something. He surprised us by catching up to us while we were shopping. He gave me a $20 refund on the bike (presumably for the tune-up that I had to pay for). Much to my surprise, when I went to pick the bike up from the shop a few days later, it turns out that he payed for the tune-up too! I truly got more than the bike from David and his family. Not only were they inspirational, but showed me kindness that most people don't show to strangers.

My final note of inspiration this week came at Erica's school. I stopped in for a few minutes as I often do. I was given an envelope and opened it. It turns out that it was a gift card from the promoting 6th grade class. The card said that they had recycled cans and bottles and used the money for our gift card. I am always impressed at the kind things that kids will do if given the chance. Also, there were several years that I had my 4th grade and 6th grade classes recycle and we donated the money to charities (mostly tsunami aid and hurricane aid). If I'm not mistaken, some of these graduating 6th graders were my 4th graders in one of the classes were we donated to charity. It makes me feel impressed by their kindness and proud that I may have influenced them positively.

That's it for now. Oh, I'm doing well too. My heart has been warmed by this inspirational week. My body is tired from the chemo, but I still feel very good. Also, I nearly forgot to mention that Erica came to chemo with me last week (for the first time) and was impressed by the great nurses (who brought her warm blankets, graham crackers, and juice).

Update Coming Soon

I have a truly inspirational story that will be blogged soon. I'm just
waiting for more comments on the last entry. I'm doing GREAT.

Tim Rosenbloom
Work: tim_rosenbloom@chino.k12.ca.us
Personal: mr_rosenbloom@mac.com
(Sent from my phone)

Who Are You?

I know that there are a lot of you who read my blog but don't post comments. Can I talk you into just posting your name once (first name and last initial for those of you who want to remain mostly anonymous or are under 18)? I'd like to see just how many people we have on here and I'm curious as to who you are. I've made it very easy to post a comment--you don't even need an account now. Just click on the "0 Comments" button and leave you comment. Don't forget to include your name as part of the comment. For example, "Hi from Tim R." would be a perfect comment. Even better would be to include what part of the world you're in (for example, "Hi. This is Tim R. from California."). You get the idea. After you type your comment, you can check the box that says "Anonymous", which only means that you don't have an account. I'll approve your posting and you'll see it appear within a day or so.

Thank you,

Tim

Hunting Photos

Our hunt was for feral pigs and some exotic animals (Rambouillet and Barbado). The pictures are for those who like hunting photos. They're not particularly graphic, but if you don't like hunting photos, don't click on the link below. For what it's worth, I consider hunting the same as eating free range animals. I don't buy into complaints about hunting from meat, fish, and chicken eaters. Make no mistake about it, any meat that we eat had to be killed at some time. With that said, on to the Hunting Photos.

The Worst Sunburn!

At Robin's beach party last weekend, I got out of the car and put sunblock on Erica. Then I put sunblock on myself. Well, I missed my sandaled feet. I can honestly say that I have the worst sunburn that I've had since I had sun poisoning as a kid. It's a funny sandal pattern and hurts! I won't make that mistake again. The chemo made me extra sensitive to the sun and it combined with a beautiful sunny day and very white skin. Ouch!

I went out hunting yesterday, but it was not a really hard hunt. I did realize the effect that chemo has had on me. I went scrambling up a hill chasing after an animal, only to find exhaustion once my adrenalin stopped at the top of the hill. I literally had to sit down for about 20 minutes to wait for my head to stop spinning. After that, I took it much easier. It was an eye opener for me, because the only problems that I've had so far are just fatigue. This was my first time with dizziness and feeling that I just may pass out from doing too much.

Between this and the sunburn, it seems to be a good lesson about listening to my body and being a little more respectful of the chemo. However, I'll keep living life as normally as possible, just being mindful of my situation.

Dad's Posting

Tonight it is my turn to make the posting in the blog while Tim is resting after a busy day including a visit to the range to sight in his gun, his normal parenting responsibilities with Erica and his day of Chemo.
Tim should be fast asleep right as I enter this posting to his blog as he will be up in the wee hours of the morning to fill his roll as the hunter in the family. He will be bringing home the bacon as well as other parts of the wild boar that he hopes to bag.
We will plan to serve wild sausage and wild pork chops and ribs at the Fathers day BBQ. Thanks to my loving son the hunter.

We are very proud of Tim and the way he is setting such a great example for all of us to follow as he stays committed to beating the cancer and still keeping the rest of his life in the proper prospective

From Tim’s Dad

Happy Feet

I had a great weekend. We went to the beach to celebrate Robin's birthday. I did make one big mistake though. Somehow, I forgot to put sunblock on the tops of my feet. Because of that, I have very unhappy feet. They're sunburnt and sore! If you see me at work with sandals on, now you know the reason!

Other than that, I feel great. I'm still getting tired easily, but am feeling well.

Steve's Colonoscopy

Good news! Steve's colonoscopy came out clear--no cancer or problems.

Tim Rosenbloom
Work: tim_rosenbloom@chino.k12.ca.us
Personal: mr_rosenbloom@mac.com
(Sent from my phone)

Steve

I just spoke with Steve. I was wrong --they are giving him a
colonoscopy and not a sigmoidoscopy. That's a good thing because it
looks deeper inside.
Tim Rosenbloom
Work: tim_rosenbloom@chino.k12.ca.us
Personal: mr_rosenbloom@mac.com
(Sent from my phone)

Go Steve Go

My brother, Steve, is having a sigmoidoscopy today. Unfortunately,
this is the procedure that they don't knock you out for. I'm not sure
why they didn't give him the full colonoscopy where he gets completely
knocked out. I just can't wait to hear that he has clean results.

About me, I just met with my doctor. We joked about the difficulty of
my particular cancer. He suggested that I should have picked an easier-
to-see variety. He's great to work with.

Because my cancer is invisible, we have to schedule a laproscopic
surgery to literally look inside. We're going to contact the surgeon
to get that scheduled. I'll have to go off of chemo for a little while
before and after the surgery.

Tim Rosenbloom
Work: tim_rosenbloom@chino.k12.ca.us
Personal: mr_rosenbloom@mac.com
(Sent from my phone)

How Am I?

People keep asking me about how I'm doing and how much more chemo I have. They also ask how I know whether or not the chemo is working.

1. I'm doing great, but am getting more and more tired. For example, after my last big treatment, I spent Friday and Saturday on the couch.
   
2. As for the rest of the questions, I have a doctor appointment on Wednesday. I'll ask him all of those questions. What I know now is that I have chemo scheduled weekly through August 20. They seem to keep adding to the list all the time. Since my cancer seems to be invisible, it's hard to say whether it's working. Right now, we assume that it's working as long as nothing new shows up on my reports. However, early conversations with the doctor were about doing a laparoscopic surgery to actually look inside of me and to really see what's happening.
   

Now you know what I know.