A Little Less Chemo

Hi All,

After my oncologist visit today, the doctor saw my Erbitux rash (face,
scalp, shoulders, arms, and legs). Because the rash is really going
strong, he's decided to give me a little break from Chemo. Instead of
going every week, I'll go every other week for the next month. It will
be a very nice break for me. :)

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

A Few Favorite Randy Pausch Quotes

Nearly every Sunday morning, I wake up before Erica and Robin. I drink coffee, usually cut some coupons, often make breakfast for the ladies, and watch CBS News Sunday Morning. Today, they had a feature on Randy Pausch. He really seemed to have a way of putting things in perspective and of shining a new light on everyday events. I thought I'd share a few favorite quotes:

• It is not about achieving your dreams but living your life. If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself, the dreams will come to you.
• Never underestimate the importance of having fun. I’m dying and I’m having fun. And I’m going to keep having fun every day, because there’s no other way to play it….Having fun for me is like a fish talking about the importance of water. I don’t know how it is like not to have fun…
• Never lose the child-like wonder. It’s just too important. It’s what drives us. Help others.
• I’ve never understood pity and self-pity as an emotion. We have a finite amount of time. Whether short or long, it doesn’t matter. Life is to be lived.

Happy Sunday. Best wishes for keeping your karma clean, having fun, living life, and walking around with some child-like wonder.

-Tim-

Lunch, Meeting with a Surgeon, and Dinner - UPDATED 7/25/08

We had a great trip to LA today. We had a nice lunch at NBC (the dim sum restaurant, not the studio). After that, we met with a veteran surgical oncologist. He was very helpful. He said that the current plan of chemotherapy is the right plan. He said that I should do it for at least 6 months, but a year would be best. He re-iterated that we assume that the chemotherapy is working until we see proof otherwise. He said that a surgery now would be unwise because it would just result in more chemo (more if they find cancer and more if they don't so that we can kill what they don't see). So, the plan is more chemotherapy and to keep killing cancer. I'm really happy to finally be able to put an end date on the chemo. As much fun as it is, getting to the end of it would be nice too. I probably won't miss the face rash and other amusing side effects. Now I can say that we're planning to do chemo for a year and we'll go from there.

After that we stopped by Phillipe to grab a French dip to bring home for a celebratory dinner. If you haven't been there, you definitely should. It's nearly across the street from Union Station in downtown LA. Supposedly, it's the birth place of the French dip. The restaurant turns 100 years old in October and they still have 9-cent coffee. My grandparents literally used to go on dates there. Also, Huell Howser visited there and did a TV thing about them.

Bad news--I read this morning (7/25) that Randy Pausch passed away. He was the guy who was on Oprah and who wrote "The Final Lecture". He truly was an inspiration. Thanks to the internet, you can see his Final Lecture here.

Also, just a reminder to everyone--be sure to back up your computers often. It would be horrible to lose pictures and music that you store on them. They all break--both PC and Mac. I say that because my work laptop died yesterday. Thanks to being completely anal about backups, I lost only 3 things that I purchased from iTunes the day before. All of my work files, family photos, work photos, music, videos, etc. were just fine. If anyone needs information about backups and backup drives, I'd be happy to answer questions or make recommendations. External backup drives cost around $100 (give or take) and can really keep you from losing important things.

Sunday Morning

Good morning everyone,

I've had a very good week. My work project (big and ongoing) really started to come together this week. On Tuesday, I worked until 11 pm and emailed gradebooks to 36 teachers. It's just the beginning of the project. That was most of one school and I have 30+ more schools to go. This project will really get big around the first week of September when all of our schools start for the year.

I've been very tired this week and spent most of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday relaxing on the couch. Other than being tired, I still feel great. I also took a little time out on Wednesday to visit a few tattoo parlors with my cousin Jef. Did you know that Corey Miller from LA Ink (TV show) has a tattoo parlor in Upland? Coincidentally, they're across the street from what used to be the bar and grill that Bill Kinison had. Bill is Sam Kinison's brother and was the person who performed my wedding ceremony.

I didn't end up picking that particular tattoo parlor, but did find a nice one very close by my house. They met all of my requirements for safety and cleanliness, and were very nice. My only complaint is that it was very warm in their shop. I ended up getting a Superman Logo tattoo (very similar to the photo that I put on this page) on my arm as a physical reminder that I can handle all of this chemo stuff (man of steel reference). I got a little light-headed due to the heat, still air, and chemo-therapy combination. After a break or two and a cooling fan brought in, I was able to get the tattoo finished.

Next week should be business as usual. I work on Monday and Tuesday. I have a short chemo on Wednesday. On Thursday, I meet with a surgeon to determine if and when it might be necessary to have a peek inside of my body to see how my cancer fight is going. I'll post details sometime shortly afterward.

Have a wonderful rest of the weekend,

Tim

Good Morning

Hi Everyone,

Today is Wednesday July 16, 2008. I'm doing very well and have chemo scheduled today. This is my full day treatment where I get to bring the portable IV pump home. Also, I'm hoping to talk with my doctor about my recent CAT scan results. I'll post more information to the blog tomorrow or later today.

Best wishes to all,

Tim

News from the Surgeon

I received a call from my surgeon today. He is the one who first read my original CAT scan and said that he thought that he saw a small cancer spot on my liver. He looked at my latest CAT scan and said that the spot on my liver is gone. I interpret this to mean that the chemo is working. It truly is great news.

This does not rule out the possibility of another surgery. I need to discuss it with my oncologist and see what he thinks. The surgeon did tell me that if he does do a future surgery that it will not be laparoscopic--it would be a full blown surgery. This is because he would like to remove any cancer that he sees. It's his opinion that taking aggressive surgical action would give me more time. He also cautioned me that with such a surgery, I just may wake up with a colostomy.

We'll consult with my oncologist and ask for a second opinion and will then weight our options. I suspect that my oncologist will infer that the chemo is working and that we should continue doing it until I'm not able to take more of it. I also think that we'll probably end up waiting on a surgery. Regardless, I'm thrilled with the good news and will sleep well tonight.

One more thing--I asked the chemo nurses about dying my hair today. It's starting to really thin on top and Robin would like for me to cut it short and style it or something. The nurses said no dye. Also, I asked them about getting a superman tattoo (I feel pretty super when I feel good). They also nixed the idea of a tattoo. Perhaps that part is open for negotiation. I'll have to talk with the doctor about that one. Is anyone up for a trip to the tattoo parlor?

New Car and Today's Update

Thanks to lots of help and suggestions from my family, I found a great car. Steve suggested that I look at the Chevrolet HHR and I finally did on Monday. It turns out that it was the last day of their 0% financing offer. Mark Christopher Chevrolet's Internet and Fleet departments were great to work with--no games or BS. It really was a sharp contrast to the treatment that I had at Shaver Jeep. They were total shysters. I love my new red HHR. It reminds me of my PT Cruiser that I had a couple of years ago.

As for my treatment, I haven't heard any results from my CAT scan last week. I'm sure that they're coming soon.

I worked Monday & Tuesday, and woke up early to mow my lawns this morning (before the heat of the day). After that I hit the couch until chemo. I'm currently in the chemo chair waiting for my benadryl to kick in. It always gives me a good nap. I still feel great except that I get tired easily.

No Offense to Car Dealers...

For anyone who hasn't gone with my brother Steve to buy a car, I highly recommend it. He's a much better salesman than I ever was. He seems to understand the car dealer games and really enjoys playing them right back. Quite honestly, those things are not my strong point. I can teach a child to read, but I certainly can't haggle like Steve can. One of the highlights of my weekend was going car haggling with Steve. I learned some valuable car buying information that I'm going to share with all of you. You never know when you'll need it.

• When a car is on one of those ads for a ridiculous price, it's important to first make sure that it's there. Then can go in, test drive it, and start the haggling process. However, the car dealer will inevitably try to add a markup for something. In my case this weekend, it was a markup of $3,000 for an auto alarm, Auto Armor (or something similar), and lifetime oil changes. Since my brother installs alarms and I used to detail cars at Crown Toyota (years ago), neither the alarm nor the Auto Armor were worth a penny to me. As for the lifetime oil changes, the car dealer was in San Bernardino (and was a Jeep dealer). There's no way that I'm going to San Bernardino for an oil change--even for free. So, the $3,000 markup was pretty much worth nothing to me. While the salesman and finance guys were nice, I'd prefer to keep that money.
  
• But, guess what? If you want to finance a car through a Jeep dealership in San Bernardino, they won't sell it to you without that markup. Doesn't that seem shady? It does to me. However, we found a loop-hole that was shared by an inside source.
  
• The loop hole is that if you get them started haggling and then tell them that you want to pay cash for the advertised price, they have to sell you the advertised car at the advertised price (no markup). Otherwise it would be false advertising. The trick here seems to be to get them interested in you AND make sure that they actually have the car in stock. Then switch to cash (come pre-financed and with a check) and buy the car.
  
• I should point out that besides wasting a tremendous amount of my time, they did give my wife and daughter soda and a free hot dog.
  

Good luck. If you already knew about this, then you are a step ahead of me. If you are a car dealer or car salesperson, I wish you happiness and prosperity--just not at my expense.

Good News (Genetics)

We just met with Dr. Ahmed in Genetics. Based on current science and
medicine, there is no gene that I have (related to cancer) that will
be passed to Erica. She will still have to get a colonoscopy at 27
years old. The meeting was very good and I have been dismissed from
any further genetic testing.

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