This Site is So 2008...

Hi All,

I love that everyone has been so great about keeping up with me. Thank you all so much for that.

I've been thinking a lot about this site and how I could increase my use of it, without adding too much time to keep it up. I'd also like to be able to put up updates, without needing to make a full website posting. I keep thinking about moving this site to Facebook.

For those who haven't used Facebook yet, it's free and really easy to update. Once you try it, you'll find that you get addicted quickly. The only drawback that I can think of is that people will need to make Facebook accounts. I think that the benefits significantly outweigh the one drawback, so I'm officially moving this to Facebook. The URL for Facebook is http://www.facebook.com. It will be easy to find me once you get there--just search for me by name. If anyone needs any help with FB, please let me know. I'd be happy to help.

See you on FB,

Tim

Whale of a Time

You're invited to check out our whale watching pictures and video. Just click on the title to see them.

Happenings This Week

Update for the Week,

I figured that I'd follow my good colonoscopy news with some good eye doctor news. It's odd--the last time that was at the eye doctor (which wasn't that long ago), I didn't know that I had cancer. Looking back, it really has been a surreal year. Anyway, I got a good bill of health from my eye doctor. He said that my prescription really hasn't changed much. Since there was nothing noticeably different, it appears that the chemo hasn't affected my vision. Armed with good news from both ends of my body (from colon to eyeballs), I thought it was time for some good news from my abdomen. To that end, I think that I'll have a CT Scan this week. I have one scheduled for Thursday. I'm sure it will be more of the same news--unremarkable.

What else? The Erbitux rash that was on my face is now on my scalp. It's gotten pretty bad. It doesn't hurt, but it itches like crazy. Basically, my scalp is a scabby mess. I have blood on my pillow case each and every morning. It's not horrible, but it's not the most fun thing either. Also, I've been pretty tired lately. I worked for 1/2 of a day today and went home to rest. It has gotten to the point where I'm going to suggest to my doctor that it's time for a break from that particular chemo drug.

I think that I'll end this blog post with some more good news. My uncle's girlfriend, Cheryl, has officially beat her cancer. She has a couple more rounds of chemo, but she just received a clean bill of health. Congrats Cheryl! Way to kick some cancer butt!

A Little Good News

Yesterday was an exciting morning of fishing, followed by an evening of colonoscopy prep. While fishing, Erica caught a 7 lb trout. Her friend Derek caught a 5 lb trout. Both are bigger than any trout that I'll probably every catch. They were both thrilled.

After drinking my fill of colonoscopy prep beverage last night (3/4 of a gallon), I started my day at 4 am by drinking the remainder (1/4 of a gallon). By 6:30 am, we were on our way to Kaiser. We parked at 6:47 am and I checked in at 7:02. 15 minutes later, they had me in a gown, laying around, with an IV poking out of the back of my hand. It went like clockwork. I woke up from the procedure and heard good news. No polyps and no evidence of any new cancer or tumors in my colon. The drive home was a blur--I hardly remember it at all. I spent most of the day on the couch and finally got up and moving around 4 pm. Now, I'm just tired and plan to spend the rest of the evening relaxing, happy with the good news of the day.

By the way, click here for a link to a great news story about children with cancer and some very cool construction workers. It's worth having a look at. There's a video on the page. Enjoy.

Tim

It's About Time

Looks like I'm overdue for a blog post! I guess we have some catching up to do. To start with, I got a new cat on February 22nd. We adopted her from a shelter. Her name is Tara and she's approximately 2 years old. She was already declawed and was immediately friendly when I met her. All the shelter knew about her was that she was an "owner surrendered" cat and that the previous owner said that she was fixed. We brought her home and my office became her bedroom. She has been busy getting acquainted. She now likes to wander down the hall and check out the other rooms. Ziggy (our other cat) has not become her friend yet, but that will come with time. We're still establishing who's the alpha cat, but it looks like she's going to fit into our family nicely.

I went to another raw food meetup last weekend. The food was great and the people were very nice. However, they had a guest speaker who was totally nuts. She was very nice and very fascinating and has led an interesting life. Interestingly, she viewed all living things as equals. This includes trees, mosquitos, etc. She liked to "ask" trees if she could take a piece of fruit and the trees "answered" her. She also felt that the worst thing that she ever did was to squash a handfull of mosquitos off of a friend's head. She likened that to mass killings at Auschwitz. That was tough to take and we left shortly afterwards. I will certainly go back to the raw food group, but definitly not if they have the same guest speaker!

What else? Hmm--I'm taking Erica and her friend Derek fishing on Friday. Derek's dad is going along too. I'm really looking forward to that. I have a colonoscopy scheduled for Saturday and have to do the colonoscopy prep Friday after fishing. The last time that I woke up from a colonoscopy, the doctor told me that I had a big tumor that looked like it was cancerous. I can't wait to wake up from the procedure and have the doctor NOT say that.

Work is going well. However the California and national budget issues are starting to hit home. There was a school board meeting last night and they presented budget cut information. The district will have a 44 million dollar shortfall next year and the Board of Education was trying to put a plan into place. Cuts will be deep and difficult. I was surprised to see my job title on the chopping block. They were talking about cutting costs by getting rid of one of the three of us. They were also talking about getting rid of the extra days that we work (I currently work 20 extra days per year and get paid a daily rate for them). The superintendent then presented his suggestions to the Board. He did not suggest eliminating one of our positions, but he did suggest getting rid of our extra days. It means that it's very likely that I'll still have a job next year but that I will probably be taking a little bit of a cut in pay. I can live with that. We'll have trim our budget down, but we'll be fine. A lot of people aren't so fortunate.

Wow--this was a crazy, random blog post! That probably comes with me writing it at 10 at night. Must be past my bedtime.

Goodnight and big hugs to all,

Tim

I've Got Good Blood

Great news--I went in for my day-before-chemo blood test on the way home from work. Kaiser is so quick! By the time I got home, I had results waiting in my email's in box. Good news--both of the elevated liver enzymes are back in the normal range. So, I'm a little more relaxed tonight. I'm going to go and load a movie onto my iPhone, make dinner for the family, and prepare for an exciting day of chemo tomorrow.

Best wishes and big hugs to all of you,

Tim

Feeling Better and My First Raw Foods Demo Meetup

I woke up this morning and realized that my mouth sores are finally on the mend. They'll be gone in a day or two and the constant pain is gone today. Woohoo!

I had a great day yesterday. I started my day by going to pick up my organic veggies. This time it was apples, kale, avocados, pears, spinach, lettuce, Swiss chard, celery, tomatoes, radishes, and more. My dad was nice enough to go along and pick up the veggies with me. He was impressed by my haul of fruit and veggies. As always, he was very difficult to spend time with. Just kidding--it was really nice to spend some time with him. We have a lot of fun together.

After going home for a couple of hours, I was off to my first Raw Foods Demo meetup. Because this one had a presentation on organic gardening, I brought Uncle Frank along. That's a photo of him with this post. For me, the best part of the meetup was seeing and tasting the different raw foods that people had prepared. The event started with a demonstration of how to make a raw soup. Among other things, it called for almond milk, salad flakes, spices, and a few other ingredients. It was served over fresh avocado and was room temperature. It was fantastic. I'll post the recipe when I get it. Then there was the chocolate pudding pie. It was made with raw cacao, avocado, agave nectar, and some things that I can't remember. However, I did find a recipe that sounds very similar. It's at http://www.rawfoodsupport.com/read.php?4,93819. Then there was a super-yummy "Thai Coleslaw" that I loved. It hurt my mouth, but I ate it anyway. It can be found at http://www.rawfreedomcommunity.info/forum/showthread.php?t=1405.

There is another raw foods meetup next Saturday at 6:00 pm. It's in Rialto and details are at http://www.meetup.com/rawfood-happy-health/calendar/9483905/.

Happy Sunday,

Tim

Raw Food Setbacks

I had an awesome dinner at my parents' last night. Joanne went to the trouble of making fruit salad, regular salad, and other fresh raw veggies so that I'd have plenty of things to eat. It was great. I brought my raw salad dressings and a few other raw foods for everyone to try. It really was very nice.

Even with how nice it was, I could feel and see the mouth sores coming on. Today, my mouth is worse than yesterday, with tomorrow probably being worse yet. I'll probably be starting to get better Saturday. I've come to the conclusion that it's going to really be a challenge to change my diet to raw. It seems that I get the mouth sores every other week or so, and they last for several days. During that time, my main food is cream based soups. Anything else is just too acidic or too irritating on a sore mouth. On top of the mouth sores, I have a colonoscopy scheduled for March 7. I was looking at the prep information and there are dietary rules that start the week before the procedure. The rules call for no corn, no beans, no seeds, etc. Guess what?!?!? Raw foods often have things like seeds or raw corn in them. They also often have sprouted beans (like sprouted garbanzo bean hummus).

It's going to be a slow journey to going raw with lots of setbacks. But I know that it'll get there by taking one step at a time. On top of all of the challenges with going raw, I do have some good news about it. My organic produce co-op that I joined is going great. I had a yummy basket of fresh fruits and veggies last week and I'll get another one on Saturday. Also, several members of that group are in some raw foods group. Those groups meet up to share raw foods and raw recipes with each other. So that should help.

I also have some good news about the boy with cancer at Erica's school. The father emailed and said that they think that the chemo is going well. He is impressed with how strong his 10 year old son in regards to tolerating the chemo while keeping up a good attitude. Good stuff.

Best wishes and big hugs,

Tim

"May We Have Your Liver?"

Contrary to the ill-humored video below (which I love), I'm not going to be parting with my liver anytime soon. However, at my doctor appointment today, we did discuss my liver. 3 of my blood tests for liver function indicated increased liver enzymes. While this is something to watch, it is to be expected from chemo. Basically, my understanding is that chemo can cause a condition that is described by the liver getting fattier. Somehow, this condition is linked to the increased liver enzymes. It's nothing to get worried about at this point. Our plan is to recheck the levels on my next blood test in 2 weeks. We already took action today by cutting the dosage of one chemo-helper drug. If the tests come out high again next week, my doctor will schedule a new CT scan and will have a better look at my beautiful liver.

The video below may have some objectionable images and should be previewed by adults before showing to kids. I'm precisely immature enough to enjoy the humor in the video. Now that I've placed my disclaimer, here's it is:

What a Week!?!!?

I have to admit, this was an interesting week. It started off with lots of work. Unfortunately, I worked a little too much and had a co-worker that was having a tough day and shared the difficulty of the day with me. Basically, I got dumped on. Oh well--they didn't do it on purpose and they really are a nice person.
After that challenging start, I was off to California Adventure with the family for a 1/2 day visit. Between working a little too much and having challenging inter-personal issues at work, I was exhausted. I found myself walking around California Adventure feeling like someone with cancer (I was just really drained and tired). This was a first for me. We still had a nice family time, but it took a significant effort on my part to maintain enough energy to keep up with my family and enjoy the park.

As if that weren't enough of a challenge, I've felt mouth-sores coming on for the last few days. They finally started to really hurt yesterday. They're kind of funny--I first feel them coming on, then I can see them, and then they really start to hurt. It seems to be a fairly predictable cycle. When I was feeling them coming on, I took a flashlight and looked closely at my tongue. I had 6 small sores one the left side, one on the bottom of my tongue, and one big one on the right side of my tongue. Ouch!

Fortunately, my week has also had some high points. I ventured out to Culver City to try a raw vegan restaurant called "Leaf". Not only did I have a fantastic lunch, but I learned that raw food can really be very good. I had a sandwich and salad while I was there. I also bought several things to take home (salad dressing, dessert, powdered chocolate, croutons, crackers, etc.). I'll definitely be going back there. It was well worth the hour and a half drive.

Also, I joined the Inland Empire Organic Produce Buying Club. It's a co-op that takes money from the members and purchases organic produce (in bulk) from local farmers. The produce is then divided up among the people who contributed money. The whole thing looks great. I saw the produce baskets today and it looks like a great deal. I'll get my first basket of produce from them next Saturday. You can learn about the IEOPBC at http://www.meetup.com/organicproduce/

I posted some of my basic information on their website earlier today and already had some helpful messages. 1 person messaged me and told me that they also are eating raw foods and offered to help answer any questions that I may have. They told me about a cancer-fighting movie that another member has and offered to email that person to see if I can borrow it. Another person messaged me and told me that they also eat raw foods. This second person told me about a raw food demo group and a raw food potluck group. Both of those groups are from around here and are fairly close by (within a half-hour or so). Since this new way of eating is so different for me, I really need the help and support. I can't wait to see where this leads me.

One more highlight of the week. I got to see my cousin in a play. He is in Zoot Suit and the Pomona College. It was great to see him acting. :)

Night all,

Tim

Nearly 2 Weeks Already!?!?!

Has it been nearly 2 weeks since my last posting? Wow. Time flies when you're having fun. I'm still feeling very good and have had a minor (but significant) milestone recently. I was able to untie double knots on my shoes. This is because feeling is beginning to come back to my fingertips. I'd say that the feeling is 1/2 or 1/4 way better than it was. This morning I was able to work the buttons on the collar of my shirt. OK, I'll admit that it took me 5 minutes to unbutton the collar and another 5 minutes to re-button it, but that's a step in the right direction.

Relatedly, I tried to play Guitar Hero, but I don't yet have enough feeling in my fingers to work the guitar. After that failure, I decided that it was time to learn the drums in Rock Band. Erica is beginning to learn the guitar in Rock Band and I played drums. I'm still trying to get Robin to sing. I did pretty well for a guy with no rhythm. I played a few songs and was doing well, when I broke a drum stick. I felt like a real drummer--broken drum stick and all! I had to play some of the songs with 1 1/2 drum sticks instead of the standard set of 2.

Other than that, I've had no changes in my health. I am getting the urge to go hunting or fishing, but that is probably not health related. :)

I went to Idyllwild this weekend to celebrate my father in-law's 66th birthday. It was a great weekend with Robin's family. I'm really lucky--I get along very well with them. However, it was very difficult to eat my raw foods while away from home. I went to their local natural food store and got one very small grocery bag of raw items:
--A Strange Sweet Spread made of coconut and some assorted berries (all raw of course)
--Raw Crackers
--3 Raw Snack Bars (granola-ish)
--2 Green Smoothie Drinks (juice and algae)
--2 Kinds of Raw Cereal (one good and one yucky)
--4 Pack of Chocolate Almond Milk Drink Boxes (made from soaking almonds in water)
Wanna guess what fancy raw foods cost? How about $56? Eesh! I'm going to have to learn more about making my own raw foods and then pack them carefully for my next trip away from home.

I'm going to end this message with an inspirational video that I found on another website. Check this out:



Best wishes and big hugs to all,

Tim

The Good Side of Having Cancer!?!?!?

OK, we all know that having cancer sucks. I've had conversations with doctors that I would never wish on any of you. Not fun. IV's--not fun. Hospital stays--not fun. Scabby head and pimply face--not fun. I could go on and on, but that's not the point of this blog post.

The point of this post is that there are also some REALLY GOOD things that come from having cancer and I think that I'll share them with you. In no particular order, here's what comes to my mind:

• You get preferential treatment at doctor's offices and hospitals. Generally speaking, you get to go to the front of the line.
  
• You get the best pharmaceuticals. I had a reaction once during chemo and they gave me some sort of happy medicine. Wow--good stuff. :)
• Catching up with old friends. It's great to re-establish old friendships and see what your old friends are up to.
• Material Things--How can a person be expected to heal from surgery without a Playstation 3?!?! Also, spouses don't even blink an eye when you tell them that you need new kitchen equipment to support your new diet (I just got a new food processor, dehydrator, and I'm going blender shopping soon).
  
• Family--You really realize just how important your family is. Quality time with them takes on a whole new meaning. You no longer take them for granted.
  
• A caring wife massages your hands and feet each and every night.
• You can try radical new hairstyles that you've never had the courage to try before (spikey blue hair comes to mind!).
  
• When you're out in the woods with the guys, and you get too tired and have to lay down in the dirt for a break, the rest of the guys will carry you (the words to Lean on Me are echoing through my head right now).
• Your community, workplace, and place of worship reach out to you and offer you support in ways that you never dreamed possible. It renews your faith in the goodness in people's hearts.
  
• People cook for you and bring you food to fatten you up.
• People from around the world read your blog.
• You can go to the spa to relax and it counts as therapy.
  

There's so much more, but the point is that I know that I'm truly blessed. I've often told that to Robin even before cancer. We have a very good life and we're very lucky.

Best wishes,

Tim

Music Video:
Lean On Me by (Bill Withers)

Music Video Code by Video Code Zone

Learning to Eat Raw

Update 1/19/09 - I found a new yummy recipe It involves blending raw cashews, vanilla, water, dates, and cinnamon. Once it's blended, it become similar to yogurt or cream. Then you mix in berries. Good stuff. Here's a link. There's a video on the website.

--------

This raw foods diet is really challenging. For the last week, I've had a healthy fruit/veggie juice for breakfast. It's usually 1 or 2 oranges, an apple, a handful of spinach, a zucchini, blueberries and blackberries, and a cucumber. Then I add some Mona Vie and some liquid vitamins. Actually, the juice drink is pretty good, but the added veggies took some getting used to. It's definitely healthy and gets me off to a good start for the day. Erica and Robin love the fresh OJ (they skip the rest of the veggies in theirs).

For lunch and dinner, I've been having nice big salads and/or veggie pieces (like broccoli with a little ranch).

After a week of that, I was ready to start preparing raw foods. To help with this process, I bought a new food processor and a new dehydrator. I spent several hours yesterday getting ready to prepare some food. I made 3 recipes--1 was good. The other 2 were horrible. I made a fantastic raw apple pie (recipe linked here). The 2 horrible ones were tasty tacos and raw pasta with basil cream.

So, I'm going back to my favorite cancer website to find out what other people have made. I'll also be looking for more yummy recipes online. If any of you have good raw veggie recipes, please let me know. Good ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Best wishes,

Tim

I'm Unremarkable and Proud of It

Good news--My recent CT scan says that I'm unremarkable, meaning no
new cancer. It appears that the chemo is keeping the cancer at bay.

Tim
Personal: mr_rosenbloom@mac.com
(Sent from my phone)

Lots to Talk About

Happy New Year to you and your families. I am happy to have finished 2008 and am ready for a new year. 2008 was tough. I got cancer, we thought that my father in law might have cancer (we've since learned that he does not have cancer), my uncle's girlfriend came down with cancer...Need I say more?

I started the year off with a resolution of sorts. I've decided to change me eating habits to a more cancer-hostile diet. Basically, this means lots of veggies and fruit, with the hopes of eliminating most (if not all) sugar, eliminating meat, eliminating fungus (yeasts, mushrooms, etc.), and changing the body's pH to a more cancer-hostile environment. It starts by trying to eat 70 to 80 percent raw foods and gets tougher from there. For the last few days, I've been trying to eat tons of veggies. It's going well, but is very tough. The idea of adding years to my life makes the process easier. The idea came from many sources, but especially the pH Miracle and Kris Car. She has written a book and made a video called Crazy Sexy Cancer and has appeared on Oprah with Dr. Oz. Good stuff. This diet should also help me to get rid of the 20 lbs that I've put on since last April (I attribute them mostly to my ice cream and see food diet).

I had a CT scan a week ago and am waiting for results (the results should be available during my oncologist appoitment visit next week). I'll post a new blog entry after that appointment. I'm getting to be a pro at CT scans. I came prepared for the it--empty stomach and LIDOCAINE W/PRILOCAINE rubbed on my arm to numb it up for the IV that goes with the scan. The technician/nurse who was doing the scan was impressed and had never seen anyone come with a numb spot on their arm. I think that it was my 4th scan in the last year, but who's counting.

Fun fact--I realized last week that chemo has not only thinned my hair, but it's made my armpit hair fall out. Robin is jealous.

Have I said thank you to you lately? Thank you to all of you. I appreciate everything that everyone has done to help me out over the last year. My friends, family, and community have been great in so many ways. We're truly very blessed.

Our Israel trip is on hold due to the instability in the region. That's ok. I can't see a reason to fight for my life against cancer only to go to Israel and get shot or blown up.

Back to the topic of cancer, I saw the Patrick Swayze feature done by Barbara Walters earlier this week. I really enjoyed watching it. He's inspirational. I can appreciate when he said that he wants to last until they find a cure. Here's a link to the story.

Also on the topic of cancer, I recently learned of a 4th grade boy at a local school, who recently learned that he has bone cancer. It started behind his knee and they just found 2 spots on his pancreas. His family is waiting for results of a test to see if those spots are cancerous. Chemo will start after the test results. I mentioned him in this email for a couple of reasons. First, please keep him and his family in your thoughts and prayers. Second, a group of families are signing up to bring them food and help out. We're going to send them a gift card for a restaurant or bring them some food. I have yet to contact them but I may try today. If you would like information about how you can help out, please contact me via email. I'll share the details that I have. Obviously, I won't publish specific information about them here for privacy reasons.

How about some good news? My cousin and his wife just had a baby. I have a new second cousin named Benjamin. I can't wait to meet him.

Well, I've said a mouthfull. Best wishes and big hugs to all of you,

Tim

Nice Day for a Scan -- Or Radioactive Man Strikes Again

Update--I had a very nice scan experience. I was able to use some of the lidocain that they give me in Oncology on my arm approximately where I thought the IV would go for the CT scan. It's a numbing lotion that I use prior to chemo. The CT technician was surprised to see that I had a numb spot on my arm all ready for the IV. After he gave me the IV, he asked if it hurt. I said that I didn't feel a thing. He thought that was really cool. I also asked why the CT scan machine tells you to hold your breath during parts of the scan. He told me that when you breathe, your diaphram caused your liver, lungs, and parts of the intestine to move. So, holding your breath caused your inner organs to be more still and therefore results in a clearer CT scan picture. Neat stuff. I think that was my 4th CT in the last year. They have something like 50X the radiation of an X-Ray, so I'm something like 200X more radiated than a person would be from an X-Ray. Stand back--I'm probably radioactive. Does anyone have a geiger counter?

Original Post--I'm off to work today and will then go for a new CT Scan. Looking for no new cancer...

Another Good Week...No News...

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Uneventful Day at Chemo

I had a relaxing day at chemo. My dad and brother brought lunch and
ate with me. It was Steve's first time there and I think that he was
pleasantly surprised that it wasn't a horrible process. We got to talk
a bit about our upcoming trip to Isreal. Overall, it was a nice day.

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

Happy Thansgiving to All (Greetings from Lake Arrowhead)

Doctor Visit and Chemo

I visited with my oncologist today (he's not the doctor in the photo--that's Doctor Erica). He said that we're doing great. He's cleared me for a possible trip to Israel early next year.

After a visit with him, I went for a very relaxing day of chemo (relaxing because I slept all morning in an I.V. induced Benadryl stupor). After that, I've assumed the official after-chemo position the couch in front of the TV.

Best wishes to all,

Tim