Wouldn't do anything different (part 2)

I'll get to the point of the title. As I think back about how I've been living (healthwise, that is), I really have no regrets. I seem to have done everything right. I've posted quite a bit about little dietary changes that I've been trying, and keep trying. These are great adjustments. And I've been more intentional about exercising everyday, consistently. But I've been thinking about the way that I ate and lived before this whole ordeal happened, and I'm really quite happy about it. Thai food does seem to satisfy most of my new healthy requirements for eating. So when I get back to life on my own, I do think I'll get back to that. And of course I'll add juicing to the mix. But in general, I'm satisfied that my lifestyle was pretty healthy -- exercising most days, eating right, low stress. . . you name it, I might have done it. So what will I do differently to fend off a return of this nasty disease? Maybe take up the piano? :-)

Here are the things I've been learning about staving off cancer:
1. Eating -- my new philosophy is that I have to recognize my foods as something that I could have picked, gathered, milked, hunted, or fished (I think this is the Schwarzbein Principle) (I leave red meats out entirely now, as they seem to be cancer promoters. Green tea has become my favorite drink).

2. Exercise -- 30 min per day, preferably strenuous enough to produce a little sweat.

3. Stress -- zero. I generally have figured out a way to do that, which is that I don't really remember the things that are stressful, so I don't even think about stress usually. It's a gift, methinks :-)

4. Sleep -- hmm, I used to do pretty bad at that. I guess I should improve to 9 hrs per day, enough for the old immune system to kick in over night, without becoming a sloath. All I read tells me that sleep is the time the body heals itself. Perhaps it's the time the immune system kicks out those nasty cancer cells too. Just a theory. Anyway, if I'm only in bed for 8 hrs, I figure only 7 of those are actually sleep time.

5. No number 5

6. Stress again -- I forgot that I think massages are anti-cancer, but maybe that's just the metro side of me ::-) (that's a smiling spider with 4 eyes. Sydney's going to correct me and say "spiders don't have four eyes". Get over it).

There's Adam's unscientific list of cancer provention protocol. It might have worked for me if I didn't have the FAP gene. But for me it was essentially inevitable.

7. Faith in God -- No, not a cure all, but he will get me though it.

Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.
Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron. (Ps 107: 8-10)

Wouldn't do anything different

It's been a while since I've posted. A lot has happened since then. I shot off to Mayo Clinic for several days last week with my brother. Nathan did all the driving through the wet, slippery stuff. I suppose I will blame my not posting on being gone for a week. I was quite impressed by Mayo, at least in it's facade. It's composed of several beautiful towers, all connected by heated crosswalks as well as an extensive subterranian shopping center, so there was no need for us to leave the heated comforts of confinement after parking the car.

Insurance, on the other hand, was one big mess. Thank God for Nathan. Otherwise I would have had to make a $5000 deposit before seeing the doc. HMO's are a real pain, but N made it work out okay after doing a lot of phone calls. About 2 hours later we had most of it worked out and went up to wait to see the doc.
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Half the post. . . I'm bored. Come back later to see the rest . . .

It's not H1N1

To the puzzlement of some, I've given my blog a rather strange title. I shall explain. My chummy colleagues at work already understand, so you can pass this entry by.

'Twas swine flu season, and all through the corporate world was the message, "If you have swine flu, please STAY HOME!!" Swine flu and the pigs that carry it were clearly not welcome in the workplace. Given that we all work in rather close confines, we generally know when someone is out sick, and of course as far as the rest of us are concerned, they are out with Swine flu, "Oink, Oink". It was around that time that I was starting to feel a little out of the ordinary. I needed more sleep, and ended up getting to work a few minutes later every morning and going home for lunch break for a bit to eat and a short nap each day (also unusual for me). All of this was of course not unnoticed, given our close quarters. "What's going on?", "Oh, not much," says I. "You've got Swine flu, don't you? Oink, Oink!". "Ha ha, yeah, Swine flu. Oink, Oink!" echos another. Indeed, Swine flu would not be much fun. So, of course I had to get myself checked out by the Swine flu specialist. After my evaluation and diagnosis, of course I was pleased to announce to my colleagues, with much releif, that "At least it isn't Swine flu (Oink, Oink!)." Yes indeed, it could have been worse.

Comments, anyone?

I updated the blog so that anyone can comment without having an account (my fault for overlooking that from the beginning). Feel free to leave a comment, but do leave your name, else it won't make any sense.

Taking the grand Medical Tour

After 3 months of doctors, I've experience almost every medical device and drug I could ever image. Indeed I've had what I'll call the grand tour of medicine. Over the couse, I've been looking at labels, brand names, trademarks, the latest engineering tricks. I'm a geek. I've come across Hospira, Cardinal Health, AstraZeneca, Stryker. . . you name it. Finally today I came across my first Baxter product, the Flo-Gard pumps (I've worked on them, and the tubing that goes with them!! big star for me). So I was the geek of the moment. And then I spent some time examining the prefilled syringes that I have blood thinner in. It has cool needle-stick engineering prevention (which the nurse couldn't figure out how to use and didn't bother to ask me how to do it (shame on her)). So anyway, I was excited. Finally I got to see something that I make in action, even though I didn't get to use it. With all this medical looking around, I'm hoping that sometime I come up with some new idea that I can work on designing while I'm at home since I'm looking for a good engineering project to do. I'll come up with some cool devise that everyone will want (they'll even make excuses to get sick so they can go to the hospital to use it, that's what I do). Maybe not though.

Could be any day

It's Wednesday. That's what the calender tells me. That's what everyone else tells me. It could be any day for all I can tell. What's the big deal. I wake up. I eat breakfast. I do the normal routines. I don't care what day it is. That's not to say I'm getting appathetic. No, not so. I care very much for what's going on around me, and I very much want to be a part of it for a very long time. I love life. I love the internet. I love my books. I love my friends (give yourself a pat on the back and some warm fuzzies). Life is good. God is kind to me. But with nothing to distinguish the days, they all run into each other.

I was watching a movie, The Hiding Place. I recommend it. It's very good and it might make you think. The main character Corrie is in prison during the Nazi invasion of Holland, and she keeps track of the days by marking on the walls. She notes important occasions: moving from camp to camp; her father's death, etc. Those days are important to her. The whole routine keeps her from getting lost in the monotany of every day. It makes a day important when it's passing is marked. I'm making this up. But I suppose it's important that it is one day and not another. I mark the days from the end of my first round of treatments: 12 days. It's important. I have to have my surgery 6-8 weeks after that, or else surgery starts getting worse, not better. So I guess in some sense I mark the days. Blogging marks the days. It's been 6 days since I posted last. Some of you are probably getting impacient waiting for me to write again (I have to make myself feel important). Since I started writing this post: 13 mins. Enough. Time is moving on without me.