Ian's Tumour

Next up on the Treatment Diet

2008-10-05T20:36:00.009+02:00

The last couple of weeks I've started to be a bit more thorough looking into what might be next for me on the side of Tumour treatments and I've found there is a lot of reading to do.

My expectation is that in November things will look much the same as before but then the Tumour will start hitting back. Given that situation we will need to find a next phase treatment in the new year. One option is to go back on to Temodal (Temozolomide) and hope there is still more to be had before the resistance sets in. Another option is to go directly to the 2nd line treatment of PCV (Procarbazine, Lomustine & Vincristine) .

A third option is looking for a promising Trial that is aimed at Grade 3 & Grade 4 tumours. Failing to qualify for my favourite TTF trial (as I was downgraded), there are some promising results being shown from DCVax-Brain a Gene Therapy Vaccine but unfortunately all the trial sites are in the US.

But then again I could be completely wrong about what happens over the next few months.

The Work Ethic

2008-10-05T20:19:00.002+02:00

I am having real problems keeping down my work to the level of my doctors orders and I am feeling it a bit too, having had light cold symptoms over the last couple of weeks. I have also found that I have been missing out on exercise and putting on weight.

Even though I know that I have to take care if I am to stretch my life out a little, having spent the last quarter of a century working more than 40 hours a week continues to push me to take on more work than I should. I think I need to do something more drastic after the end of October, but before that I am committed to get a couple of jobs in Greece and South Africa done (I know, I know).

One more Birthday

2008-10-05T17:59:00.008+02:00

The week started with Leon's 3rd birthday party, here he is at the Computer keyboard just like his granddad, but just look at the speed of the hands. No wonder his mum looks down in awe :-). Happy birthday Leon.

Playlist

2008-09-26T14:46:00.005+02:00

I haven't mentioned my playlist for a while and I have been listening to tons since February; some new, some old, some older newly discovered and some rediscovered. Here are some of them.

New

Coldplay - Viva Lavida - Nice change in style enough to drag me back to the Coldplay fold.

Sigur Ros - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust (which translates as "with a buzz in our ears we play endlessly") . I should be bored with their warbly vocals and endless plains of minimalism with the inevitable crescendos. BUT I'm not and I don't think I ever will, musical Ambrosia.

Portishead - 3: Portihead is back as good as ever

Alanis Morrissette - Flavours of Entanglement: I've been buying the last couple of Morrissette albums out of habit. I think this is last one, all the originality has gone

Old

Nick Cave - Everything he has ever done (have just filled out the missing ones)

Otis Redding - Collection: Sitting on the dock of the bay

Django Reinhardt - Swing 39, Just swing

Anita O'Day - I Told Ya I Love Ya - Exhuberent jazz vocalist from the 40s on.

Robert Johnson - One of my favourite blues artists (next to Skip James)

Smiths / Morrisey - I never liked the Smiths and I put this down to Morrisey's voice and then I heard some Morrisey (solo) songs and I liked them so started listening to more Morrissey and Smiths and discovered I still don't like the Smiths much but I like Morrissey on his own.

Old Newly Discovered

Sometimes you find things and you wonder how you missed them the first time around? Well here are a couple from the 90s (thanks to Alan for reavealing them to me :-)

Alabama 3 - Electronica Country, Gospel and other Americana complete with southern aceents from London. And its good too.

Mercury Rev - "Deserters Songs" and "All is Dream" are my first samoles from these Neo-psychedelics that started in 1991 and are still going.

Les Rita Mitsouko - Been listening to lots of this bunch of French vaudeville rocksters. I like "Marc and Robert" and "Re" the best. Bit like a cross between the Eurythmics & Sailor.

Miranda Sex Garden - You just have to listen to a band with that name, and its worth it.

Hello from .... home

2008-09-24T17:53:00.003+02:00

Yep its true. After my San Francisco trip being on and off for weeks, it was finally cancelled on Thursday (just in time time to cancel everything at no cost). What nobody calculated was how much of my time was wasted on line with the travel agents. Oh well C'est la vie.

Lots of Birthdays at the moment. On Friday we were celebrating the birthday of Christine, a very good friend of ours (who's age escapes me :-) and she had chosen a restaurant that had an interesting Starter and Dessert strategy with their menu kind of in line with a Tapas style consisting of as many little starters and deserts as you want to eat. I can't think why they bother with the main course. Good pigging out recommendation, but somewhat expensive for the quality of the food. Anyway, at sometime during the evening we got to talking about my health and I said I was fine and had no seizures for over 4 weeks... guess what happened on Saturday.

Still suffering slightly today after taking the grandchildren to one of these indoor soft adventure playgrounds. You'd be amazed at how many new muscles you can still find at 50. I have to say I think their dad had more fun than the kids, but not me, oh no.

Next Birthday, Leon, grandchild no 1 on Sunday.

Happy Birthday Tasija

2008-09-16T12:11:00.004+02:00

My grandaugter Tasija was one year old last Friday. Here she is working on the Crisp pipeline. It seems incredible how quickly the last year has gone by.

Weather has been awful the past week or so so I have been spending a bit of time tidying up my Music collection. I've been putting on missing album art and fixing the other tags, I have also been making sure the MP3 (for the i-pods) & FLAC (for the Hifi, SONOS) collections match etc. When the weather has been OK Carol and I have been doing the autumn shutdown of the garden. I've been putting the pool down (will it ever go up again?) and have been high pressure cleaning the Drive, there is some highly satisfying seeing the clean stripes following the nozzle even though it takes so much time (2 afternoons so far).

I have had a trip to San Francisco (Open World) planned and cancelled several time over the past few weeks. Today it is on and assuming it continues that way I'll be flying out on Saturday.

I'm presenting a seminar at the Naturhistorisches Museum in Bern for the IET (Institute of Engineering and Technology) on Thursday called "Using capability and service oriented architectures to directly align business and IT goals" Nice short and to the point don't you think. If that kind of thing excites you I and the IET would love to see you there.

Amber goes west

2008-09-06T00:01:00.007+02:00

Been a while since the last entry, so I still haven't disciplined myself for more regular updates. I think I'll have to set up to-do items in my work Calendar as they get done (mostly).

Amber has been busy this week. She had already her University Bridge studies and got the results on Tuesday....she naturally passed. She had already got provisional offers from Basle and ETH (Zurich), so she is now running around trying to find rooms in Basle where she has chosen to study Biology. Basle is the home of dozens of Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences companies including Novartis & La Roche so Biology and Chemistry is a real strength there. Carol and I are so proud of her, we know she will enjoy the next few years of "study", but we will miss having her around.

Been a busy for me week too; lots of work putting together a architecture report for some of our Russian friends.

The Builders were finally out as of Thursday. So remember this equates 3 builder days as 5 elapsed weeks in normal human terms. Anyway we can now put the finishing touches to the Kitchen that we decided to do ourselves, this is mainly paintwork, electrifying the breakfast bar and various oddments to go in cupboards and drawers. We also scoured most of North West Switzerland for Bar Stools for our breakfast bar only to buy one of the first we saw.

It is wierd having the Chemo out of my routine, I have so much more time available now, Unfortunately I am not feeling the health benefits yet as Carol and I have both caught colds

A Break from Chemo

2008-08-26T15:20:00.003+02:00

More news from Tumourville.

I got the results from the latest MRI scans yesterday and although there is no more shrinkage what is left is showing a lot less contrast. This is caused by less contrast agent being taken up by the tumour area and indicates less activity in the tumour. The bad news is that the current chemo treatment may have reached its limits for now.

Anyway the hospital tumour board has decided it is time for me to take a three month rest from Chemo. This should allow my body to regain some of its old strength and hopefully build me up for the next phase of the fight.

I'm obviously in two minds about this but I'm very thankful for the break.
Getting the results from the next scan (in November) is going to be pretty scary, but until then time to enjoy at bit more life.

Goodbye Olga

2008-08-23T14:08:00.004+02:00

Moscow: On the surface it appears like any other major city in the world (too much traffic too many MacDonalds), and to the tourist that is how it would always seem but when you spend time with real Russians for a few days you start to get a peek at the the capital of a vast country that has been oppressed for so long it is having trouble growing up.

As usual with nearly all business trips you spend so much time in meetings that all you get to learn about your host country is through the corporate procedure and politics, through the food you get to eat and through the usually candid discussions you have with your colleagues.

So what did I learn about this little, but important, bit of Russia

That it really is a tiny piece of a vast country spanning 11 time zones!
Borsch (beetroot soup), Pelmeny (meat dumplings) & Blinis (russian pancakes) are good. In fact the food is great, except they use Dill everywhere except on fish.
Vodka is drunk at the beginning of a meal.... and often in the middle and end too.
Vodka is taken in one swig, and is proof of your ability to become a Russian (thanks)
Corporate politics is worn on the sleeve
You always know who the boss is, he/she sits at the big raised desk forming a T with the table at which the plebs sit.
IT is about 10 years behind western Europe
Red Square isn't
There are lots of Redheads and Blondes in Moscow
The Redheads are real
There is more to the problems in Georgia than our press are telling us (hint: BP)
Police corruption is so rife the citzens of Moscow have unnoficial fines lists so they know what the current rates are (10'000 roubles for a drink driving offence, cash of course)
There are more billionaires in Moscow than any other city in the world
That Moscovites don't know where their river (the Moskva) starts and ends
(just teasing guys)
I can't understand one word of written or spoken russian

прощание для теперь москва

Moscow

2008-08-18T20:20:00.002+02:00

I'm quite excited today as I paying my first visit to Moscow tomorrow and the next four days. I hope I can take at least a little time off of from meetings to at least a little look at the city.

Goodbye Leroy

2008-08-18T19:46:00.004+02:00

Since last September I have been closely following the Blog of another cancer patient Leroy Sievers. Last Friday night Leroy finally gave up the fight against cancer and passed away.

Leroy was a War correspondent who went on to become Executive Producer of ABC Nightline. Leroy had Colon cancer six years ago that was sent into regression only to reappear two years ago as a Brain tumour (then Lung and Spine). Those of us that read his blog knew that that his illness was terminal and that he was losing the fight over the last couple of months but it was still a shock to read the announcement. I feel like I've lost a friend even though we never exchanged a word in the time I subscribed to his blog and I'm sure that goes for all of the people who logged on daily to find out what was happening in the world of Leroy Sievers.

I wish you eternal peace Leroy, you and your blog will be sorely missed.

Three different kinds of pain

2008-08-11T15:57:00.008+02:00

LITTLE ACHES & PAINS

The pain has gone from Hip via my knee and it is on it's way out of my foot, seriously. I still don't know what caused it or why it moved, but in the middle of Chemo time all sorts of odd things happen (I had pins and needles on the scalp near the tumour yesterday, figure that out).

Amusingly my doctors, great as they are, also don't know what causes most of the oddities, they dutifully note down everything I say and make "mmm" kind of noises and then give me a very professional smile and say "anything else?".

For example, last week when I picked up my Chemo, I got a quick check up (Blood Pressure, Reflexes, Pupil dilation, the Ahh test and the Cough test) by an enthusiastic young doctor. After finishing, and telling me how fit I seemed (huh), he asked me if everything was OK (I always find that a bit of comical, asking a Cancer patient if everything is OK) I answered the usual "Yes, but" (when the answer should have been "No it bloody isn't, I'm dying you little pipsqueak") and then listed the usual complaints. When I reached "occasional annoying headaches around my left temple", he asked "do you get the odd headache just under the bone at the back of the Skull". I was stunned, "Yes, I do", I said, and then sat there quietly expecting to be enthralled by an eloquent explanation to these front and rear headache combinations. "Mmm, interesting" he said "I have another tumour patient with exactly the same condition" then he noted this down, gave me a very professional smile and said "anything else?".......

KRANKENTAGEGELD, INVALIDITÄTSVERSICHERUNG AND OTHER LONG GERMAN WORDS
These are words I didn't think I'd be paying too much attention to for a few years, but circumstances have changed all that.

In Switzerland, as pretty much all countries Europe, we have a set of social insurances which we pay into when we are employed and healthy so that we and/or our dependents have some income when we are not. The main insurances are old age and survivors (Alters- und Hinterlassenenversicherung or AHV) insurance and Invalidity (Invaliditätsversicherug or IV).

Because I am only working 30% at the moment I am receiving money from an (employer financed) insurance (Krankentagegeld) to make up much of the difference. This lasts for two years.

After a year on working less than 60% I can now claim IV (or rather must claim IV as far as the Krankentagegeld is concerned) . Being a social insurance the means filling out a ten page form giving your life history and waiting about a year (they say about 6 months but I am told it is about a year) before you get anything. Luckily the Krankentagegeld includes an insurance to make up the shortfall. Insurances for insurances, I suppose it is only to be expected.

So that will keep my financial security intact for the next year I hope. Then, I guess I'll be talking about AHV, 2. Saüles and no doubt more long words.

LEGALESE
Legalese is a universal problem, and it doesn't matter how long you have worked with a language legalese can waste hours of your time. While working through all this insurance stuff I had to sign a 2 page agreement (Vereinbarung) full of complex sentences on what could have been written in 3 sentences of plain German (if their is such a thing). After spending nearly 30 minutes deciphering this mess I still couldn't work out whether I had to send one or both copies back, neither could my daughter (a very fine German speaker) or her boyfriend (a native Swiss-German). In fact the pair of spent considerable time arguing their opposite cases.

Happy Birthday Tumour

2008-08-09T18:00:00.003+02:00

I'm back on the Chemo at the moment which always makes me a bit miserable, add to this I managed to hurt my hip somehow such that I was hardly able to walk yesterday, Today it is feeling a lot better but I'm still hobbling about in a nauseous daze. I just wish I know how I dit it, Carol reckons it is a touch of arthritus but I then had to remind here SHE has the arthritus, I have the tumour.

One year ago today at around 7:30pm, and completely out of the blue, I collapsed with (what I call) my Big Seizure. I can't believe that a year has gone by, in fact I swear that the days are getting even shorter for me now. Anyway I should be happy, my tumour seems to be under control at the moment and I am pretty fit all in all.

I have my regular MRI Scan this week but unfortunately is more than a week later I get the results. I'm hoping for no tumour and a rest from Chemo. But thats probably as likely as our Kitchen being finished in 2 days.

Who believes Builders?

2008-08-07T17:36:00.001+02:00

Remember the "Pigs might fly" comment in my last entry after being told our kitchen work would take 2-3 days. Well they are still here (nearly 2 weeks on). Current estimate is 2-3 days. Thank goodness I have an UPS (uninterpretable power supply :-) in the office.

One of the fun things over the last couple of weeks has been cramming us all into our little party room for meals. I'm not sure Carol thinks the same.

Been busy on several work projects over the last week hence no other blog since the builders blog. It seems that most of my last week has been consumed by preparing a trip to Moscow the week after next. There is certainly a touch of the old Russia about getting a visa. The odd thing is that you have to get an invitation from, of all things, from your hotel.

Family Holiday

2008-07-28T22:53:00.003+02:00

Got back on Saturday from a week in Gran Canaria with the family. Mostly we just sat around the pool until we got hungry and the went out for food, slept in late and then started again. To think that when we planned this holiday I wasn't even sure I would make it.

Builders started tearing our kitchen apart this morning. The work should last 2-3 days .... and Pigs might fly.

Fitting the Cancer routine

2008-07-12T20:00:00.004+02:00

Strange how having Cancer has become part of lifes routine. As I can pretty much trust the Chemo rythym to make me sick on a specific 5/6 days in each 28 day cycles. So I now put them in my diary leaving me able to plan the rest of my life as around 100% normal (except the odd scans and result session).

1-2 Prepare Moscow event, Dentist
3-4 New aquisitions slide set
7 Prep Friday call, Pick up Chemo, Goto Market Webcast
8-10 Paris meetings
11-12 Chemo starts - Phone conferences and desk work only
13-17 Heavy Chemo Days - Light homework when possible
18 Customer Meeting
19 Off to Gran Canaria for 7 Days -- Hoorah

Its amazing how much work you can get done in less than 3 hours a day :-)
As long as it gets no worse than this I'll be a very satisfied sufferer.

Scan Pictures

2008-07-07T21:56:00.008+02:00

Finally got the pictures for the Scans from the end of May. So now you can see what all the excitment was about.

This is the initial diagnosis from last August (no contrast agent used)

Here was the shock growth only three weeks later before any treatment started.

This was six months, much radiotherapy and chemo later in March 2008. The battle was really on.

Finally in May 2008, we are just about back where we started. Next time we are aiming to see the tumour go up is own ****.

Cool eh!

Suprises - Why we hate going to the Dentist

2008-07-04T23:37:00.004+02:00

NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH

A couple of weeks ago I went to my dentist and she discovered that a cyst had formed under a broken tooth. So on Wednesday I had to go in for a "little Operation" (that word should have given me a hint).

When I got there the dentist he explained that he was doing this work rather than my normal dentist because he specialised in procedures where there was a lot of blood involved! He then explained the procedure, he told me that he would first remove the tooth and then clean up where the cyst was. Following that, because the cyst will have damaged some of the bone, he will use a granulate that uses calves bone to replace the missing bone and that would allow my bone to grow in its place. Finally a membrane made from collagen would be sewed in place (using 12 stitches, I counted em) to seal it off.

So after 90 minutes in the chair without any drilling or pain, I was packed of with a new appointment, antibiotics, antiseptic mouthwash and pain killers (in case I needed them).

I needed them about 3 hours later when the pain started and continued in earnest for the next day. On Thursday the pain has gone down a lot, but I looked like half a Hamster from the swelling which is just starting to go down now (Friday Night).

Looks like I'll be back to normal just as my next Chemo starts, Ho hum.

Pool & Barbeque

2008-06-28T23:29:00.000+02:00

Finally got a good weekend (29° C) since setting up the pool, so we had a perfect Pool and barbecue weekend with the whole family and a few very good friends. Too much food and just the right amount of Sun.

Never forget what lurks behind

2008-06-26T18:17:00.009+02:00

When I first started this blog I didn't think that I would make an entry everyday, but likewise I didn't think I would go three weeks without saying anything.

When I looked at the date today I was shocked that so much time had gone past, time I don't have to waste. It's funny how easily I have slipped back into the old routine of getting up for work each day, and jumping on planes for meetings here, there and everywhere and forgetting to spend enough time with family and friends. I've even noticed I'm not reading the Cancer news bulletins. Its almost as if my Tumour had never happened.

But that just isn't true; despite the improvement we saw 4 Weeks ago, I'm still taking Chemo to fight the little bleeder and losing a week in every four because of it, I'm still battling the feelings in my left hand side and still making mistakes with my speech. And today I suffered a small seizure after four weeks without any (and don't forget the pills I take to hold them at bay).

I'm convinced you have to fight Cancer mentally and physically if you are going to keep it at bay as long as possible, and that means reminding myself I have it, I must never forget it no matter how much I want to.

I think I understand why my doctors won't let me work at my day job any more than 30%, its because I have another job to do ... fight Cancer

Maybe I'll get back to my blog a bit more often too.

MRI scans results

2008-06-06T18:18:00.009+02:00

The MRI results are in, and they look good!

The tumour has definitely shrunk. After the last scan it appeared on 3 scan slices and now its only appearing on one. I reckon that it looks smaller than when it was diagnosed 10 months ago. Both Chemo Man and Professor Nuero were there to bring me the news this afternoon and they couldn't wait to show me the results. This is the first time in the last 10 months I almost cried with joy.

More good news; they are now happy to let me drive (although still recommend against the motorbike).

There is a down side to all this; given the excellent response to the Chemo and the minimal side effects (apparently) they are recommending 3 additional Chemo cycles to keep pushing down the curve. It took me less than 30 seconds to make the decision to continue (without feeling any pressure from Carol's "you bloody better"). I still have to way up the damage the Chemo is doing to me but that is damage I'll probably never get to see, so the choice is no choice.

I talked about increasing my working week from 30% to something closer to 100% and both Chem and Neuro shook their heads violently in unison, telling me that these results are almost certainly to some extent due to not overdoing it. So sorry work chums I'm under doctors orders to keep it down (however much it might hurt).

Now I'm going to sit down for Pizza and a glass or two of wine with a big smile on my face.

The Game of Pool

2008-06-02T22:50:00.000+02:00

You know how some days you spot a bargain as you wander around the shops or in a brochure that came through the door and before you know it you are the proud owner of the next must have widget only to find it is the start of a new unintentional hobby?

Well my next hobby started last Thursday when I bought a Pool for the garden. No, not one of those six lane jobs that you bury in the ground, but somewhat more than one of those splash pools we had for the kids. Its circular, 4m diameter, and about 1m high, allowing the whole family to have a good splash about from the inside rather than the outside.

So there we were in Jumbo (a Swiss DIY sub-superstore) and in no time at all had the box on our trolley complete with groundsheet, pool, sunshade and pump. I guess the pump should have been the first hint at lurking hobby, once I had realised it wasn't used to pump the pool up.

We had just started towards the checkout when we were hailed down and asked if we got all of our chemicals, Uhhh chemicals? The kind lady took us to the floor to ceiling display of granules, fluids and indicators all of which, it seems, are essential for the hygienic running of the pool. After scratching our heads for 15 minutes we opted for the Starter Kit and added 25% to the bill.

Things we did not observe in the heat of the purchase, No. 1:

Unlike paddling pools (which are emptied down the drain at the end of the day), the water in a larger pool stays there! A continually monitored concoction of (mostly dangerous) chemicals is required to keep it as it came out of the Tap.

After spending much of Saturday reading up on Pool chemistry (yes it is a subject, but I won't bore you with the links) and performing a number of calculations I felt confident I could get my PH balanced, my Chlorine at the right level to prevent removing the skin of the bather, and sufficient anti-Algae to stop them going green.

So by Sunday we were ready to put the pool up which the manual confidently told us would take 30 minutes. First step, check the ground is level to prevent "Inundation". We had a good look at the ground and it looked flat, but when we started to fill the pool we found an 8cm difference from one end to the other.

Things we did not observe in the heat of the purchase No. 2:

That water is heavy and with an above ground pool you need flat ground to prevent the pool bursting and sending 10 tons of water across your garden and carrying this years expensive plants with it.

Much of the rest of Sunday was spent digging up the garden to get it flat. As the sun went over the yardarm the pool was back in place and we were starting to fill it. By midday Monday (with a short break) the pool was full. This is another difference from a paddling pool.

Things we did not observe in the heat of the purchase, No. 3:

It takes a very very long time passing 10,000 litres of water through the eye of a Camel, or something like that.

After Lunch on Monday the chemicals went in without event, probably due to my thesis work on Saturday (see study does pay off kids). Now it was time to attach the pump (used for circulation I've discovered), which needs electricity.....and needs to be switched on three times a day for 2, 4 and 2 hours. The extension cable and setting an alarm really doesn't cut it, does it. So off to get some outdoor cable, sockets and a timer.

Things we did not observe in the heat of the purchase No. 4:

A purchase is always a beginning but never, never an end

Next installment: Garden Electrics including laying cables, measuring the pool chemistry for the regular (2 days - 2 weeks) additions, cleaning the pump filter (every 2 days) and changing it (every 2 weeks).

I wonder whether the nightly dream of being carried away stark naked on my bed by an unexpected inundation will ever stop.

Scientifically testing the Chlorine levels (I use taste for Algae). Note the "spare tyre" pool shape is reflected on the bathers body...curious.

40 minutes in the Doughnut

2008-05-28T23:24:00.003+02:00

Spent an hour at the hospital this morning to get my latest MRI. I've got so used to this procedure of sticking my head in a doughnut for 40 minutes that I managed to get some extra kip. I only woke up for the radiologist (or is it a Magnetologist?) to stick a needle in my arm to introduce the contrast agent.

I must ask sometime why they do one set without contrast and a second (much shorter session) with.

My appointment to discuss the results are not until Friday week. This is my first MRI post Chemo treatment, so I'm quite looking forward to the results.

Career Decisions

2008-05-26T20:58:00.005+02:00

To be honest my life hasn't changed a lot since I was diagnosed with my tumour nearly nine months ago. Sure, I have been through some uncomfortable therapies (and a little Brain Surgery) but I haven't been stopped from living a full life. I still work around the house & garden, do the washing up, go shopping, take holidays, (try and) keep fit, listen to music as much as ever, and enjoy the company of my family when they are around. I have also been working quite a lot, and was hoping to do so more if the treatments are finished for a while.

I guess I think about my disease several times a day. Sometimes its just when I'm taking my pills or when I accidentally see the hole in my head reflected in the mirror (or some kid stares at me just that little too long on the train), other times it is when I want to pop out and I know I have to to take a bus or rely on Carol to get me where I want to go. But none of these make me feel sad or depressed as they are just little life adjustments.

Today, though, I decided to let a colleague go to an important conference in my place. I would normally have been expected to attend this in my role, but I decided quite rationally to make sure this colleague started to take over my role more.

This was giving up on my career and it hurt!
I need to think about this....

Blood Tests

2008-05-22T22:25:00.005+02:00

I am booked in to the hospital next Wednesday for an MRI with contrast, so I had to go to the doctor this morning for a blood test to check my creatine levels (no not cretin levels).

Apparently the contrast agent can upset the creatine levels in the blood, so I need a normal level before I go.Wasn't that interesting?

Yet another hole in the arm.