3 Participants

Two appointments ago I asked Dr. Thompson if it would be possible to reduce my number of appointments there at the SCCA. It turns out these appointments are dictated by the drug company who's study I'm still a part of. They determine my schedule of appointments, what blood draws I'll have, scans, EKG's, etc. My research coordinator e mailed the drug company to see if a reduction in appointments would be acceptable. They got back to her and said that is a possibility, and told her that there are two other people left on the study who did the same thing. That's right, out of all the people who comprised this study (I don't know how many, but I'm thinking somewhere near one thousand), there are three study participants remaining. The weird thing is that I have no idea how to feel about this information. Honestly, I'd like to find a way to use it to get onto Roche's (the drug company) payroll. It makes me want to ask three impossible questions: 1. When did those other two people enroll in the study? 2. Did everyone else leave the study because of remission, or, you know, some other reason? 3. Do those other two people rock as hard as I rock? 

These last two-plus years have been very mind bending. In a good way, for sure, but mind bending none-the-less. 

In other news, Laura will officially be moving in on Saturday! I'm excited about this next phase of our relationship. And the apartment could probably use a woman's touch :) 

The Most Hansom

I did the Puyallup last night with Laura. Haven't done the Puyallup in a good many years, turns out it's still a really good time. Actually saw deep fried butter. Didn't eat it, but saw the sale of them. Rode the big roller coaster there, still as exciting as I remember it. The memory I most closely associate with that roller coaster is when I was a kid and I went to the fair with my mom, dad and Jeannine. Jeannine and I were going on some rides and dad talked us into going on the big roller coaster. It looked pretty scary to my little 1987 self, and even bigger to Jeannine, but we went for it. While standing in line, dad was remarking on how well they rebuilt the coaster after it collapsed with all those people on it. And how it was nice and sturdy now because they used nails instead of staples this time. So we rode, gasped at all the appropriate places, laughed and had a good time, but when we disembarked, all of that buildup came back to Jeannine is a great wash. She realized what she had just done and it was too much for her to bear, and she burst into tears. It was really cute :)

I was thinking the other day how strange it is that the presidential campaign with the most money is pretty much the most effective campaign. Does this seem weird to anyone else? Is this a wise way to select a leader for our country? It's strange that when I talk to folks about this, everyone universally agrees (or nearly universally) that it's an absurd concept. Then why is it this way? In my opinion, I think we shouldn't even see a candidate during the whole process. No pictures, no videos, nothing. Only voices. Every presidential debate ought to be in audio format only. We can still know everything about their lives, marriage status, children, full access to their background, but nothing that would sway someone to vote for someone for any other reason then their strict qualifications for the job. And each campaign should be given a budget to stay within. This will force a balance to occur that can't really happen when there's all this play on emotions through advertisements. Are we really that stupid? A candidate is falling behind in some area of the country where he used to have a stronghold and what does he do? Plays more commercials and advertisements. We are fooled by this, or it would never happen. Our response to advertisements is testament to the fact that this approach is effective. This is all to elect an individual who is going to have the monumental task of running this country. Do we really want a president who is the most hansom, or some other non-consequential aspect?

I'm speaking out of COMPLETE ignorance, I should say that right out of the gate. This idea is probably done in some Communist socialist satanist country where they never even recycle, and I have no idea because I really don't care much for politics.

Smooth Transitions

The other day I was thinking about Jackass. A bunch of dudes standing around hurting one another and laughing extremely hard. From paper cuts to all manner of painful penis persecution, the more it hurts, the louder the laughter. I was thinking that if the concept of "violence=laughter" brought this program to it's logical conclusion, you'd have a bunch of dudes standing around shooting each other, and themselves, in the heads. Imagine Steve-O standing there with a big dumb grin saying "I can't believe I agreed to this!". He's standing in front of a brick wall splashed with fresh gore. Johnny Knoxville comes up with a .44 magnum in his hand, puts it to the side of Steve-O's head and blows his fucking brains all over that wall. Steve-O's lifeless body collapses, head destroyed, and proceeds to bleed out. Everyone laughs their asses off, hi-five-ing one another and talking about who is going to be next.

Also, Laura and I are going to be roommates! My current roommate (Adrian) is going to be moving into an apartment in this building, and Laura is going to move in. We're both optimistic about the future, and excited about this transition :)

By the way, do you like that nice smooth transition from Steve-O to relationship update? Thanks, I pride myself on my smooth transitions. Maybe I should make that my rapper name: Smooth Transitions. Speaking of which (I almost don't want to mention this because it commits me at a deeper level then I'm ready for, I think), I was thinking about writing some rap songs and performing them at an open mic. I think that would be the most nerve wracking thing I could imagine, but I think I could do it. For some reason rapping in front of people is a thousand times harder then singing and/or playing the guitar.

Smooth Transitions. I think it's growing on me...

Sleigh Bells

Greetings to people of all of Earth's races. Last weekend I rode to Lake Chelan with Laura on the motorcycle. Probably the last long road trip for the season. This was Laura's first long trip, and I must say, she did fantastically well. Maybe even close to spectacular. The weather was absolutely perfect for the trip, that route is exquisite in it's scenery.

Also, I recently got to see a band that rocks, "Refused". They stopped making music back in 96 or so, and haven't done anything since then. I don't know what sparked it, but they're on tour now, playing all their old stuff. It was really, really good, probably better then I was expecting, and I had very high expectations. The band that opened for them was called "Sleigh Bells", and they were a terrible offense to all existing things. It was some kind of a bastard, ill favored, oft abused step son of rap, metal and techno. Yeah. No. They were terrible, and earned every measure of my loathe a thousand times over.

PT Cruiser

I think cops are becoming the enemy of man. I would bet that one out of every ten thousand interactions with a law enforcement officer aren't uncomfortable and scary. We see a police cruiser parked on the side of the road and our blood pressure increases. We glance down at the speedometer and shift our hands to a respectable "ten-and-two" position. Perhaps I feel this way because I'm constantly carrying a balloon of drugs around in the fleshy darkness of my anus. I know a cop's goal isn't to make friends with people, but when was the last time I felt good about an interaction with a cop? I think never. Or very nearly never.

Also, I think the Christler PT Cruiser aught to be taken off the road. The Pacer and Gremlin were the quintessential "ugliest cars" until the good old PT stole the title. What are you, PT Cruiser? Are you a mini van? A sports car? Are you trying to look like a classic? If so, you suck at it. It's like the people who designed it wanted to do something radical, but still be appealing to folks living in the compounds of Colorado City, Arizona. Get it together, PT Cruiser.

Haynes

Last Friday was another CT scan. I've brought this up before, I'm almost certain, but they give me an injection of this stuff (that's radioactive, I think) before I get scanned that is supposed to make my insides show up with better resolution inside the machine. It comes out of this weird apparatus that has a bunch of blinking lights and shit with a reservoir on the bottom where the stuff is held. They push a couple buttons and an automatic plunger pushes the stuff down a coiling tube and into an IV line running into my arm. It starts to feel like really hot water being injected into my body, I can feel it spreading down my arm, across my chest, down my torso and legs. It feels like I'm pissing myself. Then I get passed through the CT machine. That aspect of the scan only takes a minute or two, but afterwards, after the heat starts cooling, I get a really pronounced wave of nausea. I've never actually thrown up from this, but every time it gets closer and closer. My mouth starts filling up with saliva and I start swallowing and swallowing and swallowing. It's really nasty. Next time I'm just going to let myself wretch, I think that will actually feel better. And it'll contribute to the maintenance of my girlish figure.

So my results appointment was yesterday with the Good Doctor, Dr. T. He told me that my tumors have been shrinking in small increments, too small to be a huge event over the course of one scan interval, but over the two years I've been on this drug, there's been some noticeable changes. My first couple scans were the most dramatic reduction in tumor size from my "base line" (the tumor's size before any medication), about 19% after the first scan, and maybe another 10% after the second. The shrinking slowed, but didn't stop. I'm up to about 48% reduction from my base line right now. I about shit my Haynes boxer briefs when he told me this. I've been under the impression that shrinking occurred right off the bat, but hasn't continued, but this isn't the case. The other shoe, it seems, is being clutched a little tighter by the dropper (is this too abstract?).

Anyway, I thought this was good news worth passing along. 48% baby, 48%.

Blessed Mundanity

It's been a minute or two since my last blog. It's not like I've been too busy to blog, but when a window of free time becomes available, I end up stuffing something else in the hole. I've been doing a lot of drawing lately. And reading. I'm still on a Stephen King binge, just finished "The Dark Half" yesterday, before that it was "Lisey's Story". Today I'm starting "Desperation". I also wrote my first ever song with a melody (not rap) and lyrics and everything. All the time I've been playing music and this is my first song. It's just goofy, but I was still pretty proud of myself. You'll probably hear it on our next open mic. I've been keeping notes on other song ideas, I have a few written out, but no music put to them yet.

What else is new? A bee flew into my helmet a couple weeks ago. Stung my freshly shaven head right above my right temple. I didn't crash or anything, I think crashing your motorcycle is much worse then getting stung by a bee, even if the crash doesn't injure you. I was able to remain calm and pull the bike over safely. 

I took a very nice ride out to Yakima a couple weekends ago. I rode over hi-way 410 out of Enumclaw, then back to Seattle via I5. It's a very scenic drive, if you haven't taken that route, I'd recommend it. 

Everything is still holding stable on the health front. Still juggling some side effects, but I'm making it work.

That's about it.

50 To 100 People

A thing worthy of mention:

In my last appointment with Dr. Thompson, after my blood work came back normal (as has become routine) I was shaking my head asking "what now? The 'talk show' circuit?" He told me that the study I'm involved with hasn't been around that long, so getting accurate numbers on how this drug is fairing as a cancer treatment modality is difficult. For one thing, if you imagine this as a bell curve, where the highest number of people receive the maximum amount of protection from disease progression at the highest point of the curve, it was expected that the line would taper down the other side of the curve until it touched the "x" axis (meaning that it had stopped working for everyone who has ever taken it). What they're finding out is that the line on the back side of the bell curve does indeed slope toward the x-axis, but it hasn't touched yet. Me and a handful of others are responding long term, perhaps 50-100 people nationwide. Perhaps I should start buying lottery tickets...

Steve Raible

Well, the fashion show was a success. I didn't get to meet Cynthia Nixon, but I did get to meet Steve Raible, the voice of the Seahawks, and that was very exciting. Thanks to everyone who came out and cheered me on. I hope I was sexy enough :) The jacket I wore sure turned out nice, thanks to Carole McClellan for doing such an amazing job on it.

D'erections 2 Tha Par-Tee

From I-90:

1. Take the Front Street Issaquah exit (exit 17) and head south on Front Street

2. Follow Front Street through downtown Issaquah, continue driving past the Tiger Mountain paragliding landing, drive through the intersections with May Valley and Cedar Grove roads and past the entrance to the Mirrormount subdivision

3. Turn RIGHT onto 252nd pl SE about 1.3 miles from Cedar Grove intersection (252nd road sign says "dead end")

4. Turn RIGHT onto 165th shortly after 252nd becomes unpaved (follow the white fence); follow the road down the hill

5. After the "Hayes" sign, take the LEFT road that goes uphill (the gravel road splits in 3 different directions).

6. Drive uphill (road gets a bit bumpy) and you will come to a clearing (under power lines). Look for the Golden Sun Retreat wood sign next to the driveway that bears off to the left

7. Bear Left onto the driveway and drive through the iron gate that leads into woods and up to the cabin

8. There is plenty of parking - just don't block the circular driveway.

From Highway 18:

1. Take the Issaquah-Hobart exit and head North/NW on the issaquah/Hobart road

2. Drive approx. 2 miles. (Hint: watch for 255th ave SE on your right and then be prepared to turn onto 252nd, the next road you will encounter)

3. Turn LEFT onto 252nd pl SE (252nd road sign says "dead end")

4. follow steps 4-8 above

If you get lost, my cell is 206.218.4918 and I'll help you get loster.