Changing focus…

While the original purpose of this blog was to present my somewhat self indulgent views, it changed when I was ambushed by oral cancer a little over seven years ago.  This past November (2013) was the six anniversary of the beginnings of the treatments to rid me of that particular foul demon.  November is the month that marks the anniversary of the surgical intervention.  May is the month that marks the my return to work, and that I use as the beginning of 'my new normal'.


I had tried to get back to discussing the goings on in the world with this blog, but haven’t been having much success…. probably more about interest and whether or not anyone actually cared, especially given the number of fabulous blogs and bloggers out there… but now I’ve been encouraged to resume….I need to build my ‘brand’ again, and develop it so much further because of my personal long range plans. 

And yes, I do have long range plans.  How could I not?  I have survived two major health issues.  I've got things to do.  I am reminded of the funny little saying that floated around a number of years ago;  "God put me on this earth to accomplish a certain number of things.  Right now I'm so far behind I don't think I'll ever die."

When I developed the cancer my mantra was 'I'M NOT DONE YET!"  This attitude carried me through the surgery and the treatments... it still carries me forward... I'm not done by a long shot.
And we also now have a new milestone that requires a ‘marker’.  In November of 2013 I was ambushed by a haemorrhagic stroke which was in part a result of the cancer surgeries and the radiation treatments. 
I’m also adopting a new bit of technology…so let’s see what we can do with this.  If it fails miserably from a technology/format point of view, I will invesitigate and potentially move to WordPress.
I’m also starting to dabble with Twitter.  And I need to find a more user friendly replacement for Google Drive that a small group of writer friends can use without fear…

And I probably should rename his blog, especially if I am going to move on building a new blog and a new brand.  Maybe I will break it out into three different blogs.  Maybe that will help give focus to my writing.  Got any suggestions for the name of these blogs?  Some of the thoughts I've had:

1. Not Done Yet; for the blog about my medical trials and tribulations
2. Dodging Bullets; also for the blog about my medical stuff.  I've had numerous people, including two doctors, use the phrase for how I've managed to survive that which should have/could have killed me.  there are a couple of blogs out there that use a variation on the name... I need to examine them more closely to see how I can differentiate mine from theirs.
3. My New Normal; or a variation on a the theme for discussions about the cancer, the stroke and how I live my life.  I kinda like this one...  the challenge is that so do a lot of blog writers.  We'll have to stay away from it as it is becoming a bit of a clicne.
4. FOAMing.  this is based on the acronym Frustrated Older Adult Male...the inference is, of course, foaming at the mouth in a rabid sort of way.  This blog would be where I'd tuck away all my rants and complaints about politics, consumerization, and generally the things that that
5. I think the rest of the world should be paying attention to.  I need to work on the acronym, because I don't want it to be completely negative in nature.  I want to be able to put up product, book, restaurant reviews and have them taken seriously.  How about; 'From the Outlook of an Older Adult Male?  Needs work, doesnt' it?  The frustrated old man angle has been used over and over, and for the most part not very well.  I don't think we'll be using this one...  ;)  Gotta come up with a more positive way to present these topics and this view point.
6. backstories;  this will be my writing, editing blog that I will use to build my brand for my efforts at being a writer and editor.

Comments and suggestions welcome!!

Well, my move to change up this blog and to envigorate other existing blogs I started years ago in the Blogger universe have been reduced to a series of investigations and a planning exercise, rather than an effort at effecting significant change quickly.  I am now starting to question the platform to be used.  I have been seriously looking through the Blogger tool kits, and have been fascinated by the thought of monetizing my blogging efforts.  The challenge is that without a commitment from Google AdSense to place ads in these blogs there isn't a lot of point in pursuing the redesign and content development on this platform, is there?.  If only they'd say 'yes'...and then I would attack the redesign, content development and redeployment with hammer and tongs.  But in the meantime I find myself checking out competitive platforms such as WordPress and Tumblr, trying to determine where will I be happiest going forward.

To be fair, I should point out that I am not just spinning my wheels here waiting for Google AdSense to make up their minds.  I have developed a publishing plan for each of three blogs, and have taken a stab at trying to define a structure for a fourth.  Content dev comes next.

Long term Memory is fine...

Yes, what has happened recently is classed as a form of stroke;  hemorrhagic. This was a 'bleed' rather than a clot... so what happened was that blood pooled in my brain and caused a bit of bruising.  As of this past Friday's CT scan, the blood has been absorbed, most of the swelling has gone down, and there is some minimal residual bruising (edema).
But let me just assure my friends and acquaintances that my memory is functioning nearly perfectly.  I still remember where all the bodies are buried, and what shoes you were wearing at the time....

;)

DAVFs

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/neurology_neurosurgery/specialty_areas/cerebrovascular/conditions/arteriovenous_fistula_davf.html

Follow the link to some really interesting information about what's going on with me lately...  more later.

Watch out for DAVFs!! Sneaky things...Yes, it means I had a stroke!!

After all my successes with the cancer, a DAVF snuck up on me and ruptured!  A 'bleed on the brain' is no fun at all.  At least it hasn't left any permanent or significant damage.... or at least it hasn't been identified as such yet.  We're still assessing the damage and the implications.

Okay, so what the heck am I talking about?

On November 5, 2013, weeks away from the six anniversary of the surgical intervention for my cancer, I had a STROKE that was due to a spontaneous (non-traumatic) right temporal-parietal lobe haemorrhage.  They did a 'fix' through a post right arteriovenous fistula embolization to prevent recurrent haemorrhage.  They performed this procedure within two days.

Time for all you folks who have had work done on their heads and necks to get checked for DAVFs.  Ya, I know, just one more thing to be worried about.

Anniversaries...

Four years ago yesterday a surgical team specializing in 'head and neck' exorcised (love that word!) a demonic stage 4 squamous cell carcinoma from my right tonsil. They executed a mandibular swing to get at all the nasty bits and effect a clean neck dissection, removed a piece of the tongue, and all the lymph nodes. A 'forearm flap' technique was used to reconstruct the back of my throat and tongue, including the use of the radial artery from my left arm to replace the vascular plumbing affected by the tumour. And while they had everything disassembled, they moved salvia glands from the right quandrant to the lower left in an effort to protect them from the yet-to-be-administered radiation treatments. And today, four years on, I have so little to complain about that it just sounds like whining.

Okay, so I admit to wearing high collars, and loud ties to distract from the visible scarring, which is minimal. Vanity has me sporting a beard to hide what I consider to be the worst of them, not that I really need much of an excuse to keep my beard. Close examination of my neck shows what appears to be the beginnings of a goiter, but that just so happens to be where those salvia glands were tucked out of harm's way; my saliva is very good. No 'dry mouth syndrome' here. The autonomic responses of the tongue are not what they used to be; it doesn't effectively 'sweep' debris from my teeth as I eat. And because of that wee reduction in functionality of the tongue, and the somewhat tighter throat, I do need additional liquids to help flush things down the slightly constricted pipes. However, I can taste...really taste. And I can talk...something which I seem to do incessantly some days. As part of my work, I occasionally present a marathon 3 day seminar; my throat and voice haven't failed me yet. My teeth are in great shape; I sacrificed only one to the mandibular swing.

So when I read through my correspondance with other throat cancer survivors and try to comprehend what some went through, and are going through, I realize that I have nothing to complain about. Absolutely nothing.

I consider myself to be very fortunate. When this damned cancer and I had our collision, I was in the right place with the right specialists close at hand. Thanks to Doctor Williams and the surgical team who have chosen to work and do their research at the University of Alberta Hospital and the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton, Alberta.

And I am especially grateful to the woman I married who refused to let me ignore the symptoms...

Neglect turns into...

Not sure how it happened, the actual cause, but I recently came down with a really ugly bout of 'thrush'...the oral equivalent of candidiasis.  It was treated with a Nystatin suspension as a rinse (one of the important ingredients in Akabutu's Mouthwash), and seemed to go away after two weeks.  I hadn't used the rinse for three days when I noticed last night that the coating on my tongue is back, and small clusters of the nefarious yeast have sprung up at the back of my throat.

Damn.

Ya, I know I've neglected this blog for 9 months now... I guess I owe some major updates, don't I?  I'll get right on that... watch for new entries...