Half way there!

Today marks the mid point of the chemo / radiation treatment. Yes! And its Friday so two days of rest without having to run to treatments. I am hanging in there. Yesterday was pretty good and today is ok thus far. Due to the ability to smell now, my appetite has improved lots. Unfortunately, my throat is very sore from the radiation so its water and yogurt. Oh well.

As I told Cliff Wong, the internet, my guitar and Netflex have become very close friends of mine. I have also been doing some light reading.

My older brother Cliff has come in from Hong Kong to give me a hand. Good to see my big brother!

Thank you all for the continuing support and thoughts. You are all tremendous people and I am fortunate.

Have a very nice weekend with yours. Take care now.

Ed

28 Jul Tuesday

Good morning family and friends. I hope that you all are doing great and that you had a good weekend. I am doing fine. A couple of days ago, my ability to smell things came back and it has improved daily. This is nice. To smell home cooking, fragrance, the outdoors....wow! Martin and I took a walk yesterday and I even detected some dog poop. LOL

With that, my throat is hurting pretty good from the radiation. It is hard to swallow even water. I had a hard time sleeping last night due to this. The doctors did give me some mouth wash to help with this.

So, like anything else in life, we have to take the good as well as the bad. I know that this is the part of the recovery process so trying to just focus on that.

I just want to thank my family for taking such great care of me. Mom comes over daily to make soup and to attend to my needs. Martin...my awesome twin has been driving me to all of my appointments. He has been so accommodating. Many of you dont know this but he took a leave of absence from his work to take care of me. Thanks bro. My wife Anna and my baby Chelsea, you give me strength to bear through the daily treatments. Thank you for all that you have done for me. I am looking forward to our future together as a family and I love you both so much. Nat and the kids, thank you for the rides and always checking up on me. Thank you for taking care of Chels so Anna can catch up with things. Nihra, you too. Thanks for taking Chels out on the weekends! Tom and Atchi, thank you for coming over to see me and taking care of the princess. She loves you guys so much. I have such a great family.

Ok gang, thats it for now. Take care and have a great day.

Friday 24 Jul

Hello everyone. I hope you are all well and settling down for the weekend. I am doing ok. Wednesday was chemo so these last two days included a lot of sleeping. Tomorrow should be better. The treatment has become a routine and I know what to expect and how my body will react. This makes things a bit easier I guess. The good news is that today marks the 2.5 week point and thats progress.

The radiation is affecting my throat / mouth more now making it tougher to talk and swallow. So, if I dont call you back or am quite around you, please dont be offended. The doctors did give me some med to help with this but like most of you, I hate taking all that medicine.

I am solely relying on my feeding tube now for food intake and thats fine. At least my body is getting the liquids and vitamins it needs.

My older brother Cliff is coming home in four days from Hong Kong to hep take care of me. Thats cool.

Ok you are up to date now. Go enjoy your weekends and have a beer, BBQ, Korean food, pizza and some chinese food for me!!! I had another dream last night where I was enjoying some Greek food! LOL

Take care and thank you all for caring about me.

Ed

21 Jul

Hello family and friends! I hope everyone is doing well. I am doing fine. This week was a bit rough in terms of overall comfort. The chemo hit me harder in round 2 but it has become better after a few days. I have lost a few more pounds. Tough to hang on to the weight when eating is so hard.

My bro Martin took me out for walks yesterday and today which was nice. Always good to get out there to get the blood moving and to be able to enjoy the nice weather. Equally important is getting out of the house.

Mom has been making soup daily. It is great to have Mom around taking care of me.

Anna and Chels are always here to make sure that I am comfortable. Little Chels went on a field trip with her school today to FairyLand. How fun! Cant wait to get better so Chels and I can hang out and do the stuff we use to.

Tomorrow will be Round 3 of Chemo. I cant say I look forward to it but it will be another session under my belt and thats cool.

Thank you all for the continued emails / phone calls. I love it.

Take care!

Ed

19 Jul 09

Hello everyone. I hope that you are having a great weekend. Just want to update everyone on how things are going. The chemo this week hit me much faster so Thursday and Friday were pretty rough. Today has been good. The appetite is gone and my taste for food is still non-existent. This sucks because I love food. Didnt realize how much until now. I have relied on the feeding tube to keep my body filled with nutrients. Thank goodness I have this.

The treatment has really helped with my breathing. Before my left nostril was almost completely blocked which made simple breathing difficult. Now it feels wide open which is a good thing.

It was a hot week as everyone knows but things should cool down this week. I wish everyone a fantastic week and take care!

Ed

Wednesday 15 Jul 09

I am getting my second chemo treatment right now. The staff here at John Muir are simply fantastic. They take good care of their patients. This treatment takes up to 3 hours due to the need to feed me with lots of water. The type of chemo can dehydrate one quickly.

Wednesday are my heavy days because of the chemo and radiation.

I have been thinking ALOT about food during the last few days. Its because my taste of food have left due to the cancer. The radiation doesnt help either. I cannot wait to have a nice fat piece of juicy prime rib with a big potato (with the works) on the side. Perhaps some dim sum with Rick in C-town. A plate of beef chow fun sounds really good as well.
The only thing I can taste now is sweets. So having a bowl of cereal in the morning has become a treat. I will take it!

All in all, I am doing well. My wonderful family is taking such good care of me. My princess Chelsea knows that Daddy is sick so she often comes by and simply gives me a kiss. She may be four years old but she knows exactly whats going on. She knows to not jump on Daddy right now. Chelsea always insist on being the one to bring her Daddy a glass of water or something to eat. She is wonderful!

I am looking forward to the weekend to rest with the family and not have to run to the doctors or go to treatment. Being at hospitals, getting my arm poked with needles gets old really quick. I have been living a healthy life so to avoid this but here I am. Thats life! Lets handle it and move on.

A good weekend

Hello everyone. From the great care and love from my family, neighbors and friends, I was able to have a pretty good weekend. My family converted my downstair office into my bedroom so I would not have to keep treking up and down those stairs. I got a lot of rest this weekend but did squeeze some air squats in. It is so tough to not be able to work out like I use to but I know that I have to pace myself.

All in all, I am doing pretty good. Thank you all for your prayers, positive thoughts and good energy....it helps.

Will be going in for my 3rd radiation session today at 2:30. Lets do it!

Ed

11 Jul

Received my second radiation treatment yesterday which was better. The chemo just completely zaps you of all your energy so I ended up laying down and sleeping all day / night. The appetite is not good and so I will have to start using my feeding tube to make sure that the body has its nutrients.

My family is taking great care of me. I am so lucky to have them with me through this. Thank you to all my friends and relatives for their emails, I appreciate it.

Just took a shower so feeling refreshed (the simple things I tell you).

Take care,

Ed

Radiation

Its nothing fun thats for sure. They create a personal mask for you which is molded and goes down to your shoulder. This is use to secure your head to the table for the treatment. My treatment lasted 30 minutes today. While the staff was very nice and professional, being strapped onto that table for that long gets old really quick. Will take it easy for the night and get some sleep.

Thursday 9 Jul

Didnt sleep too well last night but feeling pretty good today. Will go for a walk and get some fresh air / sun.

Blog to keep everyone in the loop

Hello family and friends. Martin suggested that I do this to make it easier to keep everyone in the loop on my return to good health. Thank you all for all of the phone calls, visits and love. It has been very helpful. At the treatment continues, it will be more difficult for me to talk so I will rely on this to let you all know how I am doing. Thanks everyone!

First Day of Treatment

The day finally came. Went and received my first Chemo and Radiation Treatment today. Everyone was nice and helpful. As usual, my twin brother Martin was there every step of the way. Feeling good now.