Back in Bed-land

So I've been back in the hospital since Monday morning. Wiressless isn't that reliable and nither is the laptop, so.... Dail-up it is. I vaguely remember surking the web at this speed in 1996. haha.

I've been pretty good thus far. getting a little more tired, but haven't felt too bad. Nausea hasnt been too bad. Getting woken up what seems like ever four minutes at night is my biggest complaint. bllod preasure needs to be taken. Temperature needs to be taken. blood needs to be drawn. Saleen drip bag needs to be changed, etc. leads to very little sleep at night.

last weekend, we went to the Heat's championship prarde. bad idea. my weaked condition + hot sun + 250,000 people = Ben and Amanda sitting at a bar watching it on TV. 1 bartender for 1000 people was also a dumb idea on someone part.

I'm currently reading "The World is Flat." I was the author on the Daily Show twice and finally decided to give it a try. its pretty good.

More to come....

2006 NBA Champs!

Yes! Wohoo! My D.Wade jersey has definitely gotten its share of wear and tear this past month. Haha. The Heat did phenomenal! I can’t believe how great Dwayne has become and how mediocre Shaq seems. If Shaq really wants to entrench himself as the NBA best center EVER, he’s going to have to step it up.

I read somewhere that Kareem (at age 38), in the 1985 Finals, averaged 30.2 points, 11.3 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 2.0 blocks in the Lakers' four victories to earn Finals MVP honors. That sets a pretty high bar for Shaq in the 2010 Finals (when he’ll still be under contract with the Heat).

As for me, I’m doing pretty well. I’m nearing the end of my 2nd 3 week cycle (week 1 in the hospital and on the 2nd and 3rd Mondays, I get outpatient treatments). In the week following my 1st hospital visit, I was sick and weak. This time, I was pretty much just weak. I’ll take weak over sick any day.

My strength is starting to come back again… although that’s not saying much. I still get winded pretty easily. I can walk about 100 yards at a time now. Luckily the dog park is only 1 block away so I can still take Sophie there in the late afternoons and sit on a bench and let her tire herself out with the other dogs.

I think Sophie is acting out though, since she hasn't gotten to go to the Park much in the previous 2 weeks. She's gotten into more fights this past week than she has in the past 2 years! She's been really possessive about her frisbee. Today I think we'll leave the "Friz" at home and see how she does with the other dogs.

Its not all that bad though. Just so long as I’m sitting down and not moving too much, I feel fine. Especially when I think that I’d normally be studying for the bar right now.

We also had 7 auctions (selling junk that was collecting dust in our garage) end on ebay 2 days ago and we raked in a wopping $223.06! Last summer we made somewhere around $500 off of ebay. This summer's 1st go-around was much more profitable than last year!

I’m heading back into the hospital for the last time on Monday. ½ is really dreading it, but the other ½ is excited that its the last time I have go in there.

I was a little weak and mainly sick after the 1st visit. Quite Weak and a little sick after the 2nd. I'm a little afraid about how weak I'll be coming out a week from tomorrow..... but at least I'll be done with extended hospital stays!

To all those who have called and left messages, I'm sorry I haven't gotten back to you. I'm pretty much a bad friend.

Good Night and Good Luck

Nothing really new to report on my condition. Blah Blah - Still weak - Blah Blah - Still tire easily. But I'm SITTING at the computer right now, so that means I feel good. I really want to talk about 2 things. 1. The movies I saw yesterday. 2. The Heat

First, the later...

I always knew Dwayne Wade and I were alike in our ability to dominate a bball game, but I always thought there was something more. Read the last line of this ESPN article by Steven A. Smith (who I usually think is an idiot) and find out just how eerily similar we are!

Second, movies...

Let me preface this by saying Amanda fell asleep during this movie (but that's not an uncommon occurrence for her) and I really really agreed with everything it was trying to say, so my view may be skewed a bit. Nevertheless....

Goodnight and Good Luck was the BEST movie I've seen in a long time. REALLY REALLY good. Nicely filmed. Nicely acted. Poignant and relevant without being too preachy. Spoke to the audience as if it actually had a brain. Just a GREAT film.

As I said before, I really agreed with everything it was trying to convey regarding the parallels that can/are/should be drawn between modern Guantanamo Bay detainees and McCarthyism of the 1950s as well as the state of modern news/journalism.

It was nice to see the way news broadcasts were/can be/should be.

EXCELLENT MOVIE!

We also went to see The Omen yesterday. I liked that one too (although for completely different reasons). Having never seen the original, I thought it was sufficiently suspenseful and scary. Although Julia Styles is a god awful actress. She peaked in 10 Things I Hate About You, in my opinion... and I think that was her 1st movie role... The Kid that played Damien was a little laughable at time too, but those 2 things weren't enough to distract me too much from enjoying the flick.

Sorry for the Delay

Hi Everyone. I know its been a while, but here's another post.

I got the "Blue Screen of Death" on the Laptop while in this hospital; hence no posts other than that initial post during my stay. Now it can't find an operating system... Haven't called Gateway yet, but its on my To Do List.

The post-hospital hasn't been too bad thus far. Last time I was sick and weak. This time, I've pretty much just been weak. I'll take weak over sick any day.

Its Wednesday, and right on schedule, I'm starting to feel normal again. Well, I'm still pretty fatigued and my pique energy level is ALOT lower than normal, but when I'm sitting/laying down or generally stationary, I feel normal, so that's good.

Last time at this point in the "post-hospital" week, I was starting to get my strength back. It looks like strength is taking a bit longer to return this time, but at least I feel fine while resting. It gives me an excuse to play a lot of "NoFriendo," as Amanda calls any video game system, without regard as to whether its actually Nintendo brand. (By the way, my character on Tiger Woods PGA Golf 06 just qualified for the UK Open!)

Speaking of strength returning, man can Dwayne Wade and the Heat work miracles! Both on the court and with my ability to remain standing for an extended period of time. I could sit down for the final 5 minutes of the game last night. How exciting! AND SHAQ HIT THOSE TWO FREE-THROWS!!!!

I have new glasses. I like them a lot. I think they look a little like Mo Rocca's glasses. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not, but I like them. Pics will come...

Ta Ta! That's all for now.

My Stay At the Holiday Inn

HI everyone one. SO far I'm feeling fine. Had 3 dosages on the 1st day and only 2 every subsequent day. I warned the nurses the second I started to feel vaguely sick to the stomach. They rush in with something and I fell better again. This system seems to be working better than actually waiting until I'm very sick to ask for help. Other than being a little tired and a little dizzy as I sit here (that's a new occurrence) I feel great!

Now for some more good news. Last time my room number was 1215. That side of the hall had all the low numbered room and those rooms were all "singles".... SOooooo, I was was walking down the other side of the hall that seemed to contain nothing but "Double," we stopped at the closed door barring entrance to 1239.

Mental images flew around my head. Was there a deathly guy hacking up a lung in the "other bed" listening to his Spanish TV at full volume???

So, I managed to pound out a Leary knock (by the way the Leary Firefighters' Foundation really needs to change its name to the "Denis" Leary Firefighters' Foundation... Otherwise, the foundation's name conjures up a bunch of firefighters pussyfooting about outside of a flaming inferno questioning who will go into.)
My Leary knock yielded no response. So, as I gingerly opened the door I noticed a plaque of some sorts undereath my room number. I enter the room to find that its the size of a double with just 1 bed!!!!

And I look around a little further to find gold trim on everything, a chair rail, wall paper, a galley kitchen/wet bar, decorative ceiling tiles and an armoire with a multi inpute TV and a VCR.

The easy chair folds out into a cot for Amanda, and there is an alcove with a breakfast table and 2 chairs.

In my wet bar, I have a full size microwave, and a larger size dorm fridge

The room is really quite nice and is great for my psyche. When the door is close and its quiet, I fell like I'm in a hotel room! The bathroom also has blue tiles, a Kenmore pedestal sink and a glass door with glass block showerstalll. And a toilet that flushes with Niagara force.

Anyway, I don't know what it is, whether its the room, knowing that everything is like this time around, or the wonderful company that is always at time wide reedy to comfort me, even If I don't need comforting, but I feel as good as I could have expected.

I wish I could post pic, but the download attachment was left at home. mea culpa.

A few more things that I've encountered in the past few days that are worth sharing:

Tylenol - before you go into see the doctor at Sylvester, they have a list of questions that lit nurses mush as you and check off. I've noticed that they've finally stopped asking me if I wear glasses. (duh?) but today, they replaced that question with an equally as stupid one.

Question: are you taking any medications?
Me: we'll, I'll haven't taken any of the side effects drug prescribed for me in a while because I have any any side effects.
question: SO nothing else?
Me: Well,,, I take over the counter tylenol.... every now and then when I have a headache.
Question: So how long have you been taking Tylenol?
Amanda: No no, you don't understand, he's not on a regimen of tylenol, or anything. He just takes it as needed (as I pop a tylenol :-)
Question: OH, ok, so he just takes it as needed... So when did you first start taking Tylenol as needed?
Me: You you're asking when the first time I had a headache was, right?
Question: when was the first time you started taking Tylenol as needed?
Me: OK, I guess the first time I EVER too Tylenol was a couple of months after birth... maybe when I was teething.
Question: Of so you been on the Tylenol Regimen for YEARs now...
Me: Yea, whatever, I'm a Tylenol Junkie. That's why I'm here. I'm an addict.

The next time we see this nurse she smiles and nods and say hello Mr' Jones. Still Tylenol as needed?

There have to be some MDs out there who read this. Is there any possible explanation for the ludicrous line of questioning

More good news! I was offered a job with the Seminole County Public Defenders office today. !st real job offer. Of course I had to tell him of my situation for the summer and postponing the Bar until 2007. He said to call back in August, but he didn't think there would be a problem.

So that would be exciting. Have a job. In a place where we could afford to live. Litigating (although it would be defending people whom, in my experience, I just have a hard time believing they're innocent.... I'd be jumping all over this if it were the State Attorney's office - The Prosecutors-) but it's still a job. We'd probably be able to buy a house outside of Orlando, and we'd be near family. So, I like a lot about this job potential. On the down side, it only pays $36K a year for me to start... I don't want to sound snobby, but after 7 years of higher education at reputable institutions, I was expecting something a little higher. It makes you second guess your choice when you realize that with a BA and a JD, and if I were willing to coach a sport, I could make around $55K a year and have summers off (teaching).... Anyway, the job would be doing what I want to do, Litigating! And, from what I'm told 2 years there is more experience than you'll ever need. And after those 2 years, you can jump ship with a new better paying job. We'll see..... at least its an offer. Oh, and 1 more thing....


GO HEAT!

From Amanda, A Quick Update...

Ben is sleeping at the moment, and I don't want to step on his proverbial blogging toes, so I will just give you the basics... He is doing fine, mostly just sleepy from waking up a bunch of times last night (a normal first night). He is very happy with his room (he'll tell you more later).
How to reach him:
Room: Jackson Memorial West Wing 1239
Phone: 305-585-8106, or, of course, our cell phones.
Wishing all of you well!
-Amanda

Day 17

So here's some good news:

Apparently the side effects I felt last time I had an outpatient treatment, we still related to the drugs I got in the hospital. So... With the exception of being a little more tired than usual, I felt great the past 2 days. Not ill at all.

We painted 1 wall today. We primed it last night. We were so worried that our 4 legged, extremely furry children would get their fur in the paint or on the walls. And sure enough, when we were done priming, there were 2 pieces of fur on the wall.... But after further examination I realized they were my hairs. Haha. Probably #1 on the list of 101 things not to do while loosing your hair due to Chemo is paint. But, we already bought the paint, so drastic measures had to be taken.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce my 1st new hairdo since Junior year of High School: