I Had Nice Long Walk on a Beautiful Fall Day...

I walked to and from the hospital today.
It was a beautiful fall day, bright, sunny and crisp. I walked 13Km, took me about 80 minutes each way, so 160 minutes or two hous and forty minutes walking. I'll be wanting a hot bath tonight :)
My back is healing, slowly but the doctor is letting me get back on the bike!!
Cheers!

Crap
My back "popped"
Back to the hospital so they can fix me
Leaking like crazy
Does not hurt but feels weird to be leaking

Getting There...

Well I'm finally getting back on track, caught a cold, of course, but in general, my incision is feeling at about 85%.
By the end of the week I expect to be near 100% and by the end of next week I should be back in the saddle. When I asked the docs about when I can resume biking, running, and lifting, he told me to use my head and I will know when I'm ready. I'm being cautious but I'm also very eager to get back at it!

Cheers!

I got some good news, some great news and some....... "I dunno"news...

The good news is I got my stitches out today!

What a relief they were starting to hurt, as my incision was healing over them, and as I would move they would hurt.

The great news I got was a confirmation that the biopsy on the lymph nodes shows negative, that is no spreading at all of any cancer outside of the malignant melanoma that was removed!

The "I dunno news" is that they want me to do a treatment with interferon, this will be 10 days a month for three months, daily injections. I think the doctor said Interferon Beta injections would be used, the injections are apparently painful, but Emiko tells me to buck up and wear my big boy briefs :)

All in all I'm very pleased, no cancer nothing wrong with the lymph nodes and some extra treatment to double down on not getting another bout of cancer, I'm not complaining!

Cheers!

Home Sweet Home

6:30 AM
My last morning in the hospital :)
Another cool crisp gray morning here in Tokyo.
I will have a shower before I go!! I should be home for lunch!
Yipee :)

Woot!!
I get out tomorrow :)

No more IV antibiotics!
I am asking VERY firmly to get out tomorrow!
Sunny day nothing else to do until lunch, maybe I'll go for an hour long walk :)

A bright sunny cool morning :)
It is so nice to wake up and see the sun shining. Yesterday started out dull and gray, the clouds turned black and it rained quite hard and continued raining into the night.
Today has started out with sunshine and patches of blue sky. Here is hoping you all have a sunny blue sky day, even if the weather does not cooperate :)
Cheers!

Now A Medical Update
The doctors came today and checked me out, they are pleased with my progress. They took out the drain!! They told me that I will need to stay in the hospital until Wednesday or Thursday. I learned a few new things, I was told that there are three circulatory systems; the arteries which take fresh blood to the cells of the body, the veins which return the used blood back to the lungs and heart and the third system, that of the Lymph. This was a new but if information to me, it was pointed out that as they had done a biopsy on some of of my lymph nodes that they had damaged the lymph circulatory system. The other two systems carry blood, as se all know blood has the very unique ability to coagulate when we are injured quickly staunching the flow of blood. The lymph fluid dies not have this property. They must be absolutely sure that the lymph system has stopped leaking before they let me out of the hospital. As I said they took out the drain today and that us good news, also when
thy pulled it out it did not hurt at all again a good thing. Now they have bound my doubtful very tightly with some non stretchy bandages to put pressure on it to force out any fluid. They should know by Thursday at the latest if the lymph has healed. I had hoped to get out tomorrow, Tuesday, but it looks like now the earliest would be Wednesday.
I would rather stay a couple of days now and get a good solid start on healing.
Cheers!

Here you can see the building as it stood newly completed. Near the middle of the picture you can see two of the round decorations. In the picture I took today, only one of these decorations remains. The small roofed over entrance is also long gone. The building has been painted many times, which I understand but dislike, why don't they clean the outside of these buildings? The other thing that has changed is the outside of the building, it had clean classical uncluttered lines, but now it is covered by a web of pipes, wires and other "improvements" but still the elegance of this old building shows through :)

Here is a little detail on this old building which is now one of the University buildings, not used fir patient care. I have figured out that it was built after the great Kanto earthquake of 1923, completed in 1930. In thus city a building that is still standing after 80 years, survived the Second World War as well. I found a picture of the building when it was new, and I'd like you to note the round decoration in the left front of the photo as you will also see this and it will give you a reference point.

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Look at the detail on either side of the two steps from a rusty old back door. Think about it, this is just seldom used back door on this building, yet at one time they did make the effort to make even this forgotten back door have a bit of flair and style. I think that kind of thing has gone from our modern architecture.

Old & New
This hospital is like most I would assume a mix of old and new buildings. In my walking around I have seen a real difference in the construction of the old buildings compared to the new ones. I'll post more pics of some of the interesting little things that have caught my eye.

Monday Monday
Cool gray Monday, I have seldom hated Mondays, I certainly don't hate this Monday. This Monday, the start of my week, I have very much looked forward to. When I checked into the hospital I figured a week or so after that day I would be well on my way to checking out of the hospital, getting back to my family and my life, and a full recovery, yes this start of the week I do not hate :)

I got out and did a brisk hours walk around the grounds of the hospital. I did 5.3km/3.5 miles in one hour a good sweat

I am sure that most of you cannot read this sign on the door but I'll translate it for you

"No Entry, Evil Red Aliens Area" :)

Funny the way some signs look :)

Sunday 7AM
Another cool gray autumn day here in Tokyo.
I had a good night last night. I slept very soundly :)
Funny thing is they took my wonderful Tempur mattress away, actually that is not fair, they came and they asked VERY nicely explaining that there was a patient that was bedridden who could really use the Tempur mattress. They had another mattress for me, this one would be quite a bit thicker and has a soft foam top with a more solid sub-mattress. It turns out that it is even more comfortable than the Tempur mattress :)
How wonderful it is to be able to sleep almost all night long in a deep sleep.
I am looking forward to my wife and daughter Mizuki coming to visit this morning it will be nice to see them.
It should be a nice easy Sunday here, I'll get some more walking in and I'll listen to more audio books.
My back is still leaking quite a bit, but that is maybe a good thing, the more if that stuff that comes out the better. The wound is healing nicely, and does not hurt, all good points.
I hope you are having a great weekend!

Cheers

I am Walking :)

I did another 31 minutes and I upped my pace to 3.5 mph :)That is a total of 51 minutes of walking. Tomorrow I'll go for an hour!
The nurses are smiling at me and laughing a bit, but are supportive. One of the doctors suggested that as I am on the ninth floor I should use the stairs :)
I am going to keep it up and do my best while I can, while I am here. What the heck, it's not like I have any thing else to do, and I'll sleep better tonight as well.

Cheers!!

I just had my dressing changed and I got the docs to take a pic with my iPhone, not to worry I WILL NOT be sharing that pic :) As ugly as it looks it does look good. I have 24 new stitches which brings my lifetime total to 98 just shy of 100. I will be very happy if I never reach that milestone :)

6:40AM Tokyo November 13th.
Some thoughts.
It is cloudy and cool, yes autumn has come, the leaves are turning on the trees and most people on the street are to wearing heavier jackets. Personally I love this time of year, the oppressive heat and humidity of summer are just a faded bad memory and the cold dreary months of January & February have not yet troubled my thoughts. I am watching the last few weeks of the present year speed to an end while awaiting the promise of the new year. All in all I will not curse 2010, but I will not mourn its passing. Certainly not one of the best years I have had, we lost my dear cousin Dan, to the indiscriminate heartless evil that Cancer is, and as all know who are reading this blog I too was touched by this evil, but have been spared. On the positive side I still have my lovely wife Emiko with me as we recently celebrated 17 years of marriage. Our two beautiful daughters are both as healthy and happy as could be asked for. Our eldest daughter Erika has taken her first steps onto he
r own path in life as she has moved to Canada and is going to high school there. I miss her badly, but I am so very happy for her as she us fitting in and making new friends, having a good time and is doing well in her studies. Erika you make your mother and I very proud!!
Our youngest daughter Mizuki is blossoming as a fine young lady, she has taken on the challenge of being the captain of her volleyball team at junior high school and is working very hard to succeed, we are proud of you as well Mizuki!

While I am fighting this evil that is cancer I have been reminded of all the wonderful family and friends that I am so very fortunate to have in the world. Some who I have known most or all of my life others that I have just met and the many others who I am afraid I will never have the pleasure of meeting in person but I still consider to be friends. Yes I am very fortunate.
Yes some thoughts for cool cloudy Saturday morning in November.

Stu

I have nothing to whinge about :)
Today I met one if my ward mates, he was out of bed for the first time in two weeks, they gave him a bath or at least a shower while lying down on a special bed/table thing. He was so happy to gave had a bath! He had both of his knees replaced (dunno the details so don't ask me "why" I don't know). He said it would be at least another three months in the hospital on recovery and rehabilitation.
I guess my one week stay will be a cake walk in comparison.
It looks like the earliest I could get out would be Monday, but I think I will shoot for Tuesday, less work for Emiko taking care of a sick husband and our insurance will kick in. Make the doctors happy too as they are really concerned that the new sight of the surgery not become infected as a fairly large piece of flesh was removed.
I had a nap this afternoon on the new mattress, it us so much better than the other one :)
I have time to kill so I ave started walking around the floor I am on. It is no a long route and I only walk for 15 or 20 minutes at a time at a slow pace and I am very careful not to move my left arm much at all. It feels good to be moving.
Thanks everyone for the comments they are very nice to read and very encouraging too :)
Please keep them coming just so I know you are reading my blog

Stu

Lunch is served !!

Things have continued to look up :)
I was asked by one of the doctor about my back pain and I told him that the mattress was rather hard and that the bed is too small. I told him that I was thinking of sleeping on tha sofas in the lounge area, or getting my wife to bring in my Tempur mattress to sleep on. He agreed that the mattresses are hard and that I am a but large for the bed. Then about ten minutes later one of the nurses and the house cleaning staff came by with a different mattress, it is essentially a hospital version of my beloved Tempur mattress :) maybe I will sleep the whole night through!!
When the doctors came through today to look at my wound, clean and dress it they put an end to my hopes of an early release on Saturday. I still have a drain in place and that most likely will not come out until Monday, thus Monday is the earliest I could be released.
Ar least the drugs are working to control the pain and my bed will be much less of a torture rack.
Cheers

Stu

A hot cup of coffee to start my day :)
I bought some Starbucks instant coffee and they have hot water here so now I can have my morning cup of Joe to start my day off.
Even the smell of coffee after a few days without it makes me smile :)

I now have much better pain Meds!! What a great difference, I only wish they could have figured this out 12 hours earlier.
Still very sore and getting up or out of bed is a slow careful project.
It is Thursday night here in Tokyo
, it may be a pipe dream but I am going to pester them to let me out on saturday. If I don't get out on Saturday, I will have to wait until Monday, which would still be short of the week to three weeks they said.
I am sleeping a lot, but I am also getting bored :)
Thanks go out to Tim B for the use of his iPod touch, I am listening to a lot of audio books
Cheers!
Stu

Glory glory!!
They removed that catheter (can we saY OUCH) and I am able to get out of the torture rack they call a bed.
The lymph nodes they checked came out with a clean bill of health!!!
I was even able to eat some breakfast. I had not eaten in 38hrs.
I was hungry but I only ate a small but.
I am a lot better than I was just six ours ago!

I had a bad night. The pain Meds they gave me every 4 hours lasted about 90 min :(
Today I convinced they to give me more stronger drugs

Out of surgery
Hurts
I made it
No lymph removal

6:00 AM The Big Morning
No breakfast for me this morning, not even a drink of water!
I am to leave the room at 9 AM, the surgery is to last 3 hours or so. Dunno how long it will be until I come out from under the general or what kind if shape I'll be in?
On a less serious note one of my wardmates snores loud enough to rattle things on my wall!! I wonder what is wrong with him, maybe his wife just put him in here so she could get some sleep?
I hope to blog to you all again before the day out!!

Dinner
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I hope my lower calorie request menu start tomorrow. The food is good, but a bit high in calories.

Lunch in the hospital
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It was rather tasty, if a bit high on the calorie side at 681

New Digs
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Here are my new digs for the next little while 〓

Well it is official, I am now admitted to the hospital. Jikei university hospital.
"E" building 9th floor ward room #5906. I am in the bed on the your left when you first walk into he room. I have one injection today in the afternoon, then a test in the morning. So I will be just sitting around listening to audio books and maybe sleeping :)

Halloween in Tokyo
Last week we were supposed to have Halloween on the 31st, Saturday but a typhoon blew through so it was canceled :(
The local city office were organizing (sic) it and they don't work on Sundays, so it was re scheduled to this Saturday at 3PM…
not really in the whole spirit of Halloween but I guess they are trying :)

If you fall asleep listening to an audio book version of one of the Lord if The Rings books, when you wake up the next morning it will still be playing :)

Seeing if I can post a pic :)

Just seeing if I can blog without WiFi :)

Upcoming Hospital Stay

I will be at Jikei University Hospital

http://www.jikei.ac.jp/eng/access.html

I have no idea which building or room number, I will try to blog about that here before the surgery.

I'll not have a computer with me, but I will have my iPhone and a buddies iPod Touch, which I've loaded with audio books.

I hope I'll be able to blog with my iPhone, even if I don't have WiFi in the hospital.

I go in on the 9th of November, which is a Tuesday, in the morning, then I have the surgery on the next day, Wednesday.

I'm sure I'll not be up to visitors until Thursday, but I'll leave Emiko to coordinate that.


Cheers!

Some "Stuff" From Around The Hood...

Sometimes here in Japan you just see some funky stuff, the other day, walking to work, I saw this.....

... yeah, there goes the neighbourhood.... cheap bloody Italian cars...... :)


Then, on the way to the bank, I walked past this monstrosity.....

 Yes, redneck scooter trash, right here in Tokyo!
I guess if you have to ask "Why" you most likely would never understand anyway.
Notice the car tire on the rear, yes that is a nice square profile tire, not much use going round corners on a scooter that is.....

Wow this is cool blogging from my iPhone