Ferrari 612 Scagliettie...... Handicap Parking...?

I saw this at the hospital today, in the "Handicap" parking area.....

Notice the "Handicap Parking" sign in the right upper part of the windshield.

Dunno if the guy/gal was cheating, or not, but it struck me funny to see a $300,000+ car with a handicap parking sign in it :)

Beautiful Bright Clear Cool Morning In Tokyo

The frost would be on the pumpkin, if we had any pumpkins that is. Sure is cool out there, I'll have to work in an extra hill or two on the way to get my injection this morning to stay warm :)

Cold Morning In Tokyo

Boy it almost...... ALMOST got down to freezing today in Tokyo :)
I've started my second round of Interferon Beta injections as treatment for my skin cancer, one shot a day for ten days in a row, well actually eleven days, as the outpatient part of the hospital in closed on Sunday. Once this is done, I have one more round in March and I can close that chapter of my life!!

The shot hurt like all get out today, but at least I've not had any reaction to it, no fever, and I feel OK.

I've been getting cramps in the upper rear part of my thigh muscles lately, dunno why, just working them harder I guess. I used to get really bad cramps in my calves, still do very occasionally, but I've never had one in my hamstrings, I'll have to look into that. Been eating at least one banana a day, which usually helps with my cramps, but not on this one....?

Lovely sunny weather here, cool, but not cold!

Cheers!

A Tokyo Loop Ride I do

This is a loop of about 20Km that I do inside Tokyo when I can, I did it today, good ride. No big hills and while there is lots of traffic (it IS Tokyo) the roads are all main ones, so they have wide lanes.

Just Checking In

I've been busy, we had a major renovation done to the Liquor shop, which was and still is a big job, lots of changes in the old shop :)

My back has healed, no more sticky, itchy bandages!! My next course of Interferon Beta shots shart January 31st and go for ten days straight, well eleven, because I have no shot on Sunday. After that, one more course and I'm done, then I can put all this cancer crap behind me, I hope for good.

Cheers!

I'm becoming a bread making fool! ?:::?

This time around I tweaked the recipe again, I'm up to 83% whole wheat and I'm getting some rather tasty healthy bread! 5:)5

After using the bread making machine to knead it, way less work! 34::34
I cover this with clear wrap and then sit it on a tea towel on the counter overnight, at least six hours. In the summer when it is a LOT hotter, I'd put it in the fridge for even longer.

OK the next morning, just under six hours this time, it has risen well.

I then knuckle it down and put it into a loaf pan, I only have a glass loaf pan like you would use for pound cake, but it works. I put the dough into a log and then put it in the pan, our oven has a bread rising setting, I set the oven at 35C and put the loaf pan in there for an hour or so, I also put a small open pot of water that I just boiled to add some humidity to the oven.

The result of being in the over rising after about one hour.

I then bake at 190C/275F for about 25 minutes.....

Boy is this bread good and it is really healthy too!

The trick is the long slow rise overnight.

Here is my recipe

Whole Wheat Bread

1 cup/234g Water
1 cup/ 285g Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 cup/58g White Bread Flour
1 1/4 tablespoon/7g Skim Milk Powder
1 teaspoon/7g Salt
1 1/2 tablespoons/21g Butter
1 1/4 tablespoons/26g Honey
1 tablespoon/6g Gluten
2 tablespoon/43g Molasses
1 1/2 teaspoons/6g yeast

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.