* Health Update. Getting my next scan this coming Wednesday, which will show how well(or not) the new treatment is working (or not). I’m not sure if we’ll be able to make a call on things after just one month. It is, however, quite humbling to see the kind of dollars being thrown around on my behalf:
What you’re seeing here is the invoice for one visit to my docs at UW. That staggering 5-digit number at the top is the cost for my Avastin treatment alone (a single bag of fluid that takes 30 min. to drip into my system). What you’re seeing at the bottom is my total out-of-pocket costs. What you’re seeing when you look at me is a guy thanking God for easy access to the 3rd best cancer care hospital in the country, for good insurance, and for some amazing other assistance from the hospital.
In the meantime, I’m generally feeling OK, and don’t have too many symptoms of having a brain tumor in my system. However, a very frustrating one of late has been a significant loss of function in my left hand, dropping off quite sharply in the past month or so. Though I can certainly negotiate around this, it makes life quite frustrating (especially when I can’t do two of the things I love the most: typing my thoughts into words, and playing my guitar).
But on to more fun topics…
are you familiar with the concept of a bucket list? It’s a list of all those things you keep saying you want to do someday; I’ve often talked about putting things on my “Someday List.” Well, guess what? Someday is everyday, and someday is never; someday is any day you choose to make it happen or not. Don’t wait for some better day to be “someday!”
So, yes, back to the buckets; the name for these lists comes from the idea that you hope to do these things before you “kick the bucket.” Now, one need not have their bucket kicking within sight to live a full life, and to start knocking items off their list.
A recent conversation at my work turned my mind to the realization that, for all my Someday List items, I had never sat down and put these things in front of me. So, piggybacking off an old Life Checklist post, I’m doing just that; with the caveat that this will be the only post I ever return to multiple times to revise…
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Age specific list items:
When I turn 40 (2015): Spend a month living in Italy (now will just be a brief visit w/ a travelling companion TBD – any takers?)
When I turn 45 (2020): Hike the West Coast trail up Vancouver Island (was going to be 35, but I got a bit sidetracked…)
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Add another continent to my “been there” list: currently at North America, Asia, Europe, and Africa.
Get in a food fight
Land a good solid punch (on someone who really deserves it)
Play the bagpipes
Play the Sitar
Appear on a game show
Write a book, and have it published (a bit harder these days, what with the left hand deficiencies)
Be interviewed about my book
Hold a monkey
Throw a fish at Pike Place Market
Own a convertible
Take an extended (multi-day) road trip in said convertible.
Read the Bible cover-to-cover
Turn over an entire paycheck to charity or as tithe
Use my CPR training (of course, I’d hope the occasion never came where it would be needed; still, it’d be good to see it pay off by saving someone’s life.
Be visable in a feature film (as an extra, in a minor bit part, or whatever; just visible).
Be photographed with a sitting head of state (president, prime minister, queen, something of that order)
Enact a full-scale recreation of the Charlie Brown Christmas dance scene
**MORE TO COME***
(anything I forgot?)
