Christmas Day video

Lan took this video on Christmas Day. No one likes the sound of their voice, so I have promised to produce a version without dialogue, meanwhile here is my first edit.


[Click on the picture to activate, then click the 'play' symbol. Or click on the 'google video' button if you want to see links to similar videos by me or others.]

More pain

Friday night, I was in great pain, which hadn't gone by Saturday morning. Typical that these episodes happen at the start of a Bank Holiday weekend.

So I called Christie on the number that I had been assured I could get support. I got the answer machine of the doctor's secretary telling me she was away from her desk at the moment and she would get back to soon. I think she will be away from her desk till at least Tuesday.

So I called Emergency GP support. The GP who returned my call was very helpful. I still have a range of pain killers from before the op. So she was able to advise me what to take (Oxynorm). So pain is largely back under control. So I think I can make it through to Wednesday when I get to learn when my chemo starts.

Mum and Dad have responded by coming back to give me support, which is very good of them. Not only that, Mum has postponed her hip operation. I think she should get the treatment as soon as possible, but this very good of her.

Yuletide update

On Christmas Eve I over did it a bit, accompanying mum on some last minute shopping. I was in quite some pain by the evening. My leg muscles and stomache muscless seemed to be pulling against each other. By Christmas day, my muscles were relaxed enoough for me to enjoy the day.

The five of us: Mum, Dad, Paul, Lan and myself; had a good time following the Hoad traditional Christmas, taking it in turns to open presents, then a lot of TV watching - not that there was a lot to watch.

Paul gave us a slideshow of his recent holiday in Guetemala. Almost a 1000 photos, all very well taken. In return, we introduced him to Vietnamese kick horse or horse chess. I don't think he was impressed, particularly when mum kicked his horse. Mum always used to be a cooperative player of family games, but kick horse brings out the competitor in her.

Paul had to return home for some urgent work on Boxing Day and the parents left a couple of days later.

Excerpt from ThanhNien News

At 8pm Vietnam time, CNN, BBC, AP and others carried news of the tsunami off the southern Taiwanese coast. It later killed one and injured three in the Chinese territory.

Vietnam, which as yet has no equipment to predict tsunamis, immediately stirred into action.

Vietnam's National Hydrometeorology Center and the Steering Committee on Flood and Storm Prevention instructed provinces stretching from Quang Binh to southernmost Ca Mau in the central and southern region to move residents at coastal areas deeper inland, and call vessels ashore.

Around 2 hours after the first warning, the Japanese said the tsunami was unlikely to pose a threat and one hour later at 11pm, Vietnam reported the danger over.

But in that short span of time, the Vietnamese government managed to put one half of the nation on full alert, with thousands ready to be evacuated any time.

Mass preparation

Deputy first Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung immediately arrived at the central weather bureau to hear updates on the seaquake.

At 10.30pm, central Quang Binh province mobilized all soldiers ready to evacuate over 10,000 locals.

In former imperial Hue city, over 15,000 started their evacuation.

In Da Nang, plans to move 20,000 residents to safety were in place.

Deputy PM Hung said after the incident, “This was an important drill for real calamities”. He instructed provinces to return to normalcy but to be on guard against possible aftershocks.

He also instructed weather agencies to keep a close watch on international forecasts and warnings.

The country has 24 stations to monitor earthquakes but none to predict tsunamis.

This Thursday, the Vietnamese Institute of Geophysics will hold a conference to discuss earthquakes and tsunamis.

The Japan Meteorological Agency reported the seaquake as occurring at 19:34pm Vietnam time (1234 GMT).

According to China Seismological Bureau, two quakes - the first measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale and the second measuring 6.7 - hit the East Sea.

The epicenter was located at 21.9 degrees north latitude and 120.6 degrees east longitude, about 350 kilometers from the Chinese mainland and 15 kilometers from Taiwan.

Panic in Vung Tau

Today's earthquake in Taiwan (7.2 on the Richter scale) caused a tsunami warning to be issued to parts of the Philippines. The threatened tsunami never appeared.

Meanwhile, somehow or other, the message got through to Vung Tau, Vietnam, that a tsunami was on its way within the hour.

According to Lan's family, the result was chaos. People on the Front Beach ran to the Back Beach and people on the Back Beach ran to the Front Beach. Lan's eldest son walked up the adjacent hill to the lighthouse. While the younger son took a lift with his girl friend 25km in land.

As far as I am aware, the evening passed without any calamity.

If you look at a map you will see there is no direct line from Taiwan to Vung Tau, though a hypothetical tidal wave might have swept round the curve of Vietnam, having hit cities such as Danang first.

Stress of inept letting agents

Making plans for a successful let
Originally uploaded by Dep Lan.

Everyone warned me that letting agents cost a lot and do very little, which is why I was wary of buying to rent, but Lan was keen to own a place to rent.

We use a letting agent and management service because Lan's English still has it's limitations and I don't have the time to chase up rents and frankly I don't want to.

However, I really could do without the hassle of having to keep chasing the agent. Nothing much is going to happen over the festive period. I was going to vent my spleen by publishing an excerpt from a draft letter, but the agent, (Reeds Rains) may consider it defamatory as may the tenant. Reeds Rains have annoyed me enough to throw caution to the winds, but as I don't know to what extent the tenant is contributing to the problem, I had better be more circumspect.

Wednesday 20th, scanning and other things

Morning: Dressings Clinic & Surgeons Clinic
A couple of visits to the hospital today. The first was a standing appointment at the dressings clinic. Dr Lorrigan's assistant said it was a good idea to attend, as they been monitoring the wound and may have some insight on the changes.

The dressings nurse referred me to the surgeon, who was also holding a clinic. I overheard Mr Murphy send back the message, that there was no point in him seeing me.

So Mr Murphy came to see me and gave me his best bedside manner. He confirmed it look like cancer. He said it was unusual for it to reappear so soon after surgery and grow so aggressively. He did explain that surgery can trigger the growth of cancerous cells. He confirmed that surgery was inappropriate (I had wondered if as a surgeon he would have a different point of view). So the 'systemic' approach is required, i.e. use chemotherapy to attack it everywhere in the body.

Mr Murphy also assured me he had spoken to Dr Lorrigan to try to move my next appointment forward, but Dr Lorrigan isn't holding a clinic between Xmas and New Year.

So that was 1.5 hours in the hospital for a few minutes with the surgeon.


Afternoon: CT Scan
Back home, my good friend Tor dropped by, who I hadn't seen for some years. That was great.

Then it was back to the Christie that afternoon. As before, I had to spend an hour drinking dye. This time I was given a choice of flavours: orange, blackcurrant or something else. I commented on this new sophistication. The nurse said that they had changed the dye, because their had been too many complaints about the cheaper one.

I spent quite some time being scanned. They concentrated on my brain and neck. I don't think they scanned my wound or bumps at all. I am not sure as I was told to keep my eyes most of the time, to avoid the laser light used to target the scan. It was at this point that the implications sank home.

Then it was back home. My parents had arrived. It is nice to have them here to give us both some moral support.

Heritage Meal

On Tuesday night we went out with the Stockport Heritage Trust for a Christmas meal. It had been a long day, but I felt the need to be sociable.

For more photos, click here.

Tues 19th: further treatment required

I saw the physician today, Dr Lorrigan, and his assistant.

The assistant started by talking about radiology and using the drug, interferon, to reduce the chance of reoccurrence.

They then inspected the wound and decided that some bumps on the skin which have appeared in the last week are probably caused by the skin cancer. The physician's opinion is that further surgery is inappropriate and that treatment by chemotherpay is urgently required.

A CT scan is being arranged and it takes a week to get the radiographer's report.

I have an appointment with Dr Lorrigan for 3 January, by which time he should have the CT scan report. By then, he should also have discussed me with the surgeon and other specialists to see if they recommend alternative treatment.

There is a clinical trial of a new drug which may be superior to the existing treatment. Assuming I agree to this treatment, I have 50% chance of getting the new drug. From what I gather both of them would be done as an outpatient. The standard treatment is Temozol and is described on the Christie's website at chemotherapy cards. There is no description of the experimental treatment, but the test is reported at Medical News Today.

Both treatments can have side-effects and my resistance to infection is likely to drop. The documentation I have refers to continuing the treatment "until you stop receiving benefit from the treatment". But the TMZ.htm link above, refers to 4 week cycles repeated upto 6 times. So I assume it is expected to have done its work within 24 weeks. I hope that it is not normal to require such a long treatment.

I am going in to the Dressings Clinic tomorrow morning. They can compare the bumps with what they saw last week and they may have their own opinion.

I had been feeling better and cutting back on painkillers, but my skin has got more irritable over the last few days. I put it down to healing, but I am having a rethink.

The Martian Chronicles

I have read and released The Martian Chronicles. See book crossing journal here.

A musical market tonic for Christie

[A fund raising event for Christie Hospital desrves a bit of free advertising]

A MUSICAL Christmas market will spread festive cheer in Stockport.

The organisers of popular summer festival Moorfest, headlined by acts such as Badly Drawn Boy and The Fall, hope to raise more funds for the Christie Hospital with the market on December 23 and 24.

It will take place in the grounds of the Moor Top pub in Heaton Moor, from noon until late on both days.
Organiser Jamie Crowley said: "There will be local carol singers, piano and guitar lessons and a gig inside the pub on the evening of the 23rd, as well as a selection of stalls to pick up last-minute Christmas presents.


Click on the above image for the full article.

A Life

I have just finished reading this book. I had to make sure I finished it in time to return to Paul so that he can read it before his trip to Vietnam.

It's a great book. To read more click here for my BookCrossing journal.

Typhoon Durian

I have been concerned about Typhoon Durian.

This Typhoon hit the news when it ran through the Philippines, killing about 500 people, mainly under mud slides. That was disturbing enough. We have friends of friends who live in the Philippines.

It lost power and I think it was only a tropical storm by the time it hit Vietnam, killing 50 people in an area unused to tropical storms. I then learnt that Ba-Ria Vung Tau took the brunt of the storm, with 23 dead.

Lan's two sons and many of her family and friends live in Vung Tau.

Lan remained relaxed. She didn't believe in Typhoon Durian when I first told her, she thought I was just joking about the awful, smelly durian fruit she had just brought home. The Vietnamese language Internet sources didn't mention it. Anyway, Lan had weathered Tropical Storm Linda in 1997 (I had weathered from a 100km away in HCMC), at that time one of the worst storms on record.

Today we heard from Lan's sons and have seen reports on VN cable TV. As far as we have learnt, Lan's family and friends are uninjured. The storm hit at 4.30am ripping rooves off houses, not just rural houses but modern concrete and tile villas. Lan's sons live in a ground floor flat of a two-storey building. The wind pulled tiles off the roof of the flat above. (See the first photo). These tiles smashed through the roof of our ground floor extension. Five years ag,o Lan employed the man upstairs and his mate to replace the roof of the extension. I helped them, much to their amusement. (See the second photo.)

Also damaged is the nightclub where Lan's eldest son works, so he is out of a job at the moment. We have sent money for repairs and a few luxuries.

The VN cable news shows a lot of damage to houses and trees and the politicians are having lots of meetings to deal with it. The report claims 34 died in Ba-Ria Vung Tau. Good thing we haven't built on either of our plots of land yet.

Update
We just learnt that friend's coffee shop was badly damaged. We feel very sorry for or friend, but Lan relieved that she turned down the request to invest in this venture.

Of course almost nothing in Vietnam (except for foriegn commercial buildings) is insured. Insurance companies are starting to appear in Vietnam, but it is said that no one has ever heard of Vietnamese insurance paying out.



Click on the above image for the news article.

Biopsy Report

[I am feeling rather tired at the moment, so I will make do with posting excerpts from an email.]

The biopsy says 295g of tissue was removed, which included all 8 lymph nodes from that area. Four of the lymph nodes contained melanoma (skin cancer). The surgeons have done all they can to deal with the cancer. In six weeks or so, they may consider surgery to reshape the flap they added, so I am not left with an odd shaped lump of fat and skin.

I have also been give some antibiotics, because it might be infection causing some of the swelling.

Meanwhile I have referred to a physician. He will decide whether further treatment, such as chemotherapy, is appropriate to counteract microscopic tumours that might have spread to elsewhere. I am told that it is unlikely I will get an appointment this month.

The other relevant action is that my case will be discussed by a monthly interdisciplinary meeting. It might throw up insight which my previous consultants have missed. Apparently I am unusual in that they have never had a secondary tumour grow from such a small primary tumour before.

Uploading some movies

You will have noticed from the video postings appearing on this blog that I have got rather hooked on Google videos and YouTube, as an alternative to watching TV all day.

I have now uploaded a couple of my own videos, as an experiment. One Rosslyn Chapel you can see below, or follow the link to see My Thuan Bridge.



I created a number of videos between 2002 and 2004. They are nothing great, but I might as well upload them.

Christie Hospital debated in Parliament

I was watching PMQs on Wednesday and, sandwiched between an amusing exchange between John Prescott and William Hague and a remarkably effective put down of an offensive DUP MP's question by Prescott, was a plug for Christie Hospital by Barbara Keeley.

I feel I owe it to Christie Hospital to provide a link to this.

Readers may also enjoy the rest of the debate.

Click the above image for the PMQ record.

How many people does it take to turn off a Vista PC?

This item caught my eye.

Click the above image for the article.