The Compleat Enchanter

I think I'm going to make the Saturday posts about follow up and cancer stuff.  (At least until I finish introducing all 40 goals.  Then, technically, every post will be about follow up.)

Anyway, last night I finished reading, The Compleat Enchanter, by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt.  

It's about a psychiatrist from Ohio who can shift his mind and body into other worlds, specifically, written myths.  He starts out by going to norse myth, then a few others.  

I thought it was kind of dumb.  I do get how it inspired part of Dungeons & Dragons though.  He figures out he can do magic in all of the other worlds he goes to and the way he casts spells is very similar to how D&D does it.  

I did the book on Audible, which was probably a great thing as I could, "read," it on autopilot while I was driving to and from work.  

People like me that make lists of books they want to have read, and books like these being on those lists is why Audible is such a great thing.  

22. Make a will

This is something I should have done when we had our first kid, then our second kid.  

We need to put something in writing about what will happen to our kids if we, (the parents die.)  

I found a web site, willing.com, that lets you make a will online for free.  All you have to do is fill out some questions, then print, and get it notarized.  

However, my wife wanted to go see an attorney.  I got the number from my dad for the guy who did his will.  

However, we actually need to schedule some time and meet the guy.  

If you notice, follow through is something I have trouble with on this blog.  

21. Become known to the members of a charitable organization

This one goes hand in hand with #20.  However, when I wrote the goal for this one, I think I had more of an intention of it being about donating money.

I'm not super wealthy and I'm not great at budgeting, so this one might be a way's off.

Still, good intentions, we need to just see my follow through.

20. Volunteer on a regular basis somewhere

I'm a white guy. Life has handed me a lot. (Yes, some of us will admit that.) I've seen legitimate poverty and realize how much I have. I'm writing this in a climate-controlled house on a fancy futuristic telephone while my kids are watching Internet-streamed programming on a flat screen TV. 

Also, none of us are starving or dying of malaria. I have cancer, (mostly gone,) but it's totally treatable in this country. 

It'd be terrible if I wasn't giving back or really just giving from the over abundance I have. 

I'm kind of in need of a charity though. I'm probably going to do Pelotonia this year. I go to a church that does a lot. I used to volunteer, (admittedly, for a school project,) at the Delaware food bank. I'm not really sure what I want to commit myself to. 

Also, just so I can bring up criteria, I'll probably have to volunteer at this for a year. It's why I'm a little reticent to just start doing something. 

My actual goal, as I'm envisioning it while I'm microwaving soup in my kitchen, is someone to see me somewhere, say, "hello," introduce me to their spouse or significant other or whatever, and say, "I know him from volunteering at [wherever]." 

I also realize how broadcasting about it here takes away a lot of the charitable nature of it.  However, when I started writing this list, I didn't think I'd start a blog based on my ideas.  

Cancer update:

My lab values were worse, but still within normal and explainable by other factors in my life.

My X-Ray and CT scan show my internal organs are cancer free.

On February 2, I'm meeting with a chemo doctor about getting one dose of chemo, (the idea is to wash out the rest of my body to make sure there's not a single cell of cancer left in me,) and being done.

Sorry about blogging less for the 75 of you that look at my site. I 'be been really depressed recently, (spending a lot of time not being able to exercise, (my normal stress reliever,) and thinking about dying, has really brought me down.)

Normal schedule coming back now.

19. Coach a team

I've got two kids. One is six and the other is two. I always wanted to do something like this.

I was never terribly athletic as a kid and this is some minor way for me to make up for that. My older son regularly plays soccer and I'm going to see if I can volunteer to coach when my younger son starts playing.

Cancer update

On December 23, I had a tumor removed.  It was both a great and terrible experience.  On one hand, I  pulled a chunk of something trying to kill me removed from me.

However, it also meant surgery, half-assed invalidity, and having part of my body removed.

Because I'm beating around the bush about it, and the more I do that, the more people want to know what I actually had done, I'll come out and say what cancer I had.

It was testicular.  It was just one side, but it's kind of life changing.

All my stuff still works, so that's good, and if you're looking at me naked, things don't really look different.

I still know though.

I do have a scar, but where they do the incision is on the left side of my gut so it looks sort of like I had a C-section.  (I call it my c-scar.)

So some other stuff; there's a kind of lab called tumor markers.  They're basically tests for different chemicals in your body.  Two are hormones, and one is a chemical your body gives off if you have a lot of anaerobic stuff going on.  I'll explain what each of these are in a second.

Let's start with the first hormone.  Human corionic gonadotropin, (HCG,) is something women give off when they're pregnant.  It's what home pregnancy tests look for.  I didn't have this drawn before surgery, but I did have it drawn a few weeks after surgery, and again on Tuesday.  If you're wondering why I had that lab drawn, it's because testicular cancer tumors will sometimes release that hormone.

The next hormone is called AFP.  I forget what AFP stands for, but it's another hormone given off by certain tumors.  (Testicular, ovaries, and I'm pretty sure liver.  I just looked it up.  It's liver.)  I didn't have this one drawn before surgery, only two weeks afterward and Tuesday.  (Same as HCG.)

The last lab I had was lactate dehydrogenase.  Ever lift weights or do anything that led to muscle soreness?  That's because when you perform anaerobic exercise, you produce lactic acid.  (Lactate dehydrogenase.)  Tumors don't use oxygen.  All their cellular energy comes from anaerobic respiration.  So, if you have a tumor, the tumor gives off this chemical.

I did have this drawn before surgery.  The appropriate number is between 100 and 190.  Mine was 232 a week before surgery.

After surgery, I had strept and was put on steroids.  The day after I finished my course of steroids, I had this lab drawn and it was 221.  Better, but way higher than 190.

This day I also had the other two tests drawn.  My HCG was less than 2.0, which is normal.

My initial AFP was 5.3.  If you're under 8.5, you're good.

I went to my doctor for a follow up, and we talked about my labs.  He was pretty concerned about the Lactate, but looked really relieved when I told him about the steroids, as they can artificially inflate the number.  He also talked about the pathology report from the tumor.  It didn't involve any of the surrounding tissues.  (Big deal.)

He explained my options for treatment from here on out.  The first is active surveilance.  That means I get frequent lab draws to make sure I'm still cancer free.  These go on for five years.

The second is chemo.  It'd just be one round.

The last would be radiation.  It'd just be one session.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to do chemo.

So, my labs got released to me for my second set of post op labs.

My lactate is 282.  It's higher than before I had the tumor removed.  This is not good.

My HCG is still low.  I'm still not pregnant.

My AFP went up to 7.5.  It's still less than 8.5, but it's higher than I want.

I had an x-ray and a CT done to see if there was anything in my torso, but I won't find out those results until Tuesday.

So, I still have cancer... somewhere.

It's an awful feeling.

Testicular cancer spreads primarily to the kidneys, but then often goes to the brain or lungs.

If the patho report said there was no involvement to the surrounding tissues, how would it have spread that far, you may ask.

Well, with tumors, they sometimes shed cells.  If one of those cells goes somewhere else, they form their own tumor wherever they land.  Kidneys just happen to be upstream from nuts.

So, today I've gone from elated to horrified.  I'm still stuck on horrified, if you're wondering.

Anyway, this was supposed to be my year of abs, and it's so far been the year of the ice cream diet.

On having goals

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this, but this is how I actually use this list:

Every month, on the 24th, (my birthday is August 24th, (mark your calendar and budget accordingly,)) my phone pings me with a reminder.  (iPhones let you set repeating reminders.  I'm sure Androids or whatever let you too, but I don't have one of those.)  It tells me to look at my list.

I sit and look at my list and think about the goals I have, and what steps I'll need to take to achieve them.

It's never more than a three or four minute process.  Some things will cause me to create reminders in my phone for other steps towards the goal.  (For example, I have a reminder telling me to write in my diary every Tuesday and Thursday.)

I know this isn't profiling a goal of mine or anything, but I saw this article and I wanted to write a little bit about my process.

18. Learn to ride a motorcycle

Roughly the same as the plane thing, but I don't want motorcycles to be a mystery to me. There's a place nearby that offers lessons. I just need to sign up.

I have an awesome neighbor who already said I can borrow his bike.

17. Learn to fly a plane

I've wanted to do this since I was like five. There's an airport near(-ish,) me where they'll teach you to fly a plane in a week for $100, and at the end of the week, they let you take off and land.

I just need to make the time.

Being that's so short, I want to point out the, "make time," I just said. You can't find time. You can only make time.

If I don't think and plan for this, I'm never going to do it.

16. Become proficient at a martial art

I took Shotokan Karate in college. I got up to yellow belt, (the second one,) but didn't progress any further.

I'd like to do that again.

Another idea I had with this goal was it would be something I could do with my kids at some point.

I expect whatever skill I would need to become what I accept as, "proficient," I could achieve in a year, so this one is on the year 38 back burner.

Note I'm not saying black belt or at thing, but proficient. I can still throw a punch, (sometimes that gets rotated into my workouts, when I can work out,) but not normally.

However, when all the 40 year-old dads duke it out on the playground, I don't want to be the first to fall.

15. Drive to the west coast or up and down the west coast

This is something my best friend bugged me to do a bunch of years ago and I never did. I basically want to go on a two-week car ride.

It probably will happen when I get my Tesla. Not having to pay for gas and crossing the country seems like a pretty sweet deal. (Tesla has, "gas stations," where you can charge you car for free.)

I'm an American and driving is supposed to be an American thing. I want to see the desert out west and the Rocky Mountains. I want to see the Pacific Ocean from the west coast.

As far as planning this trip goes, I know I'm going to need at least two weeks off of work, and something to do with my kids for two weeks. I'll need a destination, (completely arbitrary though,) and some kind of plan.

It's 35 hours to drive non-stop from my house to Portland, Oregon. I don't think that's my goal, but it's on the coast. Depending on who I do this with, (wife or best friend,) that makes it seem pretty doable.

I know Seattle has microbreweries and I'm not sure what else. San Francisco has, I dunno now, tech stuff?

I'll have to plan more of this later.

14. Become fluent in a foreign language

This is another one for the future. There are two things that are moving this goal off into the distance. 

First, I won't have many people to practice with, whatever my language choice is. I live in America and in Columbus, Ohio, non-English speakers aren't common. I want to be able to speak the language on my 40th birthday party. 

Second, I plan on getting Pimsleur for these and doing it in the car. For that reason, I want to have the Appendix N finished before I start. (I'm already audio booking a ton of books.)

Until I'm done with those, I'm going to wait on this.

Finally, I haven't decided the language yet. I'm down to three though. 

First is Spanish. About once a month we get a Spanish-speaking patient. It'd be pretty useful for that. 

The second is Russian. The same reason as Spanish, but only about every other month. 

The third choice is Kiswahili. We almost never get Kiswahili-speaking patients, but I want to be good at this language again. (Most of my passwords are Kiswahili.)  

13. Learn to pick locks well

This one sucks and it's hard and I'm angry at it. 

Picking a typical door lock is supposed to be easy. 

I looked online and bought some lock picks for about $15 and a week later I was in business. 

I put a reminder in my phone, (a whole lot of my life is based on reminders in my phone,) to tell me to pick a lock every Tuesday. 

Every Tuesday, I try to pick my front door. 

I follow the techniques in the book.

I've been doing it about a year maybe, and still not even once. 

Not once.