One amazing event! & an Update.

 It always chokes me up when I see an organized group of people come together in support of cancer. Brenda and I took part in an event this past Sunday in support of prostrate cancer.

It just amazes me to see that many people come out in support of a cause such as this, each and everyone of them there for that cause. We had a great time meeting people, ones we knew, and some we didn't. We were at the second stop of 2011 Ride for Dad, at the Rhine Danube club in Leamington ON. We had volunteered to stamp the riders cards as they came through that stop. Most of them stopped at this stop for a bite to eat and a "pop" as well, so we got to see a lot of the bikes up close and chat.

Below you must see a video of the ride, it is an impressive sight 13:37 minutes of bikes rounding the corner of Lauzon Rd & Riverside Dr. There was an estimated 750 - 1000+ bikes that took part in this event!




You have to agree that is an impressive sight. This was one of many Rides for Dad that are held across Canada every year, in 2010, 1016 riders brought in an amazing $77,000 in donations for prostate cancer research and awareness, just in Windsor alone! For more photos of the Leamington stop go the the following link:
PHOTOS


Now, for an update on me. I will be having a C/T scan in mid June, to see how things are and if there is significant progression. Well, what I can say about that is, I have a node under my chin that has doubled in size in the past few weeks. So the scan will give us a definitive answer on what exactly is going on.

This getaway we are going on could not be happening at a better time! Could be that the "watch & wait" is done? I really hope not but my gut is telling me otherwise, and then there is the mind gone wild thing going on with it all as well. You patients and survivors out there know what I mean, could this be something, could that be something and so on. But the chin node, that is real, and has become visible.

With all this also comes the thinking about the "limited" chemotherapy choices that I have. There has been some talk of room for a little more CHOP minus the R, "not covered". Might have to do another letter writing campaign about that. ICE was also mentioned, which right now I'm favoring, only because of the damage the "Red Devil" (Doxorubicin) which is part of the CHOP, can cause to the heart lining.

I may also, depending if the watch & wait is over, look into some compassionate use alternatives, which I am currently still exploring. I've been following some of the blogs of people who are multiple, recurrent patients and what they have been through, that has been very helpful. So you fellow cancer blogger s out there, keep up the writing, your stories ARE making a difference. That's about it for now, so I will leave you for now, love and hugs to everyone, no matter where you are in your journey! Tim, xxx

Motorcycle Ride for Dad

 

 

 Prostate Cancer Facts

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in Canadian men. It generally affects men over 40 years of age. Successful treatment depends on early detection. In the longer term, research into improved diagnosis, treatment and prevention will further improve our capacity to deal with this disease.

Quick facts

• Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in Canadian men
  
• It is estimated that over 24,000 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed in Canada this year alone (2010)
  
• 4,300 men will die of this disease in Canada this year
  
• One in seven Canadian men will develop prostate cancer during his lifetime
  
• On average, 470 Canadian men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer every week

Symptoms:

Most of the time, prostate cancer does not initially cause symptoms. By the time symptoms do occur, the disease may have spread beyond the prostate. Symptoms of prostate cancer may include the following:

• Inability to urinate
  
• Difficulty starting or stopping the flow of urine
  
• Needing to urinate often, especially at night
  
• Weak flow of urine
  
• Urine flow that starts and stops
  
• Pain or burning during urination
  
• Difficulty having an erection
  
• Blood in the urine or semen
  
• Frequent pain in the lower back, hips, or upper thighs

Although these symptoms can be symptoms of cancer, they are much more likely to be caused by noncancerous conditions. It is important that men speak to their doctor.
Prostate cancer often has no symptoms in its earliest, most treatable phase – early detection through annual exams is the key to saving lives, men need to talk to their doctors about getting checked. The Motorcycle Ride For Dad gives them a reason to.

Brenda and I will be volunteering at the Leamington, ON. stop of the ride at the Rhine Danube club, where we will be stamping the riders cards. Be sure to stop by and say HI! We look forward to seeing all the riders Sunday May, 29th. We will be there from 11am till approximately 3pm, have a great ride!

The Wall, full concert.

 For those who know me, and for those who don't, well, enjoy anyway!  p.s. You might want to make sure you have a couple hours and a good set of headphones. Enough said.

Watching and Waiting update.

As I write I am still watching and waiting, this week for instance I watched them bring the Peace Fountain from it's winter resting place to it's rightful summer home across the street. I then waited for them to get it turned on which they did today.

Even got in some balcony time today! Although it was a little chilly out, so I cut it short as I am fighting a cold of some sort right now and did not want to overdue it out there. Stuffy and congested, taking Benedryl with some relief, just not quick enough for me. I might even drop in on my Dr. tomorrow and get a prescription for some quicker relief.

This past week has also been one that has seen a couple of offers come our way for different things and we with much thankfulness and gratitude have accepted both! We are now in the process of planning a getaway thanks to one offer and marking our calenders for another that will have us seeing Roger Daltrey perform Tommy at Caesars Windsor in October! Two unexpected, but wonderful gestures on the part of the people giving us these opportunities.

So now we are "waiting" to get away, and then will be "watching" a great show in October. But now for the real "watching & waiting", I am still waiting for a date for my follow up C/T scan, and watching what feels like swollen lymphnodes under my chin and on my right neck. I hope it is just lymphnodes doing there normal function of helping fight this cold. Hoping that anyways. I think I might call the cancer center on Tuesday, and check on the status of the scan and mention the nodes.

We are also looking forward to doing our part at the Ride for Dad event on the 28th, I'm sure it will be a great day of meeting people and having fun. So, that is about all to update for now on the watching and waiting front.

We also thank two very special people who have given us two very special opportunities for which we are extremely grateful. Thank you! you know who you are.

Tim, xxx

Dents, dancing & a Ride for Dad!

Everything is finally starting to level out and come together. We got our car back yesterday, and I must acknowledge Dan Reiner at Reiner's Guaranteed Collision Center Ltd. for his kindness and all the work he did for us.

We were tapped out financially after the purchase of the car, and the cost of having it repaired after someone tried to break in was just not in the cards for us. A phone call I received directed me to Dan Reiner, who in turn took care of us in a HUGE way. We are extremely grateful for the work he did for us, something he did mostly out of the goodness of his heart. The repair work is flawless and the car is like new again! A huge weight has been lifted off of our shoulders as we did not want to have to put in a claim on it. Especially after only owning the vehicle for a few hours!   

My brother Jamie and I attended the annual T2B (Transition to Betterness) Drum-A-thon put on by Jeff Burrows, drummer for The Tea Party, and Crash Karma. We had a great time there Saturday afternoon and caught the set with POWERSWITCH, a great local band. Brenda joined us there later and we entered some raffles to support the cause. She also got a photo of me with Jeff Burrows and his son Nicholas who also is a drummer and is with The Indecent a great up and coming band which just signed with Warner Bros! After that it was off to Costco to do some shopping then home for R&R.

Last night was the live Dancing with the Local Stars Semi Finals event at Caesars Windsor. We were there as couple number five, Mable Cheung & Eagle Arakelian were representing me at this years event. I was also eager to see the finished product on the pre filming we did last Tuesday. I must say, I think we had the best rehearsal tape of the evening. Not to mention the best dancing couple of the evening as well with a score of 29/30! Best score of the night! I've added a video clip of our part of the event below. Enjoy!



Tonight we will be attending the preview party for the finished taping of last nights event at a local restaurant here in Windsor. Should be another great evening out!

Next event up for us, as I mentioned in my last post is the annual Ride for Dad in support of prostrate cancer. Brenda and I will be working the Leamington stop of the ride, should be another great day out supporting another great cause!

I'm getting wore out and tired just from writing about everything we are involved in this summer! Going to be needing lots and lots of naps to keep up!

Love and hugs to everyone in their journey's no matter where that may be.
Tim, xxx

Repairs, Drum-A-Thon, and Dancing with the Local Stars.

Everything is finally starting to level off and come together. We got our car back yesterday, and I must acknowledge Dan Reiner at Reiner's Guaranteed Collision Center Ltd. for his kindness and all the work he did for us.

We were tapped out financially after the purchase of the car, and the cost of having it repaired after someone tried to break in was just not in the cards for us. A phone call I received directed me to Dan Reiner, who in turn took care of us in a HUGE way.

We are extremely grateful for the work he did for us, something he did mostly out of the goodness of his heart. The repair work is flawless and the car is like new again! A huge weight has been lifted off of our shoulders as we did not want to have to put in a claim on it. Especially after only owning the vehicle for a few hours!

T2B Drum-a-thon 2011

My brother Jamie and I attended the T2B (Transition to Betterness) Drum-A-thon put on by Jeff Burrows, drummer for The Tea Party, and Crash Karma. We had a great time there Saturday afternoon and caught the set with POWERSWITCH, a great local band. Brenda joined us there later and we entered some raffles to support the cause. She also got a photo of me with Jeff Burrows and his son Nicholas who also is a drummer and is with The Indecent, a great up and coming band which just signed with Warner Bros! After that it was off to Costco to do some shopping then home for R&R!

POWERSWITCH

Me, Nicholas & Jeff Burrows

Last night was the live Dancing with the Local Stars Semi Finals event at Caesars Windsor. We were there as couple number five, Mable Cheung & Eagle Arakelian were representing me at this years event. I was also eager to see the finished product on the pre filming we did last Tuesday. I must say, I think we had the best rehearsal tape of the evening. Not to mention the best dancing couple of the evening as well with a score of 29/30! Best score of the night! I've added a video clip of our part of the event below. Enjoy!



Tonight we will be attending the preview party for the finished taping of last nights event at a local restaurant here in Windsor. Should be another great evening out! Next event up for us, as I mentioned in my last post is the annual Ride for Dad in support of prostrate cancer. Brenda and I will be working the Leamington stop of the ride, should be another great day out supporting another great cause! I'm getting wore out and tired just from writing about everything we are involved in this summer!
Going to be needing lots and lots of naps to keep up!
Love and hugs to everyone in their journey's no matter where that may be.
Tim, xxx

A ray of sunshine!

After the unfortunate events of last this past week, there has been a ray of sunshine. I received a phone call with a referral to a local body shop here in Windsor, and our vehicle will be repaired on Monday! We can not say thank you enough to the people responsible for this.

It's refreshing to know there are still good people out there in the world.

Today was the Jeff Burrows 5th Annual drum-a-thon in support of Transition to Betterness (T2B). My brother and I stopped in this afternoon to catch a set. On stage with Jeff Burrows was local band POWERSWITCH. Also got the privilege of meeting Jeff's son Nicholas Burrows, who is the drummer for The Indecent, a great new group just signed to a major record label! Brenda also caught up with me at this event and took the photo of me with Jeff and Nick which you will find on my Facebook page.

Next up for us is the  (BWTA) Better World Today Association's,  Dancing with the Local Stars event here at Caesars Windsor, in support of bone marrow donor awareness. I will be speaking at this event on May 10th @ 8pm. I will be represented on the dance floor  by couple number five, Mable Cheung and Eagle Arakelian who will be performing a Rumba to the music of the 1980’s. I had a great time taping at their rehearsal earlier in the week as mentioned in my last blog entry.

The next event Brenda and I will be taking part in, is the annual Motorcycle Ride for Dad/Windsor, Sunday, May 29 where we will be manning the checkpoint at the Rhine Danube Club in Leamington, ON. Should be another great event and looking forward to seeing all the bikes and meeting some great people.

Following this event we will be attending and participating in the Survivors lap at the Canadian Cancer Society's annual Relay for Life Friday, June 17 at 7:00pm at the Vollmer Culture and Recreation Complex, in LaSalle, Ontario.

So busy times ahead and looking forward to the distraction from all that has been going on lately. It will be refreshing to get out and about and meet some great people I'm sure. So if you are going to be at any of these events be sure to keep an eye for us and take a moment to say hello!

Tim.

A car. a dilemma, and a black cloud.

Well as most of you know by now, we have finally purchased and picked up our new vehicle, a 2006 Chevrolet Equinox LS. She's a beauty too, clean, low mileage, only 59,000 Km! We picked it up at noon on Tuesday.

Tuesday evening we attended the Caboto Club here in Windsor where I was meeting up with two of the dancers representing me at the semi-finals of the "Dancing with the Local Stars" competition at Caesars Windsor. This event is put on by BWTA, ( Better World Today Association ), which is a local group here in Windsor who puts on these type of events in order to raise funds and awareness for the Bone Marrow Registry. I was there to do a video shoot with them which will be aired at the event on May 10th. I will also be speaking at this event.

I had a great time working with Mable Cheung and Eagle Arakelian who are representing me at the semi finals on May 10, 2011 at Caesars Windsor. Upon leaving the Caboto club, as we were pulling out of our parking spot I could hear a rattling which sounded like the back hatch was open. When Brenda stopped for me to get out and check it, I found everything was OK with the hatch, but then noticed what was making the rattling noise. There was this huge rock on the roof of the car!!

Upon further investigation I found damages to the side of the car and the roof. We turned around and went back into the club to report this and call the police to make a report. I went back into the bar area to speak with the manager on duty to report this. I had also told him about another vehicle we noticed damaged when we turned around to go back in. He point to a woman on the phone and said it was her car and she was on the phone with the police reporting the damages to her car.

The club manager took all my information while the other woman was on the phone, and when she was done he handed me the phone so I could report our situation as well. The police took my info over the phone and gave us a report number. The club manager was very apologetic about what had happened to us and offer us drinks. As I don't drink and Brenda had run over to Tim Horton's to grab I tea while I was in there I just asked for a water. We took pictures of the rock on Brenda's phone, (we'll figure out how to transfer them to here at some point!).

I would have been nice if the club might have offered to help in the way of paying for the damages, but since that did not happen we are now faced with a dilemma. Do we report this to the insurance company and risk our rates going up? or do we pay for the damages somehow out of pocket? We've already got one estimate at approx. $1,700 dollars! What to do?, and not a lot of time to make a decision.

Man I'm pissed, day one of the new vehicle, which we actually went over our budget to purchase because of the excellent shape of it and the low mileage, and not even eight hours after officially owning it, it is now damaged! I bet the parents of the bastards that did this are most likely proud of the little pricks they raised. I'm so mad I could easily end up behind bars if I ever caught them. The club is reviewing the video surveillance tapes to see of they caught them in action. I haven't heard back yet, but will call back to day to see what they found.

It may sound like I'm whining here, and trust me I am! Why can I not catch a break, seven years and counting I seem to have this "black cloud" over my head. Where, or why that is, I don't know. It can dissipate and let he sun shine through at any time now. It wins! enough already, go away and let me move on.

Well, that is enough of my whining for now, so I will update soon as to which way we go with this dilemma and I'll leave you all with love and hugs no matter where you are in you journey.