Face to Face Campaign from The Hospice of Windsor & Essex County Inc.

It's that time of year again for The Hospice of Windsor & Essex County Inc. Face to Face Campaign. It's very simple to donate and it's only $10.00.

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All you have to do is click on this link (https://www.onlineregistrations.ca/facetoface/list.php) Look for my name on the list to donate in my name which appears as Mayer,Timothy - Windsor. That's it! Simple right!

Please feel free to copy and paste the link and my info to any of your pages. I'm only required to collect $10.00 from 10 people, however participants like I may collect as much as they can, so share, share, share!

My goal is to try to reach $500 by the end of the month, and beings you can donate in my name on line, and my blog here goes world wide, I should have no problem reaching my goal or more! so please share my link above and let's make this GLOBAL!!

Thank you so much for you donation to this,

Timothy J. Mayer

Adoption, Summer Fun, & an Update.

Yep, you read right, adoption! I along with friend, author, and advocate Betsy de Parry who is also a member of my group on Facebook "The Lymphomaniacs"  (it is a "closed" group) have been working over the past few weeks with the people at Jungle Island in Miami, FL. to adopt one of their Orangutans by the name of Peanut.

Peanut! 

Peanut is an 8 yr old female with a twin sister by the name of Pumpkin. Peanut is not your "average" Orangutan by any means. She is indeed special, especially to us with Lymphoma. You see Peanut has non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma as well and is currently undergoing chemotherapy treatments, much the same as what a human would get in the way of chemotherapy.

We have adopted her as our "Mascot" on "The Lymphomaniacs" page where through her handlers we will be cheering her on and sending our wishes for successful treatment of her non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Dora in Portland, OR. with fellow
Lymphomaniac Ellie Marx.

Next up I have to mention that friend and also fellow Lymphomaniac Dora Waddy has taken to the rails and is travelling via Amtrak across America collecting smiles and spreading the word about Lymphoma. This is all a part of her "Dora's Lymphoma SMILE project".

Dora with the Southern California
Lymphomaniacs group! 

She will be spreading awareness about Lymphoma throughout her travels and along the way meet up with fellow members of The Lymphomaniacs as she has already done in Southern California, Portland Oregon.... and many more stops to come along the way. She will be here in Windsor,ON from September 1 -5 to meet up with The Lymphomaniacs in this area making day trips within a days drive of Windsor to meet up with others as well. I am looking forward to meeting her myself!

On to some of the summer activities Brenda and I have done. One was the 2nd annual Rib Fest at the river front plaza. Good time and way too much food as usual, even with the little I had it was too much and there was left overs for days!

We also seen a concert at the Chrysler Theatre at the St.Clair College for the Arts, a week ago. We seen Lighthouse live, these were tickets I won through a contest with the St.Clair College Alumni Assoc.

Check out the Stilt Guys on the
Right side of the photo @
Tecumseh Corn Fest.

Finally to this past weekend we went to the Tecumseh Corn Fest were as usual I had to have some of that always delicious corn on the cob. Um um good, best corn on the cob yet this season!
This was followed by a Barbecue and Birthday party at my brothers place for his girlfriend and her daughters Birthdays! Again, good food, good times, and a belly ache. I could not even finish one, yes "one" hot-dog! Which leads us to the update on me.

Last week I called my Oncologists office to say something is just not right, I've now as of today lost 55 Lbs since the beginning of June! No real appetite at all, thus the weight loss of course. The weight loss combined with the "spots" that showed up in my lungs on the last C/T I had in June now, after much research, have me concerned that this might be transforming from a low grade to high grade lymphoma. If this is in fact so, treatment needs to begin a.s.a.p.

I also think there will need to be a surgical biopsy of the lymphnode on my jawline, which is most visible and probably the easiest one to get at. Once removed it should be send for a "full" lymphoma work up to in fact determine if it is indeed transforming or not.

Today (Tues) I had the scan, and this will be followed up with an appointment on September 6th to go over the results with my Oncologist at which time I will ask that the surgical biopsy be done as well. That pretty much brings things up to speed with all that has gone on these past few weeks.

Hope you are all continuing to have a great summer, staying safe and enjoying your time and travels.

Rough couple weeks, and a Check-up.

I find it difficult to have to start off with the passing of a couple of great people who were friends.

The first I would like to speak about is a person who was taken from us way, way too soon. I know the young woman through her mother and Facebook friend Liz Schroeder Anderluh from Chicago area. I had followed Liz's daughter Shea's journey with Hodgkin Lymphoma since the beginning which was August of 2008 at the young age of only fourteen years old.

Shea's great smile!

Shea was diagnosed with Nodular Sclerosing Hodgkins. Shea's journey with this had many ups and downs, Shea even took advantage of a couple of different clinical trials to try to find the treatment that would send her to the road of remission. That wasn't to be and in the end, after many many setbacks, Shea's body was just too weak to fight off a virus that she had contracted. Shea passed away at home peacefully surrounded by her loving family at her side on July 25 2011.

Shea always, always had a great smile no matter where she was in her journey. Even during the worst of times Shea always had a smile. That will be what I remember most about her is her always warm smile. May you rest in eternal peace Shea.

I had the opportunity to stay at one of Shea's favourite places, and that was her family's cottage in Michigan. Shea's parents were gracious enough to let us stay at their cottage for a week back in June of last year. Having stayed there I seen how that was her favourite place, so peaceful and tranquil. See my blog from that stay back in June last year; "For Four Days I Forgot".

Donations to Shea and the Anderluh's favourite charities would be welcomed. They are as follows;

1 - Shea Anderluh Medical Expense Fund c/o Chase Bank, 1 N. Dunton, Arlington Heights, IL 6000

2- Donna's Good Things, P.O. Box 5706, Evanston IL 60204.

3 - Cal's Angels, 721 Ashton Ln. South Elgin, IL 60117

Mike on one of his many adventures, deep in though.

This past week I have lost another friend and active member of my Facebook group The Lymphomaniacs. Mike Stevely. Mike passed away suddenly with his family by his side on Tuesday, July 31, 2012. Mike was too young as well at fifty eight years old. Mike passed away from sudden complications related to the stage three Follicular Hodgkins Lymphoma he had. Mike was from the Woodstock Ontario area, and he liked to travel and be adventurous most recently doing the CN Tower Edge Walk! not for the faint of heart let me tell you. He was always active with the local history of the Woodstock area, another of his past times. His passing caught everyone totally off guard. Mike you will always be remembered by all who crossed paths with you. Rest in Peace my friend.

Mike doing the CN Edge Walk on May 31 this year.

It is always a difficult time when I lose friends to this disease of cancer! My cancer friends here at home and on line are all like family to me and when they pass it's like losing a brother or sister. Just wish more was being done to get to the causes of the disease. We have gotten good over the years to make treatment's a little more bearable and to make us live longer which are great accomplishments, however we need to get to the causes so we can eradicate this disease. I hope to see that day in my time.

This past Saturday we had a memorial get together and pig roast for a neighbour from when we had our trailer at the camp ground. Tim Beahan passed away in early January of this year while in Florida where he spent the winters. Tim was not a cancer patient, but in recent years had many medical issues. He passed of a sudden and massive heart attack at his home in Homosassa Springs, Florida. Was a great afternoon of remembering, food and drink! Tim would have approved!

I also had a follow up appointment with my Palliative Care Physician Dr. Giddings at the Windsor Regional Cancer Program. He was working with an intern Dr. Bergeron whom did my examination and check up today. She was very pleasant to work with. After her initial check up with me, she left the room to consult with Dr. Giddings. 

Medical Resident Dr. Sheri Bergeron and my Palliative Care physician Dr. Gordon Giddings

They both returned to the examination room and they decided that my pain medication would be slightly boosted up again. They bumped me up from 15mg to 18mg of Hydromorph Contin twice daily. We will see how that goes with getting my CIPN pain under control. I have also had some increased pain from a few of the affected lymphnodes which are now viable and palpable. I have one in particular just under my right ear lobe which has been causing me some pain at night while in bed. I lay on my right side normally and the other night I woke up a 3am in extreme agony with pain radiating around my right ear! The one just under and around my right front collarbone also can cause some pain when moving my arm in certain directions.

This pretty much wraps up the latest for now, hope you are all enjoying your summer and taking the time to take care of YOU!. Enjoy.