Reflections2017

 In Part 1, I wrote about Radiation Therapy and my experience of going through its introduction to me. I still have a few more scheduled sessions, so the conclusion of that protocol will be looked at in a subsequence Reflection.   In this Reflection I will be writing about Nutrition and the absolute key role it plays along with the Radiation Therapy. Dear Reader, as I stated in Part 1 and other Reflections, my understanding of such things is short on scientific knowledge and long on personal feelings and emotions.  I am a Type II diabetic and have been for many years. My doctor at the time mentioned something to me that I thought was profound and I remember it to this day. "You must look after your diabetes, Wukong, or it will look after you." That could be a mantra. It became a basic belief of mine.  Eating well is a big part of "looking after your diabetes." Very seldom do I eat big meals. Not only do they take a long time for the tummy to process, but they ar...

 Dear reader, a clarification. When I was part-way through writing this blog, I decided to divide it into two parts; Radiation Therapy and Nutrition. There are two reasons behind this decision. First, I want to maintain my objective of keeping each blog short enough that you will come back over and over again. This, I fear cannot be accomplished if I include both Radiation Therapy and Nutrition in one. Second, Nutrition as it applies in radiation treatments is a large enough subject on its own.  ____________________________ PART 1 - Radiation Therapy  The day finally arrived. (Do I faintly hear a muffled drum roll?) Radiation Therapy is about to begin. The first step is getting a custom fit for a mask that will stabilize my head and neck when the radiation is actually applied. Radiation treatment is an exact science insofar as they want to pinpoint and aim the radiation beam(?) on the exact spot. (Note: Please remember dear reader that my understanding in all my blogs is ...

 I am embarrassed to say that sometimes this City is hard-hearted; no, cruel and hard-hearted. This is one of those times. I mean, not the City, that is not specific enough. What I am referring to is the Parking Authority that reports to the City. I really think they are are callous to charge for parking adjacent to the hospital. I mean, come on! Don't you think that sickness especially life-threatening illness is enough to worry about without having to find the change for a parking meter? I do.  When you wait in a clinic to see a member of your the health care team, you cannot help but notice a coin jar sitting in the receptionist counter. Many have a sign "For parking. Help yourself." When I first noticed one, I was curious and then angery! How dare they do that. They are kicking citizens and squeezing their wallet when they are down. What compassion!  I refuse to pay those highway robbers. I take the bus. It is inconvenient and takes a lot longer but I refuse to pay th...

 A couple of days prior to my surgery and part of the work-up protocol for the operation, I had my hearing on both ears tested. For word recognition at 80 dB, my right ear was 44%, my left at 28%. That means for every 100 words spoken, my left ear (the one I am left with) recognizes only 28 words. That is not as good as 50 but it is better than 25%. What is is. Similar to not receiving twice the hourly rate I currently receive for my teaching, I learn to manage with what I receive. One must.  There is much information on the Audiological Report. Such reports should be a part of everyone's medical portfolio.  Wow, 28 words out of 100! No wonder I find myself practicing lip-reading at every opportunity. Even more so now that I have lost my right ear. (When I awoke from surgery, the ward doctor told me that I lost my right ear. He was absolutely correct. I have been looking for it ever since he told me that...and I cannot for the life of me find it!)  I have found that ...

The last time that I checked hospitals are publicly funded. This means that they are owned by each and every citizen in the communities that they serve. Why then are the signs the largest hospital in the province in English only? Even the Welcome Booth is only English! The hospital's mandate says that the hospital is responsible for Manitoba, Northwestern Ontario, and Nunavut. This is a very large area. I didn’t research how many French Canadians live in that area before writing this blog. But surely it is more than zero. The same holds true for First Nations people. Not everyone speaks and / or understands English. It is true that translation services are readily available for citizens from Iqaluit, Brokenhead Ojibway Nation or St. Anne Manitoba. But wouldn’t it be hospitable and more welcoming to see visible signs of your native language on the walls of this publicly owned building? I suggest it would.

 When I was a kid my friends and I had great fun playing with my best friend's new telescope he received as a birthday present when he turned 10 years old. Actually it was two presents in one. If you peer into it one way, the objects in the viewfinder became very close. But if you turned it around, the opposite happened. They were quite far away. But your scope of vision was wider. You get a bigger view. Turning it around gives you a better perspective on what you were viewing.   I suggest that lookIng for the best perspective is what being a cancer survivor is all about. It is your new reality. You want the big picture. Treat this new reality as a source of discovery, an act of learning . Revel in the need and satisfaction of learning something new. This in itself is therapeutic.   In his classic textbook, The meaning of adult education , E.C. Linderman wrote, "Adults are motivated to learn as they experience needs and interests that learning will satisfy" (192...

 Being in limbo is an interesting state. It does not happen very often in one's life, so it does bear some commentary. The first time in limbo on this war with cancer was prior to the operation (see Tick tock tick tock). This is the second.  It has been 59 days since surgery. The protocol says that the pathology report should have been received by CancerCare in 30 days. Now this report is a critical document, for it tells those who need to know the state of the cancer. With this information, radiation in the correct area and dose can be scheduled and administered. Without it you wait between surgically removing the cancer and undertaking 6 weeks of radiation therapy. 59 days of drumming my right hand fingers on the tabletop...waiting. ***  Flashback. In 1958 my parents decided that for our summer vacation we will travel from Toronto to Winnipeg in their 2-year old Chevy sedan with us kids. We took the Canadian route since they wanted to see a part of Canada that was new t...