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Source: http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/kw.xml

1. <?xml version="1.0" ?>
2. <rss version="2.0" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
3. <channel>
4. <title>Kelvin's Web - RSS Feed (XML)</title>
5. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html</link>
6. <atom:link href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/kw.rss" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
7. <description>RSS Feed from Kelvin Lawrence's Web Page</description>
8. <language>en-us</language>
9. <pubDate>Tue, 18 Nov 2014 09:38:45 CST</pubDate>
10. <lastBuildDate>Tue, 18 Nov 2014 09:38:45 CST</lastBuildDate>
11. <image>
12. <url>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/images/KRL-HeadShot-Mini-Dec-25-2007.jpg</url>
13. <title>Kelvin's Web - RSS Feed (XML)</title>
14. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html</link>
15. </image>
16.  
17. <item>
18. <title>25 Years of the World Wide Web</title>
19. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">technology</category>
20. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2014-Nov-18-a</link>
21. <description>
22. <![CDATA[
23. <p>I have been so busy that I am a few days late putting this post
24.  together but hopefully better late than never! <br>
25. </p>
26. <p>A few days ago, hard though it is to believe, the Worldwide Web,
27. that so many of us take for granted these days, celebrated it's <a
28.  href="http://www.webat25.org/">25th anniversary.</a> Created in
29. 1989 by <a href="http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/">Sir Tim
30.  Berners-Lee</a> , for many of us, "Web" has become as essential
31. in our daily lives as electricity or natural gas. Built from its
32. earliest days upon the notion of open standards the Web has become
33. the information backbone of our current society. My first
34. exposure, that I can remember, to the concept of the Web was in
35. the early 1990s when I was part of the OS/2 team at IBM and we put
36. one of the earliest browsers, Web Explorer, into the operating
37. system and shipped it. Back then, an HTML web page was little more
38. than text, images, animated GIFs and most importantly of all
39. hyperlinks. I was also involved with the team that did some of the
40. early ports of Netscape Navigator to OS/2 and I still recall being
41. blown away by some of what I saw that team doing upon some of my
42. many visits to Netscape in California what seems like a lifetime
43. ago now!</p>
44. <p>&nbsp;From those modest but still highly effective beginnings,
45. the Web and most importantly perhaps, the Web browser, has evolved
46. into the complete business and entertainment platform that it is
47. today.<br>
48. <br><br>
49. The Web, and open standards, have been part of my personal and
50. work life ever since. I am honored to have been a small part of
51. the evolution of the web myself. I have worked on a number of
52. different projects with great people from all over the World under
53. the auspices of the <a href="http://www.w3.org/">W3C</a> for
54. longer than I care to remember! I have done a lot of fun things in
55. my career, but one of the highlights was definitely working with
56. so many talented people on the original <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG10/">Scalable Vector Graphics
57. (SVG)</a> specification which is now supported by most of the
58. major browsers and of course you can find my<a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/svg/index.html"> library of SVG</a>samples here on my site.
59. </p>
60. <p>It is also so fitting that the latest evolution of Web
61. technology, the finished HTML 5 specification <a href="http://www.w3.org/2014/10/html5-rec.html.en">was announced</a>
62. to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the Web.<br>
63. </p>
64. <p>I could write so much more about what the Web has meant to me but
65. most of all I think my fondest memory will always be all of the
66. great friends I have met and the large number of very talented
67. people that I have had the good fortune to work with through our
68. joint passion to make the Web a better and even more open, place.<br>
69. </p>
70. <p>Happy (slightly belated) Birthday Worldwide Web and here's to the next 25!<br>
71. </p>            
72. ]]>
73. </description>
74. <pubDate>Tue, 18 Nov 2014 09:38:45 CST</pubDate>
75. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/00000147</guid>
76. </item>
77.  
78.  
79. <item>
80. <title>Asian Tiger Mosquitoes</title>
81. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
82. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2014-Nov-17-a</link>
83. <description>
84. <![CDATA[
85. <p>The weather has been unusually cold for the time of year the last
86. day or so. I was actually hoping that if we get a hard freeze it
87. will kill off for now the Asian Tiger mosquitoes that we have been
88. overrun with this year. However I have my doubts as apparently,
89. unlike other mosquitoes, their eggs, which they lay in vegetation
90. and standing water, can survive a harsh winter. They apparently
91. got into the USA in a shipment of waterlogged tires (tyres for my
92. UK friends) some time ago and they are now spreading more broadly.
93. They are covered in black and white stripes and look quite
94. different than the regular "brown" colored mosquitoes we are used
95. to seeing here. They are also a lot more aggressive. They bite all
96. day long (not just at dusk) and even bite animals but definitely
97. prefer humans. It has got so bad that we have had to pay to have
98. our yard sprayed regularly almost all year so that we even have a
99. chance to sit outside and enjoy our yard. These nasty little guys
100. also transmit the chikungunya virus for which I currently believe        
101. there is no vaccine. It's not usually fatal but does have some
102. nasty symptoms if you are unlucky enough to catch it. Here's a
103. link to a <a href="http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/news/20130809/asian-tiger-mosquito-could-spread-us-disease">WebMD
104. write up</a> on these little nasties.
105. </p>                                        
106. ]]>
107. </description>
108. <pubDate>Thu, 13 Nov 2014 00:00:01 CST</pubDate>
109. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/00000146</guid>
110. </item>
111.  
112. <item>
113. <title>Pink Floyd's Endless River - The End of an Era</title>
114. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
115. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2014-Nov-17-a</link>
116. <description>
117. <![CDATA[
118. <p>I just purchased the new Pink Floyd CD from Amazon which includes
119. a free digital download as well. I have been listening to it while
120. I work today. Given the way the album was put together (using
121. material the late Richard Wright recorded almost 20 years ago
122. during the making of The Division Bell) much of the music is
123. immediately familiar. I definitely also hear flashbacks to Wish
124. You Were Here, Dark Side of the Moon and many other albums as
125. well. It's mostly instrumental and there is a lot of it - four sides if
126. you buy the vinyl version!! A lot of the music has an almost
127. eerie tone to it - definitely a good one for the headphones with
128. the lights off. It's a really good listen but left me feeling
129. sad in a way, in a good way I guess, as much of their music has
130. been the backdrop to the last 40 years or so of my life and this
131. is definitely the end of a musical era as supposedly this is the
132. last album the band plan to release. It has a bit of everything
133. for Pink Floyd fans, especially those who like some of the "more
134. recent" albums. Don't expect a bunch of rocking songs that you
135. will be humming along to all day but as a complete work,
136. listened to end to end, I found it very moving. Very much not
137. your modern day pop tune and thank goodness for that!</p>
138. ]]>
139. </description>
140. <pubDate>Wed, 12 Nov 2014 00:00:01 CST</pubDate>
141. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/00000145</guid>
142. </item>
143.  
144. <item>
145. <title>Seven years post cancer surgery</title>
146. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
147. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2014-Oct-26-a</link>
148. <description>
149. <![CDATA[
150. <p>Today marks another big milestone for me. It has now been seven
151. years since my cancer surgery. As always, I am grateful for all of
152. my family, friends and doctors and every minute that I get to
153. spend with them.<br>
154. </p>
155. ]]>
156. </description>
157. <pubDate>Sun, 26 Oct 2014 00:00:01 CDT</pubDate>
158. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/00000144</guid>
159. </item>
160.  
161. <item>
162. <title>A few thoughts from a fairly social, open source and standards guy.</title>
163. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">open-technology</category>
164. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2014-May-20-a</link>
165. <description>
166. <![CDATA[
167. <p> <img alt="Computer superimposed on the Earth in space"
168.  
169.    src="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/images/WorldSpinSpace.jpg" align="left" height="168"
170.  
171.        hspace="10" width="177">Software development has always been a
172.  
173.      field where there is something new to learn. To be honest, if it
174.  
175.      wasn't I would probably have found a new profession a long time
176.  
177.      ago. Like many people I love to learn new things. That said, these
178.  
179.      days, more than ever before, I find myself not just wanting, but
180.  
181.      needing, to learn new things to keep up with the rate and pace of
182.  
183.      change in our industry.<br>
184.  
185.      <br>
186.  
187.      Development teams are no longer confined to the walls of a single
188.  
189.      building or even a single country for that matter. In fact, almost
190.  
191.      every major software venture these days seems to involve virtual
192.  
193.      teams of developers whose geographic location is of only minor
194.  
195.      importance compared to the content of the contributions they make.
196.  
197.      Product release cycles are now counted in days and weeks rather
198.  
199.      than months and years and what used to be a walk has become a
200.  
201.      sprint (pun intended).<br>
202.  
203.      <br>
204.  
205.      One of the key driving forces behind this change is undoubtedly
206.  
207.      the ever increasing acceptance of and reliance upon open source
208.  
209.      software coupled with the advent of "app stores" and "web
210.  
211.      downloads" that make it easier than ever to get that "latest
212.  
213.      version" and install it. <br>
214.  
215.      <br>
216.  
217.      Taking myself as a use case, a large proportion of the projects
218.  
219.      that I am involved in on a daily basis are either building upon
220.  
221.      open source or donating back to open source and, in many cases,
222.  
223.      doing both.<br>
224.  
225.      <br>
226.  
227.      Against this backdrop I am often asked questions like "So what
228.  
229.      about open standards given this more open source centric approach
230.  
231.      to software development?".  This is a reasonable question to
232.  
233.      ask and it is one that comes up regularly in conversations. My
234.  
235.      belief is that we definitely need a strong open source ecosystem
236.  
237.      but we also continue to need the rigor,  consensus and most
238.  
239.      important of all, the guarantee of interoperability that we gain
240.  
241.      from writing things down in a specification and taking the time to
242.  
243.      make that specification a standard.<br>
244.  
245.      <br>
246.  
247.      Moreover, few solutions embody just one standard. Typically a
248.  
249.      useful solution brings together multiple standards and so we
250.  
251.      could, somewhat lyrically, say that open source is the canvas upon
252.  
253.      which multiple standards are assembled to build a meaningful
254.  
255.      solution.<br>
256.  
257.      <br>
258.  
259.      However, given the rate and pace of software development, neither
260.  
261.      developers nor their end users have the patience these days for
262.  
263.      long drawn out standards process cycles. Just as open source
264.  
265.      developers have learned to be nimble so must standards creators.
266.  
267.      In the good old days (circa 2001) it was still quite common for a
268.  
269.      specification to take anything from eighteen months to three years
270.  
271.      between first draft and final standard. This model clearly will
272.  
273.      not work today. A standards process still needs to be inclusive,
274.  
275.      it still needs to generate consensus and of course the resultant
276.  
277.      work must be useful or we are all just wasting our time, but it
278.  
279.      must be able to achieve all of those goals in an efficient and
280.  
281.      nimble manner.  Some of this nimbleness will come from
282.  
283.      standards development organizations (like W3C and OASIS)
284.  
285.      continually refining their processes and tools but it will also
286.  
287.      come from the way that people interact today. There will still be
288.  
289.      e-mail conversations and "face to face" meetings but in a World
290.  
291.      full of people comfortable using social networking tools, we need
292.  
293.      to exploit those tools to effectively enable global software
294.  
295.      communities to work together at speed.<br>
296.  
297.      <br>
298.  
299.      Social tools can do more than just improve communication however.
300.  
301.      They can enable faster decision making, faster consensus, virtual
302.  
303.      workshops, greater visibility to the work and when needed, more
304.  
305.      efficient and transparent voting.<br>
306.  
307.      <br>
308.  
309.      By combing open source software development techniques with nimble
310.  
311.      and modern standardization processes, glued together by
312.  
313.      contemporary social tools we can enable best of breed innovation
314.  
315.      regardless of the geographic location of the participants.<br>
316.  
317.      <br>
318.  
319.      Last, but by no means least, for both open source and standards
320.  
321.      communities, open governance and transparent administration is
322.  
323.      key, and often an aspect that is overlooked and undervalued. 
324.  
325.      But for "open" communities, it's important that the principles of
326.  
327.      good business design be taken to heart.  Sensible IPR
328.  
329.      policies and open  governance are the foundation for broad
330.  
331.      community engagement if that's the intent of the effort and a
332.  
333.      determining factor in the success or failure of any open community
334.  
335.    </p>
336. ]]>
337. </description>
338. <pubDate>Tue, 20 May 2014 12:47:41 CDT</pubDate>
339. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/00000143</guid>
340. </item>
341.  
342.  
343.  
344. <item>
345. <title>Six years post chemo and another checkup done!</title>
346. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
347. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2014-May-17-a</link>
348. <description>
349. <![CDATA[
350. <p>Today was another day of milestones. I ended my chemo six years ago
351. and today I also went for my latest six monthly checkup with the
352. colo-rectal surgeon. I am pleased to report that the checkup went well
353. and I can breathe easily again for a few more months. As always thanks
354. for the support I continue to receive from you all. <br>
355. </p>
356. <p>I am also grateful to be able to enjoy all the achievements that my
357. kids continue to make. Robyn has been challenging herself regularly and
358. always striving to improve and Jack is doing so much better since we
359. took him out of his previous school that just did not seem to be a good
360. fit for his personality type.<br>
361. </p>
362. <p>One side note, as I was looking at my diary I realized that today is
363. also the anniversary of mt grandfather Arthur Robert Emerson's death in
364. 1988. I spent a lot of time with him during my childhood years,
365. especially over the Summer months and I have so many happy memories of
366. our long walks together with the dogs through the countryside of
367. Southern England.  I also learned to drive on his ride on lawn
368. mower at a very young age! He would always have a story to tell me and I
369. learned so much from him. <br>
370. </p>              
371. ]]>
372. </description>
373. <pubDate>Sat, 17 May 2014 11:37:42 CDT</pubDate>
374. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/00000142</guid>
375. </item>
376.  
377.  
378. <item>
379. <title>Merry Christmas!</title>
380. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
381. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2013-Dec-24-a</link>
382. <description>
383. <![CDATA[
384. <p>Work has wound down, the presents are mostly wrapped and another year
385. is almost over. This year has been a blur and I am left with the
386. feeling that most of it was spent ferrying kids from one place to
387. another! Such is the life of the parent but I would not trade it for
388. anything. It was wonderful this year to be able to meet up with so many
389. friends and family members in parts of the World that I have not been
390. able to visit for far too long. I hope to catch up with many more of you
391. in the coming year as I am more able to travel again. I am so thankful
392. to have been able to celebrate many significant anniversaries on the
393. health front, not least of which was passing some major remission
394. milestones during the year. As always I am humbled to have been the
395. beneficiary of so much goodwill from so many of you and some wonderful
396. messages of support and encouragement as I shared my milestone news. For
397. this I am extremely grateful. All that remains, on this Christmas Eve
398. 2013, is to wish you, wherever you may be in the World, from my family
399. to yours, a very merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.<br>
400. </p>                      
401. ]]>
402. </description>
403. <pubDate>Tue, 24 Dec 2013 16:28:35 CST</pubDate>
404. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/00000141</guid>
405. </item>
406.  
407.  
408. <item>
409. <title>Six years in remission (post surgery)</title>
410. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
411. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2013-Nov-04-a</link>
412. <description>
413. <![CDATA[
414.    <p>A little over six years ago, on October 26th 2007, I underwent
415.  
416.      the surgery that began my fightback against colon cancer and
417.  
418.      started my remission clock ticking. It's hard to believe that time
419.  
420.      has flown by so fast. So much of what happened back them,
421.  
422.      especially during the months of chemotherapy,  seems almost a
423.  
424.      blur to me now. That was one of the reasons I started keeping the
425.  
426.      <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net//daily-archive.html">journal</a> here. Every year about
427.  
428.      this time I look back through that journal and am reminded how
429.  
430.      lucky I am to still be here and how thankful I am for the family,
431.  
432.      friends and medical practitioners that have been with me along the
433.  
434.      way. I have met so many brave fighters over the past six years,
435.  
436.      many who are winning their battle and some who sadly were taken
437.  
438.      from us. Cancer affects us all in one way or another during our
439.  
440.      lifetimes either directly or indirectly through others that we
441.  
442.      care about. I truly believe that one day we will overcome this
443.  
444.      awful disease but until then we must keep up the fight. Every year
445.  
446.      I donate to many different research charities and urge anyone who
447.  
448.      will listen to get screened for the most common and most treatable
449.  
450.      (only if caught early) cancers. As I always do about this time of
451.  
452.      year, I shall issue my not so subtle reminder - go get checked, it
453.  
454.      could save your life!<br>
455.  
456.      <br>
457.  
458.    </p>
459.  
460.  
461. ]]>
462. </description>
463. <pubDate>Mon, 4 Nov 2013 09:24:29 CST</pubDate>
464. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/00000140</guid>
465. </item>
466.  
467. <item>
468. <title>iOS7 and nausea</title>
469. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">technology</category>
470. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2013-Oct-03-a</link>
471. <description>
472. <![CDATA[
473. <p>I have not posted since June, mainly because of a very hectic Summer
474. schedule of both work and non-work activities. During this time, among
475. other things, I found myself camping in Southern Colorado with the Boy
476. Scouts, working in San Francisco and attending a wedding in London (my
477. first time back since 2006 and my diagnosis in 2007). I hope to find the
478. time to make separate posts about the travels soon but for this post I
479. want to focus on something that I thought was probably just a silly
480. rumor until I experienced it first hand yesterday, namely, that iOS 7
481. can cause nausea and motion sickness in some people.<br>
482. </p>
483. <p>I should preface these next remarks by saying that anyone reading
484.  this should treat it as a data point based on a survey of one (me) nothing more,
485.  nothing less.
486. </p>
487. <p></p>
488. <p>Last night while waiting with my son for an appointment I got the
489. chance to borrow an iPad Mini running iOS7 and play with it. I have an
490. iPad mini of my own but for now it still has iOS 6 on it. However, I
491. have played with my daughter's iPhone 5 running iOS 7 quite a bit and
492. not had the issue I am about to describe at all (I think the bigger
493. screen on the iPad is likely why).<br>
494.  <br>
495. So anyway, after about 5 minutes of playing with the iPad, opening apps,
496. closing apps, changing views, basic stuff, I realized I was getting
497. just a teeny bit "motion sick". After 20 minutes or so I was actually
498. feeling kind of queasy (like I sometimes do after a fairground ride) and
499. I had to put the iPad down.<br>
500.  <br>
501. Now, I will totally admit, I am a bit of a weenie when it comes to this
502. kind of motion sickness. Certain video games, Minecraft being the worst,
503. I simply cannot play with my kids as I get queasy far too easily. As I
504. get older it seems to get worse. I have never done well on roller
505. coasters either so clearly I am a bit susceptible to motion sickness but
506. I was not expecting this with the iPad.<br>
507.  <br>
508. For sure, I had read the reports, and posted one or two on my Facebook
509. timeline and to be honest, like most who commented on those posts I was
510. skeptical. But, I was frankly shocked at how much this iPad messed me
511. up. I was still feeling a bit nauseous some 90 minutes or so later. I
512. guess, for those of us that are motion sickness weenies, there really is
513. some truth to the iOS 7 motion sickness stories. I basically found out
514. tonight that I will never be able to put iOS 7 on my iPad which, despite
515. my iOS 7 misgivings, makes me sad as I fully expected to upgrade at
516. some point.  I should add that even turning off as much of the
517. motion as possible still left too many moving parts for my poor brain to
518. handle. Weird eh?<br>
519. </p>                    
520. ]]>
521. </description>
522. <pubDate>Thu, 3 Oct 2013 17:04:04 CDT</pubDate>
523. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/00000139</guid>
524. </item>
525.  
526. <item>
527. <title>Quick medical update</title>
528. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
529. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2013-Jun-25-a</link>
530. <description>
531. <![CDATA[
532. <p>During the last couple of weeks I have had a full series of
533.  checkups. I met with my colo-rectal surgeon who gave me a full
534.  "inspection" under sedation. I next met with my oncologist who did
535.  a full series of blood tests and finally with my family doctor who
536.  gave me a full physical. I was a bit nervous going into this
537.  checkup period as the last time a polyp was found and for me
538.  polyps are particularly dangerous (mean time to cancer of under
539.  one year). I am happy to report, that with the exception of, for
540.  the first time, my cholesterol levels being a bit high, everything
541.  else was fine. No more tests for another six months. So now I can
542.  relax a bit and enjoy Summer. As always thanks to everyone for all
543.  of your support - it means so much.<br>
544. </p>
545.  
546. ]]>
547. </description>
548. <pubDate>Tue, 25 Jun 2013 11:01:42 CDT</pubDate>
549. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/00000138</guid>
550. </item>          
551.  
552.  
553. <item>
554. <title>Five years since chemo ended!</title>
555. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
556. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2013-May-08-a</link>
557. <description>
558. <![CDATA[
559. <p>Just a very small update to record another personal milestone in
560.  
561.  my journey through life. Yesterday was the fifth anniversary of my
562.  
563.  final chemotherapy treatment back in 2008. It does not seem
564.  
565.  possible that five years have passed by since then. While I am
566.  
567.  still dealing with some of the after effects of the treatment
568.  
569.  (primarily I still have a fair bit of neuropathy in my feet) I am
570.  
571.  so glad to still be here five years down the road. However, to
572.  
573.  keep me grounded in reality, I collected the mail last night and
574.  
575.  there waiting for me was a reminder card from my surgeon that it's
576.  
577.  time to schedule my next full service and oil change!  
578.  
579.  Regardless - here's to the next five years!<br>
580.  
581. </p>
582.          
583. ]]>
584. </description>
585. <pubDate>Wed, 8 May 2013 09:54:16 CDT</pubDate>
586. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/0000137</guid>
587. </item>
588.  
589.  
590.  
591.  
592. <item>
593. <title>My SVG examples collection</title>
594. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">graphics</category>
595. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2013-Apr-02-a</link>
596. <description>
597. <![CDATA[
598. <p>SVG, short for "Scalable Vector Graphics", is an XML markup
599.  
600.      language designed for bringing 2D artwork and drawings to the Web
601.  
602.      and other
603.  
604.      places. As well as vector graphics (lines, circles, paths, etc.)
605.  
606.      SVG supports
607.  
608.      text, images, animation, scripting, colors, gradients, filter
609.  
610.      effects and many
611.  
612.      other things. It is a very rich (declarative) graphics language
613.  
614.      which can be
615.  
616.      just as easily hand coded or machine generated. </p>
617.  
618.    <p>Back in 1998/9 and the years following I became very active in
619.  
620.      the SVG
621.  
622.      community. As far as I know, I was the author of the first known
623.  
624.      SVG rendering
625.  
626.      engine back then which I wrote in Java using the new (at the time)
627.  
628.      Java 2D API.
629.  
630.      I was also a very active member of the SVG Working group at W3C
631.  
632.      that produced
633.  
634.      the <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG10/"> SVG 1.0 Specification</a>.
635.  
636.      Over the years I have compiled a large collection of
637.  
638.      my own SVG test cases and examples and used them in lectures about
639.  
640.      SVG at
641.  
642.      various conferences around the World. The recent adoption of SVG
643.  
644.      by the major Web browsers, both on traditional desktop computers
645.  
646.      and on mobile devices, as well as many people asking me about my
647.  
648.      examples has prompted me to collect all of my material into one
649.  
650.      place.If you ever attended one of my talks on SVG over the years
651.  
652.      you may already have some of these but this is the first time I
653.  
654.      have tried to collect everything into one place.<br>
655.  
656.    </p>
657.  
658.    <p>These examples are not meant to be works of art, I would by no
659.  
660.      means claim to
661.  
662.      be an artist. I view them more as a learning aid. You will find
663.  
664.      most of the
665.  
666.      major SVG features used somewhere in these files. If you are
667.  
668.      interested in
669.  
670.      learning a bit more about the power and ease of use of SVG, I
671.  
672.      encourage you to
673.  
674.      look at the source for the files as well as the "artwork" as some
675.  
676.      pictures may look the same but might have been created using
677.  
678.      different SVG
679.  
680.      techniques behind the scenes! </p>
681.  
682.    <p>With a few exceptions, all of the examples were either hand coded
683.  
684.      (by me) or
685.  
686.      produced using Ruby scripts that I wrote to generate SVG output.
687.  
688.      One or two of
689.  
690.      the examples were produced using Inkscape.<br>
691.  
692.    </p>
693.  
694.    <p>You will find <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/svg/index.html"> this
695. link to the samples</a>
696.  
697.      in the left hand side bar of my web page.<br>
698.  
699.      <br>
700.  
701.    </p>
702.  
703.    <p> Anyway, I hope that this material is of interest and useful. I
704.  
705.      certainly had
706.  
707.      fun walking down memory lane while putting it together.
708.  
709.    </p>
710.                      
711. ]]>
712. </description>
713. <pubDate>Tue, 2 Apr 2013 14:37:48 CDT</pubDate>
714. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/0000136</guid>
715. </item>
716.  
717. <item>
718. <title>Five years in remission!</title>
719. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
720. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2012-Oct-26-a</link>
721. <description>
722. <![CDATA[
723.    <p>Today is a day that I truly believed might never come. As most of
724.      you know, a little over five years ago, on October 2<sup>nd</sup>
725.      2007, I received the news  that no one wants to hear. I had
726.      cancer. Moreover, I had a type of cancer at just 42 years of age
727.      that I always thought of as "one of those cancers people much
728.      older than me get". <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2007-Oct-10-a">I
729.        shared the news publicly</a> on October 10<sup>th</sup> 2007 and
730.      from then on used this web site to document my journey. I had
731.      surgery on October 26<sup>th</sup> 2007 to remove the tumor (and
732.      lots of other things!) and began six months of chemotherapy, after
733.      the surgery had time to heal, in December of that year. Early on
734.      in my treatment the oncologist informed me that the "remission
735.      clock" begins ticking on the day of the "curative procedure"
736.      (surgery). Today, I am celebrating the fact that I have reached a
737.      major milestone. It is five years to the day that my remission
738.      began. I have had regular (currently six monthly) checkups ever
739.      since my surgery and so far so good. A couple of weeks ago, for
740.      the first time since my diagnosis, a large polyp was found during
741.      my scheduled checkup but it was removed and found to be benign. It
742.      was a scary few days waiting for the pathology to come back but
743.      all remains well. In medical terms, I believe that I am now
744.      officially considered "cured". However, given what I have learned
745.      about my genetics during this process, I shall always be nervous
746.      when I go in to see my surgeon or my oncologist for a checkup.<br>
747.    </p>
748.    <p>There is an old Chinese proverb that goes something like "<span style="font-style: italic;">To get through the hardest journey
749.        we need take only one step at a time, but we must keep on
750.        stepping</span>" and what a journey this has been. The support I
751.      have experienced from family and friends around the World has been
752.      unbelievable and you have all stuck with me for the duration. I am
753.      both blessed and humbled to have you all in my corner. I have also
754.      have had such an amazing medical team looking after me. Especially
755.      Keith Morrison, John Mangione and Darren Kocs but also so many
756.      wonderful nurses and other doctors whose names in many cases I do
757.      not even know. Your amazing quality of care and professionalism
758.      are the reason that I am still here today and that my kids still
759.      have a father.<br>
760.    </p>
761.    <p>Thank you all once again for your incredible support.<br>
762.    </p>
763.    <p>As I often do, I shall close with my little reminder to you all.
764.      If you have been putting off getting that colonoscopy that you
765.      know you are overdue for, make the appointment today. It could
766.      save your life, trust me on that one!<br>
767.    </p>
768.    <p>Kelvin<br>
769.    </p>
770.  
771. ]]>
772. </description>
773. <pubDate>Fri, 26 Oct 2012 07:56:18 CDT</pubDate>
774. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/0000135</guid>
775. </item>
776.  
777. <item>
778. <title>The end of another Summer - the start of a new era!</title>
779. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
780. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2012-Aug-27-a</link>
781. <description>
782. <![CDATA[
783.    <p>So, by the local school calendar, Summer ended yesterday. Of
784.  
785.      course you have to ignore the fact that the high temperature today
786.  
787.      will be somewhere around 95F! Both kids went back to school this
788.  
789.      morning. Jack is starting his final year at Elementary school
790.  
791.      (going into filth grade). He had to be at school before 7:10am
792.  
793.      today so that he could do his bit on safety patrol (opening card
794.  
795.      doors and welcoming kids to school). He was so excited he went off
796.  
797.      to school with zero fuss. We'll see how long this lasts!
798.  
799.      Meanwhile, Robyn (drum roll please - and a stiff drink for her
800.  
801.      Dad) is starting High School today (hence the new era I referred
802.  
803.      to in the title of this post). How did my little girl grow up so
804.  
805.      fast. Before I know it she will be driving and off to college. I
806.  
807.      know going to a new school can be a bit daunting but I am sure she
808.  
809.      is in good hands at her new school (Cedar Ridge High School). The
810.  
811.      school only opened a few years ago (in fact this will be the first
812.  
813.      year they have a senior class I think) and it is a state of the
814.  
815.      art facility. I wish my IBM office building was as plush as that
816.  
817.      school is! She also gets to start school at 9am rather than the
818.  
819.      Middle school time of 8am which of course to a teenager translates
820.  
821.      to "more time in bed yaaaayyy".<br>
822.  
823.    </p>
824.  
825.    <p>We have had a good Summer. For the first time in too long I got
826.  
827.      to have a real Summer vacation and spent a lovely week at South
828.  
829.      Padre Island on the Texas Gulf coast. The beaches down there are
830.  
831.      really nice, soft sand underfoot all the way out into the waves.
832.  
833.      There was so much to do we only scratched the surface really. We
834.  
835.      found a lot of great restaurants and an amazingly good brew pub.
836.  
837.      We definitely want to go back and are grateful to our kind friends
838.  
839.      who rented us their beach front condo with amazing views of the
840.  
841.      beach and the Gulf.  As well as swimming in the surf and
842.  
843.      boogie boarding, we got to meet some amazing seat turtles that are
844.  
845.      being nursed back to health after accidents (with people), we got
846.  
847.      to watch the dolphins at play from a sunset cruise ship, we got to
848.  
849.      laugh our heads off at SchlitterBahn water park, we had a great
850.  
851.      time at the nature sanctuary and of course made a lot sand
852.  
853.      castles. I did not get to go para-sailing or ride the super fast
854.  
855.      jet boat or jet ski so I definitely have a lit of things I want to
856.  
857.      do next time we go down there. I was a bit apprehensive having
858.  
859.      been spoiled by the Florida beaches during my time there but South
860.  
861.      Padre was every bit as nice. The town itself is older but behind
862.  
863.      some of those less fancy walls you can find amazing food! <br>
864.  
865.    </p>
866.  
867.    <p>I have also been managing to make time to read a lot more this
868.  
869.      year, which was one of my New Year resolutions! If you look at my
870.  
871.      <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/books.html">reading log</a> you will see that I have
872.  
873.      done, I think, much better this year than in recent years. I am
874.  
875.      convinced that my almost total transition to e-books has made the
876.  
877.      difference. Another resolution was to get into really good
878.  
879.      physical shape. Let's just say I'm still working on that one!<br>
880.  
881.    </p>
882.  
883.    <p>So what about the medical stuff? Well, earlier in the Summer I
884.  
885.      underwent a full battery of tests with the oncologist and the
886.  
887.      colo-rectal surgeon. I am happy to report all tests came back
888.  
889.      clean. I am just two months away from achieving five years
890.  
891.      remission. A landmark that when I was diagnosed back in 2007
892.  
893.      seemed an awfully long way away. It has been a journey with ups
894.  
895.      and downs but despite ongoing side effects (of which I shall spare
896.  
897.      you the details), as my daughter says, "Dad, at least you are
898.  
899.      still breathing!"<br>
900.  
901.    </p>
902.  
903.    <p>I am sure there are a lot of other things I have forgotten to
904.  
905.      list that we did this Summer. For now I am going to concentrate on
906.  
907.      work and adjust to the very very quiet house and the sound of the
908.  
909.      dog snoring on the couch in my home office!<br>
910.  
911.    </p>
912.                                    
913. ]]>
914. </description>
915. <pubDate>Mon, 27 Aug 2012 12:26:34 CDT</pubDate>
916. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/0000134</guid>
917. </item>
918.  
919. <item>
920. <title>Spring is in the air</title>
921. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
922. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2012-Mar-03-a</link>
923. <description>
924. <![CDATA[
925. <p>My how time flies! We are already into March and 2011 is well and
926. truly disappearing in the rear view mirror. I cannot say I am sorry to
927. see 2011 go. It was not a year that I shall remember with a lot of
928. fondness.  I need to get back into making more regular posts here.
929. I have been good about posting to Facebook but that has made me
930. incredibly lazy about updating this journal. I have, however, kept the
931. various sections (such as my reading log) up to date.<br>
932. </p>
933.  
934. <p>I hope that everyone reading this is so far having a safe and happy
935. year.  I have several friends and colleagues that have already
936. been touched by cancer this year. My thoughts and prayers go out to
937. them and indeed, to anyone dealing with the effects of this awful
938. disease.<br>
939. </p>
940. <p>By the way, March is <span style="font-style: italic;">Colo Rectal Cancer Awareness</span>
941. month. If you have been putting off getting "scoped" now would be a
942. good time. Also, remember I was only 42 when I was diagnosed so don't
943. put it off because you don't think you are old enough to have to worry.
944. It could save your life.<br>
945. </p>
946.  
947. ]]>
948. </description>
949. <pubDate>Sat, 3 Mar 2012 10:28:38 CST</pubDate>
950. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/00000133</guid>
951. </item>
952.  
953.  
954. <item>
955. <title>Four years post surgery, four years in remission!</title>
956. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
957. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2011-Oct-25-a</link>
958. <description>
959. <![CDATA[
960. Today is the fourth anniversary of my colon cancer surgery. As my
961.  
962. oncologist once explained to me, the remission clock starts ticking
963.  
964. from the date of the "curative procedure" (surgery). Therefore as of
965.  
966. today I have now been in remission for a full four years. Much of
967.  
968. the time since the surgery and the subsequent months of chemotherapy
969.  
970. remains a bit of a blur and loking back, the time seems to have
971.  
972. flown by.. I am so thankful to all of the wonderful doctors and
973.  
974. nurses that have cared for me so well and that I am still here to
975.  
976. enjoy life and watch my kids grow up.<br>
977.  
978. <br>
979.  
980. As always I am incredibly grateful to all of my family and friends
981.  
982. around the World who have been there for me the past four years. I
983.  
984. could not have made it this far without you. The recent sad news
985.  
986. about the death of Steve Jobs reminds us that no one, no matter how
987.  
988. rich or poor is immune from cancer's evil reach. I encourage all of
989.  
990. you to support cancer research in any way that you can. Likewise, to
991.  
992. anyone reading this who has also been touched by cancer, I would
993.  
994. just like to say keep up the fight and that you are in my thoughts
995.  
996. and prayers.<br>
997.  
998. <br>
999.  
1000. PS - If you have been putting off getting a colonoscopy, get one. It could save your life!
1001. ]]>
1002. </description>
1003. <pubDate>Tue, 25 Oct 2011 10:50:58 CDT</pubDate>
1004. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/00000132</guid>
1005. </item>
1006.  
1007. <item>
1008. <title>The last (official) day of Summer</title>
1009. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
1010. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2011-Aug-23-a</link>
1011. <description>
1012. <![CDATA[
1013. <p>By the school calendar, which around here is the one most people
1014.  
1015. live by, as of today, Summer is officially over. This is despite the
1016.  
1017. fact that this week we will most likely break the old record of 69 one
1018.  
1019. hundred degree days in a calendar year. The high yesterday was around
1020.  
1021. 105F and it is forecast to be about the same again today. I forget when
1022.  
1023. we last had serious rain but it has been months. Unless we get a
1024.  
1025. tropical storm come ashore soon it may be many more weeks until we do
1026.  
1027. get some rain. I love the hot weather but in my fifteen years here I
1028.  
1029. have never seen a drought like this one. We usually get some good
1030.  
1031. storms, especially during the Spring to top up the lakes. This year
1032.  
1033. that did not happen.<br>
1034.  
1035. </p>
1036.  
1037. <p><br>
1038.  
1039. </p>
1040.  
1041. <div style="text-align: center;"><img
1042.  
1043. style="width: 640px; height: 480px;"
1044.  
1045. title="Robyn and Jack leaving for school"
1046.  
1047. alt="Robyn and Jack leaving for school"
1048.  
1049. src="http://kelvinlawrence.net/images/RobynJack-BackToSchool.jpg"><br
1050.  
1051. style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">
1052.  
1053. <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Robyn and Jack
1054.  
1055. about to leave for school</span><br>
1056.  
1057. </div>
1058.  
1059. <p>Anyway, my kids happily (yes happily) went back to school today.
1060.  
1061. They even got up at 6:20am and woke me up! Robyn is going into eighth
1062.  
1063. grade and Jack fourth. They have grown so quickly. Robyn is thirteen
1064.  
1065. now and Jack will be ten in December. Where does the time go? Anyway,
1066.  
1067. above is a photo, which has become a bit of a tradition now, of the
1068.  
1069. kids going out the front door on the first day of a new school year.<br>
1070.  
1071. </p>
1072. ]]>
1073. </description>
1074. <pubDate>Tue, 23 Aug 2011 11:18:02 CDT</pubDate>
1075. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/00000131</guid>
1076. </item>
1077.  
1078.  
1079. <item>
1080. <title>25 Years at IBM</title>
1081. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">work</category>
1082. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2011-Aug-04-a</link>
1083. <description>
1084. <![CDATA[
1085. <p>In 1986, August the 4th was a Monday and it was my first day as an
1086. IBM employee (at Hursley Park in the UK). Twenty five years later, I'm
1087. still working at IBM (these days in Austin, Texas).  It's been an
1088. incredible journey both emotionally , technologically and
1089. geographically (from Hursley to Austin with seven years in Boca Raton,
1090. Florida in between). I have worked with some fantastic people on some
1091. very cool projects and been lucky enough to make great friends all over
1092. the World. <br>
1093. </p>
1094. <p>The 25 years have flown by!<br>
1095. </p>  
1096. ]]>
1097. </description>
1098. <pubDate>Thu, 4 Aug 2011 19:39:39 CDT</pubDate>
1099. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/00000130</guid>
1100. </item>    
1101.  
1102.  
1103. <item>
1104. <title>Where have I been hiding?</title>
1105. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
1106. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2011-Jul-19-a</link>
1107. <description>
1108. <![CDATA[
1109. <p>Those of you that check-in here from time to time, and the site
1110.  
1111. statistics tell me that there are still a lot of you, for which I am
1112.  
1113. grateful, may be wondering what I have been up to and why I have not
1114.  
1115. been posting of late. In short I have been busy at work, very busy with
1116.  
1117. the kids and also had to have a spot of unexpected (and very painful)
1118.  
1119. surgery from which I have been recovering since mid June.<br>
1120.  
1121. </p>
1122.  
1123. <p>Anyway, here is a quick update on the Summer so far...<br>
1124.  
1125.  </p>
1126.  
1127. <p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Things medical</span><br>
1128.  
1129. </p>
1130.  
1131. <p>At the end of May I met with my colo-rectal surgeon and he performed
1132.  
1133. my (now semi-annual) internal exam. Everything looked good. However,
1134.  
1135. while he was checking me out he told me that I had a cyst that needed
1136.  
1137. to be dealt with surgically (not cancerous). More on that in a minute!</p>
1138.  
1139. <p>On June 9th I met with my oncologist and he ran all of the usual
1140.  
1141. tests. While I always hope for the best, this is always a nervous time
1142.  
1143. for me. None the less, I am happy to report that all of my tests came
1144.  
1145. back clean. Still no evidence of further cancer. I can now go twelve
1146.  
1147. months before he wants to check me again. This is significant progress.<br>
1148.  
1149. </p>
1150.  
1151. <p>On June 10th I had surgery to take care of the cyst. The procedure
1152.  
1153. ended up being a bit more involved that I had hoped it would be.
1154.  
1155. Without going into details it was in an awkward place and for several
1156.  
1157. weeks it was really hard to sit down and I was in a lot of pain. The
1158.  
1159. wound is still healing but is in much better shape now. Hopefully in a
1160.  
1161. another week or so it will have finished healing. The surgery really
1162.  
1163. knocked me out of my stride for a few weeks and even now I do not feel
1164.  
1165. that I fully have my energy back.<br>
1166.  
1167. </p>
1168.  
1169. <p>On top of a few other stresses in my life at the moment I really
1170.  
1171. feel like a cannot catch a break. I hope to take a couple of weeks off
1172.  
1173. soon and find a beach to lay on somewhere or something equally restful!<br>
1174.  
1175. </p>
1176.  
1177. <p style="font-weight: bold;">The Kids</p>
1178.  
1179. <p>Despite the intense drought and soaring temperatures we have been
1180.  
1181. enduring for well over six weeks now, the Kids are having a great
1182.  
1183. Summer and spending a lot of time in the pool. Robyn was able to escape
1184.  
1185. the heat mid June, when she left along with 40 other kids and four
1186.  
1187. adult leaders on a People to People expedition to the UK and Ireland.
1188.  
1189. They visited an amazing set of places all over England, Scotland,
1190.  
1191. Wales and Ireland. She got to do many things that even I, growing up
1192.  
1193. there, have never done. She got to hit golf balls at St Andrews, ride
1194.  
1195. the London Eye, watch a Trebuchet catapult launching a fire ball at
1196.  
1197. Warwick Castle, she got to abseil down the walls of another castle in
1198.  
1199. Bangor (Wales) and so many other amazing things. She took over 900
1200.  
1201. photos! I think this trip will leave her with fantastic memories and
1202.  
1203. hopefully a few new friends as well!<br>
1204.  
1205. </p>
1206.  
1207. <p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Work</span><br>
1208.  
1209. </p>
1210.  
1211. <p>Work is very busy which is a good thing and has also helped keep me
1212.  
1213. distracted a bit from other things.<br>
1214.  
1215. </p>
1216.  
1217. <p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Finally, less blogging more
1218.  
1219. tweeting....</span></p>
1220.  
1221. <p>Finally, I will observe that while I have not been posting here much
1222.  
1223. lately, that I have been making regular posts to both <a
1224.  
1225. href="http://www.twitter.com/gfxman">Twitter</a> and <a
1226.  
1227. href="http://www.facebook.com/people/Kelvin_Lawrence/560392836">Facebook</a>
1228.  
1229. and more
1230.  
1231. recently <a href="https://plus.google.com/102601129423955120841/posts">Google+</a>
1232.  
1233. as well. If you have not already done so, feel free to find me at one
1234.  
1235. or more of those venues.<br>
1236.  
1237. </p>
1238.  
1239. <p>That's the update for now. Take care all!<br>
1240.  
1241. </p>
1242.  
1243. ]]>
1244. </description>
1245. <pubDate>Tue, 19 Jul 2011 09:26:19 CDT</pubDate>
1246. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/00000124</guid>
1247. </item>
1248.  
1249. <item>
1250. <title>Three years post chemo!</title>
1251. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
1252. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2011-May-09-a</link>
1253. <description>
1254. <![CDATA[
1255. <p>I realized this morning as I was looking at what is on my schedule
1256.  
1257. for this week that it is three years ago since I underwent my final
1258.  
1259. chemotherapy treatment. The time has flown by and finally (a while ago
1260.  
1261. now in fact) the "fog" that was in my brain has fully cleared. Every
1262.  
1263. now and again I suspect my memory is not quite what it was and I still
1264.  
1265. have neuropathy in my feet - but hey - small price to pay right?<br>
1266.  
1267. </p>
1268.  
1269. <p>As always a special thought and prayer goes out to all of the people
1270.  
1271. who are currently in their own battles with cancer.</p>
1272.  
1273. <p>You will probably have noticed that I have not posted here in quite
1274.  
1275. a while. This is largely due to the fact that I am incredibly busy at
1276.  
1277. work (which is a good thing)  and have a tremendous amount going
1278.  
1279. on in my personal life. I do post regular updates however to <a
1280.  
1281. href="http://www.facebook.com/people/Kelvin_Lawrence/560392836">Facebook</a>
1282.  
1283. and <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/gfxman">Twitter</a>.<br>
1284.  
1285. </p>
1286.  
1287. <p>I hope everyone is having a good year so far. It won't be long until
1288.  
1289. the kids get out of school for Summer here. Robyn has a huge Summer
1290.  
1291. coming up. The highlight of which is a 21 day trip to the UK and
1292.  
1293. Ireland with 41 other kids on a People to People Ambassador program.<br>
1294.  
1295. </p>
1296.  
1297. <p>I am keeping other sections of the web site updated as appropriate
1298.  
1299. and I will try and get back into posting here more often!<br>
1300.  
1301. <br>
1302.  
1303. </p>
1304. ]]>
1305. </description>
1306. <pubDate>Mon, 9 May 2011 09:58:31 CDT</pubDate>
1307. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000000123</guid>
1308. </item>
1309.  
1310. <item>
1311. <title>Happy New Year</title>
1312. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
1313. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2011-Jan-01-a</link>
1314. <description>
1315. <![CDATA[
1316. <p>Just a quick post to wish all of my wonderful family and friends
1317. around the World a very safe and prosperous 2011. I have not been
1318. updating things here on the web site as often as I used to but I have
1319. been posting regular updates to my <a href="http://www.facebook.com/people/Kelvin_Lawrence/560392836">Facebook</a>
1320. page. I am very happy to report that in October I had a full series of
1321. medical tests and everything looks good. Unbelievably I am now three
1322. years into remission. We did some fun things in the second half of
1323. 2010. One of the highlights for me was when the kids and I got to take
1324. a seven day cruise on Carnival cruise lines around the Eastern
1325. Caribbean. Lorna and the kids are all well although I don't think the
1326. kids will want to go back to school next week after the long Christmas
1327. break.&nbsp; Work starts back up for me on the 4th.<br>
1328. </p>
1329. <p>Again love and best wishes to all, from our family to yours for 2011<br>
1330. </p>
1331. ]]>
1332. </description>
1333. <pubDate>Sat, 1 Jan 2011 10:34:14 CST</pubDate>
1334. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/0000128</guid>
1335. </item>
1336.  
1337.  
1338. <item>
1339. <title>Father and Daughter surgery</title>
1340. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
1341. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2010-Aug-21-a</link>
1342. <description>
1343. <![CDATA[
1344. <p>What are the odds that both my daughter and I would end up having
1345. surgery from the same doctor at the almost exact same time in adjacent
1346. rooms? Well that is exactly what happened this past week! Robyn had
1347. already been scheduled to have her lower wisdom teeth removed Monday
1348. morning so that part at least, was expected. The unexpected part is
1349. that right after we met with the surgeon to prep for her surgery, a few
1350. days prior to the scheduled date for the procedure, I started getting a
1351. lot of pain in my upper right jaw bone. An x-ray from my dentist
1352. revealed that some screws in my jaw from reconstruction surgery in 1998
1353. had moved and allowed the area to get infected. The required "fix" was
1354. to have the offending screws and bone plates surgically removed. So, in
1355. an exercise in efficiency, we scheduled my surgery at the same time as
1356. my daughters so that Dr Gallagher (my long time oral surgeon and great
1357. doctor) could emulate Bobby Fischer playing chess against multiple
1358. opponents at once and fix us both (almost) in parallel!  We turned
1359. up at 7am and Robyn got to go first. While he was operating on her,
1360. other nurses started prepping me. When he was done with her, the doctor
1361. appeared and basically said "OK all done with her, she did great, let's
1362. get started on you"!! I woke up as she was also waking up more in the adjacent recovery room. How surreal is that?</p>
1363.  
1364. <p>Anyway, we are both doing well, I think at this point her swelling
1365. is going down faster than mine (behold the power of youth) but at least
1366. the severe pain I was in before the surgery has gone away.  She
1367. gets a nice present for being brave, I get a few days of being on an
1368. ice cream diet so all in all not too bad!<br>
1369. </p>
1370.  
1371. <p>Certainly a week to remember!<br>
1372. </p>
1373. ]]>
1374. </description>
1375. <pubDate>Sat, 21 Aug 2010 12:18:03 CDT</pubDate>
1376. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/0000127</guid>
1377. </item>
1378.  
1379.  
1380. <item>
1381. <title>Misc updates</title>
1382. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
1383. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2010-Jul-30-a</link>
1384. <description>
1385. <![CDATA[
1386. <p>There has not been too much to report lately (which is a good thing)
1387. and hence I have not posted here. I have been posting small updates to
1388. Twitter and Facebook and as a result have not felt the need to
1389. duplicate those here. On the medical front, my latest round of tests
1390. are now behind me and both my oncologist and surgeon have switched me
1391. to a "once a year" checkup schedule now. This is real progress!!<br>
1392. </p>
1393. <p>Yesterday Lorna and I went down to Houston so that we could watch
1394. the MLS (soccer) All Stars vs Manchester United.  We had a great
1395. time. Reliant Stadium was a great venue for the event and the match
1396. itself did not lack action, with Man Utd coming out on top 5 - 2.<br>
1397. </p>
1398. <p>The kids have been off school for several weeks now and I am definitely counting the
1399. days until they go back! That said, I am taking next week of so that we can do some fun
1400. things together as a family. I really need a break from work to recharge my batteries as
1401. things have been extremely busy.
1402.  
1403. So, as I said, no major news to report, at the moment but I will try and get back into making
1404. more regular postings again soon.<br>
1405. </p>                
1406. ]]>
1407. </description>
1408. <pubDate>Fri, 30 Jul 2010 14:48:21 CDT</pubDate>
1409. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/0000000126</guid>
1410. </item>    
1411.                
1412. <item>
1413. <title>Two years post chemo - wow!</title>
1414. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
1415. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2010-May-09-a</link>
1416. <description>
1417. <![CDATA[
1418. <p>It's almost impossible for me to believe, but two years ago
1419. yesterday I finished chemotherapy. The time has flown by. Aside from
1420. some remaining neuropathy in my feet I feel great and all of the other
1421. side efects have long since worn off.  I have a checkup
1422. appointment with the oncologist next month and will post another update
1423. after that. Thanks as always to everyone for all of their incredible
1424. support.<br>
1425. </p>
1426. <p>Here's to more milestones like this one!<br>
1427. </p>
1428. ]]>
1429. </description>
1430. <pubDate>Sun, 9 May 2010 00:28:00 CDT</pubDate>
1431. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/00000125</guid>
1432. </item>
1433.  
1434. <item>
1435. <title>Quick medical update</title>
1436. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
1437. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2010-Mar-15-a</link>
1438. <description>
1439. <![CDATA[
1440. <p>I have again taken way too long between posts here. My thanks to all
1441. those of you that have contacted me to ask if everything is OK. As far
1442. as I know things remain good. A couple of weeks ago I met with the
1443. surgeon who is keeping an eye on me and performing my regular exams.
1444. I'm happy to say that no new polyps were found and I have no more
1445. scheduled exams until I meet with the oncologist again in a couple of
1446. months time.<br>
1447. <br>
1448. This week the kids are on Spring Break and I am taking the week off
1449. work so that we can spend some time together as a family. If the
1450. weather stays nice we are going to try and make it to the Austin
1451. Fairgrounds for the Rodeo. In the 15 years I have lived here I have
1452. never been so I hope we can make it this year.<br>
1453. <br>
1454. I'll try and post again soon but at least as far as the medical stuff goes,
1455. having less to post for a while is fine by me!</p>
1456. ]]>
1457. </description>
1458. <pubDate>Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:52:58 CDT</pubDate>
1459. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/0000124</guid>
1460. </item>
1461.  
1462. <item>
1463. <title>Belated Happy New Year</title>
1464. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
1465. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2010-Jan-27-a</link>
1466. <description>
1467. <![CDATA[
1468. <p>I have been very bad about posting here recently. Things are going
1469. well and I have just been very busy with family and work activities. I
1470. hope everyone is off to a good start to 2010 and I would like to wish
1471. everyone a belated Happy New Year.  I'll try and get back into
1472. making regular updates again vey soon.<br>
1473. </p>
1474. ]]>
1475. </description>
1476. <pubDate>Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:58:16 CST</pubDate>
1477. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/0000123</guid>
1478. </item>
1479.  
1480. <item>
1481. <title>Latest test results still look good</title>
1482. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
1483. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2009-Dec-03-a</link>
1484. <description>
1485. <![CDATA[
1486. <p>Yesterday I went to the oncologist to get my latest round of tests
1487. done. They called me five minutes ago to say that everything continues
1488. to look normal. My cancer antigen test is even down a bit from last
1489. time and my haemoglobin number remains solid. I continue to be plagued
1490. by neuropathy in my feet but it has mostly gone away now in my fingers.
1491. The Lyrica I am taking works wonders on the neuropathy pain but I think
1492. is the major contributor to the weight I continue to gain. We agreed
1493. yesterday to again try reducing the dosage in the hope that we can
1494. reverse this unacceptable trend!<br>
1495. </p>
1496. <p>I have not posted for a month mainly because I did not have to much
1497. to share - which is a good thing. I hope everyone is having a safe and
1498. happy start to the holiday season. As always thoughts and prayers go
1499. out all fellow cancer patients and their families at this time. <br>
1500. </p>
1501. ]]>
1502. </description>
1503. <pubDate>Thu, 3 Dec 2009 11:11:46 CST</pubDate>
1504. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/0000122</guid>
1505. </item>
1506.  
1507. <item>
1508. <title>My second anniversary</title>
1509. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
1510. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2009-Oct-27-a</link>
1511. <description>
1512. <![CDATA[
1513. <p>Today marks the second anniversary of my cancer surgery.&nbsp; Is it
1514. really possible that two years have already passed? It seems like just
1515. yesterday. Thanks to all the wonderful doctors and nurses that treated
1516. me I am still here to type this and to bug my family and friends! I owe
1517. my life to you. Special thanks today (as every day) to Keith M, John M
1518. and Darren K, three amazing doctors, without whom I would just be a
1519. memory.<br>
1520. </p>
1521. <p>I think I have more blood work scheduled in the next few weeks which
1522. as always I shall be nervous about but all continues to be well as far
1523. as I know. I have not posted here lately as we have all been very busy
1524. between work and school, soccer games, boy scouts, girl scouts, dance
1525. and camping trips.<br>
1526. </p>
1527. <p>I'll try and post a longer update soon but I could not let this milestone day pass by without a quick post.<br>
1528. </p>          
1529. ]]>
1530. </description>
1531. <pubDate>Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:48:07 CDT</pubDate>
1532. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/0000121</guid>
1533. </item>
1534.  
1535.  
1536.  
1537. <item>
1538. <title>Quick medical update</title>
1539. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
1540. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2009-Sep-09-b</link>
1541. <description>
1542. <![CDATA[
1543. <p>As many of you know, I had my latest internal exam last week,
1544. or as my son calls in my "butt check" !  The procedure itself is
1545. nothing that I worry too much about but I do worry very much about what
1546. might be found. I am therefore pleased to report that
1547. all remains clear as far as the surgeon can tell. I do not have to see
1548. him again for another six months now which is great progress!<br>
1549. </p>          
1550.  
1551. ]]>
1552. </description>
1553. <pubDate>Wed, 9 Sep 2009 19:31:37 CDT</pubDate>
1554. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/0000120</guid>
1555. </item>
1556.  
1557. <item>
1558. <title>Brandy</title>
1559. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">pets</category>
1560. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2009-Sep-09-a</link>
1561. <description>
1562. <![CDATA[
1563. <p>Sadly, we had to say goodbye today to another of our dear animal
1564. friends. Brandy, now over 13 years old had been with us since we got
1565. her and her brother Toby as puppies from a friend as a wedding present
1566. back in 1996. We <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Jul-16-a">lost Toby just over a year ago</a>
1567. and now Brandy has joined him at the doggie park in the sky. She was a
1568. great dog, in her younger days extremely atheltic, more recently a lady
1569. of leisure and sadly even more recently pretty much unable to get up
1570. and move without our help. We are extremely sad to see her go and all
1571. miss her very much. I'm glad we still have Rocket, Scamp and Shadow to
1572. keep us on our toes (as well as the kids!). I need to update the pets
1573. section with some new photos and will try and get to that soon.<br>
1574. </p>                  
1575. <p style="text-align: center;"><img style="width: 682px; height: 363px;" alt="Picture of Brandy" title="Brandy" src="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/images/Brandy-July-2008.jpg" align="middle"><br>
1576. </p>
1577. <p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Brandy during happier times - July 2008</span><br>
1578. </p>      
1579. ]]>
1580. </description>
1581. <pubDate>Tue, 8 Sep 2009 19:31:36 CDT</pubDate>
1582. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/0000119</guid>
1583. </item>
1584.  
1585. <item>
1586. <title>Kids, Dogs and the end of Summer</title>
1587. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
1588. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">kids</category>
1589. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
1590. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2009-Sep-01-a</link>
1591. <description>
1592. <![CDATA[
1593. <p>So, while the days remain extremely hot, Summer is over for the kids
1594. who went back to school last week. I work from home a lot and am having
1595. to adjust to a quiet house again! Robyn is starting sixth grade (Middle
1596. School) this school year and is very excited. Last night we went to a
1597. meet the teachers evening. It was fun. We got to experience her day. We
1598. went to each class for eleven minutes, attended a presentation from the
1599. teacher and then had four minutes to make out next class - the same way
1600. she does! As well as the traditional subjects, Robyn is taking Choir
1601. and Band this term. She has chosen to try the clarinet as her
1602. instrument. I hope she likes it as I am still trying to get over my
1603. almost heart failure when I saw the price of even a used one! 
1604. Meanwhile, Jack is starting out on second grade. We have spent a small
1605. fortune this Summer on consultations with specialists as we continue to
1606. try and get Jack the help he needs for his Aspergers and ADHD. Lorna is
1607. right now having to sit in the school with Jack during the morning
1608. classes to try and keep him calm. This is unacceptable and I shall be
1609. coming down on the school like a ton of lead bricks (backed up by
1610. advocates and other medical professionals) if they do not get their act
1611. together fast. He is supposed to have a teacher's aid in class and he
1612. is not getting one. We also have some new medication for Jack that we
1613. are just starting him on that may help with his morning moods but I am
1614. not going to give the school what they seem to want which is to have me
1615. medicate him into passive oblivion.<br>
1616. </p>
1617. <p>None the less, both kids had a great Summer. They both attended lots
1618. of day camps and had numerous parties, play dates and sleep overs with
1619. friends. Robyn's Summer ended on a super high as she passed her Tae
1620. Kwon Do black belt test. Her graduation ceremony is on Thursday.<br>
1621. </p>
1622.  
1623. <p><img src="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/images/Shadow-Aug-4-2009-small.jpg" title="Shadow" alt="Picture of Shadow" style="width: 200px; height: 320px;" align="left" hspace="10">One
1624. of the things we have been doing lately is volunteering at the
1625. Williamson County Animal Shelter. As well as being a good cause anyway,
1626. it also is helping Robyn get one of her Girl Scout badges. However,
1627. those that know me well, know I love animals. Every time I go to the
1628. shelter I find it hard not to bring a dog home with me. Well a few
1629. weeks ago, my resolve broke and we now have a new member of the family.
1630. He is (we think) a four month old puppy. We are not sure exactly what
1631. breed he is. The shelter staff wrote him up as a Black Lab/Great Dane
1632. mix. Our vet says he sees some Sharpei in him, I think this may just be
1633. due to his "room to grow" wrinkly skin! Whatever breed he is, he is
1634. loads of fun and it is clear he is going to be BIG! The other dogs,
1635. after a few initial barks and warning growls to establish the
1636. boundaries and the pack order have now fully accepted him. We get to
1637. watch some fantastic play fights on a regular basis. This reminds me
1638. that I need to go and update the pets section of this web site and get
1639. updated photos of all the animals posted.<br>
1640. </p>
1641. <p>The weather here continues to be brutal. Every day during the Summer
1642. the high temperature reached or exceeded 100F and it has hardly rained
1643. at all. We are now (not before time in my opinion) on mandatory water
1644. controls.<br>
1645. </p>
1646. <p>On the medical front, I met with an Orthopedic Surgeon yesterday
1647. (not related to my cancer treatment) to get his opinion on my elbow
1648. which continues to be extremely painful after I whacked it against a
1649. plastic pipe at a water park back in June. As far as he can tell from
1650. the X-Rays and MRI pictures that have already been taken it's nothing
1651. more serious than an acute case of tendinitis (good old fashioned
1652. "Tennis Elbow"). The Cortisone shot that I got for it two weeks ago has
1653. so far not helped so they are going to start me on Physical Therapy
1654. later this week and a course of meds. We were joking that "Tennis
1655. Elbow" should really be called "Computer Mouse Elbow" these days as
1656. that is when it hurts me the most. The surgeon suggested I stop using
1657. the mouse and get a trackball instead. "Gee" I said, "what a great
1658. idea". I am supposed to be the computer guy but I think that the doctor
1659. is on to something there and it never occurred to me (sigh). Of course
1660. I am not the first patient with a bad elbow he has ever seen either!<br>
1661. </p>
1662. <p>On a slightly less "humerus" note (sorry I couldn't resist the pun),
1663. I am scheduled to meet with my colo-rectal surgeon tomorrow for my next
1664. round of checkups and my internal exam (yep, yuck!). I always get
1665. nervous when I go in for this one as this is how it all began almost
1666. two years ago and we all know where that went (wow time flies).<br>
1667. </p>
1668. <p>This weekend I went and paid the $29 for my copy of Apple's new Mac
1669. OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) operating system upgrade. I installed it on my
1670. Mac Book Pro laptop over the weekend and so far it seems to be running
1671. well and living up to the advertising. Lot a great deal of new visible
1672. features but definitely a bit faster and uses less disk space. I'll
1673. report more as I play with the new OS some more.  I know many of
1674. the folks that follow my web updates are Mac users. Please let me know
1675. if you are also upgrading.<br>
1676. </p>
1677.  
1678. <p>That's about it for now. I'll post more after my tests this week are over.<br>
1679. </p>
1680.  
1681. ]]>
1682. </description>
1683. <pubDate>Tue, 1 Sep 2009 10:10:20 CDT</pubDate>
1684. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/0000118</guid>
1685. </item>
1686.  
1687. <item>
1688. <title>More on the Pan-Mass Challenge</title>
1689. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
1690. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2009-Jul-27-a</link>
1691. <description>
1692. <![CDATA[
1693. <p>Further to my prior posting, I just received the following words
1694. from Don.  I am extremely grateful that he is riding this year in
1695. honour of my dear friend Dion Gillard, who died way too young, from
1696. cancer last year. Cancer is such an evil disease and none of us are
1697. immune from it. Please help support Don if you possibly can.  Here
1698. are Don's words...<br>
1699. </p>
1700. <table style="text-align: left; width: 80%; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2">
1701.  <tbody>
1702.    <tr>
1703.      <td style="vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 204);">I
1704. ‘met’ many of you through a post I made here thanks to Kelvin, last
1705. Summer. Now it’s time to renew our friendship and launch our 2009
1706. campaign to raise funds for cancer research.<br>
1707.      <br>
1708. This year, I am again dedicating a large investment in time and sweat
1709. to ask as many people as I know for their support in my effort to raise
1710. funds to support cancer research at <a href="http://www.dana-farber.org/">Dana-Farber Cancer Institute</a> in Boston. I do this by signing up to ride the <a href="http://www.pmc.org/">Pan-Massachusetts Challenge</a>,
1711. a 2 day, 192 mile bicycle ride here in Massachusetts. By signing up I
1712. commit to raise a minimum of $4,200 but I aim higher. Last year with
1713. your help, I was able to ferry in $9,385. Please check out <a href="http://www.pmc.org/">their web page</a>
1714. ...you'll see it's an amazing event that attracts participation from
1715. all across the country and the world. All told, we raised $35,000,000
1716. for cancer research in 2008. Not bad!<br>
1717.      <br>
1718. This year’s PMC fund raising goal is anybody’s guess given the impact
1719. of the economic crisis. Billy Starr, the executive director, said
1720. recently, “It’s a whole new world.” That said, we all know that cancer
1721. strikes without consulting the latest econometric data. It affects all
1722. of us, all too often. <br>
1723.      <br>
1724. Many PMC people ride in honor of a friend or family member directly
1725. affected by cancer. This year I will honor Dion Gillard, Kelvin’s
1726. friend who lost his battle with melanoma last September.  I can't
1727. think of a better way to do this than to continue to work hard at the
1728. fund raising, and then go out and break a sweat by riding with ~5,000
1729. others from Sturbridge to Provincetown here in Massachusetts. It’s an
1730. amazing community action, and one that has made and will continue to
1731. make a major impact on developing new therapies and treatments to curb
1732. and ultimately, defeat cancer. <br>
1733.      <br>
1734. For a detailed description of how PMC contributions have made a difference in the fight <a href="http://www.pmc.org/articles.asp?ArticleID=1462">visit this page</a>.<br>
1735.      <br>
1736. This year the ride is on August  1st and 2nd. Please join me in
1737. this effort by sponsoring my ride. Contributions may be made as late as
1738. September 30, 2009.<br>
1739.      <br>
1740. To do this, just visit my <a href="https://www.pmc.org/egifts/default.asp?Add=DH0129">eGIFT site</a>.<br>
1741.      <br>
1742. Click on 'Sponsor one rider with one donation', then open up 'Select a
1743. person by eGift  ID'. You'll see my name and the field to enter
1744. the amount you wish to contribute. It's very quick and simple. The PMC
1745. staff manage a lean operation. As they say: "Not one cent of each
1746. dollar raised through riders' sweat and determination is used for
1747. administrative and organizational expenses." Using the web is a major
1748. component of this success. <br>
1749.      <br>
1750. If you work for IBM or a company that has a matching gift program, this
1751. is an excellent way to double your gift. Last year, more than $2,500
1752. was directly matched by IBM. Here's the link for <a href="http://w3-01.ibm.com/hr/us/hrforms/data/mgapp.pdf">IBM's Matching Grant form</a><br>
1753.      <br>
1754. Just fill in your employee serial number and the amount of your donation. Then snail mail it to me at:<br>
1755.      <br>
1756.      <div style="margin-left: 80px;">Don Harbison<br>
1757. 3 Thoreau Dr.<br>
1758. Chelmsford, MA 01824<br>
1759.      </div>
1760.      <br>
1761. I will take care of mailing it in to the PMC/Dana-Farber team. <br>
1762.      <br>
1763. I'm looking forward to the ride, and re-connecting with the amazing
1764. community that comes together once a year. When it's over, I'll post an
1765. update on how it went. <br>
1766.      <br>
1767. Thank you for your support!<br>
1768.      <br>
1769. Don Harbison<br>
1770. dpharbison@mac.com<br>
1771.      <br>
1772.      </td>
1773.    </tr>
1774.  </tbody>
1775. </table>
1776. <p><br>
1777. </p>
1778. ]]>
1779. </description>
1780. <pubDate>Mon, 27 Jul 2009 22:11:27 CDT</pubDate>
1781. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/0000117</guid>
1782. </item>
1783.  
1784.  
1785. <item>
1786. <title>The Pan-Mass Challenge - Bike riding for cancer research</title>
1787. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
1788. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2009-Jul-24-a</link>
1789. <description>
1790. <![CDATA[
1791. <p>You may recall that last year
1792. I was <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Jul-24-a">proud to
1793.   support</a> my friend and colleague Don Harbison in his efforts to raise money
1794. for cancer research at the <a href="http://www.dfci.harvard.edu/">Dana-Farber Cancer Institute</a> by riding in the <a href="http://www.pmc.org/">Pan-Mass Challenge</a>.
1795. Don is riding again this year and needs our help to reach his goals.
1796. Despite the tougher economic times, cancer has not taken a break, and I
1797. feel strongly that we need to continue to support research into
1798. defeating this evil disease. As well as my own fight, I have lost my
1799. mother, an aunt and several close friends to cancer. This is a cause
1800. near and dear to my heart. Don asked me if I would again advertise his
1801. efforts this year by way of a posting here and of course I agreed. I
1802. hope some of you can join me in supporting Don. Every little helps.<br>
1803. </p>
1804. <p>You can sponsor Don by <a href="http://www.pmc.org/egifts/DH0129">visiting this link</a>.<br>
1805. </p>            
1806. ]]>
1807. </description>
1808. <pubDate>Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:23:08 CDT</pubDate>
1809. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/0000116</guid>
1810. </item>
1811.  
1812.  
1813. <item>
1814. <title>The Hot Summer Continues</title>
1815. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
1816. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2009-Jul-23-a</link>
1817. <description>
1818. <![CDATA[
1819. <p>It is always hot in Texas during the Summer time but this year is
1820. off to an even more brutal start than usual. In June, we had something
1821. in the order of 20 days where the temperature met or exceeded 100
1822. degrees Fahrenheit. July has been following a similar pattern. I for
1823. one, do not mind the heat at all but what we do need is some rain. We
1824. have not had a good, prolonged, rain shower for weeks.  Yesterday
1825. some promising looking storm clouds formed around 5pm but produced very
1826. little in the way of useful rainfall where we live.<br>
1827. </p>
1828. <p>A couple of weeks ago we spent a week at the <a href="http://www.greatwolf.com/grapevine/waterpark">Great Wolf Lodge</a>
1829. in Grapevine (right by the DFW airport) and had a great time. We went
1830. there last year and enjoyed it so much that we decided to go back
1831. again. This year I finally found the courage to ride the Tornado! It
1832. was a lot of fun and a much needed break for me from work, which, of
1833. late, has been extremely busy. On one of the water slides, I hit my arm
1834. very hard on the plastic side of the tube. It hurt so much that I went
1835. and had it X-rayed when we got back but there was no sign of any
1836. fracture. It still hurts a lot though!  We were also able to visit
1837. with our great friends Rhonda and Terry and their kids Elizabeth and
1838. Chip while in Grapevine.  They also visited us here in Round Rock
1839. last week for a day and we had a great time.You cannot put a price on such friends. </p>
1840. <p>Thanks to the Internet and the BBC Radio broadcasts, I have been
1841. keeping up with the Ashes cricket series between England and Australia.
1842. So far it has been every bit as exciting as the series in 2005. I had
1843. planned to visit the UK with my good friend Dion Gillard (from
1844. Australia) this Summer to watch the cricket live. Sadly, as many of you
1845. will know from my prior posts, cancer took Dion from us way before his
1846. time a few months ago. I know we would have been having a great time
1847. and I think about him often.<br>
1848. </p>
1849. <p>Talking of absent friends, this time last year we lost one of our
1850. Golden retrievers, Toby. His sister Brandy was 13 on July 8th. She is
1851. not doing so well and I fear will not be with us too much longer
1852. either.  While we know that 13 years old is well beyond average
1853. for a Golden, it will still not be easy to see her go.<br>
1854. </p>
1855. <p>We have tried to find the kids lots of things to do that get them
1856. out of the house during the long Summer break. Robyn did a ceramics
1857. camp this week and I am taking Jack to a sleep-in at the Johnson Space
1858. Center (Mission Control)  in Houston in a couple of weeks. I keep
1859. trying to get them to play outside but given the heat, all they seem to
1860. want to do when they are home is sit in front of the TV or the
1861. computer. School goes back on August 25th this year so we need to keep
1862. them busy for a few weeks yet!<br>
1863. </p>
1864. <p>On the medical front, my tests continue to look good but the
1865. neuropathy is proving extremely stubborn and I am still dealing with a
1866. lot of fatigue attacks. I have been doing some reading of medical
1867. papers on the Web lately, and it appears that many of my symptoms seem
1868. quite common among chemotherapy patients. I read with interest that
1869. some doctors are now describing the after effects that chemo has on
1870. people like me as "chemo brain". What is interesting is that I had
1871. myself been using that phrase to somewhat jokingly describe what I have
1872. experienced to people. Now it seems that maybe "chemo brain" will
1873. become a more formal name for the results of chemotherapy medications
1874. on the brain and neurological system of the patient.<br>
1875. </p>
1876. <p>That's it for now. As we head in to August in a few days I wish my
1877. many friends and family in Europe all the best as they start their
1878. prime Summer vacation season. <br>
1879. </p>
1880. ]]>
1881. </description>
1882. <pubDate>Thu, 23 Jul 2009 11:40:10 CDT</pubDate>
1883. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/0000115</guid>
1884. </item>
1885.  
1886. <item>
1887. <title>Patents</title>
1888. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">patents</category>
1889. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2009-Jun-15-a</link>
1890. <description>
1891. <![CDATA[
1892. <p>I discovered by accident today (I promise I was not doing a "vanity search") that Google now offers a <a href="http://www.google.com/patents">way to search issued US patents</a>.
1893. Having found the site, I will admit that I keyed in my first and last
1894. names and it gave me back a ton of hits. I then remembered that patents
1895. carry my full name so I added my middle name to the search and was
1896. impressed to see that it found almost all of my issued US patents (I
1897. think I have about 77 now). I also discovered that some of my issued
1898. patents have my name spelled wrong (Kevin instead of Kelvin) so a few
1899. don't show up in the search on my actual name!<br>
1900. </p>
1901. <p>If you are curious, you can find my patents, courtessy of Google, <a href="http://www.google.com/patents?q=kelvin+roderick+lawrence&amp;btnG=Search+Patents">here</a> and <a href="http://www.google.com/patents?q=kevin+roderick+lawrence&amp;spell=1&amp;oi=spell">here</a>.
1902. In case you are wondering (having looked at my search results), no, I
1903. did not invent the system for organ placement during surgery!).<br>
1904. </p>
1905. <p>Anyway, if you have patents yourself or are just curious to see what you can discover I recommend doing a few searches.<br>
1906. </p>
1907.  
1908. ]]>
1909. </description>
1910. <pubDate>Mon, 15 Jun 2009 13:26:39 CDT</pubDate>
1911. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/0000114</guid>
1912. </item>
1913.  
1914.  
1915. <item>
1916. <title>Graduation, Summer and more Tests!</title>
1917. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
1918. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2009-Jun-08-a</link>
1919. <description>
1920. <![CDATA[
1921. <p>I have been so busy at work and at home that a month has flown by,
1922. it seems, in the blink of an eye, since my last post. School here in
1923. Texas is now out for the Summer. Robyn (who turned 11 in May) is no
1924. longer in Elementary School. When school goes back in late August she
1925. will be in Middle School. The Elementary school held a graduation
1926. ceremony for all the fifth graders which, while cute, to my mind is a
1927. bit over the top.  Jack meanwhile will be in second grade when
1928. school goes back.Where does the time go? <br>
1929. </p>
1930. <p>So now that school is out, I am wondering once again if I am going
1931. to be able to work from home as much as I usually do now that my work
1932. environment has become very LOUD!!  I have turned on parental
1933. control on the playroom computer which forces them to unplug for at
1934. least part of the day. We are instigating a rule for the Summer that a
1935. certain amount of time must be spent outdoors. We also have the kids
1936. signed up for a few camps that will hopefully keep them distracted (and
1937. out of the house) for at least part of the time.<br>
1938. </p>
1939. <p>On the medical front, last week I had my latest scheduled round of
1940. blood tests. As far as they can tell, everything continues to look
1941. normal. <br>
1942. </p>
1943. <p>It's already in the mid to high nineties Fahrenheit here, it's going to be a long, hot Summer!<br>
1944. </p>
1945. <p>Best wishes to all<br>
1946. </p>
1947. ]]>
1948. </description>
1949. <pubDate>Mon, 8 Jun 2009 15:55:32 CDT</pubDate>
1950. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/0000113</guid>
1951. </item>
1952.  
1953.  
1954. <item>
1955. <title>My "End of Chemo"Anniversary</title>
1956. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
1957. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2009-May-08-a</link>
1958. <description>
1959. <![CDATA[
1960. <p>I realised yesterday that this week is exactly one year on from my
1961. last chemotherapy treatment (May 7th 2008). While I am still feeling
1962. some of the side effects of chemo (neuropathy and fatigue mainly) I am
1963. still alive to play with my wife and kids and enjoy spending time with
1964. my friends, family and colleagues. For that I am very grateful.<br>
1965. </p>
1966.  
1967. ]]>
1968. </description>
1969. <pubDate>Fri, 8 May 2009 09:54:11 CDT</pubDate>
1970. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/0000112</guid>
1971. </item>
1972.  
1973.  
1974. <item>
1975. <title>Test results</title>
1976. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
1977. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2009-Apr-30-a</link>
1978. <description>
1979. <![CDATA[
1980. <p>When I first began posting here about my cancer diagnosis back in
1981. October of 2007 I adopted a policy of being very open about my
1982. "adventure" in the hope that I might be able to provide some comfort
1983. and information to others embarking on a similar journey. By far the
1984. highest proportion of visitors to my web site get here as a direct
1985. result of colon cancer or chemotherapy related searches. I have made a
1986. lot of new friends along the way, most of whom I have never met in
1987. person, and I continue to wish them all the best for successful
1988. outcomes in their respective battles with this evil disease. I am very
1989. humbled by the number of people that have written to me or posted a
1990. message into the <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/guestbook.html">Guest Book</a> telling me
1991. about their battle with cancer and thanking me for sharing my
1992. information which helped them better understand that they were not
1993. alone in terms of symptoms, side effects of treatment etc.<br>
1994. </p>
1995. <p>Thankfully my tests continue to show that I am (as far as can be
1996. determined using current technology) cancer free. However, my journey is
1997. far from over and I am continuing to run into additional issues that
1998. were most likely caused by the FOLFOX chemotherapy that I underwent
1999. between December 2007 and May 2008. Chemo has become a lot more
2000. effective over the years but for all the good it does it definitely
2001. comes at a price, but as my wife constantly reminds me, I am still
2002. alive to gripe about it!  Most recently, as I mentioned in my
2003. prior posting, I have been suffering some fairly bad fatigue. A week
2004. ago I went to see the oncologist and they ran a set of tests on me. All
2005. of my basic blood work (white count, platelets, haemoglobin) came back
2006. fine and there was no sign of any issues with my Thyroid. The only test
2007. that seemed at all off was my Testosterone level which was at the low
2008. end of normal ("is that chemo or my age?" I ask myself!!). Anyway, the
2009. oncologist has decided to put me on a regimen of monthly testosterone
2010. shots for a while to see if that helps. I had my first shot last week
2011. and it may be my imagination but I already seem to have a bit more
2012. energy!<br>
2013. </p>
2014. <p>Anyway that's it for now. Thanks as always for all the messages of
2015. concern. It's great to know I have such a great set of people cheering
2016. me on.<br>
2017. </p>
2018.  
2019. ]]>
2020. </description>
2021. <pubDate>Thu, 30 Apr 2009 09:57:25 CDT</pubDate>
2022. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/0000111</guid>
2023. </item>
2024.  
2025.  
2026. <item>
2027. <title>Fatigue</title>
2028. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
2029. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2009-Apr-18-a</link>
2030. <description>
2031. <![CDATA[
2032. <p>Just recently I have been suffering fairly chronic fatigue. I start
2033. the day with plenty of energy but by about 4pm I'm ready for a nap.
2034. This is not like me at all. My legs have also been somewhat restless
2035. again, which if you remember how my journey began back in October 2007
2036. is a bit scary. My next scheduled round of tests is not until June but
2037. (hopefully using an excess of caution) I have scheduled an appointment
2038. with the oncologist for Monday morning to get checked out.  The
2039. fatigue seems to have been getting slowly worse each day for about the
2040. last two weeks and I want to make sure nothing unusual is going on.
2041. Suffice to say I'm a bit nervous.I'll keep you all posted as soon as I have some results. </p>
2042. ]]>
2043. </description>
2044. <pubDate>Sat, 18 Apr 2009 22:22:15 CDT</pubDate>
2045. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/0000110</guid>
2046. </item>
2047.  
2048.  
2049. <item>
2050. <title>World Autism Awareness Day</title>
2051. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
2052. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2009-Apr-02-a</link>
2053. <description>
2054. <![CDATA[
2055. <p>Today is <a href="http://www.worldautismawarenessday.org/site/c.egLMI2ODKpF/b.3917077/k.186A/About_World_Autism_Awareness_Day.htm">World Autism Awareness day</a>.
2056. This is a subject near and dear to my heart as my son Jack is on the
2057. Autism "spectrum" and has been diagnosed with Aspergers and ADHD among
2058. other things. We have other family members that are also dealing with
2059. autism on a daily basis. Whether you are a parent of an autistic child
2060. or a person dealing with the austism spectrum disorder (ASD) on a
2061. personal level, today is a day on which we can show our support for
2062. each other.<br>
2063. </p>
2064. ]]>
2065. </description>
2066. <pubDate>Thu, 2 Apr 2009 14:24:33 CDT</pubDate>
2067. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/0000109</guid>
2068. </item>
2069.  
2070. <item>
2071. <title>Entries from 2008 are now in the Archive</title>
2072. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
2073. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2009-Mar-31-a</link>
2074. <description>
2075. <![CDATA[
2076. <p>I did a little Spring cleaning of the <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net">web page</a> today.&nbsp;
2077. All entries from 2008 have now been moved into
2078. the <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html">Archive</a>.
2079. Please <a href="mailto:gfxman@yahoo.com">let me know</a> if you run into
2080. any broken links or other problems.<br>
2081. ]]>
2082. </description>
2083. <pubDate>Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:20:41 CDT</pubDate>
2084. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/0000108</guid>
2085. </item>
2086.  
2087. <item>
2088. <title>Spring is here in Texas</title>
2089. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
2090. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">texas</category>
2091. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2009-Mar-18-a</link>
2092. <description>
2093. <![CDATA[
2094. <p>Although Spring does not officially start for a few more days (March
2095. 20th), as I type this it is close to 80F outside and the Red Buds are
2096. in full bloom. This week is Spring Break for the kids. Robyn is at a
2097. Girl Scouts camp all week and Jack is enjoying a series of extended
2098. play dates with some of his friends. I have a lot of work to get done
2099. (which is bad planning on my part) so I am hiding in my home office a
2100. lot, with the door shut!  Last week we finally got some much
2101. needed rain as a cold front arrived and stayed for a few days. I think
2102. we are still below where we need to be and if we don't get some good
2103. storms during the Spring we could be in for a very hot Summer. As is
2104. typical around these parts at this time of the year, the week before
2105. the cold front hit, the temperature was in the 90s F. Several of my
2106. colleagues were in town that week to attend the <a href="http://www.share.org">SHARE</a>
2107. conference which was held in Austin for the first time. I'm glad they
2108. got to enjoy some nice weather while they were here and in these times
2109. of reduced travel, it was great to see them.<br>
2110. </p>
2111. <p>This past Sunday, we went to see the Broadway touring production of
2112. "Spamalot" here in Austin. It was excellent. Richard Chamberlain was
2113. great as King Arthur and it's hard to believe that he is now 75 years
2114. of age. This coming Saturday we have tickets to see Elton John and
2115. Billy Joel live in concert. I have seen them together before and am
2116. hoping for another great show. We don't get out that often so having
2117. two great events on back to back weekends is a real treat!<br>
2118. </p>
2119. <p>One of the reasons I have been posting here a bit less is that I have been trying to give more real time status updates on both <a href="http://www.facebook.com/people/Kelvin_Lawrence/560392836">Facebook</a> and <a href="http://www.twitter.com/gfxman">Twitter</a>.
2120. I have to say though that the recent changes made to the Facebook web
2121. page (I think it's a real mess now) probably mean I will be spending
2122. less time there in the future<br>
2123. </p>
2124. <p>On the medical front I am continuing to get my strength back but
2125. lately have been feeling a bit more tired than usual and I think I have
2126. overdone it a bit both in terms of trying to get back into shape and
2127. also in terms of housework and other errands. Lorna and I debated
2128. buying a treadmill but after researching how much a decent one costs we
2129. ended up joining a local gym which offers a pay by the month plan. I
2130. have been trying to get to the gym one or two times a week. I feel like
2131. I am in hand to hand combat right now with the drugs that help with my
2132. neuropathy. I love that they cure the pain but I hate that they help me
2133. gain weight!</p>
2134. <p><br>
2135. That's it for now then - I hope you are well as you read this.<br>
2136. </p>
2137. ]]>
2138. </description>
2139. <pubDate>Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:59:31 CDT</pubDate>
2140. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/0000107</guid>
2141. </item>
2142.  
2143. <item>
2144. <title>Another year older - and that's a good thing!</title>
2145. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
2146. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2009-Feb-13-a</link>
2147. <description>
2148. <![CDATA[
2149. <p>A few days ago (February 1st), I celebrated my 44th birthday. I was
2150. overwhelmed with all of the nice messages that I received. Thank you
2151. all very much! When the journey that I have been on began back in
2152. October 2007, I had serious doubts I would still be here at this time
2153. and I am so grateful and blessed that I am.</p>
2154. <p>A few days after my birthday it was time for my next round of blood
2155. work and physical exams. The worst part about the blood tests are that
2156. they can give you you basic numbers (white count, platelets,
2157. haemoglobin) almost right away but it takes a day to get the <a href="http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=8722">"CEA marker"</a>
2158. test back (and those are the ones that can indicate a recurrence of
2159. colon cancer). I am happy to report that all of the tests (both blood
2160. work and physical exam) came back clean and as far as the doctors can
2161. tell, I remain cancer free. I have no more tests scheduled until June
2162. (so I get four months to try and relax a bit). The neuropathy continues
2163. to be an issue. As an experiment, n discussions with my oncologist, we
2164. agreed to try reducing the amount of Lyrica I am taking to see if the
2165. pain remains under control while hopefully stemming the weight gain
2166. that I have been experiencing since I started on this drug. For the
2167. benefit of fellow patients that I know are reading this blog, the
2168. Lyrica has done a really good job with the pain but it seems to be the
2169. main cause of my weight gain. I'm also trying to focus on exercise and
2170. fitness to see if I can win back a few pounds. I'll keep you all posted
2171. on my progress!<br>
2172. </p>
2173. <p>I hope everyone is off to good start in 2009 and I particularly want
2174. to send out best wishes to all of the other cancer patients out there
2175. that I have met because of this blog.<br>
2176. </p>
2177.  
2178. ]]>
2179. </description>
2180. <pubDate>Fri, 13 Feb 2009 10:55:12 CST</pubDate>
2181. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/0000106</guid>
2182. </item>
2183.  
2184.  
2185. <item>
2186. <title>My use of &quot;social networking&quot; tools</title>
2187. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">socialnetworking</category>
2188. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">web</category>
2189. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2009-Jan-29-a</link>
2190. <description>
2191. <![CDATA[
2192. <p>While I still like having a journal of significant events here
2193. (especially the medical ones), and I fully plan to continue making
2194. regular updates, I have been finding that lately I spend a lot of time
2195. posting updates and communicating with people using so called "social
2196. networking" tools and web sites. Specifically I find my self using four
2197. web based tools a lot. For me each one fulfills a different and yet
2198. interesting, role. One thing I like is the real time nature of these
2199. tools. When I write a blog posting (such as this one) I try to put a
2200. lot of thought into it and I have to carve out a fairly substantial
2201. chunk of time to do it. By contrast, it takes no time at all to update
2202. my Facebook status or to post a quick "tweet" on Twitter in answer to
2203. the basic question of "What are you doing now?". So whereas I may
2204. update this blog on avaerage about once a week. I will update Facebook
2205. and Twitter multiple times a day typically. Below is a table of the
2206. four sites I use the most. If you click on the links you will get to my
2207. specific page on each site. Alsongside each entry in the table is a
2208. brief summary of what I use each one for. If we are not already
2209. connected on any or all of these tools please feel free to reach out
2210. and make a connection! <br>
2211. </p>
2212. <table style="text-align: left; width: 80%; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2">
2213.  <tbody>
2214.    <tr>
2215.      <td style="vertical-align: top;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/people/Kelvin_Lawrence/560392836">Facebook</a></td>
2216.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">I view Facebook as the primary
2217. place that I interact on-line with my family and friends. Facebook is
2218. also the tool I have been most actively using for the longest time.
2219. While I also do find work colleagues there, the discussions, at least
2220. the ones I am most involved in, tend to be more about non-work
2221. activities. Unlike some, but like many others, I also enjoy many of the
2222. games that are available on Facebook. I tend to play mostly word games
2223. and puzzle games and for the most part avoid collecting fish! I tend
2224. to  know most of the people I am connected to on Facebook. I am
2225. less likely to accept a friendship offer from someone I don't know
2226. unless the person is recommended by a person I trust. I mostly interact
2227. with Face book using their web page but I also use their Blackberry
2228. client. The facebook tools for finding people you know seem pretty
2229. good. <br>
2230.      </td>
2231.    </tr>
2232.    <tr>
2233.      <td style="vertical-align: top;"><a href="http://www.twitter.com/gfxman">Twitter</a></td>
2234.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">I am fairly new to Twitter. I
2235. have been using it since last October. I view Twitter as a mix between
2236. so called "micro blogging" and instant messaging with persistence.
2237. Unlike Facebook, I do take part in many technical discussions with
2238. people on Twitter. You can chose to have your messages be open to all
2239. or just to your followers/fiends. Each message you post is limited to
2240. 140 characters. I have many people that I "talk" to via Twitter and
2241. many of them I have never met before or even knew of before we found
2242. each other on Twitter. These type of connections work best when people
2243. have a common interest. You will find all types of people on Twitter
2244. including many celebrities. Many of the people follow tend to discuss
2245. technical things related to computers but I also follow people
2246. discussing topics like autism, local events in Austin and of course
2247. people that I just find interesting. Twitter has a lot of applications
2248. that you can run on your computer or handheld to read and post "tweets"
2249. but I tend mainly to use the twitter.com web interface. I do however
2250. run a couple of Twitter clients on my Blackberry. The one I use the
2251. most at the moment is TwitterBerry. I find it quite difficult to easily
2252. find people I want to connect to. I usally have to rely on spotting a
2253. conversation between people I know or stumbling upon an ongoing
2254. conversation that looks interesting. The tools provided fot finding
2255. friends need some work in my opinion.<br>
2256.      </td>
2257.    </tr>
2258.    <tr>
2259.      <td style="vertical-align: top;"><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/krlawrence">LinkedIn</a></td>
2260.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">I view LinkedIn as my primary
2261. on-line resume/CV and business contacts database. Sadly in recent weeks
2262. I have been getting a lot of requests via LinkedIn to recommend people
2263. who are tidying up their resumes. My best wishes to all of them. I
2264. almost always interact with LinkedIn using the web page interface. As a
2265. general rule I will only accept a connection request from someone I
2266. have either met in person or on the phone. Likewise, I am very careful
2267. with my recommendations. I try to view LinkedIn as a very professional
2268. environment and treat it and the people I find there in that way. The
2269. LinkedIn tools for finding people you know seem pretty good and I have
2270. even managed to find old university class mates from the 1980's using
2271. the tools provided on the web site.<br>
2272.      </td>
2273.    </tr>
2274.    <tr>
2275.      <td style="vertical-align: top;"><a href="http://kelvinlawrence.myplaxo.com/">Plaxo</a></td>
2276.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">Of the four,Plaxo is the one I
2277. use the least. I am not 100% sure what Plaxo wants to be and I am still
2278. trying to decide if it should be on my list here. It is sort of a
2279. mixture between Facebook (without the apps) and LinkedIn. One thing
2280. that Plaxo is very good at is aggregating information from multiple
2281. sources (blogs, del.icio.us,Flickr, etc) into a single place. That is
2282. the primary reason I use it. I have very few connections on Plaxo that
2283. I am not also connected to elsewhere (typically on LinkedIn or
2284. Facebook). I only use the web interface and don't know if other options
2285. exist.<br>
2286.      </td>
2287.    </tr>
2288.  </tbody>
2289. </table>
2290. <p><br>
2291. </p>
2292. <p>There are a lot of other sites that offer similar facilities, but
2293. these are the four that I currently use and  they, I think, cover
2294. my personal life connectivity needs! I do also use sites like <a href="http://www.delicious.com/gfxman">del.icio.us</a>
2295. and Digg to store my bookmarks on-line but I am not including those
2296. sites in this list. I also use photo sharing sites like Flickr and
2297. Picasa but for now I am not listing those here either. I am finding
2298. that I use e-mail and dedicated instant messaging tools less these
2299. days, especially since Facebook added an instant messaging facility. Of
2300. course I also use a lot of additional tools for my day job including
2301. the more traditional tools like e-mail, instant messaging, news groups
2302. and discussion lists, as well as some of the more interesting web
2303. conferencing and collaboration tools but the the web sites listed above
2304. I view as more the ones I use in my personal life. I could also get
2305. into my use of virtual worlds like Second Life but that deserves a
2306. whole posting of its own at some future date.<br>
2307. </p>
2308. <p>An interesting footnote to this posting is that I feel so well in
2309. touch these says with my friends and family around the World that I
2310. think Christmas cards, at least for us, are probably a thing of the
2311. past (sort of sad but also the reality of the times we live in).<br>
2312. </p>
2313. By the way, if you are reading this at my web site rather than via an
2314. RSS reader, then you will see links to many of the sites that I use in
2315. the side bar on the left hand side of the home page. You may have to
2316. scroll the side bar down a bit to see them all.<br>
2317. <br>
2318. That's it for now then. Apologies to folks who don't come here to read
2319. technical stuff. I'll be back to talking medical and family stuff again
2320. soon as my next cancer screening is just a few days away but this is a
2321. posting I have wanted to make for some time.<br>
2322. </p>    
2323. ]]>
2324. </description>
2325. <pubDate>Thu, 29 Jan 2009 21:09:53 CST</pubDate>
2326. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/0000105</guid>
2327. </item>
2328.  
2329.  
2330.  
2331. <item>
2332. <title>Brief medical update</title>
2333. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
2334. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2009-Jan-18-a</link>
2335. <description>
2336. <![CDATA[
2337. <p>I haven't posted a medical update for a while and several of you
2338. have been kind enough to inquire as to my status. So, here is a very
2339. quick update. I have no more tests planned until early next month. As
2340. far as I know the next round of tests will just be blood work. The
2341. biggest problem right now is the neuropathy left behind by the FOLFOX
2342. chemotherapy (that ended last May). Specifically this is caused by the
2343. Oxaliplatin drug. I am told that it can take a year or more (from the
2344. day chemo ends) for this to go away. I am currently taking Lyrica which
2345. does a really good job of reducing the pain but seems to have the
2346. unfortunate side effect of causing substantial weight gain. Lately I
2347. have been exercising regularly (riding the bike, walking, in-line
2348. skating, lifting weights) but no matter what I do I am finding it
2349. impossible the weight I have gained since I started taking Lyrica.
2350. Usually I find it very easy to lose weight so this is, to say the
2351. least, a bit frustrating!  A week ago, I decided I would try an
2352. experiment and stop taking the Lyrica. Three days after I stopped the
2353. pain in my hands and feet became unbearable and I started taking it
2354. again. The pain almost immediately subsided. So I feel as if I am stuck
2355. in a situation where I can be in pain but losing weight or pain free
2356. and heavy!  I plan to talk to my oncologist again next month about
2357. this. That said, my wife keeps reminding me that my body has been
2358. through a lot in the last year or so and that I need to be patient. I
2359. know she is right but it really bugs me that most of my clothes are
2360. tight!<br>
2361. </p>
2362. <p>I continue to be humbled by the fact that I am still being contacted
2363. by fellow cancer patients (usually colon cancer patients like myself)
2364. who have found  my web site while searching the internet for
2365. reassurance as they start their treatment. That was one of the main
2366. reasons I started keeping the journal here of my treatment and I am
2367. really pleased that it has been useful to others. If you are a cancer
2368. patient reading this, e-mail me and I will always reply and I will help
2369. in any way I can by sharing my experiences. You can reach me by sending
2370. e-mail to gfxman@yahoo.com.<br>
2371. </p>
2372. ]]>
2373. </description>
2374. <pubDate>Sun, 18 Jan 2009 22:33:48 CST</pubDate>
2375. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/0000104</guid>
2376. </item>
2377.  
2378. <item>
2379. <title>Happy New Year and now it's back to work!</title>
2380. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
2381. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#2009-Jan-05-a</link>
2382. <description>
2383. <![CDATA[
2384. <p>First of all I would like to wish all of my friends and family around the World a belated "Happy New Year".<br>
2385. </p>
2386. <p>I'm back to work today for the first time in several weeks and the
2387. kids are back at school. The house feels extremely quiet.  I took
2388. an extended break to burn off all of my unused vacation time and I feel
2389. a lot more rested as a result. I have spent a lot of time over the past
2390. few weeks playing with the kids both indoors and outdoors and finally
2391. catching up on many house projects and also on my reading. Our video
2392. games and our bicycles all got an extended workout too andI even got both my daughter's bedroom the garage tidied up! <br>
2393. </p>
2394. <p>We celebrated Jack's seventh birthday on December 17th. I cannot
2395. believe that he is seven already. I need to upload the photos from my
2396. camera and post a few here.<br>
2397. </p>
2398. <p>Looking back, 2008 as far as I am concerned, was truly a year unlike
2399. any other. I was in chemotherapy for the first 24 weeks of the year and
2400. then recovering from the side effects for a long time after that. In
2401. fact, I am still dealing with some of them and probably will be for
2402. some time to come. I'm not complaining however. I'm still here for my
2403. family and that's all that matters.  There was also the seemingly
2404. endless schedule of blood tests, CT scans, surgeries and other fun stuff.
2405. Thankfully I have no more tests or other medical procedures scheduled
2406. until next month. I can finally feel my energy returning and I have
2407. started trying to exercise regularly. Over the holidays I spent a lot
2408. of time riding my bike and working out with weights. I also want to get
2409. my Rollerblades out of retirement once it stops raining! <br>
2410. </p>
2411. <p>One of the&nbsp; post chemo side effects I need to address somehow
2412. is the weight that I gained due largely  to the medications I
2413. still have to take daily.  Right now I weigh about 50 pounds more
2414. than I did a few weeks after surgery in October 2007 (which of course
2415. caused me to lose weight) and about 30 of those pounds seemed to appear
2416. very soon after I started taking a specific drug back in August. So, to
2417. a large degree I had little control over the weight I have gained but I
2418. have decided to draw a line in the sand and try to fight back! 
2419. Check back here periodically for news (hopefully) of my progress!<br>
2420. </p>
2421. <p>Meanwhile the weather here has been crazy. It was 83 degrees
2422. Fahrenheit two days ago and I was out in shorts. Today it's raining and
2423. barely above freezing. It's supposed to be back in the seventies by
2424. midweek - such is a Central Texas Winter !<br>
2425. </p>
2426. <p>Anyway, this has been a nice diversion but I need to get back to
2427. work so here's wishing everyone all the very best for a safe and happy
2428. 2009.<br>
2429. </p>
2430. ]]>
2431. </description>
2432. <pubDate>Mon, 5 Jan 2009 12:17:35 CST</pubDate>
2433. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/0000103</guid>
2434. </item>
2435.  
2436. <item>
2437. <title>School's out for ... Winter!</title>
2438. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
2439. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Dec-19-a</link>
2440. <description>
2441. <![CDATA[
2442. <p>I apologise for not having posted here since December 4th as I have
2443. continued to be extremely busy finishing up work for the year and then
2444. getting stuck into the many tasks that have been sitting patiently on
2445. my non work to-do list. So this entry is a quick update on life in the
2446. Lawrence household as another year draws to a close. <br>
2447. </p>
2448. <p>Because I spent almost half the year on chemotherapy, and also as I
2449. am still dealing with side effects from both my surgery and the chemo,
2450. we didn't take much family vacation time this year. Consequently, 
2451. given that, as with most companies, my vacation is on a "use it or lose
2452. it" basis, I started December with about 19 days of vacation left to
2453. take. As a result, I have been off work for over a week now and will
2454. not be back officially until January 5th next year. I say "officially"
2455. as I am still checking my e-mail and attending the occasional meeting
2456. by phone as I just cannot stand to be out of touch for a whole month at
2457. a time when things at work are so busy.<br>
2458. </p>
2459. <p>As you may have guessed from the title of this entry, today is the
2460. last day of school for the year. The kids should be home soon. I have
2461. been enjoying the quiet at home the last week or so as I worked on my
2462. various chores and projects - oh well, it was good while it lasted!<br>
2463. </p>
2464. <p>As far as the household projects go, among the more notable are my
2465. daughter's bedroom, which I have remodeled and emptied out
2466. substantially  (something she has been begging me to help her do
2467. for ages) and I am part way through converting one of the other rooms
2468. in the house into a workout area (something I very much need). The meds
2469. I am on to combat the neuropathy left behind by chemotherapy have added
2470. about 30 pounds to my post-surgery weight. I don't seem to have a lot
2471. of control over this but I am trying hard to lose a few of those pounds
2472. somehow. I usually find it very easy to lose weight but not this time.
2473. I am going to have to work out extra hard. The pedometer that Lorna got
2474. me shows I am averaging over 3 miles walked a day and many days lately
2475. I have walked five miles or more but it doesn't seem to be enough.
2476. Hence I need to get into some sort of regular workout regimen as I fear
2477. I'll be on these meds for a while yet. I tried coming off them for one
2478. day a week or so ago and the pain was unbearable by mid-afternoon.
2479. Generally on the medical front I am doing quite well - neuropathy
2480. aside. I have no more tests scheduled until February.<br>
2481. </p>
2482. <p>This week I am trying to get more into Christmas activities. I
2483. cannot believe that Christmas Day is only a week away. I feel very
2484. unprepared this year - although we do have the gifts for the kids both
2485. purchassed and wrapped. Our tree is up, the lights are on, but we still
2486. need to decorate it. Part of the reason for the tree delay is that the
2487. new tree we bought last year (a large 10ft self lit one) seems to have
2488. shorted out and after wasting an hour trying to fix it Lorna and I
2489. decided to cut our losses and go buy a replacement. We have not even
2490. tried to send Christmas cards this year. Apologies to all of my friends
2491. and family that we usually send one too. We've just been too busy with
2492. medical appointments and other unexpected health issues with other
2493. family members to manage to send Christmas cards. We'll be trying to
2494. contact everyone either by phone or e-mail over the holiday period. I
2495. bought a Christmas train set to go under the tree (I saw it on sale and
2496. could not resist it - I'm still a kid at heart) and I shall be putting
2497. that together later today.<br>
2498. </p>
2499. <p>In amongst all of the house projects I have been trying to have a
2500. little fun as well. I have spent quite a few hours playing <a
2501. href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/videogames.html">video games</a> (both alone and with the rest
2502. of the family).  Our most played game right now are Wii Fit and
2503. Guitar Hero III - Legends of Rock (I have finally almost mastered the
2504. most basic level!). I have also been trying to get caught up on my <a
2505. href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/books.html">reading</a>. I have a lot of books sitting <a
2506. href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/books.html#queue">in the queue</a> waiting to be read. I'm
2507. currently reading <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Hawke</span>
2508. by Tedd Bell (I really like his books so far) and next on deck in the
2509. 1000 plus page <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Cryptonomicon</span>
2510. by Neal Stephenson (I have not read any of his books yet but I am told
2511. that is a good one).<br>
2512. </p>
2513. <p>As I type this I am in shorts and it is 71F outside (apologies to my
2514. friends in the North Eastern US that are buried in snow). A few days
2515. ago the temperature was in the 20's and it actually snowed a few
2516. flakes. The day before that it was 80F. This weekend it is supposed to
2517. get cold again before warming up again next week. The weather here can
2518. only be described as crazy!<br>
2519. </p>
2520. <p>Last weekend my trusty Mac Book Pro, which has worked flawlessly for
2521. the past year, froze and I had to forcefully power it off. After that I
2522. could not get it to reboot. I was however able to restore the machine
2523. using the wonderful Time Machine backup program that comes as part of
2524. Mac OS X. Thankfully I had been keeping regular backups so I was able
2525. to restore the machine to the state it had been in right before it
2526. froze. However, the disk was now making very odd noises and experience
2527. told me it was dying and would soon fail for good. I made an
2528. appointment to go and see the folks at the "Genius Bar" in the local
2529. Apple store on Monday morning and even though my machine was two weeks
2530. out of warranty (go figure) they offered to replace the disk for free
2531. (I didn't even have to do any begging or groveling) . They didn't have
2532. one in stock but said they would order me one. Wednesday evening they
2533. called and said the disk was in. On Thursday evening I dropped the
2534. machine off at around 7pm and went with the family to have dinner.
2535. Right after dinner, around 8:30pm,  they called me and said the
2536. machine was ready to pickup. Today I restored the computer using the
2537. same Time Machine backups I had used before and I now have my system
2538. back just as it was but running on a brand new disk. The combination of
2539. the great service from the Apple store and the ease with which I was
2540. able to restore my machine truly impressed me (and that's not easy with
2541. this type of stuff). I will definitely be buying more Macs as the other
2542. machines in the house grow older and need replacing. I have really
2543. developed a liking for my Mac Book Pro since buying it to be my
2544. companion during the seemingly endless hours of chemotherapy treatment,
2545. but this just experience further convinced me that they are worth the
2546. premium price charged for them.<br>
2547. </p>
2548. <p>That's it for now then. I'd like to take this opportunity to wish
2549. all of my friends and family around the World a very safe and happy
2550. Christmas.  To all of my friends that celebrate other holidays,
2551. all the very best to you too. I hope you all find peace and happiness
2552. in each of your endeavours.</p>
2553. <p><br>                  
2554. ]]>
2555. </description>
2556. <pubDate>Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:52:54 CST</pubDate>
2557. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/0000102</guid>
2558. </item>
2559.  
2560.  
2561. <item>
2562. <title>Can it really be December again already?</title>
2563. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
2564. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Dec-04-a</link>
2565. <description>
2566. <![CDATA[
2567. <p>Things have been very busy both at home and at work with it being
2568. the holiday season now. I took last week off to spend time with the
2569. family and to enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday here in the United States.
2570. This week (as always happens) I am trying to get caught up on the
2571. backlog of work and e-mail that builds up whenever one takes a few days
2572. off!  That said, given I spent almost half the year undergoing
2573. chemotherapy, I have not used much of my vacation entitlement for this
2574. year. Consequently, Friday (as in tomorrow) will be my last day at work
2575. for 2008. I will not return to work (officially) until January 5th next
2576. year. I say "officially" as I will still be checking my e-mail while
2577. away to avoid having to deal with a mountain of unread mail when I get
2578. back to work in January. It's hard to believe it's that time of year
2579. again.<br>
2580. </p>
2581. <p>Last week we took the kids to see the movie Bolt in 3D. I enjoyed
2582. the movie and thought the 3D technology used was a lot better than I
2583. had expected it would be. In general (aside from what I regard as
2584. specialist environments such as Disney and Universal Studios) I have
2585. not enjoyed broad release 3D movies. Bolt definitely is an exception to
2586. that and I would recommend it as a good family movie.  Meanwhile,
2587. the weather here in the Austin area has been gorgeous. Blue skies and
2588. very warm temperatures. Yesterday our daytime high was 79 degrees
2589. Fahrenheit. That said, last night, as often happens this time of year,
2590. a cold front blew through and this morning we woke up to a chilly 35
2591. degrees. It was cold enough that my son ran from the car into the
2592. school at full speed - not his usual MO at all !<br>
2593. </p>
2594. <p>I have not posted here for a few days but I have been making regular posts both on <a href="http://twitter.com/gfxman">Twitter</a> (my ID is @gfxman if you are a Twitter user) and on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/people/Kelvin-Lawrence/560392836">Facebook</a><a href="http://www.facebook.com/people/Kelvin-Lawrence/560392836">.</a>
2595. Somehow I find it takes me a lot more effort to sit down and write a
2596. (hopefully) meaningful blog post than it does to quickly update my
2597. status on Twitter and Facebook. Many of my friends and colleagues have
2598. made the same observation. I still enjoy both reading and writing blog
2599. posts (and I particularly like having a nice journal of things I can
2600. look back on - such as my treatment log here) but I must confess that I
2601. am able to keep up with most of my friends and some of my family these
2602. days via Facebook. I have been using Facebook for quite a while now but
2603. I am fairly new to Twitter and still not exactly sure if it's for me
2604. but I am persevering with it for a bit longer. I find it much easier to
2605. find people I know and want to keep in touch with on Facebook than on
2606. Twitter. To be fair though, a lot of people I like following from a
2607. computing/IT perspective do seem to be on Twitter so maybe that is just
2608. a different community. In fact the overlap of people I follow who are
2609. both on Facebook and Twitter seems to be quite small.<br>
2610. </p>
2611. <p>At any rate, it's hard to believe that December has crept up on me
2612. again and that another year is almost over. I will write a "look back
2613. at the year" post closer to the end of the year but for now let's just
2614. say I have a lot to be thankful for in 2008. My family, my friends, my
2615. doctors, the fact that I have no more medical tests until February, the
2616. list seems almost endless. It truly has been a year unlike any other.
2617. TTFN.<br>
2618. </p>                
2619. ]]>
2620. </description>
2621. <pubDate>Thu, 4 Dec 2008 10:06:22 CST</pubDate>
2622. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/0000101</guid>
2623. </item>
2624.  
2625. <item>
2626. <title>Preliminary biopsy results</title>
2627. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
2628. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Nov-17-a</link>
2629. <description>
2630. <![CDATA[
2631. <p>Last Wednesday I went into the Round Rock Medical Center for a <a href="http://www.nlm.nih.gov/MEDLINEPLUS/ency/article/003934.htm">bone marrow biopsy</a>.&nbsp;
2632. I have had a lot of new experiences during the past twelve months and
2633. this was another first! For those who are interested, the procedure is
2634. done while the patient (me) is face down on the table with his backside
2635. stuck into the CT machine. They sedate you thankfully before sticking
2636. big needles into your pelvic bone (at the Iliac crest). It was sort of
2637. interesting to see the doctor dressed up in a special protective suit
2638. that to me made him look like something out of Power Rangers! It was
2639. also interesting to ponder how come he gets a suit and I don't :-)<br>
2640. </p>
2641. <p>As I mentioned in my prior posting, this was to see if the
2642. chemotherapy treatments had damaged the bone marrow badly enough that
2643. it needs treating. I called the doctor's office about an hour ago to
2644. see if they had the results back. They did. I am hugely relieved to say
2645. that his preliminary reading of the results is that everything looks
2646. normal. As far as I know this means I don't need additional treatment
2647. and I just have to be patient and let my body heal itself. Thanks
2648. everyone for all your messages of support and encouragement in
2649. the  <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/guestbook.html">Guest Book</a> and elsewhere once again during this period.<br>
2650. </p>
2651.  
2652. ]]>
2653. </description>
2654. <pubDate>Mon, 17 Nov 2008 10:54:30 CST</pubDate>
2655. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/0000100</guid>
2656. </item>
2657.  
2658.  
2659. <item>
2660. <title>Test results good but more tests needed...</title>
2661. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
2662. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Nov-09-a</link>
2663. <description>
2664. <![CDATA[
2665. We met with the oncologist on Friday to get the results of the blood
2666. tests and CT scan that I had earlier in the week. The good news is that
2667. there continues to be no further signs of any cancer. This is a huge
2668. relief. I was extremely nervous going into this test cycle. My spleen
2669. continues to be enlarged so next week I am going in to the hospital for
2670. a bone marrow biopsy. The theory is that the chemotherapy damaged my
2671. bone marrow causing the spleen to pick up the slack. We need to find
2672. out how badly the bone marrow was damaged. Depending on the biopsy
2673. results, I may need treatment to help the marrow recover. All things
2674. considered I am doing well and for the most part still on the mend. My
2675. blood levels are the best they have been in over a year.<br>
2676. </p>
2677. <p>I am grateful to everyone who has been calling me and writing to me
2678. to ask about the test results. Sorry it has taken me a few days to
2679. update the status here. I had a good friend in town staying with us for
2680. the weekend. Yesterday we went to the UT game (against Baylor) in the
2681. morning and my kids both had soccer games in the afternoon followed by
2682. an end of season pizza party. Just another quiet Saturday. I am trying
2683. to get caught up on my web and e-mail backlog today!<br>
2684. </p>
2685. <p>So that's the medical update for now. I'll post again after the
2686. biopsy. The results will take over a week to come back, so it will be
2687. Thanksgiving here in the US before we know the outcome most likely.<br>
2688. </p>
2689. <p>Meanwhile, the weather here in Texas has been gorgeous. Cool
2690. overnight (40's F)
2691. and then warming up to almost 80 during the day with not a cloud in the
2692. sky so still wearing shorts in mid-November and yesterday Arsenal beat
2693. Manchester United, what more could I ask
2694. for?   :-)
2695. ]]>
2696. </description>
2697. <pubDate>Sun, 9 Nov 2008 09:31:08 CST</pubDate>
2698. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000099</guid>
2699. </item>
2700.  
2701. <item>
2702. <title>A "Testing" week ahead</title>
2703. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
2704. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Nov-03-a</link>
2705. <description>
2706. <![CDATA[
2707. <p>No, I'm not referring to the US elections tomorrow unfortunately.
2708. Instead, for me it's time for the next round of post chemo medical
2709. checks. Tomorrow after a scheduled 7am work meeting and a trip to the
2710. local school to vote, I have to go to the Oncologist's office for blood
2711. tests and then on Wednesday I have a CT scan scheduled. We are due to
2712. meet with the doctor to get the results on Friday. So while by tomorrow
2713. night one way or another millions of people here in the US will be
2714. celebrating, I have to wait a few more days to get the result that I
2715. most care about - I know, call me selfish!<br>
2716. </p>
2717. <p>Meanwhile I do plan to stay up late tomorrow night and watch the
2718. results come in on what may well be an historic day in American
2719. history. I will however be glad when the whole election process is
2720. over. I am so sick of the endless TV coverage, the annoying commercials
2721. that say nothing about what their candidate would do and instead just
2722. focus on why the other guy is even worse as well as the phone calls and
2723. visits to the front door. I just hope and pray that the balloting
2724. process passes without any major mishaps this time around and that by
2725. sometime on Wednesday, we have a clear winner.<br>
2726. </p>
2727. <p>Living in Texas, my vote, sadly has little meaning (no matter which
2728. way I vote this state will stay Republican), but at least I can go to
2729. Starbucks after the doctor, tell them I voted, and get a free cup of
2730. coffee!!  Hopefully I can also tell them I voted for the guy who
2731. won :-)<br>
2732. </p>
2733. ]]>
2734. </description>
2735. <pubDate>Mon, 3 Nov 2008 22:40:49 CST</pubDate>
2736. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000098</guid>
2737. </item>
2738.  
2739. <item>
2740. <title>One year on from surgery that saved my life</title>
2741. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
2742. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Oct-28-a</link>
2743. <description>
2744. <![CDATA[
2745. <p>One year ago, I was in the Seton hospital here in Austin having just
2746. had most of my colon removed and was waiting for the tests results that
2747. would determine how seriously ill I really was. We knew from the prior
2748. biopsy that I had cancer but what we did not know, and needed to find
2749. out,  was how advanced it really was. We also knew that the tumor
2750. that had just been removed was about the "size of the surgeons fist"
2751. (his words not mine). It was a nervous few days waiting for the test
2752. results on the lymph nodes to come back. The surgeon (unbeknownst me)
2753. had told my wife he feared I was at stage three based on his visual
2754. examination of the nodes. My wife had to worry through this time a lot
2755. more than I did as I was heavily sedated and not fully aware of what
2756. was going on.  Thankfully, all 37 lymph nodes that were tested
2757. came back negative and I officially became a stage two cancer patient.
2758. So began many months of recovery from surgery and chemotherapy to
2759. (hopefully) kill any cancer cells that had escaped prior to, or during,
2760. surgery. <br>
2761. </p>
2762. <p>I am very grateful that due to the skill of the doctors that
2763. diagnosed me and performed the surgery on me as well as the oncologist
2764. who subsequently blasted my body with chemotherapy that I am still here
2765. to type this text today.<br>
2766. </p>
2767. <p>I think I'll keep this post brief and reflect on how blessed and how
2768. lucky I am to have such great doctors, who are still looking after me,
2769. and such&nbsp; <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/guestbook.html">great friends</a> who have
2770. helped me keep my spirits up through the last twelve months. Also, if
2771. you have been thinking about, but putting off, getting a colonoscopy
2772. done - do it now - it could save your life!<br>
2773. </p>    
2774. ]]>
2775. </description>
2776. <pubDate>Tue, 28 Oct 2008 11:00:56 CDT</pubDate>
2777. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000097</guid>
2778. </item>                  
2779.  
2780. <item>
2781. <title>Colorado Software Summit</title>
2782. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">conferences</category>
2783. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Oct-21-a</link>
2784. <description>
2785. <![CDATA[
2786. I'm spending the week at the Colorado Software Summit.  It's my favourite
2787. programming conference bar none and one I try to attend whenever I can.
2788. As always it has been great to meet so many interesting people from around
2789. the World and to have so many really useful discussions about emerging
2790. technology.  I have attended several really good presentations and
2791. tonight I'm running a BOF around the subject of building rich web
2792. applications which should be a lot of fun. Tomorrow night I am
2793. running a BOF on social networking applications which I also hope will
2794. provoke some interesting discussion.
2795.  
2796. The conference is held in Keystone, Colorado. It's about a 90 mile drive up
2797. into the mountains from the Denver airport. After a couple of uneventful
2798. flights on Sunday morning, the front right tyre on my rental car blew out
2799. at about 70mph while driving through the mountains. I very nearly lost
2800. control of  the car and only just avoided going off the side of the road.
2801. After all I have been through in the past year the last thing I expected
2802. was to be suddenly faced with another life threatening experience !
2803.  
2804. By the way, if you use twitter, I'm posting regular updates during
2805. the week. You can find me as @gfxman and please feel free to follow me.
2806.  
2807. The second day of the conference is now well underway and I'm off to
2808. join Denise Hatzidakis as she talks about REST so I'll end this post now.
2809.  
2810. PS - Sorry I have not posted for a while, life has been very busy. I'll try
2811. and post more updates soon.
2812. ]]>
2813. </description>
2814. <pubDate>Tue, 21 Oct 2008 11:36:31 CDT</pubDate>
2815. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000096</guid>
2816. </item>
2817.  
2818.  
2819.  
2820.  
2821. <item>
2822. <title>One year post cancer diagnosis</title>
2823. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
2824. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
2825. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Oct-05-a</link>
2826. <description>
2827. <![CDATA[
2828. <p>A year ago (actually on October 2nd 2007) I heard the words that no
2829. one wants to hear from a doctor "I'm really sorry but I think it's
2830. cancer". And so began the journey I have been on for the past twelve
2831. months. As I have documented here, I had major surgery followed by
2832. about six months of chemo and to say the least it has been a very
2833. stressful time for me and my family. Last Friday I went for yet more
2834. blood tests and I am relieved to report that for the first time all of
2835. my tests (white cell count, platelet count and haemoglobin) are back in
2836. the normal range. I have more tests scheduled for November (including
2837. another CT scan) but as far as we can tell, for now, I am finally on
2838. the mend. I still have horrible neuropathy in my hands and feet (caused
2839. by the chemo meds) but that is a small price to pay for still being
2840. here a year on from my initial diagnosis.<br>
2841. </p>
2842. <p>Meanwhile a lot of things that I need to blog about have been going
2843. on. I'll try and get that done soon. In summary, the kids are doing
2844. well at school and enjoying playing soccer. We adopted a dog, a four
2845. year old Golden Retriever called Rocket. He's a great dog and it feels
2846. really good to have been able to give him a nice home. I have been able
2847. to finally make a couple of business trips. I went out to San Jose, CA
2848. a few weeks ago to attend the SHARE conference and a couple of weeks
2849. ago I flew up to Boston to attend some IBM Academy meetings. That was
2850. also the first time I flew on Jet Blue. I really liked them and will
2851. definitely use them again. Being able to watch the Ryder Cup golf live
2852. while on a plane was very cool. American Airlines, with whom I have in
2853. excess of two million miles on my frequent flier account, need to do
2854. some serious upgrading if they want to win me back as a customer on
2855. domestic routes out of Austin. <br>
2856. </p>
2857. <p>Finally, in a couple of weeks I am off to the <a
2858. href="http://www.softwaresummit.com/">Colorado Software Summit</a>. I
2859. am really excited about that. I love the conference. I think it's the
2860. best programming conference around. I missed the conference last year
2861. as it was right before I went into the hospital for surgery. I made a
2862. more detailed posting about the conference on my <a
2863. href="http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/page/KRL?entry=colorado_software_summit_full_agenda">work
2864. blog</a> a few days ago and Simon Phipps just did a nice writeup <a
2865. href="http://blogs.sun.com/webmink/entry/you_want_to_attend_this">on
2866. his blog</a> as did Dave Landers <a
2867. href="http://dave.srednal.com/archives/49">on his blog</a>. Please let
2868. me know if you are reading this and planning to be at the conference.<br>
2869. </p>
2870. <p>So that's the update for today. As always a big THANK YOU to
2871. everyone that has supported me and my family through this whole ordeal
2872. and for all of your messages in the <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/guestbook.html">Guest Book</a>.
2873. I feel very blessed to still be here one year on.<br>
2874. </p>
2875. ]]>
2876. </description>
2877. <pubDate>Sun, 5 Oct 2008 11:33:52 CDT</pubDate>
2878. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000095</guid>
2879. </item>
2880.  
2881.  
2882. <item>
2883. <title>Dion Gillard (5th May 1967 - 25th September 2008)</title>
2884. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">friends</category>
2885. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Sep-26-a</link>
2886. <description>
2887. <![CDATA[
2888. <p>My dear friend Dion Gillard died this week after a courageous fight
2889. with melanoma. Dion was loved and respected by friends and family
2890. around the World. He had a great sense of humour, was a brilliant
2891. computer programmer, was a businessman, a husband and a father.
2892. Basically, he was just a great person to be around and he had a
2893. positive impact on everyone he met, myself very much included.<br>
2894. <br>
2895. Dion and I first met at the <a href="http://www.softwaresummit.com/">Colorado Software Summit</a>
2896. conference years ago (I forget exactly which year) and have kept in
2897. touch ever since.  In fact we were due to meet  at the conference this
2898. year, towards the end of next month.  The event won't be the same
2899. without him, he has so many great friends there besides me.  I have
2900. always admired Dion's technical breadth and know how and willingness to
2901. share, but it was his terrific sense of humour I think that endeared me
2902. to him even more. We also spent countless hours debating why Australia
2903. were better than England at cricket! We had even discussed meeting up
2904. in the UK next year to watch the Ashes series together to (we had
2905. hoped) celebrate both of our battles with cancer.<br>
2906. <br>
2907. I send my
2908. deepest condolences to his wife, children, family and friends around
2909. the World.  You have a lot of people reaching out to you at this time
2910. and sharing your sense of great loss. The World is a less good place
2911. without Dion, but we are also blessed to have had, and celebrate, the
2912. time we did have with him.<br>
2913. <br>
2914. Rest in peace "dIon" you will be truly missed but never forgotten.<br>
2915. </p>
2916. ]]>
2917. </description>
2918. <pubDate>Fri, 26 Sep 2008 11:22:35 CDT</pubDate>
2919. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000094</guid>
2920. </item>
2921.  
2922.  
2923.  
2924. <item>
2925. <title>Tests, tests and more tests</title>
2926. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
2927. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Sep-12-a</link>
2928. <description>
2929. <![CDATA[
2930. <p>Last Friday I was back at the oncologist's office for yet more
2931. tests. This seems to be a recurring theme for me at the moment. As much
2932. as I wish I could put it all behind me I have to accept that these
2933. tests are for my own good and the doctor is just being thorough.<br>
2934. </p>
2935. <p>The good news is that the lab work continues to show no signs of
2936. cancer. My haemoglobin levels are also back to normal so the
2937. fatigue/anemia is gone and my energy levels are definitely up!<br>
2938. <br>
2939. The bad news is that my white cell count and my platelet count remain
2940. abnormally low. The oncologist says he is puzzled by this and he has me
2941. in his "requires more investigation" pile. His best theory is that the
2942. chemo damaged the bone marrow so badly that my body is just taking
2943. longer than average to recover from it. The recent CT scan shows that
2944. my spleen is enlarged. Again this could be because it is trying to help
2945. offset the weakness of the bone marrow. Lorna asked him if this could
2946. be evidence of Leukemia. He said he does not think so as the blood work
2947. does not show that. However, if my white count has not recovered enough
2948. in four weeks from now he wants to do a bone marrow biopsy on me (I
2949. hear they are painful so hope I can avoid that). I have another CT scan
2950. planned for the first week of November. If my spleen gets too far out
2951. of whack they are also saying that removing it is an option - oh joy!<br>
2952. <br>
2953. On top of this my neuropathy (numbness/pain in hands and feet) has
2954. become (at least by my measurements) severe. I'm periodically in a lot
2955. of pain and cannot feel anything under my feet and my fingers hurt when
2956. I type. <br>
2957. <br>
2958. So while I am happy that the tests seem to indicate we are heading in
2959. the right direction I remain nervous about the overall state of
2960. affairs. I guess that is why they make the little blue pills! I am
2961. trying very hard to just get on with my life and forget about all of
2962. this between doctors visits but I have to admit it is hard.<br>
2963. </p>
2964. <p>Meanwhile, this weekend Hurricane Ike is coming to visit so that
2965. should certainly keep me preoccupied!!<br>
2966. </p>
2967. <p>Both kids have soccer games this weekend but Ike may have a say in
2968. that. The UT Football game we were hoping to go to has already been
2969. cancelled.<br>
2970. </p>
2971. <p>That's it for now. I'll post again soon with an Ike update and other
2972. news, including my first bad experience with the Mac Book Pro - my
2973. battery died after less than eight months of use! That's it for now,
2974. I'm off to bed...<br>
2975. </p>
2976. ]]>
2977. </description>
2978. <pubDate>Fri, 12 Sep 2008 00:07:40 CDT</pubDate>
2979. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000093</guid>
2980. </item>
2981.  
2982. <item>
2983. <title>Is Summer Really over?</title>
2984. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
2985. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Sep-03-a</link>
2986. <description>
2987. <![CDATA[
2988. <p>Having grown up in England, where August is the height of Summer, it
2989.  
2990. still feels odd to hear people in Texas talking about Summer being over
2991.  
2992. by the time we are less than midway through that month. Moreover, the
2993.  
2994. temperature in Central Texas as we enter September is still in the high
2995.  
2996. nineties Fahrenheit almost every day - feels like Summer to me! That
2997.  
2998. said, the kids have now been back at school for almost two weeks and in
2999.  
3000. fairness people here tend to view Summer as over once school
3001.  
3002. starts.  I was hoping we might get a little rain as a result of
3003.  
3004. Hurricane Gustav but it has gone inland well to the North East of us.
3005.  
3006. We have not had a lot of rain recently and the garden is looking a bit
3007.  
3008. parched in places despite my best attempts to keep it watered.<br>
3009.  
3010. </p>
3011.  
3012. <p>Looking back, I am really pleased that with all of the medical
3013.  
3014. things going on we have still managed to do a lot of fun stuff this
3015.  
3016. Summer as a family. It feels a bit strange not to have the kids around
3017.  
3018. today as I work from home in a very quiet house. I do feel more
3019.  
3020. productive though - imagine that !<br>
3021.  
3022. </p>
3023.  
3024. <p>This is a short work week due to Monday being the Labor Day holiday
3025.  
3026. here in the US. We had a fairly lazy "long weekend" and I spent a lot
3027.  
3028. of time either swimming in the pool or trying to catch up on
3029. my <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/books.html">reading</a>.
3030.  
3031. It was really nice to not have a full agenda of things to do for a
3032.  
3033. change. On Saturday evening Lorna and I went to the opening game of the
3034.  
3035. University of Texas (UT) football season. The stadium has been enlarged
3036.  
3037. yet again during the off season and now has a capacity of around
3038.  
3039. 100,000. Indeed the official attendance for the game on Saturday was
3040.  
3041. 98,053. I hear they are talking of adding even more seating in the
3042.  
3043. future! This is a stadium that apparently pays for itself and yet hosts
3044.  
3045. an average of just six (yes six) games a year!! As someone who played
3046.  
3047. both Cricket and Soccer at University in England where it was a good
3048.  
3049. day if five people turned up to watch us play it still blows my mind to
3050.  
3051. observe the sheer immensity of collegiate sports, especially football
3052.  
3053. (not to be confused with the kind of football/soccer I play), here in
3054.  
3055. the US. It must be an amazing experience for those lucky enough to
3056.  
3057. compete in such an environment. Apart from perhaps Wembley stadium in
3058.  
3059. London, I cannot think of any other venue in England that compares in
3060.  
3061. sheer size to the UT stadium - and this is (non professional) college
3062.  
3063. sports!! We had a very enjoyable time at the game and we're both
3064.  
3065. looking forward to the next home fixture in a couple of weeks.<br>
3066.  
3067. </p>
3068.  
3069. <p>Another indication that Summer is actually winding down is that our
3070. local baseball team (the <a href="http://www.rrexpress.com/">Round Rock Express</a>)
3071.  
3072. have now played their last home game for the season. While the major
3073.  
3074. league parent team (the Houston Astros) still has a fair number of
3075.  
3076. games left to play, the triple-A season is now over and the NFL is
3077.  
3078. about to get underway. Meanwhile on the other side of the Atlantic the
3079.  
3080. English Premier League has started (seems like that season gets longer
3081.  
3082. every year) and the cricket season is winding down. We also have the
3083.  
3084. Ryder cup to look forward to of course.<br>
3085.  
3086. </p>
3087.  
3088. <p>So I guess perhaps, at least in this part of the World, Summer is
3089.  
3090. "officially" over - now if someone could please tell that to the
3091.  
3092. weather......<br>
3093.  
3094. </p>
3095.  
3096. ]]>
3097. </description>
3098. <pubDate>Wed, 3 Sep 2008 12:15:46 CDT</pubDate>
3099. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000092</guid>
3100. </item>
3101.  
3102. <item>
3103. <title>I'm "port-less" and "polyp-less"</title>
3104. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
3105. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
3106. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Aug-26-a</link>
3107. <description>
3108. <![CDATA[
3109. <p>Sorry for the title. My sense of humour can be a bit weird at times
3110.  
3111. but it has also helped me get through the last eleven months. Yesterday
3112.  
3113. I had surgery done to remove my <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port-a-Cath">chemotherapy port</a>.
3114.  
3115. It feels weird to finally have the port removed as it has been an ever
3116.  
3117. present part of me since it was surgically inserted back in November of
3118.  
3119. last year. The surgeon who performed the procedure is the same one who
3120.  
3121. did the five hour colonectomy on me last October and he will also be
3122.  
3123. responsible for monitoring what's left of my colon (which is not much
3124.  
3125. but it's enough!!) for the foreseeable future. As such, he was kind
3126.  
3127. enough to also do my first follow up colon check since the major
3128.  
3129. surgery while he had me sedated yesterday. I am happy to report that
3130.  
3131. for now at least I am polyp free. I don't recall if I mentioned this in
3132.  
3133. earlier posts but in my case polyps are a lot more dangerous than they
3134.  
3135. are for an average (more lucky) person. On average my doctors tell me a
3136.  
3137. polyp will go cancerous if left untreated in about ten years. In my
3138.  
3139. case that time is about one year. So they'll be keeping a close eye on
3140.  
3141. me for the rest of my life. As I have mentioned before and I'll say it
3142.  
3143. again, if you have been sitting there thinking "I really should get a
3144.  
3145. colonoscopy done" then please go get it done. It really is not a big
3146.  
3147. deal and it could save your life. It's one of the reasons I'm still
3148.  
3149. here to type this today - makes you think doesn't it? My next colon
3150.  
3151. check will be required in six months, so that is one thing I can check
3152.  
3153. off my todo list for a while at least. Now we just have to get the
3154.  
3155. blood under control, the neuropathy contained and the swelling reduced
3156.  
3157. and life will be good. I'm starting to sound like a bad country song so
3158.  
3159. I'll stop rambling on about the medical stuff for today.<br>
3160.  
3161. </p>
3162.  
3163. <p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Back to school day</span><br>
3164.  
3165. </p>
3166.  
3167. <p>Meanwhile, today here in Texas is "back to school day". Apart from
3168.  
3169. the agonising sounds coming out of my iOmega external hard drive (I
3170.  
3171. think the fan is going - this will be he third one to die on me in
3172.  
3173. about three years) the house is silent. The kids left early for school
3174.  
3175. today and won't be home until after 3pm so I have a very quiet work
3176.  
3177. environment indeed - I almost miss having them around but don't let
3178.  
3179. them know I said that ok! It probably seems odd to my friends and
3180.  
3181. family over in the UK that school is back so soon but we broke up in
3182.  
3183. May whereas I think you all still break up for the Summer in July. So
3184.  
3185. we've actually had the kids home for about 3 months. It's time for them
3186.  
3187. to go back!   Jack is starting First Grade this year, and hard
3188.  
3189. though it is to believe, this is Robyn's last year before moving up to
3190.  
3191. Middle School as she starts out on Fifth Grade.<br>
3192.  
3193. </p>
3194.  
3195. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Guest book issues?</span><br>
3196.  
3197. <p>A few of you have again written to me saying you have had problems posting to
3198. the <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/guestbook.html">Guest Book</a>.
3199.  
3200. As far as I know, this only ever happens if you are using Internet
3201.  
3202. Explorer 6. I do have a message on the Guest Book launch page that
3203.  
3204. warns about this know problem. I have confirmed with one of the people
3205.  
3206. that recently had problems that they indeed were using IE6. If you are
3207.  
3208. seeing Guest Book problems with other browsers, please do let me know.<br>
3209.  
3210. </p>
3211.  
3212. ]]>
3213. </description>
3214. <pubDate>Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:21:44 CDT</pubDate>
3215. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000091</guid>
3216. </item>
3217.  
3218.  
3219. <item>
3220. <title>Tests, tests and more tests...</title>
3221. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
3222. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Aug-24-a</link>
3223. <description>
3224. <![CDATA[
3225. <p>I'll keep this post brief as I have to be up early tomorrow to get
3226. ready for surgery and it's already quite late. I went in to the
3227. oncologist's office again on Friday for more blood tests. My white
3228. count and platelet count remain quite low but not low enough that they
3229. need to treat it directly. They did however give me a prescription for
3230. some pills to fight the swelling (and weight gain) that is being caused
3231. by the meds they have me on to fight the neuropathy caused by the chemo
3232. meds - you with me? <br>
3233. </p>
3234. <p>I have to go back again in two weeks to be tested again to see if
3235. things are improving. My haemoglobin count is thankfully continuing to
3236. improve and is now almost back to the typical range for male of my age.
3237. <br>
3238. </p>
3239. <p>Tomorrow morning at 9am I am having surgery to remove my chemo port.
3240. It will be weird after all of these months not to feel it there. I am
3241. also having a follow up colon check which I am nervous about but it's
3242. something I'll have to get used to as this will be a regular part of my
3243. life over the next few years.<br>
3244. </p>
3245. <p>I'll post another update once I am recovered enough from surgery.<br>
3246. </p>
3247. ]]>
3248. </description>
3249. <pubDate>Sun, 24 Aug 2008 22:21:19 CDT</pubDate>
3250. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000090</guid>
3251. </item>
3252.  
3253.  
3254. <item>
3255. <title>Chemotherapy aftershocks</title>
3256. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
3257. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Aug-19-b</link>
3258. <description>
3259. <![CDATA[
3260. <p>I'm trying to get caught up after a week away- consequently, two postings in one day - I think this may be a first for me!<br>
3261.  
3262. </p>
3263.  
3264. <p>Anyway, here's a quick medical update as there is still quite a bit
3265.  
3266. going on. It has now been over three months since I ended chemotherapy.
3267.  
3268. As I have <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Feb-04-a">documented here</a> in detail,
3269.  
3270. during chemo I suffered through a whole collection of different side
3271.  
3272. effects at various times. Many of those went away fairly quickly after
3273.  
3274. chemo ended. A few have stuck with me however. By far the worst is the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuropathy">neuropathy</a>
3275.  
3276. (numbness and pain in my hands and feet). Interestingly, the neuropathy
3277.  
3278. only began during the last week or so of chemo but has since then
3279.  
3280. become incrementally worse. It is caused by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxaliplatin">Oxaliplatin</a>
3281.  
3282. (one of the three drugs that make up the FOLFOX chemo regimen). I am on
3283.  
3284. medication that is supposed to suppress some of the pain that the
3285.  
3286. neuropathy causes but for the most part I just have to be patient and
3287.  
3288. wait for it to take care of itself. My oncologist has told me that it
3289.  
3290. can take over a year for the effects to fully wear off. For the benefit
3291.  
3292. of the many other folks that have found my web site and have been kind
3293.  
3294. enough to contact me, all of whom are fighting their own battles with
3295.  
3296. colon cancer, and all of whom seem to be having the same basic
3297.  
3298. experience as me, the doctor has tried a couple of drugs to help
3299.  
3300. relieve the neuropathy pain. At first we tried Cymbalta which did help
3301.  
3302. a little but had nasty interactions with other medications I am taking
3303.  
3304. (primarily the Paxil) so I had to stop taking it. I am now trying
3305.  
3306. Lyrica which again seems to help some but seems to itself be causing
3307.  
3308. some nasty side effects that I am not enjoying. The biggest issues to
3309.  
3310. date are weight gain (just what I needed!), trouble concentrating and
3311.  
3312. swelling of my feet, legs and hands (the swelling is also in part, I
3313.  
3314. believe, caused by the Oxaliplatin). So, while I am really excited by
3315.  
3316. my test results from a week ago, I still find myself with a lot of
3317.  
3318. issues to handle on a daily basis. Don't get me wrong however, you
3319.  
3320. won't find me complaining as if the chemo and surgery have done their
3321.  
3322. job I'll live with the rest for as long as it takes to resolve itself.<br>
3323.  
3324. </p>
3325.  
3326. <p>Talking of tests, just when I thought I was almost done it turns out
3327.  
3328. to not quite be the case. My oncologist's office called last week while
3329.  
3330. I was in San Jose. They want me back for more blood tests this Friday
3331.  
3332. as after further thought they have decided that my white cell count and
3333.  
3334. platelet count really are a bit too low and they want to check me again
3335.  
3336. and if necessary take steps to help those numbers improve.  I'll
3337.  
3338. keep you all posted as to how that goes.</p>
3339.  
3340. <p>Also, next Monday I have an appointment to see the surgeon who did
3341.  
3342. my colectomy back in October for a check up. I'm not going to go into
3343.  
3344. details but I think you get the picture (or at least I hope he will!).
3345.  
3346. He is also going to take out my chemo port (a fairly minor surgical
3347.  
3348. procedure) at the same time. So I'll be back at the hospital again next
3349.  
3350. week for I think the fifth time in the last 10 months. I'm a little
3351.  
3352. nervous about the checkup as if he finds any polyps we are going to
3353.  
3354. have to take immediate steps to try and prevent them from becoming
3355.  
3356. cancerous. Hopefully everything will be OK.<br>
3357.  
3358. </p>
3359.  
3360. <p>So that's the medical update, I'll make another posting when there is anything worth sharing.<br>
3361.  
3362. </p>
3363.  
3364. <p>I'd like to end this posting by sending my very best wishes and
3365.  
3366. prayers out to all of the people who have contacted me during the past
3367.  
3368. several months to thank me for sharing my experiences and for telling
3369.  
3370. me that in doing so I had also helped them as they faced their own
3371.  
3372. struggle with cancer. It is not always easy to share something so
3373.  
3374. personal in such a public fashion but my goal in doing so was in large
3375.  
3376. part to reach out to others in a similar situation to me. I am both
3377.  
3378. happy and more than a little humbled to have heard from so many of you.
3379.  
3380. Good luck all of you, and please keep in touch. I have made many new
3381.  
3382. friends in the last six months which has been one of the good side
3383.  
3384. effects of this experience.<br>
3385.  
3386. </p>
3387.  
3388.  
3389. ]]>
3390. </description>
3391. <pubDate>Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:45:37 CDT</pubDate>
3392. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000089</guid>
3393. </item>
3394.  
3395.  
3396.  
3397. <item>
3398. <title>A week in San Jose, California</title>
3399. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">travel</category>
3400. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">conferences</category>
3401. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Aug-19-a</link>
3402. <description>
3403. <![CDATA[
3404. <p>Last week I flew out to San Jose to speak at the <a href="http://www.share.org/">SHARE</a>
3405.  
3406. conference. I am the IBM rep to one of the Projects at SHARE which
3407.  
3408. means I help find speakers, set the agenda for the project, do a little
3409.  
3410. speaking myself and also chair sessions given by other speakers. This
3411.  
3412. was the first time I have been on a plane since March of 2007 and I was
3413.  
3414. a bit nervous how my body would react to the stresses of air travel but
3415.  
3416. thankfully, everything seemed to go fine.  Interestingly, nothing
3417.  
3418. much seems to have changed in terms of the overall travel experience
3419.  
3420. while I have been away and I was pleasantly surprised with how smoothly
3421.  
3422. and efficiently the check in process went at both Austin and San Jose.
3423.  
3424. Of course it helps to be a multi-million miler on American Airlines
3425.  
3426. which enabled me to jump the queue for the security checkpoints in San
3427.  
3428. Jose, which can get really busy at times. My flights left on time, the
3429.  
3430. weather was great and as a result the flights were smooth both ways. My
3431.  
3432. checked baggage even arrived quickly after arrival. I guess it was just
3433.  
3434. a good week to be travelling! <br>
3435.  
3436. </p>
3437.  
3438. <p>An odd side effect of the medication I am still on is that I don't
3439.  
3440. remember too much of either flight but I took some nice photos of the
3441.  
3442. Grand Canyon and some interesting video of the approach into San Jose
3443.  
3444. so I guess I had a good time !! This was also the first time I have
3445.  
3446. done any public speaking in quite a while. This is something I really
3447.  
3448. enjoy and it was great to be "back in the saddle" as it were. It was
3449.  
3450. also really nice to see so many good friends and colleagues, many of
3451.  
3452. whom I had not seen since before my surgery last October. San Jose as a
3453.  
3454. city has also improved immensely as a place to visit since I first went
3455.  
3456. there in 1987. I decided not to get a rental car and basically just
3457.  
3458. walked everywhere. The conference was at the Convention Center and the
3459.  
3460. hotel is very close to there. Plenty of places to eat are just a short
3461.  
3462. walk away and there is also the must see "Tech Museum". Among the many
3463.  
3464. restaurants is <a href="http://www.gordonbiersch.com/restaurants/?pg=location&amp;sub=loc&amp;location_id=19">Gordon Biersch</a>,
3465.  
3466. a place I always try to visit at least once when in San Jose. Garlic
3467.  
3468. fries and a glass of locally brewed Heffeweizen out on the back patio -
3469.  
3470. sweet!!!  If you want to get merry in a hurry then drink the
3471.  
3472. Blonde Bock (7% alcohol with an o.g. of 16.5) but just don't do what I
3473.  
3474. did the first time I went there and ask for a Guinness!<br>
3475.  
3476. </p>
3477.  
3478. <p>The conference hotels (Marriott,Hilton and Fairmont) were all sold
3479.  
3480. out when I made my reservations so I ended up staying, for the first
3481.  
3482. time, at the <a href="http://www.thesainteclaire.com/">Sainte Clair</a><a href="http://www.thesainteclaire.com/">e</a> hotel. The rooms were clean and felt modern, the WiFi was free and they have a great Italian restaurant (<a href="http://www.ilfornaio.com/">Il Fornaio</a>)
3483.  
3484. on the ground floor. What more could you want?......well a bar or at
3485.  
3486. least somewhere to hang out in the evening would be nice but in general
3487.  
3488. a perfectly OK hotel to stay at.<br>
3489.  
3490. </p>
3491.  
3492. <p>For those who want to read a little more about SHARE and what we do there, I have posted a few times recently over at my <a href="http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/page/KRL">work blog</a> on the topic.The
3493.  
3494. next SHARE conference is actually going to be in my home town of
3495.  
3496. Austin, Texas next March so I won't have far to travel for that event!<br>
3497.  
3498. </p>
3499.  
3500. <p>On the medical front I am still suffering through some really
3501.  
3502. annoying and painful side effects from the chemotherapy and also the
3503.  
3504. medications I am on that are supposed to help suppress the first set of
3505.  
3506. side effects have their own set of side effects! I'll make another
3507.  
3508. posting soon on the overall medical situation as there is still quite a
3509.  
3510. lot going on.<br>
3511.  
3512. </p>
3513.  
3514.  
3515. ]]>
3516. </description>
3517. <pubDate>Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:00:50 CDT</pubDate>
3518. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/0000088</guid>
3519. </item>
3520.  
3521.  
3522. <item>
3523. <title>Test results</title>
3524. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
3525. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Aug-07-a</link>
3526. <description>
3527. <![CDATA[
3528. <p>So, as I mentioned in my last post, this week I underwent a series
3529.  
3530. of tests to effectively see how well my treatment (surgery followed by
3531.  
3532. FOLFOX chemotherapy) has gone. I had several tests done including a lot
3533.  
3534. of blood work and a set of CT scans as well as the usual vital signs
3535.  
3536. checks etc. During chemo I had my blood tested every other week so I
3537.  
3538. should be used to it by now but for obvious reasons I found myself much
3539.  
3540. more nervous than usual this time around. I think in part it's knowing
3541.  
3542. that as well as looking at the using things such as white cell count,
3543.  
3544. platelet count and haemoglobin number they are also looking for cancer
3545.  
3546. markers or CA's (cancer antigens) which would indicate that treatment
3547.  
3548. had failed. So at 10am this morning Lorna and I went to meet with the
3549.  
3550. oncologist. We sat for a few minutes in one of the patient rooms
3551.  
3552. waiting for him to arrive and you can imagine my sense of total relief
3553.  
3554. when, upon entering the room, the first words he said even before he
3555.  
3556. said hello were "no cancer".  My CT scan showed nothing unusual
3557.  
3558. except for a slightly enlarged spleen which could well be due to the
3559.  
3560. chemo drugs and my blood tests were all negative. The doctor is going
3561.  
3562. to do another CT scan in three months time to make sure that the spleen
3563.  
3564. issue is not getting any worse, mainly as a precaution at this point.
3565.  
3566. So from his perspective, as of this moment in time I am cancer free. In
3567.  
3568. about two weeks I am meeting with the surgeon who did the colonectomy
3569.  
3570. back in October for my first follow up exam and to get my chemo port
3571.  
3572. removed. Hopefully those tests will be negative also. So I'll see the
3573.  
3574. oncologist again in November and begin a series of fairly regular
3575.  
3576. checkups, at least for the next year or so but I am not going to worry
3577.  
3578. about that tonight. <br>
3579.  
3580. </p>
3581.  
3582. <p>I cannot begin to express my feelings and emotions right now. No one
3583.  
3584. knows what is in store from one day to the next but tonight at least I
3585.  
3586. am going to go out and do something fun, actually I'm hoping we can go
3587.  
3588. to the movies and see Dark Knight which I still have not seen.<br>
3589.  
3590. </p>
3591.  
3592. <p>As always thank you everyone so much for your continued support,
3593. e-mails, phone calls, visits and <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/guestbook.html">messages in the guest book</a> during this ordeal. It means the World to me.<br>
3594.  
3595. </p>
3596.  
3597.  
3598. ]]>
3599. </description>
3600. <pubDate>Thu, 7 Aug 2008 17:38:22 CDT</pubDate>
3601. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000087</guid>
3602. </item>
3603.  
3604.  
3605. <item>
3606. <title>A week of medical tests ahead</title>
3607. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
3608. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Aug-04-a</link>
3609. <description>
3610. <![CDATA[
3611. <p>It's hard to believe but it has been three months since my
3612.  
3613. chemotherapy ended. A standard part of the treatment process is for me
3614.  
3615. to now have a set of follow up tests. Tomorrow (Tuesday) I have blood
3616.  
3617. tests scheduled. On Wednesday I have a CT scan and then on Thursday I
3618.  
3619. meet with the oncologist to get the results and to discuss where we
3620.  
3621. are. Although, apart from the neuropathy in my hands and feet which is
3622.  
3623. driving me crazy, I feel pretty good, I am still nervous about these
3624.  
3625. tests and I will be glad when this week is behind me. It's hard to
3626.  
3627. ignore the fact that they are looking for any continued presence of
3628.  
3629. cancer in my system. I'll post more updates as the week progresses.<br>
3630.  
3631. </p>
3632.  
3633. <p>Meanwhile, I want to extend my best wishes and prayers to my <a href="http://www.multitask.com.au/people/dion/">good friend Dion</a>
3634.  
3635. down in Sydney, Australia who is in the middle of his own battle with
3636.  
3637. cancer and starting out on chemotherapy tomorrow. I hope he will get
3638.  
3639. the same level of support from his friends and family around the World
3640.  
3641. that I have been lucky enough to receive. If you are so inclined,
3642.  
3643. please include Dion in your thoughts and prayers.<br>
3644.  
3645. </p>
3646.  
3647. <p>As for my kids, this continues to be a very busy Summer. Robyn has
3648.  
3649. Karate camp this week and both Robyn and Jack spent last week in
3650.  
3651. "British soccer camp". A bunch of great lads from the UK come over
3652.  
3653. every year and run the camp at a nearby park. It's a lot of fun and the
3654.  
3655. kids had a great time. Robyn is also continuing to appear in the local <a href="http://www.sambasstheatre.org/">community theatre production&nbsp;</a> of&nbsp; "The Witches".<br>
3656.  
3657. </p>
3658.  
3659.  
3660. ]]>
3661. </description>
3662. <pubDate>Mon, 4 Aug 2008 16:00:09 CDT</pubDate>
3663. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000086</guid>
3664. </item>
3665.  
3666.  
3667. <item>
3668. <title>Resurrecting my work blog</title>
3669. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
3670. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Jul-30-a</link>
3671. <description>
3672. <![CDATA[
3673. <p>Just a quick pointer to/reminder about my work blog. I try not to
3674.  
3675. discuss much work related stuff here except for maybe some travel and
3676.  
3677. conference related items. I keep a separate blog <a href="http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/page/KRL">over at developerWorks</a>
3678.  
3679. that I discuss my work related activities in. However, during the
3680.  
3681. height of my chemo treatment I found it hard to maintain both this site
3682.  
3683. and the work blog. Consequently the work blog has been quiet for some
3684.  
3685. time.  Now that chemo is behind me I have started trying to post
3686.  
3687. frequently to the work blog again. Several of you have commented to me
3688.  
3689. that you had forgotten I even had a work blog! Therefore I am posting
3690.  
3691. this entry as a reminder that the work blog exists and that it is
3692.  
3693. active again. Please feel free to pop over there are see what I am up
3694.  
3695. to work wise and leave a comment or two if you feel so inclined.<br>
3696.  
3697. </p>
3698.  
3699. ]]>
3700. </description>
3701. <pubDate>Wed, 30 Jul 2008 09:33:59 CDT</pubDate>
3702. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000085</guid>
3703. </item>
3704.  
3705.  
3706. <item>
3707. <title>Bike riding for cancer relief - your help needed</title>
3708. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
3709. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Jul-24-a</link>
3710. <description>
3711. <![CDATA[
3712. <p>In recent years I lost my Mum to cancer as well as a very good
3713.  
3714. friend here in Austin. As you all know I have also now been in a
3715.  
3716. personal fight with cancer and I just found out that another good
3717.  
3718. friend is starting his own fight. On top of that, I have been contacted
3719.  
3720. by numerous fellow cancer patients who found me through this web site
3721.  
3722. and I have also got to know many of my fellow patients at the local
3723.  
3724. cancer center where I am being treated. I am therefore, as you would
3725.  
3726. expect, a strong supporter of genuine efforts to help fund cancer
3727.  
3728. research. A colleague of mine, Don Harbison,  is about to embark
3729.  
3730. on such a fund raising effort and asked if I would mention it here. Of
3731.  
3732. course I agreed. Rather than try and explain it in my own words I asked
3733.  
3734. him to provide me a short description of the event which he has done
3735.  
3736. below. If cancer research is important to you, please consider
3737.  
3738. supporting Don's efforts. Here is his description of the event.....<br>
3739.  
3740. <br>
3741.  
3742. </p>
3743.  
3744. <div style="margin-left: 80px; font-weight: bold;"><cite style="font-weight: normal;"></cite>
3745.  
3746. <table style="text-align: left; width: 781px; height: 957px;" border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="2">
3747.  
3748.  <tbody>
3749.  
3750.    <tr>
3751.  
3752.      <td style="vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"><cite style="font-weight: normal;"><br>
3753.  
3754. By way of introduction, for those
3755.  
3756. who don't know me, I work with Kelvin in IBM's Open Standards
3757.  
3758. organization. Like you, I was first shocked to hear news of his cancer
3759.  
3760. diagnosis late last year, and then extremely pleased to learn how
3761.  
3762. successful his treatment program is going now.<br>
3763.  
3764.  
3765.  
3766. <br>
3767.  
3768. Cancer has also directly affected some of my family and friends. For
3769.  
3770. the past three years I have worked to raise funds to support cancer
3771.  
3772. research at <a href="http://www.dana-farber.org/">Dana-Farber Cancer Institute</a> in Boston. I do this by signing up to ride the <a href="http://www.pmc.org/">Pan-Massachusetts Challenge</a>,
3773.  
3774. a 2 day, 192 mile ride here in Massachusetts. By signing up I commit to
3775.  
3776. raise a minimum of $4,000 but I aim higher. This year I'm targeting
3777.  
3778. $8,500.&nbsp; Please check out <a href="http://www.pmc.org/">their web page</a>
3779.  
3780. ...you'll see it's an amazing event that attracts participation from
3781.  
3782. all across the country and the world. This year we are aiming to bring
3783.  
3784. in $34M, so you can see what a huge impact this has on supporting the
3785.  
3786. excellent research programs at Dana-Farber that benefit us all.<br>
3787.  
3788. <br>
3789.  
3790. Many PMC people ride in honor of a friend or family member directly
3791.  
3792. affected by cancer. This year I am pleased that Kelvin accepted my
3793.  
3794. request to dedicate my ride in his honor.  Like you, I've been
3795.  
3796. incredibly impressed with his courageous approach to beating his
3797.  
3798. cancer. I can't think of a better way of expressing this than to
3799.  
3800. continue to work hard at the fund raising, and then go out and break a
3801.  
3802. sweat by riding with 5,500 others from Sturbridge to Provincetown here
3803.  
3804. in Massachusetts. <br>
3805.  
3806. <br>
3807.  
3808. This year the ride is on August 2nd and 3rd. Please join me in this effort by sponsoring my ride.<br>
3809.  
3810. <br>
3811.  
3812. To do this, just visit <a href="https://www.pmc.org/egifts/default.asp?Add=DH0129">this site</a><br>
3813.  
3814. <br>
3815.  
3816. Click on 'Sponsor one rider with one donation', then open up 'Select a
3817.  
3818. person by eGift  ID'. You'll see my name and the field to enter the
3819.  
3820. amount you wish to contribute. It's very quick and simple. The PMC
3821.  
3822. staff run a lean operation. As they say: "Not one cent of each dollar
3823.  
3824. raised through riders' sweat and determination is used for
3825.  
3826. administrative and organizational expenses." Using the web is a major
3827.  
3828. component of this success. <br>
3829.  
3830. <br>
3831.  
3832. If you work for IBM or a company that has a matching gift program, this
3833.  
3834. is an excellent way to double your gift. Last year, almost $2,000 was
3835.  
3836. directly matched by IBM. Here's the link for <a href="http://w3-01.ibm.com/hr/us/hrforms/data/mgapp.pdf">IBM's Matching Grant form</a><br>
3837.  
3838. <br>
3839.  
3840. Just fill in your employee serial number and the amount of your donation. Then snail mail it to me at:<br>
3841.  
3842. <br>
3843.  
3844. Don Harbison<br>
3845.  
3846. 3 Thoreau Dr.<br>
3847.  
3848. Chelmsford, MA 01824<br>
3849.  
3850. <br>
3851.  
3852. &nbsp;I will take care of mailing it in to the PMC/Dana-Farber team. <br>
3853.  
3854. <br>
3855.  
3856. I'm looking forward to the ride, and re-connecting with the amazing
3857.  
3858. community that comes together once a year. When it's over, I'll post an
3859.  
3860. update on how it went. <br>
3861.  
3862. <br>
3863.  
3864. Thank you for your support!<br>
3865.  
3866. <br>
3867.  
3868. Don Harbison<br>
3869.  
3870. dpharbison@mac.com</cite></td>
3871.  
3872.    </tr>
3873.  
3874.  </tbody>
3875.  
3876. </table>
3877.  
3878. <cite style="font-weight: normal;"></cite><br>
3879.  
3880. </div>
3881.  
3882. <p><br>
3883.  
3884. </p>
3885.  
3886.  
3887. ]]>
3888. </description>
3889. <pubDate>Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:59:09 CDT</pubDate>
3890. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000084</guid>
3891. </item>
3892.  
3893.  
3894.  
3895. <item>
3896. <title>Toby</title>
3897. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">family</category>
3898. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Jul-16-a</link>
3899. <description>
3900. <![CDATA[
3901. <p><img style="border: 2px solid ; width: 253px; height: 216px;" alt="Toby, April 2007" title="Toby, April 2007" src="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/images/TobyApril2007.jpg" align="left" hspace="10">Yesterday
3902.  
3903. we lost a very dear and very loyal friend when one of our two Golden
3904.  
3905. Retrievers, Toby, passed away. He was 12 years old. Lorna and I got
3906.  
3907. Toby and his twin sister Brandy (who is still with us but very confused
3908.  
3909. as to where Toby has gone) in 1996 just after we were married. Over
3910.  
3911. that long a period of time it is hard not to build up a very close bond
3912.  
3913. with such a great dog. As any book on the subject will point out,
3914.  
3915. Golden Retrievers make great companion animals and Toby was the epitome
3916.  
3917. of that.  He just adored people and was always beside one of us as
3918.  
3919. often as he could be. Many times he would quietly creep into our
3920.  
3921. bedroom at night and go to sleep at the end of the bed. More than once
3922.  
3923. I almost fell over him during the night! As I mentioned in my prior
3924.  
3925. posting, we knew that his remaining time with us would be limited but
3926.  
3927. we were expecting it to be measured in months and not days. Sadly, the
3928.  
3929. cancer had apparently metastasized further and faster than we realized
3930.  
3931. and he was a lot worse off than we had hoped. His passing has affected
3932.  
3933. all of us, especially Lorna and I as Toby in a way was like our first
3934.  
3935. baby. We raised him from an eight week old puppy at a time when we were
3936.  
3937. not exactly sure what we were doing and in a way he trained us as we
3938.  
3939. tried to train him!  The kids seem to be handling it better than
3940.  
3941. we are which is actually a good thing. They were sad for a while but
3942.  
3943. have rebounded quickly and are already wanting a new puppy to get the
3944.  
3945. dog count back up to three. They even have a name picked out already!
3946.  
3947. We still have Brandy and our three year old spaniel, Scamp and I think
3948.  
3949. Lorna and I need a little time to get over Toby's departure before we
3950.  
3951. give in to the puppy idea but I'm sure it will only be a matter of
3952.  
3953. time. I am fortunate that I have had a lot of great friends and
3954.  
3955. companions around me in my life and Toby was definitely one of them. No
3956.  
3957. matter how bad a day I had at the office or whatever my mood, Toby was
3958.  
3959. always there with a smile (see photo) and a tennis ball. We are very
3960.  
3961. grateful to have had him with us for as long as we did and we all miss
3962.  
3963. him very much.<br>
3964.  
3965. ]]>
3966. </description>
3967. <pubDate>Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:55:20 CDT</pubDate>
3968. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000083</guid>
3969. </item>
3970.  
3971. <item>
3972. <title>A few quick updates</title>
3973. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
3974. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Jul-10-a</link>
3975. <description>
3976. <![CDATA[
3977. Since we got back from our trip to Dallas things have been fairly
3978.  
3979. hectic around here and consequently I am behind in my postings. This
3980.  
3981. weekend, adding to our worry list, one of our two Golden Retrievers
3982.  
3983. (Toby) collapsed on the floor and we had to rush him to the emergency
3984.  
3985. animal clinic. To cut a long story short he had lost a lot of blood due
3986.  
3987. to an internal tumor on his spleen and needed emergency surgery to
3988.  
3989. remove the spleen. Given his age (he was twelve this week), it was very
3990.  
3991. touch and go for several days and we honestly did not expect him to
3992.  
3993. make it. Happily, yesterday he perked up a lot and managed to get up
3994.  
3995. and walk and started eating food again and we were able to bring him
3996.  
3997. home. The other dogs Brandy (his sister) and Scamp were very glad, as
3998.  
3999. were we, to have him back. Sadly, the doctors tell us that the cancer
4000.  
4001. they found in his spleen is likely to spread to other organs over the
4002.  
4003. next few months and that they don't expect him to last more than about
4004.  
4005. another six months (nine at the outside). Toby has been a truly
4006.  
4007. terrific companion and we all plan to make the most of the time we have
4008.  
4009. left with him. It goes without saying that we are more than a bit sick
4010.  
4011. of having to deal with cancer related illness in our house.<br>
4012.  
4013. <br>
4014.  
4015. Also on the worry list at the moment is the house roof which was
4016.  
4017. damaged by a hail storm several weeks ago. Some of the pieces of hail
4018.  
4019. were larger than a golf ball. We had to have the entire roof replaced
4020.  
4021. back in 2005 after another hail storm and my roofing contractor says we
4022.  
4023. need to replace it again now. I am currently in a debate with the
4024.  
4025. insurance company over how much of the roof they are willing to pay
4026.  
4027. for. I'm still hoping that they will pick up the entire bill but we'll
4028.  
4029. see. This is one piece of stress that I could well do without but I
4030.  
4031. guess is a common problem living where we do. Lorna's car also need
4032.  
4033. some repair work as a result of the same hail storm, and yes you
4034.  
4035. guessed it, the car is insured by the same insurance company!<br>
4036.  
4037. <br>
4038.  
4039. On a happier note, the kids are having a great Summer. Thankfully Lorna
4040.  
4041. was smart enough to sign them up for a variety of different activities
4042.  
4043. including a soccer camp, a soccer tournament, a cooking class, karate
4044.  
4045. camp, a ceramics class and several play dates with friends. Despite all
4046.  
4047. of this plus having the pool to swim in, a large selection of books to
4048.  
4049. read and <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/videogames.html">video games</a> to play, we still have heard more than once "I'm bored" - you just can't win!<br>
4050.  
4051. <br>
4052.  
4053. A few weekends ago we put two teams (made up of girls from our regular
4054.  
4055. 8-a-side team that I help coach and a few others) into a 3 v 3 soccer
4056.  
4057. tournament. Both teams did very well and in fact one of them won the
4058.  
4059. event and has qualified for the national finals. Suffice to say Robyn
4060.  
4061. (who was part of that winning team) is very excited about this.<br>
4062.  
4063. <br>
4064.  
4065. We have also managed to see a few movies in the last few weeks. Lorna and I went to see <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Indiana Jones</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The Incredible Hulk</span>, both of which we enjoyed. Lorna and the kids went to see <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Narnia - Prince Caspian</span> and they enjoyed that. On Sunday we all went to see <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">WALL.e</span> and yesterday we took my son to see <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Kung Fu Panda</span>. I liked both of the animated pictures but of the two I think I preferred <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">WALL.e</span>. I am still trying to keep up with my <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/books.html">reading</a>
4066.  
4067. and since chemo ended I have definitely noticed an improvement in both
4068.  
4069. my eyesight and my ability to concentrate which has helped a lot.<br>
4070.  
4071. <br>
4072.  
4073. As I have documented here in prior posts, I have more or less continued
4074.  
4075. working full time throughout my treatment
4076.  
4077. regimen as much as I can and with chemo now behind me I have been able
4078.  
4079. to really get re-focussed on work. Several people have asked me why I
4080.  
4081. did not just take a leave of absence for a while but to be honest work
4082.  
4083. has been a very good
4084.  
4085. distraction for me and it helps that I really like the people I work
4086.  
4087. with and am fortunate that the company I work for, IBM, has been so
4088.  
4089. understanding and caring during this time. However, with many people
4090.  
4091. out on Summer vacation I
4092.  
4093. am at times a little too busy right now!<br>
4094.  
4095.  
4096.  
4097. <br>
4098.  
4099. There is not a lot of other news to report on the medical front (which is basically a good thing). The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuropathy">neuropathy</a>
4100.  
4101. (numbness in my hands and feet) continues to really bug me. I visited
4102.  
4103. the oncologist's office and chatted with them about it and they have
4104.  
4105. changed my medications a little but so far I am not sensing any real
4106.  
4107. improvement (no pun intended!). They did tell me it can take more than
4108.  
4109. a month on this medication for things to start to improve so I guess I
4110.  
4111. just have to be patient. My next round of tests (CT scan, blood work
4112.  
4113. etc.) is now only about four weeks away. I am trying not to get too
4114.  
4115. wound up about that but I will be glad when it is over. If the tests go
4116.  
4117. well then right after that I can schedule the surgery to have my chemo
4118.  
4119. port removed.<br>
4120.  
4121. <br>
4122.  
4123. On the technology front, I have started upgrading all of our computers
4124.  
4125. here at the house (both the Mac and the PCs) to use the new Firefox 3.0
4126.  
4127. browser. So far I have been very impressed with it and I congratulate
4128.  
4129. all of the folks at Mozilla that have worked so hard to achieve this
4130.  
4131. significant release. <br>
4132.  
4133. <br>
4134.  
4135. I continue to be very grateful for the messages of support for myself and my family that continue to arrive via e-mail, the <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/guestbook.html">guest book</a>, Facebook and many other channels. Thanks as always it really helps keep my spirits up.<br>
4136.  
4137. <br>
4138.  
4139. That's about all the news for now. It continues to be a very hot Summer
4140.  
4141. here and I have already caught myself looking at the calendar to see
4142.  
4143. when school starts again for the kids!<br>
4144.  
4145.  
4146. ]]>
4147. </description>
4148. <pubDate>Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:16:00 CDT</pubDate>
4149. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000082</guid>
4150. </item>
4151.  
4152.  
4153. <item>
4154. <title>Great Wolf Lodge</title>
4155. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
4156. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Jun-24-a</link>
4157. <description>
4158. <![CDATA[
4159. <p>I took last week off from work and we drove up to Dallas (actually
4160.  
4161. to Grapevine which is effectively a Dallas suburb). We stayed at the
4162.  
4163. recently opened <a href="http://www.greatwolf.com/locations/grapevine/">Great Wolf Lodge</a>.
4164.  
4165. Situated, adjacent to the DFW airport, the Lodge is actually a combined
4166.  
4167. hotel and water park, with both indoor and outdoor water parks. They
4168.  
4169. claim that the indoor water park is in fact the largest of its kind in
4170.  
4171. the World. The hotel also has all kinds of other things for kids and
4172.  
4173. grown ups alike to do, such as the Magi Quest which has you running all
4174.  
4175. over the hotel looking for clues to gain runes and solve magical
4176.  
4177. puzzles. I think the kids enjoyed the quest as much as they enjoyed the
4178.  
4179. water parks. In fact we all had a great time and are thinking of going
4180.  
4181. back again at Christmas time. If you follow the link above you can read
4182.  
4183. a whole lot more about what the Great Wolf Lodge has to offer. I would
4184.  
4185. thoroughly recommend it as a great place to let off steam for a few
4186.  
4187. days.<br>
4188.  
4189. </p>
4190.  
4191. <p>The weather here in Central Texas continues to be very hot. Every
4192.  
4193. day for the past several weeks we have been close to (or above) 100
4194.  
4195. degrees Fahrenheit. This week I am back at work while Lorna and the
4196.  
4197. kids are having fun at vacation bible school at one of the local
4198.  
4199. churches. I have also been trying to keep up with the Euro 2008 matches
4200.  
4201. and with Wimbledon (both of which are being shown live on TV here).
4202.  
4203. This coming weekend Robyn has a 3 v 3 soccer tournament which should be
4204.  
4205. a lot of fun although it is likely to be very hot during most of the
4206.  
4207. games.<br>
4208.  
4209. </p>
4210.  
4211. <p>On the medical front, the numbness in my feet and hands continues to
4212.  
4213. be quite painful, in fact, typing has become very uncomfortable for me
4214.  
4215. so I will keep this posting brief. I am visiting the oncologist's
4216.  
4217. office on Wednesday to get my chemo port flushed and I am hoping they
4218.  
4219. can do something more for the numbness. The meds they gave me have so
4220.  
4221. far not improved things at all. <br>
4222.  
4223. </p>
4224.  
4225. <p>Anyway, that's the news for now, I'll try to post again soon.<br>
4226.  
4227. </p>
4228.  
4229. ]]>
4230. </description>
4231. <pubDate>Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:46:22 CDT</pubDate>
4232. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000081</guid>
4233. </item>
4234.  
4235.  
4236.  
4237.  
4238. <item>
4239. <title>Orlando</title>
4240. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
4241. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Jun-13-a</link>
4242. <description>
4243. <![CDATA[
4244. Last week I had business meetings in Orlando. My wife and I decided
4245. we would drive there with the kids so that they could have some fun
4246. while I was working. Even with the price of fuel at its current
4247. level,  driving is still cheaper than flying the four of us and to
4248. be honest I am still a bit nervous of taking a plane ride given some of
4249. the lingering chemo side effects (my legs seem to swell up really
4250. easily at present). In any case, I really enjoy driving and the drive
4251. to Orlando from our house, a trip of about 1150 miles each way, is
4252. quite a pleasant one and almost all on freeways. We have done the trip
4253. many times before so we know where a lot of good places to stop for
4254. breaks are and we usually break the trip into two days, spending the
4255. night in Gulfport which is almost exactly half way between Austin and
4256. Orlando. As a side note, I really feel for the people of Gulfport. Even
4257. two years after hurricane Katrina, there is still a tremendous amount
4258. of evidence left of the devastating effects of the storm. <br>
4259. </p>
4260. <p>Anyway, it was nice for me to get away for a few days, even if it
4261. was primarily a week of business meetings for me. I had not been out of
4262. the state of Texas since before my surgery last October so a week away
4263. was really quite a treat. I did not manage to make it to the them parks
4264. with the family but we did get to spend a fun evening together at <a
4265. href="http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/entertainment/entertainmentDetail?id=DisneyQuestIndoorInteractiveThemeParkEntertainmentPage&bhcp=1">Disney
4266. Quest</a> (a five story building full of all types of video games both
4267. old and new and some really cool virtual reality rides). On the night
4268. before we started driving home we all had dinner at the Arabian Knights
4269. (you eat while watching the horses and actors perform). By all accounts
4270. a fun time was had by all and I feel refreshed just from being out of
4271. the house for a while.<br>
4272. </p>
4273. <p>This week I had a series of business meetings at the office and it
4274. was really nice to meet so many colleagues, many of whom I had not seen
4275. for many months due to my ongoing medical issues.<br>
4276. </p>
4277. <p>Talking of medical issues, it has now been five weeks since chemo
4278. ended. Some of the side effects have definitely improved, others
4279. however are lingering on. In particular, the numbness in my fingers
4280. that had just started by the end of chemo has now also spread to my
4281. feet and has generally become quite a but worse. It has reached the
4282. point in fact, where driving the car feels strange as I can only barely
4283. feel the pedals. I called the doctor and he has put me on some meds
4284. that are hopefully going to help with this (yet more pills to remember
4285. to take!). Apparently this numbness can take many months to fully go
4286. away and is caused by the Oxaliplatin (one of the chemo drugs) which
4287. messes quite badly with the nervous system.<br>
4288. </p>
4289. <p>The kids are already well into the various camps and other
4290. activities that we planned for them this Summer and seem to be having a
4291. lot of fun. The weather has been extremely hot here in Texas. We have
4292. already had multiple 100 degree days in the Austin area. Heaven only
4293. knows what August will be like at this rate. Thankfully we have so far
4294. escaped most of the severe storms that have all passed to our North.
4295. Anyway, that's all the updates for today. I'm taking next week off so I
4296. can spend some quality time with the family and forget about work for a
4297. few days. After that I hope to get back into a routine of more regular
4298. updates here as the Summer progresses.<br>
4299. ]]>
4300. </description>
4301. <pubDate>Fri, 13 Jun 2008 16:47:06 CDT</pubDate>
4302. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000080</guid>
4303. </item>
4304.  
4305. <item>
4306. <title>Quick updates</title>
4307. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
4308. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-May-29-a</link>
4309. <description>
4310. <![CDATA[
4311. <p>I haven't posted for a few days in part because there has not been a
4312. lot of news to share on the medical front (which is fine by me). It has
4313. now been 22 days since my last chemo session ended (on May 7th). The
4314. "fog" seems to have left me now finally for which I am very grateful.
4315. It has been replaced however by a feeling of total exhaustion - I think
4316. I have finally let myself relax a bit and it's past time to catch up on
4317. a lot of missed sleep. Most of the other chemo side effects are still
4318. with me which is no great surprise as my doctor told me to expect it to
4319. take between four to six weeks for them to subside. The thing that is
4320. bugging me the most right now is a constant feeling of numbness in all
4321. of my fingers and toes - it actually makes typing and even walking bit
4322. uncomfortable. This is a known side effect of the Oxaliplatin
4323. medication, so I hope it goes away soon. I visited the Oncologist's
4324. office yesterday to get my chemo port flushed. I have decided not to
4325. have it removed until August so that I can have all of my interim blood
4326. tests done via the port (rather than having to endure a lot of needles
4327. being stuck into my arm). The port has to be flushed every four weeks
4328. to prevent any risk of blood clots. The next major medical milestones
4329. are scheduled for August when I'll need another CT scan, a lot of other
4330. tests and an exam by my surgeon. When all of that is done I'll need
4331. minor surgery to remove the port.<br>
4332. </p>
4333. <p>So let's see, what else is going on? Well, we had a very nice and
4334. relaxing Memorial Day weekend. The weather was (and continues to be)
4335. very hot and we spent a lot of time out by the pool. The kids had lots
4336. of friends over and had fun in the water. I spent a lot of time in
4337. "slug mode" sitting by the pool and reading.<br>
4338. </p>
4339. <p>Today is Robyn's actual birthday (although we held her party several
4340. days ago). I cannot believe that she is ten years old already - how
4341. time flies. She doesn't know it yet but we're planning a surprise
4342. dinner with one of her best friends at her favourite restaurant
4343. tonight. School ends on Friday so this will be the last week I have a
4344. quiet work from home environment! Thankfully the kids have a lot of
4345. Summer camps and other activities planned already to help keep them
4346. busy during the long SUmmer break. I'm a little concerned about just
4347. how hot this Summer will be as temperatures in Central Texas have
4348. already been in the high nineties Fahrenheit for the last couple of
4349. weeks. Well above average for the time of year. We've also seen some
4350. nasty storms come through already. Our roof (which was replaced in 2005
4351. after a hail storm) has again been badly damaged by hail and Lorna's
4352. car also needs work done on it to get the hail dents removed. In the
4353. USA in general this looks like being one of the worst years in a long
4354. time (maybe ever) for damage, and sadly deaths, caused by Tornadoes. I
4355. don't know if this is due to climate change or not but suffice to say
4356. the weather here this year has been pretty unusual in many ways.<br>
4357. </p>
4358. <p>That's about all the news for now. I'll try and post again in a few days time.<br>
4359. </p>
4360. ]]>
4361. </description>
4362. <pubDate>Thu, 29 May 2008 12:05:49 CDT</pubDate>
4363. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000079</guid>
4364. </item>
4365.  
4366.  
4367.  
4368. <item>
4369. <title>Cleaning up after a stormy night</title>
4370. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">weather</category>
4371. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-May-15-a</link>
4372. <description>
4373. <![CDATA[
4374. <p>Last night, multiple storm lines containing several super cell
4375. clouds (the type that frequently generate tornadoes) went through this
4376. area. This led to a very rough night and some very frightened kids.
4377. Multiple funnel clouds were reported in the area, the closest one
4378. passed less than three miles from here. As a result, we experienced
4379. strong winds, heavy rain and a lot of hail. A few of the pieces of hail
4380. were about the size of a billiard balls. The hail was so bad it even
4381. killed a duck which sadly we found dead on our back porch during one of
4382. the breaks in the storms. This morning we began the cleanup. There were
4383. leaves and twigs everywhere and several pieces of our shingle roof had
4384. broken free and were laying on the ground. We had our roof replaced in
4385. 2005 after another major hail storm. Today I called the roofing company
4386. again and they are coming out to assess whether or not we need to again
4387. replace the roof. All day around our neighbourhood you could here chain
4388. saws and other power tools being used as people cleaned up the mess.
4389. Several trees nearby have lost limbs or have become uprooted.
4390. Thankfully our trees are mostly large and well established and all seem
4391. to have survived the onslaught. I got a few good photos of the piles of
4392. hail on the back porch, I'll try and post one or two later.<br>
4393. </p>
4394. <p>Luckily, we managed to host my son's soccer team pool party during
4395. the afternoon and early evening yesterday before the storms arrived.
4396. There is no way we could have hosted it today. When we awoke the pool
4397. was full to overflowing (the emergency drain seems to have become
4398. blocked by all the tree debris). The pool was also full, and I do mean
4399. full, of leaves and twigs. We have been cleaning it out off and on all
4400. day and we are still not done.  Later today I need to figure out
4401. what is blocking the drain and fix it and do more raking up of all the
4402. leaves and twigs that are spread all over the front and back yards. It
4403. really is quite a mess. I wish I had more energy but at least this will
4404. keep my mind of my other worries for a while!<br>
4405. </p>
4406. <p>The past week or so we have had several big storms (although this
4407. was by far the worst) and it seems we have had a lot more tornadic
4408. activity (even this far South of "Tornado Alley") than usual. 
4409. When I moved to Central Texas, while the realtors were busy telling me
4410. how great a place
4411. it was to live in I think they somehow forgot to mention how much "fun"
4412. Spring can be!
4413. </p>
4414. ]]>
4415. </description>
4416. <pubDate>Thu, 15 May 2008 15:58:55 CDT</pubDate>
4417. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000078</guid>
4418. </item>
4419.  
4420.  
4421. <item>
4422. <title>End of round twelve, end of chemotherapy</title>
4423. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
4424. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-May-09-a</link>
4425. <description>
4426.  <![CDATA[
4427. <p>It's hard to believe but I have made it through my scheduled twelve
4428. rounds of chemotherapy. The treatments officially ended on Wednesday
4429. but I have been too wiped out to post until now. The fatigue still has
4430. me firmly in its grasp but I am hopeful that it will wear off in a few
4431. more days from now (although lately it has been taking almost a full
4432. ten days to clear out). The staff at the oncologist, who have been
4433. great all through this process, showered my with confetti and gave me a
4434. certificate of achievement to send me on my way. I was very close to
4435. tears, they have all been so terrific in the way they have treated me.
4436. I will not be meeting the oncologist again now for three months at
4437. which time he will test my blood and do a CT scan to make sure nothing
4438. bad is trying to creep back into my system - that will naturally 
4439. be a nervous visit. I also have a call into my surgeon to see when he
4440. wants to take out my chemo infusion port (minor surgery) and do my
4441. physical exam. So while chemo is behind me for now, I still have some
4442. more near term worries to get past but we have for sure reached a major
4443. milestone now with chemo ending. When the "fog" wears off I am sure I
4444. will feel happy about where I am. I am not up to writing a long posting
4445. right now but I do want to close by again thanking all of you that have
4446. stuck with me throughout this whole ordeal. I could not be where I am now
4447. without the fantastic support of my family and friends around the
4448. World. As always a big THANK YOU to you all.<br>
4449. </p>
4450. ]]>
4451. </description>
4452. <pubDate>Fri, 9 May 2008 14:58:35 CDT</pubDate>
4453. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000077</guid>
4454. </item>
4455.  
4456.  
4457. <item>
4458. <title>Seconds Out, Round Twelve, ding,ding...</title>
4459. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
4460. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-May-05-a</link>
4461. <description>
4462. <![CDATA[
4463. <p>So here we are. It's Monday morning and I am sitting in my chair at
4464. the oncologist's office beginning my twelfth and final chemo treatment!
4465. My first treatment was back on December 26th of last year and since
4466. then the time seems to have (for the most part) flown by. I must admit
4467. that I am now more than ready to be done. By all accounts my body has
4468. handled the treatment very well but the fatigue in particular has
4469. reached the point where it never fully goes away so I'll be glad in
4470. about four to six weeks from now when the side effects are supposed to
4471. fully subside and my system will hopefully become "normal" again.<br>
4472. </p>
4473. <p>After this week we go into a monitoring mode at approximately three
4474. monthly intervals where I will be tested for any signs of the cancer
4475. coming back, both by my oncologist and my surgeon who will be
4476. monitoring things too. So those visits will be nervous times for me I
4477. am sure but I am not going to worry about them right now as this is a
4478. major milestone and I plan to celebrate a little once we get through
4479. this week.<br>
4480. </p>
4481. <p>In about two weeks I'll need to schedule surgery to have the chemo
4482. infusion port removed from my chest , yet more hours of blood tests and
4483. filling out CYA forms at the hospital, for what is hopefully a 20
4484. minute procedure. At the same time as the port is removed, while I am
4485. sedated the surgeon plans to do an initial internal exam to see if
4486. there are any signs of the polyps that can turn cancerous coming back.
4487. If there are that will have to be dealt with as my genetics are such
4488. that the average time it takes for a polyp to go cancerous is one year
4489. or maybe less. I believe the average for a person that does not have my
4490. genetic makeup, is 10 years (quite a difference).<br>
4491. </p>
4492. <p>When I started writing about each of the chemo visits, I made the
4493. analogy to a 12-round boxing match. I wondered at the start if my
4494. opponent (the chemo meds) would be too much for me. For sure he landed
4495. a few good blows but my blood levels and other numbers continue to
4496. improve and we have not had to delay any of the rounds so I think when
4497. all is said and done I am hoping for a "points decision" in my favour !!<br>
4498. </p>
4499. <p>I'll post again soon but for now I need to sign off as I just got a
4500. shot of Ativan (Lorazepam) and I am getting drousy!<br>
4501. </p>
4502. ]]>
4503. </description>
4504. <pubDate>Mon, 5 May 2008 11:32:42 CDT</pubDate>
4505. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000076</guid>
4506. </item>
4507.  
4508.  
4509. <item>
4510. <title>Rocking with Rush</title>
4511. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">music</category>
4512. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Apr-25-a</link>
4513. <description>
4514. <![CDATA[
4515. <p>A couple of nights ago (Wednesdsy), along with our good friend,
4516. Brian, my daughetr (Robyn) and I went to the Frank Irwin Center here in
4517. Austin to  see Canadian rock legends Rush in concert. This was the
4518. first time they had come to Austin in 14 years! My wife is not a big
4519. Rush fan so I had taken Robyn to San Antonio to see them last Summer
4520. and she had enjoyed it so much that when the Austin date was announced
4521. we did not hesitate to go looking for tickets. I think we enjoyed this
4522. show even better than the prior one. The set list had been changed and
4523. I think it was a better blend of their newer and "classic" music. The
4524. nice thing about the 2008 tour is that the band are only playing venues
4525. that they have not played in at least ten years. I am really thankful
4526. that the side effects from my ongoing chemo treatments held off long
4527. enough for me to enjoy the show. The band played for close to three
4528. hours with a short intermission midway through. I'm also glad the show
4529. was Wednedsay and not Thursday or Friday as the chemo has definitelky
4530. hit me quite hard the last couple of days. Anyway, as promised in my
4531. prior post, here's what I think was the set list from the show:<br>
4532. </p>
4533. <table style="text-align: left; width: 80%;" border="1" cellpadding="2"
4534. cellspacing="2">
4535.  <tbody>
4536.    <tr>
4537.      <td style="vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Part
4538. 1</span><br>
4539.      </td>
4540.      <td style="vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Part
4541. 2</span><br>
4542.      </td>
4543.      <td style="vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Encore</span><br>
4544.      </td>
4545.    </tr>
4546.    <tr>
4547.      <td style="vertical-align: top;"><br>
4548.      </td>
4549.      <td style="vertical-align: top;"><br>
4550.      </td>
4551.      <td style="vertical-align: top;"><br>
4552.      </td>
4553.    </tr>
4554.    <tr>
4555.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">Limelight </td>
4556.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">Far Cry</td>
4557.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">One Little Victory</td>
4558.    </tr>
4559.    <tr>
4560.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">Digital Man</td>
4561.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">Workin' Them Angels</td>
4562.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">A Passage to Bangkok</td>
4563.    </tr>
4564.    <tr>
4565.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">Ghost of a Chance</td>
4566.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">Armor And Sword</td>
4567.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">YYZ</td>
4568.    </tr>
4569.    <tr>
4570.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">Mission</td>
4571.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">Spindrift</td>
4572.      <td style="vertical-align: top;"><br>
4573.      </td>
4574.    </tr>
4575.    <tr>
4576.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">Freewill</td>
4577.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">The Way The Wind Blows</td>
4578.      <td style="vertical-align: top;"><br>
4579.      </td>
4580.    </tr>
4581.    <tr>
4582.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">The Main Monkey Business</td>
4583.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">Subdivisions</td>
4584.      <td style="vertical-align: top;"><br>
4585.      </td>
4586.    </tr>
4587.    <tr>
4588.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">The Larger Bowl </td>
4589.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">Natural Science</td>
4590.      <td style="vertical-align: top;"><br>
4591.      </td>
4592.    </tr>
4593.    <tr>
4594.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">Red Barchetta</td>
4595.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">Witch Hunt</td>
4596.      <td style="vertical-align: top;"><br>
4597.      </td>
4598.    </tr>
4599.    <tr>
4600.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">The Trees</td>
4601.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">Malignant Narcissism</td>
4602.      <td style="vertical-align: top;"><br>
4603.      </td>
4604.    </tr>
4605.    <tr>
4606.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">Between The Wheels</td>
4607.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">Drum Solo</td>
4608.      <td style="vertical-align: top;"><br>
4609.      </td>
4610.    </tr>
4611.    <tr>
4612.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">Dreamline</td>
4613.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">Hope</td>
4614.      <td style="vertical-align: top;"><br>
4615.      </td>
4616.    </tr>
4617.    <tr>
4618.      <td style="vertical-align: top;"><br>
4619.      </td>
4620.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">The Spirit of Radio</td>
4621.      <td style="vertical-align: top;"><br>
4622.      </td>
4623.    </tr>
4624.    <tr>
4625.      <td style="vertical-align: top;"><br>
4626.      </td>
4627.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">2112: Overture / The Temples of
4628. Syrinx</td>
4629.      <td style="vertical-align: top;"><br>
4630.      </td>
4631.    </tr>
4632.    <tr>
4633.      <td style="vertical-align: top;"><br>
4634.      </td>
4635.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">Tom Sawyer</td>
4636.      <td style="vertical-align: top;"><br>
4637.      </td>
4638.    </tr>
4639.  </tbody>
4640. </table>
4641. <p><br>
4642. </p>
4643. ]]>
4644. </description>
4645. <pubDate>Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:49:55 CDT</pubDate>
4646. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000075</guid>
4647. </item>
4648.  
4649. <item>
4650. <title>End of round eleven</title>
4651. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
4652. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Apr-23-a</link>
4653. <description>
4654. <![CDATA[
4655. <p>So I'm home from the oncologist and chemo round eleven is now
4656. officially over (side effects over the next few days notwithstanding).
4657. That means I have only one more round left to go commencing on May 5th.
4658. So as far as the chemo phase of my treatment goes we are almost there.<br>
4659. </p>
4660. <p>As I mentioned yesterday my focus for the evening now is fighting
4661. off the fatigue long enough to enjoy the Rush concert that starts at
4662. 7:30pm at the Frank Erwin Center here in Austin. I'll try and write up
4663. a bit of a post conference report tomorrow. I am interested to see how
4664. much they have changed the set list since we saw them last year
4665. (apparently there are going to be some changes).<br>
4666. </p>
4667. ]]>
4668. </description>
4669. <pubDate>Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:27:42 CDT</pubDate>
4670. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000074</guid>
4671. </item>
4672.  
4673. <item>
4674. <title>Chemo round eleven and anticipation building before the Rush concert</title>
4675. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
4676. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Apr-22-a</link>
4677. <description>
4678. <![CDATA[
4679. <p>As I type this I am in the nice comfy chair at the oncologist's
4680. office getting my second day of infusions as we are about mid-way
4681. through round eleven (the penultimate round - yay!!). So far the
4682. fatigue has not hit but I expect, based on the last couple of weeks, to
4683. start sometime Wednesday evening or Thursday morning. The later
4684. the better - read on to find out why.....<br>
4685. </p>
4686. <p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Rush come back to Austin for the
4687. first time in 14 years</span><br>
4688. </p>
4689. <p>Hopefully I will be in pretty good shape still on Wednesday evening
4690. as Canadian rock legends Rush are performing in Austin for the first
4691. time in years. In fact I was not even living here (and I have been here
4692. since December 1995) the last time they were here. One of the local
4693. papers did an interview with lead singer Geddy Lee about coming back to
4694. Austin, you can <a
4695. href="http://www.austin360.com/music/content/music/stories/xl/2008/04/0417xlmusic2.html">read
4696. it here</a>. Last year they came to San Antonio and I took my nine year
4697. old daughter Robyn. It was her first concert and I was not sure how
4698. much she would enjoy Rush but she loved everything about the show and
4699. has since learned the words to most of the songs on the tour album
4700. (Snakes and Arrows). I have been a Rush fan since my university days
4701. when my good friend Mike introduced me to them. Since then I have seen
4702. them in concert multiple times both in the USA and the UK and I
4703. honestly think they are playing better now than they ever have - and
4704. they were always good. The Austin date was added as part of some
4705. extended venues that were not part of the original tour. I am hoping
4706. that they jiggle the set list a bit but even if they don't I am really
4707. looking forward to the Show. In San Antonio they played for about three
4708. hours with a short 15 minute break in the middle. Certainly great value
4709. for money.<br>
4710. </p>
4711. <p style="font-weight: bold;">Express baseball<br>
4712. </p>
4713. <p>The professional baseball season is now well under way here in the
4714. US. We renewed our season tickets this year to the <a
4715. href="http://www.rrexpress.com/">Round Rock Express</a> (the AAA
4716. affiliate of the Major League <a
4717. href="http://houston.astros.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=hou">Houston Astros</a>).
4718. Their stadium is less than 10 minutes by car from our house and it's a
4719. great night out for the whole family. We went to the game last night as
4720. I am keen to do as many things as I
4721. can before the fatigue hits for this round. Last night the Budweiser
4722. Clydesdale horse team were their outside the stadium and we all enjoyed
4723. meeting the horses
4724. and their trainers. They told use they are on the road touring 300
4725. days every year! The game itself was also very exciting last night,
4726. aided by the fact that the home team came out on top. So we had a fun
4727. night of baseball and ball park food plus a visit to the in-stadium
4728. kids play area. <br>
4729. </p>
4730. <p>That's my updates for now, I need to get back to working on my
4731. e-mail in box and some other work tasks. The oncologist has a better
4732. wireless network than I have at the house so it's actually a great
4733. place to get work done!<br>
4734. </p>
4735. ]]>
4736. </description>
4737. <pubDate>Tue, 22 Apr 2008 11:36:08 CDT</pubDate>
4738. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000073</guid>
4739. </item>
4740.  
4741. <item>
4742. <title>A productive Saturday in Central Texas</title>
4743. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
4744. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Apr-19-a</link>
4745. <description>
4746. <![CDATA[
4747. The weather here today has been just gorgeous after some nasty
4748. storms passed through on Thursday night and left us with a beautiful
4749. but cooler day on Friday. Today we have been in the mid 80's Fahrenheit
4750. under clear blue skies. Jack and I have the house to ourselves as Robyn
4751. and Lorna are off having fun at a Girl Scouts camp for the weekend. The
4752. campsite is at Inks Lake which is about about two hours West of here.
4753. They have a ton of things for the girls to do (most of it outdoors) so
4754. the great weather is a real plus.
4755.  
4756. <p>Meanwhile, It's been good for both Jack and me to have some quality
4757. "guy time" together. Last night we spent some serious time working
4758. together against hordes of evil aliens trying to save planet Earth from
4759. imminent doom - or put another way we played co-op mode in Halo 3 for
4760. about four hours before (a very extended) bedtime! Today Jack has been
4761. helping me with some house chores and he has also been trying to teach
4762. me how to play Super Smash Bothers Brawl on the Wii. Somehow I don't
4763. think I'll ever give him any decent competition at this game but he
4764. seems happy enough beating me into the dirt so what the heck!<br>
4765. </p>
4766. <p>I woke up this morning finally feeling less foggy from the last
4767. chemo round. This is the longest amount of time it has taken so far for
4768. my fatigue to subside between rounds. Of course round eleven starts on
4769. Monday so I had better enjoy it while it lasts. The doctor had warned
4770. me that the amount of fatigue tends to be cumulative and that certainly
4771. seems to be true in my case. Given I felt a bit more with it, after
4772. watching some of the English soccer on TV this morning and doing a bit
4773. of housework indoors, I decided it was time to take on the huge mess
4774. that used to be my nice tidy garage!  The garage had somehow
4775. become our dumping ground for a lot of stuff over the past few months
4776. and the mess had really started to bug me (even over the effects of the
4777. "chill out" pills they have me on so you know the mess was
4778. bad!!).  Thankfully I managed to get it mostly cleaned up but I
4779. could not believe how quickly I ran out of steam. I had to take lots of
4780. breaks.  Hopefully when chemo finally ends my energy levels will
4781. return to something like they were back last Autumn (pre-diagnosis and
4782. pre-surgery).  As people who know me will tell you I am not good
4783. at sitting still. I need to be busy and it's starting to frustrate me
4784. how weak I still am. I guess I have to keep reminding myself I have
4785. been through a lot and my body has taken a pounding the last five
4786. months or so. I also need to remind myself to just be grateful for what
4787. I have as things could easily have been a lot worse than hopefully they
4788. are.  On the plus side, the fact that I am getting frustrated is
4789. probably a sign that at least in some small way I'm getting more back
4790. to my old self! <br>
4791. </p>
4792. <p>As an aside, I am typing this entry using the Apple Mac Book Pro
4793. laptop which I now use for almost everything I do computer wise. I
4794. continue to be really impressed by this machine. I originally bought it
4795. as an early Christmas present to myself so that I would have something
4796. fun to play with and learn to use during the long hours in the "chemo
4797. chair". As you may recall from some of my prior postings, I have never
4798. before owned an Apple machine of ay type but this laptop has quickly
4799. progressed to being my principal machine. I just love how reliable it
4800. is and I really like the "feel" of the machine and it's applications
4801. and I am unquestionably more productive on this machine than I am on
4802. any of my others.<br>
4803. <br>
4804. So anyway, that's my update for today. As I mentioned above, chemo
4805. round eleven starts on Monday (just two to go now) so I'll try and post
4806. some more updates in the early part of next week. Now I need to go
4807. power up the XBOX 360 as Jack wants to see if we can kill a few more
4808. aliens before bedtime tonight!!
4809. ]]>
4810. </description>
4811. <pubDate>Sat, 19 Apr 2008 19:56:08 CDT</pubDate>
4812. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000072</guid>
4813. </item>
4814.  
4815. <item>
4816. <title>End of round ten</title>
4817. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
4818. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Apr-11-a</link>
4819. <description>
4820. <![CDATA[
4821. Round ten finished on Wednesday and as with the last couple of weeks
4822. the fatigue has hit me almost instantly. The last day or so it has been
4823. a real struggle to get much done. On a happier note, with ten down I
4824. only have two more chemo sessions to go before we go into more of a
4825. maintenance mode and my body has a chance to recover from all of the
4826. chemicals it has been subject to the last few months. I'm certainly
4827. looking forward to the second week of May now (when chemo will
4828. hopefully be behind me). Given how tired I feel right now I will keep
4829. this post very brief. As always I appreciate all of the messages I
4830. continue to get from people keeping tabs on me - it really means a lot
4831. and my thanks to you all as always.
4832. ]]>
4833. </description>
4834. <pubDate>Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:13:58 CDT</pubDate>
4835. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000071</guid>
4836. </item>
4837.  
4838.  
4839. <item>
4840. <title>Chemo round ten and other updates</title>
4841. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
4842. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Apr-07-a</link>
4843. <description>
4844.  <![CDATA[
4845. <p>I am sitting at the oncologist as I type this, about two hours into
4846. round ten. I met with the doctor this morning and we chatted for a bit.
4847. He is pleased with my progress to date and we discussed some of the
4848. next steps that he has planned for me post chemo. The net is that I'll
4849. need to get another cat scan once chemo ends to re-establish a
4850. "baseline picture" of how I look and then I'll start seeing him on a
4851. frequent but more periodic basis to keep tabs on how I am doing. This
4852. is more or less what I expected. He is hopeful the treatment plan will
4853. have done the job but I'll still need to be monitored closely for the
4854. next five years at a minimum in case (Heaven forbid) of a recurrence. I
4855. know I am going to be nervous every time he tests me but he is being
4856. very positive so that is as much as I can ask for at this stage.<br>
4857. </p>
4858. <p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Reading</span><br>
4859. </p>
4860. <p><img style="width: 200px; height: 313px;"
4861. alt="Kite Runner Cover Photo"
4862. src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/62/Kite_runner.jpg/200px-Kite_runner.jpg"
4863. align="left" hspace="10">Thankfully my eyesight seems to be improving
4864. even though I am still in
4865. treatment and I am finding it much easier to keep up with my <a
4866.  href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/books.html">reading</a>
4867. than had been the case during the earlier weeks of treatment. I have
4868. managed to read several books in the past few weeks. I just finished
4869. reading <a
4870. href="http://www.amazon.com/Kite-Runner-Khaled-Hosseini/dp/1594480001/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1207584302&sr=1-2">The
4871. Kite Runner</a>
4872. by Khaled Hosseini. I have not yet seen the film that was recently
4873. released but having read the book I definitely want to see it now. The
4874. Kite Runner was a refreshing change from my staple diet of
4875. action/suspense and science fiction books. I won't spoil the plot here
4876. but I will say it gives a great perspective of life in Afghanistan over
4877. multiple decades from the time before the Russian invasion all the way
4878. to the present day. I found myself really attached to the main
4879. characters and I found myself suffering along with them as I read the
4880. book. If you have not read this book yet, you might want to add it to
4881. your reading queue. In many ways a sad story about people trying to
4882. make the best of their situation but also uplifting at
4883. other times, definitely well written and well worth reading. <br>
4884. </p>
4885. <p>I also recently finished <a
4886. href="http://www.amazon.com/Broker-John-Grisham/dp/0385340540/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1207585249&sr=1-2">The
4887. Broker</a> by John Grisham. This was different from his normal style in
4888. that it was more about spies and espionage than it was about court
4889. rooms and lawyers. That said, I really enjoyed it, although I have read
4890. reviews from Grisham purists who viewed it as one of his worst books.
4891. The book is mostly set in Bologna and other parts of Italy and by the
4892. time he is done describing the place you are left wanting to hop on the
4893. next plane a go visit. So while definitely not a typical Grisham book,
4894. I enjoyed it - I guess I am not a purist!<br>
4895. </p>
4896. <p><br>
4897. </p>
4898. <p><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br>
4899.  </span></p>
4900.  <br>
4901. <p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Video Games</span><br>
4902. </p>
4903. <p>I hadn't had much time to play <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/videogames.html">video games</a>
4904. lately nor the right state of mind probably given how "foggy" my head
4905. has been. That said this weekend between lots of outdoor activities I
4906. made time to sit down and finally finish the single player missions of
4907. Halo 3 (XBOX 360). This is a thoroughly enjoyable and well engineered
4908. game. I am really grateful to my friends who gave it to me as a get
4909. well present back in the post surgery days. It has been one of many
4910. useful distractions that have helped keep my mind off things. I have
4911. now started playing BioShock which was a birthday present from the
4912. family back in February. So far this looks like another very
4913. interesting and high quality game but more violent than Halo 3 I would
4914. suggest based only on about two hours playing time. With Summer weather
4915. already here I need to keep my gaming to a minmum and set the right
4916. precedent by doing a lot of things out doors and thus, hopefully,
4917. encouraging the kids to do the same. That said I do have my PSP sitting
4918. here with Metal Gear Solid loaded and ready to go should I need a fix
4919. during the five hour long chemo session today!<br>
4920. </p>
4921. <p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Summer is almost here<br>
4922. </span></p>
4923. <p>This weekend, the weather was gorgeous, blue skies and temperatures
4924. rose to the high 80's Fahrenheit by Sunday afternoon. Both Robyn and
4925. Jack had soccer games on Saturday and I played on Sunday. We all are a
4926. bit sun burned today. It's supposed to be in the eighties each day of
4927. the coming week. The kids decided that the weather was so nice that
4928. they were going to jump into the pool which they duly did and I must
4929. say despite the water being barely above 70 degrees, they had a great
4930. time. So I guess this means the pool is now officially open for
4931. business for the 2008 season. I would usually have jumped in there with
4932. them, anything above 68 degrees I will swim in happily but the meds I
4933. am on right now make me so sensitive to cold I am going to need to run
4934. the pool heater for a couple of days before I'll be able to join them
4935. in the water.<br>
4936. </p>
4937. <p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Football/Soccer</span><br>
4938. </p>
4939. <p>In my prior post I mentioned I was hoping for an Arsenal win against
4940. Liverpool in the first leg of their Champions Leage match. Sadly the
4941. match ended in a 1-1 draw which gives Liverpool a definite advantage as
4942. the teams head into the second leg of the tie. With the away goals
4943. rule, Arsenal have to score at least once at Anfield as a 0-0 draw
4944. would hand the match to Liverpool. Having also watched the teams tie
4945. 1-1 in the league right after the first leg, I am not confident Arsenal
4946. can pull this one off but I guess we'll see. For sure they need to
4947. rediscover their goal scoring ways from the earlier part of the season.
4948. On a related topic, I really enjoyed watching the FA Cup semi-finals
4949. from Wembley this past weekend. It's great to see the FA Cup magic is
4950. still alive with many of the big clubs having been knocked out by lower
4951. division opposition. I look forward to the final, which has the
4952. unlikely lineup of Cardiff vs Portsmouth. I'm really happy for my
4953. friend Graham who is a huge Pompey fan. I hope he can get a ticket for
4954. the big match.<br>
4955. </p>
4956. <p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Mac Book Pro - update<br>
4957. </span></p>
4958. <p>It's been about three months or so now since I got my Mac Book Pro
4959. laptop. I continue to be really impressed by this machine. The fact
4960. that every night I can put it to sleep and in the morning open the lid
4961. and have it wake up and start downloading my mail without me having to
4962. anything is really great. I have re-booted the machine twice since the
4963. start of the year and one of those time was just part of installing a
4964. major OS update. This really is a robust platform. By contrast, if I
4965. put my Windows XP laptop to sleep (hibernate) more than about 3 times
4966. in a row I have to reboot the system to get it working properly again.
4967. I'm not a Windows hater it's just that with the Mac I have found a
4968. machine where I feel very comfortable, a machine that I trust to work
4969. the way I expect it to and most importantly of all, a machine where I
4970. am definitely more productive. As I learn more and more of the Mac's
4971. features I'll keep on posting updates. I will also note that the one
4972. negative thing I have observed lately is that if the processor is
4973. working hard, the metal casing gets very hot and if you have it sitting
4974. on your legs while wearing shorts it can get pretty uncomfortable - of
4975. course this is just what you need on a cold night flight across the
4976. Atlantic - so that could be viewed as a plus!</p>
4977. <p><br>
4978. So that's it for this round of miscellaneous updates. I'll try and post
4979. again soon as I progress through round 10.<br>
4980. ]]>
4981. </description>
4982. <pubDate>Mon, 7 Apr 2008 12:01:07 CDT</pubDate>
4983. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000070</guid>
4984. </item>
4985.  
4986.  
4987. <item>
4988. <title>Six months post diagnosis</title>
4989. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
4990. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Apr-02-a</link>
4991. <description>
4992. <![CDATA[
4993. Hard though it is for me to believe, it was six months ago yesterday
4994. that I underwent the colonoscopy that discovered the cancer in my colon
4995. and changed my outlook on life substantially. At that time
4996. I <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2007-Oct-10-a">wrote about it here </a>.
4997. A lot has happened since then but I guess the overall summary is "so
4998. far so good".  I have three chemo rounds left to go now which
4999. really is not that bad but the side effects, especially the constant
5000. sense of fatigue, do seem to have become cumulative. My last chemo
5001. treatment is scheduled for the week beginning May 5th so I can at least
5002. see the light at the end of that particular tunnel now. Round ten
5003. begins next Monday (April 7th) and at that time I have a meeting
5004. scheduled with my oncologist where I want to have a "what happens
5005. next?" type discussion. As far as I know I go into a sort of frequent
5006. checkup maintenance mode at that point (both with him and my surgeon)
5007. but I have several questions I want to ask him. I will also need
5008. another (minor) surgery at some point to remove the "power port" that
5009. is used to infuse the drugs into my system. The one question I really
5010. want an answer to is the one question he cannot answer. That of course
5011. is "am I cured?". All he is able to give me, and this is not his fault,
5012. it's just the nature of the beast, is statistics and a prognosis based
5013. on experience in treating similar cases. In spite of this, and I try
5014. not to dwell on it, it is frustrating having undergone all that I have
5015. in the past six months that there is no definitive test that can tell
5016. you how well the combined surgery/chemo treatment plan has worked. As I
5017. have joked with him in the past, the bottom line is that if I am still
5018. here for my checkups in five years then he has cured me! That said, my
5019. spirits are pretty good and I am not wasting too much time worrying
5020. about things that I really cannot do much about. Of course the little
5021. pink pills help there too! On a positive note, an experience such as
5022. this really helps remind you of the things that are truly important in
5023. life. I feel that I am closer to my wife and kids than ever before (and
5024. we have always been a close family) and I have been reminded how many
5025. wonderful friends I have all over the World that have been there for me
5026. these past six months. My oncologist commented to me that years from
5027. now I will actually look back on this as a positive experience on many
5028. levels. I think he is right. Not only have I been reminded of how much
5029. my family and friends mean to me I have also bonded with so many brave
5030. fellow patients that I meet week in, week out at the oncology clinic. I
5031. am humbled by many of the stories I have had told to me by other
5032. patients describing what they are going through - it really does stop
5033. any small amount of self pity from rising to the surface when you are
5034. constantly reminded that things could be a lot worse. It has also been
5035. hard lately to see a few people who are probably still in high school
5036. being brought in for treatment. Sadly cancer is a very indiscriminate
5037. predator. <br>
5038. </p>
5039. <p>On a lighter note, Spring is in full bloom here, and although we
5040. have had several cloudy and rainy days lately, Summer is clearly just
5041. around the corner. Even on the cloudy days our temperatures are getting
5042. into the high 70's or low 80's Fahrenheit and the water in the pool out
5043. back is now up to 70 degrees and the kids are begging me to turn the
5044. heater on so they can start swimming. Last year I started swimming when
5045. the water was 68 degrees but one of the side effects of the meds I am
5046. on is that I am very sensitive to cold so I suspect they won't have to
5047. twist my arm too hard on this one. I could certainly use the exercise!!
5048. Talking of the kids, they are already counting down the days left until
5049. the end of school (which for us happens at the end of May - much
5050. earlier than for my friends and family back in Europe). We have started
5051. discussing what we want to do this Summer which has been great fun. We
5052. are already planning a few fun things to do with the kids in June once
5053. I am done with chemo which really is a pleasant change in dinner time
5054. conversation from some of the other daily issues we have been dealing
5055. with the past six months.<br>
5056. </p>
5057. <p>Oh and completely off topic, hopefully Arsenal will beat Liverpool later today in the Champions
5058. League which will definitely raise my spirits! The match is being shown
5059. live on TV here so I'll probably record it and watch it after work
5060. tonight (apologies to any Liverpool fans I just offended but I have
5061. been a mad keen Arsenal supporter since I was about five years old).</p>
5062. <p>So with that, I'll close this somewhat more philosophical than usual posting.<br>
5063. </p>
5064. <p>&nbsp;I'll post again soon, probably after I talk to the oncologist again on Monday if not before. <br>
5065. <br>
5066. ]]>
5067. </description>
5068. <pubDate>Wed, 2 Apr 2008 10:15:38 CDT</pubDate>
5069. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000069</guid>
5070. </item>
5071.  
5072. <item>
5073. <title>End of round nine</title>
5074. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
5075. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Mar-27-a</link>
5076. <description>
5077. <![CDATA[
5078. <p>Yesterday marked the end of my ninth chemotherapy cycle. So that's
5079. nine down and three to go. My last one will be the week of May 5th so
5080. not so far off now. The side effects (mostly the fatigue and some
5081. annoying bouts of nausea) have hit me quicker than usual this time so
5082. I'll keep this update brief. Hopefully this means I'll be more with it
5083. by the weekend when both of my kids have soccer games that I very much
5084. want to be at. I am both excited and anxious to see the chemo
5085. treatments getting close to done. On the one hand I will be glad to be
5086. rid of the side effects but on the other, seeing my oncologist on a
5087. weekly basis and having him re-assure me that things are going well
5088. has, to some extent, become my safety blanket and I think it will take
5089. some getting used to being off the treatments once we reach that point.
5090. Of course, having said that I'll be going in for regular monitoring so
5091. I guess I'll get enough interaction to keep my spirits up. I really
5092. love the oncology team I am working with they really are a great bunch
5093. of people and they are so up beat that it definitely rubs off on me and
5094. as far as I can tell the other patients as well.<br>
5095. </p>
5096. <p>I'll post more updates soon, once the "chemo fog" clears again.<br>
5097. </p>
5098. <p>I continue to be very grateful for all of the e-mails and messages in the
5099. <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/guestbook.html">guest book</a>
5100. and the messages I have been getting on Facebook. You guys out there
5101. have done more than you probably realize to help keep my spirits up. As
5102. always, a very big Thank You!
5103. </p>
5104. ]]>
5105. </description>
5106. <pubDate>Thu, 27 Mar 2008 12:17:09 CDT</pubDate>
5107. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000068</guid>
5108. </item>
5109.  
5110.  
5111. <item>
5112. <title>Chemo round nine</title>
5113. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
5114. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Mar-24-a</link>
5115. <description>
5116. <![CDATA[
5117. <p>Today I started round nine of the chemo treatments and I also got
5118. some good news on the blood work front. While my platelets are still on
5119. a bit of a roller coaster ride, my haemoglobin level is up to 13.1.
5120. This is the highest it has been since I was diagnosed back in October
5121. 2007 and the level was down to a frighteningly low value of eight. For
5122. an adult male "normal" is considered to be between fourteen and
5123. seventeen so I am tantalizingly close to the normal range now. Because
5124. of this, my medical team are suspending the weekly iron shots and are
5125. going to let me fend for myself for a while to see if my blood levels
5126. continue to hold their own without help. I'll still be getting the
5127. chemo meds as normal but I won't have to go in on the "off weeks" for
5128. iron, unless of course the numbers start going in the wrong direction
5129. again. I was hoping to post this from the oncologists today but for
5130. some reason their network was not able to connect to the internet at
5131. all today so I am posting from home instead with day one of round nine
5132. now behind me (except of course for my little IV pump full of <a
5133. href="http://www.cancerbackup.org.uk/Treatments/Chemotherapy/Individualdrugs/Fluorouracil">5FU</a>
5134. that goes everywhere I go for the next two days! It seems a bit hard to
5135. believe but after this week I only have three chemo treatments
5136. left.  My last scheduled chemo visit is the week of May 5th. If
5137. all goes well I should have chemo behind me before the kids break for
5138. the Summer in mid to late May.</p>
5139. <p>On Saturday Robyn took the first part of her Tae Kwon Do black belt
5140. test (called a mid-term) and we believe she passed. She will take the
5141. final part of her test either in May or August depending on the
5142. scheduling. We are very proud of her as this is a non trivial
5143. achievement.<br>
5144. </p>
5145. <p>This weekend the weather here was wonderful and it looks set to stay
5146. that way all through this week. We have clear blue skies and
5147. temperatures are forecast to be in the  60's today and up to the
5148. eighties by the end of the week. Spring is a wonderful time of year
5149. here (except for the days when the super cell storms come through!). We
5150. had no soccer matches this week as we were all off for the Easter break
5151. but both kids have practices and games this coming week so I am going
5152. to be quite busy in the evenings and on Saturday with that.<br>
5153. </p>
5154. <p>I had promised to post some of the San Antonio photos here. I
5155. haven't yet had the time to work on doing that but here at least is a
5156. photo of the Alamo. Please ignore the man pushing a trash can. I took
5157. this photo in a hurry while my son was having a melt down and did not
5158. have a lot of time to think about perfect composition !!<br>
5159. </p>
5160. <p style="text-align: center;"><img style="width: 413px; height: 217px;"
5161. alt="The Alamo, San Antonio" title="The Alamo, San Antonio"
5162. src="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/images/Alamo-small-2.jpg"><br>
5163. The Alamo, San Antonio, March 2008.<br>
5164. </p>
5165. <p>I am feeling very tired today so I'll keep this post brief and aim
5166. to post again soon as the week progresses. I hope everyone has a great
5167. week.<br>
5168. </p>
5169.  
5170. ]]>
5171. </description>
5172. <pubDate>Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:20:12 CDT</pubDate>
5173. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000067</guid>
5174. </item>
5175.  
5176.  
5177. <item>
5178. <title>Spring Break in San Antonio plus the end of round eight</title>
5179. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
5180. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Mar-17-a</link>
5181. <description>
5182. <![CDATA[
5183. <p>Chemo round eight officially ended last Wednesday (March 12th)
5184. around 1pm. After that we rounded up the kids, loaded the car and set
5185. off for <a
5186. href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=san+antonio&ie=UTF8&ll=29.424049,-98.495178&spn=0.788252,1.172791&t=p&z=10&iwloc=addr">San
5187. Antonio</a> for the remaining few days of the week. We knew we were
5188. taking a bit of a gamble not knowing what kind of shape I would be in
5189. from the chemo the days before but thankfully the main side effects
5190. held off until we were back home a few days later and did nothing to
5191. spoil our trip. From our house, it's less than 100 miles to San Antonio
5192. and we probably do not make the effort to visit often enough as there
5193. is a lot to do there. Most people think of the <a
5194. href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alamo_Mission_in_San_Antonio">Alamo</a>
5195. when they think of San Antonio but that is just one of the many fun
5196. things available to go and visit. For this trip, our main reason for
5197. going was that we had tickets for travelling performance of "<a
5198. href="http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/CirqueDuSoleil/en/showstickets/saltimbanco/intro/intro.htm">Saltimbanco"</a>
5199. by <a
5200. href="http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/CirqueDuSoleil/en/default.htm#">Cirque
5201. Du Soleil</a>&nbsp; at the AT&amp;T Center on Thursday night. We
5202. decided it would be more fun however, to get a hotel and turn the trip
5203. into a mini-vacation. We got to our hotel (the Doubletree Suites)
5204. around 6pm and after enjoying the free snack buffet the hotel provides
5205. each night we went for a very pleasant stroll along the River Walk to
5206. get some fresh air and to explore some of the local shops along the
5207. way. This hotel, by the way was perfect for a family with kids. Each
5208. room has a separate living area with kitchen and a very respectable
5209. breakfast as well as the sizeable happy hour buffet are included in the
5210. room rate. There is also a very small pool on the roof but our kids
5211. still managed to have fun splashing about in it a couple of times
5212. during our brief stay. On Thursday moring we got up early, had
5213. breakfast and walked along the river to the IMAX theater where we all
5214. enjoyed "Dinosaurs of Patagonia" in 3D. After that we had lunch at the
5215. River Center Mall and took a guided tour boat ride around the river.
5216. It's very "touristy" but still fun. If you have never been to San
5217. Antonio, the River Walk is great. Whether you circumnavigate it on
5218. foot, by tour boat or by river taxi, there is no end of historical
5219. sights and restaurants to enjoy along the way. After the tour we walked
5220. back above ground rather than along the river (which is actually set
5221. down below street level) so that I could take a few photos of the
5222. Alamo. Although I have been back several times since, The last time I
5223. had been to the Alamo with a camera was in 1989 when I was still
5224. carrying my trusty old Canon 35mm SLR. I wanted to get a few digital
5225. shots this time. I only had time to snap a few though, as by this time,
5226. given the very warm Spring weather, my six year old son Jack was both
5227. literally and figuratively melting! We finally got back to the hotel
5228. and rested for a few hours (the kids took the chance to visit the pool
5229. again) before heading off to find the AT&T Center in time for
5230. "Cirque". We had been to Cirque Du Soleil once before, in Orlando and
5231. thoroughly enjoyed it. That time we had seen the <a
5232. href="http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/CirqueDuSoleil/en/showstickets/lanouba/intro/intro.htm">La
5233. Nouba</a> show which has the advantage of being on a permanent stage
5234. and feels considerably larger in scale than this show. However, <a
5235. href="http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/CirqueDuSoleil/en/showstickets/saltimbanco/intro/intro.htm">Saltimbanco</a>
5236. was still very good and well worth seeing.<br>
5237. </p>
5238. <p>On Friday morning we got up and packed, had breakfast and set off
5239. for the San Antonio Zoo. However, on arriving at the Zoo we realized
5240. this had been a bad idea. All of the parking lots were full and even
5241. though the San Antonio Spring Break is the week after ours, we could
5242. see that the Zoo was packed full of school parties getting off to an
5243. early start on their Spring Break plans. In the end we did not even try
5244. to park, we just got back on the freeway and started to head home. Our
5245. daughter, Robyn, was not at all pleased by this turn of events as she
5246. had really been wanting to see some animals. Clearly we needed a plan
5247. B. Luckily my wife knew of a wildlife park near <a
5248. href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=new+braunfels&ie=UTF8&ll=29.698789,-98.12027&spn=0.786111,1.172791&t=p&z=10&iwloc=addr">New
5249. Braunfels</a> called the <a href="http://www.wildliferanchtexas.com/">Natural
5250. Bridge Wildlife Ranch</a>. The park is just&nbsp; a few miles west of
5251. I35 and more importantly right on our way home. We had seen the signs
5252. by the side of the road before but never been there so we decided to
5253. give it a go. It turned out to be a great idea. The park was not that
5254. busy and the main attraction is a "drive in your own car" safari tour.
5255. The highlight for all of us was when a group of Zebra came up to the
5256. car and stuck their heads in and let us feed them some of the animal
5257. food we had been given as we entered the park. Despite the warning
5258. signs about not hand feeding the animals both by the roadside and in
5259. the guidebook, the animals are clearly used to cars and people and
5260. expect to get fed! We saw several animals walk up to a car, wait to get
5261. fed and then on realizing the car had no food walk on in disgust to the
5262. next car. OK so it wasn't quite the full African experience but it was
5263. a lot of fun. That said, we decided not to try hand feeding the
5264. osteriches as they all just looked too cranky to take the chance! 
5265. While in New Braunfels, we also took the opportunity to enjoy a really
5266. nice lunch at the famous New Braunfels Smokehouse - the food is great
5267. and if you are ever passing through I recommend it for a lunch or
5268. dinner stop. They focus on barbecue but they also serve salads and
5269. other lighter fare.<br>
5270. </p>
5271. <p>We arrived home around 5pm on Friday afternoon, by which time the
5272. crazy Texas Spring weather was up to 97 degrees Fahrenheit! 
5273. Weather wise we have been on a real roller coaster ride (as is normal
5274. for the time of year) with high temperatures ranging from the mid
5275. sixties all the way up to almost 100 degrees. Today as I type this it's
5276. in the eighties outside but very cloudy and we are under a severe
5277. weather watch with the chance of both hail and tornadoes before the end
5278. of Tuesday - such is life in Texas during the Spring time. A few years
5279. back we lost our roof to a Spring time hail storm so you learn rapidly
5280. down here to take these weather notices seriously.<br>
5281. </p>
5282. <p>On Saturday the "chemo fog" finally caught up with me, and today
5283. (Monday) I am still struggling to shake it off.  Consequently, I
5284. stayed at home to rest on Saturday while Lorna and Robyn got up really
5285. early to go to a 3 v 3 soccer tournament. They came home tired and
5286. sunburned but as best as I can tell they had a good time despite by all
5287. accounts having had to play some very tough teams in the competition.
5288. Sunday was another rest day for me although I forced myself to go and
5289. play soccer during the afternoon just to get myself out of the house.
5290. Suffice to say my reactions were not that sharp and I mostly stood in
5291. the goal without too much to do but it was nice to get out for a bit.<br>
5292. </p>
5293. <p>Today I was back at the oncologist for my iron shot and other (non
5294. chemo) meds but at least I have a few days now before round nine gets
5295. underway next week. Sadly two of the meds make you sleepy - just what I
5296. needed !!<br>
5297. </p>
5298. <p>That's all the news for now. I took a lot of photos during our brief
5299. trip to San Antonio. I'll try and post a few over the next few days,
5300. but I need to do a little cropping and Photo Shop-ing first!
5301. ]]>
5302. </description>
5303. <pubDate>Mon, 17 Mar 2008 18:10:47 CDT</pubDate>
5304. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000066</guid>
5305. </item>
5306.  
5307.  
5308. <item>
5309. <title>Chemo round eight and the start of Spring Break</title>
5310. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
5311. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Mar-10-a</link>
5312. <description>
5313. <![CDATA[
5314. Today is the first day of Spring Break here in the Austin area so
5315. naturally the weather is lousy. We awoke to thunderstorms and driving
5316. rain, and given we started Daylight Savings Time (DST) this past
5317. weekend (earlier than in the past under the new rules that recently
5318. went into effect), it was still almost dark outside at 8am this
5319. morning! Getting the kids out of bed was a real challenge, but we had
5320. to wake them up as they start a three day Karate Camp today. At least
5321. that will give them a chance to have some fun indoors out of the rain
5322. and away from the TV and video games - works for me!<br>
5323. </p>
5324. <p>On the topic of DST, for the benefit of my friends and family in the
5325. UK, given that your clocks do not go forward until the end of March, I
5326. am now one hour closer to your time for a couple of weeks. So, for
5327. example, 12pm (midday) here is currently 5pm in the UK where it is
5328. normally 6pm for most of the year.<br>
5329. </p>
5330. <p>As well as getting the kids up early, I also had to leave the house
5331. at the same time as round eight of my chemo treatments starts today -
5332. again what a great way to Start Spring break! I am currently sitting in
5333. one of the comfy reclining chairs at the oncologist's office as I type
5334. this (which is no mean feat I might add given all the meds they pumped
5335. into me a few minutes ago that have made me very dopey). They tested my
5336. blood an hour ago and I just got the results. Thankfully my platelet
5337. count has gone up again and there is no need to adjust my treatment
5338. plan at the present time. I am very happy about this. I'm into a
5339. routine now and as a creature of habit I am hoping I can stay on my
5340. routine until May when my chemo treatments end.<br>
5341. </p>
5342. <p>I'm looking forward to Wednesday when this round ends. I am taking
5343. the rest of the week off so that I can spend some quality play time
5344. with the family.<br>
5345. </p>
5346. <p>I'll post again soon as I get through this round. Only four more to
5347. go after this one!!!<br>
5348. ]]>
5349. </description>
5350. <pubDate>Mon, 10 Mar 2008 10:55:37 CDT</pubDate>
5351. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000065</guid>
5352. </item>
5353.  
5354. <item>
5355. <title>Miscellaneous updates</title>
5356. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
5357. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Mar-07-a</link>
5358. <description>
5359. <![CDATA[
5360. It's hard to believe that it's already March. We have had a very
5361. mild winter here in Central Texas. We did not have a single "ice day"
5362. this year so far. The temperatures the last few days have been all over
5363. the map which is fairly typical for early Spring here. On Wednesday
5364. when I went to pick my daughter up from school I wore shorts as it was
5365. right around 80 degrees Fahrenheit. I really like living here!
5366. Yesterday it actually rained a lot and today has been cooler but all in
5367. all the weather remains, for the most part very mild. Yesterday I was
5368. speaking to a colleague who lives in Toronto and he was moaning about
5369. "yet another snow day" so I guess for large parts of the US and Canada
5370. it's not quite Spring yet! Today a cold front blew through and it was
5371. somewhat cooler even here but it is supposed to be back into the 70's
5372. again over the weekend which is good as both of the kids have soccer
5373. games on Saturday and I have a game on Sunday. Next week is Spring
5374. Break here. For my friends and family in the UK it's basically the same
5375. concept as half term. The kids are off all week and I am going to take
5376. part of the week off once I get done with round eight of chemo which is
5377. on Monday, Tuesday and a small part of Wednesday.<br>
5378. </p>
5379. <p>I have been trying to keep up with my <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/books.html">reading </a>as
5380. it really does help me relax and thankfully my eyesight seems to have
5381. improved a bit in the last couple of weeks from where the FOLFOX
5382. cocktail had taken it to during the first several weeks of chemo. This
5383. week I finished another of the Harry Turtledove books in the
5384. Colonization series. I enjoyed it so much that I immediately started
5385. reading the next one which is in fact the last in this set of three
5386. (although it's really book seven in a series of eight related books). I
5387. am grateful to my friend Roger who introduced me to this author and I
5388. have really enjoyed every book in the series. The books are science
5389. fiction in nature but take place in an alternate view of history where
5390. an alien race invades the earth right in the middle of the Second World
5391. War and the various human nations have to put their differences aside
5392. to confront the high tech invaders. If that concept for a story line
5393. appeals and you have not read any of the Harry Turtledove books then I
5394. highly recommend these.<br>
5395. </p>
5396. <p>Some of you may have noticed that the <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/guestbook.html">Guest
5397. Book</a> has changed. My web hosting company recently upgraded their
5398. server software and replaced the guest book tool with a different one.
5399. I have had a few people tell me that they have had trouble posting to
5400. the new guest book but as far as I know it is working  correctly.
5401. I am a bit nervous however, as since I switched over no one (except my
5402. wife and I who were testing it) has posted. If you feel the urge I
5403. would appreciate a few of you posting to let me know it is actually
5404. working correctly. All of the old messages are still available in an
5405. archive that I have created and provided a link to on the main <a
5406. href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/guestbook.html">Guest Book</a> page.<br>
5407. </p>
5408. <p>While speaking about hearing from people, I would like to mention
5409. that I have been contacted by several people who found my web site
5410. while doing web searches for information on colon cancer treatment. I
5411. am both humbled and pleased that these people have contacted me and
5412. also hopefully found some of the information I have been posting
5413. useful. As I have mentioned before here, one of my goals when I decided
5414. to be very open about my diagnosis and ongoing treatment was to provide
5415. some relevant information and perhaps also a little hope and
5416. encouragement to others that find themselves in a similar place to me.
5417. I am glad that people have found this site and I am grateful that it
5418. has proven useful for them to be able to compare notes with me. To all
5419. of you who have contacted me, we're in this together, try to stay
5420. positive, the treatment for colon cancer these days has come a long way
5421. even in the last ten years or so. My thoughts and prayers are with all
5422. of you. Keep up the fight!<br>
5423. </p>
5424. <p>On the sports watching front this has been a mixed week for the
5425. teams I follow. I was really happy to see Arsenal beat AC Milan in the
5426. Champions League on Tuesday but I am not quite so happy with the way
5427. the England cricket team is performing in New Zealand this week. Still
5428. you can't have everything as they say.<br>
5429. </p>
5430. <p>For my Mac owning friends who ping me regularly to ask about the
5431. (still fairly new for me) Mac Book Pro - it's official - I'm in love.
5432. This week I did not even open up my Windows laptop once. I was able to
5433. do all of the things required by my job as well as a bunch of personal
5434. projects during the evenings solely on the Mac. I have only found one
5435. program so far (Quicken) for which the Mac native version will not work
5436. for me. This is because for reasons I do not understand, the makers of
5437. Quicken decided that the file formats used by the Windows version of
5438. Quicken and the Mac version would not be 100% compatible. As I like to
5439. share my files between my machines (for backup purposes as well as pure
5440. convenience) I decided to try installing the VMware Fusion product this
5441. week that lets me run Windows applications on the Mac. So far, after
5442. two days of using it, I have to say that this seems like the perfect
5443. solution. I do 90% of the things I need to do using native Mac
5444. applications and  then run Quicken using Fusion when I need to. As
5445. one of my good friends commented after I had been saying how much I was
5446. enjoying using the Mac - "I told you so". For the technically minded, I
5447. installed Windows XP Service Pack 2 in the VM and so far it seems to
5448. work just fine. So now I have the best of both Worlds as far as I am
5449. concerned with Mac applications and Windows ones running side by side
5450. on the same desktop without me ever needing to re-boot the Mac to
5451. switch to Windows or go to another machine to run the Windows
5452. applications that I need to run. I guess you can sign me up for the Mac
5453. fan club at this point. I really do like this machine a lot.<br>
5454. </p>
5455. <p>So anyway, that's about it for now. I'm looking forward to another
5456. busy weekend with lots of time hopefully being spent outdoors. Chemo
5457. round eight starts on Monday but at least next week is Spring Break as
5458. I mentioned and I have a few days off with the family to look forward
5459. to at the end of the week.<br>
5460. ]]>
5461. </description>
5462. <pubDate>Fri, 7 Mar 2008 22:03:55 CST</pubDate>
5463. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000064</guid>
5464. </item>
5465.  
5466. <item>
5467. <title>End of round seven</title>
5468. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
5469. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Feb-27-a</link>
5470. <description>
5471. <![CDATA[
5472. I just got back from the oncologist having been unplugged from my
5473. portable pump which marks the end of round seven. Only five more rounds
5474. to go - yay! Apart from the setback on my platelet count (that I
5475. described in my prior posting) I'm feeling pretty good overall. Later
5476. today I get to go and coach my son's soccer team and tomorrow I get to
5477. go and help couch my daughter's team. Both teams have their first games
5478. this coming weekend. Hopefully the fatigue will hold off enough to
5479. enable me to actively take part in and enjoy all of these activities as
5480. the weather here continues to be fabulous. Mostly blue skies and
5481. temperatures during the day that have ranged from the high 80's F a few
5482. days ago to the mid sixties today. Right now it's about 66 degrees and
5483. just about perfect weather for being outside and running around with
5484. the boys (which I shall be doing around 5pm today).<br>
5485. </p>
5486. <p>Several of you have written to me asking how I am liking my Mac Book
5487. Pro now that I have had it for a couple of months or so. In short I
5488. love it. It is by far the most reliable computer that I have ever
5489. owned. I still use my trusty IBM Thinkpad during the work day to get
5490. some work specific things done but even most of those I could do on the
5491. Mac now that I have the appropriate software installed. In the evenings
5492. when I tend to try and find time to work on more personal things like
5493. surf the web, my non work e-mail  or working on the web page I
5494. have been using the Mac almost exclusively for those tasks. I just
5495. installed the Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5.2) upgrade and it seems to be
5496. working well. I particularly like the new Time Machine enhancements. <br>
5497. </p>
5498. <p>As a side note, my web hosting company just upgraded all of their
5499. server side software. As far as I can tell the migration has gone
5500. without a hitch but please do let me know if you see any unexpected
5501. behaviour from the web site over the next few weeks.<br>
5502. </p>
5503. <p>That's about it for right now then. More updates to follow soon and
5504. as always thanks for the continued messages of support. Although as far
5505. as I can tell things are going pretty well this remains a very nervous
5506. time for me and all of the e-mails, calls and messages in the <a
5507.  href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/guestbook.html">Guest Book</a> really do help me a lot keep my
5508. spirits up.
5509. ]]>
5510. </description>
5511. <pubDate>Wed, 27 Feb 2008 15:47:09 CST</pubDate>
5512. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000063</guid>
5513. </item>
5514.  
5515.  
5516. <item>
5517. <title>Chemo round seven</title>
5518. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
5519. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Feb-25-a</link>
5520. <description>
5521. <![CDATA[
5522. It's 10:41am here in sunny Round Rock Texas as I type this. I am
5523. currently in my chair at the oncologists office commencing round 7
5524. of  the planned 12 chemo treatments. I just finished all of the
5525. regular blood tests that they do at the start of each cycle and they
5526. have now started pumping the prep meds into me before they serve the
5527. "main course". A couple of the meds make me very drowsy so I hope that
5528. this posting stays somewhat coherent!<br>
5529. </p>
5530. <p>Today for the first time since we started working with the
5531. oncologist my blood test results are heading in the wrong direction.
5532. This is another side effect of the FOLFOX cocktail that they have me
5533. on.. My <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone_marrow">bone marrow</a>
5534. is not keeping up with production needs and consequently my <a
5535. href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platelet">platelet </a>count is
5536. significantly down. My haemoglobin level is slightly down. While these
5537. side effects are often to be expected and are a common occurrence with
5538. chemotherapy patients, it is still a bit depressing to have any kind of
5539. setback. If my platelet levels get much lower they may have to suspend
5540. treatments until they rise again. Among other things, platelets help
5541. the blood congeal (clot) and stop bleeding from occurring. If my count
5542. drops much lower I will be told to suspend all of my physical
5543. activities that involve any chance of me getting cut - this would mean
5544. no more soccer for a while and would be really depressing. I have
5545. really started to look forward to my weekly Sunday soccer match now
5546. that I am back into the routine and that my body seems to have enough
5547. stamina to get through a game OK. I played again yesterday in fact and
5548. felt more alert than I had the week before - which is good given I am
5549. the goalie! <br>
5550. </p>
5551. <p>In other news ......the Girl Scouts cookie drive which has been
5552. running for the last five weeks finally came to a close yesterday. I
5553. think Robyn has sold something in the region of 500 boxes of cookies so
5554. I think she has more than done her part for the cause! It will be nice
5555. to see more of both Robyn and Lorna again now that they won't be
5556. rushing off all the time to man a cookie booth.<br>
5557. </p>
5558. <p>That's about if for now, and given the meds really are making me
5559. sleepy I'll close this posting.&nbsp; <br>
5560. </p>
5561. <p>As a footnote, you may have noticed that a few days ago I archived
5562. all of the remaining 2007 entries from this page. They are all still
5563. available in the <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html">archive</a>.
5564. ]]>
5565. </description>
5566. <pubDate>Mon, 25 Feb 2008 11:09:39 CST</pubDate>
5567. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000062</guid>
5568. </item>
5569.  
5570.  
5571. <item>
5572. <title>No Jack that is not how you make a wireless mouse!</title>
5573. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
5574. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Feb-18-a</link>
5575. <description>
5576. <![CDATA[
5577. This weekend I heard my wife call from the other room to see if I
5578. could figure out what was wrong with the mouse on the new computer (it
5579. turns out she already knew what was wrong but wanted me to see first
5580. hand!). My six year old son had been sitting by the computer and had
5581. found a pair of scissors lying nearby and for reasons known only to him
5582. had decided he wanted to turn the corded mouse into a wireless mouse.
5583. When I got there I found, to admittedly a mix of horror and, yes,
5584. amusement, that he had cut the mouse completely off it's cord using the
5585. aforementioned scissors! For those who may be wondering this does not
5586. turn a corded mouse into a wireless mouse - so don't bother trying it!
5587. Note to self, do not leave Jack and scissors alone EVER ! I went off to
5588. the local Wal-Mart and bought the cheapest replacement mouse I could
5589. find and he has promised never to do it again (of course he actually
5590. swears it was an accident and not on purpose this last time!).<br>
5591. </p>
5592. <p>On Friday evening the kids were invited to an indoor skating party
5593. so I broke the roller blades out of retirement and decided to have a go
5594. too. When I lived in Florida I was a mad keen in-line skater but since
5595. moving to Texas (which is not flat like Florida) I have not skated so
5596. much. That said it all came back to me pretty quickly and while I
5597. didn't push myself very hard it was fun to skate with the kids and also
5598. to find another way to start getting a bit more exercise. Meanwhile,
5599. the weather here this weekend was a real mixed bag. A front came
5600. through on Saturday and it rained and stormed all day. Meanwhile, on
5601. Sunday it was a gorgeous blue-sky day with temperatures right around 70
5602. degrees Fahrenheit. This is not unusual for this part of Texas as we
5603. get close to Spring. Luckily, both Robyn and I got to play our soccer
5604. games as hers was indoors on Saturday and mine was outdoors on Sunday.
5605. I played in goal this weekend (my usual position). My family came to
5606. watch which was great and the kids had fun playing outside and burring
5607. off some steam. I could tell I was a little timid in goal, my wife told
5608. me she could see a difference too (those who know me might find that
5609. hard to believe as after all you do have to be a little crazy to play
5610. in goal as they say). Hopefully as I get a few more matches under my
5611. belt both my confidence and my energy level will return. Despite my
5612. feeling a little sub-par my team won handily as we have an extremely
5613. good set of on-field players in front of me this season - thanks guys
5614. for carrying me! <br>
5615. </p>
5616. <p>On Saturday morning I went over to some other English friends for a
5617. wonderful, full English, cooked breakfast to watch the Man Utd. vs
5618. Arsenal FA cup match live on the BBC. I am ashamed of the way my
5619. Arsenal approached the match and the 4-0 thrashing they endured was no
5620. more than they deserved for the "we don't care" way they seemed to
5621. approach the game. It seems that with all of the money tied up these
5622. days in the Champions League and the Premiership that a lot of clubs
5623. are not taking the FA Cup seriously. This really breaks my heart, as
5624. when I was a boy growing up, the FA Cup was the competition everyone
5625. wanted to win and I used to love getting up early every year to watch
5626. all of the festivities leading up to the FA Cup final, played each year
5627. at Wembley Stadium in May. As far as I can tell the FA Cup has lost its
5628. magic and a whole generation has grown up since I left the UK not able
5629. to enjoy the passion and excitement that we all  felt watching the
5630. matches - if this is progress you can keep it!<br>
5631. </p>
5632. <p>On Sunday evening we went to one of my Sister's-in-law for dinner
5633. and they surprised me by throwing a little "half way through chemo"
5634. party - which included my own personal and extremely delicious carot
5635. cake. This was really nice of them and it did help lift my spirits
5636. which have been down a little lately purely because the fatigue seems
5637. to be getting more prolonged each week. To be fair, the oncologist had
5638. warned me that this was likely.</p>
5639. <p>This week is going to be busy both at work and in the evenings after
5640. work. Both my son and daughter have their first practices of the new
5641. outdoor soccer season and as coach of Jack's team and co-coach of
5642. Robyn's I am going to be busy. The good news is that this weekend sees
5643. the end of the Girl Scout cookie selling season so I will be seeing a
5644. lot more of my wife and daughter!</p>
5645. <p>Today is President's Day here in the U.S.A and while I am not off
5646. work a lot of people are. My e-mail in-box has been noticeably quiter
5647. than average today and I am ok with that.<br>
5648. </p>
5649. <p>So that's about all the news for now, wherever you are reading this
5650. I hope you have a safe and pleasant week.
5651. ]]>
5652. </description>
5653. <pubDate>Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:18:15 CST</pubDate>
5654. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000061</guid>
5655. </item>
5656.  
5657. <item>
5658. <title>End of round six</title>
5659. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
5660. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Feb-13-a</link>
5661. <description>
5662. <![CDATA[
5663. <p>I just got back from the oncologist again which marks the end of
5664. round six. So I am halfway there! May 5th still seems like a long way
5665. off but at least it's downhill to the finish line from here on. The
5666. fatigue has already started to hit me but other than that this round
5667. seems to be progressing much like all those that have gone before. I
5668. don't have much other news today so I'll keep this posting brief.
5669. Thanks as always for all the messages of support in the
5670. <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/guestbook.html">Guest Book</a> and
5671. elsewhere that I keep receiving and very much appreciate.<br>
5672. ]]>
5673. </description>
5674. <pubDate>Wed, 13 Feb 2008 14:26:34 CST</pubDate>
5675. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000060</guid>
5676. </item>
5677.  
5678. <item>
5679. <title>Chemo round six</title>
5680. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
5681. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Feb-11-a</link>
5682. <description>
5683. <![CDATA[
5684. The weather in Texas this weekend was truly beautiful. While much of
5685. the country is still fully in the grips of some severe Winter weather,
5686. we were able to enjoy clear blue skies, cool breezes and temperatures
5687. in the mid 70's Fahrenheit. On Sunday I played soccer again. This time
5688. for my outdoor 7-a-side team. It was a great day to be outdoors and I
5689. came through the game fine (albeit still lacking in stamina). I feel a
5690. lot better for having had some exercise and also having spent some time
5691. "with the guys" again. The kids soccer teams (both of which I help
5692. coach) will also both be starting up again for the Spring season in
5693. another week from now.  So I am going to be busy weather
5694. permitting. It gets really hot here in the Summer but I don't mind that
5695. and I love how moderate the Winter weather generally is which allows us
5696. to start doing a lot of outdoor activities quite early in the year. We
5697. have not even had the usual ice storm or two this Winter, which,
5698. admitedly is unusual. The forecast shows that we will have a lot of
5699. days of 70 degrees or higher over the next ten days. So it would seem
5700. that Winter may be winding down already for
5701. those of us that live in this part of the World.</p>
5702. <p>Today, I am back at the oncologist to begin chemotherapy round six
5703. of my twelve planned rounds. So by the end of this week we will be half
5704. way there - yippee !!&nbsp; <br>
5705. </p>
5706. <p>I'll keep this posting short as the meds they just gave me are
5707. making me sleepy!
5708. ]]>
5709. </description>
5710. <pubDate>Mon, 11 Feb 2008 10:39:38 CST</pubDate>
5711. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000059</guid>
5712. </item>
5713.  
5714.  
5715.  
5716. <item>
5717. <title>FOLFOX (Chemotherapy) side effects</title>
5718. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
5719. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Feb-04-a</link>
5720. <description>
5721. <![CDATA[
5722. One of the reasons I decided to be very open about my colon
5723. cancer diagnosis and treatment plan here on this site (starting with
5724. the <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2007-Oct-10-a">October 10th</a> posting) was of course
5725. to keep my many friends and relatives around the World updated as to my
5726. progress and in return I have been extremely grateful with all of the
5727. support and encouragement I have received. However, I had a secondary
5728. goal ,which was to share with others who may be faced with a similar
5729. diagnosis some of my own personal experiences and perhaps in some small
5730. way to help them also by allowing them to compare their notes with
5731. mine. I was looking at the statistics that my web hosting company keeps
5732. for me this weekend and noticed that a lot of the traffic coming to
5733. this site is as a result of people doing cancer treatment related
5734. Google searches. In particular I seem to have a lot of people looking
5735. for others sharing insight into the side effects of the FOLFOX
5736. chemotherapy. With the caveat up front that all chemotherapy treatments
5737. are tailored to the individual patient and that the medicines used vary
5738. depending upon the type of cancer being treated I decided I would make
5739. a dedicated posting here discussing the side effects that I am
5740. experiencing now that I have been on the FOLFOX regimen for 5 cycles
5741. (of a planned, 12 cycle, one week on, one week off, program). I
5742. described the specific medicines that I am receiving in the <a
5743. href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Jan-02-a">January 2nd</a> entry so I will not repeat that
5744. here.<br>
5745. </p>
5746. <p>Every time I visit the oncologist, which for me is at least once a
5747. week, they run down a list of possible side effects and ask me if I am
5748. getting any of them. I decided I would try and replicate that list here
5749. and share my current view of which ones I am seeing and which I am not
5750. (there's not a lot to be squeamish about here but if medical stuff is
5751. not your cup of tea, skip to the <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html#skip-table">last paragraph</a>
5752. of this entry now).<br>
5753. </p>
5754. <p><span style="font-weight: bold;">UPDATE:</span> I updated this entry on January 5<sup>th</sup> 2008 as I realized I had left fatigue, probably my biggest symptom, out of the original list below:<br>
5755. <table
5756. style="text-align: left; width: 75%; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"
5757. border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2">
5758.  <tbody>
5759.    <tr>
5760.      <td style="vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Fatigue</span><br>
5761.      </td>
5762.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">About two or three days after
5763. each chemo cycle I get hit with fairly severe fatigue that usually
5764. lasts about two or three days. So, as I typically do my chemo on
5765. Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday I usually find myself getting very tired by
5766. mid afternoon of each of the following few days. Usually by the Sunday
5767. I am back to normal again. The only way I know to deal with it is take
5768. a sleeping tablet or a Xanax as needed and go to bed and sleep it off.
5769. I rarely make it past 7pm before "crashing" on these days.<br>
5770.      </td>
5771.    </tr>
5772.      <tr>
5773.      <td
5774. style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left; font-weight: bold; width: 30%;">Hair
5775. loss</td>
5776.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">With this chemo there is not
5777. supposed to be much hair loss if any. I am maybe seeing minimal
5778. thinning of my head hair but basically I am not
5779. experiencing any hair loss so far and in fact I need a haircut right
5780. now.<br>
5781.      </td>
5782.    </tr>
5783.    <tr>
5784.      <td style="vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Nausea</span><br>
5785.      </td>
5786.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">I have had minimal nausea. The
5787. worst was the first week. I have not even come close to vomiting.I have
5788. two different prescriptions for nausea but I don't find myself needing
5789. to use them too often and then only the weaker of the two.<br>
5790.      </td>
5791.    </tr>
5792.    <tr>
5793.      <td style="vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Diarrehea</span><br>
5794.      </td>
5795.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">This one I am experiencing.
5796. Sometimes it can get pretty rough but there are medicines like Limotil
5797. that can be prescribed (as was done for me) that really help. I also
5798. find eating lots of yogurt really helps too.<br>
5799.      </td>
5800.    </tr>
5801.    <tr>
5802.      <td style="vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Eyesight</span><br>
5803.      </td>
5804.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">Apparently the meds can cause a
5805. hardening of the cornea which can effect eyesight. Even with my new
5806. glasses, in less than very bright light, I am noticing some problems
5807. reading books for more than a few pages at a time.<br>
5808.      </td>
5809.    </tr>
5810.    <tr>
5811.      <td style="vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Bruising</span><br>
5812.      </td>
5813.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">I have not experienced any
5814. bruising but I do notice that on a few days right after chemo
5815. treatments that some parts of my body, often large muscles, are a bit
5816. more tender than normal if I bump into things.<br>
5817.      </td>
5818.    </tr>
5819.    <tr>
5820.      <td style="vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Heartburn</span><br>
5821.      </td>
5822.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">Heartburn has been fairly
5823. common. Generally I find a few "Tums" or equivalent antacid tablets
5824. take care of it.<br>
5825.      </td>
5826.    </tr>
5827.    <tr>
5828.      <td style="vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sensitivity
5829. to cold</span><br>
5830.      </td>
5831.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">This one was the biggest
5832. surprise. One of the three medicines, the&nbsp; <a
5833. href="http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/help/default.asp?page=4184">Oxaliplatin,</a>&nbsp;
5834. effects the nervous system and has had a lot of odd side effects. The
5835. good news is that this drug is credited with a lot of the recent
5836. successes in treating colon cancer and also it's worse effects wear off
5837. a few days after each chemo cycle. Fundamentally it makes me incredibly
5838. sensitive to cold. Both food and drink and also to things that I
5839. touch  I learned early on to only drink warm (or at least room
5840. temperature) drinks for the first few days of each cycle. Drinking cold
5841. liquid leaves me feeling as if my throat were swollen - trust me on
5842. this one, it's a very odd feeling. I also find it hard to hold on to
5843. anything cold (say a pot of ice cream from the freezer) and I never put
5844. my hands into cold water.The oxaliplatin also causes my jaw muscles to
5845. hurt (quite severely) from time to time a lot like I imagine TMJ pain
5846. would be.<br>
5847.      </td>
5848.    </tr>
5849.    <tr>
5850.      <td style="vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Mouth
5851. sores</span><br>
5852.      </td>
5853.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">They always ask me about this
5854. one but so far I have only had one and I am not convinced the chemo
5855. caused it (I think I may have burned my mouth on hot food). Either way
5856. their are good meds to nip this one in the bud if you experience them.<br>
5857.      </td>
5858.    </tr>
5859.    <tr>
5860.      <td style="vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Rashes
5861. and/or breaking out</span><br>
5862.      </td>
5863.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">From time to time I have
5864. experienced something like being a teenager again in terms of my skin
5865. but generally it has not been that bad and it seems to always clear
5866. itself up pretty fast.<br>
5867.      </td>
5868.    </tr>
5869.    <tr>
5870.      <td style="vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Bleeding</span><br>
5871.      </td>
5872.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">I have had no abnormal bleeding
5873. thus far.<br>
5874.      </td>
5875.    </tr>
5876.    <tr>
5877.      <td style="vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Shaking</span><br>
5878.      </td>
5879.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">From time to time I have
5880. experienced some shaking in my hands but as I type this I am actually
5881. back to normal again - it seems to come and go.<br>
5882.      </td>
5883.    </tr>
5884.    <tr>
5885.      <td style="vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pain</span><br>
5886.      </td>
5887.      <td style="vertical-align: top;">I have not experienced any
5888. unusual pain that could be attributed to the chemo.<br>
5889.      </td>
5890.    </tr>
5891.  </tbody>
5892. </table>
5893. <p><br>
5894. <a name="skip-table"></a>So there you have it. That's my summary of
5895. what five cycles of FOLFOX has done to me. I hope those of you that got
5896. here by way of a Google search found this useful. If things change over
5897. the next seven rounds I will post an updated version of this table. <br>
5898. </p>
5899. <p>As always thanks to everyone for their support and especially for
5900. all of the birthday wishes I received over the past few days. I had a
5901. very nice birthday on Friday. The Wife and kids took me out with some
5902. good friends to the local Tokyo Steak house and a good time was had by
5903. all. On Saturday I was pretty tired but my energy came back in time to
5904. enjoy the Superbowl on Sunday.<br>
5905. </p>
5906. <p>Finally, if you are reading this as a fellow patient I wish you all
5907. the best towards a cure. <br>
5908. ]]>
5909. </description>
5910. <pubDate>Tue, 5 Feb 2008 14:02:07 CST</pubDate>
5911. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000058</guid>
5912. </item>
5913.  
5914.  
5915. <item>
5916. <title>End of round five</title>
5917. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
5918. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Jan-31-a</link>
5919. <description>
5920. <![CDATA[
5921. Five down, seven to go. Thankfully so far this round the side
5922. effects have been a lot less. Maybe I am adjusting finally or maybe I
5923. am just lucky this go around. Either way I am not complaining. Tomorrow
5924. is my birthday as I mentioned in my prior post. Maybe I'll get to
5925. celebrate on the actual day after all!  I'm looking forward to the
5926. weekend, especially the Superbowl of course and my usual fix of soccer
5927. from the UK. I managed to catch the Arsenal vs Newcastle match on TV
5928. here earlier this week, now if only Man Utd. would lose a couple of
5929. matches life would be almost perfect on the soccer front!  It's
5930. Girl Scout Cookie season here in Texas for the next few weeks which
5931. means Robyn and Lorna have been off sitting outside various stores and
5932. other venues trying to sell cookies to the passers buy to raise funds
5933. for their troop. The weather here has been a real mixed bag lately with
5934. temperatures all over the map (70's F one day 30's the next) so I
5935. really feel for them sitting out there trying to sell the cookies. At
5936. least I think when people see a bunch of cute girl scouts out in the
5937. freezing cold they make a few sympathy purchases. Meanwhile I think
5938. Jack and I have the better end of the deal. We sit at home and play
5939. video games or watch TV while the ladies are off freezing!<br>
5940. </p>
5941. <p>I don't have a lot of other news to share today other than I am
5942. trying to work a full day today which is keeping me busy so I'll keep
5943. this update brief.
5944. ]]>
5945. </description>
5946. <pubDate>Thu, 31 Jan 2008 09:28:49 CST</pubDate>
5947. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000057</guid>
5948. </item>
5949.  
5950.  
5951. <item>
5952. <title>Chemo round five</title>
5953. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
5954. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Jan-27-a</link>
5955. <description>
5956. <![CDATA[
5957. I would be lying if I said I was not dreading the coming week to
5958. some degree. I have really enjoyed how "normal" and productive I have
5959. been the last several days (the effects of round four having worn off).
5960. I have likewise started to hate the way I feel during the chemo weeks.
5961. However, as my daughter reminded me this evening, it's for a good
5962. reason. Talking of my daughter, today I really enjoyed coaching her
5963. indoor soccer team. All six girls played their socks off and we 
5964. came out on top 8 - 5 in a very exciting match. <br>
5965. </p>
5966. <p>Tomorrow (Monday) chemo round five begins. If the last round is
5967. anything to go by, it will probably Saturday or Sunday before the
5968. effects ware off. The really sad part is that this coming Friday is my
5969. birthday and I don't think I'll be up to much celebrating. I promised
5970. the kids we'd go out for a fun dinner but just a few days late. They
5971. seem OK with that. At least I should be able to enjoy the Superbowl on
5972. Sunday.<br>
5973. </p>
5974. <p>Anyway, life goes on and I'll just have to tough it out again this
5975. go around as I have done in the prior four. The good news is that we
5976. are getting close to halfway through the planned twelve rounds. 
5977. As I have said many times before, I really appreciate that so many of
5978. you are keeping in touch by IM, e-mail, phone or the <a
5979. href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/guestbook.html">Guest Book</a> to offer support. It really does
5980. help and I really appreciate it.<br>
5981. </p>
5982. <p>I'll post again soon.
5983. ]]>
5984. </description>
5985. <pubDate>Sun, 27 Jan 2008 22:05:14 CST</pubDate>
5986. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000056</guid>
5987. </item>
5988.  
5989. <item>
5990. <title>A productive "off week"</title>
5991. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
5992. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Jan-24-a</link>
5993. <description>
5994. <![CDATA[
5995. This week is an "off" week for me, meaning no chemo treatments, my
5996.  
5997. head is clear, my energy level is high and as a result I always try and
5998.  
5999. get a lot done. I have caught up well on the work front this week, in
6000.  
6001. fact I have my business in-box down to just seven e-mails still
6002.  
6003. requiring my attention. I have also been trying to work through my
6004.  
6005. to-do list at home (which has been growing longer and longer lately as
6006.  
6007. I only have so many days a month when I actually feel like trying to
6008.  
6009. shorten it). One of the focus items this week has been dead light
6010.  
6011. bulbs. I cannot believe how many light bulbs seem to need replacing (I
6012.  
6013. think it's a conspiracy but I haven't figured out how they are doing it
6014.  
6015. yet, but when one goes, boy the others seem to love to go too!). I have
6016.  
6017. also been spending some time doing some much needed software upgrades
6018.  
6019. to the (way too many) computers we have scattered about the house.
6020.  
6021. Sadly, the new Vista PC we bought the kids for Christmas continues to
6022.  
6023. cause me grief. It has crashed more times than I can remember since we
6024.  
6025. first set it up on Christmas Day and even basic tasks like copying
6026.  
6027. files over my network have caused it to hang up so hard that I need to
6028.  
6029. hit the power switch to recover. This week I decided to install my
6030.  
6031. version of Quicken 2005 on it (big mistake). After two hours and many
6032.  
6033. Google searches I finally found the magic spells needed to get it
6034.  
6035. working but boy oh boy what an ugly experience that was. I think it's
6036.  
6037. finally time to just take that machine back to XP for a while - at
6038.  
6039. least that way the kids can play their games, which is, after all, why
6040.  
6041. I bought the thing in the first place. Worse yet, my new toy (the Mac
6042.  
6043. Book Pro) had its first fatal crash this week. Nasty one too. For the
6044.  
6045. technologically curious it took a Kernel exception, crashed hard and
6046.  
6047. after rebooting phoned home to tell Apple all about its problems. I'm
6048.  
6049. not sure what caused the crash either. I had left the machine unplugged
6050.  
6051. from the power and in sleep mode on the coffee table (but I know the
6052.  
6053. battery was almost full). Before opening the lid I plugged it in to the
6054.  
6055. power and the minute I did that it woke up all by itself, spun up it's
6056.  
6057. disk, displayed the password prompt and before I could do anything
6058.  
6059. crashed. Odd indeed. I'm actually wondering if I had a power spike.
6060.  
6061. From now on I will plug the power cord into the wall with the other end
6062.  
6063. of the cable disconnected from the Mac and then connect the power cable
6064.  
6065. to the Mac just to be safe. Up to this point, I was starting to think I
6066.  
6067. finally had a machine that never crashed. Oh well, I have used it a lot
6068.  
6069. and have not rebooted it much so maybe I was asking for it but I guess
6070.  
6071. we'll see if this was a fluke or an indication of some other problem
6072.  
6073. over time. Overall I am still more than happy with the Mac.<br>
6074.  
6075. </p>
6076.  
6077. <p>My other big news this week is that, for the first time since
6078.  
6079. September last year, on Tuesday night, I played soccer. Now I don't
6080.  
6081. want people to get excited thinking I am pushing myself too hard and I
6082.  
6083. certainly took it very easy first time out. I asked my doctor if it
6084.  
6085. would be OK to try and in fact he supported the idea saying some
6086.  
6087. increased activity would be good for me and he re-assured me that my
6088.  
6089. chemo port was unbreakable (now that sounds like a challenge if ever I
6090.  
6091. heard one!). So this week I decided to have a go at playing for one of
6092.  
6093. the three teams I belong to. This particular one is a co-ed team that
6094.  
6095. plays in a very friendly (read not overly competitive but fun) 6-a-side
6096.  
6097. indoor league. The matches are 40 minutes long divided into two 20
6098.  
6099. minute halves. It's a fast moving format but players can sub in and out
6100.  
6101. at any time. Over the course of the whole match I doubt if I played for
6102.  
6103. more than a total of 15 minutes but it was great to "have a go". My
6104.  
6105. stamina was very low but at least this time it's as much due to lack of
6106.  
6107. fitness than it is oxygen in the blood. My oncologist did warn me that
6108.  
6109. I will still be lacking for energy for quite some time and he was right
6110.  
6111. but I really enjoyed seeing my teammates again and doing something a
6112.  
6113. little more energetic than walking. To be honest, if you had told me
6114.  
6115. back in October that I would be able to play ever again, yet alone in
6116.  
6117. mid-January, I am not sure I would have believed you. So, while I did
6118.  
6119. not contribute very much to the team and I am certainly not going to
6120.  
6121. push myself too hard, I at least feel like a very important part of my
6122.  
6123. life (playing sport) is coming back to me and for that I am extremely
6124.  
6125. grateful. Now if only my energy level would come back enough to give me
6126.  
6127. the confidence to go and tidy up the disaster area that is our garage.
6128.  
6129. Oh well, baby steps!!
6130. ]]>
6131. </description>
6132. <pubDate>Thu, 24 Jan 2008 09:42:26 CST</pubDate>
6133. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000055</guid>
6134. </item>
6135.  
6136.  
6137. <item>
6138. <title>End of round four</title>
6139. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
6140. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Jan-20-a</link>
6141. <description>
6142. <![CDATA[
6143. It seems each round has taken a little more out of me than the prior
6144. one. Today (Sunday) my head finally feels clear and the fatigue that
6145. seems to start almost immediately the chemo cycle starts has finally
6146. left me again - what a relief. I should now get a few days where I feel
6147. as close to normal as normal gets at present. On Friday I went into the
6148. office for the first time since before my surgery back in October.
6149. Several of my colleagues were in town for a meeting and I was really
6150. keen to see everyone. I have to say that making it through the day was
6151. a struggle for me but it was great to see everyone. Yesterday
6152. (Saturday) I managed to struggle through watching my daughter's indoor
6153. soccer game but I was very grateful that some of the other parents were
6154. on hand to coach the team as I was just not up to it this week. By 7pm
6155. I was worn out and collapsed into bed. This morning, thankfully I woke
6156. up feeling a lot better. Hopefully, then, this coming week will be a
6157. better one and I will be able to get a lot done both at work and at
6158. home before the next round starts on January 28<sup>th</sup>.&nbsp;
6159. Today I am having a lazy, domestic day. I got some housework done and
6160. paid the bills this morning while watching the English Premier League
6161. (Man City vs West Ham) on TV. This afternoon I am "vegging" on the
6162. couch watching the NFL playoffs and trying to get some reading done.
6163. The latter is still a big challenge for me as the chemo has very much
6164. affected my eyesight as I have mentioned before. My oncologist assures
6165. me this is a temporary state resulting from a hardening of the cornea
6166. caused my the chemo meds. Lorna and Robyn are off selling Girl Scout
6167. Cookies (yes it's that time of year again!). Jack is off being Jack
6168. (which right now means he is locked in combat with Mario, Luigi and
6169. other of his best Game Cube friends).  So other than that, it's
6170. pretty quiet around here, which is fine by me.  I hope you are all
6171. having an enjoyable weekend.
6172. ]]>
6173. </description>
6174. <pubDate>Sun, 20 Jan 2008 15:41:36 CST</pubDate>
6175. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000054</guid>
6176. </item>
6177.  
6178.  
6179.  
6180. <item>
6181. <title>Chemo round four</title>
6182. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
6183. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">personal</category>
6184. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Jan-14-a</link>
6185. <description>
6186. <![CDATA[
6187. Due to the fact that my last round only ended on January 4th
6188.  
6189. (because of  the New Year's day holiday) I have had a few less
6190.  
6191. days to recover than normal between rounds. Suffice to say, I felt
6192.  
6193. pretty good this weekend and was really not looking forward to going in
6194.  
6195. this morning knowing that the side effects would all start coming back
6196.  
6197. by this evening (which they indeed have as I type this). My visit today
6198.  
6199. began at 11:15am and after the usual vital signs and weight checks we
6200.  
6201. spent about 30 minutes talking with the Oncologist to take stock of
6202.  
6203. where we are now that we are almost a third of the way into the
6204.  
6205. treatment program. He is basically very happy with my progress. My
6206.  
6207. haemoglobin count continues to rise and is now teasingly close to the
6208.  
6209. normal range. Lorna came with me today and she asked more questions
6210.  
6211. than I did (I tend to not like questions as they usually result in
6212.  
6213. answers - and answers can be either good or bad!). Today the answers
6214.  
6215. were all very good. We discussed a lot of statistics and probabilities
6216.  
6217. and the like but the bottom line is that right now I am doing about as
6218.  
6219. well as can be expected and no one can predict the future but the
6220.  
6221. treatment is giving me the best possible chance of having one! I also
6222.  
6223. learned a lot about microscopic cancer cells and the difference in
6224.  
6225. resolution between a CT scan and a PET scan. If you are interested in
6226.  
6227. more details of that I'll leave it as a Google exercise. My treatment
6228.  
6229. ended around 3L:15pm but they were kind enough to let me hang out there
6230.  
6231. for another couple of hours so I could finish my e-mail and wait for
6232.  
6233. Lorna (who left mid afternoon) to return and pick me up. I don't like
6234.  
6235. driving on chemo day one in particular as some of the meds they pump
6236.  
6237. into me make me quite dopey (yes, more so than usual!).  So
6238.  
6239. anyway, here I am again, 9:23pm, just me and my portable chemo pump
6240.  
6241. blogging away together as we get into round four.<br>
6242.  
6243. </p>
6244.  
6245. <p>The oncologist was packed today. In fact, when I arrived, I got the
6246.  
6247. last remaining empty chair, which as luck would have it was at the far
6248.  
6249. end of the room in a quiet corner. This was handy as for the first time
6250.  
6251. I had planned to do some work phone calls from there today (with a
6252.  
6253. headset and a quiet voice of course - I cannot stand overhearing people
6254.  
6255. yelling to their colleagues on cell phones in planes and such places so
6256.  
6257. when I absolutely have to take a call in public I always try and be as
6258.  
6259. unobtrusive as possible). So basically I worked a full day today, in
6260.  
6261. fact I have reached the point where I can pretty much ignore everything
6262.  
6263. going on around me and to me and just work (or sometimes play) during
6264.  
6265. the visits and I find that helps the time pass a lot faster.&nbsp; <br>
6266.  
6267. </p>
6268.  
6269. <p>So tomorrow I go back for day two of this round. I need to get there
6270.  
6271. before the pump runs out which should be around 1:15pm (it needs to run
6272.  
6273. for 22 hours before they can start their next drug set). The day two
6274.  
6275. visits hopefully end up being about three hours. Hopefully tomorrow
6276.  
6277. will keep to that pattern.<br>
6278.  
6279. </p>
6280.  
6281. <p>As a side note I have heard from three people who went to have
6282.  
6283. colonoscopies done having read my blog here and in each case the doctor
6284.  
6285. found treatable pre-cncerous polyps. So if nothing else, by being
6286.  
6287. fairly open about what happened to me I have in some small way helped
6288.  
6289. influence the lives of a few others in a positive way. For that I am
6290.  
6291. very grateful. Once again we see the power of the Web when used
6292.  
6293. sensibly.<br>
6294.  
6295. </p>
6296.  
6297. <p>Depending on the side effects, I'll try and post again tomorrow, but
6298.  
6299. if it's like last round, I may be off the air for a day or too. Right
6300.  
6301. now I am going to go and watch the second episode of the new Terminator
6302.  
6303. series on TV ("<a href="http://www.fox.com/terminator/">The Sarah Conner Chronicles</a>")
6304.  
6305. which the DVR hopefully recorded earlier. Episode one was yesterday and
6306.  
6307. I really enjoyed it. A much better sequel than the recent attempt at
6308.  
6309. resurrecting the Bionic Woman in my humble opinion.<br>
6310.  
6311. </p>
6312.  
6313. <p>So that's the update for now. As always thanks for all the support in the <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/guestbook.html">Guest Book</a>
6314.  
6315. and elsewhere. Despite the fact that things (touch wood) seem to be
6316.  
6317. going well for now I still really appreciate all of the support at what
6318.  
6319. remains a very nervous time for us.
6320.  
6321. ]]>
6322. </description>
6323. <pubDate>Mon, 14 Jan 2008 21:51:47 CST</pubDate>
6324. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000053</guid>
6325. </item>
6326.  
6327.  
6328.  
6329. <item>
6330. <title>Friday update</title>
6331. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
6332. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Jan-11-a</link>
6333. <description>
6334. <![CDATA[
6335. This has been a busy week work wise but with the kids back at school
6336.  
6337. (and the house quiet) I have managed to get a lot done. These days I
6338.  
6339. work predominantly from home (and a lot of that time it seems I spend
6340.  
6341. on the phone) but next week I am actually planning to go in to the
6342.  
6343. "real" office for a couple of days towards the end of the week. This
6344.  
6345. will be the first time back in the office since before my surgery so it
6346.  
6347. will be great to see a lot of my friends and colleagues "in the flesh"
6348.  
6349. again. Before that I have to get through chemo round four which starts
6350.  
6351. on Monday at 11:15am. As of course is always the case (or so it seems)
6352.  
6353. I am finally feeling "normal" again just in time to get my next
6354.  
6355. "cocktail" dose on Monday! <br>
6356.  
6357. </p>
6358.  
6359. <p>While talking of work, I have also started posting to the <a href="http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/page/KRL">work blog</a>
6360.  
6361. again finally after many months of almost total silence. I tend to
6362.  
6363. post  items on the work blog that are more technical in nature and
6364.  
6365. discuss things I am doing on the work front. Consequently those entries
6366.  
6367. are not of as much interest to everyone that comes here to this site.
6368.  
6369. If you do check out the work blog you will notice I have been
6370.  
6371. experimenting with <a href="http://www.facebook.com/">Facebook</a>
6372.  
6373. quite a bit. Thank you everyone that sent me friendship invites
6374.  
6375. recently during my post-surgery recovery period. I think I have now
6376.  
6377. accepted them all and have started sending out additional requests of
6378.  
6379. my own. <br>
6380.  
6381. </p>
6382.  
6383. <p>I'm continuing to really enjoy the Mac Book Pro. I'm planning on taking
6384.  
6385. it with me to the chemo office for the first time on Monday as I now
6386.  
6387. have enough applications, music and other goodies loaded on to it that
6388.  
6389. it should prove to be an able companion for the planned five hours
6390.  
6391. I will be "in the chair". I also ordered (and just received) an Apple
6392.  
6393. Bluetooth keyboard so that I can plug the Mac into the 42inch wide screen HDTV that
6394.  
6395. we have the Wii plugged into and use it from the couch. This should be
6396.  
6397. very cool (as long as the kids ever let me have the TV that is).</p>
6398.  
6399. <p>If you follow my <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/books.html">Books and Magazines</a> section you will know that I finally finished reading Harry Turtledove's <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Colonization: Second Contact</span>
6400.  
6401. this week. This was a another good book in the multi-book series that I
6402.  
6403. am working my way through. It has taken me several months to finish it.
6404.  
6405. My reading speed has slowed down a lot in recent months with everything
6406.  
6407. I have going on but it has been made significantly worse by the fact
6408.  
6409. that the chemo seems to have negatively affected my eyesight to the
6410.  
6411. point where my eyes get very tired after reading just a few pages.
6412.  
6413. Thankfully, I just called the eye doctor and after almost a month of
6414.  
6415. waiting (the frames I picked were back ordered it turns out) my new
6416.  
6417. glasses are ready. I am really hoping they help as I am struggling even
6418.  
6419. working here at the computer all day yet alone reading books in the
6420.  
6421. evening.<br>
6422.  
6423. </p>
6424.  
6425. <p>By the way, for those of you that like to keep up with the kids, I
6426.  
6427. just posted three photos taken on Christmas Day to the Family Photo
6428.  
6429. Journal over in the Family &amp; Friends section.<br>
6430.  
6431. </p>
6432.  
6433. <p>That's about it for now then. I'm glad the work week is almost over.
6434.  
6435. I plan to try and enjoy the weekend and eat and drink all the things
6436.  
6437. that I know I won't feel like eating and drinking next week in vast
6438.  
6439. quantities over the next two days! This weekend the weather is supposed
6440.  
6441. to be superb here so I am planning to try and divide my time between
6442.  
6443. playing with the kids outside and watching the English Premier League
6444.  
6445. and the NFL playoffs inside. I'll need to get up fairly early tomorrow
6446.  
6447. (for a Saturday that is) as the Arsenal vs Birmingham match starts on
6448.  
6449. TV here at 9am I think. I hope everyone has a pleasant and restful
6450.  
6451. weekend.
6452.  
6453. ]]>
6454. </description>
6455. <pubDate>Fri, 11 Jan 2008 14:12:58 CST</pubDate>
6456. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000052</guid>
6457. </item>
6458.  
6459.  
6460. <item>
6461. <title>Back to school and back to normal</title>
6462. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
6463. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Jan-08-a</link>
6464. <description>
6465. <![CDATA[
6466. The kids went back to school today. I think we were all ready. I
6467.  
6468. know I was. Yesterday (Monday) was a bonus day off due to teacher
6469.  
6470. training. We had the hardest time getting them to go to sleep last
6471.  
6472. night and as a result we had two little "growly bear cubs" to wake up
6473.  
6474. this morning. After we got them bundled off and on their way Lorna and
6475.  
6476. I went to visit the oncologist so they could give me a nice big dose of
6477.  
6478. iron and an few other things and I must confess that I am feeling much
6479.  
6480. more my old self again this afternoon. The "fog of war" one gets into
6481.  
6482. from all the chemo meds has finally worn off again for another round.
6483.  
6484. After school Lorna took Jack to the park to let off some steam but he
6485.  
6486. was still being growly. At one point he apparently got so mad that he
6487.  
6488. told her "fine I'm just going to drop my pants then" , and he did. Hmm,
6489.  
6490. I don't think that would work as well in the business environment - but
6491.  
6492. you never know! Could be an ice breaker in an already ugly meeting!
6493.  
6494. Yesterday Lorna and Robyn went up to Dallas for the day so that Robyn
6495.  
6496. could visit the huge (two storey)&nbsp; <a href="http://www.americangirl.com/">American Girl</a>
6497.  
6498. shop they have there. As a typical male this is all alien to me but
6499.  
6500. apparently this type of quest is quite the thing to do these days.
6501.  
6502. Suffice to say we have a new addition to the family as of last night.
6503.  
6504. Complete with matching outfits of course and accessories. Oh well that
6505.  
6506. takes care of the Santa money for another year!  Robyn is already
6507.  
6508. working on me to fly her to LA so she can visit the (even bigger)
6509.  
6510. Beverley Hills store!  Oh and in case you were wondering about the
6511.  
6512. Central Texas weather, it's like Spring here this week. A few showers,
6513.  
6514. lots of sunshine and temperatures in the 70's Fahrenheit - gorgeous.Apart from the time I needed to take to go get "infused" this morning I
6515.  
6516. managed to work a full day today and in general (for a day or two at
6517.  
6518. least), things are back to normal. </p>
6519.  
6520.  
6521. ]]>
6522. </description>
6523. <pubDate>Tue, 8 Jan 2008 17:10:23 CST</pubDate>
6524. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000051</guid>
6525. </item>
6526.  
6527.  
6528. <item>
6529. <title>End of round three - well almost</title>
6530. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
6531. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Jan-07-a</link>
6532. <description>
6533. <![CDATA[
6534. I finished the treatments for this round last Friday but even today
6535.  
6536. (Monday) the side effects are still hanging around a bit more severely
6537.  
6538. than it seems they did for either of the prior two rounds. Consequently
6539.  
6540. I haven't felt like posting here for a few days and I had a very low
6541.  
6542. key weekend. Hopefully by tomorrow I'll be more back to normal again.
6543.  
6544. Unfortunately due to the schedule being a little out of routine, due to
6545.  
6546. the New Year break, I have to start round four in just a few days time
6547.  
6548. (on the 14th). I'll hopefully be back in a day or two with a longer
6549.  
6550. update. I hope that all of you are off to a more pleasant start to the
6551.  
6552. year.
6553.  
6554.  
6555. ]]>
6556. </description>
6557. <pubDate>Mon, 7 Jan 2008 14:57:31 CST</pubDate>
6558. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000050</guid>
6559. </item>
6560.  
6561.  
6562. <item>
6563. <title>Chemo round 3</title>
6564. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
6565. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2008-Jan-02-a</link>
6566. <description>
6567. <![CDATA[
6568. <p>Having enjoyed a nice eleven day break since my last chemo round
6569. finished, I had to get up bright and early today to get to the
6570. oncologist's office by 8:30am to begin round three. I was there a total
6571. of almost five hours this time and the office was very busy as usual.
6572. The first day of each round is always the longest as they run blood
6573. tests on me and have to wait for the results before they can commence
6574. giving me the actual chemo meds. The good news there is that my
6575. haemoglobin level is significantly up from where it was pre-surgery and
6576. is continuing to rise. As a result I am much less anemic now than I was
6577. two months ago which really helps my energy level among other
6578. things.  The oncologist has been giving me massive amounts of
6579. intravenous iron which is definitely helping bring the number up. As
6580. well as the iron, they also give me a fairly broad range of additional
6581. medicines on day one, which naturally makes the visit take longer.
6582. These are mainly to help prevent major side effects from or reactions
6583. to  the chemo meds and the iron. Hopefully tomorrow I will only
6584. have to be there for about three hours. One of the meds they gave me
6585. today is an intravenous anti nausea drug, that I had not had before,
6586. and has the instant effect that about three glasses of red wine would
6587. have. As a result, it's actually quite easy to relax during the day one
6588. visits!! &nbsp; All the medicines go into a "main line" vein via my <a
6589. href="http://www.bardaccess.com/port-powerport.php">power port</a>
6590. which means they go straight to the heart (do not pass go, do not
6591. collect $200) and shortly thereafter reach all other parts of the body
6592. including the brain!.&nbsp; There is a good photo <a
6593. href="http://portadvantage.com/patient/about_implanted_ports.html">here</a>
6594. of how these ports work although the device type shown is not the same
6595. as the one I have everything else is the same in terms of placement etc.<br>
6596. </p>
6597. <p>Thankfully the wireless network was performing well (as usual) today
6598. and I was able to get a lot of e-mail and other work done while they
6599. worked on me (despite being mildly drunk!) and to be honest the time
6600. went by quite quickly.  If my wife or my boss are reading this,
6601. don't worry I didn't sign any important papers or other documents while
6602. "under the influence" !! Unfortunately, as I have mentioned before, the
6603. treatment does not stop when I leave the office. In fact the infusion
6604. process runs almost non stop for 48 hours. I am sitting here at home on
6605. the couch (yes watching more English football) as I type this with my
6606. "take home" battery powered pump buzzing away next to me giving me
6607. regular doses of the <a
6608. href="http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/help/default.asp?page=4007">Fluorouracil</a>
6609. (commonly known as 5FU) medicine. It even comes with its own (not very
6610. stylish) shoulder bag. I think there is money to be made for someone
6611. here who designs a trendy bag that turns this thing into a bit more of
6612. a fashion accessory!<br>
6613. </p>
6614. <p>The other of the two specifc chemo drugs that I get on a "day one"
6615. visit is called <a
6616. href="http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/help/default.asp?page=4184">Oxaliplatin
6617. (OX)</a>&nbsp; It is the one that I find has the weirdest side effects.
6618. It messes up the nervous system to the extent that I become very
6619. sensitive to the touch for anything cold. So much so, in fact, 
6620. that if I put my hand in cold water (as I did without thinking, to fish
6621. some leaves out of our pool during round two) it feels like I have had
6622. a significant  electric shock followed by prolonged tingling in
6623. the fingers. I also find it close to impossible to swallow any cold
6624. drinks for several days after getting a dose of "<a
6625. href="http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/help/default.asp?page=4184">OX</a>".
6626. It's a good thing that English beer can be drunk and enjoyed at close
6627. to room temperature :-)<br>
6628. </p>
6629. <p>I received several e-mails today, from m any parts of the
6630. World,  wishing me all the best for round three. I really
6631. appreciate the fact that so many of you are keeping up with my schedule
6632. and are continuing to send me messages of support and encouragement.
6633. Lorna and I also really look forward to checking the <a
6634. href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/guestbook.html">Guest Book</a> every evening for new messages
6635. and we often also go back and re-read the prior entries. <br>
6636. </p>
6637. <p>Tomorrow I don't have quite such an early start. The portable chemo
6638. pump needs to run for 22 hours before they start "day 2" in the office.
6639. I think that means I need to be there at around 11am or so.<br>
6640. </p>
6641. <p>So that's the update for today. I'll post again soon. On the bright
6642. side, after this round I will be 25% of the way through the treatments.
6643.  
6644. ]]>
6645. </description>
6646. <pubDate>Wed, 2 Jan 2008 20:55:01 CST</pubDate>
6647. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000049</guid>
6648. </item>
6649.  
6650.  
6651. <item>
6652. <title>A lot to be thankful for</title>
6653. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
6654. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2007-Dec-31-a</link>
6655. <description>
6656. <![CDATA[
6657. <p>About this time of the year I like to reflect upon all of the things
6658. that I have to be thankful for. I suppose I could be forgiven for
6659. looking at 2007 as a year to rapidly forget. On the contrary, despite
6660. all of the medical issues that I have had to face up to, I truly do
6661. have a lot to be thankful for and also have many fond memories to look
6662. back on from the year. Among the highlights were being with my family
6663. to watch the space shuttle Atlantis launch from the Cape back in June
6664. and taking my nine year old daughter to her first rock concert. I took
6665. her to see Rush (one of my long time favourite bands) and she loved it.
6666. We also got to enjoy our new swimming pool for the first time and I
6667. traveled a lot less than usual and as a result got to spend a lot more
6668. time with the wife and kids. Lorna and I did some fun things too,
6669. including a weekend break to Houston to watch the Astros play which was
6670. a lot of fun. So all in all we had a lot of fun in 2007. When October
6671. arrived and I was diagnosed with cancer, I will admit that I did for a
6672. while fall into a brief pit of self pity. However, due to the amazing
6673. support of my wife, other family members and all of my friends around
6674. the World I was able to (for the most part) rebound and keep my spirits
6675. up. I am truly thankful that my family doctor was on the ball and
6676. caught the cancer at what we hope was a fairly early stage. I am also
6677. extremely thankful that we found such a skilled surgeon to operate on
6678. me and that the surgery went by without major incident. I am also
6679. grateful to all of the nurses and other staff at the Seton Medical
6680. Center in Austin for the care and professionalism they showed me during
6681. my time as their "guest". I am also more thankful than simple words can
6682. truly express, for all of the e-mails, other messages of support,
6683. gifts, cards and deliveries of food that arrived (and continue to
6684. arrive). In times of crisis you really do need your friends and you
6685. have all been amazing.  Thank you all so much. So as we head into
6686. 2008 I have regained much of my optimism and am looking forward to
6687. whatever the year brings. I still have some unknowns in my future, but
6688. hey, which of us doesn't?  I also know that I am not alone in
6689. having had to face up to some severe personal challenges in 2007.
6690. Several of my very good friends have lost loved ones or had to face up
6691. to their own medical challenges. All of you remain in my thoughts and
6692. prayers. I pray that you each find strength and happiness in 2008.<br>
6693. </p>
6694. <p>Wherever you are reading this, I hope that 2008 is full of good
6695. things for you.<br>
6696. </p>
6697. <p>Happy New Year!<br>
6698. ]]>
6699. </description>
6700. <pubDate>Mon, 31 Dec 2007 15:57:00 CST</pubDate>
6701. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000048</guid>
6702. </item>
6703.  
6704.  
6705.  
6706. <item>
6707. <title>Enjoying a few days off</title>
6708. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
6709. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2007-Dec-29-a</link>
6710. <description>
6711. <![CDATA[
6712. <p>As well as having some time off work to spend with the family over
6713. the last week or so, which has been great, I have also enjoyed having a
6714. block of days with no chemo treatments. I have had a lot of side
6715. effects from the previous two treatments so I really need this time to
6716. recover from those. My next round starts next week on January 2<sup>nd</sup>
6717. so I am trying to make the most of the time between Christmas and the
6718. New Year. On "Boxing Day" (December 26th) I spent a lot of time in
6719. front of the TV watching the English Premier League<big> <small>before
6720. I had to go see the oncologist for my "off week" checkup/iron infusion
6721. visit. </small></big>. As many of you know I am a huge Arsenal fan and
6722. the match between Portsmouth and Arsenal was one of the many I enjoyed
6723. watching (despite the Arsenal performance being extremely flat). Of the
6724. matches I watched, the game of the day had to be the 4-4 draw between
6725. Aston Villa and Chelsea. We are fortunate here in the US these days
6726. that the Premier League gets a lot of TV coverage so I am able to keep
6727. up really well with the matches. In fact, as I type this I am watching
6728. Chelsea play Newcastle live on the TV and after this match is over the
6729. Arsenal/Everton match is on so I guess I'll be glued to the TV for a
6730. few more&nbsp; hours yet.<br>
6731. <span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br>
6732. <br>
6733. A couple of nights ago our kids had a sleep over with some of their
6734. cousins and Lorna and I were able to go to a movie. We have not really
6735. managed to have a "date night" since my surgery so this was a real
6736. treat. There are currently several movies on that we would like to see
6737. but in the end we chose <a
6738. href="http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/nationaltreasure/">National
6739. Treasure: Book of Secrets</a> and we both really enjoyed it<br>
6740. </p>
6741. <p>I have also been trying to get back into my <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/books.html">reading</a>
6742. again. I still haven't finished any of the books that I started before
6743. my surgery back in October. This has nothing to do with the quality of
6744. the books, however. It's more a case of I have had trouble relaxing
6745. enough to read and lately the chemo seems to have negatively affected
6746. my eyesight such that my eyes get tired after just a few pages.
6747. Thankfully I just had my annual eye exam and my new glasses should be
6748. ready next week.<br>
6749. </p>
6750. <p>Given I still get tired pretty easily, I have had to spend a fair
6751. bit of time stuck on the couch resting. Consequently I have finally
6752. managed to spend quite a bit of time playing with the new Mac Book Pro
6753. laptop. I remain really impressed with this machine. The operating
6754. system and all of the preloaded applications seem really well done. I'm
6755. planning to start maintaining this web site using the Mac fairly soon.
6756. The only complaint I have is that the iWeb program that came with the
6757. machine (as far as I can tell) can only be used to create new web sites
6758. and not to edit/manage existing ones - so this for me is not very
6759. useful. While talking about computers, we bought the kids a new PC for
6760. Christmas, primarily to stop them destroying the machine in the office
6761. here at the house (which is the only one we had previously that could
6762. run their favourite games). The machine we got them came preloaded with
6763. Windows Vista. Sadly, of the three games I have tried to install so
6764. far, not one of them has worked. They all worked fine on the other
6765. machine, which is running Windows XP.  So I'll either be putting
6766. XP on the new machine this weekend, or I'll end up giving them my home
6767. office machine and putting the new machine in there. <br>
6768. </p>
6769. <p>As my friends outside the US may not realise, this is a big time
6770. here in the US for collegiate football. There are seemingly endless
6771. "bowl" games on TV between Chritmas Eve and New Years Day. This year,
6772. our local team, the University of Texas Longhorns were in the Holiday
6773. Bowl, played in San Diego a couple of nights ago. They were not
6774. expected to win but in fact did win and convincingly so (52 - 34) over
6775. Arizona State. Lorna and I enjoyed watching the game on TV. After an
6776. average season by their standards, it was nice to see Texas end the
6777. season in style.<br>
6778. </p>
6779. <p>Later today (if he ever wakes up!) I promised Jack we would put his
6780. new Hotwheels track together. I'm not sure which of us is looking
6781. forward to it more. After that I have to help Robyn download some more
6782. music into the new iPod that she got for Christmas. In fact Lorna and
6783. Robyn both got new iPods so I think I am going to be busy loading up
6784. iTunes with large chunks of our CD collection over the next few days.<br>
6785. </p>
6786. <p>That's about it for now. I hope you are all enjoying the holiday
6787. season as much as we are.<br>
6788.  
6789. ]]>
6790. </description>
6791. <pubDate>Sat, 29 Dec 2007 10:56:42 CST</pubDate>
6792. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000047</guid>
6793. </item>
6794.  
6795.  
6796.  
6797. <item>
6798. <title>Merry Christmas!</title>
6799. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">personal</category>
6800. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2007-Dec-25-a</link>
6801. <description>
6802. <![CDATA[
6803. The kids were up before the Sun at about 7:30am this morning and I
6804.  
6805. guess once again they managed to keep off the naughty list as Santa
6806.  
6807. appears to have been very good to them.  The living room floor is
6808.  
6809. covered in new games, toys and debris! I must admit I really enjoyed
6810.  
6811. watching them have fun and go nuts ripping into packages this morning.
6812.  
6813. We just had breakfast and are now taking a few minutes to catch our
6814.  
6815. breath while the kids play with their loot before worrying about the
6816.  
6817. next round of activities!<br>
6818.  
6819.  
6820.  
6821. <p>To all my friends and family around the World who celebrate
6822.  
6823. Christmas I wish you a very special "Merry Christmas" and to all my
6824.  
6825. friends who celebrate other holidays I wish you likewise nothing but
6826.  
6827. good things at this festive time of the year. All of you have done so
6828.  
6829. much to support me these past few months for which I am extremely
6830.  
6831. grateful. In spite of the tough things we have endured recently I am
6832.  
6833. constantly reminded of the all the good things in the World that I need
6834.  
6835. to be so very thankful for.<br>
6836.  
6837. </p>
6838.  
6839. <p>From me and my family to you and yours, I wish you peace and joy.
6840. ]]>
6841. </description>
6842. <pubDate>Tue, 25 Dec 2007 10:15:00 CST</pubDate>
6843. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000046</guid>
6844. </item>
6845.  
6846. <item>
6847. <title>End of round two</title>
6848. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">personal</category>
6849. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
6850. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2007-Dec-21-a</link>
6851. <description>
6852. <![CDATA[
6853. I finished my second (of the 12 planned) chemo rounds this week. So
6854.  
6855. far the side effects are much the same as last time but I have been a
6856.  
6857. bit more proactive with the medicines that help fight the side effects
6858.  
6859. and also got a few good suggestions from my oncologist which have
6860.  
6861. helped. So far, overall, I think I am coping a little better this time
6862.  
6863. than the first. The oncologist hopes this trend will continue. We are
6864.  
6865. trying to have as normal a Christmas as possible and the focus now is
6866.  
6867. on all of those last minute (non medical) items that go with the season
6868.  
6869. While I have a checkup visit next week I have no more chemo sessions
6870.  
6871. until January so this will help me enjoy the break a whole lot more. As
6872.  
6873. I said we have a lot to do here, so I will be brief today but wanted to
6874.  
6875. post something as many of you have been asking after me (as always
6876.  
6877. thanks for all the support and messages in the <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/guestbook.html">Guest Book</a>).<br>
6878.  
6879. </p>
6880.  
6881. <p>I hope wherever you are reading this you have a very safe and enjoyable holiday season.<br>
6882.  
6883. ]]>
6884. </description>
6885. <pubDate>Fri, 21 Dec 2007 09:28:00 CST</pubDate>
6886. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000045</guid>
6887. </item>
6888.  
6889.  
6890. <item>
6891. <title>Jack turns 6</title>
6892. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">family</category>
6893. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2007-Dec-17-a</link>
6894. <description>
6895. <![CDATA[
6896.  
6897. I'm actually sitting in the oncologist's office beginning round two of
6898. my chemo treatments as I type this, but I wanted to make a posting
6899. today that is not about me for a change! Today, is my son Jack's
6900. birthday and he is turning six (where did the time go, they grow so
6901. fast). He went off to school very excited this morning with a plate of
6902. cookies that Lorna made for him to share with his class mates and he
6903. seemed to be really enjoying being the centre of attention. On Saturday
6904. we held his birthday party at a local place called <a
6905. href="http://www.pumpitupparty.com/">Pump it Up</a> where the kids get
6906. to bounce around on all manner of large inflatable toys. We had about
6907. 20 kids show up and a good time was had by all. Here's a photo I took
6908. of Jack with his sister (Robyn) enjoying himself at the party.<br>
6909. <br>
6910. <div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Jack and Robyn having fun"
6911. title="Jack and Robyn having fun, December 15th 2007"
6912. src="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/images/JackParty2007.jpg"><br>
6913. </div>
6914. <div style="text-align: center;">Jack and Robyn, December 15th 2007<br>
6915. </div>
6916. <br>
6917. Jack got several fun presents from his friends at the party and the two
6918. of us spent a lot of time on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning
6919. opening packages and putting things together. I think one of his
6920. favourite toys is the pump action nerf gun that fires table tennis ball
6921. sized nerf projectiles at high speed. Luckily for me his aim isn't too
6922. good yet!<br>
6923. <br>
6924. I'll post some more updates about me as the week progresses and I get
6925. further into chemo round two but for now I just want to enjoy watching
6926. my son be the centre of attention for a change!!
6927. ]]>
6928. </description>
6929. <pubDate>Mon, 17 Dec 2007 12:28:00 CST</pubDate>
6930. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000044</guid>
6931. </item>
6932.  
6933.  
6934.  
6935. <item>
6936. <title>The new Mac, Halo 3 and me</title>
6937. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">personal</category>
6938. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
6939. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2007-Dec-12-a</link>
6940. <description>
6941. <![CDATA[
6942. I finally started feeling "normal" again on Sunday (December 9th),
6943.  
6944. and have been trying to get caught up on a number of things
6945.  
6946. since.  Consequently, it has been a few days since my last
6947.  
6948. posting. The good news is that since Sunday I have actually been
6949.  
6950. feeling pretty good. I visited the oncologist's office on Monday for my
6951.  
6952. "off week" checkup visit and they told me all of the symptoms I am
6953.  
6954. experiencing are pretty normal for the drugs they are giving me and
6955.  
6956. that it is likely that this pattern of good days and bad days will
6957.  
6958. repeat itself as we progress through the treatment program. From my
6959.  
6960. point of view, at least knowing there will be several good days will
6961.  
6962. make it easier (I hope) from now on to adjust to the bad days. The
6963.  
6964. other good news is that my <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemoglobin">haemoglobin</a>
6965.  
6966. level (which if you read some of my postings from October) was
6967.  
6968. dangerously low for a while, has improved significantly. This will
6969.  
6970. certainly help with my energy level and I am really happy to see it
6971.  
6972. rising.<br>
6973.  
6974. </p>
6975.  
6976. <p>Given it took me several days to recover from the first chemo round,
6977.  
6978. I have not had as much time or energy to play with the new Mac as I
6979.  
6980. would have liked. However, today, I met a good friend who is a Mac guru
6981.  
6982. for lunch and he was kind enough to give me a crash course in some of
6983.  
6984. the cool features and also help me setup some of the key software that
6985.  
6986. I want to run on the machine. I hope to spend more time over the next
6987.  
6988. few days exploring. My ultimate goal is to be able to use the machine
6989.  
6990. for both work and fun. Even in the short amount of time I have had to
6991.  
6992. play so far, I have been very impressed with both the machine itself
6993.  
6994. and the new Leopard operating system software that came
6995.  
6996. preloaded.&nbsp; <br>
6997.  
6998. </p>
6999.  
7000. <p>I mentioned in my previous posting that I would comment on the
7001.  
7002. amazing journey the Mac took to get to me. I guess this just shows what
7003.  
7004. a global economy we live in. I ordered the machine from the Apple web
7005.  
7006. site which I assume is in California but have no real idea where it is.
7007.  
7008. I naively assumed the machine would come from California too. However,
7009.  
7010. when I got the FedEx tracking number and went to track the delivery I
7011.  
7012. found the machine was being assembled and shipped from Shanghai in
7013.  
7014. China. It was a lot of fun to follow the journey from then on. I
7015.  
7016. managed to figure out which FedEx flights the machine was on by cunning
7017.  
7018. use of flight trackers and the FedEx web page. I was able to follow the
7019.  
7020. machine as it made its way to me across the Pacific. In the end, before
7021.  
7022. being delivered  at my front door, the machine visited the
7023.  
7024. airports in Shanghai, Anchorage, Indianapolis,  Memphis and Austin
7025.  
7026. - quite a journey! What I found even more amazing was that the machine
7027.  
7028. arrived within 25 minutes (early) of the originally scheduled delivery
7029.  
7030. date and time that had been given to me when I placed the order a few
7031.  
7032. days before - pretty impressive I think.</p>
7033.  
7034. <p>This week I have worked a full day each day so far and that has been
7035.  
7036. really nice in terms of giving me a strong feeling of normality. I also
7037.  
7038. managed to finally make time this week for my annual eye exam (which
7039.  
7040. was months overdue) and I was glad to see that my eyesight is more or
7041.  
7042. less the same as it was last year. I have been told that the chemo may
7043.  
7044. negatively affect my eyesight so I wanted to get my new glasses ordered
7045.  
7046. before the chemo has a chance to distort everything too badly (no pun
7047.  
7048. intended). While my energy is definitely continuing to come back, in
7049.  
7050. the evenings I still find I need to spend quite a lot of time taking it
7051.  
7052. easy by relaxing in front of the TV or doing other low energy things
7053.  
7054. like playing games. This week (admittedly with help from my kids) we
7055.  
7056. managed to complete level 8 of the solo player missions in Halo 3
7057.  
7058. (there are ten in total). We are now fragging our way through level
7059.  
7060. nine! Halo 3 is a very enjoyable game but also a very pleasing game in
7061.  
7062. terms of the overall graphics and production quality. Once I am done
7063.  
7064. with the single player missions I am tempted to try playing on-line but
7065.  
7066. I am also more than a bit worried that that could turn out to be a
7067.  
7068. really big consumer/waster of time - but right now maybe that's OK!!<br>
7069.  
7070. </p>
7071.  
7072. I'll try to post again soon with more updates. My next chemo round
7073.  
7074. starts on Monday (December 17th) so I am going to try and enjoy the
7075.  
7076. next few days before the anticipated next cycle of "feeling lousy"
7077.  
7078. starts.<br>
7079.  
7080.  
7081.  
7082. ]]>
7083. </description>
7084. <pubDate>Wed, 12 Dec 2007 16:38:00 CST</pubDate>
7085. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000043</guid>
7086. </item>
7087.  
7088.  
7089.  
7090.  
7091. <item>
7092. <title>End of round one</title>
7093. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">personal</category>
7094. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
7095. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2007-Dec-05-a</link>
7096. <description>
7097. <![CDATA[
7098. The chemo program I am on feels to me a lot like the way
7099. professional boxing must feel. The two participants pummel each other
7100. over the course of 12 rounds. Only in this case, the 12 rounds are
7101. spread out over six months and the other guy does all the pummelling
7102. and my job is to basically "hang in there" and wait for the bell. Today
7103. I ended round one. I'd say we're maybe about even on points but I am
7104. certainly dealing with a formidable opponent!  I have experienced
7105. a lot of side effects. None of them are major when taken independently
7106. but when taken as a whole they have left me feeling pretty wiped out.
7107. Thankfully I have until December 17<sup>th</sup> before round two gets
7108. underway. At least, unlike professional boxing, the opponent is
7109. pummelling me with the intention of leaving me better off at the end
7110. and not out cold on the mat. I don't have the energy to describe the
7111. exact regimen and how it works but I believe it is known commonly as
7112. FOLFOX. I found a site based in the UK that seems to describe it quite
7113. well. Here is a <a
7114. href="http://www.cancerbackup.org.uk/Treatments/Chemotherapy/Combinationregimen/Oxaliplatin5FU">link
7115. to that site</a>. If you read the summary at that link you will see I
7116. am getting treatment both in the oncologist's office and also at home
7117. (via a pump that stays with me during the rounds). They remove the pump
7118. between rounds. It will be nice to be able to sleep tonight without the
7119. pump. I had hoped to post an update yesterday but at least for now I
7120. have been struggling to keep up as much as I have been recently.
7121. Hopefully I will adapt to this and do better over time. <br>
7122. </p>
7123. <p>On a happier note, I bought myself a new toy, an Apple Mac Book Pro
7124. laptop that I hope to use to keep me occupied during some of the
7125. upcoming chemo visits. I have never owned a Mac before so I am excited
7126. to start exploring all of the cool features. I'll make a dedicated
7127. posting in the next day or so to talk about the Mac and my first
7128. impressions. I'll also describe the amazing journey the machine took to
7129. get to me.<br>
7130. </p>
7131. <p>I continue to be grateful for all of the kind messages I continue to
7132. receive via the <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/guestbook.html">Guest Book</a>, e-mail and so
7133. many other ways. I really appreciate and continue to need all of your
7134. support.
7135. ]]>
7136. </description>
7137. <pubDate>Wed, 05 Dec 2007 22:03:00 CST</pubDate>
7138. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000042</guid>
7139. </item>
7140.  
7141.  
7142.  
7143. <item>
7144. <title>First chemo visit</title>
7145. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">personal</category>
7146. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
7147. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2007-Dec-03-a</link>
7148. <description>
7149. <![CDATA[
7150. Just a quick update as I am wiped out from today and off to bed in a
7151. few minutes. Today was my first chemo appointment. I arrived at 8:30am
7152. and was expecting to be there about 4 hours maybe 5 at most. As it
7153. turned out, mainly due to this being my first visit but more due to
7154. volume of patients and I think some staffing issues I ended up in my
7155. chair for 9 (yes nine) hours. I was in fact the last patient out the
7156. door and it was already getting dark outside when I left. All of this
7157. said, I love the staff at the office where I am being treated and they
7158. made my time there as pleasant as could be. Also, having a WiFi network
7159. really helped pass the time. I used my laptop to do quite a lot of
7160. work, pay my bills and talk to friends and colleagues via instant
7161. messaging. They sent me home with a pump that keeps infusing more
7162. medicine into me over night which will make sleeping a bit odd tonight
7163. I think. So far I have not noticed much in the way of side effects but
7164. I am expecting a few over the course of the treatment based on my
7165. "education" today. I'll post more tomorrow but wanted to just get a
7166. quick post up tonight as many people have been contacting me to ask how
7167. it went. I certainly appreciate all the support. OK off to bed for me.
7168. More updates soon.<br>
7169. ]]>
7170. </description>
7171. <pubDate>Mon, 03 Dec 2007 23:13:00 CST</pubDate>
7172. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000041</guid>
7173. </item>
7174.  
7175. <item>
7176. <title>More surgery and more football</title>
7177. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">personal</category>
7178. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
7179. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2007-Nov-30-a</link>
7180. <description>
7181. <![CDATA[
7182. I spent yesterday afternoon back at the hospital to have the surgery done to put in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port-a-Cath">port-a-cath</a>
7183.  
7184. that will be used to infuse the chemotherapy meds starting next week.
7185.  
7186. The procedure itself was very quick but we (my wife and I) still ended
7187.  
7188. up spending several hours at the hospital (by the time you factor in
7189.  
7190. the waiting room, paperwork, surgery prep, surgery itself and finally
7191.  
7192. recovery). Before they put me to sleep, I had a chat with my surgeon in
7193.  
7194. the OR and he again checked the status of my previous repairs and he
7195.  
7196. gave me the all clear to ramp up my physical activities. I am very
7197.  
7198. pleased about this but of course will ramp up slowly so as not to
7199.  
7200. overdo it.  My surgeon will see me again in six months, after the
7201.  
7202. chemotherapy is over at which time he will remove the port (yet another
7203.  
7204. minor surgery) and begin the three monthly monitoring process that I
7205.  
7206. discussed briefly in my last posting. We left the hospital around 5pm
7207.  
7208. and by then I was extremely hungry having not been allowed to eat since
7209.  
7210. midnight the previous day. <br>
7211.  
7212. <br>
7213.  
7214. Thankfully the sedation wore off pretty quickly and I actually felt
7215.  
7216. pretty good almost immediately I woke up. Given I was both hungry and
7217.  
7218. as always very open to any and all distractions I was able to accept a
7219.  
7220. friend's kind offer to to join him at 7pm for dinner while watching the
7221.  
7222. Dallas Cowboys vs Green Bay Packers game at another friend's house
7223.  
7224. (this specific game was a very big one and was only available via
7225.  
7226. satellite - something we don't have at our house).<br>
7227.  
7228. <br>
7229.  
7230. Today I am a little more tired than I have been in recent days but I
7231.  
7232. slept well last night and otherwise feel OK. The area around the new
7233.  
7234. incision is pretty sore as is to be expected but I'm sure that will
7235.  
7236. calm down soon. <br>
7237.  
7238. <br>
7239.  
7240. I forgot to mention in my prior posting that I got the all clear to
7241.  
7242. drive my car again too. While I don't yet feel confident driving long
7243.  
7244. distances as my mind tends to wander sometimes, it has been great to be
7245.  
7246. able to make a couple of very short trips by myself to local shops.
7247.  
7248. Even the small things mean a lot right now.<br>
7249.  
7250. <br>
7251.  
7252. This weekend I mostly plan to take it easy and maybe do a bit of
7253.  
7254. Christmas decorating around the house - the kids are getting desperate
7255.  
7256. to make progress on that. When I was a kid growing up in England I am
7257.  
7258. sure we didn't start this early but it seems these days (at least
7259.  
7260. around here) as soon as the Thanksgiving holiday is over the Christmas
7261.  
7262. trees start appearing. On Saturday evening, assuming I feel up to it, I
7263.  
7264. am going down to San Antonio (which is about 90 miles from here) with
7265.  
7266. one of my brothers-in-law as we have tickets for the <a href="http://www.big12sports.com/">Big 12 Championship</a>
7267.  
7268. game. For the benefit of my friends and family outside of the USA, this
7269.  
7270. is a fairly major college (American) football event. We were hoping
7271.  
7272. that the University of Texas (which is based here in Austin) would make
7273.  
7274. it to the game but they fell short this year. Given we already have the
7275.  
7276. tickets and that it should still be a great game anyway we are still
7277.  
7278. planing to go and hopefully enjoy the game. This is a fairly big deal
7279.  
7280. for me as this will be by far my biggest adventure since before the
7281.  
7282. surgery - and in case you were worrying - no I will not be doing the
7283.  
7284. driving!<br>
7285.  
7286. <br>
7287.  
7288. That's the update for now. I hope you all have a pleasant weekend.
7289. ]]>
7290. </description>
7291. <pubDate>Fri, 30 Nov 2007 10:00:00 CST</pubDate>
7292. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000040</guid>
7293. </item>
7294.  
7295.  
7296. <item>
7297. <title>A few days of normality</title>
7298. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">personal</category>
7299. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
7300. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2007-Nov-27-a</link>
7301. <description>
7302. <![CDATA[
7303. <p>As I mentioned in my prior posting, last Thursday was the
7304.  
7305. Thanksgiving day holiday here in the United States. For many of us,
7306.  
7307. that meant a four day weekend. Despite the weather here in the Austin
7308.  
7309. area being really nasty (cold and wet) it was nice to have a few days
7310.  
7311. in a row where no one was pushing me, prodding me or sticking needles
7312.  
7313. into me! We went to my brother-in-law's house for a fairly large family
7314.  
7315. gathering on Thursday which was a great distraction for me and it was
7316.  
7317. also great that I was able to enjoy the wonderful meal that had been
7318.  
7319. prepared without too many worries. That said, I'm still learning which
7320.  
7321. foods my new digestive system does best with and which ones mess me up.
7322.  
7323. This will be an ongoing process for some time yet I think! On Friday we
7324.  
7325. had a gathering at our house to watch the Univerity of Texas vs Texas
7326.  
7327. A&M college football game (that's American football for my friends
7328.  
7329. outside the USA). I am also getting a bit more confident about going
7330.  
7331. out in public now so on Saturday we took the kids to see the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee_Movie">Bee Movie</a>
7332.  
7333. which we all enjoyed. On Sunday we went to visit my wife's mother. So
7334.  
7335. all in all I had four days of family time with lots of distractions. I
7336.  
7337. also found some time to play Halo 3 which I am rapidly becoming
7338.  
7339. addicted to.<br>
7340.  
7341. </p>
7342.  
7343. <p>This week I have to get back into the medical routine. Today I went
7344.  
7345. and got my flu shot so that is taken care of before chemo starts next
7346.  
7347. week. On Wednesday (tomorrow)  I have to go to the hospital for my
7348.  
7349. prep visit for the small surgery I am having on Thursday to place the
7350.  
7351. port into my chest that will be used to deliver the chemo meds. It's
7352.  
7353. supposed to only be a half hour procedure and is being done as day
7354.  
7355. surgery. Chemo is due to start next week. I am also due to see my
7356.  
7357. surgeon again next week for another checkup. If he likes my progress I
7358.  
7359. should get the all clear at that point to resume a few more physical
7360.  
7361. activities (once I get my strength up some more anyway). I'm actually
7362.  
7363. going to be seeing a lot of my surgeon over the coming months as at
7364.  
7365. least for the time being he wants to monitor me at three monthly
7366.  
7367. intervals. At least the monitoring can be done in his office without
7368.  
7369. the need for all of the nasty preparations that go with a full
7370.  
7371. colonoscopy. I guess eventually I'll get into the routine of all these
7372.  
7373. appointments but right now, and I guess this means I am feeling quite a
7374.  
7375. bit better, I am about ready for a break from the seemingly endless
7376.  
7377. visits to one medical office or another! As always I'll just have to
7378.  
7379. deal with it. The mess my kids make around the house (which can be
7380.  
7381. substantial) has also started bugging me again for the first time since
7382.  
7383. before the surgery so I guess that is another sign that I am feeling a
7384.  
7385. bit better !!<br>
7386.  
7387. </p>
7388.  
7389. <p>Many of my neighbours have already put up their exterior Christmas
7390.  
7391. decorations and my kids are on my case to do the same. I told them that
7392.  
7393. if I feel up to it that maybe we'll make a start on that later in the
7394.  
7395. week (energy and weather permitting).<br>
7396.  
7397. </p>
7398.  
7399. <p>Apart from a little time off for medical appointments I am planning
7400.  
7401. to try and work pretty much a full week this week unless but I am being
7402.  
7403. careful and will take breaks as needed.<br>
7404.  
7405. </p>
7406.  
7407. <p>I continue to be grateful for all the messages in the <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/guestbook.html">Guest Book</a>
7408.  
7409. as well as the e-mails and calls I am getting from people checking on
7410.  
7411. me. All in all, I think I am coping fairly well. I still have a long
7412.  
7413. way to go, and I am definitely a bit nervous about chemo and how I will
7414.  
7415. react to it, but for the most part I have a lot more good days than bad
7416.  
7417. ones at the moment. I'm trying to keep my attitide positive which I
7418.  
7419. manage to do for the most part but I still have my moments!<br>
7420.  
7421. </p>
7422.  
7423. <p>Anyway, I'll post again soon, probably after the surgery on Thursday.<br>
7424.  
7425.  
7426.  
7427. ]]>
7428. </description>
7429. <pubDate>Tue, 27 Nov 2007 16:25:00 CST</pubDate>
7430. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000039</guid>
7431. </item>
7432.  
7433. <item>
7434. <title>The plan moving forward</title>
7435. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">personal</category>
7436. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
7437. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2007-Nov-21-a</link>
7438. <description>
7439. <![CDATA[
7440. This week I learned a lot more about the next stages of my treatment.
7441.  
7442. On Monday I met with my surgeon for my post surgery follow up. He is
7443.  
7444. happy with the way I am healing from the surgery and I think he is
7445.  
7446. pleased with my overall level of activity, energy and enthusiasm. He
7447.  
7448. has however told me to remain on a program of very limited activity for
7449.  
7450. another three weeks. Primarily to risk causing any damage to the area
7451.  
7452. of the surgery. I have to see him again in early December and at that
7453.  
7454. time (not that I am probably going to be up to it physically) from his
7455.  
7456. point of view I should be released to restart more normal activities -
7457.  
7458. even some sports if I want to.<br>
7459.  
7460. <br>
7461.  
7462. Yesterday (Tuesday) I met the oncologist for the first time. I was
7463.  
7464. extremely nervous going into that appointment as I know that these guys
7465.  
7466. deal largely in statistics and probabilities and I knew it was time to
7467.  
7468. face up to some numbers specific to me. However, the doctor could not
7469.  
7470. have been nicer and explained everything nicely, clearly and even with
7471.  
7472. a bit of humour. I took to him immediately. We discussed options,
7473.  
7474. statistics and all manner of related things and he laid out for me his
7475.  
7476. treatment plan. Even though my cancer was caught fairly early, and is
7477.  
7478. officially being classified as a stage 2 cancer, he still believes that
7479.  
7480. a course of chemotherapy adds quite significantly to my chances of a
7481.  
7482. cure. I am not going to go into the numbers here (they really aren't
7483.  
7484. that awful but I just prefer not to dwell on the stats too much). So I
7485.  
7486. will start chemotherapy on December 3rd and it will take six months to
7487.  
7488. complete the course. I will have to go to his office on two consecutive
7489.  
7490. days every other week for a total of 12 visits (hence six months). I
7491.  
7492. will also have to go back briefly on the 3rd day of every "on" week to
7493.  
7494. have the pump they send you home with removed. He has assured me that
7495.  
7496. the chemicals used have improved a lot over the years and that I should
7497.  
7498. not get nauseous or lose much (if any) hair. There are a few possible
7499.  
7500. side effects, the biggest one being fatigue, but none of them sound too
7501.  
7502. terrible. The office visits are going to be a little longer than I had
7503.  
7504. realized. I think (memory fails me a bit here) they said 240 minutes on
7505.  
7506. the first day and 180 minutes on the second (but I may have got that
7507.  
7508. wrong). The good news is that this is a pretty high tech oncology
7509.  
7510. practice and they have wireless internet in the treatment room - maybe
7511.  
7512. you'll see a blog post from there in the future!!<br>
7513.  
7514. <br>
7515.  
7516. As some of you may know, the prefered way of "plugging me in" to the
7517.  
7518. chemo machinery each visit is through a port that is installed in my
7519.  
7520. chest. This means I have to go back into the hospital next week
7521.  
7522. (Thursday November 29th) for a minor surgery to install the port. The
7523.  
7524. same surgeon who has been treating me can also do this procedure and he
7525.  
7526. says it takes about 30 minutes and they will send me home the same day.
7527.  
7528. I'm a little down at having to have yet more (albeit minor) surgery,
7529.  
7530. but I'll deal with it.<br>
7531.  
7532. <br>
7533.  
7534. So that is the update. I am glad I have got through the visits this
7535.  
7536. week and that the plan both makes sense and also gives me a certain
7537.  
7538. amount of confidence. Nothing is certain in life but I feel I am
7539.  
7540. getting the best possible treatment and being given the best possible
7541.  
7542. chance for a full recovery. In many ways my future is out of my hands
7543.  
7544. now so I am going to try to just keep up as normal a life as I can over
7545.  
7546. these next six months and try not to worry about the  future and
7547.  
7548. things that are out of my control.<br>
7549.  
7550. <br>
7551.  
7552. As always thanks for all of the continued support and encouragement. It
7553.  
7554. really helps. This is still a scary time for me but having all of you
7555.  
7556. with me (I feel  a bit like the guy in the Verizon phone
7557.  
7558. commercial who has his network following him around) is really helping
7559.  
7560. keep my spirits up.<br>
7561.  
7562. <br>
7563.  
7564. I'll post again soon.<br>
7565.  
7566. <br>
7567.  
7568. To all of my friends in the USA, a very Happy Thanksgiving. To all of you in other countries have a wonderful rest of the week.<br>
7569.  
7570.  
7571. ]]>
7572. </description>
7573. <pubDate>Wed, 21 Nov 2007 10:04:00 CST</pubDate>
7574. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000038</guid>
7575. </item>
7576.  
7577.  
7578. <item>
7579. <title>Slowly getting my strength back...</title>
7580. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">personal</category>
7581. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
7582. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2007-Nov-14-a</link>
7583. <description>
7584. <![CDATA[
7585.  
7586. Hi everyone. I had hoped to be able to post here long before now but
7587.  
7588. the surgery took a lot more out of me than I had expected it would.
7589.  
7590. This week for the first time since leaving the hospital (on November 2<sup>nd</sup>)
7591.  
7592. I have actually felt like looking at a computer for more than just a
7593.  
7594. few minutes. The good news is that I have been doing what I was told
7595.  
7596. and getting lots of rest.<br>
7597.  
7598. <br>
7599.  
7600. Lorna has been using the <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/guestbook.html">Guest Book</a> as a
7601.  
7602. bulletin board to try and keep everyone up to date on my progress so
7603.  
7604. hopefully most of you know roughly where things stand.  The
7605.  
7606. Surgery went well but I ended up in the hospital for a full week to
7607.  
7608. allow me enough time to be ready to go home. I finally got to come home
7609.  
7610. on November 2<sup>nd</sup> and it was great to be back in my own
7611.  
7612. "space" again. My appetite is slowly coming back but I have lost about
7613.  
7614. 30 pounds since going into the hospital (some diet plan!!). I still
7615.  
7616. have some pain but really it  has not been that bad and I have had
7617.  
7618. to use surprisingly few pain pills.  My energy is also slowly
7619.  
7620. coming back (as I mentioned above the surgery took a lot more out of me
7621.  
7622. than I had anticipated it would). I have been able to take a few (very
7623.  
7624. short) walks and also watch a couple of my kids soccer games. This week
7625.  
7626. I even dialed into a couple of work meetings and started reading some
7627.  
7628. of the 1000 plus e-mails that have accumulated during my "down time".
7629.  
7630. It was great to both be doing some of the things I would normally be
7631.  
7632. doing on a work day and also to hear some of my colleagues voices
7633.  
7634. again. I am also trying to adjust to the physiological changes that my
7635.  
7636. body has undergone - let's just say that remains a work in progress!<br>
7637.  
7638. <br>
7639.  
7640. I am seeing my surgeon for my post-surgery follow up visit next week
7641.  
7642. and I am also meeting an oncologist who will decide if I need a
7643.  
7644. (hopefully limited) course of chemotherapy.<br>
7645.  
7646. <br>
7647.  
7648. We have been overwhelmed with the number of gifts, meals, cards, messages in the <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/guestbook.html">Guest Book</a>,
7649.  
7650. e-mails  and other wonderful things that people have sent us over
7651.  
7652. the last few weeks. I am trying to thank each of you individually but
7653.  
7654. to all of you a huge THANK YOU. It really has helped keep my spirits up
7655.  
7656. to know that so many of you are out there cheering us on.<br>
7657.  
7658. <br>
7659.  
7660. I'll post again in a few days when we know more about my next steps and
7661.  
7662. any additional treatment plans. For now I am just working on getting my
7663.  
7664. strength back and not overdoing it too soon. I am hoping that if I do
7665.  
7666. need chemotherapy that we can wait until after Thanksgiving here in the
7667.  
7668. US (which is a big family get together time) before we start.<br>
7669.  
7670. <br>
7671.  
7672. Thanks again everyone for your support. You all mean the World to my family and I.<br>
7673.  
7674. <br>
7675.  
7676.  
7677.  
7678. ]]>
7679. </description>
7680. <pubDate>Wed, 14 Nov 2007 09:40:00 CST</pubDate>
7681. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000037</guid>
7682. </item>
7683.  
7684.  
7685.  
7686. <item>
7687. <title>Almost there...</title>
7688. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">personal</category>
7689. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
7690. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2007-Oct-25-a</link>
7691. <description>
7692. <![CDATA[
7693. So the waiting is almost over. My surgery is scheduled for tomorrow
7694.  
7695. morning (Friday) at 11am Central Time (although we have to be at the
7696.  
7697. hospital around 9am to check in). For those who know the Austin area, I
7698.  
7699. will be in the main Seton hospital on 38th Street. We're not sure yet
7700.  
7701. how many days I will be in the hospital but I am guessing at least
7702.  
7703. three and maybe a few more.<br>
7704.  
7705. <br>
7706.  
7707. Obviously I will not be posting many more updates here for a few days
7708.  
7709. (at least not from the hospital anyway - but don't think I haven't been
7710.  
7711. trying to think of a cunning way to pull that off!).  After
7712.  
7713. surgery, as soon as she can, my wife Lorna, is going to put an update
7714.  
7715. in the <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/guestbook.html">Guest Book</a>&nbsp; as she can do
7716.  
7717. that easily from any web connected computer she happens to find near
7718.  
7719. the hospital. So if you want the latest news please keep an eye on the
7720.  
7721. Guest Book for the next few days.<br>
7722.  
7723. <br>
7724.  
7725. Last night I coached my U6 boys soccer team (probably for the last time
7726.  
7727. this season) and enjoyed being out in the fresh air one last time
7728.  
7729. before I go "under the knife". After practice we ordered a bunch of
7730.  
7731. pizza's for the boys and the parents and had a few laughs. Not quite
7732.  
7733. the final pre-surgery  meal I had originally intended, but in a
7734.  
7735. way, it was perfect. This morning I managed to make one final trip to
7736.  
7737. Starbucks before my pre-surgery special diet kicks in.<br>
7738.  
7739. <br>
7740.  
7741. Talking of the special diet, I'm not allowed to eat or drink anything
7742.  
7743. else now except for clear liquids (sadly I don't think vodka or gin
7744.  
7745. counts) until after surgery. I also have to start taking the medicine
7746.  
7747. that "prepares" you for surgery. I'll leave the details of that to the
7748.  
7749. imagination. If you have ever had any kind of colo/rectal procedure
7750.  
7751. you'll know what I am talking about!<br>
7752.  
7753. <br>
7754.  
7755. So, that really is about it for now. Thanks again to you all for your
7756.  
7757. endless support and help in keeping my spirits up these past couple of
7758.  
7759. weeks. I am hoping that now I truly can start on the road to recovery
7760.  
7761. how ever long or short it may be, and at least I feel like we are
7762.  
7763. moving forward again now.<br>
7764.  
7765. <br>
7766.  
7767. As the waiting is at last (almost) over and we start out on that road forward, I am reminded of the words spoken by a&nbsp; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill">famous countryman</a>
7768.  
7769. of mine back in 1942. "Now this is not the end. It is not even the
7770.  
7771. beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."<br>
7772.  
7773. <br>
7774.  
7775. Thanks again everyone for all your support, I hope to be back here in a few days with some more updates.<br>
7776.  
7777.  
7778. ]]>
7779. </description>
7780. <pubDate>Thu, 25 Oct 2007 13:34:00 CDT</pubDate>
7781. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000036</guid>
7782. </item>
7783.  
7784.  
7785.  
7786. <item>
7787. <title>Quick update</title>
7788. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">personal</category>
7789. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
7790. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2007-Oct-22-a</link>
7791. <description>
7792. <![CDATA[
7793. I spent all morning at the hospital today getting "prepped" for Friday.
7794.  
7795. If you have ever had surgery you will know the pre-admission routine:
7796.  
7797. Answer lots of questions, meet lots of people, have an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrocardiogram">EKG</a>,
7798.  
7799. give (yet more) blood samples, give other samples, more tests and so
7800.  
7801. on. Then there is the seemingly endless paperwork. I signed so many
7802.  
7803. forms today I probably missed something in the small print stating that
7804.  
7805. the hospital now owns my house and car! I have also had to give blood
7806.  
7807. samples so often lately I am starting to feel like a pin cushion. I
7808.  
7809. also spoke to the surgeon again today and I think he's all set to go so
7810.  
7811. I think we are almost there - I just hope my <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alprazolam">Xanax</a>
7812.  
7813. supply holds out for a few more days! I feel noticably more nervous
7814.  
7815. today than in recent days but all in all I think I am managing to "hang
7816.  
7817. in there".<br>
7818.  
7819. <br>
7820.  
7821. Over the Summer I had been actively trying (and succeeding - albeit
7822.  
7823. slowly) to lose a bit of weight.  The last few days I have been
7824.  
7825. trying as hard as I can to put it back on again! I figure that
7826.  
7827. post-surgery my appetite is not going to be back to normal for a while
7828.  
7829. and I am not really sure how soon I'll be eating normally again so the
7830.  
7831. last few days I have been trying to eat things that I love without
7832.  
7833. worrying too much about what they are doing to me. On the way home from
7834.  
7835. the hospital today my wife and I stopped at <a href="http://www.daveandbusters.com/">Dave and Busters</a>
7836.  
7837. and I had a really good (and probably my last for a while) hamburger.
7838.  
7839. This is one of the few pluses of my current state of mind - if it
7840.  
7841. sounds good, eat it!<br>
7842.  
7843. <br>
7844.  
7845. This past weekend we made the most of the beautiful weather. I helped
7846.  
7847. coach my daughter's soccer team at 1pm on Saturday and then coached my
7848.  
7849. son's team right after that. On Saturday night we went to visit the
7850.  
7851. same friends we saw last weekend to watch the Rugby World Cup Final.
7852.  
7853. Sadly, this time, England came second but a good time was had by all.
7854.  
7855. On Sunday I went and watched my soccer team play as the anemia has kept
7856.  
7857. me from being able to keep playing myself  but I wanted to spend a
7858.  
7859. bit of time with the guys before the enforced downtime I have coming
7860.  
7861. post-surgery.<br>
7862.  
7863. <br>
7864.  
7865. Today, a first blast of Winter arrived in Central Texas. Over night a
7866.  
7867. cold front blew in. Yesterday it had been in the high 80's Fahrenheit,
7868.  
7869. today so far (as of 3:45pm) I don't think we have managed to get above
7870.  
7871. 56F here at the house. It has also been raining off and on all day.
7872.  
7873. This type of 30 degree swing is typical for Texas. It's supposed to be
7874.  
7875. back into the 70's again by mid-week after this front has done its
7876.  
7877. thing.<br>
7878.  
7879. <br>
7880.  
7881. Finally, I continue to be very humbled by the continued flow of cards, letters, e-mails and postings to the <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/guestbook.html">Guest Book.</a>
7882.  
7883. Thank you all so much for your continued support. I am also very
7884.  
7885. grateful to several of my work colleagues who got together and sent me
7886.  
7887. a wonderful basket full of goodies. You are all extremely kind.<br>
7888.  
7889. <br>
7890.  
7891. I'll post again soon with any more news but I think, for the most part, I just have to make it through until Friday morning now.<br>
7892.  
7893.  
7894. ]]>
7895. </description>
7896. <pubDate>Mon, 22 Oct 2007 16:07:00 CDT</pubDate>
7897. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000035</guid>
7898. </item>
7899.  
7900.  
7901.  
7902.  
7903. <item>
7904. <title>It's hard to feel bad when the weather is this good.</title>
7905. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">personal</category>
7906. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
7907. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">weather</category>
7908. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">texas</category>
7909. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2007-Oct-19-a</link>
7910. <description>
7911. <![CDATA[
7912. The weather here in Central Texas this past week has been, in a word,
7913.  
7914. awesome. The overnight lows are in the 60's Fahrenheit with a few
7915.  
7916. places dipping into the 50's. Right now at 9:20am it is 61 degrees
7917.  
7918. outside of my home office and I am working with the window open - quite
7919.  
7920. a luxury at the end of a long Texas Summer. During the day it has been
7921.  
7922. warming up into the high 80's or even low 90's and it is likely to do
7923.  
7924. that again today. There is a cool breeze and the sky is clear blue.
7925.  
7926. Just about perfect. This weather pattern is predicted to continue for
7927.  
7928. some time yet so we will be looking at another busy weekend of coaching
7929.  
7930. kids soccer games. My Surgeon wants me to stay active until the surgery
7931.  
7932. and while the anemia is presenting me from being too active (playing
7933.  
7934. soccer would be out)  at least I can take some gentle walks around
7935.  
7936. the neighbourhood and enjoy this wonderful weather.<br>
7937.  
7938. <br>
7939.  
7940. There is no additional news to report today on the medical front. I'm
7941.  
7942. still waiting for the test results to come back that I described in my
7943.  
7944. posting on October 16th but other than that we are proceeding pretty
7945.  
7946. much according to plan. I have to go to the hospital in the early part
7947.  
7948. of next week for the pre-surgery work up (to make sure I can handle the
7949.  
7950. anesthetic etc.) and then of course Friday next week is the big day.<br>
7951.  
7952. <br>
7953.  
7954. I am still receiving loads of e-mails from all over the World 
7955.  
7956. wishing me good things and I cannot tell you enough how much I
7957.  
7958. appreciate that. Also to those of you that are filling the <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/guestbook.html">Guest Book</a> with messages - you are very kind, thank you.<br>
7959.  
7960. <br>
7961.  
7962. I'll post again here as we get more news and as we get a bit closer to
7963.  
7964. the 26th. For now I'm going to sit here, get some work done, and enjoy
7965.  
7966. the cool breeze that is blowing in through my window.<br>
7967.  
7968. ]]>
7969. </description>
7970. <pubDate>Fri, 19 Oct 2007 09:32:00 CDT</pubDate>
7971. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000034</guid>
7972. </item>
7973.  
7974.  
7975. <item>
7976. <title>Change of plans</title>
7977. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">personal</category>
7978. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
7979. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2007-Oct-16-a</link>
7980. <description>
7981. <![CDATA[
7982. The surgeon who is treating me called last night and we met briefly in his office again today. As I mentioned in my posting on <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2007-Oct-11-a">October 11th</a>
7983.  
7984. , he had met with the doctor who performed the colonoscopy on me and
7985.  
7986. was calling me after having had that conversation. Unfortunately he now
7987.  
7988. feels we need to adjust from current "Plan A" to a somewhat more
7989.  
7990. radical "Plan B".  Before I discuss the new plan I should perhaps
7991.  
7992. explain how we got there. The doctors believe the root cause of my
7993.  
7994. current problems is a genetic condition called <a href="http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=38787">Attenuated familial adenomatous polyposis&nbsp; </a>(<a href="http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=38787">AFAP</a>
7995.  
7996. for short). I am not going to try, nor am I qualified to, go into a
7997.  
7998. lengthy explanation of what AFAP is. Heck, two weeks ago I had never
7999.  
8000. heard of it. In short, however, it means someone my age is likely to
8001.  
8002. have a large number (more than 20 but less than 100) of polyps in their
8003.  
8004. colon and has a much higher than normal predisposition to these
8005.  
8006. becoming cancerous in a relatively short amount of time. Today I went
8007.  
8008. and had yet more blood taken so that a genetic analysis can be
8009.  
8010. performed to prove for certain that I have AFAP (the results will be
8011.  
8012. several days coming back) but I apparently have all of the classic
8013.  
8014. indications of it and my medical team seem pretty much convinced on
8015.  
8016. this one. My bigger worry, as a parent of course, is that there
8017.  
8018. apparently is a 50% chance of this being passed on to my children.
8019.  
8020. That, however, is a bridge we do not have to cross today. <br>
8021.  
8022. </p>
8023.  
8024. <p>So now for the change of plans. Plan A had been to remove a large
8025.  
8026. part of the colon, Plan B (I am told the recommended procedure for AFAP
8027.  
8028. cases like mine) is to remove the entire colon. The logic is along the
8029.  
8030. lines of if you leave part of the colon behind, because of the AFAP, in
8031.  
8032. a year or so we'll be right back here again and in the meantime I'll be
8033.  
8034. almost living in the doctors office getting checked for a recurrence
8035.  
8036. (I'm exaggerating obviously but not that much). However, to an "average
8037.  
8038. man in the street" like me, this whole new plan, at least at first,
8039.  
8040. sounds horrific and I have to tell you that last evening after the
8041.  
8042. surgeon called, I found myself feeling like I had taken a huge step
8043.  
8044. backwards. Today, however, after meeting with the surgeon in his office
8045.  
8046. and asking all kinds of questions about quality of life and future
8047.  
8048. preventative care needs I think I am (slowly) coming to terms with it.
8049.  
8050. If all goes according to (the new) plan, I still believe I can live a
8051.  
8052. fairly normal life. I am not going to go into the gory details of what
8053.  
8054. it means in terms of living without a colon but I am sure you can find
8055.  
8056. a lot more information about it on the internet should you so desire!!</p>
8057.  
8058. <p>Surgery is still scheduled for October 26<sup>th</sup>. Suffice to
8059.  
8060. say, I am a little shaken by this change of plans but as I had more or
8061.  
8062. less adjusted to things under Plan A I am sure I will rapidly adjust to
8063.  
8064. Plan B.....
8065. ]]>
8066. </description>
8067. <pubDate>Tue, 16 Oct 2007 14:54:00 CDT</pubDate>
8068. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000033</guid>
8069. </item>
8070.  
8071.  
8072.  
8073. <item>
8074. <title>Keeping distracted</title>
8075. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">personal</category>
8076. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
8077. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2007-Oct-15-a</link>
8078. <description>
8079. <![CDATA[
8080. This weekend, with the help of many friends and family and a
8081.  
8082. very busy social schedule for the kids, we managed to keep me extremely
8083.  
8084. distracted and I can honestly say I had a really nice weekend. On
8085.  
8086. Saturday we had to get off to an early start as my daughter's U10
8087.  
8088. soccer team had a game at 8:30am in Georgetown, which is about a 30
8089.  
8090. minute drive from our house. At least at that time of day it was still
8091.  
8092. nice and cool outside (by Texas standards) . In the low 70's Fahrenheit
8093.  
8094. at most. The play 8 a side (7 on the field plus a goalie). I had fun
8095.  
8096. coaching the girls and watching them try really hard against a team
8097.  
8098. that had been together a lot longer than us and were in many cases a
8099.  
8100. lot bigger than our girls were. For a team that has only been together
8101.  
8102. a few weeks, to do so well against a team that has been together for
8103.  
8104. three years, in my opinion, was excellent. It was indeed inspiring to
8105.  
8106. me to see them all try so hard against a very strong opponent. After
8107.  
8108. that we drove home for a couple of hours of "down time". This gave me
8109.  
8110. the chance to experiment with a surprise present that a a couple of
8111.  
8112. dear friends had sent me on Friday. A package from <a href="http://amazon.com/">Amazon.com</a> turned up on my doorstep, out of the blue, on Friday afternoon. When I opened it, inside I found a copy of <a href="http://halo3.com/">Halo 3</a>.
8113.  
8114. Now if that doesn't keep me distracted I am not sure what will. Look
8115.  
8116. for more on my Halo experiences in future posts. I got to play for
8117.  
8118. about an hour before it was time for us all to pile back into the car
8119.  
8120. and drive to my son's U6 soccer game. This was a fun game too. At this
8121.  
8122. age it is 3 versus 3 with no goalies and teams have 6 players. We play
8123.  
8124. 8 minute quarters. I usually sub all 3 in or out once a quarter so
8125.  
8126. everyone plays 4 times. It's great to see the little guys trying to do
8127.  
8128. all of the things we have worked on at practice like (talk to each
8129.  
8130. other, pass the ball, look where the goal is before you shoot at it and
8131.  
8132. so on). This week we faced a tough team who focussed on defending their
8133.  
8134. own goal and like  the great soccer managers who have come before
8135.  
8136. me (OK well I can dream) I had to devise a plan to break down this
8137.  
8138. stoic defense. I called the boys together at half time having observed
8139.  
8140. the opposition strategy throughout the first half and shared with them
8141.  
8142. my visionary thoughts on this issue "OK boys", I said, "go out there,
8143.  
8144. have fun, run hard, and score a bunch of goals".  Inspired by the
8145.  
8146. depths of my coaching insight that is exactly what they did!!  We
8147.  
8148. don't keep score at this age - the focus is correctly supposed to be on
8149.  
8150. fun and learning the game but a couple of our parents who apparently
8151.  
8152. had been casually counting the goals said we edged it! To me, no matter
8153.  
8154. what the score, we've won if six tired but smiling faces come trotting
8155.  
8156. over after the game is over to dive into their well earned snacks!<br>
8157.  
8158. <br>
8159.  
8160. On Saturday evening we had a baby sitter come watch the kids so we
8161.  
8162. could spend the evening with some English friends and watch England
8163.  
8164. play France in the Semi Final of the Rugby World cup. Aided by the
8165.  
8166. result ( England 14 - 9 France), the good food and great company we had
8167.  
8168. a really nice evening.<br>
8169.  
8170. <br>
8171.  
8172. On Sunday I spent most of the morning and part  of the afternoon
8173.  
8174. playing video games with my son as my daughter was at a birthday party.
8175.  
8176. We had some quality boy time together which I think we both needed.
8177.  
8178. Sunday evening we went to visit some family members and it's impossible
8179.  
8180. not to be distracted when you have so many excited kids all getting
8181.  
8182. together after a few weeks apart! Again we had more good food and
8183.  
8184. conversation which included a deep discussion on the topic of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/">Doctor Who</a> between myself and one of my brothers-in-law which was excellent!<br>
8185.  
8186. <br>
8187.  
8188. As I mentioned in my previous posts, I am trying to keep up with my <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/books.html">reading </a>and on Sunday I finished <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Dark Wind</span> by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clive_Cussler">Clive Cussler</a>.
8189.  
8190. It's another of his Dirk Pitt adventures and was pretty much par for
8191.  
8192. the course compared to other books of his I have read. Definitely a
8193.  
8194. "page turner" but perhaps a little formulaic and (in the books I have
8195.  
8196. read ) the bad guys always seem to come from the same part of the
8197.  
8198. World. I'm starting to wonder if the author has a secret grudge to
8199.  
8200. bear. That aside, it was still an enjoyable read.<br>
8201.  
8202. <br>
8203.  
8204. Today a couple of my long time good friends from work (who I have
8205.  
8206. actually not seen a lot of lately)  took me out to lunch (thanks
8207.  
8208. Mike and Mike) and again seeing them was a nice distraction.<br>
8209.  
8210. <br>
8211.  
8212. &nbsp;I have continued to receive a large number of cards, phone calls, e-mails, IM's and postings to the <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/guestbook.html">Guest Book</a>. As always thank you all so much for that. You guys are doing a great job of keeping my mind off of my troubles.<br>
8213.  
8214. <br>
8215.  
8216. That's about it for today. <br>
8217.  
8218. <br>
8219.  
8220. Eleven more days until surgery - I'm going to need all of these distractions for quite a few days yet.<br>
8221.  
8222. ]]>
8223. </description>
8224. <pubDate>Mon, 15 Oct 2007 13:30:00 CDT</pubDate>
8225. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000032</guid>
8226. </item>
8227.  
8228.  
8229. <item>
8230. <title>The waiting game</title>
8231. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">personal</category>
8232. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
8233. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2007-Oct-11-a</link>
8234. <description>
8235. <![CDATA[
8236. Those who know me well probably have noticed that I have trouble
8237.  
8238. sitting still. I need to be busy and I hate to wait. I hate to wait for
8239.  
8240. planes, buses,trains, people who are late for meetings and in this case
8241.  
8242. necessary surgery. The next few days for me are going to be the
8243.  
8244. ultimate test of my patience (and probably of many anxiety related
8245.  
8246. prescription drugs!). We have spoken to all three of the doctors
8247.  
8248. treating me in the past few days and all have reassured us (multiple
8249.  
8250. times) that it's OK that we are not doing the surgery until the 26<sup>th</sup>.&nbsp;
8251.  
8252. For me though it still doesn't make the waiting any easier. I am trying
8253.  
8254. to focus on work quite a bit and attending several meetings by phone.
8255.  
8256. The worst time is definitely the evenings when things calm down and my
8257.  
8258. mind starts imagining all of the amazing disasters that might befall me
8259.  
8260. next!<br>
8261.  
8262. <br>
8263.  
8264. However, many of you have sent me things to keep me pre-occupied and for that I am truly grateful I am indebted to my friend <a href="http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/page/Tom.Glover">Tom Glover</a> who pointed me at the following piece of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N0w2rORwSc">colo rectal surgery humour!</a>
8265.  
8266. Thanks Tom, that gave us all a good laugh here at my house- I think
8267.  
8268. I'll e-mail my surgeon the link (AFTER he operates on me!). Talking of
8269.  
8270. my surgeon, he and the doctor who did the colonoscopy on me are meeting
8271.  
8272. to consult with each other today. I am not expecting any major plan
8273.  
8274. changes but I'll let you all know if anything should change.<br>
8275.  
8276. <br>
8277.  
8278. Several of you have asked about the kids so today I removed the
8279.  
8280. password on the family section of the web site. Those of you that want
8281.  
8282. to can take a look and see how fast they are growing up. I'll try and
8283.  
8284. add some more pictures in the next day or so. That will be another good
8285.  
8286. project to keep me busy.<br>
8287.  
8288. <br>
8289.  
8290. I am managing to relax enough to keep up with my <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/books.html">reading </a>and have also been working on my skills at <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/sports/madden07/review.html?sid=6156201">Madden NFL 2007</a>
8291.  
8292. to help keep me busy when I just need a little mindless distraction
8293.  
8294. (mostly in the evenings after the kids are asleep). Also, and this
8295.  
8296. really was good news to me, the medical folks say it's OK for me to
8297.  
8298. keep coaching the two soccer teams I am involved with right up until
8299.  
8300. the surgery. I coach my son's U6 team and I am the assistant coach on
8301.  
8302. my daughter's U10 team. A little fresh air and exercise is in fact,
8303.  
8304. JUST what the doctor ordered. We have practice three nights a week and
8305.  
8306. games on Saturday. Being able to stay involved with these is a major
8307.  
8308. plus for me.<br>
8309.  
8310. <br>
8311.  
8312. Several of you have sent me cards in the mail - thanks so much for that
8313.  
8314. very kind and very much appreciated act. Thanks also for the continued
8315.  
8316. stream of e-mails, IM's and postings to the <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/guestbook.html">Guest Book</a>. It really does help.<br>
8317.  
8318. <br>
8319.  
8320. That's about it for now...
8321. ]]>
8322. </description>
8323. <pubDate>Thu, 11 Oct 2007 12:55:00 CDT</pubDate>
8324. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000031</guid>
8325. </item>
8326.  
8327.  
8328.  
8329. <item>
8330. <title>Health scare and a lesson to us all</title>
8331. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">personal</category>
8332. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">medical</category>
8333. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2007-Oct-10-a</link>
8334. <description>
8335. <![CDATA[
8336. <p>Over the latter part of the Summer I had been having trouble
8337.  
8338. sleeping, mainly because my legs were becoming so restless at night. If
8339.  
8340. you have never struggled with restless legs it's hard to describe but
8341.  
8342. it is sufficiently annoying enough that it can easily keep you awake
8343.  
8344. half the night (and for me it was doing so). I had become so restless
8345.  
8346. my wife had to find another room to sleep in for fear of being karate
8347.  
8348. kicked to death before morning!! Another symptom that I was having that
8349.  
8350. I did not realize then but do realize now to be related, was a lack of
8351.  
8352. stamina when playing sports (drastically more so say than a few months
8353.  
8354. ago). So, given all this, a few weeks back I went to see my family
8355.  
8356. doctor to ask if I could have some tablets to help me sleep and to ask
8357.  
8358. if I needed some of this new Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) medicine that
8359.  
8360. is being advertised heavily on the TV here in the US at the moment. He
8361.  
8362. did give me something to help me sleep but also took a blood sample to
8363.  
8364. check my iron levels as low iron can contribute to restlessness . For
8365.  
8366. those of us that remember our human biology from school, you will
8367.  
8368. recall that, iron helps maintain the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemoglobin">haemoglobin</a> level in the blood, or put another way,&nbsp; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemoglobin">haemoglobin</a>
8369.  
8370. is the iron-containing protein attached to red blood cells that
8371.  
8372. transports oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body.  When my
8373.  
8374. blood tests came back
8375.  
8376. the levels were way below normal. So low in fact I was borderline for a
8377.  
8378. blood transfusion right then and there. This immediately explained the
8379.  
8380. restlessness and the lack of stamina - basically I did not have enough
8381.  
8382. oxygen in my body . So I was diagnosed as anemic but now we needed
8383.  
8384. further tests to find out why.  My doctor's opinion (which proved
8385.  
8386. correct) was that I was losing blood somewhere - basically he suspected
8387.  
8388. some form of internal bleeding (maybe a stomach ulcer or a colon polyp
8389.  
8390. that was bleeding). I was referred to a Gastro Intestinal clinic. On
8391.  
8392. October 1<sup>st</sup> they performed both a colonoscopy and an endoscopy on me
8393.  
8394. (basically they checked my <a href="http://health.yahoo.com/media/mayoclinic/images/image_popup/colon.jpg">colon</a>
8395.  
8396. and my stomach for signs of trouble).  My stomach was basically
8397.  
8398. clear but the news in my colon was not so good. The GI doctor found
8399.  
8400. several polyps, one of which looked "extremely suspicious" (English
8401.  
8402. translation "we think it's cancer but need a biopsy to be sure"). 
8403.  
8404. For  the colonoscopy I was heavily sedated and it was many hours
8405.  
8406. before I really came around enough to comprehend that  even at my
8407.  
8408. relatively young age (42) and with my very active lifestyle and high
8409.  
8410. fibre diet it was still likely that I had colon cancer.  When this
8411.  
8412. all sank in I was a mess. I don't recall a day in my life when a single
8413.  
8414. piece of news has hit me quite so personally and quite so hard. I did
8415.  
8416. not find myself thinking so much of my own future but much more so of
8417.  
8418. my young kids (5 and 9) and my wife.  Thankfully the doctor sent
8419.  
8420. over a prescription for something to help me relax that night and the
8421.  
8422. next morning we began the process of more tests and preparing to fight
8423.  
8424. back. On October 2<sup>nd</sup> I went and had a CT scan and had my blood cross
8425.  
8426. typed in case I did end up needing a blood transfusion (given I still
8427.  
8428. was very anemic). On October 3<sup>rd</sup> (Wednesday) we started to get the
8429.  
8430. results back. The bad news was that the biopsy has confirmed that I do
8431.  
8432. have cancer in my <a href="http://health.yahoo.com/media/mayoclinic/images/image_popup/colon.jpg">cecum</a>
8433.  
8434. (bottom of the ascending colon if you again remember your human biology). The
8435.  
8436. better news was that the CT scan and additional blood work had found no
8437.  
8438. evidence of spreading and that we believe (I am a pessimist and always
8439.  
8440. have trouble with good news) that the cancer is localized to the colon.<br>
8441.  
8442. </p>
8443.  
8444. <p>Yesterday (October 9<sup>th</sup>) I met with a colo-rectal surgeon
8445.  
8446. to discuss my options. Based on the collected test results, he has
8447.  
8448. developed a surgery plan for me which will require quite a large part
8449.  
8450. of my colon to be removed but if all goes well will enable me to eat
8451.  
8452. and perform other digestive system related activities pretty much
8453.  
8454. normally after that. The surgery is planned for October 26<sup>th</sup>.
8455.  
8456. I'll post details about the hospital and other relevant information
8457.  
8458. closer to that date. After the surgery they will again test the various
8459.  
8460. parts of tissue and lymph nodes that get removed during surgery and we
8461.  
8462. will know much more about what this cancer has been up to. At that point
8463.  
8464. I will meet with an oncologist to see if I need chemotherapy or not and
8465.  
8466. I will likely also get a PET scan. I am encouraged by the fact that the
8467.  
8468. medical team is comfortable waiting a few days to schedule this surgery
8469.  
8470. on a non-panic basis but I'd still rather have this over with. If an
8471.  
8472. earlier date opens up on the surgeon's schedule I will most likely take
8473.  
8474. it for no other reason than to reduce the wait time.<br>
8475.  
8476. </p>
8477.  
8478. <p>That then...minus a few of the nastier details, is pretty much the full update. The <span style="text-decoration: underline; font-weight: bold;">lesson for us all</span>
8479.  
8480. in this (especially us stubborn men) is go see your doctor even for
8481.  
8482. little things that are bugging you. If I had ignored this we would not
8483.  
8484. have caught it as soon as we hope we have. I am also very grateful to
8485.  
8486. my family doctor who did not just give me meds to help me sleep but was
8487.  
8488. thorough and did that blood test that helped me get a proper diagnosis.
8489.  
8490. I know that doctors get a lot of pressure to prescribe certain
8491.  
8492. medications from the reps selling them. Any drug reps out there reading
8493.  
8494. this please take note - treating the symptom does not always equal
8495.  
8496. finding the cure.<br>
8497.  
8498. </p>
8499.  
8500. <p>I know several of you have already found out about this from the
8501.  
8502. blogoshpere and other contacts and I truly appreciate all of the
8503.  
8504. prayers, thoughts, e-mails ands other messages my family and I have
8505.  
8506. received at this time. To be honest I am still in shock but slowly
8507.  
8508. getting my energy back to prepare me for my road to recovery. I'm
8509.  
8510. hoping it's not too long a road but there remain so many unknowns only
8511.  
8512. time will really tell. Please do keep sending me those e-mails they
8513.  
8514. really help - sometimes even surrounded by family and friends one can
8515.  
8516. feel very alone at a time like this and knowing that you are all out
8517.  
8518. there cheering me on is giving me amazing strength. It's also somewhat
8519.  
8520. surreal, to have been following the courageous fight of Robert Jordan
8521.  
8522. (see my prior posting) against a truly evil disease to now find myself
8523.  
8524. in the middle of my own fight.<br>
8525.  
8526. </p>
8527.  
8528. <p>Finally, as several people have asked about it, I have turned on the <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/guestbook.html">Guest Book</a> at this web site. Please do feel free to leave us a message if you are soon inclined.<br>
8529.  
8530. </p>
8531.  
8532. <p>My wife Lorna has been a rock by my side through this. It all came
8533.  
8534. out of
8535.  
8536. the blue and we have shared  a fair amount of tears together 
8537.  
8538. but we are feeling stronger now and ready to start out on the road
8539.  
8540. towards getting me cured. My kids are doing OK but not great. Jack
8541.  
8542. (he's
8543.  
8544. 5) is actually fine. We told him daddy will get better and due to his
8545.  
8546. nature he just accepted that and keeps on trucking. He is  however
8547.  
8548. mad at me that the doctor won't let him have my colon in a jar for show
8549.  
8550. and tell at school (go figure!). My daughter, Robyn (she is 9) has
8551.  
8552. taken this hard. She is blessed with about 500% of the empathy found in
8553.  
8554. an average person. This can be both a blessing and a curse. She has
8555.  
8556. figured everything out very quickly and she is hurting. We are taking
8557.  
8558. steps to make sure she gets what
8559.  
8560. she needs to get through this too.</p>
8561.  
8562. <p>I will keep responding to e-mails as quickly as I can but I will also post a message here whenever there is any news to share.<br>
8563.  
8564. </p>
8565.  
8566. <p>I have always felt one of my greatest gifts in life is having so
8567.  
8568. many wonderful friends and family around the World. Thanks for sticking
8569.  
8570. with me through this.I need you all.</p>
8571.  
8572. <p>Kelvin<br>
8573.  
8574.  
8575. ]]>
8576. </description>
8577. <pubDate>Wed, 10 Oct 2007 11:04:00 CDT</pubDate>
8578. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000030</guid>
8579. </item>
8580.  
8581.  
8582.  
8583.  
8584. <item>
8585. <title>Robert Jordan</title>
8586. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">books</category>
8587. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2007-Sep-17-a</link>
8588. <description>
8589. <![CDATA[
8590. I <a href="http://www.dragonmount.com/RobertJordan/?feed=rss2">read with great sadness</a> today, that James Oliver Rigney, Jr. (known to most of us by his pen name of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_jordan">Robert Jordan</a>), author of the extremely popular <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wheel_of_Time">Wheel of Time</a>
8591.  
8592. series of books has died. He had been fighting illness for some time
8593.  
8594. and I had been following his blog and always hoping for good news.
8595.  
8596. Sadly today the news is that he has lost his battle.<br>
8597.  
8598. <br>
8599.  
8600. His books
8601.  
8602. have kept me company on many a long plane ride and I have met many
8603.  
8604. others while traveling who were also carrying copies of his books.<br>
8605.  
8606. <br>
8607.  
8608. My sincere condolences to his family and friends.
8609.  
8610.  
8611. ]]>
8612. </description>
8613. <pubDate>Mon, 17 Sep 2007 10:37:00 CDT</pubDate>
8614. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000029</guid>
8615. </item>
8616.  
8617.  
8618.  
8619. <item>
8620. <title>I'm still way behind</title>
8621. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">miscellaneous</category>
8622. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2007-Sep-16-a</link>
8623. <description>
8624. <![CDATA[
8625. Despite my best intentions, I am still way behind in my postings
8626.  
8627. here. I am managing to keep several of the other sections up to date
8628.  
8629. and I really am hoping to get back to a regimen of regular postings
8630.  
8631. here soon.  We have crammed a lot of interesting activities into
8632.  
8633. the Summer break but I have to confess that now that the kids are both
8634.  
8635. back at school things do feel a little calmer around here and hopefully
8636.  
8637. that will let me get back to my long planned web site overhaul.
8638.  
8639. However, with both kids now playing soccer (both insisted they would
8640.  
8641. only play if I helped coach), a lot of my free time after work and at
8642.  
8643. the weekends is taken up with that. We have practices three nights a
8644.  
8645. week and games every Saturday and even a few on Sunday! For those
8646.  
8647. interested in my work activities, I have been making some (fairly
8648.  
8649. regular) postings to my <a href="http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/page/KRL">work blog</a>. One of the things I have managed to do over the Summer is make more time for <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/books.html">reading</a> which has been particularly nice.<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br>
8650.  
8651. </span>
8652.  
8653. ]]>
8654. </description>
8655. <pubDate>Sun, 16 Sep 2007 23:00:00 CDT</pubDate>
8656. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000028</guid>
8657. </item>
8658.  
8659.  
8660.  
8661. <item>
8662. <title>Watching Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-117) launch</title>
8663. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">travel</category>
8664. <category>space</category>
8665. <category>science</category>
8666. <category>travel</category>
8667. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2007-Jun-18a</link>
8668. <description>
8669. <![CDATA[
8670. I am way behind in my updates here, so over the next week or so
8671.  
8672. I am going to try and get caught up. What better way to start than with
8673.  
8674. a brief description of attending a Space Shuttle launch!
8675. <br>
8676.  
8677. I felt both extremely lucky and privileged to be able to attend the
8678.  
8679. launch of
8680.  
8681. Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-117) a few days ago on June 8th. It was
8682.  
8683. even more fun to have been able to have my wife and kids with me.
8684.  
8685. Hopefully this is something that my kids will never forget. I know I
8686.  
8687. won't.<br>
8688.  
8689. <br>
8690.  
8691. I used to live in
8692.  
8693. South Florida (about 200 miles from the Cape) and I have seen several
8694.  
8695. launches from there. However, from that far away, you only see the
8696.  
8697. Shuttle on very clear days and only when it has climbed fairly high
8698.  
8699. into the sky. By pure chance, I found myself able to be at the Cape for
8700.  
8701. the recent launch and seeing a it up close is just waaaay better! <br>
8702.  
8703. <br>
8704.  
8705. I
8706.  
8707. was in Orlando for a short vacation with the family and had not even
8708.  
8709. realized that a launch was planned anytime soon. When we heard that the
8710.  
8711. launch was scheduled for 7:38pm on Friday evening (June 8th) and that
8712.  
8713. there was an 80% chance of good weather,
8714.  
8715. we decided the chance it and drive the 60 miles out to the Cape. The
8716.  
8717. roads were very busy, clearly a few other people had the same idea
8718.  
8719. :-) 
8720.  
8721. The whole way there and the whole time we were waiting for the launch,
8722.  
8723. I kept saying to myself  "try not to get excited, something will
8724.  
8725. probably delay the launch, this probably won't happen today" - but
8726.  
8727. could not hold back a sense of great excitement and it did launch!<br>
8728.  
8729. <br>
8730.  
8731. <img style="width: 418px; height: 556px;" alt="Atlantis blasts into space" title="Atlantis blasts into space" src="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/images/STS117-Launch-1.jpg" align="left" hspace="20"></img><br>
8732.  
8733. We watched the launch from
8734.  
8735. the lawn alongside the Astronaut Hall of Fame which is about 8 or 9
8736.  
8737. miles from the launch pad (on the mainland side of the causeway). We
8738.  
8739. got there several hours early but NASA did an excellent job of keeping
8740.  
8741. us both informed and entertained during the wait for launch. They had a
8742.  
8743. big screen setup with up close shots of the launch preparations and
8744.  
8745. they also had a stage setup. Former Shuttle Astronaut <a href="http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/springer-rc.html">Col. Bob Springer </a>made
8746.  
8747. several appearances on the stage and spoke to us about where things
8748.  
8749. were in the launch. He also took questions (many from young children)
8750.  
8751. and answered them all very well. What a great role model he was (if
8752.  
8753. only other people kids look up to were such good advocates for
8754.  
8755. believing in your dreams). NASA also had setup a food tent, toilets,
8756.  
8757. and gave everyone who had paid the small fee to park and attend the
8758.  
8759. launch there unlimited access to the Hall of Fame and Museum (which my
8760.  
8761. wife and I and the kids really enjoyed).<br>
8762.  
8763. <br>
8764.  
8765. The picture below shows pretty much the view
8766.  
8767. we had. Not knowing there was any chance this might happen when we left
8768.  
8769. home for our vacation, I had left all of my bulky long lenses behind so this was taken
8770.  
8771. with my small 35-90mm lens but it still captures the moment pretty
8772.  
8773. well. Unfortunately there were two launch pads visible and I had
8774.  
8775. positioned myself with a great view of the wrong one! Right before
8776.  
8777. launch I heard that the Shuttle was actually on the launchpad behind
8778.  
8779. the tree (and power lines) that were right in front of me - but hey - I
8780.  
8781. was not looking for a professional shot, just a few great memories and
8782.  
8783. we sure got that. The only thing that this picture cannot convey is the
8784.  
8785. sound wave that we both heard and felt a few seconds after launch.<br>
8786.  
8787. <br>
8788.  
8789. <div style="text-align: justify;"><br>
8790.  
8791. </div>
8792.  
8793. There was great feeling of community during the wait and the few
8794.  
8795. thousand of us there all counted out loud for the final few seconds
8796.  
8797. before ignition. There was also a noticeable moment of quiet when
8798.  
8799. Atlantis reached the point in it's takeoff where Challenger had
8800.  
8801. suffered the malfunction that none of us will ever forget.<br>
8802.  
8803. <br>
8804.  
8805. As I said at the start of this posting, I felt both lucky and privileged to be part of this experience -&nbsp; WOW!<br>
8806.  
8807. ]]>
8808. </description>
8809. <pubDate>Mon, 18 Jun 2007 09:00:00 CDT</pubDate>
8810. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000027</guid>
8811. </item>
8812.  
8813.  
8814. <item>
8815. <title>Things that make me feel old #27</title>
8816. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">travel</category>
8817. <category>kids</category>
8818. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2007-Apr-20a</link>
8819. <description>
8820. <![CDATA[
8821. During the mid 1980's while I was at university and during the late 80's
8822. on into the early 90's while enjoying having a real job for the first time
8823. and a bit of money to spend I was quite a big collector of music CDs
8824. (which at the time were fairly new and we still called them albums!).
8825. Consequently, I have a fairly large and extremely diverse CD collection
8826. covering most forms of music popular during those years.  I'm already
8827. feeling old as a large chunk of what I bought back then is now only played
8828. on radio stations that include the word "Classic" in the name but this
8829. week I found myself feeling even older - want to know why?  Read on...
8830.  
8831. One band I was really into during my university years (and before) was The
8832. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_Light_Orchestra">Electric Light Orchestra</a> (E.L.O).  I think I own all of their albums on
8833. both vinyl (many bought during the 70's) and on CD .  I even (I think)
8834. still have a few cassettes of theirs laying around as well (yeah I know
8835. that's pretty hard core).  I had not listened to much E.L.O stuff for a
8836. while but this week I felt like listening to a few of the early E.L.O
8837. albums while working.  For some reason I decided to (foolishley I now
8838. realize) <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_Light_Orchestra_discography">look up</a> on the web when "Face the Music" by said E.L.O (which I
8839. was listening to at the time) was recorded.  Well the answer, if you can
8840. believe this, is 1975.  Can it really be that long ago?  32 years?  Wow!
8841.  
8842. I think I'm gonna go listen to one of my Cold Play CDs for a while.  When
8843. I look up when they were recorded I feel much younger again (and a bit
8844. more with it as well!!!)
8845. ]]>
8846. </description>
8847. <pubDate>Fri, 20 Apr 2007 18:02:00 CDT</pubDate>
8848. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000026</guid>
8849. </item>
8850.  
8851. <item>
8852. <title>Spring Break, DST comes early, and other updates</title>
8853. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">travel</category>
8854. <category>kids</category>
8855. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2007-Mar-12-a</link>
8856. <description>
8857. <![CDATA[
8858. <p>Things have been very busy both at work and home. As a result I have not posted
8859. here (to the home page) for a while. I have been keeping some of the other sections
8860. of the site updated but I still have a lot of updates that I need to make waiting in
8861. the queue. Work wise I have been traveling quite a bit (just inside the US so far).
8862. On one of the trips (a week in the Raleigh Durham area) I passed over the 2 million
8863. mile mark in the American Airlines frequent flier program on the way home. While a
8864. lot of my colleagues fly substantially more than I do, this was still a stark reminder
8865. of just how much I have been traveling the last few years. I am more than ready for
8866. the amount of travel to slow down. Sadly, travel is the price I pay for choosing to
8867. live in a place that is remote from many of my co-workers and customers.</p>
8868.  
8869. <p>While on the subject of travel, last week I had to go to Chicago for the day to
8870. attend some meetings. It was amazing to see the difference that a few hundred
8871. miles makes to weather conditions (Chicago is just under 1000 miles from here).
8872. I left Austin at 6:00am on a beautiful clear sunny day (the high that day was
8873. in the high 70's F). When we landed in Chicago it was a scene from mid-Winter.
8874. Frozen lakes, snow, planes being de-iced and a high temperature of 29 degrees
8875. Fahrenheit. This was a good reminder of why I live as far south as I do! I got
8876. back to Austin around 11pm the same day - tired but happy to be back in warmer
8877. climes!</p>
8878.  
8879. <p>The other reason that I have been posting a bit less here than usual is that
8880. I have started working on a prototype for a completely re-designed look for
8881. this site. My goal is to switch over to that later in the year (yes it's time
8882. for the pink to go!).</p>
8883.  
8884. <p>We have had drought conditions for a long time now as well as some fairly warm
8885. temperatures. In fact it's been sufficiently warm that the temperature of the
8886. water in the pool has been hovering around 70 degrees (Fahrenheit) for the last few
8887. weeks without needing to use the heater. I think I was the first one in the pool in
8888. mid February aided by the fact that I have a very high tolerance for cold water. I
8889. think this is due to growing up in England where the English Channel was often this
8890. cold even in the midst of Summer! Both kids have also now been swimming several times
8891. now, but Lorna has yet to &quot;take the plunge&quot; !</p>
8892.  
8893. <p>This weekend in the US, we switched over to Daylight Savings Time. This is
8894. considerably earlier than usual due to a change in the law that came into effect
8895. this year. I spent most of Sunday morning making sure that all of the computers
8896. and other electronic devices in the house had realized the time has changed. For
8897. the next few weeks we find ourselves only 5 hours behind the UK which will make
8898. working with my colleagues there just a little bit easier. Of course getting the
8899. kids out of bed while it is still dark outside is not so easy (that's the downside
8900. of starting DST so early!).</p>
8901.  
8902. <p>In the sporting world, this week sees the start of the Cricket World Cup. I'm keeping
8903. my expectations extremely low for England's chances but of course I wish the team all
8904. the best as they head into this two month long event. Hopefully the successes they
8905. enjoyed towards the end of the recent tour of Australia will give them some momentum
8906. going into this competition. As with the football World Cup, one of the interesting
8907. dynamics is that as well as the big name cricketing nations you also get some other
8908. countries playing in the event that are not known for their cricketing prowess. It
8909. will be interesting to see if we get any surprises. What odds for a Scotland vs Holland
8910. final I wonder ? :-)</p>
8911.  
8912. <p>This week the kids are off school for Spring Break so, naturally, drought
8913. notwithstanding, it's pouring with rain and supposed to be wet until at least
8914. Wednesday.</p>
8915.  
8916. <p>Anyway, that's the update for now. I will try and get into a more regular pattern
8917.  of posting over the next few months.</p>
8918. ]]>
8919. </description>
8920. <pubDate>Mon, 12 Mar 2007 10:15:00 CST</pubDate>
8921. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000025</guid>
8922. </item>
8923.  
8924.  
8925. <item>
8926. <title>The downside of working from home - no ice day!</title>
8927. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">travel</category>
8928. <category>kids</category>
8929. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2007-Jan-16-a</link>
8930. <description>
8931. Wherever you are reading this I hope that your year is off to a good
8932. start.  I took a large part of December off to recharge the batteries
8933. after a very busy 2006.  Consequently I have not posted here at all since
8934. early December.  The new year for me is already off to a busy start but at
8935. least I feel somewhat rested and ready to go.  Over the holiday period in
8936. the Austin area we had a mix of warm,cold and wet weather.  The new year
8937. has started in much the same way.  It was 75 degrees Fahrenheit here last
8938. Friday but since then it has become quite cold.  Today we awoke to
8939. temperatures in the low 20's Fahrenheit with a mix of ice, freezing rain,
8940. sleet and snow.  A few minutes ago we had about 30 minutes of snow but not
8941. enough for the kids to have a good snowball fight.  Around here the kids
8942. don't see snow very ofter so as soon as it starts they all run outdoors .
8943. I think the last time we had any snow that settled was in 2004 and even
8944. then it only stayed on the ground for a few hours.  The weather forecast I
8945. just listened to says we could see a few inches of snow before the week is
8946. over.  All of the area schools are closed and most businesses are shut and
8947. I just looked at the airport website and am really glad I am not trying to
8948. fly anywhere today.  This is definitely a day for not going anywhere if
8949. you can avoid it.  Those who live in colder climes would be taking a day
8950. like this in their stride but this far South the place basically grinds to
8951. a halt when we get a rare day of real Winter.  So while many people are
8952. enjoying an "ice day" off work - yours truly is at his desk working away
8953. as usual.  I work from home a lot but one of the few downsides is that
8954. when we have a really bad weather day I can't say "sorry I can't look at
8955. that today as the office is closed".  That said we have started having
8956. some power and gas outages and that could certainly slow me down a bit.
8957.  
8958. <p>I'd like to express my best wishes to all my many friends and
8959. colleagues around the World for a safe and prosperous 2007.  I hope I'll
8960. get to meet many of you during my travels in the coming months.
8961.  
8962. </description>
8963. <pubDate>Tue, 16 Jan 2007 13:15:00 CST</pubDate>
8964. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000024</guid>
8965. </item>
8966.  
8967.  
8968. <item>
8969. <title>Taking time to reflect and be grateful</title>
8970. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">travel</category>
8971. <category>kids</category>
8972. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2006-Dec-31-a</link>
8973. <description>
8974. As another year winds down, I find myself reflecting on the fact that
8975. I have a lot to be thankful for. My wife, my kids, a stable job, many
8976. wonderful friends and family members all over the World. Wherever you
8977. may be reading this, I wish you all the very best for 2007.
8978. </description>
8979. <pubDate>Sun, 31 Dec 2006 22:48:00 CST</pubDate>
8980. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000023</guid>
8981. </item>
8982.  
8983. <item>
8984. <title>&quot;Beam me up...err...Anthony&quot;</title>
8985. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">travel</category>
8986. <category>kids</category>
8987. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2006-Dec-11-a</link>
8988. <description>
8989. Over the weekend I was with my wife and kids in a store looking at a large
8990. display of Christmas tree ornaments.  There was the usual collection of
8991. novelty ornaments to hang on your Christmas tree.  Among them was a Star
8992. Trek one showing Kirk, Spock and Scotty standing in the transporter.  My
8993. son, on spotting this one unpromted by me, says, "Dad, let's buy that one,
8994. look...it's the Wiggles".
8995. </description>
8996. <pubDate>Mon, 11 Dec 2006 08:18:00 CST</pubDate>
8997. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000022</guid>
8998. </item>
8999.  
9000. <item>
9001. <title>Welcome to my new home!</title>
9002. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">travel</category>
9003. <category>miscellaneous</category>
9004. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2006-Dec-06-a</link>
9005. <description>
9006. <![CDATA[
9007. If you are reading this message you have already found me at my new home!
9008. <br><br>I created this web site in the Summer of 2004. At that time it was
9009.  
9010. mostly done to give me a way to experiment with different aspects of
9011.  
9012. building a site and to allow me to post a few articles of
9013.  
9014. interest to friends and family around the World. Until this week I was
9015.  
9016. using the limited web site hosting service offered by my ISP, which has
9017.  
9018. served me well enough until now. However, I have finally reached the
9019.  
9020. point where I can no longer work towards building the type of site that
9021.  
9022. I ultimately want to build within the constraints imposed by my ISP.
9023.  
9024. They only give me 5mb of disk space and do not allow any server side
9025.  
9026. scripts (including things like PHP) to run. As I look back at the site
9027.  
9028. and how it has evolved over the last few years, I am actually amazed
9029.  
9030. how much I have been able to cram in to that 5mb allocation. This week
9031.  
9032. I signed up with a real hosting company and I now have more disk space
9033.  
9034. at my disposal than I know what to do with (at least for now!). This
9035.  
9036. will allow me to upload a lot more photos and also (over time) to
9037.  
9038. enable more features than I have been able to in the past. I also
9039.  
9040. finally got around to registering the "kelvinlawrence.net" domain as
9041.  
9042. part of this fairly major upgrade. Initially the new site will look a
9043.  
9044. lot like the old one but over time I hope to add a lot more here....as
9045.  
9046. they say..."watch this space".<br>
9047.  
9048. <br>
9049.  
9050. While migrating everything over to the new hosting company and the new
9051.  
9052. domain name I have tried to be very careful and adjust any links so
9053.  
9054. that they correctly reference the new site and not the old one. If you
9055.  
9056. come across any broken links with the new site please do let me know.<br>
9057.  
9058. ]]>
9059. </description>
9060. <pubDate>Wed, 06 Dec 2006 16:51:00 CST</pubDate>
9061. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000021</guid>
9062. </item>
9063.  
9064. <item>
9065. <title>Here we go again...that crazy Texas weather!</title>
9066. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/index.html">travel</category>
9067. <category>miscellaneous</category>
9068. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2006-Nov-30-a</link>
9069. <description>
9070. <![CDATA[
9071. <p>Yesterday evening before we went to bed it was in the low 70's Fahrenheit
9072. and during the day the temperature had been up as high as 80 degrees. Overnight
9073. a very strong cold front came in and we awoke to find ice on the windows and
9074. temperatures down in the 20's. I have written here many times about the crazy
9075. Texas weather but you never quite get used to it. Yesterday we sent the kids to
9076. school in shorts and t-shirts and today we sent them off in heavy coats
9077. and sweaters! Along with cold front last night we had an interesting selection
9078. of severe weather alerts (hail, wind, thunder storms, tornadoes) that kept the
9079. program on my PC that monitors the weather chirping out warnings all night.
9080.  
9081. <p>I have been maintaining my effort to keep up with my reading.  This
9082. month I read Tom Clancy's <b><i>The Bear and the Dragon</i></b> (all 1100
9083. plus pages of it) which I enjoyed a lot.  I also read <b><i>The Partner</i></b>
9084. by John Grisham which I also thoroughly enjoyed. I am now reading <b><i>Deception
9085. Point</i></b> by Dan Brown and <b><i>Hyperion</i></b> by Dan Simmons.
9086. When it comes to books, one of my bad habits is that I tend to buy them
9087. in batches and then go back and read them.  The net result of this is that
9088. some books have sat on my bokshelves for a very long time before I get
9089. around to reading them.  <b><i>Hyperion</i></b> is a prime example, as I bought it while
9090. still living in tyhe UK back in 1990 and I am only now getting around to
9091. reading it in November 2006!
9092. <p>Last week the kids were sick and this week I have been very much under
9093. the weather as well but other than that things at home are going well.
9094. The pool project is coming along quite nicely (I'll try and upload some
9095. photos soon) and what looked like a large muddy hole in the ground a few
9096. weeks ago is now starting to look a lot more like a swimming pool as each
9097. day passes.  If the weather cooperates, I am hoping it might be finished
9098. and ready for water in about two or three weeks.
9099.  
9100. <p>I would be remiss in posting this update if I did not comment on the
9101. Ashes series that has just got underway in Australia.  If any of my
9102. Australian friends and colleagues are reading this, what can I say, it
9103. looks like revenge may well be yours unless things change drastically
9104. after England's less than stellar performance in the first test!!  That
9105. said, back in 2005, I recall feeling like this after Australia easily won
9106. the first test at Lords so maybe history can and will repeat itself -
9107. we'll have to wait and see.  Either way, I hope it's another great series
9108. and as much fun to watch as the 2005 one was.  Keeping up with the matches
9109. is hard from here in the U.S.  The coverage starts at around 6pm in the
9110. evening here (which is not too bad considering that equates to midnight
9111. for those following the matches in the U.K.) but almost all of the regular
9112. internet feeds are blacked out due to licensing restrictions. The second test
9113. starts this evening (Friday morning for those in Australia) and I'll be doing
9114. my best to follow along and hopefully will not be made to suffer as much as I was a few
9115. days ago listening to Australia make record scores at the Gabba.
9116. ]]>
9117. </description>
9118. <pubDate>Thu, 30 Nov 2006 23:26:00 CDT</pubDate>
9119. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000020</guid>
9120. </item>
9121.  
9122.  
9123. <item>
9124. <title>Miscellaneous notes from a busy week</title>
9125. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net">travel</category>
9126. <category>miscellaneous</category>
9127. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2006-Oct-27-a</link>
9128. <description>
9129. <![CDATA[
9130. <p>Most weeks are busy these days between work and family commitments and this
9131. week was no exception. Several days I stayed up late (and into the next day) to
9132. dial into some business meetings in Asia (but that was better than having to travel
9133. there given how crazy things have been at home).
9134. <p>In spite of how busy life has been, I have made a promise to myself that I
9135. will somehow find more time to read
9136. than I have been managing of late.  This week I managed
9137. to read a couple of fairly short books.  The first was <b><i>Digital
9138. Fortress</i></b> by Dan Brown and the second was the <b><i>Great Train
9139. Robbery</i></b> by Michael Crichton.  I enjoyed both and found it easy
9140. to get through them but neither were in
9141. my opinion that great.  If you look at my <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/books.html">Books and
9142. Magazines</a> page you will see that I gave each book a score of 7 out of
9143. 10.  <b><i>Digital Fortress</b></i> is the third of the four Dan Brown
9144. books currently in print that I have read.  The other two being <b><i>Angels and
9145. Demons</b></i> and <b><i>The DaVinci Code</i></b>.  Of the three I enjoyed <b><i>Angels and Demons</b></i>
9146. the most. His other book <b><i>Deception Point</i></b> is in my queue of
9147. books sitting next to my desk waiting to be read.
9148. <b><i>The Great Train Robbery</i></b> is one of Crichton's first books (written
9149. I think in 1974). To be honest I didn't know it even existed until
9150. I saw it in a discount rack at the local supermarket a couple of weeks
9151. ago. Given my background (being born and raised myself in the UK) I picked up a
9152. copy as it looked like a storyline that I would enjoy. To be honest, it reads as
9153. much as a history book as it does a novel but it was none the less quite
9154. readable.
9155. I enjoyed his portrayal of events in Victorian England around the middle of the
9156. 19th Century and found it easy to relate to the period having studied it in detail
9157. while at school. The book was enjoyable enough but not as compelling a read as
9158. some of his other works. I guess, for me, it was a bit like watching the movie
9159. "Titanic", you already know the punchline before you get there, which for me,
9160. has never worked as well as a style of storytelling as one where suspense is
9161. maintained until the final chapter.
9162. <p>
9163. Other than being busy and finding time for a bit more reading, there has not been
9164. too much of note to report this week (which is just fine). We had quite a bit
9165. of rain during the week and so there has not been any progress made on the pool. The
9166. weather has been the usual mixed bag for this time of the year. A cool front (the tail
9167. end of a storm that left 18 inches of snow in Colorado earlier in the week) finally
9168. came in last night and we haven't yet quite managed to reach 70 Fahrenheit here today.
9169. It's also been quite windy here all day. The forecast is good for the weekend
9170. so hopefully I can spend a lot of time outdoors with the family and the dogs.
9171. <p>Finally, the dreaded annual test of willpower (also known as &quot;how the heck
9172. am I going to stop myself eating too much Halloween candy?") is just a few
9173. days away. Luckily I have a soccer game on Sunday to try and run off a few calories first!
9174. ]]>
9175. </description>
9176. <pubDate>Fri, 27 Oct 2006 11:21:00 CDT</pubDate>
9177. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000019</guid>
9178. </item>
9179.  
9180.  
9181. <item>
9182. <title>Kakuro puzzles, the new pool and other miscellany</title>
9183. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net">travel</category>
9184. <category>miscellaneous</category>
9185. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2006-Oct-19-a</link>
9186. <description>
9187. <![CDATA[
9188. Towards the end of last year I got quite hooked on Sudoku puzzles for a
9189. while. They can be quite addictive. I ended up writing a small computer
9190. program in Java that solved them and that helped cure me of that particular
9191. addiction! Recently while checking
9192. out at my local grocery store I spotted (and bought) a new book
9193. of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakuro">Kakuro</a> (also
9194. known as Cross Sum) puzzles. Although I believe that these puzzles are quite
9195. popular I had not come across them before. In my spare time I have been trying
9196. to teach myself the Python programming language and so last weekend I decided
9197. to write a Python program to help solve Kakuro puzzles! I decided not to
9198. let the program fully solve the puzzles but to be more of a solver's aid (listing possible
9199. combinations of numbers that achieve the desired sum etc.). So for now the
9200. Kakuro puzzle book is remaining a fairly regular companion!
9201. <p>Life at home has been very busy (I think we've
9202. visited just about every flavour of kids doctor and dentist in the last two weeks!)
9203. and so I haven't been able to update the
9204. pages here too much lately. You may have noticed that I have been trying to
9205. keep up with <a href="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/books.html" >my reading</a> and I just
9206. finished <b><i>World War: In the balance</i></b> by Harry Turtledove which was a good read.
9207. I'm grateful to my friend Roger for introducing me to this author, whose work
9208. I had not read before.
9209. <p>Meanwhile, we finally broke down, after living here for 10 years, and
9210. decided to put in a pool. Today I am working from home with all the windows
9211. shut (despite the nice cool weather) as the guys are outside spraying the
9212. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunite">gunite</a>. There is so much vibration
9213. that my car alarm goes off about once every 10 minutes! Yesterday it was almost
9214. 90 degrees Fahrenheit here but today (after a cold front came through last night)
9215. we are in the 50's....I don't think we'll be using the new pool for a while!
9216. ]]>
9217. </description>
9218. <pubDate>Thu, 19 Oct 2006 11:21:00 CDT</pubDate>
9219. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000018</guid>
9220. </item>
9221.  
9222. <item>
9223. <title>Google Gadgets</title>
9224. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net">travel</category>
9225. <category>web</category>
9226. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2006-Oct-09-a</link>
9227. <description>
9228. I was interested to see the announcement by Google yesterday that they
9229. are making their Google Gadgets available so that people can embed them
9230. (via a simple script tag) in their own web pages.
9231. This is particularly interesting for people like myself, whose web sites
9232. are hosted by their ISP with limited space and features enabled (as in my
9233. case).If you missed the announcement you can find
9234. it
9235. <![CDATA[
9236. <a href="http://www.google.com/press/annc/synd_gadgets.html">here</a>.
9237. The list of available gadgets is <a href="http://www.google.com/ig/directory?synd=open&amp;num=24">here</a>.
9238. ]]>
9239. </description>
9240. <pubDate>Mon, 09 Oct 2006 13:13:00 CDT</pubDate>
9241. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000017</guid>
9242. </item>
9243.  
9244.  
9245. <item>
9246. <title>Has Autumn finally arrived in Central Texas?</title>
9247. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net">travel</category>
9248. <category>texas</category>
9249. <category>weather</category>
9250. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2006-Sep-25-a</link>
9251. <description>
9252. We awoke this morning to temparatures in the 50's Fahrenheit.  It's
9253. wonderful to be able to open all the windows again and let in some truly
9254. fresh air.  This Summer we have endured in excess of 30 days where the
9255. temparature was over 100F.  It's supposed to warm up into the high 70's or
9256. even mid 80's by mid afternoon but at least the evenings and mornings
9257. should be cooler for the next few days.  We had a very strong storm front
9258. go through this area on Saturday (it was severe enough to cause the
9259. Univerity of Texas to suspend play in it's football game for over an
9260. hour).  Now that the storm has passed through we are getting our first
9261. real relief from what has been a very hot Summer.
9262. </description>
9263. <pubDate>Mon, 25 Sep 2006 12:10:00 CDT</pubDate>
9264. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000016</guid>
9265. </item>
9266.  
9267.  
9268. <item>
9269. <title>A long week on the road and now two weeks off</title>
9270. <category domain="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net">travel</category>
9271. <category>conferences</category>
9272. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2006-Aug-25-a</link>
9273. <description>
9274. Last week I travelled to Baltimore to speak at the
9275. SHARE conference.  I
9276. left home before dawn on Sunday (August 13th) to get to the airport in
9277. plenty of time given the new security procedures in effect.  Apart from it
9278. taking longer than usual to check-in (due to a lot more passengers than
9279. normal checking bags) I did not encounter any other unexpected delays.
9280. Given the recent events in the UK, I was happy to see that the planes were
9281. full and that the airports were busy - people are just getting on with
9282. life, which is good to see.  I arrived in Baltimore on Sunday afternoon and
9283. left on Thursday afternoon for New York to attend some business meetings
9284. at our corporate headquarters before finally flying home from New York
9285. (via Chicago) on Friday evening. I did not have as much spare time in
9286. Baltimore as I would have liked but I did at least get to walk around the
9287. harbour and take some photographs. It was hot and at times quite humid
9288. during the week. I didn't sleep well at all in Baltimore. I think my
9289. hotel must have been either close to a fire station or a police station
9290. as all night I kept getting woken up by one siren after another.
9291. From Baltimore I travelled to New York for some meetings on Friday (I actually
9292. got off in Stamford CT as it was more convenient for my friend who
9293. met me at the station). I travelled by
9294. train for the first time in a while in the US as it was both cheaper
9295. and more convenient than flying for that particular leg of my trip.
9296. I have to say it was a
9297. very pleasant experience.  I took the new Acela Express service that
9298. Amtrak runs between Washington DC and Boston.  I would definitely take
9299. this train again.  It was very comfortable, with plenty of space to work
9300. and even had AC power that I could plug my laptop into.
9301. I got the impression that a lot of people were taking the train for the
9302. first time to avoid the travel delays being reported by many of the airports
9303. in the North Eastern United States. The train was full.
9304. I stayed with my friends and his family in Connecticut on
9305. Thursday night and I slept really well (no sirens - or any other loud noises
9306. for that matter). It was great to not have to check-in to yet another hotel
9307. and spend the night with some good friends that I don't see as often as I would
9308. like. I'm very grateful to them for putting me up for the night.
9309. I got home about 1:30am Saturday morning after getting delayed in both
9310. New York and Chicago by a mixture of bad weather and an Instrument Landing
9311. System (ILS) failure on one of the runways at Chicago O'Hare airport.  The
9312. weather in New York was bright and sunny but we could not leave on time
9313. due to the problems at O'Hare.
9314. I haven't taken much vacation time yet this year so I am taking the
9315. next two weeks off (I'm not going back to work in fact until after the
9316. Labor day holiday here in the US).  We're in the middle of a really bad
9317. drought in Central Texas.  I wish some of the heavy rain I had to
9318. deal with in Chicago last Friday would find its way here.  We have been
9319. over 100 degrees Farenheit every day for the past week or so.  I played
9320. soccer on Sunday afternoon (August 20th).  It was 97F when the game
9321. started and 103F by the end of the game (yes I know, mad dogs and
9322. Englishmen etc). My daughter went back to School last week. I still have
9323. trouble getting used to how early the schools go back in Texas compared
9324. to what I was used to growing up in England where August is considered the
9325. height of Summer.
9326. </description>
9327. <pubDate>Fri, 25 Aug 2006 09:20:00 CDT</pubDate>
9328. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000015</guid>
9329. </item>
9330.  
9331. <item>
9332. <title>Started working on updates to Family &amp; Friends section</title>
9333. <category>miscellaneous</category>
9334. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2006-Jul-19-a</link>
9335. <description>
9336. For those of you that follow the
9337. Family & Friends section, after a long delay of
9338. about seven months, I have started getting some more recent photos of the kids posted.
9339. </description>
9340. <pubDate>Wed, 19 Jul 2006 16:00:00 CDT</pubDate>
9341. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000014</guid>
9342. </item>
9343.  
9344. <item>
9345. <title>Started working on various updates</title>
9346. <category>miscellaneous</category>
9347. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2006-Jul-15-a</link>
9348. <description>
9349. Enjoying a period of almost two weeks since I last had to travel, I have
9350. finally started making updates to many sections of the site. I still have a lot
9351. more photos from my recent trip to Europe that I want to get on-line as soon as
9352. possible, but if you care to look around hopefully you will notice a lot of updates.
9353. For folks that monitor the Family & Friends area I promise I will get some new
9354. kid photos uploaded soon!
9355. </description>
9356. <pubDate>Sat, 15 Jul 2006 16:00:00 CST</pubDate>
9357. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000013</guid>
9358. </item>
9359.  
9360. <item>
9361. <title>Finally home after a very busy June</title>
9362. <category>travel</category>
9363. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2006-Jul-02-a</link>
9364. <description>
9365. June was a very busy month for me. I travelled to Europe for 15 days of
9366. business meetings that took me to Prague, Vienna and various parts of the UK.
9367. I did manage to see a lot of friends and family members in between meetings and
9368. that was great. I will try over the next week or two to update the various parts
9369. of this site with some photos and other information about my recent travels. Upon
9370. my return from Europe I had to go out to California for a couple of days so I'll
9371. not start working on the updates until my head gets a bit more back into the
9372. correct timezone!
9373. As a temporary measure, I have placed a few photos from Prague into my
9374. <![CDATA[
9375. <a href="http://photos.yahoo.com/gfxman">Yahoo! photo album</a>.
9376. ]]>
9377. Note that the resolution of the pictures is
9378. greatly reduced from the original by the upload process but at least (hopefully)
9379. you can get an idea of what a beautiful city Prague is.
9380. </description>
9381. <pubDate>Sun, 02 Jul 2006 16:00:00 CST</pubDate>
9382. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000012</guid>
9383. </item>
9384.  
9385. <item>
9386. <title>A really stormy Spring in Texas></title>
9387. <category>texas</category>
9388. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2006-May-11-a</link>
9389. <description>
9390. I have been incredibly busy at work (including quite a bit of travel)
9391. and things at home have also been busy and as a result I have not been
9392. able to post as often as I would like here in recent weeks. I have, however,
9393. managed to find a little bit of time to update other sections of the site. As
9394. has been reported in the news, May has so far been incredibly stormy in Texas. We
9395. have had numerous Thunderstorm Warnings and Tornado Watches issued by the Weather
9396. Service and sadly some areas of the state have suffered major damage as a result.
9397. We have also seen a lot of hail and very heavy rain. Mixed in with this it has been
9398. very hot. Just south of Austin, it hit 106F yesterday. Today it was cooler when we
9399. woke up as a light cold front moved through the area over night. Certainly a pleasant
9400. break from the recent very muggy conditions. The next few days are supposed to be
9401. more pleasant both in terms of temparature and calmer weather.
9402. </description>
9403. <pubDate>Thu, 11 May 2006 16:00:00 CST</pubDate>
9404. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000011</guid>
9405. </item>
9406.  
9407. <item>
9408. <title>A day at the Johnson Space Center - Houston</title>
9409. <category>science</category>
9410. <category>space</category>
9411. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2006-Mar-23-a</link>
9412. <description>
9413. As I mentioned in my prior posting, a couple of weekends ago I finally
9414. was able to make the time to visit
9415. the Johnson Space Center in Houston. We took one of the tours that included
9416. a visit to one of the two former Mission Control rooms that were used during
9417. the Apollo program. It is fascinating to think that the total computing power
9418. in the room was about the same as that found in a modern day cell phone (at least
9419. that is what the tour guide told us). Note also the plastic tubes on the left
9420. side of the console. There was no e-mail in those days so if you wanted to send
9421. a message to someone else anywhere in the building you sent a note on paper
9422. in a tube to them through a system of pipes like those used today in many
9423. banks and other businesses! We have come a long way since then but I bet the didn't have
9424. the spam problem then that we have now! As I mentioned in my prior posting, if you
9425. are at all interested in the space program's of both the US and Russia, this tour
9426. is a must. There is another tour that takes you into the current mission control
9427. room but we did not have the time to do that tour as well. We also got to go inside
9428. many of the other buildings, including the one that contains the training areas for
9429. the Space Shuttle and for Space Station Freedom.
9430.  
9431. <![CDATA[
9432. <p>
9433. <div ALIGN="CENTER">
9434. <img src="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/images/MissionControlConsole.jpg"></img>
9435. <br>One of the consoles in the former Apollo 13 Mission Control room
9436. </div>
9437. ]]>
9438. </description>
9439. <pubDate>Thu, 23 Mar 2006 16:00:00 CST</pubDate>
9440. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000010</guid>
9441. </item>
9442.  
9443.  
9444. <item>
9445. <title>Spring has sprung - in Texas</title>
9446. <category>texas</category>
9447. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2006-Mar-13-a</link>
9448. <description>
9449. Things have been so busy that I have not posted to the homepage here in
9450. almost a month (although I have been keeping many of the other sections of
9451. the site up to date during that time).  I spent last week in Seattle where
9452. it is still very much Winter, in fact it was snowing the night before I
9453. flew home.  Here in Texas this week the kids are on Spring Break and
9454. Spring has definitely arrived.  We have have had almost no Winter this
9455. year and last Friday the high temparature was 90 degrees Farenheit where
9456. we live.  This week it's a little cooler but still very mild.  Many of the
9457. trees in our garden (mostly the Red Buds) have already bloomed.  Over the
9458. weekend we drove to Houston to tour the
9459. <![CDATA[<a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/home/index.html">Johnson Space
9460. Center</a> and to visit the really excellent visitors center called
9461. <a href="http://www.spacecenter.org/">Space Center Houston</a>
9462. (a  fabulous day out by the way) and along the way we saw many
9463. Texas Blue Bonnets along the side of State Road 71.  I'll try and get a few of
9464. the photos I took at the Space Center posted here over the next few weeks.
9465. ]]>
9466. </description>
9467. <pubDate>Mon, 13 Mar 2006 21:00:00 CST</pubDate>
9468. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000009</guid>
9469. </item>
9470.  
9471. <item>
9472. <title>Crazy Texas weather - again!</title>
9473. <category>texas</category>
9474. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2006-Feb-17-a</link>
9475. <description>
9476. As you will know if you have explored this site at all,
9477. I have lived in the Austin (Texas) area for a little over 10 years now.
9478. Despite that, the frequent and often dramatic shifts in weather here never cease
9479. to amaze me.  Yesterday afternoon it was 81 degrees Farenheit and I was
9480. wearing shorts and playing with the kids outside.  Overnight a cold front
9481. blew in and today (at 11:00) it is 39 degrees Farenheit and it has just
9482. started to rain and apparently ice storms are a possibility for the
9483. weekend.  If you've ever had the pleasure of driving through or even
9484. flying through this area on an "ice day" you'll know just how much fun
9485. that can be!  My friends and colleagues in the North East of the USA
9486. probably wonder why I am complaining given they are burried under snow at
9487. the moment but even so, a more than 40 degrees temparature swing in under
9488. 12 hours is amazing!  The Freescale Marathon is being run here in Austin
9489. on Sunday and sadly this weather looks like making that a tough run for
9490. those involved.  I am supposed to be playing soccer on Sunday afternoon
9491. and that should be fun too.  Forecast highs for Sunday are in the low
9492. 30's.  Despite growing up in the UK I haved most recently lived in
9493. predominantly warm areas and it's always a shock to the system when this
9494. kind of weather literally blows in.  Looks like being a weekend for
9495. movies, video games and reading!
9496. </description>
9497. <pubDate>Fri, 17 Feb 2006 13:29:00 CST</pubDate>
9498. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000008</guid>
9499. </item>
9500.  
9501. <item>
9502. <title>A busy start to a busy year</title>
9503. <category>travel</category>
9504. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2006-Jan-30-a</link>
9505. <description>
9506. As I suspected, 2006 has indeed got off to a busy start.  I have
9507. already had to travel on business three times (all within the Continental
9508. USA) and we are not yet out of January.  So far I have found myself in
9509. Raleigh, Las Vegas,and San Jose.  I had not been to Las Vegas for a few
9510. years but it did not seem to have changed very much.  I think the airport
9511. however, may make it onto my unofficial list of the "top 10 airports
9512. I least like to fly through"!  Arriving is not too bad but departing
9513. is a different story.  I arrived at the airport at around 5am (maybe even
9514. a little before that) for a 7am flight.  I guess to an extent I was a bit
9515. naiive and expected the airport to be somewhat quiet at this early hour (I
9516. guess I have become spoiled getting used to calm early departures out of
9517. Austin).  Far from being quiet, the place reminded me of LAX at four in
9518. the afternoon (LAX would also make my list).  The teminal was mobbed.
9519. Long lines were everywhere, at check in, security, even for the train to
9520. the gates.  In fact, even the automatic ticket kisok machines had long
9521. lines in front of them.  Mental note to self,
9522. <![CDATA[Las Vegas <b>never</b> sleeps and this <b>includes</b> the airport! ]]>
9523. The one saving grace was that
9524. there is a separate frequent flyer line for the security checkpoint.  It
9525. appeared that 90% of the people leaving Vegas at that morning either were
9526. not frequent flyers or did not realize that there was such a line
9527. available.  I estimate that this saved me more than 30 minutes if not
9528. more.  The other saving grace was that after finally navigating all of the
9529. lines, squeezing into the train and walking through the "last chance
9530. to win" gauntlet of slot machines that I found myself right in front
9531. of a Starbucks!  Oh well, enough of my complaining, 2006 is indeed off to
9532. a very busy start.
9533. </description>
9534. <pubDate>Mon, 30 Jan 2006 11:18:00 CST</pubDate>
9535. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000007</guid>
9536. </item>
9537.  
9538. <item>
9539. <title>Another busy year ahead</title>
9540. <category>miscellaneous</category>
9541. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2006-Jan-11-a</link>
9542. <description>
9543. So the holidays are over and 2006 is here. One of my resolutions for the
9544. new year is to spend a bit more time on this web site. We'll see how well I
9545. actually manage to do that as the year progresses. As I look at my calendar for
9546. 2006 it is already filled with both personal and business commitments. Looks
9547. like being another hectic year. First day back after the break I found myself on
9548. a plane at 6:50am to attend some business meetings in North Carolina. This week
9549. I seem to have managed to catch a really nasty cold or the flu. So between work,
9550. kids and feeling under the weather, I'm already in need of another holiday and I
9551. have only been back at work for a week and a half! I hope that your year is perhaps
9552. off to a calmer start.
9553. </description>
9554. <pubDate>Wed, 11 Jan 2006 15:51:00 CST</pubDate>
9555. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000006</guid>
9556. </item>
9557.  
9558.  
9559. <item>
9560. <title>A time to reflect</title>
9561. <category>miscellaneous</category>
9562. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2005-Dec-22-a</link>
9563. <description>
9564. At this time of year it is important for me to stop and reflect on all
9565. of the many things that I am thankful for.  I am blessed in that I have
9566. many things that I am thanful for.  Most of all I have a wonderful wife,
9567. two fantastic kids and a great extended family.  I also am extremely
9568. fortunate to have such a large collection of friends and work colleagues
9569. all over the World.  To all of you, here's wishing for a safe and merry
9570. Christmas/Holiday season and a very happy and successful 2006.
9571. </description>
9572. <pubDate>Thu, 22 Dec 2005 16:34:00 CST</pubDate>
9573. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000005</guid>
9574. </item>
9575.  
9576.  
9577. <item>
9578. <title>I can't believe it's already December</title>
9579. <category>miscellaneous</category>
9580. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2005-Dec-02-a</link>
9581. <description>
9582. Where has the year gone?  Time just seems to be flying by.  We put up the
9583. Christmas lights outside the house last weekend.  Indeed our entire street
9584. is now looking very festive.  The last few weeks both work and family life
9585. have been extremely hectic so I have not been posting here as often as
9586. normal.  We had a restful Thanksgiving break and the weather here in
9587. central Texas has been great recently.  Clear skies, highs in the 60's
9588. Farenheit and overnight lows in the 40's and 50's (once or twice even into
9589. the 30's) over the past couple of weeks.  It's supposed to be warmer again
9590. over the weekend.  I have a soccer tourament to play in on Sunday and the
9591. forecast looks great for that. A friend in the UK sent me the official set of
9592. 3 DVDs containing all the highlights of the Ashes series from this Summer. I am
9593. hoping to make some time to watch those soon. Another good friend who just visited
9594. the UK brought me back the "Botham's Ashes" DVD which has all the
9595. highlights of the 1981 Headingly test on it. I did force myself to find time
9596. to watch that and I enjoyed every minute of it. It was great to re-live those
9597. few days again. I remember being home from school part of that day (but not why)
9598. and watching Botham's epic knock on TV live. Taling of how time flies, I cannot
9599. believe that that was 24 years ago now.
9600. </description>
9601. <pubDate>Fri, 02 Dec 2005 23:35:00 CST</pubDate>
9602. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000004</guid>
9603. </item>
9604.  
9605. <item>
9606. <title>RSS Feed now tested and live</title>
9607. <category>miscellaneous</category>
9608. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2005-Nov-23-a</link>
9609. <description>
9610. I finally added RSS support to this web page.  For those of you that like
9611. using RSS readers or live bookmarks (in Firefox) the RSS feed is now
9612. available.  For the time being the RSS feed is jut for the main page.
9613. </description>
9614. <pubDate>Wed, 23 Nov 2005 11:30:00 CST</pubDate>
9615. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000003</guid>
9616. </item>
9617.  
9618. <item>
9619. <title>I'm ready for a rest</title>
9620. <category>texas</category>
9621. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2005-Nov-18-a</link>
9622. <description>
9623. I haven't posted for a couple of weeks.  Work has been busy, the kids have
9624. been sick, I had to have surgery (nothing major but surgery is never fun)
9625. and my wife has been looking after us all.  Suffice to say, we're all
9626. hoping to get a few days rest at the end of next week during the
9627. Thanksgiving holiday (long) weekend here.  In the meantime some cooler
9628. weather finally arrived here in Texas.  As recently as a week ago, we were
9629. still in the 80's Farenheit but then a cold front arrived and finally we
9630. have some sweater weather for the first time since last Winter.  The
9631. daytime highs have been in the 50's and 60's and at night it's been
9632. getting down into the 30's.  The cooler weather is supposed to stay with
9633. us until at least the middle of next week.
9634. </description>
9635. <pubDate>Fri, 18 Nov 2005 11:30:00 CST</pubDate>
9636. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000002</guid>
9637. </item>
9638.  
9639. <item>
9640. <title>Colorado Software Summit 2005</title>
9641. <category>conferences</category>
9642. <category>travel</category>
9643. <link>http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/daily-archive.html#2005-Oct-30-a </link>
9644. <description>
9645. I spent last week in Keystone (Colorado) at the <![CDATA[
9646. <a href="http://www.softwaresummit.com">Colorado Software Summit</a>. ]]>You'll
9647. find more details if you follow the link to my web page.  The photo below
9648. shows a picture of the beautiful Keystone Village where the conference was
9649. held.
9650. <![CDATA[<p><center><img src="http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/images/Keystone-2005-1.jpg"></img></center>
9651. ]]>
9652. </description>
9653. <pubDate>Sun, 30 Oct 2005 02:00:00 CDT</pubDate>
9654. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kelvinlawrence.net/main.html/000001</guid>
9655. </item>
9656.  
9657.  
9658. </channel>
9659. </rss>
9660.  
9661.  
9662.