Exercise machines can be Dangerous (update)

More solid metal sticking out where it is not wanted, but this time from a bench (see diagram).
SAME TOE.

Exercise machines can be Dangerous

Over the past few months I have been trying to build up my exercise regime to get my performance (kCal/hour, Distances, Weights etc) levels that I was doing before my Big Seizure. And I think I have just about managed to do that (focal) seizure free (that wasn't the case a while ago).

Interestingly I seem to be getting the same performance at a slower heart rate than I used to. I wonder if I have mentally trained myself to keep the heart rate down to avoid seizures. Now wouldn't that be cool... but then it might just be the anti seizure pills working like some kind of Beta blocker but this isn't mentioned in the known side effects .

But why are exercise machines dangerous?
When you are not looking where you are going and trip over your Rowing machine.

I have a Concept II rower (a wonderful machine) but like most rowers it is very low and made of solid chunks of metal (see above). The slider is especially well positioned for breaking toes on. Which given the bruising I am currently suffering may well be proof of that pudding.

Tooth 3 (Build up for the Build-up)

Dentist tells me my mouth heals astonishingly well. That is very fortunate for somebody who likes to talk so much and pass so much food through it.

Anyway, was in to have my stitches out following getting my very own implant a couple of weeks ago, and was quite excited by the idea of getting a tooth attached soon. Boy was I wrong.

First we have to wait for another Six months of healing (despite my previous statement) and then FIVE appointments of Tooth Build-up each a week apart. Am I glad the insurance is paying for this.

If I am very lucky I might get to show this tooth off at my funeral. One beautiful tooth anybody, hardly used.

Tooth 2 (implant)

Nine months ago my Dentist discovered I had a Cyst under one of my teeth when being checked out for having the tooth replaced by an implant and and additional white piece on top (see) .
Well today they were finally able to start the original work and after being hacked around I'm the proud owner of an Implant (no tooth yet).

I'm just waiting for the pain to start.

Scan Ahoy - More Therapies

It looks as the only time I get (remember) to write blog entries is when I'm coming up to MRI scans. This or next week I'll have to go to the Doctor to get my Blood checked for Platelets as usual, and then the scan is booked for the 17th Feb with the Oncologist / Neurologist check up the week after.

Can you believe its Six months since my last dose of Chemo?
As I've said before its always a bit of a worrying during this time not knowing how the MRI results might pan out, but this time is a special worry because it is in the next 3-6 months that Tumours often/usually reoccur.

I have a dentist appointment on Friday too, not related, the Dentist is checking out the Op I had to scrape out an old tooth. If all goes well I need to decide if I want an implant to replace it. And what is the major deciding factor? Cost, Pain , No (well maybe a bit on Pain). It all depends on the state of my tumour.

Studying a lot treatment news at the moment. A couple of interesting ones:

TTF again
Remember my visit to Dr. Magneto that resulted in my tumour downgrade. Well there is a lot of activity in the area of TTF, including the results of a trial combining TTF (the Electric field machine) & Temozolomid (the Chemo I have been using) with recurrent patients showing a mean time to disease progression of 155 weeks compared to 31 weeks for normal chemo.
Damn this downgrade I want one of these alien defense mechanisms and I promis to take my pills.

Gene Therapy
There is so much going on in Gene Therapy I can't help thinking this is where the cure is coming from. Take a look at this where they are using a 2-pronged gene therepeutic attack to force regression.

Brain Tumour Virus anyone?
Hold on to the end for the twist.

It has been noticed that GBM tumours attack middle aged people that were well-educated and from higher socioeconomic backgrounds (and then there is me). Their "hyper-hygienic" lives have possibly left there immune systems susceptible to more common viruses such as CMV.

Now a neurosurgeon has discovered a relationship between Brain Tumours and the CMV virus, a herpes virus that is normally harmless lying dormant in 80% of the the population. But in tumour samples it seems that CMV is actively replicating. If this turns out to be causal then a vaccine may be on its way (but probably too late for me).

An interesting Postscript: Back in April 2006 Carol was very ill. She had severe bouts of tiredness and fatigue for several weeks. When she had her blood tested they found the culprit, CMV, and that an anti-arthritic drug that she had been taking had reduced her resistance to it. Eventually the problem cleared up on its own.

16 Months later I was diagnosed with a GBM tumour that the nuerologists reckoned had been growing for "one or two years".

Is this just coincidence or did Carol & I pass around the the same virus (via the usual bodily fluids) with astoundingly different results. Back then I worried that Carol's illness was life threatening. This needs investigating, if only to prove or disprove the irony of it.

A Musical Interlude

So what has been streaming off the Music server over the past few weeks?

The Minimalists:

Carol bought me a boxed set of 10 Philip Glass CDs (Glass Box - cool name but not made of glass) for Christmas. Amazing what a set of well placed hints can achieve :-). Once I played all of Glass Box the experience set me off on a search for my favourite minimalist pieces.   I've been a fan of minimalist music in its widest sense as long as I remember. I guess my earliest minimalist experiences were with some bits of Holst and Kraut rock bands such as Faust, Can and Tangerine Dream. Only later did I discover the "classical" minimalists such as Terry Riley, Steve Reich, John Adams and Philip Glass in the US with Arvo Part, Heinryk Gorecki and Michael Nyman (who coined the phrase minimalism as represented by music) in Europe. Anyway, here are some of my favourites of the moment (listen in peace with an open mind):

Gorecki - Symphony No. 3

Glass - Orange Mountain Music, Symphony No 3, Satyagraha, Tehillim

Part - I am the true vine

Tangerine Dream - Atem

Reich - Music for 18 Musicians

Can - Future Days, Bel Air

Faust - Miss Fortune

Riley - In C (Wang Yongji performance)

Nyman - The Piano

Adams - Shaker Loops

Christmas Songs - Carol loves her festive songs (old, modern & ancient) to be playing for weeks before Christmas so I have to hide in the study to hear anything else and given how unfestive that is I don't get to hear much else on the run up to Christmas. Even though we have a random playlist of around 250 "festive favourites" its amazing how quickly they repeat on random play. Each year I try to add some new songs but only few are accepted by the festivities organiser :-)

And the rest: 

Sons & Daughters -  Rough rock folk with a great Scottish (girl) lilt

Small Faces  - Ogden's Nutgone Flake - their finest

The Acorn - Glory hope mountain - Canadian indie folk with honduran beats.

Nitin Sawhney - London Undersound - Yet another wonderful album from this man despite the appearance of Paul McCartney

James - Just re-listening to the band who should have had the success of the Smiths

Iggy Pop - The Best : Lust for Life, The Idiot, American Ceaser

Fotheringay - Sandy Denny's last band (only recently realeased 2nd album, 37 years late). Wonderful English folk album

Jim & his new Liver

In the recent post on our UK trip I mentioned an old friend, Jim who was waiting for a Liver Transplant. Well they finally found a donor on 30th December and he went in for his transplant on New Years Eve. After over 12 hours of extremely complex surgery he was moved into intensive care around 9pm, and into a normal ward yesterday. Christina, he's wife, has been keeping his family and friends up to date with remarkable regularity.

Apparently he is making great progress. I only wish I was close enough to pay a visit. I hope he knows how much me and  the rest of the family are thinking of him.