WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good morning Riley,

It was a beautiful morning for a walk. Still hoping the showers will arrive and it cool a bit.

I dug the compression sleeve out as I want to get my arm diameter down as much as I can before surgery. Hard to imagine them taking of an area about 6" by 2" and while I've got arm flab there to be taken up I'm not sure it is 2" worth!

I was not feeling so good yesterday afternoon and so I used my treadmill for a bit and continued watching the movie Le Mans. Always looking for the #8 yellow Corvette with the 427 in scenes..................

The crops look good. The canola probably is the worst looking of the bunch but the field peas are looking really excellent, I just noticed the first few plants are starting to flower this morning. The wheat should be solid at this point.

Cheers,

Garry
 
It was such a beautiful day yesterday. So as rain was cancelled I took the Z06, topped up the methanol tank - you just never know after all!

Unknown to most of you one of the activities I engaged in when I was in Breslau when I was testing the Z06 was going around looking for Pokemon cards for my son through Kijiji. I picked up more in Edmonton a few weeks ago as after a two year hiatus my son was back into them again. As it turned out, before leaving I just happen to look again and there was a collection of 5000 cards plus 30 of the much valued EX cards for sale in Clairmont, a town right before GP. So I drove around and discovered that I'd gotten the address wrong (dyslexia reared its' ugly head). Of course I have no smart phone so I went to the car wash and the lady there was nice enough to look up the ad for me - I had 9760-120 Ave. and it was 7906 102 Ave.! While driving around I saw a very nice sort of caramel Stingray, the early 1970's with the recessed back window that I find attractive.

The kid with the cards was sort of an interesting experience, his father answered the door and told me son had Asperger's. He was about 14 but very nice and I was just interested in verifying that there were 30 EX cards and gave him his asking price. It turned out after I got home there were actually 63 EX cards including 6 or 7 of the highly prized MEGA EX cards so I suspect my son will be very excited. At the moment though he is working his way though a "Booster Box" of 36 10 cards packs that I bought for him for winning his grades Advanced Reading program for the 3rd year. He gets one pack to open each day we go and exercise together so it is a win-win-win situation.....................

So, yesterday's meeting with the pre op nurse.................

Well, it is for the most part pretty straight forward. On the morning of the surgery (looks like 7 am this Monday) they will inject in four or more spots around where the tumor was removed a radioactive dye. This will slowly move into the lymph node system there. After a few hours they will then put me under and inject a blue dye that will also show them the pathway to the sentinel node. So they'll remove and elliptical area of skin around the tumor some 6 to 7 " long and about 2" wide in the middle. Then poke in a geiger counter and see where the sentinel nodes are and pluck out a couple for testing.

Testing could take up to two weeks, a bit longer than I thought and I hope it will be sooner than that.

If there is no cancer found that it is all that goes on. If there is cancer then I will have subsequent surgery/possibly radiation depending on where the lymph nodes are and then that will hopefully be that.

One line of thinking I'd been having that turned out to be wrong. While the CT scan showed that there were no tumors in my torso, it only eliminates cancer in things like my lungs, kidney, liver etc. CT scans cannot show cancer in lymph nodes. So while I was recently so cocky about there being no cancer in the lymph nodes outside of my arm, it appears that I am mistaken about this. I was less than happy to learn this. However, I am still going to be positive in that the surgeon was unable to find any evidence of any swollen lymph nodes in my arm when he examined me and if there were none there then it should not have gone any further.

Or that is my minds position and I'm going to run with this for the time being!!!!

Crops look great, some wheat starting to lodge which is too bad but overall great growing conditions.

And oh ya, on the Z06 front, while there was a thread on fuel economy of C7 Z06's, I did record some numbers, and while this may have included some extended duration, back road buck fifty driving (read almost steady) over the 360 km I measured the fuel used, I still managed 25.6 mpg which I have to say is pretty amazing. Gotta love those LS7!

Cheers,

Garry
 
Garry, your analysis may have been a little off but it took some pressure off you at least for a few days. That is a good thing.

You know our thoughts will be with you on this journey back to health.

Sounds like you got a great deal for your son and I am sure he will be a very happy boy.

Keep us posted Garry.
 
So 25 hours until the fun starts. Register at 7 am, probably get my radioactive dye and then waiting, waiting.................waiting until 1:50 when surgery is scheduled. Not sure what I'll do all that time. Sleep if I'm lucky, read and do crossword puzzles I think. Still they told me I would be discharged that day which means it could be a late return home. My gf is returning from a work course in Edmonton at 4 so I'll meet up with her. Dad is coming along as he still works for an engineering company (81 now??) and sadly mom contracted a sinus infection yesterday and the hospital told her to steer clear of me so she won't be joining us.

Mentally it has not been too bad.

The weather has been great, more rain but super nice and sunny yesterday until about 7 when there was a brief but heavy thundershower.

The jet boat races, first day, were held yesterday in Peace River. I waited until about 4 and I thought I'd go for a walk along the dike. It used to be one of my favorite activities and I had realized that I might not have gone or at least not since seeding. It was humid but oh so nice. Odd but the town was no where near as busy as I'd expected it to be as they usually have a big dog and pony show for the jet boat races, lots of people and vehicles. Granted the day's races were over when I arrived but still it was almost quiet.

Not much for cars of interest when I was walking, just a red Solstice. Still a convertible consideration but I really don't like the front compared to the Sky.

Much to my surprise, as I was leaving town and going down main
P1050439.JPG
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street what is in the oncoming lane, a grey C7 Z06 (can't be a Stingray with a clear hood section, right?). I had my hand out the window and waved vigorously but a very muted if any response. Maybe he was sad that he now realized he had the 2nd fastest car in town that day!! Not sure if it was local or just visiting either.

On previous jet boat weekends there were a lot more nice cars so I'm not sure if they all rushed home afterward or what.

I parked the Z06 by the park about mid way along the dike. What I like about parking here is that the dike is at a much higher elevation. It made me realize in previous years that these cars are also very attractive from a higher angle as well................

So, with luck surgery is a walk in the park and they'll get back to me sooner than two weeks with some cancer free sentinel node news...........

Thanks so much for allowing me to vent once again and for all you words of support!

Cheers,

Garry
 
Garry, our thoughts will be with you tomorrow and the days after.

All that can be said I guess is that if hopes of others can make a difference then you will be alright.

Thumbs up my friend. You are a courageous guy.
 
Good morning!

A long day, starting with the usual no eating or drinking from midnight on. Up at 5, 35 minute walk, shower but no deodorant (imagine what I smell like this morning!). 6:45 apply emla creme to numb the area around the original tumor location. To the hospital, register at 7, to radiology for this funky multiple cobalt radioactive tracer injection. I thought it was a cool, 4 needle at once instrument but rather it was four separate needles encased in a lead cylinder! This injection is to show the flow of fluid from the tumor to the sentinel node. Wait a while, not sure how long as no jewelry or watches or metal can be worn, and have the first scans. Then wait for a while, maybe an hour, more scans. A problem, potentially. Due to the lymphodema that started about four years ago things don't flow well to start with and I have a normally swollen arm. So second scan, this one takes a long time as they shoot it from many different angles. Concern expressed as even after maybe 3 plus hours not the movement they want to see. This may make it difficult to find the nodes the Dr. is looking for.

One super super funny encounter - one of the nurses here asked me if I'm "Garry the Runner". I tell her I might be and she said that she heard me give the motivational speeches to the beginning runners back in 2009 and 2010 when i was running with the club here in Grande Prairie. I laughed she would have remembered me from there!

For me the thought will they cancel the surgery?

So back to my room, 1:50 they come to get me and take me to the holding area. Meet with one nurse, then the Dr. Tells me he is not overly sure yet what will happen. Might be a case of just going ahead and removing all the lymph nodes in my shoulder and also left chest area. Not too excited about this as they may not be cancerous and will for sure make the lymphodema worse. But perhaps he can still get some indication with his Geiger counter, he won't be sure as another 3 or so hours has passed since the last scan was done.

Then meet with the anesthesiologist and he gives me his part of the story.

Next thing I know he warns me I will start to get tired.

Then I wake up, the Dr. is there. Said that he removed some samples from both locations and is going to send them to the cancer council for their recommendation. Things looked fine, no tumerous looking lymph nodes.

Not sure what time that was but I had to wait on hour and was out the door at 7 and home at 9.......

Oddly no stitches, he used Steri-strips which I found interesting for the length of the incision.

Mind blowing even more, no antibiotics proscribed and while some pain killers have been, the pain was not that bad and almost non-existent this morning, not at all what I was expecting.

So now the waiting game, up to two weeks to get the sample results and the opinion of the council. With some good luck this might be the end. If not maybe they have to go and fish the rest of them out and so be it.

On the Sunday trip in spotted two C7's and a Viper, it was super weather to enjoy such a car too.

And yes, I've even been starting to read how to do a burnout with a C6 Z06 on YouTube - ever the optimist am I!

Thanks to you all again for walking with me through this time in my life!

Cheers,

Garry
 
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Well some interesting news and we hope it is all positive. At least Garry you still have you sense of humour, they apparently did not remove that.:Biggrin:

Now as far as the burnouts go just remember all the problems you had getting tires? Maybe you should pre order a couple of rears at least.

Good luck, stay upbeat.:thumbs:
 
Greetings!

I always look to try to read into some positiveness into things. I'm going for broke in two ways:

1)my compromised lymph nodes prevented the spread of cancer from the tumor to the nodes, heck if the radioactive dye couldn't move maybe the cancer couldn't either!

2)when the Dr. actually saw the lymph nodes there appeared to be nothing wrong with them so that is why he only took samples and didn't pluck them all out at this time.

Straw clutching! Yep that's how I'm going to live my life for the next two weeks!!

I sure found the technique for doing a burnout funny to have explained though.

I mean with an automatic transmission I see it and have done it, step on the brake and then hit the gas, rear tires sping. But I'm so confused with how it is done with a manual transmission. My friend with a drag racer/automatic transmission who said that he had something I thought he called a "line locker" so he could lock the front brakes while warming his tires.

But watching someone with a manual who puts it into gear, release the clutch and then applying both the brake (gently/partially or full on?) and then the gas at the same time to get the rear tires spinning is not something that I've ever tried before so I'm not sure how many tries it will take for me to get it right. It sounds so counter intuitive to me, as if you press the brake hard enough won't you also lock the rear wheels and thus cause the car to stall???????? Sure I hope that I get to do this!

Cheers,

Garry
 
Hey Garry,

With 744.47 you are not going to have a problem with this...



First.....FIND A BIG OPEN ASPHALT SPACE for your first time or two....Wet down the asphalt with a little water mixed with a little dish soap.... and now pull up onto the wet spot... (I know..I know. we usually avoid the wet spot...)

This will start the tires spinning easier and it is easier on drive trains...

1) turn off the Traction Control (important)
2) push in the clutch and put car in first gear

now for the meat and potatoes part

3) Steering wheel and tires straight forward (for the first time anyway)... right foot on the throttle, pump a few revs with the clutch in ...just because you can...and it makes for a good, feel good build up sound before the climax....

4) bring the revs up to about 5500 or 6000 (just under the red tach paint), DUMP the clutch, stay on the throttle, and instantly get your left foot over to the brake. Now... all you want to do here is get on the brake fast enough to keep the car from shooting forward and then just slow the car's movement enough to stay in control and keep those rear tires spinning fast.... once you get this in play, you can feather the brake on more or less and feather the gas on more or less for the ultimate burnout and sound effect and movement you are looking for. (Sounds more complicated than it is)

5) Now you should be sitting still or moving slowly while your tires are moving considerably faster.....

6) Rule of thumb here is mentally count each second that passes in 20's... 20/40/60/80/100/ etc...etc... each 20 represents dollars in rubber you are burning off for each second you are smoking up the neighbourhood ... lol...

7) When you have either spent enough money, had enough fun, pissed off the neighbours, or can't see or breathe anymore for the smoke, start backing off the gas and the brake simultaneously and either come to a stop, let her move forward a bit out of the smoke zone....or shoot forward like a freakin bullet.... I would suggest one of the first two until you get use to it and know what direction you will be streaking to.......

OK.... THere you have it... and once you have done this a couple times, you will be comfortable and start to play with varying degrees and direction of vehicle movement and steering to paint those gorgeous swirling black stripes on the asphalt all over town.... And someone, somewhere will be invariably be saying.... " those damn kids"..... It's a great feeling my friend... (or so I've been told.... lol... :rolleyes:)... enjoy... and be careful.... you have a lot of ponies there that would love to get away from you...

GARRY. This is caps and bold for a reason so don't ignore this. DO NOT FEATHER THE CLUTCH OUT WHEN YOU START THE BURNOUT. DUMP IT OUT. THIS IS IMPORTANT AS CLUTCH SMOKE AND TIRE SMOKE ARE TWO TOTALLY DIFFERENT THINGS, AND CLUTCH SMOKE TIME IS COUNTED BY $200's, NOT $20's

1011gmhtp_07_o%2b2007_chevrolet_corvette_z06%2bburnout.jpg


Feel free for the rest of the members to add your own little tricks or suggestions to this.....

Eric
 
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OK.

Some news to share, as it is.

My gf called the Dr even though I asked her not to, that he would call me when he had news.

So she ignores me and calls under the guise of wanting information about caring for the Stari-strips used to close the incision.

But she prods more anyway.

The results are back and the Dr should look at them tomorrow (today) when he has an office day.

Of course I am not sure if this is result from the node test or the result after the cancer council has reviewed my file with the node test results or what exactly this is.

All I know is that is has been a sleepless night!!!!!!!!!!

And will I be getting a call today? Do I still have to wait for the cancer council to review things?

Sigh.......................

But you're as up to date as I am!!

6 or 7 mm of rain yesterday, excellent timing for crops that are forming seed right now.

Cheers,

Garry
 
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