"Neanderings" Turns Three!

    Earlier on in December, "Neanderings" turned three.
   This kind of blew me away, as some anniversaries are prone to do, simply because you tend to lose track of time and then forget that you have been doing one thing or another for as long as you actually have been.

   At the same time, there have been a couple of other blogging anniversaries to celebrate--Year One for "Strides", my running blog, and 10,000 page views for "Neanderings"--so I've kind of lost track a little of the "housekeeping" end of things.
   So, Year Three is in the books.
    As I usually do, I went back and took a bit of a look at what I'd been up to in "Neanderings" in the past year.
   There were no trends. Apart from a series of blog posts devoted to a brief Efudex treatment I found myself undergoing at one point, I was all over the place with my randomness.
   I wrote a little bit about crime (The Last Thing I Wanted To Write About, Dead building, and Boston), a little bit about the blogging experience itself (Be Careful What You Say, Where The Heck Have I Been, and I Am A Blasphemer) and a little bit about the aging process (Turning Sixty, Cranky Old Man).
   A couple of times I got into a bit of a silly mood (Apple, Halves and Important Stuff You Need To Know) and occasionally I wanted to touch on relationships (Carving, This Christmas, I Am Woman, Reunion and Autistic Boy Meets Damaged Woman).
   Apart from these, there were a whole host of totally random topics touched on, with titles like "Jesus, God and Facebook", "Coffee", "Hypocrisy", "Kika In The Bar", "I Am Unfriended" and "Would anyone like to sit on the purple couch?" I love random!
   Toward the latter part of the year, I also extended my blog audience to include Google+ and Twitter along with the ever-trustworthy Facebook. What this meant was that all of the sudden much of the "Neanderings" audience started coming from the States, whereas before it was primarily Canadian people reading. A larger audience also meant that I received my first little bit of anonymous criticism--another blogger described a blog post from last year as "pure blasphemy" and indicated that I would surely be punished. It was a small blip, however, and still good to know that people were reading!
   It's been a pretty good year and I intend to keep writing as much as I possibly can, regardless of who and how many might be stopping by from time to time.
   If you are a faithful reader, I thank you greatly! Some of you are new and some of you have been visiting since the beginning. Here's hoping we can get together many more times in the future!
   Cheers!

Do you want to save a life?: Part Two

   Almost a full year ago, I wrote a blog post titled "Do you want to save a life?" You can read this post here. In it, I espouse the virtues of both organ and blood donation.
   By way of example, I spoke about two people in my life who were, at that time, dealing with health issues in which blood and organ donation either already were playing vital roles or had the potential for doing so.

Gordon (as I knew him) and Gordon (as I CONTINUE to know him!)

   One of them was a gentleman and high school compatriot named Gordon Kirkland. Gordon lives in B.C. and his liver was failing at this time last year. His only viable hope for survival rested on the very slim chance that someone, somewhere near to him, had made the decision to donate their organs upon their passing. And then they had to die. Complicating this somewhat was the fact that they needed to be fairly close to Gordon's size (he's a big man) and the blood types needed to match (Gordon has one of the rarer blood types).
   Gordon spent most of last year slowly deteriorating. He is a well-known and respected humourist, though, and did his best to demonstrate this at the same time as his body continued to both sustain and betray him.
   Over the latter part of the year, you could sense the resignation in his writings. He talked about how close death was.
   Then he got lucky. Or he received a blessing. Maybe a little of both but the fact of the matter is that he became the recipient of a new liver just a little over two months ago! By both his and his doctors' admission, he was likely only about three days away from death when he received his transplant. He is doing very well now and has returned to that ebullient Gordon we all know and love. At the same time, he is humble in his thankfulness and extremely aware that someone else had to die in order for him to continue on living.
   Putting it simply, you can save a life by registering as an organ donor. This just happened to someone I know. Not only that, the act of registering can either save or greatly positively impact the lives of several people, all at the same time. It's a no-brainer, no pun intended!

   The other person I spoke about in that post was my ex-wife, Lori Hicks. Lori was in the middle of a battle against multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer. The treatment for this involves different forms of chemotherapy and blood transfusions. Hence the need for blood donations. Donated blood is also used in the battle against anemia, sickle cell disease and hemophilia. Of course it is also used in cases involving accidents, where there may be great blood loss.

   Lori,
   and my two boys,
   Bryant and Ben

   Sadly, Lori ultimately lost her battle, passing away in early December. No amount of blood donation would have ultimately saved her. Blood donations, however, were a vital part of the treatment process which helped keep her alive for the five years she was still with us after her cancer diagnosis. This was five years of a life lived with dignity and grace and, as importantly, a life surrounded by the love of family and friends. Blood donations were a part of what helped make this possible for her and they continue to help many others. For the length of time it takes--about forty-five minutes every two months--blood donations are also a no-brainer.
   I am once again posting some  links that will get you somewhere where you can learn more about the organ and blood donation process and how to get involved in both.

 http://organ-donation-works.org/english/home/
https://beadonor.ca/
http://www.blood.ca/

  
   Now all you need to do is....DO IT!!!
  
    

Important Stuff You Need To Know

   The following contains information of vital importance. Please make sure this information reaches as many people as possible.

 

 

 

 

   Thank you for your attention to this matter.

 

 

 

Backing Up

   My wife, Doralyn, likes to back into parking spots. I prefer to just drive straight in.
   She enjoys the ability to drive right back out and be on her way and I enjoy the ability to back out into a wide open space, with no fear of scraping bumpers, bushes or buildings.

You're safe...

   Somehow or other, after having driven for the better part of forty-five years, I have never mastered backing up. I always find it subtly disorienting, having to shift around in my seat (I'm not as nimble as I once was), using mirrors (how truly trustworthy can they be?) and using my backwards death protection...er...depth perception... in order to get me and my car properly aligned and in the right spot. It's pretty well akin to asking me to look at three things at once when I generally have my hands full with one. 
 



You're not safe...

   I would get better if I did it more often. My skills are such that, with enough practice, I think I would be an excellent backer-upper. But, really, what adult practises backing up?
   My brother-in-law, Mike, can attest to my poor backing up skills. One day back in the early seventies, not long after we'd met and he was at our house in London visiting, I walked out to the driveway, hopped into my mother's car and promptly backed it up into Mike's Datsun 240Z--a sporty little car I had suddenly made less sporty. I'm not sure how you walk out to a driveway and back into a car that's  parked directly behind you, in the summer, in the sunlight. It's not like I clipped it while trying to drive around it---no, I drove directly into it.
   Mike would also be quite happy to recount the tale of me backing Doralyn's car down the concrete steps leading to one of the lower levels of the resort Mike and my sister, Jayne, own in Parry Sound. We had been staying in one of their cabins and, on our way out, I had been trying to back up and drive out forwards up the short hill leading away from our cabin. I totally misjudged where the steps were and ended up driving down the first two! It was only by the grace of Mike's pick-up and a sturdy chain that we were able to be extricated.
   These two offences are the ones which stick out in my mind the most but they do not account for the countless close calls where I avoided obstacles on the left only to discover how close I'd been to disaster on the right.
   This is why I drive forward into tight spaces, if at all possible. I don't even have a good handle on my own driveway. I can't tell you how many times I've backed one of our cars into the driveway only to discover I was now angled thirty or more degrees to either the north or south and quickly had to re-arrange things before being spotted.

 

   My new Honda is equipped with something I've never had before---a backup camera. Oh joy, one more distraction while I'm trying to do the backing up thing. Backup cameras are excellent if you're trying to avoid the suicidal maniac who was waiting for you to hop in your car so he could throw himself down behind your rear bumper. Apart from that, checking your mirrors and looking back over your shoulder should really be all you need to do.
   I guess I need to leave you with words of advice here. If you happen to see me driving toward you some day, then have no fear, the world is unfolding as it should. But if, perchance, I happen to be driving backwards.......                                

 

Cursive, Foiled Again!

   Back toward the end of summer, I found myself writing a couple of short little notes in birthday cards for a couple of my stepsons, Keenan and Callum.

If you've never seen it, this is what it looks like!

   I have been writing salutations in birthday cards, letters to people, notes to friends and family, exams, prose, poetry, and daily recording for over half a century now. When I have done this, I have a used a form of cursive writing that was very legible, neat and pleasing to the eye. In fact, I have received high praise from anyone who has had the pleasure of viewing it. 

   So it took me greatly by surprise, then, when I realized that neither of these two young men were actually able to decipher the messages I'd written in their birthday cards. They are both extremely intelligent lads but I might just as well have been writing in Sanskrit, for all they knew.
    Cursive writing is fading away as a viable means of communication. In this day of texting, e-mails and instant messaging, the need to actually hand write a note is almost non-existent. It also seems as though the handwriting you do run into is becoming more and more illegible all the time.
   I learned to write cursive in public school and I remember spending whole periods where we'd study the alphabet on display above the blackboard and attempt to copy it to a t--and a and b and so on--until our versions were almost identical to the ones we were trying to emulate.
   I've always had the ability to closely copy whatever was placed on paper in front of me and this was a skill which greatly came in handy when it came to cursive writing. I never was flowery and never really embellished my penmanship--I copied what I saw and it has held me in good stead ever since.
    These days, it also seems to be getting tougher to read other people's cursive writing and the younger the person is, the more difficult it seems. Written communication has almost become a printing/cursive hybrid anymore. We occasionally have staff meetings at my place of employment and someone needs to take the minutes. These are always handwritten and it's kind of funny looking around the table trying to find someone whose handwriting will be legible enough to transcribe later on!
   Not only do I do cursive wonderfully but I took four years of Latin in high school. Yes, I am a dinosaur. Not only can I write something you can't read I can tell you the ancient origin of it you won't care about!
   There could (will) be a day when we will need to pass around handwritten notes, because that will be the only option for communication. The ones of us who can still write cursive will be there, writing implements in hand, ready to rule the world.
   So, birthday number three rolled around, Quin's, and when the time came to inscribe something on his card, I had sadly learned my lesson---I printed.
     

I Am A Blasphemer (Apparently)

   In my most recent post, I talk about the idea that you need to consider who is going to be reading or listening to the things you write and say. You then need to understand that the things you say and do may bear some consequence.
   In an extremely ironic twist, just a couple of days after I wrote this, a comment popped up which was attached to a post I wrote last year called "Christians in the park". There is a link to that post here, if you weren't one of the ones that read it the first time around. Essentially, the post described my distrust of groups or individuals who seem to have used Christianity as a cornerstone for either their own gain or as part of a political agenda. I then cited examples, as quickly as they popped into my head, of some of history's worst offenders.
   The person's two-line comment appeared at the end of the post but I have since deleted it, thinking that readers might attempt to link back to its author's blog and give the person a sense of audience he or she might not deserve. The comment described the post as "pure blasphemy" and then added that "God will surely repay" me. In my brief reply to this person, I quoted one or two nice things I did say about Christianity and then left it at that.
   The person who commented did so anonymously. You were able to follow a link back to his or her own blog but it was a blog in title only, had no content of its own and did nothing to actually identify its author. I also have no idea if its author read my follow-up comment, which has since been deleted as well.
   In my three years of writing "Neanderings", this is actually the first truly negative comment I have encountered. Because of this, I was initially taken aback. I then had to remind myself of my own warning to others---be prepared for the consequences of what you say and do.
   I have personal friends and acquaintances who are Christians and who demonstrate this and espouse it on a regular basis. I have never received a negative comment or even an inquiry from them as to things I've said about Christianity in the past. It could well be that they simply have not followed the blog (not everyone I know actually reads it) and therefore have never questioned me about it. Apart from this particular post, I have written on the subject several times in "Neanderings". I think this is because I often find myself wondering about, for lack of a better term, the "meaning of life". I wonder what, if anything, lies beyond. Because this is an underlying current, I write about it. I attempt to be fair when I do this and I attempt to explain myself clearly.
   If you go back and read "Christians in the park" very carefully, you hopefully will get the point I attempted to make. I can see where it's possible that someone might consider it to be "blasphemy" if you only were to consider some of the associations I make in it and if you only read the accompanying pictures I culled from the internet. It could be that the post is viewed as tainted simply because of those things.
   If anything, this episode has reminded me that there is an audience out there and that they may have strong opinions of their own. My biggest discomfort here is that the person who left me the comment chose to do so anonymously. I, on the other hand, do not have an issue with identifying myself. My best guess is that the person leaving that comment considers themselves to be a Christian. If he or she is a Christian who feels it's appropriate to anonymously attack (at least it felt like a bit of an attack) another total stranger's beliefs then I feel as though they might somewhat easily fall into the category of yet another person or group with an agenda of their own who props it up under the guise of "Christianity". Which is to say, under what I understand a Christian to be, that they are probably not one at all. In trying to take a truly Christian approach to anything, I understand that one of the best things to do is ask yourself what would Jesus do?
   I have a bit of a hard time imagining Jesus attacking me over a blog post.

Be Careful What You Say

   Sometimes, you need to be careful what you say and to whom you say it. Sometimes, you also need to be careful what you do and who might view it. 

 

   Someone I know has a little blurby at the bottom of all the e-mails she sends out which goes something like this: "Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle."
   I believe this is true; as much as we might be caught up in our own little turmoil, we need to remember that every other person we run into is in the midst of a turmoil of their own. How they are dealing with that turmoil may not be the same as how we are. We also need to remember that their ability to handle that turmoil might be on thin ice. It could be that they have completely lost that ability. Just at the moment that they may have totally lost the ability to handle the stressors of daily living, your path may cross theirs and what you say and what you do may have much more impact on the situation than you ever could possibly have imagined.

   You might save their life with a simple, random word or two. You might somehow or other ensure that their life ends, possibly right in front of you. It is not beyond the realm of reason that something you say or do might cause your life to end. I don't think there is a moment too innocent for this to happen.
   In light of all this, I pretty well constantly attempt to assess situations as they occur.
   I sometimes run afoul of other drivers out there. There is occasionally the temptation to lay on the horn or make some less than complimentary hand gesture and then I stop myself. I stop myself because in the grand scheme of things I don't know what effect this might have on that other person. Maybe there was a reason for why they were driving like that. Maybe it was just a brief moment of inattention, something we are all guilty of from time to time. Perhaps that person is speeding to the hospital because a loved one's been hurt. You just never know what a person's story might be.
   In this age of social media, you have the opportunity to interact in a variety of ways with hundreds of people all at once. Depending on the nature of that interaction, it might then be shared with hundreds of thousands of people.
  

This past Halloween, a young girl in Michigan made the mistake of dressing up for the occasion (as many people did) and then posting pics of herself on Facebook and Twitter (as many people did). Her mistake, though, was dressing up as a Boston Marathon bombing victim.
   She was immediately deluged with hate mail--some directed at her and much of it swirling around her. She had also previously made the mistake of posting nude pictures and her driver's licence on another social media outlet. This gave a whole bunch of extremely angry people access to some of her personal information. Soon, she and her family were receiving death threats. All of this because of a (terribly) misguided costume choice and then the ill-fated decision to make it so public.
   I occasionally find myself wrestling with what to put out there on social media. Most of it revolves around my quirky sense of humour and trying not to offend anybody with some of the stuff which comes out of my mouth. You have no idea how many times I've re-written a blog post or agonized over a Facebook comment so that no feelings would be hurt. This is all because you just never know how something you say might be interpreted or how an action might be seen.
   There is a world out there that is listening. More people than you might think are paying attention to what you say and do. As much as it might be enjoyable to say whatever comes to your mind whenever it gets there, it's essential to remember that this is not a consequence-less exercise. For the most part, we are all guilty of wanting to say or do things that will only get a positive response. Unfortunately, this is not the way the world works.
   This is not to say don't be outspoken or brave. Just be prepared for (but not scared of) what your bravery brings you in return.    

It's A Good Age To Be!

   In just a little over three weeks from now, the world will mark the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.


JFK, moments before his assassination and one of many
similar images you will see in the coming weeks.

   The date is November 22 and, coincidentally, it is also a Friday, as it was back in 1963. There have already been ads on T.V. for planned specials to commemorate the event and you can be certain that the media will be inundated with Kennedy images.
   I am one of the older of my peer group and because of this I am one of the few who can actually remember that day, with clarity.
   At the time, I was in Grade Five and was attending Braemar Public School in North Vancouver. We were all sitting at our desks when the intercom came on and the principal informed us the Kennedy had been killed. We were stunned but we were stunned in a ten-year-old kid sort of a way---it was more of a holy cow kind of a moment for us and the true solemnity of the situation was, I think, lost on us. One of the girls in the class broke into tears, however, and was excused. Why this had happened rather perplexed us until our teacher told us that the student was actually an American and that the awful news had much more import to her.
   As the weekend went on and we found ourselves glued to the black and white images on our T.V. screens, the holy cow feeling I'd had in my classroom totally disappeared as the gravity of the times sunk in.
   I am pretty well able to remember every little image from that weekend. Many of them became iconic and I can only imagine that in the lead up to the fiftieth anniversary they will be everywhere you look. I, however, feel privileged to have seen them as they happened.
   This is one of the things I treasure the most about being the age I am. I am able to say that I was witness to much of the history we now have venerated, analyzed, distilled and

Armstrong steps on the moon.

fashioned idols around. Occasionally I was witness to it as it happened---I watched as man first set foot on the moon and I watched as Paul Henderson scored the winning goal against the Russians in '72. If I didn't happen to be watching when the event actually occurred then I was immediately afterwards immersed in its wake and denouement.

Henderson in '72

   As much as history books and T.V. can attempt to recreate an historic moment what they generally cannot accurately recreate is the emotion of the time--the looks that might have been passed back and forth by total strangers, the utter joy or the total dejection. At some point in the next few weeks there will likely be a replay of Walter Cronkite, the famous CBS newscaster, announcing to the world President Kennedy's death. The words he used were straightforward. It was the look on his face that was harder to describe. It was the same look that many people had those days and if you weren't there to experience it then you cannot know it accurately.
   I like being able to say "I was there", even if only as viewer and from far away. As terrible or as joyous as a world event might be, when you are my age you are able to place it within the context of all that has gone on before. When you have lived through as many monumental events as I have, the monumental events of today are somehow greatly lessened and I envy the clear-minded eighty-year-olds who are able to remember back even farther than I am.
   This, then, is my little window--I am at that age where there is much to remember but I am edging closer to the time when there will be much to forget. For now, though, it is a good age to be! 
    

Doodles for Doralyn

   This post is for my wife, Doralyn. This is not to say that the rest of you can't read it but I really wrote it with Doralyn in mind.

   I doodled on a blog post a couple of months ago and Doralyn kind of enjoyed it. So I thought I would doodle a little more.
   These doodles come to you courtesy of Windows Paint so, if you have Windows, you yourself can create art as amazing as this!
   I have doodled for as long as I can remember. Most of it was while I really should have been doing something else--writing an exam, composing a poem, looking for coverage, doing a crossword, talking on the phone, those kinds of things.
   Generally, I had nothing more than a pen or pencil at my command and very little ability to add colour afterwards. This has been what is kind of fun about the little doodles you see here--the colour.

   Also, as I have doodled, I've plugged myself into iTunes and have been listening to much of my favourite music over the years. This is one thing I've really gotten away from, sadly, over the last few years. So it has been a double-barrelled pleasure experience, this late-night doodling and old-time music!
   Doralyn and I just recently had our eight year anniversary of being together. It truly, however, feels as if it's been a much shorter length of time than that. The freshness of it all hits me just about every time I look at her. That and the overwhelming feeling that I have been extremely lucky.
   I tell her this a lot and she replies that it's a very mutual kind of relationship but were you to be at all familiar with us as a couple then there would be no hesitation in declaring me the winner of the "Who Is The Luckier" Sweepstakes!
   In reality, I think that anyone who has Doralyn in their life in any kind of capacity is all the better for it. This not only goes for me but applies as well to friends, relatives and co-workers---pretty well all the people who know her.
   Her sons, of course, are the most fortunate beneficiaries of having had her in their lives. It is not often easy melding families together and, in the crucible that was two marriages dissolving and becoming a new one, Doralyn's love and steady hand was what got them (and all of us, really) through it. They have all become fine young men we are very proud of them.
   Now, I'm not really sure what all this has to do with me doodling away the past few days. Except that Doralyn seemed to like it when I did. I can only imagine that, as long as this continues to be the case, I will endeavour to do so!

      
  
  

Man On Fire: My Face Falls Off

   It was a week ago that I stopped applying the Efudex cream. Oddly, my face started to feel less comfortable after I stopped. It became very dry and tight and sore to the touch.
   Then it began to peel.
   It peeled off in little chunks and large pieces. It was not the same kind of skin you end up peeling off after a sunburn, it almost seemed to have a charred steak look to it (very thin charred steak you must understand) and the skin underneath was still quite red-looking.
   I understand that it might take quite a while for normal-looking skin to re-appear---possibly weeks. This doesn't bother me too much, I put up with the already sun-damaged skin for years and am quite prepared to wait a long time for healthy stuff to emerge.

At the end of treatment...

...and a week later--slightly lighter
and you can see where it's been peeling.

   In the meantime, I am back to running and will soon be back to the gym as well. While the treatment was on, I'd been asked by the dermatologist not to do sweaty stuff and I attempted to heed her as much as possible. Hard as that was.
   My follow-up appointment is early in January. I'm hoping that this will have given my face the time it needs and we will go from there!

Man On Fire: Final Treatment

   Last night, I completed my final (I hope) Efudex application. Now to let the face heal and see what the outcome is!
   Along the way, I never experienced anywhere close to discomfort I'd been warned about by Dr. Horgan-Bell. I guess this is okay but, at the same time, I hope that the desired effect has been reached. I imagine that every patient is different and I hope that the level of sun damage I'd experienced was not severe enough to invoke a similar reaction as what I'd found on the internet or been warned about in the literature I'd been given at the doctor's office.
   Below is a pic of my face this morning. It still looks nasty but I can tell that it is changing for the better. For the last couple of days it has been, in very small sections, slowly peeling away. This was something I was expecting and , because I was expecting it, I find it gratifying and perhaps a little bit of evidence that the whole process has achieved its purpose. Time will tell!


Today. Perhaps a little lighter...

Couple of days ago.

   To the left is also the previous pic, for comparison sake. Not a lot of difference between the two!









Lightning Bolt Of Pain and "Amour"

   A couple of days ago, I was sitting on the edge of the bed, pulling on a sock. I can't tell you the countless number of times I've done this in my life, without anything untoward occurring.
   That particular morning, however, as one leg crossed over the other, I suddenly got what felt like a lightning bolt go through my lower back on the right side.

Like this...but in my back!

   I am not immune to the occasional twinge as a day progresses but this was the kind of pain that stopped me dead in my tracks. Well, not exactly "dead in my tracks" as I did manage to make it into work but after about fifteen minutes at work I knew I wasn't going to be able to finish my day and was fortunately able to make it home, after stopping to pick up some pain meds.
   That was the morning before last and yesterday I thought I was making a little progress. I had taken the day off work but had managed to gimpily pick up my new car at Honda. The rest, combined with some low-risk movement, seemed to make me feel better. We watched some T.V. last night and then headed off to bed.
   Very early this morning, in a still-more-or-less-asleep state, I shifted in bed. Well, I shifted the wrong way and yet another bolt of lightning brought me (and Doralyn) fully awake, with a yelp. Doralyn groggily asked what she could do for me and I groggily replied not too much. At that point I really didn't know what needed doing.
   At this point, I've been up for a couple of hours and I feel as though I am back to square one with the back pain and any gains I felt I made yesterday seem to have been negated. Thank goodness it is now the weekend and we have no major plans so I can just rest and take it easy.
   Last night, we rented and then watched a movie called "Amour". It is a French-language movie which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film back in the Spring. Essentially, I think we regretted the time spent watching it. It's a very slow-moving film which takes place almost exclusively in the apartment belonging to a senior couple in Paris. The movie starts with the authorities

breaking into the apartment, to find the decaying body of the woman, who has been placed lovingly on the bed, amidst cut flowers. From there, the movie goes back to describe how the woman ended up there. About five minutes of the film near the beginning takes place in a music auditorium and then on a mass transit car. The whole rest of the movie then takes place in their apartment.
   The couple were once music teachers and, after attending a performance by one of their former students, the woman has a stroke in their apartment. The rest of the movie chronicles her slow but inevitable decline and the effect this has on their relationship as well as their daughter, who only sees them occasionally. The man opts to care for his wife at home, rather than have her committed to a facility, and this only leads to family tensions.
   As I mentioned, the movie is very slow-moving and claustrophobic and sometimes hard to watch. Emmanuelle Riva, the actress who plays the wife, does an outstanding job portraying the gradual change and suffering the woman must endure. For this role, she was nominated for an Academy Award for a leading actress and it's not hard to see why. Jean-Louis Trintignant, as the husband, also does a great job of portraying the man's love, devotion and frustration at having to see his wife suffer. If you want an opportunity to sit and ponder the inevitability of the aging process, then this is the movie for you. If, on the other hand, you want to be excited and uplifted--well, you might want to check elsewhere.
   At one point as we were watching the movie and the husband finding himself very much in the caretaker role, Doralyn asked me if this was what she had to look forward to. This was fairly typical of something we might have joked about at any time but it was even more appropriate last night as I was hobbling around with my bad back and she was trying to do whatever she could to take care of me.
   Early this morning when I yelped us both into a waking state, Doralyn ran through a list of things she might be able to do to help me alleviate the pain. When I replied in the negative, she then stated that I make it very difficult for her to take care of me sometimes. My reply was that I loved her for wanting to!
  

10,000 Page Views!

   Today, "Neanderings" registered its 10,000th page view! This is something that kind of snuck up on me, actually, Blogger does keep a running stat of page views but it's probably the stat I pay the least attention to.
   But then---presto---ten thousand page views!
   "Neanderings" has been in existence for almost three years now and this is something which kind of blows me away, frankly, it seems as though I've only been doing it for a couple of months. In that three years, there have been views from seventy-four different countries around the world. This is not to say that I have much of a world-wide audience, however, the vast majority of visitors are from dear-old Canada. The U.S. has been catching up lately as I've managed to expand my audience just a touch.


I had Doralyn take a pic of me while I was blogging away one day.
Obviously I need to upgrade my phone...

   The past year or so I've found myself spending a little more time over on my other blog, "Strides", which you can see here, as the whole running thing caught my interest and "Neanderings" has been somewhat neglected, sad to say. Fairly recently, Doralyn mentioned that she kind of missed seeing "Neanderings" show up as often as it had been so I have resolved to blog here a little more faithfully in the future!
   Some of you have popped in here by accident from strange and far away places but many of you are faithful readers and I wanted to thank you all for occasionally stopping by over the last three years and making me feel as though the time and energy expended here is more than worth it.
   Hope to hear from you again soon and many, many thanks!!
  
  
  

Man On Fire: Day 16

   Today marks the start of my last week of Efudex treatment (unless you've been really paying attention, in which case it was actually yesterday) and apparently things are supposed to take a turn for the worse this week.
   I almost hope it does because so far there has been little change. I guess this is not unusual but I would like to start seeing some major progress here, discomfort or no.
   I have noticed one tiny little difference yesterday--as I was washing my face, a small little shred of skin peeled off. Hopefully this is a precursor to something a little more earthshaking. Then again, sometimes you need to be careful what you wish for...

Today's pic---maybe slightly darker...?



Previous pic.

   As you can see by the pics above, there hasn't been much change. I am a little more conscious these days, though, of being out and about and people looking at me. I don't really have a problem with them looking, I just feel this need to maybe explain.
   Hopefully, the next time I have a pic to post it will look a little more dramatic!
   Cheers!

 

Man On Fire: A Supportive Wife and A New Hat

   A couple of nights ago, as Doralyn and I were just hunkering down under the covers at bedtime, she finished reading my previous "Man On Fire" post, the "Vampire" one. She got to the part where I was promising faithfully to start wearing a broad-rimmed hat from here on in when I was out in the sun. She kind of grunted and commented, "I'll believe it when I see it."
   In reply, I made some joking comment about how nice it was, having a supportive wife like that.
   To her credit, she then went on to remind me of all the times she had been supportive and had almost begged me to buy and start wearing a different hat. She offered to buy me one many different times when we were out and about and saw them for sale somewhere. She has also reminded me constantly to wear sunscreen.

Doralyn

   It is not without a little bit of history that she is this supportive; eleven years ago, almost to the day of our bedtime conversation, her father passed away from skin cancer. Having to have lived through watching someone you love pass away from the ravages of this particular disease  would only make you that much more wary and vigilant with the rest of your loved ones. As much as she pesters me about the sun, you should hear rag on the boys!
   I have always been blessed with Doralyn's support, in all parts of my life. It matters not whether it's physical or emotional support--she is there, like a rock. Because of this, it is my fervent desire to always be there for her! And all five of our boys!
   And that is why I will be buying a new hat!
  
     

Man On Fire: The Vampire In Me

   As part of this ongoing Efudex treatment I am currently in the middle of, one of the things my dermatologist has told me is that I should avoid direct sunlight.
   I guess this sort of makes sense, when you're talking about an area of skin which is slowly being stripped of its protective covering then keeping it out of the sun seems like a really good idea.

   What I have found is that it's a little tricky avoiding direct sunlight. Almost impossible, actually, short of carrying around a Hallowe'en mask or some frilly little parasol. What I do know is that you are definitely very aware of whether you're in the sun or not when you've been on Efudex for a few days. As I mentioned in a previous post, the sensation is almost exactly the same as a bad sunburn and we all know how it feels walking around in the sun when you already have a nasty burn.

A vampire fries---not for ME, thanks!

   So now I am even more conscious of the sun than I was before. I am vampire-conscious of the sun, in fact! I have seen way too many B-movies where the lords of the undead either melted in the sun, sizzled in the sun or simply exploded in the sun as they found themselves trapped beneath its solar rays. Not for me!
   I do now find myself thinking back to how I ended up in this uncomfortable situation. I believe the biggest part of my mistake was thinking that a ball cap was protecting my entire head from the harmful effects of the sun. I am quite religious about carrying head protection around with me (just in case) and I wear a cap even if I'm just walking down to the corner.
   The problem, however, is that a ball cap will cover the top of your head nicely and keep the sun out of your eyes but that's about it.
   Over the years, in retrospect, I think my weekly game of golf has been the biggest culprit. I can't tell you how many times I would get back from an hour and a half of golfing with a bit of a ruddy glow on my cheeks and chest, where my shirt falls open. I never considered myself having been burned by the sun but the cumulative effect now has me where I am.
   Stupid me! It's not like I didn't know the sun was dangerous! But I have still gone out and done an inadequate job of protecting myself and this must change.


Hmm...this Tilley cap seems to be shading
not only ME but part of the boat as well!

   I will be getting a new hat, and wearing it for any protracted stays out in the sunshine. No more golfing with just a ball cap on! The new hat will have a broader rim which will go all the way around, something like the one to the right. No more of the standard (and way cooler) golfing ball cap, pictured below.


Shades my eyes---not my face!

   More sunscreen than I normally apply will be the order of the day, as well. And not just the head and face will get it!
   Obviously, this has all been a bit of a wake-up call for me and I'm hoping that it will resonate a little with anyone reading or hearing about it. I can't say that I am particularly worried about it right at the moment but that's not to say that it isn't worrisome!
  

Man On Fire: Day Ten

   So here I am at Day Ten of the Efudex treatment for sun damage on my face. The clinical name for this type of damage is actinic keratosis (AK). Here is a link to the Skin Cancer Foundation info page if you'd like to sneak a peek. This page also provides all sorts of links to where they talk about prevention, risk factors, treatment, etc.
   The spot on my left cheek is now a deeper red and is somewhat more tender. It feels very similar to a sunburn and, so far, is not too uncomfortable. At this point, however, I am only about half way through the twenty-one day treatment. Dr. Horgan-Bell, who I saw this morning, says that the discomfort will be at its worst at the end of the three weeks. At that point, hopefully, the healing process starts!

Day 10--today

Day 7 (previously posted as
Day 6--my math sucks!)

   Dr. Horgan-Bell also re-iterated that there should be no running, as this would only irritate things. She said I could walk and that was about it. I guess the perspiration is one of the biggest issues. My plan had been to sweet-talk her into letting me run under certain circumstances but she gave me a rather stern look at this point and my resolve kind of just floated away on the air. She also noted that I was self-treating a smaller spot on the other cheek and she didn't have a major problem with that but did suggest that I not go overboard.

Just think a little higher up...

   She also performed a cryotherapy treatment on the spot on my leg. This involves freezing the affected area with liquid nitrogen and then letting it heal naturally. This stung quite a bit while she was doing it but settled quickly
   I am on my own now for a couple of months as I don't see the doctor again until early January. Hopefully she will see a face devoid of the blotchies! You, dear readers, will get to see lots of blotchies over the next couple of weeks!

Man On Fire: Day Seven

   Almost a week ago, I started the Efudex treatment and, so far, there has not been a lot of change. The discomfort has been almost non-existent. If anything, the patch of skin on my cheek is a slightly deeper red now although this is hard to see on the pic I took.
   I've been reminding myself that, according to all the literature, the discomfort increases greatly during the second week of treatment. I am almost looking forward to this as it should give me more confidence that the Efudex is actually doing its thing. Right at the moment, it just feels like a mild sunburn.

Once again, my "before pic".

   I go back to see my dermatologist, Dr. Horgan-Bell, this Wednesday morning. If there's another side-effect (benefit) from all this it's that I'm now paying a little more attention to all the other little spots on my body and am planning on talking to her about them this week.


Day 7--not a lot of change but
a little more tender to the touch

   This weekend has constituted my "off" days--no application of the Efudex. This is to give my face some time to recover and I actually have a whole other cream to apply, to facilitate this. Because I was in such minimal discomfort, though, I haven't yet felt the need to apply any. I'm not sure if I'm being a good boy or not! Maybe later today...
   At any rate, it's back to the Efudex tomorrow and we'll see what the next week brings! Cheers!