Testicular cancer, schmesticular schmancer

5/12/2009: I have been waiting for several weeks to be able to post this. I am so happy to announce that I am going to be an aunt again. (For those keeping track at home, that's three similar announcements in 18 months, all different parents.) Anyway, this time it is my brother Robbie and his wife Jenni. Most of you will remember that Robbie had testicular cancer 2 years ago at this time. He had surgery to remove the affected testicle and then went through 9 weeks of chemotherapy, so even though tests indicated he would probably be able to have kids naturally, it wasn't guaranteed. 

Jenni is due around December 1st. They heard a strong heartbeat at the doctor's office today. And we are so excited to meet little Rubik (their nickname for the baby until they find out the sex - more on that in a month or two so stay tuned).

5/14/2009 Update: Here is a link to Jenni's version of the story, which I suppose is the one that matters most. Also, since Robbie posted this information as his Facebook profile I guess I can share. If I have a niece, she will be called Ruby Mae. If I have a nephew, he will be Maverick Russell. As in, "I'm Charlotte Blackwood." "I'm Maverick." "Maverick?? Did your mother not like you or something?" "No, it's my call sign." "Oh, you're a pilot!" "That's right, a naval aviator."

Jo's Blog Dump 12/5/2007

Check out my hula halau's new website at:

http://huihulaopunahele.blogspot.com/

The Onion, for Christians. Hilarious.

http://www.larknews.com/

Jon did a very nice post for the Mizzou game the other night - it was a running diary during the game against OU and I made a special halftime appearance. This is the first year I have ever cared about college football. Slightly disappointing end to the season, but still fun.

http://scan2000.blogspot.com/2007/12/almost.html

Robbie and Jenni adopted a dog. She's wonderful. I love her. Pictures are at the link below. I'll be adding better ones soon (maybe tonight?). We get to dog-sit soon when they go on a trip with the youth from church.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9347435@N06/sets/72157603378964545/

Whew....

Great news. Robbie got the results of his latest CT scan back today. The tumors have shrunk enough that he doesn't need any more treatment. He has to go back every 3 months for the next 2 years, and then every 6 months for a while after that, and after that once a year for the rest of his life. But, for now at least, all is well. It's such a relief. Thank you all so much for your prayers and concern over the last 6 months.

By the way, do we have a name for this weekend?

The deed is done

After seeing each other for the first time...

Me & Nick walking down the v-e-r-y l-o-n-g aisle...
From left to right: me, Jamie (Jenni's cousin), Lexi (Jenni's friend), Robyn (Jenni's sister and maid of honor), Rachel (Jenni's friend and matron of honor), Jenni, Robbie, Darrell (our youth pastor), Nate (Robbie's friend and best man), Shawn (Robbie's friend), Adam (Robbie's friend), Lars (Robbie's friend and tattoo artist), Nick (Robbie's friend) "I now pronounce you husband and wife..."

Mr. and Mrs.
Soon-to-be Mr. and Mrs.
Me and my mom - didn't she look beautiful?
My dad, his friend Paul, and Paul's hat

Leaving...

My cousin Hannah. Everybody else went to the Cardinals game today but I volunteered to babysit. I got the better end of the deal, I think. She is such a good baby. We didn't have a high chair or bib, so this is how we improvised for lunch. She liked the jelly side of the pb&j sandwich better than the peanut butter side.

Hodge Podge

Spring is here with a vengeance, to the delight of some (me!) and the chagrin of others (Jon). The trees are green, allergies are acting up, and there's roadkill everywhere. It's wonderful.

Books

There’s a lot of big news in books today. First, the cover…

Next, Oprah announced her new Book Club title yesterday – Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. Sounds like another depressing one. Girls, cruise reading, perhaps?

There was a major release in the world of children’s picture books this week. Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy, by Jane O’Connor (author) and Robin Preiss Glasser (illustrator), made its debut on Tuesday. I wore a pink boa and tiara to the bookstore last night for the occasion and probably will again on Saturday. I don't think it really helps sell the book - I just like to dress up at work. It's nice to have a job where I can wear a boa without it having anything to do with a pole. This is my friend Lauren in the picture with me - she's holding the new book and I've got the original. Yes, we are nerds.

Calling all readers, teachers, and especially Beverly Cleary/Ramona Quimby fans. April 12 is Drop Everything And Read (R.E.A.D.) Day! Not that the readers of this blog need an excuse to ignore other activities and responsibilities for the draw of a good book, but it is fun to have a day dedicated specifically to celebrating the joys of reading.

By the way, I did score a copy of Grace (Eventually), the new Anne Lamott, so once everyone is back from cruising, I'll start it around.

Cavemen

My favorite Neanderthals are getting their own show. And I just discovered this fun site today: http://www.cavemenscrib.com/.

Idol

Kelly, in response to your Idol comments, it seems my friend Damon’s wife Rachel has done a little research on this subject. Read her post called “I’ve Figured It Out” from March 14.

Robbie

Quick update. He is doing really well. He hasn't taken a pill in 2 days and he said that today was the first day in a month that he has actually felt somewhat healthy. He said he doesn't feel sick, just a little tired. He worked for a few hours yesterday and said it actually got easier as he went along. The doctor said that the fact that he is not in any pain is a really good sign and probably means the tumors are shrinking. They'll do further testing at the end of the chemo to find out for sure. So thank you for all of your prayers and all of the other ways you've been supporting us. He still has 2 more rounds of chemo to go through which will probably make him really sick like last week so please keep him in your thoughts. I can't tell you how good it was to talk to him on the phone just now and have him sound like his old self.

Bracketology

Hi all. I've been avoiding posting all week because I was so excited about Kristy's post and I didn't want to knock it out of the top spot. But I now feel that we need some new material so I'm doing my part.

Bracketology
You may have recently read about a new book called The Enlightened Bracketologist: The Final Four of Everything, out just in time for March Madness. The book is a collection of brackets each based around a specific theme. The contributors use a series of head-to-head matchups to determine top songs, moments in history, top marital disputes, etc. They encourage readers to use bracketology to determine favorites and make decisions, and they even provide a blank bracket. One contributor and his wife used bracketology to determine their favorite name for a boy when they were expecting. They caution that you can't worry too much about "'seeding." Unlike basketball, there are no numbers and statistics to help you determine which of your top 32 favorite chick flicks should be paired in the first round. Just list them randomly, or create "regionals" (sub-categories of 4 or 8 or 16 used to group items in the first round) and trust that your favorite is going to win in every round and end up in that final spot.

I can already see that this could be a fun little time-waster for this group, especially since there is also a website: www.dailybracket.com. Not only can you browse and comment on other brackets, but you can create your own as well. Let the games begin.

Saturday Night at the Bookstore
Two middle-aged women were smoking pot in the women's bathroom and someone put one of the customer computers into DOS mode and typed F*** You all the way down the screen.

30 Update
Tomorrow is my 30th birthday, and I'm still really looking forward to it. Somehow, my hair seems to have gotten the memo about this milestone because over the last few weeks I've found many new, longer, thicker gray hairs all over my head. In honor of my 30th birthday I've actually purchased gifts for each of you. More to come on that...

HP7 Update
The initial printing of book 7, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, will be a record 12 million copies. That is a fact, but on the rumor and speculation side of things, there are reports that the book will top 700 pages and that dear Harry will not live to see the final page. Also, watch http://www.scholastic.com/harrypotter/ and http://www.jkrowling.com/ for information about the Knight Bus National Tour and the rest of Scholastic's "There Will Soon Be 7" marketing campaign.

Hawaiian Minute

These are my new shoes.

Robbie Update
Robbie (my 26-year-old brother, for those that don't know) starts chemo on Monday. He will be doing three 3-week cycles that will end May 15th. Jenni graduates from college on May 13 and their wedding is May 26. The wedding is going forward as planned but the honeymoon might be postponed as Robbie as probably isn't going to have much energy for traveling. Or for other honeymoon-ish activities.

The official description of his cancer is stage 4, grade T3 testicular cancer, exactly what Lance Armstrong had. The tumors that remain in his lymph nodes have just about doubled in size since his surgery less than 3 weeks ago. He's got quite a bit of pain right now from the tumors - they are pressing on his internal organs and sitting on a pelvic nerve. Oddly enough, Robbie actually said that he can't wait for chemo to start because his pain should be almost completely alleviated by the end of the first week.

Using only chemotherapy, the cure rate for this cancer is 90%. The doctor said that if you had to get a certain type of cancer, you would want to get this type because testicular cancer cells are very receptive to chemo. It actually works to Robbie's advantage that his cancer is so aggressive, because it leaves the cells more susceptible to the chemo. Weeks 1, 4, and 7 of his treatment are his "on" weeks. He will actually go to the cancer center every day from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and be hooked up to an I.V. the entire time he's there. The rest of the weeks are his "off" weeks and he'll only have to go in for one 1-hour treatment each Tuesday. The doctor said to expect that he'll lose all of his hair (which isn't a huge difference from how he wears it now). Other possible side effects include: change in appetite and food preferences (maybe he'll start liking veggies), lots of nausea and vomiting, fatigue, high risk of bleeding, kidney damage, nerve damage to fingers and toes, hearing loss, and lung toxicity (he'll have to stay as far away as possible from all cigarette smoke).

Robbie and Jenni also found out that it is pretty likely that even before starting the chemo he is already sterile. Still, they are taking steps to deal with fertility issues now and Robbie will be making a couple of "deposits to the bank" before chemo, including one at 6:00 a.m. Monday morning. Ugh. Poor guy. Whatever barriers we had with talking about these things in our family just a few months ago, they are gone now. Anything is fair game.

Robbie Speaks

We found out on Friday night that my brother's cancer has spread to the lymph nodes behind his kidneys. He spoke about it in church today and instead of trying to describe it I'll just let you listen for yourself. I don't think it will stream - you'll probably have to save it and then open it with iTunes or Windows Media Player or something.

Robbie at Mid-Rivers on March 4, 2007

Today's Hawaiian Minute

Click here to see a recent TV feature on one of my favorite kumu hula, Mark Keali'i Ho'omalu, and the dancers from the Academy of Hawaiian Arts in Oakland, CA.

Today's In-The-Moment Picture

This is me while posting on the blog in the cafe at Borders today. The wonders of wireless. I promise I'll stop playing with the camera but it's hard because it's just right there.

America, Go To The Head Of The Class

While keeping my brother company tonight during his recovery, we watched part of a new game show on Fox. It's called "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?" and features Jeff Foxworthy as the host. I love quiz shows - have I told you all about how I attended an open casting call in Chicago for "Weakest Link" and did quite well on the test but they didn't like the fact that my dad (sort of) works for NBC - but I simply don't think I can get behind this one. As Robbie said, this might be the first show where you qualify by failing the test.

Consider this progression: first came "Jeopardy," which requires you to actually know things and gives up to 61 clues per game, with a theoretical maximum one-day purse of a mere $566,400. Then, there was "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" (correct answer: me!). Just 15 questions, progressing in difficulty, with a $1,000,000 prize waiting at the end. Now, we have "Fifth Grader," where all you have to do to win a million dollars is answer 11 questions in categories such as "1st Grade Grammar" and "3rd Grade Astronomy." And in true "Millionaire" style you even get 3 lifelines, all various forms of help from five cute smarty-pants child actors that appear on each episode. (And I suspect they are given the answers ahead of time.)

During tonight's episode, it pained me to watch a grown man struggle to determine the suffix of "unfortunately" and a woman incorrectly guess that the number of U.S. states bordering the Pacific Ocean is 3. Astonishingly, last night's debut was the "most-watched series debut in Fox network history" and "the most popular debut of any series since 1998." Really, in 9 years there has been no series premiere more anticipated than this? Maybe the appeal is all about that final moment for each contestant after they've answered their questions and been awarded their money when they have to look into the camera and declare, "I am not smarter than a fifth grader!" That, my friends, is something to be proud of.

Confession: I must sheepishly admit that my mom, my brother, and I all had trouble with how many teaspoons are in 5 tablespoons. You would think this would be something I should know, but as someone who does not cook the last time I probably encountered this was actually in 3rd Grade Measurements. And by the way, the answer is 15.

This is a big month for our blog. Three more of us will be entering our fourth decade. Ugh. 30 doesn't sound so bad. In fact, I'm really looking forward to embracing my 30s. But fourth decade? You know what comes at the end of it, right? 40.

I was going to try the webcam again and post another in-the-moment picture, but then I realized it would look exactly like the one from Monday. Same shirt (don't worry - it saw the inside of a washing machine just this afternoon), same yellow pillow behind me. The only difference is that Jon is now on Year 2. He is particularly entertained by Scabbers. I have no idea why.

No longer a pair

Robbie had his surgery this afternoon and all went well. The procedure itself only took about an hour and the incision and healing process are just as if he had a hernia operation. It was supposed to be outpatient but he was having some pretty bad nausea afterwards so they decided to admit him overnight. The pathology report will be back in about a week. Until then, early markers indicate that the cancer probably hasn't spread but the doctor did talk like some sort of follow-up treatment would probably be necessary. He wouldn't commit to anything until the lab report comes back though - oh, and until they do a CAT scan.

For those that haven't heard, the really wonderful news is that Robbie qualified for a cancer trust that is going to pay for all of his expenses, retroactive to his first visit to the doctor back in January. Knowing the extremely high cure rate for testicular cancer, Robbie's biggest concern through all of this was how he was going to pay for it with no insurance and right before his wedding. Thankfully, that is no longer an issue.

This is my first post from Jon's NEW new laptop. The first one he got for his birthday a few weeks ago died an ugly, brutal death after a short fall off the bed last week. This one is an HP Pavilion dv6000 - it came with Vista and Office 2007 which is bizarro. Plus, it conveniently has a webcam built right in.

Okay, maybe that's not such a good thing after all. I would like to point out that the book you can just see there in the left of the picture is Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. That's all I'm going to say about that, except that I'm really proud of Jon.

P.S. He just finished the book and said, "okay, where's the second one?"