Student Visionary of the Year


Floyd's Student Visionary of the Year Campaign benefitting the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society has come to a close. His team, "Cancer's Collapse," took first place in the Golden Gate chapter. Thank you to everyone who contributed. You can read about the gala and more in this blog post.


Sunday platelet Sunday

Blogging Tunes: NHL: PIT@WAS

This is just very, very weird.  It's absolutely gorgeous in San Francisco today (Sunny, high 71) but I'm stuck at UCSF.  It's Super Sunday, but I'm stuck at UCSF.  Tripp is having yet another blowout SB party, but I'm at UCSF.  No beer, no apps, no wings, no out-back hangin' with my boys and stuffing my face with whatever's around... did I mention no beer?  Did I mention that it's 71???


Don't get me wrong, I know I need to be here, and I'm thankful that this round of chemo is going so well (more on that in a moment), but it's Super Sunday, and that evokes so many thoughts, memories, and emotions.  Other than 2005, when we watched the Eagles lose at the Kezar Pub, I can't remember a year of my life where I didn't go to some kind of party for Super Sunday.  For the last 5 years, I've been going to Tripp's.  This year, Heather and kids are going without me -- take some pics, honey!

Even when I was a kid, we always had Super Sunday at our house.  My dad would get a big ol' deli spread, the men would watch downstairs, and the women would gab upstairs.


It was as classic of a scene as you can imagine. We think these pics are from 1986.  That means Super Bowl XX - Bears blowout. Twenty-five years ago.  Wow.


I would be in charge of running the pool, which is really a glorified over/under bet.  Either my folks didn't know about squares or they couldn't be bothered.  For our pool, each guest would tell me their guess for the total points.  If no one got it exactly, the closest person(s) would win.  The catch was that once a number was taken, it couldn't be used by anyone else.  Looking back, I think this was simply a ploy to get people to come early so they could get a good number.

At halftime, my dad and one of his friends would play a piano/violin duet.  In the moment, I didn't appreciate these performances as much as I probably should have.  I was all into Genesis, Pink Floyd, and Duran Duran and really didn't connect with classical.


Here's one more pic that my mom dug up.  It's of me and my Grandmom from the same party.  The only reason I'm posting is to give you readers an "OMG moment."  Enjoy your chuckles at my expense:


While I won't be hitting Tripp's this year, I won't have to watch the game alone -- that would be just too weird.  Rob M. is coming over, I think Brown is gonna pop by for the second half, and Drew is gonna swing by on his way to Tripp's. Speak of the devil, Drew just showed up, so I'll pause for a moment.

OK, Drew just left... lunchtime for me: mac & cheese, fried chicken, and steamed broccoli.  The food's actually OK, but really doesn't cut it for Super Sunday.  Actually, I can't taste the chicken -- taste buds definitely faded a little more today.  Good thing I have some green tobasco. Ugh, do we really have to see another Keith Urban song?

Now, on to the health update.  This is day 13 of 21 (or maybe less)  My counts have dropped pretty far down... pretty much as far as they need to.  WBC down to 0.3 and platelets all the way down to 6.  You know what that means.... yup, transfusion time.  I got two units of blood yesterday and one dose of platelets this morning.  No side effects.  Cool.

If all goes well, these will be the only transfusions I need this time around.  Sounds like we'll start the neupogen shots tomorrow to bring things back up.  If the counts come back quickly, I could be outta here as early as Friday (day 18.)  That would be dope as my oldest homie, ejsphilly is coming to visit (and help H with the kids) this Thursday through Sunday. We had expected that I'd be in the hospital the whole time, but who knows?

Now, I don't wanna jinx it or anything, but I gotta say, this round has been much easier than I expected.  I knew it would easier than the previous two, but other than getting loopy from the chemo/steroids, my taste buds fading, and a couple other mild side-effects, I feel like my body is learning how to allow the chemo to do the right thing, without totally freaking out in the process. Nobody said I had to feel shitty -- my counts just need to go down and come back up.  If that can happen while I still have most of my strength, everyone wins.  In fact, I've been doing at least 20-30 laps (walking) or 20-30 minutes (biking) just about every day.  These spinning bikes rule.


On a lighter note, I recently got into a pretty cool adventure game, Return to Mysterious Island.  They recently released it for the iPad and at a bargain no less ($1.99).  I've always liked the Myst/Riven type games -- The Longest Journey and the sequel, Dreamfall, being the best of the bunch.  I'm a little bummed though.  After being stuck for nearly an hour, I consulted a walkthrough (hey, I'm not supposed to stressing out) and discovered that I accidentally blew up a particular piece of inventory that I need -- not that I would have figured out this particular puzzle anyway.  Anyway, unfortunately, it doesn't look like there's any way for me to get the piece (a large piece of bamboo) back, so I may have to start over. You usually don't have to "save" in these games... I dunno, maybe this is a bug, but either way, I think I'm pretty hosed.  A couple other folks posted the same problem on some forums, but I never saw a solution.  Ah, well.  It's not like I don't have the time.

The other game I've been playing is Osmos for the iPad.  This is one of the coolest games (for any device/console) ever made.  It creates such a mood with its graphics and sounds.  I can't recommend it enough.

Aight, ima do some laps before Rob gets here.  Go Pack.

I will kick its ass,

-jg

Comments

  1. Hey man sorry I didn't make it out, Stac was in the hotel with bronchitis and I had the kids. Busy and hectic times. But I am glad you are feeling better, keep on keeping on. I had/have a Phish Northface jacket for you that ended up in Beijing with us, I'll get it to you some how.

    Cheers
    mbg

    ReplyDelete
  2. pictures are classic, hoping to read you bust out of UCSF this week!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Such great pictures! I'm glad this round of chemo is going all right for you. Take care and I hope you are out soon!

    ReplyDelete
  4. JG, i know you have no idea who i am, but i want to tell you..i am following your track to perfect health...

    not sure if they found a match yet, and am hoping so...

    as i clicked on the image of you and the electric piano, i saw a real smile...and perhaps, some very cool unwritten songs...

    it is odd the circumstances we face sometimes to get us back to norm... your strength reminds me of this.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVlKVWFmfhk

    no little feat, (just lil peas! )and very possible!
    important idea that you mentioned...
    walking track through the courtyard for the peeps and kids to get out in the air and get enough air to work their counts and health back up after treatments..
    ...
    you so rock..love reading what is happening in your blog although i wish it was just all over now, too..

    .... loved the Phiily Spread!
    jgwillkickass!
    Teressa (SF volunteer)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Nice update, dude.. Glad you're not suffering too bad side-effects. Hope that holds. Hope you had a fun SuperSunday.. pack kicked. Turned into a decent game.

    I LOVE Osmos. Thanks for recommending it. My flight home vanished as I played on my iPhone. Will have to check out Return to Mysterious Island. I loved Myst/Riven back in the day.

    Here's to a smooth Friday next release!!

    Hugs!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. @Teressa: thanks so much for the kind words. That youtube link is certainly a blast from the past. FYI, the dude in the picture with the piano is Rob, not me :)

    @Jaxxon: re: RTMI, I might skip it if I were you. I'm certainly taking a break. After glimpsing a few things in the walkthrough, I'm not sure I have the patience for this game. The puzzles are the problem... they are more about figuring out which 5 objects to combine vs. some cool GUI-style puzzle where you have to line things up, or create some pattern. We'll see.

    @Benji: hoping for a Friday discharge. I'll keep y'all posted.

    -jg

    ReplyDelete
  7. That Eagles/Pats Superbowl was a masterpiece! ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh, how I'm tempted to click the little "trash can" icon next to your post, gk.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular Posts