When you come to the fork in the road, take it!

Dr. Hugh Tildesley

 Status Update: Weight, appetite, stable. Blood work stable, Alk Phos up, however other parameters stable. The CT shows either stability (the primary tumour, some of the small liver deposits, show stability, others small growth). A large separate deposit has shown some growth and a change in shape, I await the final written report to make more sense of it all. The confusing part is how well I feel!

There will be an inevitability of looking for other poisons, the path is  less clear. As the great Yogi Berra was quoted, “When you come to the fork in the road , take it."

 

The Arts Report:

The Danish Girl:

Just back from watching this film. Danish Girl, a beautiful love story with great character development, cinematography and acting. It will be nominated for best picture, Eddie Redmayne for best actor and Alicia Vikander for best actress. Obviously should be high on your list of to see

The Death of Cancer

Vincent T. DeVita Jr., M.D., and Elizabeth DeVita-Raeburn

I kind of got into a rut here reading very similar books recounting in their own way the recent advances in cancer. Bottom line messages, oncology, like many medical specialties continue to operate in silos and the FDA has an over zealousness in protection vs. cure. The amazing changes in HIV treatment were led by the activism of patients demanding experimental treatments without definitive proof of efficacy. This is how the early progress in Hodgkin’s disease and Leukemia were made. There has to be some common sense balance put back into clinical trials and fast tracking promising therapies.

Tesla Titillations:

Still waiting for snow, thus no gems to report except on a personal level.

For thirty years Deborah has owned the garage. My series of suburbans would not fit and the garage allowed for the efficient movement of young children out the back door. I took it over without a shot, as the garage was the only practical plug in source. 

Ginn on Guard

This was fine during the summer, some adaptation by Deborah and the dog as to what door to enter buy and of course Ginn was noted to be pacing, first waiting at the back, then the front and finally resting on the couch illegally between both doors. This worked fine in the mild weather.

Deborah suffers from Raynaud’s, a condition that freezes the tips of her fingers with exposure to the cold. This was exacerbated by her new parking spot and of course windows freezing over a new experience without the protection of the garage.

She now has a remote car starter courtesy of Santa, an effective non-combative solution. My only accounting question is whether this should be considered a Tesla expense?

Social: The house is quiet, routines re-established for less than a week, and soon off to LA for a week. Weather iffy last week, but should improve while we are there. I gain strength in a change of scenery, visiting family and hopefully UV exposure. I should have time to read and take in more flicks; there are so many excellent choices.

RANTAGE:

Earlier this week a man on volunteer block patrol in Surrey, BC, confronted 3 suspicious men parked in his neighbourhood. They fled but not before firing shots, blowing out his rear window. He gave chase and was in contact with the Surrey RCMP and asked to get the license plate number. He took this as instructions to get closer, which he did relaying the number to the police. The chase continued at high speeds through Surrey, with more shots being fired from the speeding car.  The man giving chase was shocked at the number of times he saw police cars give chase and then back off. Eventually the car crashed on icy roads in Delta striking a power pole. Then the police arrive in force to make the arrests. No surprise the 3 suspects in the car were all known to police, one out on breach of probation and break and enter.

Here’s the kicker. They cuffed the man who had given chase and he was threatened with charges of reckless driving. The police spin was that officers are instructed not to engage in high-speed chases, as there have been instances of innocent people being injured. The duty of the police is to serve and protect, their behavior in this instance did not match the Good Samaritan. These guys should not have been out on the street, and certainly those giving chase should have been the armed constabulary doing the right thing, not following some ineffective protocol.

 

Until next time.