The Pilgrimage

Dr. Hugh Tildesley

 

The UK trip was on the bucket list and like these lists totally self-indulgent. The plan to visit Burnham and Berrow again has always been high, coupled with London theatre, a maximization of enjoyment.

As usual, the BA flight was excellent, sitting on the upper deck of the 747 insured impeccable service. Landing at terminal 3 less convenient than the usual terminal 5 and my luggage, which should have been first off, was last!! The extra wait of 15 mins trivial in the grand scheme of things.

Ted and Gorgeous (George seslija) had landed 2 hours earlier and we made our way to Avis, my wizard card avoided the line and we packed the Citroen with clubs and baggage. Ted commented negatively on my choice of a standard transmission, I retorted with a comment on his lack of a sense of adventure. The fact I stalled it a couple of times getting out of the parking lot added a lot to said sense of adventure.

Figure this out!

The next 2-½ hours was relatively easy, free way driving thus the side of the road on which I was driving was predetermined. A couple of uninterruptible warning signs on the dash necessitated a review of the manual; thank goodness my co-pilots were attentive. One touchy scene as finding reverse required another visit to the manual.

The pesky ring which must be pulled up to get in reverse

B and B Day 1:

Ashbourne House

Our hosts at Ashbourne House could not be nicer; Ted and I are staying here, Georgeous up the road, to move here when a room is available.

Glenda and Chris Donald could not be more accommodating, we have the use of a very comfortable common are and wee dram single malt has been consumed nocturnally.

Dunstan Pub

Our first night we went to Dunstan’s pub for dinner, an excellent menu with service to match. Jet lag led to an early bedtime.

I was awakened by the howling wind at 5 am. The forecast was for cloud and wind today, fortunately no rain. A challenging golf course will be protected by the elements.

The front 9 was problematic, high scores for Ted and me; Gorgeous was hitting the ball solidly. The back 9 more friendly with winds at our back.

Looking back from # 1 green, clubhouse in the background

Typical Scene at Burnham and Berrow

Gorgeous shot a smooth 79, Ted and I considerably higher, my net score acceptable at 76. I was proud to have walked the course, more up and downs than Point Grey and although I dragged the last 6 holes.

I met with Karen Drake, the club secretary and we exchanged gifts as representatives of our respective clubs, she could not have been nicer and our tee times were confirmed for our stay.

After the round we enjoyed home made soup at the club and we returned “home “, for serious napping.

Those who know Gorgeous realize he has traveled the world and very particular. Glenda is extremely helpful, his shirts have been cleaned and ironed, she has driven him to pick up the scotch, and she has brought him coffee and sausages at breakfast even though he is not staying here.

Chris is extremely generous, driving us to the fine Italian restaurant where we dined last night and if need be supplementing our Glenmorangie with his own Laphroag.

Brechen in charge Chris in awe

We had a nice chat with Chris before retiring last night, Brechen, their 11-year-old rescue dog has no real boundaries in the house and had no problem snuggling with me as we all chatted.

The experience here continues to exceed expectations!

Until next time.......

Fall to the sword and get out of town

A short blog:

Dr. Hugh Tildesley

Excuse me while I fall on my sword….. Ah that feels better.

 

The cast;

PMO

PMO Prime Minister Obsolete.

                               The Crown Prince

The  Pretender

The Pretender still the pretender( his speech sounded as if he had won)

The Hugger

The Hugger , no one to hug but herself

The election has nicely given what Canadians want, a new government, no election for 5 years, and stability.Democracy is a wonderful thing!

When you are this far off with predictions,as was portrayed in animal house: it is time to leave town

............Road Trip

An escape to the UK, and some bucket list activities. 

Remember a good bucket list has activities that can be repeated if you really like them! Never cross them off, just add a tick mark.

There may be short postings as I report on the UK adventure, these posts will be dependent on time available.  

Until next time.......

Belated Thanksgiving and I am now on Autopilot

Dr. Hugh Tildesley

How am I doing? I am walking the dog up to 4.5 miles at a time, the golf course, a distance of 5 miles, now with ease. The dog is listening, the golf ball is not!

I had blood work done to make sure I will be safe to travel October 20, all is fine, a relief but no guarantee there will not be some hacking , infectious person nearby. I arranged seating on the upper deck of the Boeing 747, this should limit infectious potential.

My trip to UK will lead to a poison holiday, probably a good thing, we shall see.

Men Like to touch, Rules of engagement:

Don’t go near my port!

There remains a male need to make physical contact with me, usually massaging my shoulders, this can lead to unintended contact with my port and possibly the need for an operation for it’s replacement. An elbow-to-elbow contact is just as effective!

Why do I write the blog?

Most who know me realize I am a closet micro-manager. I like to control agendas. The blog is designed to “ control” the conversation, thus many who have asked how I am doing will receive a curt reply: “ read the blog”. Some reply that they have, but do not pass cursory queries as to what I wrote, they experience the cone of silence.

So far psychologically this approach has helped, it may have helped physiologically. Like a hockey coach with a hot goaltender I am not about to change.

Giving unsolicited opinions about my treatment are strictly off bounds!

As Donald Sutherland often repeated in Kelly’s heroes… “Just positive vibes man, just positive vibes”.

Tesla Titillations: On Oct 16 there was a new update! It included autopilot;the ability for the car to drive itself on a divided highway, auto park; parallel parking that is automatic,a new screen; better organized, more relevant information, it also shows in real time what the sensors and cameras are seeing. Needless  to say I need to become educated on all these new features. This is not a car for anyone with dementia! Today I drove down 41 st on auto pilot, changing lanes without steering. The kids are nervous, I am intriued, Deborah will be unlikely to drive with me using this tool. The parking feature is not that straightforward, more practice is needed.

 This image to the left shows the new improved dash, well organized with all info readily at hand. You can see I am stopped, the "0", is my speed, behind another vehicle, my front right sensor has detected something but it is not dangerous, if it were the sensor beam would be yellow or red.

The image to the right was taken while I was on auto pilot,I am travelling 50 km/hr. The blue icon to the right of the "50", shows that I am on auto pilot which is only possible when the car "sees" the lane.The blue lines on either side of the car confirm this.If the lane markings disappear, autopilot chimes and disengages.

Thanksgiving:

The kids returned 1 week out of phase to celebrate Thanksgiving

Hamish

Hamish just had a successful interview, job offer not yet received.

Catherine

Catherine is tenacious in her pursuit for a summer job with a local law firm. In general this helps to obtain an articling job upon graduation.

Donovan

Donovan just surpassed his annual sales goal at Buntain Insurance, he has 2 ½ months to expand on that number. He is rightfully proud of this accomplishment.

 






Wonderful to see the kids and we had a spectacular dinner with the Thompsons recounting many old memories of shared time together, especially spring break in Whistler. We shared accommodation for a decade as the kids learned to ski, Deborah and Alice cross -countried and Drew and I stayed up late imbibing single malt scotch in an attempt to attain solutions to the world’s problems.

Baseball Fever: I have not watched a weekday , afternoon playoff game since University. There are benefits of my work schedule. I have never seen an inning like the 7^th…. The replays do no do it justice!

Election 2015:

Nobody Knows! (except maybe me)

PMO

PMO ( Prime Minister Obsessive): Unflappable. Staying on message.Has had some exceptional luck with the Dan Gagnier being exposed as a deal maker with Transcanada Pipelines should the Liberals be the government. This of course smells of 2 things: 

1) the same old Liberal back room running the show 

2) Could there be a scandal here akin to the sponsorship.

The mood is trending away from “anybody but Harper”, to : “ who holds the Trudeau puppet strings”. This undermines commitment and continues to split votes.

The Dauphin

The Dauphin: Dan Gagnier, his co-chair of this campaign has resigned. His letter to senior executives of Transcanada Corp on how to lobby the government smells of influence pedaling, and incredible presumption of victory. This as usual is the tip of the Liberal iceberg which we have known for many years. Damage control is on full throttle. The previously invisible puppet strings of the dauphin are now in plain sight.

The Pretender

The Pretender: There is only so long that one can keep pasting on an insincere smile before the cameras undress you. This guy would grin anywhere, it’s irritating, and framed by a beard , ineffective. The giveaways continue as he defines desperate.

The Hugger

The Hugger: Transparent, hardworking, with some great ideas. Unfortunately in her game she needs seats to be credible, this will not happen.

I am still calling a Conservative win, a majority possible with the split vote.

Reassuring Test Results

DR. Hugh Tildesley

The CT on Monday went well. I have the privilege of reviewing the results with the radiologist immediately after my imaging. I expected a good result as clinically I am feeling so well, in fact, there was part of me that did not want to do the test. The right brain won, as I needed objective reassurance that things were radiologically stable prior to going abroad. In essence that was the case. There was no evidence of tumour growth, in fact probably some regression. The density of the tumours suggests necrosis (this means death). Only a biopsy would confirm this, no need, I have already decided to continue the poisons until my clinical situation should change. This would mean a further course after this one and takes us to Christmas. More reading for you poor insomniacs!

On my bucket list was a trip to Kelowna to meet up with dear friends, the McCauleys and touch base with Doug Mulholland (Dr. Death (he is a pathologist)). This did happen due to my troubles in May and June. Both of them (Graeme and Doug) made their way to Vancouver and we had a wonderful round at Point Grey with my long time friend and colleague Ted Wilkins.

This event was preceded by dinner at PG. With Graeme, as we both celebrated a new hockey season. Graeme and I met in Montreal in 1974, he an intern me a senior med student, we had many adventures in Montreal. We met up again at the University of Alberta, I was finishing my endo training, and he was embarking on his career in ICU medicine. We have remained in regular contact and he deservedly has the nick name “Chip Beck”, a now retired PGA golfer who was renowned for his positive attitude.

 

On my wish list is to give Gorgeous (Seslija) both the Georgie and the Chip Beck Award on the same day !

What it is all about

At the Hockey Hall of Fame, the Rocket's sweater behind us

It is no secret I am an avid Habs fan. I grew up in the Montreal area and Les Canadiens always won! I think their success had a lot to do with my self-esteem. Ken Dryden had a very useful insight at Jean Beliveau’s funeral. In 1953 when he joined the team, they had won about the same number of cups as the Leafs. While in the team, they won 10, and still dominate the league in cup wins. There were so many great teams and that’s what Dickie Moore said at the funeral, they played as a team and won as a team, you could tell he meant it.

This year, Bergevin has made some shrewd moves. It is a tough job, the hardest part is divesting of a player while he still has worth to another team but a diminishing value to yours. He seems very effective at this. The Canadiens are a legitimate Cup contender, the powerplay looks good on paper, defense is deep and Price healthy will dominate.

The Arts Report:

I have only seen 3 questionable movies, all the rest have been great.

The Chinese Mayor gave a real insight into the autocracy of the Chinese Communist power and protest at some level seems to be tolerated. The ability to re-settle people at will was astonishing. It reminded me of our drive from the airport to the Olympic Village in 2008. It was about 20 miles and every 250 yards was a Paralympic banner hanging from a light standard, both sides of the road. The task was completed in 24 hours! They apparently conscripted thousand of workers to complete the task, amazing. The movie brought me back to fond memories of the Beijing Paralympics.

The Bird's Nest Prior to the Beijing Paralympic Opening Ceremonies

Hundreds of kids at the opening ceremonies in Beijing in perfect unison

 

Donovan leading the Canadian Team into the Bird's Nest

This movie is educational, not likely to make theatres.

Songs my Brother Taught me. Slow moving, I could not decide what the message was; however photography strong as was scenery. Will not make theatres.

Ingrid Bergman Documentary: Very informative, my how she held her beauty. A remarkable woman and a very powerful story well told. A film worth an award.

The VIFF is now over, I highly recommend Vancouverites attend next year, it is well worth it.

Election 2015:

PMO: Prime Minister Obsessive

I have already voted in an advanced poll, a much saner use of time, however I still waited 20 mins, mostly blue rinsers or hairless guys like me. This is perhaps a harbinger of the October 19 turnout.

The Pretender

The final week will be hectic, there are still undecided voters out there but the trends appear to be clear, the NDP is returning to their usual percentage after the unions started to squirm re the TPP.

The Dauphin

The vacuum is being taken up by the Liberals, the key question is whether the seats going sideways between the NDP and Liberals, or are there additional seats going to the opposition? 

The Hugger

Elizabeth May remains popular but without any legitimate ground swell. The trees do not appear to be on the registered voters lists.

The polls tell you popularity, not voting intentions. The pollsters do not help here although the internal polling by the parties have better data, they are not sharing for strategic purposes.

I remain in a minority but am still calling a Conservative majority.

Is Science 100 years old Important?

Dr. Hugh Tildesley

Status Update: Stable. Blood work on Friday, Oct 2, was similar to previous except the anemia is progressing. So far no symptoms but the trend has been established. Most likely related to folate deficiency which is a double edge sword, tumours love folate thus a deficiency is good, but red cells get caught in the cross fire.There is also a direct effect of the poisons on my bone marrow.

CT scan and another round of poisons on Monday.

The next bit is for MD’s or biochemistry majors. 

You may recall I have attributed my turn around in July to decreasing my sugars. This stimulated me to research the role of glucose in pancreatic tumour growth. The first aspect of writing a paper on this topic is a literature review. Our preliminary impression is that indeed glucose is a major fuel and in fact tumours take it up preferentially. This makes sense, glycolysis is a very efficient way to generate energy needed for cell and tumour growth. This data is not new! Otto Warburg described this phenomenon close to 100 years ago. What we still do not know is why?

Two things are going on simultaneously, firstly Glut 1 transporters are up regulated (these are insulin independent), and secondly the normal physiology of a feedback down regulation via Glucose-6-P (the first step in glycolysis) does not happen. This is biologic vicious cycle. 

We have found little research to elucidate this mechanism. What we did find that an “ off the shelf” compound 3-bromopyruvate blocks glycolysis thus no extra energy is available irrespective of the GLUT 1 up regulation and loss of feedback down regulation. An added benefit is that this compound has little effect on normal glycolysis, just the accelerated metabolic phenomena as described by Warburg.

Dr. Otto Warburg

Pictured on the right, he won the Nobel Prize in 1931, and was nominated numerous times thereafter. He survived the Nazis due to his scientific talent and Goering deemed him only ¼.Jewish He died at age 86, in 1970. We have a working hypothesis to be revealed after a more thorough review

I need to get ready for our pilgrimage to Burnham and Berrow, I am proud to report I walked 18 holes for the first time since June. I was little fatigued the last 4 holes, but made it. The score… another confidential issue.

Tesla Titillations: I want doors like the new Tesla X. Great engineering. More and more Tesla sightings in my neighbourhood and yet no commissions yet for my unabashed praise which is clearly affecting consumer choices. My agent is right on it. This vehicle has a 400 km range, a superior safety rating, and the low center of gravity prevents rollovers.

No road trips planned as of yet, the next voyage is on BA to London. Ted Kent (my brother in law), Gorgeous (George Selija), and I are booked at Burnham on Sea, the site of Burnham and Berrow golf club where we have 3 games booked. We then travel back to Heathrow to store our clubs, and to meet Deborah for the next leg of the trip, which will be the theatre. I am so happy to be able to visit both venues, amongst my favourite in the world.

My Birthday: An understated day, capped with dinner with Donovan and my brother Dave at the Brix Restaurant. Great meal caught between VIFF films. I attach a link to Hamish’s gift to me: a song composed with the help of his sibs. I am sure the version you will view is after many sanitizing edits.

Please copy and paste into your browser to access

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSlKTSMROvk&feature=youtu.be

Donovan will supply me with personalized license plates. Motivated by a Point Grey experience where I was described as Dr. Tesla, the new plates will read “ DR  TSLA “. Image in a future blog.

Catherine phoned and her present to me was that she filled out the CBC voter preference questionnaire and discovered she was a conservative!

Election 2015:

We are approximately from a decision in a very long campaign. Not unlike previous elections Quebecers will play an important if not pivotal role. The Bloc is making a surprising surge, they will effectively erode the NDP influence, the Liberals continue to split the vote, and the conservatives are moping up the rest. The bloc may well be in a position to have an important say in government if there is not a majority (which I think there will be). Quebecers do not want to see a Liberal NDP coalition, nor do I think Canadians. Remember the polls measure opinions not votes however, the conservatives are the most efficient in converting public opinion support to votes (I call this the loyalty factor), the movement back and forth between the Libs and the NDP demonstrates a lack of this phenomenon.

PMO

PMO:(Prime Minister Obsessive) 

When in Quebec let them hear your stance on the niqab. Ignore the Communist Broadcast Corporation, this won support. PMO continues on message. Heard about Duffy or the refugees lately? Our economy is growing slowly, what recession?! Staying the course, responsible stewardship is what the gray rinsers want to hear, they vote, and they really do not give a damn about universal child care, just being taxed at a reasonable level, able to split income, and no threat of a wealth tax.

The Dauphin

The Dauphin: 

His father wore his cape over his back, quite stylish; the Dauphin waves his like a magician, problem is he is wearing a short sleeve shirt, the tricks are being exposed.

The Pretender

The Pretender: 

Quebecers are typical Canadians, we eat our home grown. The Pretender is sinking mercilessly in his “ home Province”. Changing parties for whatever reason undermines credibility. Ed Broadbent will now say,” I told you so”. In BC we have seen these NDP turncoats before, Mike Harcourt left the NDP after endorsing Adrian Dix prior to his demise. Is this stuff in their manual?

The Hugger

The Hugger: 

Stuck at her usual percentage. No growth. Only deserves to be at debates to keep the other guys honest, at which she is very effective.

The Arts Report:

Deborah has seen 19 pictures, me 16. We are both impressed at the organization and the quality of films; the Canadian films for me lead the pack.

The Room:

Great film, I predict a number of Academy Award Nominations.

Cop Car:

The first 20 minutes was slow then it just kept building! It will be in theatres.

Hyena Road: 

Better than Hurt Locker, will be in theatres but the Canadian story will not attract Oscar.

The Intern:

Another Falaradeau jem. Could be an Oscar nominee for foreign film. Extremely poignant and for me having practiced in Northern Ontario right on!

Monty Python Documentary: 

For fans like me it was awesome. It will likely be in theatres. It does not threaten Amy as a documentary.

Rantage: We visited George Fox University last month. We drove onto campus, parked in the visitors parking lot, no hassles. This campus is just like many others in the state.

The slaughter at Umpqua Community College reminds me of innocence long lost. It could have happened anywhere. I think a proper check on the perpetrators might have prevented him from having so many weapons.

When on earth will the US copy all good things Canadian, our gun laws, and our bank act?