Day 39 - Anti-Angiogenesis

I walked a bit today, but was slow and tired. I am still feeling the effects of chemo.

I mentioned to my Brother about me buying a car. He brought up a good point.
His business partner recently died from cancer. For the last year of chemo, he was unable to drive. I may soon not be able to drive and I'll have a nice new car that I can't drive. Duh!
Another reason to get a good car is for when Maddie visits. If she is driving around, then I want her in a better car than the beetle. Maybe I should just rent one while she is here. If buying a car would cost me R50,000, then I can buy lots of rental and taxis for that money.

I spent most of the day wasting bandwidth on my laptop. In America people don't think about watching videos on the internet. But in this part of the world, you pay for the amount you download. I watched many TED talks today.  $$.  One good one was about palliative care at a hospice.

http://www.ted.com/talks/bj_miller_what_really_matters_at_the_end_of_life?utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2015-09-12&utm_campaign=newsletter_weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_content=talk_of_the_week_button

 He speaks about how our health care systems are designed to treat diseases, not heal people. He had some good lines to quote...
Loss is one thing. Regret is another.

When near death, life becomes so distilled and concentrated. No more "do overs". 

At our hospice, we try to make life more wonderful, not less horrible.

An important desire of all patients in the hospice was to be unburdened, and unburdening to their loved ones.

For people with dementia, or Alzheimers, sensory inputs become so important. Like the smell of fresh baked cookies. A pleasure that does not depend on any future, or any past.

Another notable TED talk was: 

http://www.ted.com/talks/william_li?language=en

He speaks about angiogenesis. That is when the body makes new blood vessels. Like when a wound heals, there needs to be new blood vessels.
A cancer tumor cannot grow without a good blood supply. Initially a tumor is small with a poor or no blood supply. If we could somehow limit the angiogenesis, then the tumor would not get enough blood and therefore not enough nourishment to grow.
 He talks about foods that are anti-angiogenesis.
Green Tea, berries, fruits, Turmeric, soy beans, tomatoes, tuna, and garlic. That pretty much sounds like my lunch and supper.

Tomorrow I see the wound care lady to dress the sores on my leg. I bet they are almost healed. I fear new ones will soon pop out. Last time there were some big purple, wart looking spots.
The wound lady is about 5km from my house. With no car, I was thinking of taking a taxi. But I think I will leave home early, and walk there. I can always take a taxi back home if I am to tired.

I am gradually getting better after the chemo. I'll probably be fine on Wednesday morning, when my next chemo infusion happens. :-(

Everything I do now, seems to have an additional emotional element attached to it, that wasn't there before the diagnosis.
I need to concentrate on pleasures that do not depend on any future, or any past.