Tom

Tom has left us  –  he will always be in our hearts.

Tom had saved this poem as draft, we believe he would’ve wanted us to share this with you…

My candle burns at both ends

It will not last the night

But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends –

It gives a lovely light

by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Room 151

Tom has spent the last 6 weeks in hospital following his 3rd operation. He is now  going through chemo and radiotherapy again. Tom is terribly week, but we will celebrate his 50th birthday this Sunday. And I have a birthday wish for him:

Life is beautiful and miracles do exist! So please send Tom all the energy and love you have for his birthday.

A big thank you to all of you.
Milena

Leave no stone unturned!

I stayed at a homeopathic clinic that is run by medical doctors practising homeopathy. They have scientifically (big medcial university in Germany) confirmed studies and treatments where they managed to actually remove metastasing breast cancer in women.

Good thing is, I do feel better now and have more energy. The most amazing thing was that I had an almost immediate reaction to the homeopathic medication. They continue the treatment remotely, me sending them information on certain parameters (weight, blood pressure, blood sugar levels, and other symptoms like headaches, but also fears and nightmares and other more esoteric measurements of my well-being) and they send me the medication.  I’ll probably return for another stay in a couple of weeks.

Since healing depends a lot on trust I will have to decide at some point, whether to forego the “classic medicine” with strong chemotherapy (which was not very successful so far) and to fully embrace the homeopathic treatment. I’m also looking into changing over into another “traditional” hospital.

Cheers,

Tom

MRI Results: Gliobastard back with a vengeance

The monster has grown back significantly during the past two months, now almost totally filling the tumour cavity left by the last operation snd extending into the other half of my poor brain (it always affects the weakest part, doesn’t it ?). I haven’t spoken to my Neurosurgeon yet, but my Oncologist assumed a grave voice when I talked to her on the phone.

I am feeling physically fit, if a bit tired at times, but the psychological stress on Milena and our two girls is taking its toll and I’m not exactly behaving like Mr. Cool at all times. Don’t know what we are going to do next, but we’ve decided to enjoy the time we have together and to build a lot of good memories to be able to draw from in the future.

I’ll continue to post and if anyone wants to come down here to drink with me to life, love, and good friends you know how to find me.

Cheers xxx,
Tom

A French Holiday

Back from a family holiday in France where we spent two weeks in a rented castle. It was great fun and we lived and ate like kings. The girls each brought a friend and KH and his wife Karin from Frankfurt, as well as my brother-in-law Gerrit and his daughter Inès from South Africa later joined us. KH is an excellent cook and my bro’ Gerrit is an expert braai-master.

That and the fact that there was a well-stocked French supermarket nearby (foie gras, fresh lobster and fish, regional cheeses, nice big cuts of Charolais beef, fine wines; you get the picture), ensured that the culinary delights were on par with the cultural ones (Château de Chenonceaux, old towns of Tours and Poitiers, Beaune, Macon, Nuits-St. Georges and a lot of other famous names in the Burgundy wine-growing region). My darling Milena did a fantastic job navigating us safely on over 1’000 miles of country roads full of lunatic Citroën and Peugeot drivers – think “Trafic” by Jacques Tati.

Below is a picture of the pile we rented. It was very romantic, but not very clean (eh bien, les Français..).

To end our holiday in style, we went to the Montreux Jazz Festival and saw a fabulous concert by Kool and the Gang. More about this later. So we all got back a few days ago, happy, relaxed and with a few extra pounds to carry around.

Unfortunately, where there is light, there is shadow: I was having strong headaches during the last weeks and my Oncologist suspects that the old Gliobastard is on the warpath again. An MRI next week will hopefully show. In the meantime, quadrupling my daily dose of Cortisone has at least alleviated the pressure in my head.

Cheers and a happy summer to everyone,
Tom

Unhappy anniversary

Exactly a year ago, on May 16, 2008 my symptoms started, and I was diagnosed with a brain tumour a few days later. I have no intention to open a bottle to celebrate. This may sound bitter, but hey, I just don’t think this occasion warrants a party. I will, however, clean and fire up my Weber Genesis grill and treat my family to a nice braai (afrikaans for barbecue). Yummy – but first to work!

No progress is good progress

Couldn’t be arsed to post for a while now, sorry! I am currently taking extended beauty sleeps (not that it really helps) during my days. This is probably due to the medications. Also, my eyesight is down to 40%, which makes working with a laptop rather difficult. I did get a white stick, however, in order to alert other pedestrians to give me a wide berth or risk being run over by a massive blind guy. This has also paid off in another way, as I was offered a seat on the tram by a well-meaning elderly lady – which I bashfully declined, mumbling something about tunnel-vision and not being totally infirm.

This weeks’ MRI results were quite encouraging, with no signifant new growth and the tumour apparently reacting to the chemotherapy since less contrast agent was absorbed. I have now scheduled chemotherapy sessions until October 2009 and I will have my head examined again in about two month’s time.

My reading projects have been shelved, literally, due to my sight impairment, but I hope to be able to resume reading soon with the help of a good magnifying glass.

In other news, our daughter Laura had her debutante’s ball at the opera house here, and boy did she look stunning! Young Stella is just back from a school trip to London, but wants to go back soon as the time alotted for shopping was far too short in her learned opinion. But before we go London again we will spend some of our summer holidays in France, near the castles of the Loire, where we have rented a house with a pool, a gourmet kitchen, and a grand piano in the hall. Can’t wait to go!

Cheerio,
Tom

Making Roche rich

Unfortunately, the resuts of the MRI on Wednesday were not all that good, there was some regrowth in the upper part of the tumour cavity, an indication that the current temozolomide chemotherapy has become ineffective. A new approach to the treatment was called for. So on Friday, I made use of my built-in IV-catheder – the portacath – for the first time. During a 3-hour session I got infused with Bevacizumab (trade name Avastin). This is not a chemotherapy drug as such, but it inhibits tumor growth by blocking the formation of new blood vessels (angiogenesis). It is one of Roche’s most successful and expensive products. I will now go for three rounds of treatment at 3-week intervals after which we will re-examine my poor head again. The whole thing has made me extremely tired, I practically slept all weekend, but no other ill side-effects so far.

Of course I am quite disappointed that the chemo didn’t work as well and as long as expected, but I am looking forward to some good results from the new treatment. I’ll keep you posted on the progress.

Good night and cheers,
Tom

Tag

I just got tagged by my friend Kim from Savannah, GA. These are my answers to your questions:

What are you wearing now? jeans, shirt, light sweater, no shoes

Do you nap a lot? only when on chemotherapy

Who was the last person you hugged? my lovely Lady Milena

Novel or poem? novel

What’s for dinner? spaghetti with scallops, chillies, and chorizo sausage

What was the last thing you bought? scallops

What are you listening to right now? Reuben Wilson, Vinyl Junkie

What is your favorite weather and why? sunshine – because it makes me happy and warm and because it’s raining outside

What is on your bed side table? last weekends’ Sunday paper, “The World according to Garp” by John Irving, and ” 2666″ by Roberto Bolaño

What is your most challenging goal right now? staying alive and well

Say something to the person who tagged you Kim, we all need to get together and reminisce about the old times. When are you bringing your boys to Europe? I’m sure Robbie and Ben would get along great with Laura and Stella.

If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you want it to be? in the Provence

Favorite vacation spot? southern France

Name the things you cannot live without? family, friends, good food and wine

What movies can you watch over and over? none, I like variety

What is your favorite tea flavor? Jasmine green tea

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go? London for a quick shopping trip

Who is the most interesting person you have ever met? Irvin Shaw

RULES: 1. Respond and rework – answer the questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your own invention, add one more question of your own. 2. Tag eight other un-tagged people.

Starry Night

For his 40th birthday and because we both like to eat well, I invited my friend and business partner to one of Zurich’s most exclusive (and some say most expensive) restaurant, Petermann’s Kunststuben. This venerable establishment has been around for over over 20 years and proudly displays two Michelin stars.

We decided to get the menu, consisting of six courses with two to three little goodies each, so that we would be able to sample a broad selection of Horst Petermann’s art. Here’s what we had:

An amuse-bouche consisting of a boiled quails egg with a vegetable jelly, a wild mushroom mousse topped with mushroom espuma and a crayfish pâté

A starter course with steamed shrimp on a vegetable tabouleh, scallops in a crispy bacon cover on lentils with mint and a lemongrass cappuccino with coriander and curry

A  slice of pepper-crusted salmon on a salade parmentier and a herb vinaigrette

A quail breast lacquered with honey on a red-wine risotto, green asparagus and sautéed foie gras

A slice of poached beef filet with sea salt and mustard oil with a mushroom ravioli and thyme espuma

A selection of cured French cheeses

A chocolate and nut pudding on a pineapple carpaccio with coconut cream and a sesame seed and caramel ice-cream

The whole of course washed down with some delicions wines …. espresso and a very fine digestif ….

A variety of homemade breadrolls were slso served throughout and the very young maître was as attentive and knowledgeable as you’d expect him to be in such a restaurant.

So, you will ask, what was it like?

The restaurant itself is rather small, so the seating arrangements were a bit cramped and it was quite loud. The food variation resulted in some repetition, e.g. 2x espuma, 2x mushrooms. I’m not really a great fan of espuma, the legacy of Ferran Adrià of “El Bulli”. Seems like every cook now has to try out something molecular. If I want something resembling frog spawn on my plate, I’ll order frog spawn.

Yes, but what was it like?

I’ll  sum up my impressions in three categories:

The good: steamed shrimp, quail breast, beef, cheese, dessert – all excellent, cooked to perfection (except the cheese) and impeccably presented

The bad: pepper-coated salmon (pimiento in the crust?), the foie gras was totally overcooked, mint and lentils are probably not such  a good idea, but maybe that’s just me

The ugly: lemongrass cappuccino which looked less like a fresh cappuccino but rather like a glass of yesterday morning’s milk coffee. The taste was quite nice though

Overall fair performance, given the size of the kitchen, the food variety and the fact that almost every seat was taken.

The price? Don’t make me cry again!

Cheerio,
Tom