Social Changemaking

I'm jazzed about registering for the Craigslist Foundation Non-Profit Boot Camp up in the San Francisco Bay area in October.  Should be a great kick-start for the getavisionPROJECT.

On Screen: Brad

Brad O'Brien / NYC

Brad is a Senior Producer at R/GA in NYC, which has been super supportive through Brad's health challenges.   From his website CancerisBoring.com:

"My first fight with lymphoma was in 1996 and have since won my battles sending this monster back into remission. This past fall I was diagnosed with Burkitt's Lymphoma. I had six tumors throughout my left/right axilla, liver, lung and groin areas. The treatment was aggressive and I found myself in and out of the hospital five times throughout the course of three months, some time with no white blood cells or immune system."

hmmm....sounds all too familiar!  Brad is already back at work in NYC.  Check back for video and interviews on the LOVE THE RIDE podcasts!

On Screen: Denise

Denise Ashbaugh / Las Vegas, Nevada

Connecting with people like cancer survivor Denise Ashbaugh in Las Vegas makes me more and more determined to make the getavisionPROJECT something that can deeply touch people's lives.  I want to have people join me in LOVING THE RIDE of life, no matter what confronts us!

Today, Denise wrote: 

I am so HAPPY with your results!! You go!

Please know I will be sending good thoughts your way Friday and of course my prayers are with you daily.

My tests were unrelated to cancer.

One was to confirm that the loss of use in my left arm is permanent, and the new news there was that the pain sydrome it created will continue to worsen. That did not make me very happy.

The second was to try and find out about my own heart problem that landed me in the hospital. What a surprise, no one so far has any idea, which just means we go to more "invasive" tests. And we both know what that means.

My son has his tests, and we will get the results right then and there, on the 12th.  He is such a trooper, a real inspiration.  Thank you my friend for asking about him! It warms my heart.

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Morning Celebration

Early morning celebration of my good CT scan and mammogram and endoscopy -- poolside with neighbors Ron and hotshot talent agent Tam Martin...Tam GETS IT!

Celebration Day!

While in the recovery room for my esophagus surgery, we received the news that my mammogram and CT scans were negative!  It's probably a benign tumor in my left breast that will need to be removed soon.  My esophagus seems to be opening up, too.  Thank God!  I love my Kaiser doctors and medical team!

Love the Ride Podcasts

Be sure to watch for the upcoming LOVE THE RIDE Video Podcasts and take your life to the next on-ramp!

As my partner Gil continually reassured me through my cancer treatment, "it's just a bump in the road."  

You won't want to miss who's ON THE SCREEN!  Join me with lots of guests and fun stuff for the ride!  

Coming soon to your iPod, mobile phone, car stereo, computer, television and just about any other media device!

NeTV V=Victory

I can't decide what to do with NeTV.  I'm thinking of selling to payoff mounting debts from the past year.  I'm getting weary of bill collectors and don't like the idea of not paying off debt.  Right now it's just impossible.  I can see why so many people with critical health issues must resort to filing for bankruptcy. Shutting the company down last year was excrutiatingly difficult, but I had to let go.  Now I'm not so attached and don't have the stamina to take on everything, but feel like I didn't finish what I set out to do with NeTV.  But it's just a business.  There's more to life than being tied to things that don't really matter.

Ever since starting NeTV in the early '90's if anyone ever asked how to spell the name of the company, I'd always say "n-e-t-v as in 'victory,'" simply to claify the spelling. 

I think if I continue the business, I'd want to only focus on providing content that celebrates "VICTORY" in life.  That would bring more  purpose and meaning to the biz.

Bonus Days

Went for a short walk in the desert this morning.  I was thinking about the many great people I've met online recently -- and those I've reconnected with who I haven't talked to for so many years!  New friends and old friends... in Paris, Tokyo and around the US.  What FUN!

Someone new on the screen is cancer survivor Denise Ashbaugh in Las Vegas.  I mentioned to her that I feel like every day is a "BONUS DAY" for me.  I'm so excited to be alive and have my mind and physical capabilities restored after being disabled for so long.

Denise wrote this morning, "now the key is to spread the knowledge of the gift of a single day!" Yea, THAT'S what I really want to do!  Hopefully, the getavisionPROJECT will be one way to do that!

Let's not be sitting around all day like these flaked out birds!!

First Mammogram

I was sort of nervous about the mammogram since I'm not all that voluptuous and my left breast is so sensitive now. I was greeted by technician Diane with "Welcome to Diane's House of Pain..." Actually, it was a piece of cake... and Diane made it FUN!  After all, what's a guy like me doing in a place like this?

Caught some rays for a while outside the hospital. I would sometimes escape to this area when I could get out of the hospital last year, usually hiding from the sunshine since the chemo makes you photosensitive. It felt great to relax and enjoy yet another "Bonus Day"!

Got this t-shirt from a bunch of local police who stopped by my room at the City of Hope in January of this year.  Sometimes it makes me do weird stuff like shadow boxing on the front lawn of the hospital... yea, that's pretty strange.

Fast Test Results

Kaiser is fantastic!! I went into the Palm Springs Kaiser Permanente clinic for a blood draw this morning. By 2pm they had sent the samples to the Riverside lab, alerted my doctors in LA to the danger signs in the test results, and posted to the KP health manager. Amazing! When I looked at the test results online everything looked great, but what do I know...I can't even pronounce any of the medical terms, much less read test results.

*The bad news was that I need another major transfusion ASAP.
** The good news was I can wait until next week. yea!

Unlike 2 weeks ago when I got 6-7 calls frantically trying to get to me to come in for an immediate transfusion since my hemoglobin was at a dangerously low level. When they had called me that day, I wasn't answering the phone or checking voicemail (bad idea, I guess!) 

What I was told today by one of the ER nurses is that they even called the LAPD to track me down in LA since the hemoglobin was so low and they couldn't reach me. They evidently went to my Hollywood home address listed with the DMV on my driver's license, not knowing that I was in Palm Springs at the time. Hmmm....thought the cops had more important things to do! Glad I'm so important!! haha

So, at least I get to wait another week. But it's dropped so fast since the last transfusion, which was two-units only a couple of weeks ago. Bummer.

My bone marrow is just slacking off in cell production since the bone marrow stem cell transplant. And some of the drugs I'm on may also be suppressing the bone marrow, as well.

The choices aren't so great, get transfusions every 3-4 weeks, which is risky, or take Procrit drug injections which speed up cell production, but speeds it up at the risk of producing corrupted (cancerous) cells. yuk.

I also heard from my oncologist about my enlarged / tender breast and he ordered a mammogram for tomorrow after the CT scan. I believe it's classified as gynecomastia at this point.

After that, I decided to try to clear my mind with a nice swim in the pool and taking in an autobiography, "Shalom: One Man's Search for Peace," that I received from my friend and the author, Warren Marcus, filmmaker and head of the "Inspiration Network." Some more inspiration might be what the doctor ordered!

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