It Is a Wonderful Week

Hello!

I had a good week last week. I had triumphs at work, triumphs, in my community, triumphs with friends, triumphs with family, triumphs with friends, triumphs with strangers.

At work I solved a problem in the way my boss, Stephen Albert Einstein Hawking, said was brilliant. I work with the most extraordinary, brilliant, clever people and sometimes I wonder why and how I am a part of the group. I do not wonder very often because I have my moments and I intend to make the extraordinary brilliant moments, common place for our group. We have a saying, “We can deliver the impossible by this Friday. A miracle may take a little bit longer.”

A friend of mine said a really nice lady in the neighborhood was having difficulty with her computer that no one including the computer vendor, her internet service provider (ISP) and other experts could not fix. I told her that I am a software programmer and I am not an expert in other parts of the computer. I often refer to my work’s computer experts when I have computer problems of my own.

I went over to the ladies home after work one evening and found that her computer was an Apple. I have not worked on an Apple this millennium but Apples are supposed to be more intuitive than PC’s I have been told. Her browser could not connect to the internet but her email could. After about an hour I found a section of the browser configuration that was “hard coded” and I decided to let Apple do the figuring out for itself. She was on the internet by the time I left and she showed me a short cut through my neighbors yard. I live out in the woods so our yards look mostly like forest because the forest is what are yards are.

I was feeling a little funky the other morning and called up a friend and was instantly de-funktified. I have not felt emotionally funky since being released from the hospital. I was only funked up for about 15 minutes so beware, if I feel funky, you may be called upon for cleansing defunktification. I triumphed by letting my friend feel good helping me. I probably could have defunked myself by standing on my head but I thought I would make a friend feel good that morning. A day without standing on your head is like a day without fresh squeezed, Florida Orange Juice, not from concentrate.

I had very nice conversations with my folks and finished a gorgeous puzzle this week we started together. The puzzle shows a Native American Spiritual Scene with Mother Earth looking into a crystal ball with a Great White Buffalo in the ball. Mom is going to frame and mat the puzzle when I go to Lake Wildwood and San Francisco in May.

I went to Sisters, Oregon this weekend and I had just finished purchasing some gasoline. A lady came charging into the Sisters General Store and Gas Station and told the owner that she had ripped off her muffler on one of the gasoline truck refuel manhole things. The distraught driver asked if the station had a mechanic. The owner of the General Store said no but the Shell Station about a quarter of a mile away did.

I looked the lady in the eye and said, “I am not an ASE Certified Mechanic but if you would like, I will look at your car.” She said, “I love you. Don’t tell my husband.” The lady had a way cool, newer, silver, Mustang with dual exhaust. One of the exhausts was dragging on the pavement. I asked her how long she had been driving and she had been driving for two hours. I knew the exhaust was going to be hot, hot, hot. I put on a pair of gloves Artemis had bought me on one of her trips to Alaska. I also found a piece of cardboard to prevent melting my gloves onto my baby bottom smooth, yet manly, strong, skillful, and powerful hands.

I crawled and maneuvered my body so I could get a look at the exhaust pipe. It was broken clean off just behind the catalytic converter. I told her I could not fix the broken exhaust but a mechanic might be able to. I told her she had a nice exhaust system and it would probably be more cost effective to fix the broken exhaust pipe that to replace the exhaust system. I told her I may be able to fix the broken exhaust with asbestos duct tape but I am clean out of asbestos duct tape.

I told her that if we had a length of wire, like a coat hanger, I could probably fix the exhaust so she could at least make it to a real mechanic. She was jiggy with the wire idea.

The driver and her daughter helped me find a length of wire, a 4X4, and some two by fours. The wood the ladies gave me helped me position and hold the heavy, hot, wriggly, exhaust system while I was trying to position and fasten the nearly too short length of wire. After about a half an hour, I got the exhaust system tied up and I followed the driver to the Shell station.

The driver asked me how much she owed me. I told her, “What you can do for me is to get to wherever you are going safely.”

I read something by Deepak Chopra that hit me as pretty cool. The universe is infinite in all directions, so no matter where you go, you are the center of the universe.

I am starting to do yoga at the Vida McKenzie Community Center on Tuesday Evenings. It is pretty cool doing yoga with my neighbors. They are newer practioners which is fun for me on many levels.

Be well, Peace and Love.

Jack “The Vulture” Burton

The Traffic, Tuesday’s UC San Francisco Results, Comfort, Vultures and Deer Poop, Stress, Fear Is For Others, Work is Good

I had a very full day at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center on Tuesday. A good friend put my mother and I up for the night in the East Bay, drove me to my MRI, and kept my mom company all day. My MRI took over two hours. We did not complete my doctors visits, blood tests, nurse interviews, and other exams until after 4 PM. I was at the MRI building at 10 AM. We left the East Bay at a quarter to 9 AM. The traffic in the San Francisco Bay Area is phenomenal. A colony of carpenter ants in the jungles of Panama have nothing on the traffic activity of the East Bay. Fortunately we had three people in our car and could take advantage of our car pool to get around the 40 minute backup at the Bay Bridge.

My friend did get me to the church on time. Offering us his home to stay for the evening and his expert driving. His kindness has been very comforting for me and my family.

I have a new Neuro Surgeon Fellow from Quebec, Canada. She read the MRI and my treatment has been effective in arresting the growth of the tumor. The tumor has not “miraculously disappeared” as I have been visualizing, but I am working on that.

I have been visualizing condors and vultures carrying away dead cells from my skull effortlessly soaring on the thermals of love available to me from my friends, family, and community. I may need to develop a more active visualization like my dog eating active tumor cells the way he eats deer poop I am getting skilled at visualizing positive changes in my skull.

I told my Drs. I was able to get my heart rate up to 185 beats per minute and I had no difficulty recovering my heart rate back to aerobic levels. My Drs. expressed some concern about my exercise intensity. They cautioned that me exercising above my lactic acid threshold rate increases the possibility of a seizure. My Drs. did not forbid me from exercising intensely and I do plan on continuing to find where my maximum heart rate is going to be. I also informed my Drs. how I manage tinnitus with using simple mantras or standing on my head. Sometimes I think my docs do not know what to think of me.

I had a bit of a shock on Tuesday when I tried to refill my drugs. My drug copay changed from about $40 a month to $582 a month. Wow! I think this error is going to be worked out between me, my employer, and my insurance company. This type of expense can be stressful but nothing scares me. No problem is so complex that it cannot be worked out in a mutually satisfying manner. I will be starting chemo this cycle two days later than planned but that should not be an issue in my overall health outcome.

Today I started work at 6 AM and stopped working a little after 5:30 PM. My brain is strong, flexible, and powerful. The space between my ears feels good. My ability to concentrate is back. Work is good.

I am going to enjoy the rest of the evening with my father.

Peace and Love,

Jack Burton
4/16/2008 8:12 PM Pacific Daylight Time

185 bpm at Barbie Camp, Sacred Heart Medical Center, California, Trailers, Barbie Camp, Turkeys, MRI on Tax Day

Last weekend I went camping and mountain biking near Sisters, Oregon at the Disciples of Dirt (DOD) semi annual Barbie Camp. It was fun. It also snowed on us. I saw Tim brand at least three people. On Sunday’s ride I got my heart rate up to 185 beats per minute. My lactic acid threshold rate is improving as well as my maximum heart rate.

Tuesday I had a blood test. I dropped by 6 Main South at Sacred Heart Medical Center. I was pleased I was able to say thank you and hug thee of my caregivers that took care of me before and after my brain surgery. They remembered me and my family too. Sacred Heart has very fine care givers. I saw the two furies and nurse thumb screws. They are very good people and excellent nurses.

I used some airline miles and flew back to California Tuesday night. It is nice to be back here in Lake Wildwood with my folks and my dogs.

Yesterday I got in some afternoon golf and I am going to make up the work time today after I finish my blog entry. I saw some beautiful, wild turkeys on the golf course. There feathers shine iridescently in the sun this time of year. Turkey are gorgeous animals and represent Mother Earth’s abundance among many other beautiful, wise, and wondrous things.

I am in the market for two trailers. A utility trailer to haul wood and rock from the national forest to my home. I am also in the market for a trailer for my bicycle. The bicycle trailer is mostly for hauling my golf clubs to the 3 miles to the golf range and back this summer. There is also some excellent camping I can do and I think Mojo and I will do some bicycle camping up on Horse Pasture Saddle Mountain this summer and star gaze if Mojo is fit enough. If Mojo is not fit enough to do the 20 mile ride we’ll camp at the trail head and do the three mile hike to the summit. 20 miles is a good jaunt for a 10 year old German Shepherd Dog and I do not want to hurt the good, old, boy.

Tuesday I have my follow up MRI at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center. I am interested in the results of this MRI. I will report back to this site what the Drs. tell me even if they report something like, “Jack, miraculously, there is no evidence of a tumor ever being inside of your skull except for that big, sexy scar on the ride side of your noggin and the big giant medical bills, lost work, and transportation costs.

Peace and Love,
Jack Burton