A Critical Tuesday for Vancouver Canucks!

Vancouver Canucks is entering Game 6 of Second Play-Off tomorrow. After yesterday's 4 - 1 result which, like they say, kind of expected and kind of of unexpected. Chicago Blackhawks were playing not too bad but something just didn't happen as in Game 3 & 4. Anyway, now of Chicago Blackhawks leading 3 - 2 games, Canucks can only win tomorrow to stay in the game. It will take place in Vancouver GM Place. Luongo must remember to shave again! (*As he joked about himself in Game 5 that "If he didn't shave yesterday, he doesn't know if he would have been able to pull it off out there!") Repeat, he said "shave" and not "save"! Hahahah!

My sweats at night has improved as it doesn't really bother me when the sky shines again. What I am saying is there are sweats, but it's not that much and it's well tolerated. However, the sweats still come when I did not really expected them. For example, when I just sitting, or when I was trying to eat. First there are some uncomfortable signals sending usually from my back (middle to lower back) and pre-warning me that my back is not feeling good, and then usually a few minutes later, if I don't do anything on the signal, then the sweats will come, and some time the sweats can come faster, i.e. the uncomfortable feelings come and followed immediately by the sweats. I still don't have very solid evidence for it, my observation is that the sweats have something to do with the "pain" that I am having, especially my back pain. Keep in mind that I continue to research in the internet as well as talking to professional medical people and fellow cancer survivors. Some of the cancer fellows shared that as soon as their cancer is in recovery, their sweats situation also improved.

To combine the above two situations together: I don't feel comfortable of where Canucks is in now, neither am I feel comfortable with the sweats situation. Meantime, important is if we have tried our best and if there are anything else we are able to do (or able to try). I choose to continue to listen to my body and pay very detailed attention to his signals. Meantime, I now have a positive attitude towards sweats. The thinking goes like this: The body fighting, generated some activities and may even generated some pain in the process, thus, the sweats come out. The sweats come out in order to give the owner of the body, i.e. me, an important signal that he is fighting (and sweats), and it is also obvious that I, as the bigger body, need to support him more. So, now, whenever I got the message from the body regarding the sweats, I will make a decision of how to proceed to the next activities, or simply just lie down and let the body just relax and take care of itself. Either way, the sweats will slow down and finally stop (after a while). It's not a new trick, it's still "listen to your body" and "make the right decision on what to do next"!

"Go Canucks Go!" "Go Matthew Go!"

Uncomfortable feelings can also be described as "Crabs in boiling water!" and the recent uncomfortable sweats (and also the situation now Canucks is in) reminded me the Alaskan Crabs. You simply need to put them inside boiling water until it's cooked, and dip them with any kind of sauce that you prefer, or sometime simply some ordinary salt or soya sauce, and it's already one of the best dish that you can taste in life!

Life is really good, isn't it?

Sweats ... Listen to Your Body!

Today is my fourth day on the new drug Tarceva. Yesterday I felt some stress on my right kidney and also the left chest (attached to the skeletal ribs and muscles). Then, in different times of the day, when I was resting in bed, sitting, and especially when I was eating, I had a lot of sweats. The sweats just come out without any pre-warning. Like what I described yesterday, the sweats were more like dripping of water and made everything it passed soaking wet. The blood pressure was checked during those times and they were usually okay (low 70-80 to high 105-115 range), while the heart beat rate usually on the slightly high side, i.e. >90 or even >100. Body temperature would be normal 36.3'C to 37.8'C. Then, 5:30am this morning, I woke up with whole body wet, from head to toe, from front to back! Everything was wet ... wet with sweats!

As I got this "sweating" issue for almost two months now, which I also reported to the doctors in BCCA, so far, all can be said is "You situation is unusual! The sweats are probably cancer related, and it may not be a bad thing!" Do you understand this comment? Or if this comment bring you any "useful information"? I also checked through the internet and through various professional websites, the National Cancer Research Institute in US and similar one in UK provided some good food for thoughts, but mostly it's pointing to the direction of hormonal related, especially in breast cancer and prostate cancer. In my case, I am lung cancer and migrated to spine and other organs (unless it is a signal that my cancer migrated to some hormonal organs).

No matter how advance our medical sciences are today! There are always something that we cannot comprehend (and thus no firm conclusion to be drawn). We must also understand that each individual is indeed different, their body system as a whole is similar to one another, but yet they are different as an individual and obviously, different individual reacts differently to both inside and outside factors.

What's important (or even critical some time) is that we need to take good care of our body. We need to respect our body, listen carefully to him/her. A few days ago, in my Facebook wall, I wrote: "Your body has been working for you all these years, when did you thank him/her?" More often than not, we take it for granted that our body is part of us and we did not even want to pay attention to her/him. Or usually until it's too late then a more drastic signal to be sent, e.g. cancer, stroke, heart failure, etc. Then, like they say, it will be "a little too late"!

Everyday, take a moment to communicate with your body and try to listen to your body, especially if there are anything that you may need to do for your body. Serious problem usually starts and comes from simple and minor indications. Like a lot of disasters in human history, if we are careful enough and pay sufficient attention to the little signals that we were provided, disasters can be avoided and many lives and Mother Nature can be saved!

Take good care of yourself and your body!