Eating is Good

So through this whole thing I haven't had any appetite at all (a real strange thing for me!). Today I had the nausea under control enough (with an increase dose of Zofran) that I actually ate. Nothing huge, but I ate more than toast and crackers for the first time since Saturday. Between eating more and that extra Zofran I have kept nausea at bay most of today. I can't say the same for the diarrhea, but that is to be expected.

I think the reason this shit seems so hard is that I wasn't expecting it to be so bad. When I did chemo I was ready for it to be terrible. I read up and got lots of advice on how to deal with side effects. This time around the doctor wasn't even sure I'd need to take off work. I don't know if that's because people have such different reactions or because most people with Stage IV breast cancer aren't working or there are just so few people getting this dose of the drug. Whatever it is, I wasn't prepared and that has made it seem much worse.

On a positive note, it's very satisfying to cross off all the little pictures of pills and shots on my log! I'm more than halfway there on this round, and hopefully we can dial things in a little better the next time.

Keith's mom didn't get worse today so that's great news at this point. He's booking another flight to MN as I type. We're assuming that I'll be in much better shape after a couple days of no pills.

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Google Continues to Use its Power for Public Health Good

Yesterday, Google announced its new surveillance system for Dengue Fever. Dengue Fever is a disease caused by four related viruses spread by a particular species of mosquito. It can cause high fever, rash, muscle and joint pain, and in severe cases- bleeding, a sudden drop in blood pressure (shock) and death. Millions of cases of Dengue infection occur worldwide each year. Most often, dengue fever occurs in urban areas of tropical and subtropical regions.

The system is similar to that which was previously released as their Google Flu Trends program. These systems use search queries within Google (for example those that enter the disease's name and/or symptoms) to identify trends. The Dengue system also takes advantage of a new feature called Google Correlate, which shows previously unknown correlations between search terms. These correlations allow researchers to model real world behaviors by examining internet search trends. For those who may be skeptical of this model, you should check out a publication (co-authored by Google and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-CDC) in the 2009 Nature Journal . The article reports that "because relative frequencies of certain queries were highly correlated with the percentage of physician visits in which a patient presents with influenza-like symptoms, we can accurately estimate the current level of weekly influenza activity in each region of the United States, with a reporting lag of about one day."

This is a pretty exciting addition to public health surveillance (where the goal is systematic, ongoing, data collection that is used to monitor trends, identify priorities, direct resources, identify emerging hazards, and evaluate interventions).

This is not the first time that Google has jumped into the public health field with an impressive contribution. In 2010, Google searches related to suicide started appearing with a message guiding users to the toll-free number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The number is 1-800-273-8255. Triggered by searches such as "I want to die" or "ways to commit suicide," the number is listed next to an icon of a red telephone, at the top of the search results.

The addition of the Lifeline number came shortly after (at the suggestion of a Google user), the company started displaying the hotline for the American Association of Poison Control Centers after searches for "poison emergency."

These cases of Google's work in public health are great examples of effective health communication and public health principles:

• Identifying the primary channels through which your audience searches for health information (more and more are utilizing the internet) and delivering accurate and effective information and/or interventions via those channels.

• Maximizing data driven surveillance systems- using existing data (e.g., internet searches) to identify public health trends.

• Building strong partnerships (as evidenced by the publication by Google and CDC) CDC has partnered with a company with specific expertise and resources in an area that can be invaluable to their work.
  

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More than Half Way There!

I have passed the half way mark. That is something to celebrate because this shit ain't easy. I think a lot of it is because it is a trial- there is a lot of dialing in the dosing of the different drugs. I'm hanging in there, but it is a struggle. Last night I had the runs. It took Keith two hours to watch a one hour tv show because I was constantly running to the bathroom. I called the doctor and he told me to take Imodium every hour until the diarrhea stopped. I did that for three hours and it finally stopped, whew.

This morning I didn't have any trouble with nausea (thank goodness). Things went along pretty well all day. I just took a lot of naps because the anti-nausea meds make me really tired. By the afternoon I was feeling pretty nauseated and vomited a couple times. The doctor called (just as I finished puking) and told me to wait on my evening dose of Lapatinib and double up on my anti-nausea meds if things don't improve.

Update on Keith's mom:
There have been some ups and downs today, but in the end things are about the same. She is still in ICU. She is really frustrated and we're all frustrated and very worried about her. The doctors are doing their best, but many of her ailments remain a bit of a mystery.

More about → More than Half Way There!

editorial: VOGUE PARIS

LOVING...

Isabeli Fontana in Vogue Paris, June/July 2011

More about → editorial: VOGUE PARIS

Frozen Kingdom

Summer always reigned in the Fairy Land, with bright colors and merry laughter…but the land had its dark place as well. On its far border lay the castle of the wicked wizard, who loved the cold and the dark. Around his castle reigned winter and eternal night. Now, he has turned the fantasy land into snowy wilderness! Help the young magician in his struggle against the wicked wizard and restore summer to the Fairy Land in Frozen Kingdom!

Game Size 68 MB

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Screenshots: #1 , #2 , #3

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Dark Dimensions - City of Fog Collectors Edition

Silvertown was swallowed by fog and disappeared from the face of the earth 100 years ago. Search for a town consumed by fog! Unlock forbidden doors and uncover mysterious items in this thrilling Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure game!

Updated! June 13, 2012

Game Size 437  MB

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Have fun and feel free to leave your comments!

Recommended for free users: Use Jdownloader to increase download speed!

More about → Dark Dimensions - City of Fog Collectors Edition

LEE’S DONUTS, GRANVILLE ISLAND MARKET

Lee’s Donut holes, glazed.  6/6

Who hasn’t had a Lee’s Donut?

If you haven’t been to Granville Island, and you haven’t peered through the market windows to watch the freshly made doughnuts coming out of the hot fat being dipped into their glazes; if you haven’t smelled the sweet, yeasty hot doughnuts coming fresh from the kitchen and you haven’t been tempted to buy every single different kind of doughnut in the display, then I feel a little sorry for you.

You must go.

Go see. 

Watch the doughnut man craft the doughnuts through the glass window and see him handily dip those piping hot rings of heavenly sweet fried goodness into the huge vats of sticky glaze.    You’ll salivate.    You’ll succumb, and rightfully so.




Then head on over to the fresh fruit displays, brimming with tropical and local fruit piled into carefully stacked pyramids.  Taste the samples and spend $30 on a few boxes of vibrant berries and verdant veggies.  Sticker shock doesn’t seem to immediately come into play when the produce look so good.


We watched these street performers for a while and sent the kiddies with some good hard cash to pay them.  I like how they made snide comments about how even unemployed children are coming up to pay for the performance while adults are stealthily stealing away without as much as a tip! heehee


Yes, those are real flames shooting out of her sneakers!  If that’s not worth at least 5 bucks, I don’t know what is.

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MONGOLIAN LITTLE SHEEP HOT POT, RICHMOND

Potstickers.  Rating:  6/6

Homemade skins and a large portion of plump pork filling make these potstickers yummy.  These dumplings even have a good bit of soup in them making them similar to xiao long baus.  Make sure you’re careful biting into them and ensure you don’t miss  out slurping all that lovey broth!  I love the crispy sides of the skins contrasted with the succulent meat filling.  Great dish.




This is a comp side dish.  It’s a marinated root veg of some sort.  It’s not daikon but perhaps a jicama.  Very nice.


Wonton with meatballs and soft noodles.  Rating:  4/6


Mongolian Beef Pie.  A thin pancake sandwiches a finely ground and seasoned meat filling.  Both sides are panfried crisp and it’s a very tasty dish.  Rating:  5/6


Hot Soybean milk.  Rating:  6/6 

Served in a large bowl, this sweet soybean soup was just right in the amount of sugar employed.  Bebe and Bib had so many bowls I had to order another one to get my share.

Green Onion pancake.  Nice scallion flavour.  Rating:  5/6


The Mongolian Hot Pot menu is one that you fill out by checking the order sheet.

Here’s a link to the restaurant site HERE.

Mongolian Little Sheep Hot Pot is located in Lansdowne Mall.  There’s plenty of parking in the mall lot and the restaurant is huge.  The restaurant belongs to a chain of North American restaurants and the tables each have heating elements safely tucked under a cover. 

I have passed this restaurant dozens of times with no inclination to walk in because I don’t particularly enjoy Hot Pots when the weather is mild.  In fact, even if it’s cold, I prefer to have hot pot at home where it’s more relaxing.  However, recently, we looked at the menus displayed on the storefront and saw that they offered more snacks and dimsum dishes so we gave it a go. Besides, Bebe LOVES little sheep.  She has had a certain "transitional object"...a little lamb stuffie/blankie toy that she's slept with since she was a baby.   Lambs are her favourite animal and the restaurant's little sheep mascot looked cute.  She was all over that.

We were not disappointed by the service or the food.  We didn’t order any Hot Pots, but that might be for another day.  The mini hot pots (for one person) that we saw at other tables looked good.  For some reason, I feel that if we go out to eat in a restaurant, I shouldn’t have to cook my own meal (or do dishes).  So, going to a hot pot restaurant is never high on my priority list.  Given an option to have other Northern Chinese dishes though is nice and I definitely enjoyed some of the Mongolian dishes we tried.

More about → MONGOLIAN LITTLE SHEEP HOT POT, RICHMOND

Day One Down

I started the new regime yesterday and things were pretty smooth. I had a bit of nausea and a head ache, but nothing terrible. I even went a little crazy and organized all my pills for this round!

That all changed this morning around 6am. I woke up and was really nauseated and vomited. I went back to bed and waited until 7am and I still felt pretty crappy, so I called the doctor. He told me to take the anti-nausea meds and wait a bit. I did that and at 8am I tried to have some toast and water. I got one bite down and got sick again. Ick! I called the doctor again and he told me to wait a while longer and see. This time I waited two hours and I actually started feeling pretty good. I ate some more toast and took my morning dose of pills. I haven't talked to the doctor again, but I'm hoping he'll have some advice on how to avoid this happening again tomorrow.

The perfect storm:
Keith's mom had a set back today and is back in the ICU. Poor Keith is so torn, I feel terrible. As he was getting news about his mom, I was in the bathroom puking my guts out. What a crappy way to start the day. I know things can always be worse, but jeeze...

I am confident that things will get better. I just need to get my drugs dialed in a bit. I think I just went too long without any anti-nausea stuff. I'll talk it over with the doc later today and see what he recommends.

More about → Day One Down

Youda Farmer 3 Seasons

In Youda Farmer 3: Seasons, the Bigboss is long gone and your farm is finally faring well. During a stormy winter night however, disaster strikes, reducing most of your farm to rubble. Once again you face the difficult task of rebuilding the village and your farm. Facing cold winters, bug ridden springs, hot summers and stormy falls, this new installment will put your farming skills to the test more than ever. On the upside there are a lot of new features that will help you through these hard times. Build new farms and shops. Handle Take Away orders for the brand new Restaurant and buy tools in the pawnshop to improve your workflow. Build your very own Hotel and serve hungry guests your finest dishes. Show off your farming skills in 6 challenging games during the annual Country Fair!

Game Size 165 MB

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Languages: USA English, UK English, Deutsch, Français, Español, Nederlands, Italiano, Japanese, Russian.

Screenshots:

Games Of This Series:

Have fun and feel free to leave your comments!

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Mystery Trackers - Raincliff Collectors Edition

After a group of young students go missing, the Mystery Trackers are called in to search the city of Raincliff! Tackle this difficult case and unravel the strange mystery to save the students! Explore the entire town and discover who is watching your every move in Mystery Trackers: Raincliff! Use your Hidden Object talents to carefully dissect scenes and piece together perplexing puzzles! 

Thanks toVovan

Game Size 945 MB

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Screenshots: #1 , #2 , #3

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DEER GARDEN SIGNATURES, RICHMOND

Beefballs, Ham and ramen noodles in Fish Broth.  6/6      All this for just $7.50 (soup base, noodles, toppings and drink)!


Fried fish with tartar sauce (sidedish for extra $1.50) when you order the above soup combo.




Dandan noodles with sliced brisket and fish slices.  6/6

Tender, thin slices of brisket and plenty of white fish slices, tons of siu choy and a rich, deep peanutty dan dan broth.  This really hit the spot!  I like how you can choose whatever you want for meats and veggies.  The variations are endless.  Don’t like cilantro? you can check it off the paper order menu that each person gets.  Each bowl can be customized to the individual’s preferences.

The true test of the restaurant’s broth is the fish broth.  Because it is so rich and flavourful and not even a tad fishy at all, you get a good idea at the quality of the ingredients. 

The  Deer Garden Signatures menu is a tad different from Cattle Cafe, which is located downstairs.  The differences are negligible.  Most offerings are the same.  The quality is pretty  much the same with slight nuances.  I’d say the Deer Garden Signatures ordering system is perhaps more efficient.  Each diner gets his/her own sheet to order their bowl of soup and though you can verbally do the same downstairs at Cattle Cafe, there is less chance of a screw-up this way. 

The service is not as good at Deer Garden perhaps because it is jam-packed full of people and generally has a lineup out the door.  The servers look harried and run around with huge bowls of hot soup and other mini meals.  Sometimes drinks arrive well after the kitchen has delivered the soups to our table. 

Stomach at one meal ordered a rice dish.  He loved it but found it so huge he had to pack some home.  That’s saying a lot.

The menu offerings are varied:  with steamed rice combos, curry combos, sandwiches, appies, fish soups and mini meals.  Prices are very reasonable and portions are huge.  Flavours, quality are offerings are very similar to Cattle Cafe.   Deer Garden also offers the usual HK drinks like milk tea and they offer Bubble Tea as well.

Here’s a link to the MENU. 

I would say the service is not as efficient as Cattle Cafe because of the dozen times we have been to both, we have had some difficulties at Deer Garden and not many with Cattle Cafe.  Both restaurants are always packed though and that coupled with the desire to speed diners through may have something to do with the service.  Cattle Cafe has some waiters and waitresses that have some personality though and that’s always nice.  Deer Garden seems an edge newer and shinier.  It is definitely a larger space and can accommodate more diners. My MIL insists that the fish soups have more noodles downstairs in Cattle Cafe, but I don’t know as they both were quite huge. 

For my post on Cattle Cafe, click HERE.

More about → DEER GARDEN SIGNATURES, RICHMOND

sexy SATURDAY NIGHT hair

HERE'S YOUR RECIPE FOR...

seriously simple, perfectly rumpled, amorously-inspired wavy locks!

Step 1: Start with a volumising mousse and blow-dry. Or, if your hair is already dry, dust on some volumising powder or dry shampoo to give roots a little boost.

Step 2: Wrap small sections of hair around a curling iron, but make sure to curl only the middle of the sections—keep the curling iron away from the roots or the ends.

{This is where the easy, laid-back factor comes in: curls that span root-to-tip end up looking less natural and more over-styled}.

Step 3: Brush out curls and finish with hairspray.

Voila - gorgeous!

More about → sexy SATURDAY NIGHT hair

CATTLE CAFE, RICHMOND

Fishball, ham and ramen in fish soup broth.  6/6  ($7.25 for soup base, toppings and noodles with drink).




Steamed Blackbean Spareribs rice.  6/6


Fish noodles in satay broth with beef.  Rating:  4/6


Milk tea.  6/6

Cattle Cafe in Richmond is located in the Stomach of Richmond, which is a stretch of Alexandra Road that is peppered with a myriad of Asian restaurants.  You can’t throw a fishball far without it landing in front of one.
 
Cattle Cafe is one of many recently popular Hong Kong Cafes that specialize in homemade soup stocks that rely on fresh ingredients and no MSG.  The most popular broth is the milky white fish broth that should not evoke fishiness at all but is rich with flavour and depth from quality ingredients like plenty of bones, herbs and tender loving care…not instant stock granules.  The menu gives the diner tons of options. 

1.You choose your broth:  milky fish broth, spicy Laksa, tomato, herbal etc. 
2.  Then you choose your noodle type:  ramen, udon, rice noodle, Korean yam noodles, etc.
3.  Choose from a huge selections of meats and veggies:  ham, fishballs, meatballs, brisket, innards, fresh veggies, herbs, mushrooms, tofu…
4.  Optional, at extra cost are sides:  Fried chicken wings, fried fish, chicken or pork cutlets…
This is all for ONE reasonable price and it includes a drink.  The bowls are generally huge and full of good fresh ingredients.  It beats instant noodles or at home or McDonald’s anyday.

Here is a link to the MENU.

My daughters love the eggball waffles that they make here.  I have to make sure I order them last or they don’t eat anything but!  They also make bubble teas and other HK type drinks like milk tea. 

Parking is in the lot adjacent to the plaza that it is located in, and along the street with metered street parking.  Cattle Cafe opens at 11am and is promptly packed by 12pm with a pretty big lineup.  Turnover is pretty good.  Service is okay depending on how busy it is. 

The offerings are a tad different than the Deer Garden Signature Cafe menu (restaurant located upstairs), but it’s like comparing Earls and Milestones.  They’re similar in vein because I believe that at one time the people working upstairs and downstairs were the same.  The broths are very similar with just minor differences in basic ingredients, like the enoki mushrooms or beancurd skin found in one broth and not another.

Prices are very reasonable and it’s a perfect place for lunch.  There are tons of snack offerings and many mini meals and special deals.

We go here a lot because the kids love it and it’s perfect for a healthy lunch.

For my Deer Garden Signatures post, click HERE.  

More about → CATTLE CAFE, RICHMOND