Tangboy's Blog

Ok for you non-video gamers, WoW stands for World of Warcraft. It is a MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game). Basically you create a character in a world with hundreds of other players around the real life globe. You level your character up in specific skills like, leather working, blacksmithing, tailoring, alchemy etc and also in military skills like in the use of swords, axes etc. You run around in this world doing quests with fellow players or create armies (other players) to fight other players with certain goals (capture the flag, or ellimination). you can trade weapons and armor and buy horses to ride etc. It is a fun game that has replaced my ever favorite Ultima Online. I sold my UO account on ebay recently and used the funds to help pay for our Canoe… so see… there is a positive side to playing online games! For more information email me or check out World Of Warcraft on the internet… its a fun game i swear and NO i am not addicted… neither is Tommy… or Rockshox for that matter… just dont talk to Amy about it… ok off to play WoW… i mean teach my students…

Yes… I am insane… I can prove it… look at what my vic… I mean students are turning out to be! No no, not that insane, just feels like it. In fact I feel so insane I will write ye this from hence forth in Piratese (pronounced like Japanese but with Pirate in it! ARGGGGGGGGG) so you must read this as if you are/were a Pirate!

So tis Yesterday afernoon and all is well on the low seas of Tennessee. ARGGGGG MATEY, The Cabin is clean and the swabbys are… well swabbing just fine. Twas a great and eventful day for me as I, the Captn of course, ordered young slaves (students) to run the mile for their physical exercise ARGGGGG. They akined it to walkin der plank but I whipped their planks into movin along the way to get some distance. To motivate them along, I the ever so brave Captn’ did der walk along with em sayin “If i der catch up to thee… you grade drops down to a ‘D’” so motivate them did I as I walked with 5-6 and 9-10.

Once the ship was docked at harbor (once i was home) Me and the wifey made some grub (yummy english muffin pizzas) and commenced to dinnin’ Aferward we then decided to take the wee ones on a bit of a jaunt… ARGGGGGGGGG so we lashed em to ourselves and cast henceforth around the merry neighborhood in search of some booty (thats plunder to you non-piratese speaking folks) and also to get some merry exercise on my old achy bones. After walking the WHOLE neighborhood we decided we had enough piratin and headed back to our cove.

Sleep tis what I needed so I hit the ARGGGGGGGG ‘hay’ (whatever it is Pirate Captains sleep on) around 10:15 and was out like… a boat on the sea with a great tail wind. 12:15 found me all shipped outta shape having the great urge to… well use the restroom (sorry no cool pirate usage there) so I abandoned ship and tried to sleep some more. 2:30 found me up and about cause my Pirate hat wouldn’t fit ARRGGGGGG and I couldn’t get some dream dust on me ayes (thats eyes). So the computer for a little engineering (i was working up my engineering on WoW) to try and dull my poor landlubbered senses. Back in bed at 3:30 only to find that 6:00 has come and I still hadn’t seen the sweet likes of Davey Jones’ footlocker (I am not looking for death, just sleep).

So now my weary Pirate Captn self is sitting once again on his ship waiting for his ARRRRGGGGGG slaves to arrive to whip them into shape for a life at sea… or behind a desk… or saying “welcome to taco bell… Mr. White ruined my life… would you like some nachos with that?” So there are some ARRGGG adventures for you today! (ok you can stop reading in Piratese and speak like normal people… AYE?!)

As you have heard from my wonderful father the story teller, I had a very exciting weekend… I will sum it up to you in a few sentences…

Wednesday – go see doc about cough, achy body, fluid in lungs, night-sweats, temperature and exhaustion. doc says “come get stuck with needle to draw blood, get chest xray and see whats up”. sees whats up, says “go see hospital… make you all better… stay over night!” go see hospital, they say “go stay in bed til morning, eat lots of hospital food… keep you here very little time promise” get another chest xray, lung doc guy say “you need bronchioscope to feel good… bronchioscope is camera stick up nose, down into lungs, cut lungs and scrape to see if nasty” get blood drawn, temp checked, more blood drawn, more temp checked, Oxygen checked, more blood drawn, IV, sleep, more temp check, more blood drawn (not joking!), oxygen checked, sleep, sleep, nurse checkin to “see how ya doing” sleep.

Thursday – camera up nose down into lungs, doc come in and says “stay another night, get results tomorrow, maybe you go home if you ok. today have cough, temp, night sweats, shortness of breath (50% lung breathability), tired. sit in bed all day… watch TV and wish i had wireless connection.

Friday – results back, toxicity to chemo, stay here to monitor lungs improvement, stay over night til xray in the morning and antibiotics in IV. IV removed later in the afternoon.

Saturday – xray looks good… home by noon! WOOHOO finally!

Sunday – LOTS OF WoW

Monday – LOTS OF WoW and cleaned house for my wifey

Tuesday – DOH…. 1/2 day of school!

Well, he’s married, so you all knew that already.

But, he’s still kicking, just not kicking where he can make any updates to this wonderful way of getting info to his adoring public. So, in lieu of him making an update, I, his ever wonderful and outstandingly humble father, will make the update for him. And let’s hope he can get back to taking care of his own responsibilities quickly.

He hsa been, and continues to be until at least Sabbath morning, confined to a pale green room with sickly yellow lighting, tubes to his nose and arms, in some hospital somewhere in Tennessee. Amy does get to visit, but no one else.

The problem appears to be toxic reaction to his chemo chemicals. We knew he didn’t like them, but “toxic reaction” seems to be a bit overblown. Whatever. This has manifested itself in weakened lungs, fluid buildup (similar to pneumonia, though tests show that it is definitely NOT pneumonia. Pneumonia – not a typing friendly word. Not one you can type fast three times.), coughing, difficulty breathing. Oh, yeah, and fatigue and weariness. But since that’s the way he feels much of the time how could he tell?

Just in case you are wondering, the doctors said that this happens to about 25% of the patients on this particular chemo regimen, so it’s nothing out of the ordinary, but they do have to stop, get this squared away, and then start on a different regimen. I have no idea at this time whether that will affect treatment schedule or other aspects of his treatment program. We’ll have to stay posted for that info.

Anyway, that’s the story at the moment. Hopefully he’ll be out of the hospital tomorrow and be able to add in his own thoughts on these last couple of days.

On the bright side, his car is running again. Not that he can drive it from his hospital bed, but it is at least waiting to take him places when the doctor gives him the green light….

He CAN drive his hospital bed from his hospital bed. “This button moves the head up. This moves the knees up. Alternating pressing these make me puke. Then I press this to make the nurse come in to clean up.” OK, I’m being fanciful here. But I bet it’s true. Maybe I can get in touch with Amy and have her swipe the control while he’s sleeping and see if she can push buttons to make him sick.

But he is looking forward to getting home and being able to rest in his own bed, without anybody coming by to bother him for temperature, watching until he’s been asleep to give him a sleeping pill, or any of the other interruptions that are a part of normal hospital life.

And, that means “No visitors”. Not only are visitors, or calls, a drain on his energy, they also jeopardize his already-fragile lungs. Or at least the fragile condition his lungs are currently in. Given the tremendous amount of interest and support he has been getting (for which both Debbie and I want to say “thank you!”) I know that you will all be understanding so he can get back to school as soon as possible. (He is just dieing to get back to Geometry!)

In in the “misery loves company” category, we just found out that his cousin has pulled a “wanna be like Geoff”. (Some time soon you can ask Geoff about previous medical incidents he has had as he grew up – and why this just possible be a family joke.) Anyway, he – the cousin, not one of Geoff’s earlier run-ins with the medical establishment – decided to celebrate the end of semester tests by, um, well, “mascot practice” might put it in a better light. You know how sports team mascots jump on trampolines to dunk a basket ball? Well, this is kinda like that. Only instead of jumping on the trampoline to get some altitude, the altitude was already there and the trampoline was used as an aid in a “controlled landing”. Sounds good in theory anyway. Kinda. Except it didn’t work quite that way. So, after jumping off a roof onto a trampoline (with a net around it) and applying a knee to the left side of his mouth, Geoff’s cousin wound up in the ER for some “damage control”, to be follow up by visits to oral surgeons and the like. It seems that his braces wound up being the only thing holding his teeth, at least those on the left side of his face, in his mouth. Of course those braces were being held in place to a certain extent because they were imbedded in lips, and cheeks. So there is some commiseration there, though The Cousin is at home and Geoff isn’t. But then when Geoff is “out”, it is due to officially administered drugs as opposed to unofficially administered knees. Sounds to me that someone “knees” a better plan for next semester testing celebration! (“You’re welcome, Cousin!”)

And in a similar vein, but weirder, his younger brother, in Yap, in the TROPICS, has some how or another managed to COME DOWN WITH A COLD! A COLD IN THE TROPICS!! Maybe he should get out in the sun a little and see if he can bake it out of him!!! (sigh) But maybe he’ll let us know more about that on his own blog. www.islandsharkz.com to check on Matt and see pictures of the first part of his year in the tropics.

Thats right… you heard correctly, I am sick and tired all the time. I have been putting on a good face but I am just tired of it. Every stinking day is a loosing battle to exhaustion and nausea. Yes 5 treatments are down, the tumor has shrunk and I have great support… but its just sooo tiring. Everday finds me having to depend on God more and more because I cannot do this anymore, I cannot just save face so people see a happy “not sick” Geoff. I find myself even saving face in front of my wife because I do not want her to have to come home from work to face a “I am not feeling good again” Geoff everyday because that is how i feel EVERYDAY!!!

Can you see my frustration, can you see where I am coming from. These things have been roaming around in my head and I feel as if I should put them out here for you to read, to possibly catch a glimpse of my own personal insanity in this situation. Am I complaining too much?

Amy and I were watching an add for St. Judes Hospital and the cancer research they do for children, and to see the smiles through the pain of those kids who are going through cancers WAY worse then mine, makes me feel ashamed for the feelings I feel. For those feelings of “Why can’t I have a day full of energy and no sickness”. It makes me pretty much cry to see kids who are going through the same thing I am going through and they are so young and undeserving. If you ever want a humbling experience, think of your most awful sickness, multiply that times 180 days and then think of a child, who doesn’t know any better, having that sickness. Man it sobres you right up.

So my challenge today, like everyday, take what the devil has dished up for you today, and just pass it right along to God. I am coming up with this as I write, so I am gonna do the same. I feel sick and exhausted and I just got to school 15 minutes ago but I have to realize God has me here for a reason, He has me here at school on this Monday for a reason and I don’t know what that is. But thats not important because He knows and Hes in charge. I’m tired guys, tired of all this crap so I ask for your prayers of strength and for your prayers of “hey Geoff… quit being a stuborn butt and give it to God” because i have my idiotic moments… and I need a good kick in the butt when I am being a stoic mule.

I love you all… whoever you are that read this and I hope you can see God smiling down on you today, and if you can’t… find a picture of a child with cancer… and you will see God smiling through that kid!
love ya
-geoff w

Well hello everyone. I know that its the new year and all so i thought i would try and use my new years resolution. and that is to capitalize the beginning of every sentence, every “i” and proper nouns etc. welpers as you can see, i already blew that new years resolution… *sigh* oh well.

So here is whats going on with the White family in TN.

Spent a wonderful Christmas vacation with Amys side down in Chatt. She was able to get enough days off in a row to be able to spend Friday through Tuesday afternoon at her Dad and Vics house. Saturday being Christmas Eve found us going to the 3rd for church with Mike Fulbright speaking, lunch at Steve and Vics accompanied by Nana, Bampi and Grannie, small chase (about 3 miles round trip) for me and Dakota when he slipped under the fence and decided to go exploring the neighborhood, some opening of awesome gifts and to top it off (i know this is a HUGE sentence and its not allowed) us watching the (insert major sarcasm) most awesomest movie that i love so much… Griswolds Family Christmas.

Sunday came along so we shoveled into our cars and headed to Vics parents house for some good ole country cooking and BOY was it good cooking. Betty (Vickies mother) makes some of the best mac ‘n cheese around so Amy and i had to have like 13 helpings along with the baked beans, slaw, taters, gravy, greens, salad…. you name it. The found was great and the company even better. So our afternoon was spent splendidly among family and friends with stuffed bellies.

Monday found me in bed playing video games all day since Amy wanted to forsake her loved one in the great idea of a massive day of shopping the day after a holiday. my question is who wants to wake up at the crack of dawn to go and run around with the masses spending even more money when you can be sensibly sleeping in til noon, wasting your mind on World of Warcraft and frozen Mint Milanos? crazy women! So Amy and Katie (one of Amys long time friends who swore they would dig a whole from one of their houses to the other so they could visit anytime they wanted!) went wisking away into the wild blue tag special zones to find next years gifts just a day after Christmas.

Tuesday saddly found us packing our belongings to make our journey back to our homesteade. But first we had to make a stop to see one of Amys other friends to drop off a special package for a little one who Amy claims as her own at work. Amy bought her friends 2 year old a rocking horse that, if the ears were squeezed, would let out a whiney and a clippity clop while rocking back and forth. At first she was shy but boy, after seeing that this thing is fuzzy and fun to pretend you could flip over, she was all over it like flies on a sticky tape!

Amy had to work the next few days here and there and then BAM there is Friday, one of those special ones where i get to get jabbed in the chest with a hollow drill bit that you could pour concrete down. so Amy came and chilled with me while i recieved my poison for the holidays. the day before i had talked with my doc about my CT scan and he said that on the first CT scan it showed that my tumor was 10+ cm (centimeters for you Americans) and that now it had shrunk down to about 6 cm (centimeters…. 1 centimeter is SMALLER then an inch!) so we have progress. Still didn’t help things, the nurse had to sedate me because i guess i’m not taking things well each treatment… i guess they dont like my gag reflex i have developed everytime i come into the place or even THINK about getting those wonderful IVs.

The weekend and following Monday to today are great, sleeping in, eating good food all the time(thanks Prednesone) and being able to spend time with my wife and friends on WoW.

So i hope this is enough for everyone, i can’t take much more because i spent my energy gagging while writing the chemo section so i need to get off and go eat some good ole breakfast Amy has been whipping up! so happy holidays everyone and i hope to hear from everyone soon!
love yalls
geoff and amy!