erik says

(Andree here: Got this note and the photos this morning.)

Just last summer....

Nancy and I want our kids to be comfortable being world citizens. As soon as Jaeger was old enough to appreciate traveling to other countries, we brought the kids to Taiwan, China, Hong Kong and Thailand.

It was great for me to share a dinner with my family at the Kowloon Swiss Chalet, my favorite place to eat in Hong Kong. I’d eaten there for years so often alone or with associates just wishing my family was with me. The staff at the Hyatt in Dongguan China still ask about my family by name since they stayed there with me for a month while I worked for clients in nearby factories. We brought the kids to a factory so they could appreciate the abilities and talents of the workers.

I thought everyone visiting the erikproject blog would like to see pictures of Nancy’s and my kids and the life that we are helping them to have.

Now, you poor folks, look at my vacation pictures of Lyric and Jaeger!

Jaeger bare-hand fishing.

Jaeger post-crab-pinch. Now he understands “Pinch”.



Jaeger first time open ocean reef snorkeling.

Jaeger ready to explode with happy on a baby ‘Phunt!

Family ‘Phunt ride. Lyric laid on Konpoon’s head and sang to her.

Lyric and the dream of seeing a baby ‘Phunt.

Lyric and a bannana-bribed monkey pal. Those monkeys are dicks.

Lyric sporting the latest rainy-day fashion in Hong Kong.

Give 'em hell, Uncle Erik.

(Andree here, photo from Brynn) Jemma (freshly out of school play costume as an Egyptian princess) and Luca are not about to let Uncle Erik cave in without a fight. That's right, kids!

Paperwork.

(Andree here) Yes, paperwork. Nancy does a lot of it. And then she packs it up and sends it. Which is why we have another quiet spell here at The Erik Project. You just can't hear the printer going and the papers rustling, is all. Nor can you hear the "bleh" sounds Erik makes as he drinks his potions and enzymes, but drink them he does, several times daily. So things are getting done and small and proactive actions continue. A second opinion is going to be in the works soon we hope, and of course as soon as I know, you'll know.

A note: As you saw in the recent pix of the Stride event, Erik does get about and gets things done, as he likes to and as he should when comfortable. We all know this is not a good thing that he has, but he is doing everyday stuff as much as sensibly possible. Why not? That's a positive move in and of itself.

Striding.

(Andree here) Nancy sent me these wonderful pix of Erik enjoying the Stride school event with the kids - who ran 1.5k, I might add!

I saw E Saturday and Sunday. He was in form to eat a bit of spaghetti Saturday and enjoy a massive thunder and lighting storm out at his house. He's healing up from the skin samples taken from him by his dermatologist -- "What did they use, man? An apple corer?" I said when I saw the scabs. Nothing bad found there, just some kind of rash.

Yesterday morning he was a little more subdued at first after a restless night and thinking maybe a liquid diet would be nice to give his gut a little break. The idea is that the enzymes he is taking will among other things etch away at the adhesions in his intestines which pull and push not so comfortably when food is to be gotten through them. Till they do, liquid cuisine would cut down his discomfort. That's really what bothers him most!

Andy and Amy Collen dropped by a little later. By then he was moving around and got into the putting up of his new gate. We didn't let him lift, but he got to do all the fiddly bits with the attachments. Oh wait, we DID let him lift some shelving later.

So let's all think about telling some adhesions to piss off, and about E having some more gut comfort and some more rest.

The battle cry sounds in North Carolina

(Andree here) That excellent shirt Erik was wearing a post or so back? Here's the man who designed it - Bob Byrne, in the center, flanked by (L to R) Robin, Jesse, Fox, and Fox. And here's Fox and Jesse again:

Manifest.

(Andree here) I got a note cc'd to me from E in which among other things he notes he's been

"thinking about manifesting problems with your body and if that was true could we manifest comfort and contentment even though we shouldn’t be feeling well. Something to think about." (He'd been watching the movie Lars and the Real Girl - a touching and deftly done little flick, in which manifestation is essentially a character of its own.)

He says he meanders between feeling good (sometimes very good) and feeling achy&painy. Understandable. Relaxation helps, which doesn't surprise anyone I'm sure. By the way, thank you everyone for chiming in through the blog rather than phone calls - it truly does help him relax, and now you know for a fact you are all part of that healing process!

Erik says

Hi kids! Wanna hear a story?

When a grizzly is charging you and all you have is one shot to stop it, you have to maintain your aim and composure and fight urges to panic. You must strike when it’s almost on top of you.

Sounds simple, but it surely isn’t easy. Trigger fingers get itchy and twitchy.

I’m told I have a rare, aggressive cancer. Ready for some really sour news? My Oncologist’s prognosis is 9 to 18 months before it takes my life, 18 to 24 months with chemotherapy every 2 weeks with a possibility of up to 5 years as he has seen with another patient. There are no chemo treatments that are designed for this specific cancer so they have to utilize a course of treatment for this “classification” of cancer. There you have it. Those are the statistics.

His words are very compelling because he is the man, the oncologist who effectively stopped my dad’s Acute Lymphasitic Leukemia a few years ago with chemotherapy. He is a great guy and my family is thankful for his services.

18 to 24 months, maybe 5 years on chemo and that’s it? Welcome to my grizzly story.

“Geez, that’s coming fast”, says I when I heard the news. Then I laughed. I laughed because this is re-god-damn-diculous. Nancy and I have taken great steps and much toil to proactively maintain great health so we would be up for any challenge that life could conger up and ensure that we could excel at attending to our responsibilities. Still, if Lance Armstrong can get the creeping crud, why shouldn’t I?

How to fight the grizzly.

The team of Nancy and Erik are not pursuing chemotherapy at this time. It is a system of limits. Instead, we are researching blends of therapies to construct a complex of possibilities. Though this process starts with a philosophical approach, it rapidly reveals many tangible alternatives that can have profound, positive effects on the body.

We are taking a breath and studying the grizzly as it continues to approach. Or is it still charging?

In the past, my primary care naturopathic doctor has been able to proactively aid my health and through nutritional supplements to alleviate my issues. In 10 minutes using chiropractic and a weird nerve thing he did with his knuckles on my pelvis he eliminated a chronic leg pain that had bothered me for months. This was a pain that my western doctor told me I would have to live with by taking painkillers the rest of my days.

My naturopathic doctor has studied many forms of healing with the intent on discovering realities and possibilities whether or not they are accepted by the method of western medicine. Notice I didn’t say western healing.

I am currently on a very aggressive course of naturopathic supplements, hydrotherapy and acupuncture blended with enzymes and ph enhanced waters to make my body un-hospitable to cancer. Many times during the day I feel very strange as my body undergoes profound chemical changes. Sometimes I mentally and physically shut down from these effects. I am also using the sun for light therapy. All these things conspire to effect me dramatically. I think that a change is upon me and cleansing is in progress. I’d like to think this grizzly doesn’t like the look, smell or taste of me anymore. Maybe it isn’t charging as quickly as before. Maybe it will stop and go away.

In the meantime, we are researching integrated techniques that may include surgery, direct abdominal chemo, enzyme treatments, harmonic frequency, spiritual good will, sunlight and others. We are interested in integrated treatments that understand that only the body can heal and rebuild the body, as it continues to do throughout our lives. Integration of cancer stopping and body healing techniques is where we will find a better prognosis for this situation.

The oncologist who stopped my dad’s Leukemia only stopped the Leukemia. My dad, fueled with the belief that he was never going to die from his cancer, the constant watchful care from his family, friend’s good will from across the globe, generally great spirits and sense of humor and optimized nutrition healed and rebuilt himself from the effects of the cancer and the damaging effects of chemotherapy.

My dad, in a hospital bed, looking like the Adam’s Family’s Uncle Fester with a busted nose said to my brothers and I “I’ve done a lot of interesting things in my life. Might as well give cancer a try!” He did it. He’s back. Obviously it’s my turn to do the same.

“iamnotdeadyet”
Erik
5/21/08

Cleanout

(Andree here) Saw Erik yesterday for a little bit while Sean, Hans, Adam (! surprise) and Andrew were helping to clean out his garage.

Erik plans to have a bulletin in a day or so to get us all up to speed on the situation and where they're at.

Meanwhile on the 15th he and Nancy read that narcotic pain killers helped with cancer cell growth -- guess what his pain patch was. It was Fentanyl, a narcotic. They took it off late 5/15. 5/17, after some rest and a lot of Bio high-alkaline water, he was feeling a lot better and even had a long day at the kids' school fundraiser "STRIDE" event, where he got to see the kids run 1.5K. Then the family went out for pizza until 9:45ish PM. Yesterday he was just on advil and tylenol. He has "breakthrough" stabbing pains in his left mid back area when he breathes deep, hiccups, yawns, coughs, transitions from lying down to sitting and vice versa, or otherwise moves too fluidly. "So that sucks," he says, and we'll get him moved past that.

Aunt Tomeli has the Irish on the job

Aunt Tomeli from Northern California wrote a very nice email, and says,

Prayers are coming in from ALL over the states, Italy, Ireland, France and England. The Irish are notorious for grand prayers and as your grandad used to say before he converted, "beads are bangin' all over the place." -- referring to the Catholics saying the rosary.

We have heard from China, from Australia, from the East Coast, and from Germany, but not even that covers all the sources of all the kind, strengthening messages. Pretty awesome that. And pretty awesome all of you.

Words to live by. I guess.

I found this in Maira Kalman's Principles of Uncertainty, and stuck a copy of it on my wall. My scanner refuses to let me scan in anything less than trapezoid arrangement, but you get the idea.

Speaking of uncertainty, at least I hope never to be as clueless as this guy: