global visitors and site statistics

I just found out that blogger has a bunch of stats that it shares about each blog... of course, I love numbers so I thought I would share a few interesting ones with you:

General statistics

• Pageviews today:  7
• Pageviews yesterday: 59
• Pageviews last month: 1,416
• Pageviews all time: 9,441

Top pages (note: this is likely skewed toward more recent posts based on the changeover between my 2005-2008 blog and this new one):

1. done and done  357
2. haircuts and lollipops  125
3. the whole truth    103
4. limited edition   103 
5. 17   98

Pageviews by country (thought this was most interesting and wondering who some of these are from... please do say hello!)

1. United States 8,981  
2. Ireland 134    (Cormac & Elaine)
3. Canada 132   (Uncle Vinnie)
4. India 55         (Vanita)
5. Australia 18   (???)
6. Germany 15   (Heather?)
7. France 15      (Vicki?)
8. Russia 14       (???)
9. Thailand 10    (???)
10. China 7          (???)

 

 Pageviews by browser (found this somewhat surprising too!)

1. Internet Explorer 4,427 (47%)
2. Safari 2,411 (25%)
3. Firefox 1,718 (18%)
4. Chrome 460 (4%)

 

 Any surprises?

 

 

 

 

 

 

breakfast of champions

Mmmmm.... a full bottle of Redi-cat.  Truly is the breakfast of champions.  Nothing like rising early to have time to pound the bottle 90 minutes before my CT scans! 

Fingers crossed for good results (hopefully I will hear tomorrow when I go in to see Dr C)

giving thanks

Now that the holiday is over... the last of the turkey (or tofurkey) is just about gone and we have headed back to our homes, our jobs, our day-to-day... I was hoping to spend a few moments sharing what I am thankful for... and hearing from you about what blessings you feel on your heart this holiday season. 

1. Michael - love, friendship, support.  how could I do this without him?
2. My family - the constant support.  family = home   our extended family & our 4 legged family
3. Regan - her joy and laughter and smiles make me want to die of love
4. My friends - hugs, smiles and quick notes pick me up on a daily basis
5. My friends' kids - watching kids play without the weight of the world's challenges = peace
6. My work family - a job I love with people who love me... seriously, what could be better?
7.

(work in progress... more to come... but please add your own comments to share what you are thankful for...)

17

Today is the 17th.  Incredible how time flies by.  I've now been back in active treatment for four and a half months.  I've had a chest xray, an MRI, a bone scan, an ultrasound, one surgery (to place my port) and 4 CT scans (if you include the one they did during the liver biopsy).  Plus 17 doses of chemo. 

I'm off next week - it's nice to have the extra time for my body to rest.  Mike's been collecting my blood counts each week and analyzing the data (surprising, right!?). It's interesting to see how my counts go up in the weeks that I am off and then they gradually drop with each week of treatment.  This is for my white blood count (the normal range is 4.8-10.3 x 10^3/mm^3).  It's also interesting that I jumped significantly in early November (actually into the normal range!) -- hopefully that's a sign that my body is learning to handle the chemo (as opposed to a sign that the chemo isn't working as well?)  I prefer to believe the former... after all... after 17 treatments, I've got to be getting better at this, right?

another great fall day

Is it me or have we had an incredibly beautiful fall this year?  Perhaps it is a little bit of both.  I find myself really paying attention much more so than I used to... taking the time to breathe and to appreciate everything around me.  In particular, I've been totally loving the colors and smells of fall... especially the past few weekends when it has been sunny and warm... and especially when I get to watch the little ones I love enjoying it too!

cali

Does it count as vacation if you stay with co-workers and go into the office while you are there? 

I'm not sure either but it was fun and mostly relaxing.  It's not my fault that so many of my friends work at ZS... or is it that I'm friends with so many of my co-workers... or something...

Mike and I spent a long weekend in California that included:

• wonderful visits with Sarah/Zach/Beatrice/Elizabeth and Jeff/Jenn/Malaya/Julia/Aaron
• beaches, bridges, and birds
• celebrating with Jess & Dan (congratulations!)
• reconnecting with Bill/Abby, Mike/Anne, Peter, Danielle, Heather, Noah
• tasting wine, tasting jellybeans (I *finally* got to go to the JellyBelly factory!)
• sharing with the San Mateo office while Mike played disc golf and caught up with Greene

Needless to say, the visit was all too short.  Unfortunately, we are a bit limited by the weekly chemo and the full time job!  Next time I will definitely be revisiting Alcatrez and catching up with the friends that I missed on this visit.

watching surfers at the west end of golden gate park

golden gate bridge

hiking at John T Knox shoreline

hiking at John T Knox shoreline

sunset at Mount Diablo

tasting at Sterling

where the magic happens...

tickling beatrice

playing with elizabeth

mice

The more I research cancer treatment... I start to feel like a bit of a hypocrite. 

Is it really ok to inject mice with leukemia cells but not ok to inject them with cosmetics and shampoos? 

Does the fact that the implications of cancer research are, of course, more significant than the development of a new eyeliner or lipstick, justify the experimentation on animals? 

Do the ends really justify the means?  And... if so... where is the line between justifiable and not?

The Cancer Sleeper Cell

Interesting article in the New York Times about "the biology of cancer cells".  I had never heard this theory before (and I have done a ton of research on the topic)! 

The research hypothesis is that some types of cancer have "stem cells" that are responsible for the regeneration or recurrance of cancer (similar to the notion that blood stem cells are responsible for the regeneration of our blood cells).  Research on leukemia found that nearly 1 million leukemia cancer cells needed to be implanted into a mouse in order for the cancer to grow.  Fewer than that and the cancer did not grow in the mice.  This suggests that the 1 in a million leukemia stem cell could be responsible for regeneration.

"If stem cells can be found for certain forms of cancer, and if a drug can be found to kill these cells in humans, then the clinical impact of such a discovery would obviously be enormous.  And its scientific impact would be just as profound. Centuries after the discovery of cancer as a disease, we are learning not just how to treat it — but what cancer truly is."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/31/magazine/31Cancer-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2