I always used to rip on Scott for liking Turner's work.
Now I'm just waiting to see how long it takes before the internet makes an extremely inapproriate remark about his passing.
Yes.
The internet.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Consumer guilt
When I was nine we moved to Port.
We left the bustling metropolis of Whitby to hang out in the armpt of southern Ontario. My sisters were too young for the move to have much of an impact on their life. But I was just old enough that it meant turning my entire world upside down. It meant giving up the street where I, and all my friends, lived for a place where the nearest person my age was fifteen minutes away by car. Suddenly I was being bussed two towns over just to get to school.
Since then, one of my better defined life goals has been leaving that small town for something more developed But after four years of school at York and living in some of the shittier neighbourhoods that T.O. had to offer I found myself changing my mind.
I was wishing for the solitude and the wide open spaces of the town that I had left behind.
On the weekend I went back to Port for my brother-in-law's birthday party. I'm unhappy to see how much the small town of my youth is becoming just another part of the urban landscape of my adulthood.
Things are changing.
They're plowing under all the farmer's fields in Port for new houses, new strip malls and new Tim Horton's franchises. In the world of 130$ a barrel oil, increasing food prices and provincial economic uncertainty this unrestrained development just seems like lunacy.
Its just more evidence that despite the changing nature of the world around us some people continue to try and live as if their choices don't have any consequences.
Part of the reason I've having this crisis of conscience is that I really feel like I am one of these greedy capitalists. Thanks to a pair of wedding showers we've ended up replacing a lot of perfectly serviceable household items for higher-end versions of the same (dishes, appliances etc). S and I have been living together a long time so we're not like some couples who need all these things to start a new life together. But people want to have showers for us nonetheless and they expect us to have a gift registry so they know what to get us.
It just feels so wasteful. We don't really need any of these things, we're running out of room to store it all properly and suddenly I feel like I'm part of the problem, not the solution.
All of a sudden my comic book collection looks more like an unessecary extravagance than an amusing hobby.
I really don't fit in with city life anymore. But in order to make a decent living I can't afford to be to far away from it either.
S and I have talked about where we'd go in a couple years time when we move. We both would like to get as far away from the city as we can, but with our jobs, I think the best we can realistically hope for is Ajax/Pickering.
Which hardly fills me with hope.
I miss green space. I miss peace and quiet. And I'm jealous that my sisters, who've chosen to stay close to Port, have seen the value in all of the above and are clearly smarter than me.
We left the bustling metropolis of Whitby to hang out in the armpt of southern Ontario. My sisters were too young for the move to have much of an impact on their life. But I was just old enough that it meant turning my entire world upside down. It meant giving up the street where I, and all my friends, lived for a place where the nearest person my age was fifteen minutes away by car. Suddenly I was being bussed two towns over just to get to school.
Since then, one of my better defined life goals has been leaving that small town for something more developed But after four years of school at York and living in some of the shittier neighbourhoods that T.O. had to offer I found myself changing my mind.
I was wishing for the solitude and the wide open spaces of the town that I had left behind.
On the weekend I went back to Port for my brother-in-law's birthday party. I'm unhappy to see how much the small town of my youth is becoming just another part of the urban landscape of my adulthood.
Things are changing.
They're plowing under all the farmer's fields in Port for new houses, new strip malls and new Tim Horton's franchises. In the world of 130$ a barrel oil, increasing food prices and provincial economic uncertainty this unrestrained development just seems like lunacy.
Its just more evidence that despite the changing nature of the world around us some people continue to try and live as if their choices don't have any consequences.
Part of the reason I've having this crisis of conscience is that I really feel like I am one of these greedy capitalists. Thanks to a pair of wedding showers we've ended up replacing a lot of perfectly serviceable household items for higher-end versions of the same (dishes, appliances etc). S and I have been living together a long time so we're not like some couples who need all these things to start a new life together. But people want to have showers for us nonetheless and they expect us to have a gift registry so they know what to get us.
It just feels so wasteful. We don't really need any of these things, we're running out of room to store it all properly and suddenly I feel like I'm part of the problem, not the solution.
All of a sudden my comic book collection looks more like an unessecary extravagance than an amusing hobby.
I really don't fit in with city life anymore. But in order to make a decent living I can't afford to be to far away from it either.
S and I have talked about where we'd go in a couple years time when we move. We both would like to get as far away from the city as we can, but with our jobs, I think the best we can realistically hope for is Ajax/Pickering.
Which hardly fills me with hope.
I miss green space. I miss peace and quiet. And I'm jealous that my sisters, who've chosen to stay close to Port, have seen the value in all of the above and are clearly smarter than me.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Feel free to submit your own.
Romeo:
But soft, what light through yonder pickle breaks?
It is the east, and Bicks is the sun.
Arise, fair Bicks, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with blandness.
That thou, her maid, art far more tasty than she.
Juliet:
It hath been said that there art a lot of salt in yon pickle
But soft, what light through yonder pickle breaks?
It is the east, and Bicks is the sun.
Arise, fair Bicks, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with blandness.
That thou, her maid, art far more tasty than she.
Juliet:
It hath been said that there art a lot of salt in yon pickle
Six sentence comic book reviews
Figures.
On my first day without my school time-suck I get sick and have to spend the whole thing sacked out on the downstairs couch. Thank God for the Chronicles of Riddick and a girlfriend unafraid to brave the halls of the Silver Snail, where the only female presence is behind the cash register. Seriously, she went in there once in a Wonder Woman T-shirt and that just gave men an excuse to stare at her chest.
But I digress.
This week, the DayQuil infused ramblings of a diseased germ bag, where I promise to limit my reviews of your favourite titles to exactly six sentences.
No more.
No less.
Because that’s just how we role……in short six sentence increments.
Final Crisis #2
It’s impossible to credibly summarize the plot of any Grant Morrison work in just six sentences, much less review the entire issue. But I’ve never been one to let quality stand in the way of meaningless promise. Reading FC is like jumping into your time machine and reading the first forty odd issues of JLA all over again, there’s always hints at a larger evil just off page. This time it’s the Machiavellian machinations of an Earth bound Dark Side and co. I like the idea of making Kirby’s biggest DC creations more accessible to the DC Universe at large. It takes a wonderfully constructed epic mythology, which was previously accessible to only the most powerful of off-world traveling heroes, and transplants it into an urban here-and-now environment which will allow it to interact with just about any hero DC has on the books.
No Hero #0
The creative team behind Black Summer (Warren Ellis, Juan Jose Ryp) return for another look at the personal, political and social repercussions of self made super hero teams let loose in the real world. The series will follow a chemically enhanced 60’s era super-team as they metamorphasize from a bunch of young street-wise idealists, known as the Levellers, into the institutionalized government style group, The Front Line. The driving question behind this title is “How badly do you want to be a superhero?” The idea being that regular people are willing to engage in all sorts of ethically suspect activities and behaviour if it means having an opportunity to grab that brass ring. Parallels can quickly and easily be drawn between these heroes and high paid sports celebrity-types. With issue 0 Ellis has done an admirable job of laying the foundation for an interesting Legacy-hero style story and I look forward to seeing where he takes it.
Green Lantern #32
Finally, a secret origins issue that doesn’t concern itself with re-telling information the reader likely already knows verbatim. In this issue Hector Hammond’s supervillian back-story gets ret-conned. No longer does he gain his enormous intellect and misshapen head from deliberately exposing himself to a mysterious meteor. Instead Hammond is now the victim of an explosion from within Abin Sur’s downed ship. This explosion exposes him to some sort of gas\radiation and he begins to develop the telepathy and the over-sized cranium we come to associate with the character. Coupled with some additional ‘Origin of the Red Lanterns material,’ this is the first time this particular plot-arc has gotten interesting.
Thunderbolts #121
So long Warren, we hardly knew ye. And with Ellis’ swan song on this title I can officially move Thunderbolts into my drop pile. The ‘bolts continue to fight each other, under the influence of some powerful psychics who’s motives are never really explained. After the team manages to neutralize each other into unconsciousness, Bullseye pulls a Deux Ex Machina and shows up to finish off the offending telepaths. An anti-climatic end to a title that was consistently a step or two above average. Rather than impose any lasting change or growth upon the team Ellis returns everything to status quo by writing off the recent throw down as the fault of the powerful psychics.
Ultimate Spider-man #123
I’ve noticed recently that the Ultimate titles have taken a step backwards in terms of the physical quality of the comic book. Gone is the heavy card stock covers and in its place is the familiar glossy pages that I see on every other title I buy. I guess with the news that the Ultimate line is being folded\canceled means Marvel no longer has to splash out on fancy paper. Which is unfortunate. Ultimate Spider-man is the only Spider-title I’ve bothered to keep reading. Bendis, Bagley and now Immonen have managed to take a hero I’d gotten slightly bored with and made him new and interesting again, without having to resort to magically dissolving his marriage.
That’s it for me. Now get off my lawn.
On my first day without my school time-suck I get sick and have to spend the whole thing sacked out on the downstairs couch. Thank God for the Chronicles of Riddick and a girlfriend unafraid to brave the halls of the Silver Snail, where the only female presence is behind the cash register. Seriously, she went in there once in a Wonder Woman T-shirt and that just gave men an excuse to stare at her chest.
But I digress.
This week, the DayQuil infused ramblings of a diseased germ bag, where I promise to limit my reviews of your favourite titles to exactly six sentences.
No more.
No less.
Because that’s just how we role……in short six sentence increments.
Final Crisis #2
It’s impossible to credibly summarize the plot of any Grant Morrison work in just six sentences, much less review the entire issue. But I’ve never been one to let quality stand in the way of meaningless promise. Reading FC is like jumping into your time machine and reading the first forty odd issues of JLA all over again, there’s always hints at a larger evil just off page. This time it’s the Machiavellian machinations of an Earth bound Dark Side and co. I like the idea of making Kirby’s biggest DC creations more accessible to the DC Universe at large. It takes a wonderfully constructed epic mythology, which was previously accessible to only the most powerful of off-world traveling heroes, and transplants it into an urban here-and-now environment which will allow it to interact with just about any hero DC has on the books.
No Hero #0
The creative team behind Black Summer (Warren Ellis, Juan Jose Ryp) return for another look at the personal, political and social repercussions of self made super hero teams let loose in the real world. The series will follow a chemically enhanced 60’s era super-team as they metamorphasize from a bunch of young street-wise idealists, known as the Levellers, into the institutionalized government style group, The Front Line. The driving question behind this title is “How badly do you want to be a superhero?” The idea being that regular people are willing to engage in all sorts of ethically suspect activities and behaviour if it means having an opportunity to grab that brass ring. Parallels can quickly and easily be drawn between these heroes and high paid sports celebrity-types. With issue 0 Ellis has done an admirable job of laying the foundation for an interesting Legacy-hero style story and I look forward to seeing where he takes it.
Green Lantern #32
Finally, a secret origins issue that doesn’t concern itself with re-telling information the reader likely already knows verbatim. In this issue Hector Hammond’s supervillian back-story gets ret-conned. No longer does he gain his enormous intellect and misshapen head from deliberately exposing himself to a mysterious meteor. Instead Hammond is now the victim of an explosion from within Abin Sur’s downed ship. This explosion exposes him to some sort of gas\radiation and he begins to develop the telepathy and the over-sized cranium we come to associate with the character. Coupled with some additional ‘Origin of the Red Lanterns material,’ this is the first time this particular plot-arc has gotten interesting.
Thunderbolts #121
So long Warren, we hardly knew ye. And with Ellis’ swan song on this title I can officially move Thunderbolts into my drop pile. The ‘bolts continue to fight each other, under the influence of some powerful psychics who’s motives are never really explained. After the team manages to neutralize each other into unconsciousness, Bullseye pulls a Deux Ex Machina and shows up to finish off the offending telepaths. An anti-climatic end to a title that was consistently a step or two above average. Rather than impose any lasting change or growth upon the team Ellis returns everything to status quo by writing off the recent throw down as the fault of the powerful psychics.
Ultimate Spider-man #123
I’ve noticed recently that the Ultimate titles have taken a step backwards in terms of the physical quality of the comic book. Gone is the heavy card stock covers and in its place is the familiar glossy pages that I see on every other title I buy. I guess with the news that the Ultimate line is being folded\canceled means Marvel no longer has to splash out on fancy paper. Which is unfortunate. Ultimate Spider-man is the only Spider-title I’ve bothered to keep reading. Bendis, Bagley and now Immonen have managed to take a hero I’d gotten slightly bored with and made him new and interesting again, without having to resort to magically dissolving his marriage.
That’s it for me. Now get off my lawn.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Movie Review: The Incredible Hulk
I don’t know many people who will voluntarily confess to liking the first Hulk movie. The best you can hope for is a begrudging admission that it wasn’t THAT bad.
However, I really enjoyed the first film. I thought it was a bold attempt to take the concept of a superhero movie and push it in a different direction, imbue it with a deeper meaning, a sense of mythology.
Unfortunately the movie going public felt the film was slow , after re-watching it recently, it seems even slower now, especially considering in the five years since it was released the superhero movie concept has been considerably refined and perfected.
There’s an accepted formulae filmmakers follow now, heavy action, recognizable fan favourite villains, storylines or in-jokes and a minimum of dialog and exposition.
We demand to see Hulk smash or Superman catch that falling plane, we don’t want to hear them wax philosophical about their purpose in life. This is a comic book movie goddammit.
More smashy-smashy, less talky-talky.
For comic fans almost any effort to try something new or different to their heroes is destined to be universally reviled. We’ve spent years investing ourselves in these characters, taking the stories from the page and re-enacting them in our minds. Now Hollywood is attempting the same thing and heaven help them if their finished product contradicts our childhood fantasies.
For those worried few, fear not. The Incredible Hulk is the kind of movie you’ve been waiting for. The controversy generated by the first film is glossed over and quietly rebooted in the opening credits. After that we’re introduced to the ‘standard Hulk plotline #1’
1. Bruce (Edward Norton) is hiding from the military, attempting to cure himself.
2. Military finds him.
3. Bruce hulks out and smashes things up.
4. Repeat steps 1 – 4, until Bruce is finally caught.
Liv Tyler is Betty Ross, Bruce’s obligatory love interest. Her sole roll in the movie is to look worried, get in trouble and to run out into the rain whenever she’s wearing a white shirt. William Hurt and Tim Roth play the military figures chasing Bruce. Roth’s character, Emil Blonsky, gets injected with a WWII era super-solider formula that gives him the power and the strength to take on the Hulk. However these powers get corrupted when Roth is injected with a vial of Bruce’s blood, turning him into the monstrous Abomination.
William Hurt as General Ross, Betty’s father, is the least interesting of the three supporting characters. He broods a lot, looks stern and seems to have a never endingly supply of custom-made Hummer’s lurking around every corner. There is none of the gruff warmth that Sam Elliot brought to the same role in the first film.
You’re not going to strain any brain cells here trying to follow along with this movie. Once you’ve mastered the plot basics its clear that you’re only here catch the smashy-smashy and I can assure you, in this instance, the movie will not disappoint. Hulk smashes his way through a pop factory, the U of T campus (er Culver university) and downtown Toronto. (As a local, it’s weird to see Zanzibar and Sam the Record Man show up so prominently in the last big melee.)
The special effects are about a half step up from the first go round, which was no slouch in that department either. We’ve traded in the bright comic book hues of the first film for a darker, grittier palette. I’m guessing we may have reached the point of diminishing returns when it comes to special effects. We’ve come so far in the last fifteen years or so, that creating fully functioning CGI characters is now almost a ho-hum experience for movie goers. The technology will continue to improve, giving us characters that are even more realistic and lifelike, but I strongly suspect that the phenomenal growth we’re using to seeing from these types of effects is all but done.
There are also plenty of fan boy nuggets for comic readers in this movie as well. The script borrows characters, plot devices and visual motifs that the general public won’t pick up on but fans of the Hulk will recognize instantly. My personal favourite is Bruce jumping out of a helicopter in order to trigger the appearance of the Hulk, ripped almost directly from the pages of the Ultimates it was a nice little fan boy moment I enjoyed.
But what is really interesting is how Marvel is methodically tying all their film franchises together. The appearance of Robert Downie Jr. as Tony Stark shows that the company is aware that fans aren’t just interested in a single character, they want to see a whole world where their favourite characters can mingle and interact with each other, just like the comics. As the momentum to the inevitable Avengers movie builds Marvel demonstrates an incredible amount of prescience in maintaining their intellectual properties across all mediums. It’s top drawer marketing that can’t help but appeal to casual and hardcore fans alike. It shows this company is playing the long game and most people eat it up.
(In comparison, DC can’t seem to get its act together enough to release a second Superman film much less think about tackling the Herculean feat of putting together a Justice League movie. )
The Incredible Hulk is a better than average superhero movie. The acting is decent, the story acceptable and the director was wise enough to give a fairly paint-by-numbers interpretation of the Hulk story. But despite all the guns and the smashing you can’t help but feel that this film lacks a little heart and soul. That’s what the Hulk is all about isn’t it? He may look like a monster and act out inappropriately, but in the end he’s a scared little boy just trying to find a little peace.
You won’t walk away hating this movie but I guarantee there’s very little about it that will stick with you.
We’ve seen it all before.
However, I really enjoyed the first film. I thought it was a bold attempt to take the concept of a superhero movie and push it in a different direction, imbue it with a deeper meaning, a sense of mythology.
Unfortunately the movie going public felt the film was slow , after re-watching it recently, it seems even slower now, especially considering in the five years since it was released the superhero movie concept has been considerably refined and perfected.
There’s an accepted formulae filmmakers follow now, heavy action, recognizable fan favourite villains, storylines or in-jokes and a minimum of dialog and exposition.
We demand to see Hulk smash or Superman catch that falling plane, we don’t want to hear them wax philosophical about their purpose in life. This is a comic book movie goddammit.
More smashy-smashy, less talky-talky.
For comic fans almost any effort to try something new or different to their heroes is destined to be universally reviled. We’ve spent years investing ourselves in these characters, taking the stories from the page and re-enacting them in our minds. Now Hollywood is attempting the same thing and heaven help them if their finished product contradicts our childhood fantasies.
For those worried few, fear not. The Incredible Hulk is the kind of movie you’ve been waiting for. The controversy generated by the first film is glossed over and quietly rebooted in the opening credits. After that we’re introduced to the ‘standard Hulk plotline #1’
1. Bruce (Edward Norton) is hiding from the military, attempting to cure himself.
2. Military finds him.
3. Bruce hulks out and smashes things up.
4. Repeat steps 1 – 4, until Bruce is finally caught.
Liv Tyler is Betty Ross, Bruce’s obligatory love interest. Her sole roll in the movie is to look worried, get in trouble and to run out into the rain whenever she’s wearing a white shirt. William Hurt and Tim Roth play the military figures chasing Bruce. Roth’s character, Emil Blonsky, gets injected with a WWII era super-solider formula that gives him the power and the strength to take on the Hulk. However these powers get corrupted when Roth is injected with a vial of Bruce’s blood, turning him into the monstrous Abomination.
William Hurt as General Ross, Betty’s father, is the least interesting of the three supporting characters. He broods a lot, looks stern and seems to have a never endingly supply of custom-made Hummer’s lurking around every corner. There is none of the gruff warmth that Sam Elliot brought to the same role in the first film.
You’re not going to strain any brain cells here trying to follow along with this movie. Once you’ve mastered the plot basics its clear that you’re only here catch the smashy-smashy and I can assure you, in this instance, the movie will not disappoint. Hulk smashes his way through a pop factory, the U of T campus (er Culver university) and downtown Toronto. (As a local, it’s weird to see Zanzibar and Sam the Record Man show up so prominently in the last big melee.)
The special effects are about a half step up from the first go round, which was no slouch in that department either. We’ve traded in the bright comic book hues of the first film for a darker, grittier palette. I’m guessing we may have reached the point of diminishing returns when it comes to special effects. We’ve come so far in the last fifteen years or so, that creating fully functioning CGI characters is now almost a ho-hum experience for movie goers. The technology will continue to improve, giving us characters that are even more realistic and lifelike, but I strongly suspect that the phenomenal growth we’re using to seeing from these types of effects is all but done.
There are also plenty of fan boy nuggets for comic readers in this movie as well. The script borrows characters, plot devices and visual motifs that the general public won’t pick up on but fans of the Hulk will recognize instantly. My personal favourite is Bruce jumping out of a helicopter in order to trigger the appearance of the Hulk, ripped almost directly from the pages of the Ultimates it was a nice little fan boy moment I enjoyed.
But what is really interesting is how Marvel is methodically tying all their film franchises together. The appearance of Robert Downie Jr. as Tony Stark shows that the company is aware that fans aren’t just interested in a single character, they want to see a whole world where their favourite characters can mingle and interact with each other, just like the comics. As the momentum to the inevitable Avengers movie builds Marvel demonstrates an incredible amount of prescience in maintaining their intellectual properties across all mediums. It’s top drawer marketing that can’t help but appeal to casual and hardcore fans alike. It shows this company is playing the long game and most people eat it up.
(In comparison, DC can’t seem to get its act together enough to release a second Superman film much less think about tackling the Herculean feat of putting together a Justice League movie. )
The Incredible Hulk is a better than average superhero movie. The acting is decent, the story acceptable and the director was wise enough to give a fairly paint-by-numbers interpretation of the Hulk story. But despite all the guns and the smashing you can’t help but feel that this film lacks a little heart and soul. That’s what the Hulk is all about isn’t it? He may look like a monster and act out inappropriately, but in the end he’s a scared little boy just trying to find a little peace.
You won’t walk away hating this movie but I guarantee there’s very little about it that will stick with you.
We’ve seen it all before.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Speechification: The Reckoning
Final speech for class. It is what it is.
Tonight's the last class and then I get my summer back!
***
In May of 2007 my mother was diagnosed with Stage III Non-Hodgkin’s Follicular Lymphoma. And if that sounds like a mouthful, let me assure you, it is. But, every word of that name helps to describe exactly what this disease is and what it is doing to her.
But you might know what I’m talking about by a different name.
I’m talking about cancer.
Scary, isn’t it?
Today I'm here to talk to you about the type of cancer my mother has. I’ll break the elements of this disease down for you, discuss effective treatment options and give you a snapshot about cancer care in Ontario.
Let’s begin.
The Canadian Cancer Society describes cancer as a disease that starts in our cells. When a cell is functioning normally it grows, does the job it is supposed to do, replicates itself and then dies. However, in cancerous cells, genetic errors disrupt the normal process of cell replication and the cells are unable to stop reproducing themselves. This uncontrolled replication begins to form growths in a person’s body that we've come to know as cancer.
What is Lymphatic cancer then? Lymphoma is the most common blood cancer known to us. The Lymphoma Research Foundation identifies it as a cancer of the white blood cells, which are also known as lymphocytes. These lymphocytes are located in a person’s lymphatic system, which is a transport system, similar to your veins, for fluids in your body that help it to fight infections.
There are two major white blood cell types. B cell lymphocytes, which develop into antibodies that help fight infections, and T cell lymphocytes that attack foreign bodies, such as bacteria or viruses, directly. Cancer causes these white blood cells in your lymphatic system to grow in an uncontrolled manner. Follicular lymphoma is a particularly slow growing type of cancer, associated with B-lymphocytes, and is often found in middle aged and older adults.
Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma is the most prevalent type of Lymphatic cancer. This type of cancer begins in the lymph nodes, which are tiny little pods in your lymphatic system filled with those white blood cells. Since your lymphatic system runs throughout your entire body it can act as a transport method allowing cancerous blood cells to move throughout your body, potentially infecting other areas.
Now I mentioned earlier that my mother has Stage III Non-Hodgkins Follicular Lymphoma.
Lymphoma Research Canada states that Stage I means that the cancer is located in a single region with very few, if any, outward symptoms
Stage II indicates that the cancer is located in two separate areas of the lymphatic system. Both areas are confined to one side of the diaphragm, either above it or below it.
Stage III says that the cancer has spread to both sides of the diaphragm. This indicates that the disease has traveled a larger distance and has been present for a longer period of time.
Stage IV, the most serious stage, indicates that the cancer has spread beyond the lymphatic system and now involves one or more major organs.
So now you know what Stage III Non-Hodgkins Follicular Lymphoma is, a slow growing cancer of the lymphatic system that also affects the body’s ability to make antibodies. As I mentioned previously, every word of this disease tells us a little bit about what it is and how it operates.
But enough with the doom and gloom, lets talk about how you can beat this cancer.
Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma patients are fortunate that this particular strain of cancer is often highly susceptible to many of the treatment options modern medicine has available to combat it.
The two main types of treatment for this form of cancer are Chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
Chemotherapy, or chemo, uses powerful medications, delivered intravenously or through pills, that kill cancer cells and prevent their growth. Chemo is a systemic cancer treatment which means it affects the whole body. According to the Canadian Cancer Society Chemotherapy targets and kills rapidly growing cells, just like cancer. Unfortunately there are a number of normal, healthy cells in your body that also rapidly reproduce and chemo is unable to differentiate between these cells and the cancerous ones. That means that chemo can negatively affect healthy cells as well, which is why this treatment option has so many side effects like hair loss, nausea, weight loss and vomiting.
Unlike chemotherapy radiation therapy is a localized treatment that only affects the area where the cancer is growing. Radiation therapy works by bombarding the cancer with high energy x-rays that kills cancerous cells by affecting their ability to repair themselves. Unfortunately, just like chemo, radiation therapy cannot differentiate between cancerous cells and healthy ones and may adversely affect these healthy cells as well. Like chemo, radiation therapy may also have some adverse physical reactions including hair loss, weight loss, nausea and diarrhea. One of the more unpleasant aspects of radiation therapy is that by bombarding your body with x-rays you potentially leave yourself open to developing other forms of cancer, such as skin, breast or thyroid cancer.
Now that I’ve talked a little about the specifics of this disease and the treatment options available to combat it I’d like to take a moment and give you a snapshot about cancer care in this province.
According to Cancer Care Ontario, this province is in the middle of a good news/bad news scenario when it comes to delivering on cancer treatments.
The good news is that patients needing radiation therapy to combat their disease will find that their wait times have dropped. In the last few years wait times for access to radiation therapy has dropped 31%, from six weeks in 2003 to 4.1 weeks in 2006 and this trend continues towards even shorter wait times.
Unfortunately for patients requiring a systemic approach to cancer treatment, specifically chemotherapy, the news isn't as encouraging. Despite the fact that the province has nearly doubled its commitment to funding treatments, from 73 million in 2003 to 176 million in 2007, the wait times for chemeo treatments continue to remain stagnant. Many Ontario patients still wait between 25 to 38 days before receiving access to chemo treatments.
This is because the sheer number of people afflicted with this disease continues to grow. Every year approximately 63,000 new cancer cases are diagnosed in this province. To put that in perspective for you that means, in one year, the equivalent of half the population of a city the size of Oshawa was diagnosed with some form of cancer in this province.
When I decided to give a speech on this topic I wasn't sure how I'd be able to handle the occasion
Finding out that one of your parents is sick can be an earth shaking event. You hear the word cancer and your mind conjures up a list of seemingly endless doomsday scenarios.
It's terrifying.
But this is supposed to be an information speech, and the information contained within this speech doesn't frighten me so much anymore, it gives me hope.
I've talked a bit about the type of cancer my mother has. The name 'Stage III Non-Hodgkins Follicular Lymphoma' sounds like the end of the world. But when you break it down you find out that this particular strain of the disease is slow growing, easily treatable and a very common form of cancer.
I've talked about the forms of treatment my mother has available to her. Chemotherapy and radiations treatments are serious business with significant potential side effects. But the bottom line is that they've been proven to work.
And finally, I've talked a bit about the state of cancer treatment in Ontario which, while not perfect yet, shows an awareness and a willingness by government to investment in the equipment, treatment options and manpower necessary to successfully fight this illness
It's been over a year now since my mother's diagnosis and I'm happy to report that she is nearly symptom free. Her cancer is growing so slowly that, in the near term, her doctors have chosen a very conservative course of treatment for her.
This trial isn't over but I feel confident that we will continue to band together as a family, and as a family, we will beat this.
Thank you.
Tonight's the last class and then I get my summer back!
***
In May of 2007 my mother was diagnosed with Stage III Non-Hodgkin’s Follicular Lymphoma. And if that sounds like a mouthful, let me assure you, it is. But, every word of that name helps to describe exactly what this disease is and what it is doing to her.
But you might know what I’m talking about by a different name.
I’m talking about cancer.
Scary, isn’t it?
Today I'm here to talk to you about the type of cancer my mother has. I’ll break the elements of this disease down for you, discuss effective treatment options and give you a snapshot about cancer care in Ontario.
Let’s begin.
The Canadian Cancer Society describes cancer as a disease that starts in our cells. When a cell is functioning normally it grows, does the job it is supposed to do, replicates itself and then dies. However, in cancerous cells, genetic errors disrupt the normal process of cell replication and the cells are unable to stop reproducing themselves. This uncontrolled replication begins to form growths in a person’s body that we've come to know as cancer.
What is Lymphatic cancer then? Lymphoma is the most common blood cancer known to us. The Lymphoma Research Foundation identifies it as a cancer of the white blood cells, which are also known as lymphocytes. These lymphocytes are located in a person’s lymphatic system, which is a transport system, similar to your veins, for fluids in your body that help it to fight infections.
There are two major white blood cell types. B cell lymphocytes, which develop into antibodies that help fight infections, and T cell lymphocytes that attack foreign bodies, such as bacteria or viruses, directly. Cancer causes these white blood cells in your lymphatic system to grow in an uncontrolled manner. Follicular lymphoma is a particularly slow growing type of cancer, associated with B-lymphocytes, and is often found in middle aged and older adults.
Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma is the most prevalent type of Lymphatic cancer. This type of cancer begins in the lymph nodes, which are tiny little pods in your lymphatic system filled with those white blood cells. Since your lymphatic system runs throughout your entire body it can act as a transport method allowing cancerous blood cells to move throughout your body, potentially infecting other areas.
Now I mentioned earlier that my mother has Stage III Non-Hodgkins Follicular Lymphoma.
Lymphoma Research Canada states that Stage I means that the cancer is located in a single region with very few, if any, outward symptoms
Stage II indicates that the cancer is located in two separate areas of the lymphatic system. Both areas are confined to one side of the diaphragm, either above it or below it.
Stage III says that the cancer has spread to both sides of the diaphragm. This indicates that the disease has traveled a larger distance and has been present for a longer period of time.
Stage IV, the most serious stage, indicates that the cancer has spread beyond the lymphatic system and now involves one or more major organs.
So now you know what Stage III Non-Hodgkins Follicular Lymphoma is, a slow growing cancer of the lymphatic system that also affects the body’s ability to make antibodies. As I mentioned previously, every word of this disease tells us a little bit about what it is and how it operates.
But enough with the doom and gloom, lets talk about how you can beat this cancer.
Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma patients are fortunate that this particular strain of cancer is often highly susceptible to many of the treatment options modern medicine has available to combat it.
The two main types of treatment for this form of cancer are Chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
Chemotherapy, or chemo, uses powerful medications, delivered intravenously or through pills, that kill cancer cells and prevent their growth. Chemo is a systemic cancer treatment which means it affects the whole body. According to the Canadian Cancer Society Chemotherapy targets and kills rapidly growing cells, just like cancer. Unfortunately there are a number of normal, healthy cells in your body that also rapidly reproduce and chemo is unable to differentiate between these cells and the cancerous ones. That means that chemo can negatively affect healthy cells as well, which is why this treatment option has so many side effects like hair loss, nausea, weight loss and vomiting.
Unlike chemotherapy radiation therapy is a localized treatment that only affects the area where the cancer is growing. Radiation therapy works by bombarding the cancer with high energy x-rays that kills cancerous cells by affecting their ability to repair themselves. Unfortunately, just like chemo, radiation therapy cannot differentiate between cancerous cells and healthy ones and may adversely affect these healthy cells as well. Like chemo, radiation therapy may also have some adverse physical reactions including hair loss, weight loss, nausea and diarrhea. One of the more unpleasant aspects of radiation therapy is that by bombarding your body with x-rays you potentially leave yourself open to developing other forms of cancer, such as skin, breast or thyroid cancer.
Now that I’ve talked a little about the specifics of this disease and the treatment options available to combat it I’d like to take a moment and give you a snapshot about cancer care in this province.
According to Cancer Care Ontario, this province is in the middle of a good news/bad news scenario when it comes to delivering on cancer treatments.
The good news is that patients needing radiation therapy to combat their disease will find that their wait times have dropped. In the last few years wait times for access to radiation therapy has dropped 31%, from six weeks in 2003 to 4.1 weeks in 2006 and this trend continues towards even shorter wait times.
Unfortunately for patients requiring a systemic approach to cancer treatment, specifically chemotherapy, the news isn't as encouraging. Despite the fact that the province has nearly doubled its commitment to funding treatments, from 73 million in 2003 to 176 million in 2007, the wait times for chemeo treatments continue to remain stagnant. Many Ontario patients still wait between 25 to 38 days before receiving access to chemo treatments.
This is because the sheer number of people afflicted with this disease continues to grow. Every year approximately 63,000 new cancer cases are diagnosed in this province. To put that in perspective for you that means, in one year, the equivalent of half the population of a city the size of Oshawa was diagnosed with some form of cancer in this province.
When I decided to give a speech on this topic I wasn't sure how I'd be able to handle the occasion
Finding out that one of your parents is sick can be an earth shaking event. You hear the word cancer and your mind conjures up a list of seemingly endless doomsday scenarios.
It's terrifying.
But this is supposed to be an information speech, and the information contained within this speech doesn't frighten me so much anymore, it gives me hope.
I've talked a bit about the type of cancer my mother has. The name 'Stage III Non-Hodgkins Follicular Lymphoma' sounds like the end of the world. But when you break it down you find out that this particular strain of the disease is slow growing, easily treatable and a very common form of cancer.
I've talked about the forms of treatment my mother has available to her. Chemotherapy and radiations treatments are serious business with significant potential side effects. But the bottom line is that they've been proven to work.
And finally, I've talked a bit about the state of cancer treatment in Ontario which, while not perfect yet, shows an awareness and a willingness by government to investment in the equipment, treatment options and manpower necessary to successfully fight this illness
It's been over a year now since my mother's diagnosis and I'm happy to report that she is nearly symptom free. Her cancer is growing so slowly that, in the near term, her doctors have chosen a very conservative course of treatment for her.
This trial isn't over but I feel confident that we will continue to band together as a family, and as a family, we will beat this.
Thank you.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
