Primary Colonic Lymphoma

[ChemoMan]

Hi

But Christmas they have off do they not....and they like chocolate do they not......I thought the Japanese being party animals would jump at the chance.

[joepet]

Christmas is a work day as well.

And if you're partying on the day that Jesus was murdered, what is the point of giving you a day off?

[ChemoMan]

Hi Joe

Well if you are Japanese and not a christian it wouldn't matter would it .... Surprised to hear that Christmas is not a day off...I have heard they go nuts shopping at that time.

[joepet]

Japanese being almost entirely non-Christian, there is no reason for the day off, and thus there is none. But the Emperor's Birthday is December 23rd, so we do receive that day off.

One of my pet peeves is people gleefully celebrating holidays without caring the slightest bit about what those holidays are supposed to mean.

[ChemoMan]

Hi Joe

listen to the words

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIJwfzOBSS8

Good advice to reduce stress

[Don]

joepet,

I saw your posts about the Japanese religions and their holidays. When I was in Japan, I enjoyed going into their religious temples and looking at the architecture and reading about their customs. I realize that their religions developed separately from the Western religions of Judism, Christianity and Islam, so they have a different concept of a diety.

Question: I heard that the Prime Minister of Japan is Roman Catholic. Is that true?

[joepet]

Hi Don.

Apparently the current Prime Minister (they usually resign in disgrace every12 months) is a Catholic, though so little is made of it that I didn't even know that until I looked it up just now. He still goes to the Shinto shrines to pray on public holidays, so he's not very outwardly "Christian" in that sense.

But this is a country where in one's lifetime one may be blessed in a Shinto Shrine, married in a Christian Church, and buried in a Buddhist ceremony, so they tend to have a rather holistic view of religion. Regardless, the majority of them just go through the motions of tradition, and IMO don't really believe any of what they practice.

[Don]

Thanks...that is interesting.

I come from a family that really takes religion seriously; like alot of people, I dropped out of it for a while after I left home for college, but it has become very important to me.

How are your treatments going?

[joepet]

I was raised a Catholic, largely forgot about religion since college, then had a religious experience last year that brought me back. I'm not sure that I identify myself as a Catholic now, but I firmly believe that I, undeserving as I am, have been saved by The Lord Jesus Christ.

Treatments have finished, I'm just waiting on my CT, gallium scan, and colonoscopy to see where we go from here...hopefully to semi-annual scans!

I do have an unproductive cough that's been bugging me for the past two weeks. Kind of annoying, but not all that disruptive to my daily life, the kind of thing I would just ignore if I wasn't treating cancer.

And I started working on a new site today that blocks access to this website, so I probably won't be quite as prolific as I once was.

[joepet]

Did my CT scan, did my gallium scan, and today I did my colonoscopy with lots of extra juicy biopsies!

I went the full 12 rounds with Diffuse Large B-Cell...now we go to the judges scorecards. Hope May 13th gets here soon!

[joepet]

Hey, what do you know, May 13th did get here soon!

Looking forward to knowing what comes next.

[ChemoMan]

Hi Joepet

I hope its great news today keeping my fingers crossed , be thinking of you

Cheers

[SingleDad]

Keeping fingers and toes crossed for you.....wow - long cycle...

[joepet]

CT, Galium scan, and biopsies all showed no evidence of cancer! Still, the doc wanted me to come in once a month for blood tests. We compromised on every other month, but even so I think that Japan is too much of a nanny state.

Anyway, it's good to be joining Arthur on the other side.
See ya here soon SingleDad!

[ChemoMan]

Best news so far Joe And I agree about your nanny comment....they are very much more relaxed here

Once again excellent news

Cheers will toast to your continued good health tonight .... in moderation of course