Post-molestation trip to V&D

Friday morning I had a meeting at the Vroom en Dreesman to talk things over. We felt irritated to start with because he kept us waiting in an (instinctively) unsafe area... It was my second time back into town. The first time feeling like a heroic achievement. This time around Aldith was there with me to talk to the manager, Joost Rompen.

He let us start the conversation. I started by thanking him for escorting me to the car and taking care of the footage. Then it was time to question all the things that went wrong. Such as having no security pressent, not taking action themselves, not calling the police, and most important of all, the cashier that I was looking out for, had not bothered to even ask me if I was OK.
Joost Rompen handled the conversation very professionally, speaking only truths, informing us about the non-existing protocol an even acknowleging his mistakes and apologizing. Phew....that does help and feels like a real relief.
It turns out that there are pics of the culprit's faces and they did make their payment with a debit card...soooooo if the card wasn't stolen they should be able to trace them. Concluding,...the shop has corrected its mistakes adequately...we are now sending a letter to the head office to urge them to
do something about their lack of security. .....still no shopping spree...but it is Saturday now....and a huge bunch of flowers was delivered to my home.
Feeling a little better about this...and being able to move on in the right direction again.


By the way, Aldith made the flyer. For the occasion...I have turned GREEN.

Flu(s)terred

First of all, welcome to all my new friends at Twitter. I had 55 views on monday which is tremendous. I have been writing this blog since Spring 2007 when I was diagnosed with Cancer of the Thyroid. Since then I try to live my life to the fullest. It is great hosting you all here and thankyou to Aldith for showing you the way to my blog. Do come by every once in a while and take a seat at birdsperch.blogspot.com.

So what brought y0u here. As a (usually) law-abiding citizen, I try to live a decent life. The past years (as of the death of Pim Fortuyn, to be exact), deterioration has set in in Dutch society's behavior and mannerisms. It seems like unsociable behavior is becoming more and more accepted. I always believe that correcting people around you it the beginning of the solution to head towards a better World.
Last Saturday evening I made a quick trip into town to exchange a DVD box which Kiara had purchased but in which the actual CD was missing. Seeing as Christmas is now behind us, the shops have gone into full-blown discount season. I decided to check out the lady's department and found myself a decent little black skirt which I had been looking for for quite a while. I was pleased with myself and queued up infront of the cashier's desk.

A lady stood in front of me and was making a scene. The jumper which she was trying to buy had no price tag, and the lady behind the till explained for the umpteenth time that Benetton was a store within the V&D shop. She could not help because the Benetton people had already gone home. This scene kept repeating itself and the woman's daughter was throwing a full blown tantrum because she couldn't have the jumper. The kid was starting to irritate me but the woman was even worse as she started to harass the cashier. I decided to open my mouth and tell the cashier that their was no need to give in to this woman's attitude. She turned around and told me it wasn't my business. I replied that infact it was because by this time she had kept me waiting for 10 minutes already. I then told her she was hard to deal with and that her daughter was well on her way following her in her footsteps. She then stormed at me an hovered over me, her nose bearly touching mine. I could feel her breath. I looked back at her but did nothing. My non-response ticked her off then she made a fist and went for my head. Her husband casually joined in. Two Turks came to my rescue. She managed to batter me on my head, right where my bone is still brittle for the huge tumor on my head. He did so too, and I got 2 or 3 kicks, leaving me bruised. This woman kept coming at me. Her husband was calling me crazy and telling his wife to give up on the gorilla. Each time she came back at met the Turks helped me. Eventually they went to the other row and I followed them. The woman was still in the other row and when I asked the guys to stay with me until she was gone, she heard it an threatened to follow me to my car. After paying, she demonstratively walked around the area beckoning at me that she wasn't through with me. I asked the shop people to get security. They told me he had gone home!!!! Eventually the managers helped me out but refused to call the cops because they figured they wouldn't come (it was closing time....he was in a rush to get home). They brought me to my car and I drove straight to the Police station. The officer there did a wonderful job, jotting down my story and calling the shop to tell them off. He advised me to go to the hospital to get everything checked. I have to say,....physically I am managing but the emotional damage is huge. I was in tears all Saturday evening, and I had a few nightmares, each presenting another sequel to what had happened. On Sunday I went to the hospital. They reported my bruises. It is now monday night....and I still feel really queezy...I'm afraid I am deal with a bit of a psychological trauma. Trying to move on now.
I found out that the shop got everything on surveillance vids, and seem to remember the woman in question used a debitcard to pay. Hoping that justice will prevail.

Holiday season 2009

This past holiday season has been pretty wild. It started a week before Christmas when Kiara starred once again.

This time in the school x-mas play. She was surprised to be allowed to play Herod instead of a sheep for once. Aldith and Paula came along. Paula has been there every single school year to support her. We always close off the evening with gingerbread goodies and hot chocolate at my house. The production this year was pretty good compared to other years. I was happy to see it! The following weekend I organized a Christmas lpotluck brunch for the African actors in Kiara's Musical. Together with the other kids parents we hosted an afternoon of food and spontaneous entertainment.It was a wonderful way to start-off the Christmas season. I had gotten my shopping done early which left me with a few free days with Kiara. We headed for Zevenaar to my parents home to join in the celebration preliminaries. By this time Holland was covered by a thick blanket of snow. We managed to visit Tineke on her birthday, and in the evening I met my old friends for Zevenaar in town. But the next day we went shopping in CentrO in Oberhausen, Germany. It is supposed to be the largest mall in Europe. It was really snazzy to say the least! (Oh that's a lovely old-fashioned word) We had to be back home on time because on Christmas Eve Marcus and I had planned to celebrate with the children. I was pleasantly suprised to find out that Marcus had gone way out of his way decorating his home and the table for a nice family meal. He had even bought new plates, which made me all mushy as I had been the one to revive Christmas in his household last year. What a huge


compliment and how lucky I am to have someone as attentive as that! We set about cooking in the afternoon and it was my very first time cooking quail. It was fabulous! Many gifts were to follow and that was just the beginning! The next day we went back to Zevenaar. Practically the whole family was there from my sisters to my nephews and neice, and even the 3rd generation was present. We sat, talked, exchanged beautiful gifts, dined, prayed and sang.

After Christmas day Kiara left to be with her father. I was exhausted and rested for 3 days. Kiara came back on the monday. The next day she went to the movies and spent the night at her friend Martine's. It was nice for her to find the time to do normal things again. The following day we were invited to Serena's home. Serena is one of the other children who plays in the Musical. We had a lovely dinner and Kiara spent the night there. It was cold an icy coming home and I was lucky enough(read sarcasm) to have to stop to change the light bulb in my headlights. I asked someone to help me, but I'm afraid men aren't what they used to be. ;-). My own Marcus fixed the problem the next day. Boy was it freezing cold!

On New Years Eve we were home. I fixed Kiara, Marcus and myself a lovely meat fondue meal, followed by a chocolate fountain. We had invited friends to come around after 0.00 hrs but nobody turned up except Henk and his wife Carla and daughter Kim. I was a little disappointed after all my work, especially since I had a terrible flu coming on. Until now that is the status quo.
On New Years day we went to Marcus' mother. We grilled and all 3 kids were there to celebrate with us. On Saturday we tied up the holidays with a visit to the cinema. Angélique, my sister, treated Kiara, her friend Jermaine and myself to Avatar the movie and dinner. Apart from the flu I have been struck with terrible pains in my groin since monday. Trying to figure out what that is. I don't suppose being this busy has helped.

A brand new year!

Made it again. It was 2 new years ago that Kiara and I looked back on a year in which I almost died. Well, still going strong!

A Happy, Healthy and Prosperous year to all of you!

Merry Christmas!

Make a Smilebox greeting

And now for something completely different

After last week's crazy events I took a short break with regards to posting. Good thing I took a little time off because I had no pics for you! I couldn't find my camera. Where I found it.....well, I'm sure most people put their camera's in the washing machine! After washing my remote, I figured I could wash my camera too. No, honestly....I went bazerk! I decided to get a new cam asap.

Last week I finished rehab. Done it again!
I am now trying to look forward to a more stable situation. The problem is, you never really know what is going to happen next. 2 years ago I was at the same point and look at what happened this year.

Still, it is important to move forward again and make plans for the future. Living by each day will only enforce living and feeling like a patient. It is my aim to try to move toward leading a reasonably normal life again. I have loads of projects waiting to be set-up. But those of you who know me can imagine that I am a too ambitious for my own good. I had decided to take a short break before diving in but life seems to be leading in my itinery. I still have therapists to see but they are no longer at one location.

It is so extremely busy at the moment moving towards Christmas. It will be nice to take a week off with Kiara. No hospitals, no therapists, just some family time.

I decided to take-up another old hobby and figured it would be fun to partake in a talentshow. Boy did I have to practice! It had really been a while and my voice has really changed due to medication and a change in hormones. I sang 3 songs!

1. That ole devil called love
2. Summertime
3. Somewhere over the rainbow.

And guess what? I came in second place in the quarter finals. More to come at the end of January. So far so good! Seems like a pretty normal life already!

Jacques le Brun, rest in peace.

Jesuit cross for Jacques.

Life can be so full of tragedies. Yesterday morning my sister Adrienne's husband, Jacques le Brun suddenly passed away.

He will be greatly missed, by myself, but also by Kiara who was his little princess.

Jacques died of a heart attack. He was in Senegal making preparations for a project to boost the welfare of the Senegalese in the Casamances, one of his favorite places to be.










Jacques was a lovely man who succeded in making my sister happy. It is an enormous loss for her and our family. I really hope that there are sailing ships in heaven.

Results!

A trip to Dr. Lips has saved you from a rather nasty entry concerning my new oncologist!

It's a good thing that positive news can overshadow annoying experiences.

But here is the great news:
It is very likely that my chemotherapy is working. I received my bloodwork of the first month that I was on the Nexavar. My Thyroglobin levels have decrease from approximately 4500 (on Thyrax) to 3500 (on Thyrax). This is a significant amount after just 3 weeks treatment! The chance that this drop is caused by something else is very unlikely as I had no other treatment during that time. I thought that I would have to wait until January for some results, but this is going to be ONE MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Down-time

Autumn has really set in. The beautiful red leaves have brutally been blown off the trees and we have had quite a few wind storms. Christmas is approaching and the days are dark and gloomy. I hate the approaching winter and am craving a little sunshine. I have to make do with my daylight lamp, I'm afraid. Kiara's musical has been rather energy consuming, to say the least. But what a wonderful time she had. It was worth every effort to see her shine like that. She has 4 more shows to go this year and will get one of the girls roles after Christmas. Frankly, I hope that she won't be quite as busy the next 3 months. In the meantime, I am on a roller-coaster ride trying to find a way to deal with the Nexafar/Sorafenib. Currently I am off the cure for a short while. I got so sick at one point, that I needed my intestines checked. I decided to stop until the coloscopie. I was off the Nexavar for 2 weeks when I started my Kleenprep...which is actually a Barium solution that totally cleans out your bowels. I wasn't allowed to eat for a whole day. The worst part was actually the stress. Colon cancer does occur in my family, and I had been bleeding for a few months. I had also been struck by severe colon cramps the past few weeks. I was litteraly worried sick. I got tired, pale, and on the morning of the test I had a bloodpressure of 160/116. This is the first time that I got this worked up about a test. I couldn't face a new form of cancer.

Mom came to stay with me and on a monday morning we drove to Amsterdam. They put in in a mild state of sleep and carried out the -not so comfortable- test. I was able to follow everything on a screen and couldn't see anything. I had to wait at least an hour for the results. My intestines were clean! The bleading was something to look at though. The pain department has cut down my dose of painkillers. This does mean that I am in more pain. The last weeks I have actually been feeling awful. I have been extremely tired, my whole body hurt, I have had hot flashes and basically, I have been feeling subdued and anxious. I have dark rings under my eyes and have lost my hair as well. People still tell my I look great, while I am coming to terms with my new headpieces Roslyn and Halle. Every day on the news there is someone dying of cancer. What happened? So many people and so many young ones too. It gets harder and harder to watch. I particularily felt bad when Patrick Swayze died. He seemed to keep up the same spirit as I do and he still died. I don't work with prognoses. They are seldom correct. I do have my own vitality meter though. (Intuition) The readings have been lower than I would like them to be.

I still don't know if the Nexavar is working. I will have to take it until januari at least to know the effect. In the meantime, I have stopped so often and have not had my Iodine treatment.

Last week the pain in my body concentrated in one area as I had started to take my pain medication again. It was the rib on the left hand side again.

This week I went to Van Triest at the AVL. It was really comforting to hear that the last radiation session on the ribs, they actually targeted another rib. This can happen as it is not always clear exactly where the problem is. I had radiationtherapy on the area that I was actually experiencing pain in.

Already, the pain has died down in comparison to last week. I had worried about the last session not working...it was in the wrong place.

Little succeses like this, do make me feel a little better.

For now, I am resting alot. I have almost finished rehab. Just one week to go. I can walk very short distances without my crutches! I believe that those distances will increase. The bottom line is that overall I am still improving and beating the odds. I hope to make a mental leap the next months by focussing on what to do with the rest of my life.

The general

A few years back, ...infact it's 10 years back my colleagues called me the General. I hated it at the time because they singled me out of a whole group of event organisers, each and everyone equally hands-on and bossy. Well the general is back! Illness does not only effect yourself, it also effects the people around you. One example is my mother. She has been here for me more than once for at least 2 months at a time.























After her own back problems 5 years ago her life too, came to a screaching halt when I got sick. That and several other reasons resulted in her putting off the renovation of her study. This past summer she mentioned to me that a make-over of her study was a huge wish of hers. I set up the Pimp Granny's Den operation, with my siblings, nephews and neices and my auntie Tirza. I did the co-ordination from my bed (and 2 short trips to Zevenaar) and the others worked in shifts. Yesterday we all went to Zevenaar to finish off the job. It was done in a jiffy, and Granny's Den looks superb! Anyone need an interior designer? ;-)