Goodbye bro, I'll see you at another place...

Goodbye bro, I'll see you later at another place...

Christ Church cathedral, before and after the February earthquake...

Richard, happy family times...









Goodbye bro, I'll see you later at another place...

Canterbury plains...

Preview:  I wrote and published this story back in February on another site after the second earthquake  in Christchurch, NZ,  killed 182 and injured many. They had four more aftershocks there today, one at 5.5 and another at 6.00 magnitude.  There were no deaths and only minor injuries. But more damage and that stinking,  liquefaction that seeps out of the ground and causes damage and a difficult messs to clean up after it dries out to a smelly silt. You have to use a shovel and wheelbarrow and move it out to the side of the road for council contractors to collect and take away. But it brought it all back for me. Back to my home town and Richard's funeral  in February. I still miss my youngest brother, but he is now becoming part of my memories, and good ones too!







I mentioned a few hours ago that my brother was very ill, and may not live too long because his cancer had returned. I spoke to him on the phone last night and he said it had spread to his liver. I did a Google search and found a health site in which it stated patients could have a three to six month life expectancy. Richard actually died a couple or so hours ago. We did not expect this. I began to think last night that I'd better get down to earthquake country and see him soon.



We suspect that he may have not told us the whole truth about his cancer a couple of months ago. He may have exaggerated his wellness. I will ask my other brother in Christchurch to speak to the doctor about the scans Richard had received a few weeks ago.



A great brother, a very popular and well loved father and uncle. He smoked cigarettes and liked a couple of drinks along the way. Usually at home, not in some bar or club. He liked a couple of whiskies. I used to have a couple with him on my trips home. But I haven't been back since my mother died 14 years ago. He gave up smoking after he was told he had beaten his lung cancer.



My eldest daughter loved her uncle, even though we have been rather isolated up here in Wellington and didn't get down much. But he visited us last year and we were very pleased to see him, his wife and a couple of the kids. Bye bro, see you some time in a happier place free of pain. Pain, I think that and the blasted earthquakes got to him. Two earthquakes and 5000 aftershocks are enough for anyone!



We will be going down to Christchurch on Thursday - funeral most likely Friday. We will be experiencing some aftershocks too, and experiencing the total shock of seeing my devastated home town.



So I will be missing from my blogsites for some time and also from my Facebook page as well. See you all later!


Richard has gone, and Mother Nature is determined to send  Christchurch after him. Two major earthquakes, many strong aftershocks included - about 7000 aftershocks in total and more expected in coming months. How much more can the good folk of Christchurch tolerate before they all crack up and become mental cases.

Waimakariri River in Nth Canterbury. Richard lived on the banks of this river where he spent a lot of time over the years.


The Blogfrog

My Likes

Image via Wikipedia

Our family's potential personal tragedy...

Amidst the devastation of earthquake riven Christchurch, my own family has its own potential personal tragedy.

It was only two months ago that my younger brother celebrated the remission of his lung cancer. After his final examination after months of chemotherapy treatment, his doctor told him that he didn't want to see him again, well not for a few months in any case when he would need to come in for a checkup "Make sure you don't resume smoking." said the doctor. And my brother didn't! He celebrated his new found health and a new future.

His health had suddenly declined and he was called in to see his doctor. The doctor has given him his own devastating news: despite that clean bill of health statement concerning his lung cancer - the Big C has returned and is now in his liver.

The first scan he received did not include his lower organs, and the information I received on an internet health site stated it is quite common for cancers to move to other organs.  A second scan did pick up some evidence of something foreign in the liver. Why didn't the doctor do a more extensive scan of my brother's body initially? They then resumed chemotherapy.

He has been extremely ill at home now - there is no place in Christchurch Hospital because it is full of casualties from the Christchurch earthquake, and even the local hospice is full. The Christchurch based 'Nurse Maude' home nursing agency is now treating him at home. He is on an IV Drip and pain relief medication. He is very ill at present and is due to see the doctor again tomorrow. They may well try to get him into the hospice as soon as possible once he is checked out tomorrow.

He and the family are shattered, totally devastated and extremely critical of his health professionals who supposedly successfully treated his lung cancer. How could they get something so terribly wrong.

Related articles

• What is the Treatment for Large Cell Lung Cancer? (brighthub.com)
• The Continuing Earth Quakes, Christchurch earthquake (annlrd.wordpress.com)
• Bone Drug Zoledronic Acid May Help Prevent Spread Of Early Lung Cancer (medicalnewstoday.com)
• Aggressive Type Of Lung Cancer In Never-Smokers Identified By Quick, Easy Test (medicalnewstoday.com)
• Treatment Options for Stage 3B Lung Cancer (brighthub.com)
• Spontaneous smoking cessation may be an early symptom of lung cancer, research suggests (eurekalert.org)
• Synta shares jump on lung cancer drug update (marketwatch.com)
• Christchurch earthquake: victims of the New Zealand quake are buried (telegraph.co.uk)
• Tragedy hits Christchurch (radioadelaidebreakfast.wordpress.com)
• Act now to fight deadly cancer (timesunion.com)

http:/communitybloggersevolve.blog.co.uk

Are couch potatoes doomed to an early grave...

Are couch potatoes doomed to an early grave? A recent study says that sitting in front of the TV for hours on end could shorten your life.



According to Reuters, researchers from the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute Victoria, Australia, tracked 8800 adults and found that each hour spent in front of the TV daily was associated with an 11 percent increased risk of death from all causes.



Additionally, there was an 8 percent risk of death from cardiovascular disease, and a nine percent higher risk of cancer death.



"Compared with people who watched less than two hours of television daily, those who watched more than four hours a day had a 46 percent higher risk of death from all causes and an 80 percent increased risk for CVD-related death," said the researchers in a statement.



And it's not just overweight people who are at risk: researcher David Dunstan said "sitting for long periods of time" watching TV has an unhealthy influence regardless of how big your waistline is.



Dunstan suggested that while the study focused on television, other sedentary behaviours such as sitting in front of a desk or a computer may also prove risky to your health.



"The human body was designed to move, not sit for extended periods of time," he said.



So, if you like to sit in front of the TV watching sport with a few beers, limit the time doing it and make sure you go out and actually play some sport too.

Acknowledgements: MSN NZ Mens Lifestyles

http://lifestyle.msn.co.nz/article.aspx?id=999244

Related articles by Zemanta

• Heart disease risk from watching television, researchers warn (telegraph.co.uk)
• Google TV Brings Couch Potatoes And Marketing Geeks Together (searchenginewatch.com)
• Phys Ed: The Men Who Stare at Screens (well.blogs.nytimes.com)
• Couch potato voice recognition (halfbakery.com)

Patrick Swayze dies after long illness...

Patrick Swayze, whose good looks and sympathetic performances in films such as "Dirty Dancing" and "Ghost" made him a romantic idol to millions, died Monday. He was 57.


Patrick Swayze's doctor said in March 2008 that Swayze was suffering from pancreatic cancer.

Swayze died of pancreatic cancer, his publicist, Annett Wolf, told CNN.

Swayze's doctor, Dr. George Fisher, revealed in early March 2008 that Swayze was suffering from the disease.

"Patrick Swayze passed away peacefully today with family at his side after facing the challenges of his illness for the last 20 months," Wolf said in a statement Monday.

Most recently, Swayze starred in A&E Network's "The Beast," which debuted in January. He agreed to take the starring role of an undercover FBI agent before his diagnosis.

The network agreed to shoot an entire season of the show after Swayze responded well to his cancer treatment.

Pushing cigarettes onto children in less developed countries...

Recently I watched a documentary on television concerning the efforts of international tobacco companies trying to find alternative markets for their filthy poisonous products by pushing them onto young children in less developed countries. Anti-smoking campaigns have been too successful in recent years in mainly white western countries. Now they want to use candy flavoured cigarettes too. Read below for some facts about smoking:


In May 2001, Dr. Thomas Novotny, assistant surgeon general of the United States, was in Geneva negotiating a global treaty on tobacco control when he got a late-night telephone call from Washington.

William Steiger, then an adviser to Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson, ordered Novotny to abandon positions on international tobacco control that had been staked out by US negotiators during the Clinton administration.

At the time, Novotny was formulating with 190 other nations the Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (FCTC) to reverse a big rise in cigarette smoking, especially among young people in less developed countries. The World Health Organization estimates that there will be a billion smoking-related deaths by the end of the 21st century. This is a death rate ten times greater than in the 20th century.

Read more