blueknowser

2012-01-17T14:00:00.000-04:00

Well, it has been exactly one week since my surgery to replace my aortic valve. This is the second time I have had this open heart procedure... I am told I wore out the old valve with several of the activities that required long periods of high intensity heart effort. I am not all that inclined to agree... but it is easier than arguing from my weakened position.

So, here I am, seven days out and (typed while knocking on the wooden table) I feel wonderful. I haven't felt this good in many months. All of my body functions are in order with the exception of my hemoglobin... so I don't have the stamina back yet... but that is a matter of weeks (days if I choose to start eating lots of calves liver). I left the hospital on Sunday and have been walking a lot... stair climbing is already normal. So I can safely say that this recovery is much better than the last... perhaps I was already much sicker in 2001 and it took about a month to get where I am today.

My first replacement valve was made from a bull's heart tissue. I understand now that bovine tissue can be prone to calcification... and my hope for an 18 year valve was cut short by seven years. Of course, it isn't anticipated that an aortic valve prosthesis is going to be worked as heard as I tend to make mine work. I do stand on my commitment that if one is in good health and shape when ultimately s/he gets sick, it is likely that recovery will go well. I will reduce my intensity and length of my cycling... but certainly will not stop.

My new valve is in fact a pig's aortic valve. It has been specially treated so that it will not be rejected by my immune system but it is roughly the same as a human valve. I can't feel it, but I do feel the difference the larger valve opening is making, especially to my mind. As the old valve was gradually shutting down, I wasn't getting the same profusion as I should have... it happened relatively slowly, so I wasn't noticing it... the surgery was abrupt, and I can clearly feel the improvement. Once my hemoglobin gets back to normal, I think my muscles will react the same way... I am looking forward to getting back into shape and rebuilding the strength/stamina to my best days.

I chose to come to Little Rock and the Arkansas Heart Hospital because I know the people who own the hospital, the physicians, nurses and others who make it work. They only work on the cardio-vascular system, and they do it incredibly well. I know that I could get the work done elsewhere, but I wanted to achieve the best heart function possible for the next 15 year window of Lynnda and my life. We have achieved that by coming here.

It is ironic that I have a pig valve now... and that I got it here in Arkansas. The University of Arkansas uses the Razorback Boar as its mascot... and the refrain "Go HOGS' is likely the most utilized in the state. They are a very successful university and the UAMS Hospital are awesome... I came here for my PET scan five years ago as well.

I believe could not have had the same work done in Canada. It is a failure of the system at home that there is no opportunity to be following the devolution of one's aortic valve, or any other vessel or organ, if you are asymptomatic. I was particularly concerned about my valve situation because there are essentially no perceptible symptoms... until sudden death... when the valve shuts down. I came to Little Rock each year to have an echo cardiogram done of the valve, because it is such a critical heart function.

For the first five years, there was no change in the valve's gradient... a key measurement. The heart was working well, and the blood velocity was normal. Four years ago we saw the first changes... about a 50% increase in the gradient, but no where near critical. It continued to increase and last summer it reached concerning levels, but still not critical. Some times as I was riding the bike I started wondering if this was my last ride, but I handled that by screaming down the other side of the hills... and all was well.

In December though, things had changed... and we scheduled the surgery. We were good to do it, since two of the three leaflets of the valve had fused and while the gradient was still less than critical... we got lucky because the valve was worse than anticipated. In this case, I am happy that it has turned out this way.

Here at the Heart Hospital I am one of 110 patients who occupied a bed each day. The numbers of patients that go through the cath labs and surgical suites is astounding. The hospital has heart failure, peripheral vascular, wound healing and diabetes clinics... all associated with integrated medicine... for a population roughly like that of Niagara and Hamilton. There are three other huge hospitals, all of which also have heart programs... but the AHH thrives through focus, excellence, research and having the best equipment and people available in the industry.

I am reminded of the Shouldice Clinic in Toronto. The excellence there is respected around the world... as is the excellence at the Arkansas Heart Hospital.

Riding Through Cancer...

2011-12-18T17:23:00.005-04:00

In my previous posting today, I describe my new challenge with this damn heart of mine, that I try to keep big, open and happy... but my genes keep getting in the way. And in the posting I mention how important being in good physical health can be... especially when, invariably, we get sick. And I mention that in the past, I have posted regarding my challenges with oral/head and neck cancer.

I have also changed the goals of my life to reflect my aging and perhaps some wisdom that I can pass on regarding health, through my various physiological trials. I have decided to start writing a book about my cancer, using a bicycle trip I took in 2010 that started in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada... and ended in Austin, Texas, America in an expansive metaphor for the experience. This 4,500 kilometer trip was one I took with about forty other riders and many support folks... it took a couple of weeks, and was the hardest thing I have ever done. It was also the easiest thing I have ever done!

It was especially hard on the road, when I was thinking I was doing it alone... as sometimes would happen when I wasn't feeling good on any particular day, or even just part a few moments of the day. When you are climbing a hill, starting from a couple of thousand feet, to a pass that is around 8,000 feet, there are some moments that the riding gets really, really, really hard... and lonely. Even if you really like yourself, if all you are hearing is your own voice or heart pounding, it can play tough games with your psyche.

But then someone comes along and gives you some encouragement as they go past... or maybe they slow down to ride along side and with you... maybe even put their hand on your saddle and give you a little push. Sometimes when these things happened I would get a little rush of adrenaline, and the strength would return, and my cadence would come back... it happened several times. On at least one occasion, it didn't!

( Photo Credit is to http://www.panoramio.com/photo/43505561 )

I was on Douglas Pass... it is just as you approach Utah in the Northwest corner of Colorado... our Team Five had ridden fifty-five or so kilometers that day when we approached the base of the mountain... I started up the mountain with the other four riders on our team... I had climbed poorly for about a mile and I could feel cramps in practically every muscle in my body... I got the message! It was about the hardest thing I had done on the trip so far... I got off my bike. It was so steep I had a hard time dismounting, and I was so cramped, I couldn't lift my 15 pound bike into the support van that was right there with me. My God it hurt... I had soooo wanted to climb that Pass.

In the van, we followed the riders up the pass to over 8,000 feet and at the top there was a spectacular view. I got out, it was just above freezing, but I was now rested and I didn't have any pain. I swallowed hard as the teams (a second team had done the ascent with us) prepared to descend... the whole reason in my psyche, for climbing a mountain is the thrill of the descent. Just as they were about to start off, one of the riders yelled to me... "Bruce, where's your bike?"

As I pulled it out of the van, raced to put the front wheel back on, checked the pressures, the chain, and my clips, I couldn't help think I didn't deserve to descend on my bike... I hadn't climbed it...

We crossed the cattle grate at the pass pinnacle, and the descent was on... I aimed the bike, down... the tears in my eyes were streaming, my ears were hearing an ethereal scream of delight, and when I looked at my speedometer it was at over 75km. I was wheel-to-wheel with the guy who got me there (my surgeon Chad Robertson), including up several earlier difficult climbs, and I could see the grin on his face... or was that the up-hill wind we were screaming into... a long sweeping turn to slow us down, passed, and then down again... then we looked at 80km...weeeeeeeha!

I realized that so many other people have so much to do with our big moments in life... but in the past I had, too often, not understood what was happening around me... this time, I got it!

The road flattened out after about an eight mile descent and we got to see tomorrow's mountains on the right side of the support van as we pulled away from the end of our section for the day. We had changed in a parking lot, not bothering with the other cars in the lot, with nothing but smiles pasted on our cheeks, hearts still flying... Now, we were in Utah's mountains where between us and the hot pink sunset, there were some snow crystals off in the distance... making it magical... but not so much as the descent!

( Photo Credit to http://www.motorcyclecolorado.com/douglas_pass.htm )

So, I have decided to begin writing parts of the experience and post some of them here. In a way I want to see them in print, and share some of the experiences, maybe with the details of the ride profile, or the cancer oncology plans, or other questions that I had and have about how to get through challenges... I hope they will be useful, and perhaps allow covers to one day embody them in an useful way.

My Latest Challenge

2011-12-18T16:31:00.005-04:00

Never a dull moment in life as we age... mine has been a roller-coaster of late... to say the least. About ten years ago I was lucky to have been able to have a diagnosis of a genetic heart defect; one that was getting to the stage that it could suddenly end my life. It was a bicuspid aortic valve... and it had a calcific stenosis that had become acute. Through persistence and the help of close colleagues in the cardiology business, I was able to have a heart catheterization when I thought I had symptoms of some sort of heart problem. This led to the diagnosis of a heart valve in crisis, even though the heart itself was otherwise in great condition.

My 2001 open heart surgery that followed was a sudden experience... one that I haven't shared on this blog. This, because it has always seemed that my subsequent and unrelated cancer was something I could share to the benefit of others, by exposing the issues associated with the epidemic of cancer. In comparison, cancer takes many more lives than my heart valve problem, so I have in the past highlighted the cancer issues.

However, by annually having an echo-cardiogram, we followed the performance of the prosthetic valve that was placed at the Arkansas Heart Hospital by a fabulous team of professionals. In July this year, I became aware that again, my aortic valve was developing problems. It wasn't enough to stop me from my cycling projects, but it did cause me to be much more aware of my sagging performance over the fall months. In an echo cardiogram follow-up this month, we found that the valve is approaching acute failure at an alarming rate of speed. It is again calcified, and has to be replaced.

I want to help people understand this little understood heart ailment. I will copy below the layman details of Aortic Valve Stenosis. This is from Wiki, but is quite accurate, so worth reading. It is a silent killer most of the time, although people who 'listen' to their bodies... and are aware of their exercise output capacities can in some instances catch things like I suffer from, before being killed by them. By my continuous effort to stay in shape, listening to my body, I have been lucky enough to twice now, catch this thing. Yes, I am lucky to have made a career choice that kept me in the medical device arena, therefore close to people who can help, but first, I have had to be in shape and listening, in order to question the things I occasionally feel, about my output.

So, what does this mean. Well, "its elementary", to quote Sherlock Holmes in "The Crooked Man"... replacement can happen in two ways... First, open heart surgery is the way I was treated ten years ago, and that remains the Gold Standard today. There is a new technique, still under clinical investigation/trial here in North America. It is called TAVI, but it is yet unproven to the standards here, and it is not at all approved for "re-do" situations, like mine.

After a good deal of consultation I have decided to have the Gold Standard procedure, open heart surgery... even though the recovery period is much longer. I had seriously considered the TAVI be done 'off-label', but there was in the end no reward for the risks involved in a procedure that does not have clinical efficacy, here in North America. I have a great level of respect for the clinical trial process that is utilized to 'prove' a new technique or device... and in our decision, Lynnda and I leaned on the experience we have had at the Arkansas Heart Hospital and our friends there, who have over the years been our great care-givers to both of us.

I will keep my blog updated as to the procedure, the outcome and so on. I am very confident in my physicians and in the outcome.

For the moment, my message is, again, that it is very important to understand that when one gets sick (and with time we all will), it is important to be in the best physical condition possible. Why? Simply because it opens doors to treatments that could otherwise be closed. When we battle cancer, or trauma, or congenital diseases, our chances of success are enhanced if you are starting out with good vascular and pulmonary function. These good conditions accumulate through cardiovascular and stretching exercise; healthy eating and weight management; great dental hygiene; non-smoking; avoiding environmental hazards; and so on.

Further, it is important to have regular check-ups and listen to your body when it is telling you things... don't hang up on your 'wake-up calls'.

Here is a pretty good description of my problems...just copy this and paste into your browser... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aortic_valve_stenosis

Below is a cool video of the procedure that I will have in January... since I have had it before, I know what to look forward to... great drugs, beer on the second evening, and lots of moderate exercise for six weeks or so... then, back in the saddle!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jLfPlQBYuw

Looking Back and Forward at the Same Time

2011-11-30T19:15:00.004-04:00

It has been a long time since I visited Spectranetics Inc. This is the company for which I toiled during the end of the last century and the first four years of the 21st... and if that sounds like a long time ago, for me, it is. In fact, it has been seven years since I worked with the team at SPNC... that's over 10% of my lifetime... and I figured I was a) over it and b) would have forgotten much of the technology and even the people.

I was wrong on both counts. As to a) above, I wasn't over it. So much happened during my tenure there that it is probably impossible to forget.

Perhaps I should explain what SPNC is about... this is a company that develops, manufactures, markets and supports interventional cardiology products. These are the tools with which specially trained physicians (we call them interventional cardiologists, electro-physiology (EP) cardiologists, vascular surgeons and interventional radiologists) might intervien when patients have had, or are about to have a heart attack; have to have a pacemaker replaced; or have clot and plaque build-ups in the lower leg, causing severe pain limited walking ability. These products are in the form of catheters that are threaded through arteries or veins into the heart or peripheral regions of the extremities. They are then attached to a cool temperature (40C) Excimer Laser which 'ablates the plaque, scar tissue or clot that is causing the critical situation for the patient.

OK, so I was wrong about being "over it". I had grown to love the action of the job and the incredible rush one gets when one sees a patient survive and then thrive because a very talented physician used our products to save a patient's life. I guess I will never be over that feeling. When I walked into Spectranetics on Monday, it was like 2004 all over again. I wanted to call my troops and customers and make things happen. More on this feeling later...

I was also wrong about b) above... I had forgotten almost nothing about the clinical aspects of the business, the motivation, the budgets, the customers and especially the team. I always understood that a sales and marketing team is only as good as the product needs analysts; the engineering in the product; the production systems from material purchasing, through manufacturing, and the built-in quality systems; the shipping and receiving teams; the installers and service team and so on... and as I met these people while walking the halls of SPNC, I realized how much they had meant and still mean to me. I also met several people in the administration and non-line organizations... Finance, Human Resources, Planning, IP, IT, Regulatory and so on. And I remembered all of them... except that there were a lot of them no longer with the company. At least I hadn't forgotten... at my age, that's a great thing to realize!

So, I had that feeling that I wanted to call the troops and customers... it was an urge... but when I thought about it afterword, I realized that I would be calling them to say... WOW! I saw a lot more than I had expected to see in the form of energy, commitment, enthusiasm and so on. I didn't need to put my hands on the current catheters... to know that they were probably as good, or better, than we had seven years ago... and those were great! The people I met, and the few that I knew, were able to convey to me that they had a product, a team, and a leadership that is capable of expanding this wonderful technology through the industry.

My experience is that the Excimer laser energized catheters in the hands of talented, experienced interventionalists; in properly triaged patients... has the potential to extend and improve the lives of tens of thousands of people who would otherwise have compromised emergent outcomes. This company has not only survived the many challenges proffered by 'executives past' it has thrived.

With the leadership of the new CEO, Scott Drake; CFO, Guy Childs; and the new Chairman of the Board of Directors, John Fletcher... I am convinced that Spectranetics is on solid ground and will keep developing innovative products in the image of Bob Golobic the founder. For certain I am not here in giving any investment advice, and I should disclose that I have recently purchased 1,000 shares... but I do wish that I still had the many thousands I once purchased as an investor.

Today, I learned I lost a new and good friend, yesterday

2011-10-06T15:51:00.006-03:00

Its amazing to me, that in just two years, Lynnda and I became very good friends with Nick and Liz Ikonikov... our neighbors across the street. Yesterday, Nick was hiking with Liz and a group in a provincial park in South-Western Ontario. Nick was doing what he loved, in the outdoors, with friends... he had a massive heart attack and could not be revived, even though there was an experienced medically trained person on the trail.

Nick had a huge life! He was in his middle 70's, but reminded me of a robust 60 year old. He was an engineer who directed the building of several large projects like power plants, mines and oil refineries during his career. He and his wife Liz had two children who meant the world to him, and just the thought of his grand children brought a wide smile, and a chuckle to him. What a great guy!

Nick occasionally would visit with Shamus... always bringing either a cookie or a gift for him. One can always tell when someone is a great person, when the family dog thinks that person is awesome. Shamus would see Nick, even through the window across the street, and his tail would start wagging. He would be at the extreme end of the leash when Nick would start coming across the street saying in a teasing voice... "Shaaaaaamus" and then jokingly, as Shamus licked Nicks face and ears, "stay down boy! Seeeeeat boy... gooooood dog!"... and then produce a cookie. He would compare Shamus' shenanigans to his beloved Cody who passed just a year or so before we moved to NOTL.

When Nick came for dinner with Lynnda and me, it was Shamus who got center stage with Nick... until the European Beer came out... wow, did he like a great and cold beer... and his smile lit the room as did his laughter fill it with fun. We will all miss Nick Ikonokov...

To Liz, we commit our undying support, as we do to the rest of the family. Nick's Mother in Montreal will have a hard time, at 98, absorbing his passing. She lives on her own and Nick visited with her just a couple of weeks prior to his and Liz' recent three week trip to Europe where they visited Nick's homeland. He loved his Mother, as a child would... who could ask for more, yet he gave more, visiting her in Montreal several times a year, for a week at a time. Amazing to me... but that was Nick. We will all miss him... ciao Friend... BRuce and Lynnda

On washing my hands after using the restroom...

2011-08-24T21:57:00.003-03:00

Have you ever wondered "what is the point of washing your hands after using the washroom"? For many of us, the answer is no... between 70% and 80% of us don't question it. Studies have shown that since the threat of the H1N1 virus, the washing of hands following urination or defecation by humans has gone up, from 70% to 80%, approximately (studies from 1997 and 2009 were consulted). There are actually people who do 'undercover' studies of these habits... We know that if we don't wash, we could spread various bacteria and virus from the toilet area to ourselves; or to others from our hands to food, other hands, our eyes and so on...

But what about the 20% to 30% who don't wash their hands? Certainly they have direct risk to themselves and to their acquaintances... spouse, child, friend and so on. And have we given any thought to when these people leave the public washroom where they didn't wash their hands... but used those same filthy hands to open the door to the washroom. Yes, that is the same door that everyone else will put their hands on... clean or otherwise... to escape the washroom. Yuck... makes me sick thinking about it. We wash our hands, only to contaminate them by opening the door to the washroom on the way out!

So, to fool the perpetrators of such virulent habits, there are some of us who circumvent the potential for contamination by using the towel we use to dry our hands, as a protective cloth between the door handle and our clean hands, when we open the door... this in facilities which supply towels. The tell-tale of this is when you sometimes see a pile of paper towels on the floor near the door to a washroom. It happens often enough that you may see some facilities who place the trash containers near to the door where it swings out.

But then there are the McDonalds, Tim Hortons, Burger King, and thousands of other restaurants and gas stations, who don't have towels in the washrooms... they just have 'blowers'. These companies did cost studies where they realized that by not putting towels in the washrooms, they saved money... money for towels; money to clean up the paper on the floors; money to snake the toilets when they get plugged; and so on. In these establishments, you can't escape with out getting contaminated... I hate these places, and try to avoid eating at restaurants where I know the door knobs likely have the virus and bacteria from 20% to 30% of the patrons on the door handles! Hmmmm, I wonder what would happen if more people decided on where they eat based on whether they can wash their hands before eating, or after going #1 or #2 ... and return to their food with clean hands... not touching the door handles...

And when I can't avoid it... when I enter a bathroom with no towels, and those incessant wind machines... I have a new tactic! I go back to my table, or in the case of McDonalds, to the dispensers, and grab a handful of napkins... I go into the bathroom, do my thing, and use the napkins to dry my hands, then to open the door... and then I throw the napkins back into the bathroom in order to contain any virus or bacteria that I may have wiped off the door handle, in the bathroom.

I recommend such Gorilla Tactics at every restaurant, every hospital, and every gas station restaurant which uses the wind machines, and not the towels. If these facilities want to save money on towels, start building washrooms with no doors like in airports, or doors that open out, so you can open them with your foot...

Pass this on, but not the contamination in your next pit stop... think about the millions and millions served at these restaurants... for every million served, there are between 200,000 and 300,000 patrons who don't wash their hands. If only 10% of those end up contaminating the next person through the door, that would be 20 to 30 Thousand people for every million served... that may catch a cold; or worse a flu; or a sty; or MRSA; some of them cold die. And we know that in some cases, there are billions served!

Let the Sun Shine

2011-08-23T18:18:00.004-03:00

After reading and re-reading the letter from Jack Layton, I am convinced that there is a message in it for more than just Canadians and just young people. It was a 'large' letter that tells me that what it has meant to be a Canadian, American, Brit or what ever... won't cut it in the future. It was telling us that we have to be bigger than we have become...

His final paragraph said... "My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world." This is clearly a different tact than what we have fallen into in the western world... and without fundamental change, that comes from within, from individuals, and certainly from leadership... we will become a horrible place to live. It is time to find leaders who actually live by these credo... not just talk them.

It is possible that it will take time to have this in our political, religious and business leadership. We can however start it in the sphere that we control ourselves. I like to think of it as someone walking around with a cloud over there head... and everyone with whom they come into contact, getting wet. With a simple smile, the sun comes out!

So once again, we have control, we can start things ourselves... and once we start, and we expect others to do the same, perhaps we can change the world... we can do a Jack!

To Jack

2011-08-22T17:51:00.003-03:00

Jack Layton died today... four weeks after announcing that a cancer was interrupting his life again. He was to be back in Parliament in September for the Fall Sitting... not to be. This is a large loss for Canada and for Canadians as individuals. Jack was teaching us what being a Canadian is all about. Even in dying, he gave yet another lesson... he was a class act, and I am afraid, a hard act to follow.

This guy had eternal optimism... I am hoping the eternity part of that means that it will stick around... and possibly stick to some of us. He wrote us a letter... two days before he died, no less... I am posting it here below... because I think every Canadian should read it. This from a guy who knew he was dying, and soon. He had the presence of mind to capture the nuances of life and understanding that we are owed nothing in life... we need to make the best of what we can grab. He wasn't angry, not wondering why... he was just letting us know what he thought about the future... without him.

A great guy, did many great things for individuals and for the country... I hope we learned from him, and that we will be a better place going forward...

August 20, 2011

Toronto, Ontario

Dear Friends,

Tens of thousands of Canadians have written to me in recent weeks to wish me well. I want to thank each and every one of you for your thoughtful, inspiring and often beautiful notes, cards and gifts. Your spirit and love have lit up my home, my spirit, and my determination.

Unfortunately my treatment has not worked out as I hoped. So I am giving this letter to my partner Olivia to share with you in the circumstance in which I cannot continue.

I recommend that Hull-Aylmer MP Nycole Turmel continue her work as our interim leader until a permanent successor is elected.

I recommend the party hold a leadership vote as early as possible in the New Year, on approximately the same timelines as in 2003, so that our new leader has ample time to reconsolidate our team, renew our party and our program, and move forward towards the next election.

A few additional thoughts:

To other Canadians who are on journeys to defeat cancer and to live their lives, I say this: please don’t be discouraged that my own journey hasn’t gone as well as I had hoped. You must not lose your own hope. Treatments and therapies have never been better in the face of this disease. You have every reason to be optimistic, determined, and focused on the future. My only other advice is to cherish every moment with those you love at every stage of your journey, as I have done this summer.

To the members of my party: we’ve done remarkable things together in the past eight years. It has been a privilege to lead the New Democratic Party and I am most grateful for your confidence, your support, and the endless hours of volunteer commitment you have devoted to our cause. There will be those who will try to persuade you to give up our cause. But that cause is much bigger than any one leader. Answer them by recommitting with energy and determination to our work. Remember our proud history of social justice, universal health care, public pensions and making sure no one is left behind. Let’s continue to move forward. Let’s demonstrate in everything we do in the four years before us that we are ready to serve our beloved Canada as its next government.

To the members of our parliamentary caucus: I have been privileged to work with each and every one of you. Our caucus meetings were always the highlight of my week. It has been my role to ask a great deal from you. And now I am going to do so again. Canadians will be closely watching you in the months to come. Colleagues, I know you will make the tens of thousands of members of our party proud of you by demonstrating the same seamless teamwork and solidarity that has earned us the confidence of millions of Canadians in the recent election.

To my fellow Quebecers: On May 2nd, you made an historic decision. You decided that the way to replace Canada’s Conservative federal government with something better was by working together in partnership with progressive-minded Canadians across the country. You made the right decision then; it is still the right decision today; and it will be the right decision right through to the next election, when we will succeed, together. You have elected a superb team of New Democrats to Parliament. They are going to be doing remarkable things in the years to come to make this country better for us all.

To young Canadians: All my life I have worked to make things better. Hope and optimism have defined my political career, and I continue to be hopeful and optimistic about Canada. Young people have been a great source of inspiration for me. I have met and talked with so many of you about your dreams, your frustrations, and your ideas for change. More and more, you are engaging in politics because you want to change things for the better. Many of you have placed your trust in our party. As my time in political life draws to a close I want to share with you my belief in your power to change this country and this world. There are great challenges before you, from the overwhelming nature of climate change to the unfairness of an economy that excludes so many from our collective wealth, and the changes necessary to build a more inclusive and generous Canada. I believe in you. Your energy, your vision, your passion for justice are exactly what this country needs today. You need to be at the heart of our economy, our political life, and our plans for the present and the future.

And finally, to all Canadians: Canada is a great country, one of the hopes of the world. We can be a better one – a country of greater equality, justice, and opportunity. We can build a prosperous economy and a society that shares its benefits more fairly. We can look after our seniors. We can offer better futures for our children. We can do our part to save the world’s environment. We can restore our good name in the world. We can do all of these things because we finally have a party system at the national level where there are real choices; where your vote matters; where working for change can actually bring about change. In the months and years to come, New Democrats will put a compelling new alternative to you. My colleagues in our party are an impressive, committed team. Give them a careful hearing; consider the alternatives; and consider that we can be a better, fairer, more equal country by working together. Don’t let them tell you it can’t be done.

My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.

All my very best,

Jack Layton

Come Ride With us... in 2012

2011-08-14T11:41:00.003-03:00

Below is a letter I wrote to the folks who donated money to my recent ride around the Cabot Trail... 300km in two and a half days... hope you will consider riding next year....

Hello there... I hope this finds you doing well and enjoying the summer. I have been busy with the riding for various 'causes' and am invigorated by the response from our friends to these efforts. Today I am "in recovery"... I drove home from Nova Scotia yesterday (about 1,200 miles door-to-door) and after the Coast to Coast Tour For Kids Cancer ride on the Cabot Trail, it was a real challenge. But the main thing that I want to communicate in this note is my deep appreciation for the funding you donated to the Kids Camps Charity we chose to support this year. Here are a couple of data points...
a) we had approximately 65 riders of whom about half were from the Maritimes and the rest from Ontario, Alberta and the USA. We had Nova Scotia liquid sunshine for the first day and the really heady climb up Cape Smokey on Friday... we rode the trail counter clockwise which most will agree is the most aggressive direction for climbing... then we had spectacular dry sunshine for two days with the assents of North and MacKenzie/French mountains on Saturday and Hunter Mountain on Sunday giving our brains memories of spectacular vistas.
b) those listed here contributed $2, 732 dollars to the ride and I want to again thank you very much for the support. The B&LR Foundation added enough to go over the $5,000 I wanted to get to, but more importantly, because of the tradition of Coast to Coast and Give to Live ensuring that every penny donated by people like you actually goes to the Kids... we combined with the other riders, contributed over $150,000 to the three charities listed on the Give to Live site... Camp Good Time (Nova Scotia), Lion's Sick Children's Fund (New Brunswick) and Camp Delight (Newfoundland and Labrador)... divided equally. The structure of the fundraising has sponsors who underwrite the costs... but most of the people involved in both Coast to Coast and Give to Live are VOLUNTEERS! They keep the costs down, but companies like Investor Group (provided much needed financing), Tim Hortons (Provided bus transportation), New York Fries (provided the cooks and equipment), Telus, Louis Garneau, Sears, Cadillac Fairview, LG and Marsh allow the ride to function as a 100% organization. I am proud to be able to tell you that all of your philanthropy got through to the kids and their families who need it.
c) we are hoping to, next year, add another 100 riders to this endeavor. I have to say, this ride was the best organized, safest, best supported, best riders, best scenery, best bike mechanic, great food ride I have ever been on. It was also 'tough'. But is wasn't as tough as the kids who came to the morning motivations with their stories of survival, the support they received from people like you, and so on. We met families and kids that had trials that brought tears to us. Humble people who were unfortunate enough to be struck by cancer... and they told us about how these philanthropic endeavors helped them through the toughest days... then we climbed Smokey and North and MacKenzie and Hunter... WOW!

A couple of years ago, when I started getting involved in riding my bike for more than just the health benefits, I decided to ride with the Give To Live Foundation because of their commitment to 100%. They have not let me down in any way... in fact, they have been nothing short of spectacular. I said the first time that I rode I would ask you only once to contribute to my efforts... but that turned out to be wrong... I have asked again. And this note is fair warning, that I will ask again next year... because this is the way to help those with cancer; it is the way to contribute to the gradual demise of the disease (like polio, we can beat it); and it is the way I can demonstrate to my friends that you can get on a bike, get and stay healthy, and do something for someone else. Coast to Coast also lives by this 100% model and has raised nearly $20,ooo,000 for these causes over recent years!
Thank you again for your support, and please remember that it isn't me that you are donating to... 100% of the funds you send in this direction, get to the target! If you are donating to other causes... of course you do, as do Lynnda and I... please check out how much of your hard earned dollars are getting through, and choose the ones who approach 100%.
Ciao... BRuce

CONSIDER RIDING NEXT YEAR... HERE IS THE LINK TO THE CABOT TRAIL PICTURES... HAVE A LOOK AT WHAT YOU WILL EXPERIENCE... WE HAD SEVERAL FIRST YEAR RIDERS WHO RODE THE BIG CLIMBS AND ARE BIGGER FOR IT...
http://www.google.ca/search?q=cabot+trail+pictures&hl=en&prmd=ivns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=NVpBTof6Da-LsAKe-s3TCQ&ved=0CCgQsAQ&biw=1680&bih=935

The map below and this website link... written by Brian Hedney describes the route that was chosen for our ride on the Cabot Trail which is the Counter Clockwise direction... this puts your bike on the cliff-side of the road... best views, and the steepest climbs. We think it also makes for the safest rides, since the descents are easier, particularly if it is Nova Scotia sunshine in which you are riding... link here

A few pics from the website link above...

Life's a Bike... and its all down hill from there

2011-08-12T22:35:00.004-03:00

Its been some time since I ventured back to the blog... I don't know why, it seems like things just haven't been right for a while. All through the winter and spring I was fighting an IT Band Leg injury... this is a tendon pain in the leg that is caused by not stretching (properly) both before riding, and after. It was a painful lesson, since I really hoped to do some serious riding in 2011. I missed the Colorado Springs Carmichael Climbing and Descent School, and had to cash it in for the Coast to Coast ride for Kids Cancer from Vancouver to Halifax.

In May, things started feeling better and I started some short rides... nothing over 25km, but with some time, I started to practice on some hills, too. All through the winter and spring I was helping to organize the Tour du Lac... a 910km ride around Lake Ontario from St. Catharines to Kingston in Canada, and then through Oswago, Webster, Lockport and Niagara Falls in America. As time went on, it became apparent that while I wasn't planning to ride the Tour du Lac, it might be the only long ride I would get in this year... if only I could get into shape.

I committed to the ride in June and started some fund raising for the Cath Labs in the new hospital for St. Catharines. When the ride day came, I was on deck and did the first "mile" century of my year... 170km. It was hot, and the track took us through Toronto, but it was a good day. We continued the next day with another 150km and then a 162 on day three. By then, I was starting to feel good, working my way into 'shape'. It was on this ride that I started thinking about my life as a 'bike'. It seems to me that when I get on one, I start feeling better and better. I like climbing the steepest hills... because when you lip over... its all down hill and that's what its all about... fast, smooth and letting it all hang out...

Years ago when I would drive my Porsche in Cleveland there was an exit off I271 onto I90... it was a long up-hill curve that I could get into at around 100mph and then at the apex of the turn and the hill, I could accelerate down into the interstate and hit about 135 before letting off... I called it "playing with the devil"! The years have passed, and while I was a cyclist way back then in the late 1980's, it was the car that was doing it for me... now, when I hit 70 to 80 km on the bike... I feel the same way! Grin on my face all the way up the hard part of the hill, so I could have a white tooth smile on the way down... Playing with the devil... don't ever crash! Never mind the road rash... at these speeds it could be heaven, or it could be hell...

After the Tour du Lac I was worn out. The heat got to me, the miles wore me down. Lots of things were not right about the way I felt after the ride... legs swollen and sluggish; hands sore; four toes numb and the bottom of my feet were sore... my mood was a little down... mostly because it was over! The ride was a blast... we had great riders with us, good friends. We met some fine new friends along the way in Trenton, Webster and Lockport. But something wasn't right...

It turned out that what was bothering me was my poor performance during a couple of training days after the Tour. I had three practice rides, getting ready for the Cabot Trail ride that would occur the following weekend... August 5th to the 7th. I found some hills to practice on... but in the back of my mind, I was finding out that I was not going to do well on the trail... and I was right! Hills that I was blasting up in the weeks before the Tour du Lac, I could hardly climb, at any speed... this was going to make the Cabot Trail really bad... with four major climbs coming in the next week, it was sure to be ugly. I put my best face on and headed east to Nova Scotia.

I got to Halifax with several days to spare before the Cabot Trial ride. I decided to try one more training ride... I did Highway #7 on Monday with legs to East Petpeswick and on #357 to Cozy Corner... all about 80km... it was a good ride, and I was feeling better... but the next day, my legs were like lead! My recovery capacity sucked and I wasn't sure why. I decided to take the rest of the days until the Cabot Trail off...

I was lucky, it rained a lot over the next few days... a planned ride in Halifax with some fast guys was cancelled due to the liquid sunshine and I found other things to do. I was heading for Cape Breton with Chad Robertson and Stuart Richardson on Thursday and we arrived as planned early the evening before the Cabot Trail ride was to start... what a great evening. We saw all sorts of folks we knew from the Vancouver ride last year.. spirits were high and we were ready to go... 6AM Friday morning came and we were on deck...

We started riding at about 8 AM... I was a tour marshal and had six really good riders with me. We started out tight and together... I was moving up and back in the line and everyone was doing well. I dropped back to help a rider with a tire problem and picked up a pull back to the group I started with ... all in all things were OK for the first 75km... then I hit Cape Smokey! I had again dropped back to help a rider and had not gotten back to my group when we started this ascent. It was just spitting a little, it was warm, but no hot, there was no curb lane, we were exposed to traffic... but thankfully, in the whole 2.1km and 425 meters of vertical I noticed only about five cars... but Oh Lord was it hard... I had a friend climbing with me, Mike Cross who has become a really interesting part of the ride as we compared notes from the Vancouver ride... we got to the top of the climb, and there was a clear view of the basin below... but I was spent and rested... we were a large group that were resting there... knowing the rest of the ride was 'all down hill to Ingonish with smiles on our faces'... but I was really spent!

In the morning I was feeling the effects of the day and night before... I had arrived in Ingonish, 'all in'. We had our recovery routines and I went through mine... to no avail... I didn't feel recovered. Then dinner and it was a good one... put on by Coast to Coast and 'the guys from New York Fries'. At around dusk, we all piled into the Tim Horton's bus and headed to a party in a local pub... after shooters, beers and wine we were back in camp and sleeping. While I had mostly abstained (gone are the good ol' days of "hunting with the Owls at night, and soaring with the Eagles in the morning"), I felt like I had done every shooter! Thanx Todd and Jeff...

We pulled out on what was to be the hardest climbing day... North and MacKenzie Mountains... Here are two videos of the descents... the first is of MacKenzie... and the second of North.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn6UULvghro

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FKf-_TRdF8

These are what we saw... in reverse... these are the descents of what we were to climb this picture perfect day... but for me it started out really poorly... The group was in great shape... everyone was riding well. It started well for me, although I was hurting in my legs... they were like lead. Just about 10 clicks out of Ingonish I dropped back to help out friends from the Vancouver Trip... Peter and Angelo Gatti were having bike problems... Peter's front derailer had been a problem before, and was now causing him to be unable to get to his small crank. Angelo, like me, wasn't feeling well, and we decided to go slow... Peter had to put his bike on the rack of the support vehicle. Angelo and I continued, like the two older guys we are, and at some stage we decided we had had enough... the support vehicle came and I decided I could continue... there wasn't enough room for both bikes at this stage, and Ashley Ward decided she wanted to do some riding... we had not ridden together on the road bikes, even though we were both on the Vancouver to Austin, Texas ride last year. Ashley is the ED of Give to Live and has a lot of responsibilities during the ride, so some times decides to ride or not... I was lucky, and she motivated me to ride the rest of the way to the base of North Mountain. I didn't think I had the legs to go it alone, and Ashley had to get to the lunch location, so we packed the bikes on the bike rack and rode North in the comfort of a car... I was a little ashamed, but it was best for me.

After lunch, Ashley and seven others decided to try MacKenzie Mountain. I was not really feeling up to it, but my generous ego got the best of me and I got on the bike... wow, was I glad I did... don't know where the legs came from, but I had the power that was missing for the 24 hours before and climbed MacKenzie very well. Not as well as I would have liked, but I made up for the failure on North (where I will reprise my failure of 2011 in 2012 with a strong ride)... the best part was the really great descent... there are several 'fool's knobs' (good hills up that you don't see ahead, causing you to be fooled into thinking that the climb was over) at the far end of this climb... but the descent is not only steep, it is curly and the views could cause you to lose concentration and become a part of the view for the next rider! Wow, but a picturesque descent... I passed a surprised half-ton truck driver who decided to try and follow me down... as I hit 48 mph on my speedo, he backed off coming into a 30km curve (for what ever reason, I still calibrate in mph) and I lost him ... now I was starting to feel better... and by the end of the day, when I rode into our camp in Cheticamp, I felt awesome.

That evening, I rested, and caught up with some really good friends. Many of the riders 'from away' had gone on a whale watching trip. It gave some of us who were from Nova Scotia a chance to spend time as we awaited them... we were accused of drinking all the beer... but it was a great time... I spent time with Ron Allan and learned a little about his many Iron Man competitions and the area of the South Shore where he lives... it was a great afternoon.

On Sunday, it was planned to be a short ride... about 92km... and it was. My lead legs were back, I rode well on the flats, but when the relatively short and low Hunter Mountain presented itself about 70km out, I had to have a psychological pull up the hill from Chad Robertson. Chad had been the fastest, strongest rider both days leading into Sunday... but this day, he was good enough to ride with me, and he paced me all the day... he coaxed me up several hills before Hunter, but kept me with the team most of the time. Here I was riding with the guy who did my cancer surgery in Halifax, and a guy who easily could have been leading the ride into Baddeck... well, he really helped me yet again... as he did on several of the big climbs in the Rockey Mountains last year.

After we did the descent from Hunter, we all massed at the point where the Cabot Trail meets the Trans Canada Highway... the RCMP lead us all onto the highway and we rode the last 12 km en-mass, two up, and ended with a big party in Baddeck... 300km of absolutely spectacular riding. And I was 'all in'. I had completed 1,200km of riding in two weeks... more than I should have, and I knew it.

Chad, Stu and I drove back to Halifax... I was starting to feel like I do now about the ride... I had learned so much about my own physical and mental characteristics that I felt like it was a totally great weekend. I added to it by learning so much about the way the two doctors I was riding with operate in the healthcare system in Nova Scotia... Stu and his wife Paula are prosthedontists and Paula was the dentist that designed and maintains my prosthesis that resulted from my cancer. Chad is a Maxillofacial Surgeon with degrees in both medicine and dentistry. Both Chad and Stu treat cancer patients along with others... and both interact through the Maxillofacial Tumor Board in the QE II Hospital. It was around these activities that I went to school during the three and a half hour drive to Halifax. I have joined the Board of Trustees of the Niagara Health System, and I was able to have an education on the way these cancer guys work... and perhaps how the Walker Cancer Center will work in St.Catharines... a place we are raising money for as I write.

The weekend ended with my getting in the Prius and starting the 1,200 mile ride back to Niagara. I would drive to Woodstock by 1AM that night... sleep till 0800 and head to home by 11 pM... thanx to a huge traffic accident that caused a two hour delay. In the end, I was done! But mentally, I know that I passed through a stage of my life where I overcame the largest physical challenge I had ever come up against... and I am ready to go again. I have a couple of challenges coming up... have the Walker 100mile cancer ride that I plan to do non-stop with a 28km average time in September; and I will be having surgery on my heart again some time in the next year to re-replace my aortic valve... the one I have seems to have started decaying with one leaflet having seized so far... we will change it out before it causes me any trouble... I figure this will slow me down for a month...but I plan to be back on the bike next spring... and again, it will be 'all down hill from there...

Let there be trees...

2011-03-14T15:14:00.002-03:00

Well, once in a while we see awesome articles and we need to find a way to communicate the cool news... here is an article like that... hope everyone enjoys... it is from Yahoo.com.

Group seeks forest restoration to cleanse planet

By JOHN FLESHER, AP Environmental Writer – Sun Mar 13, 2:14 pm ET

COPEMISH, Mich. – Redwoods and sequoias towering majestically over California's northern coast. Oaks up to 1,000 years old nestled in a secluded corner of Ireland. The legendary cedars of Lebanon.

They are among the most iconic trees on Earth, remnants of once-vast populations decimated by logging, development, pollution and disease. A nonprofit organization called Archangel Ancient Tree Archive is rushing to collect their genetic material and replant clones in an audacious plan to restore the world's ancient forests and put them to work cleansing the environment and absorbing carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas largely responsible for global warming.

"In our infinite wisdom, we've destroyed 98 percent of the old growth forests that kept nature in balance for thousands of years," said David Milarch, the group's co-founder. "That's what we intend to put back."

Milarch, a tree nursery operator from the northern Michigan village of Copemish, and sons Jared and Jake have been producing genetic copies of ancient trees since the 1990s. They've now joined with Elk Rapids businesswoman Leslie Lee and a team of researchers to establish Archangel Archive, which has a staff of 17 and an indoor tree research and production complex.

Its mission: Clone the oldest and largest individuals within the world's most ecologically valuable tree species, and persuade people to buy and plant millions of copies — on factory grounds and college campuses; along riverbanks and city streets; in forests, farms, parks and back yards.

"The number of these ancient survivors that go in the ground will be the ultimate measure of our success," said Lee, who donated several million dollars to get the project off the ground and serves as board chairwoman. The group hopes donations and tree sales will raise enough money to keep it going.

Scientific opinion varies on whether trees that survive for centuries have superior genes, like champion race horses, or simply have been in the right places at the right times to avoid fires, diseases and other misfortunes. But Archangel Archive is a true believer in the super-tree idea. The group has tracked down and cloned some of the biggest and oldest of more than 60 species and is developing inventories.

The plan is eventually to produce copies of 200 varieties that are considered crucial. The trees preserve ecosystem diversity, soak up toxins from the ground and atmosphere, store carbon while emitting precious oxygen, and provide ingredients for medicines. Rebuilding forests with champion clones could "buy time for humanity" by mitigating centuries of environmental abuse, said Diana Beresford-Kroeger, an Ontario scientist who studies the roles of trees in protecting the environment.

California's coastal redwoods and giant sequoias, the world's largest trees, are best suited for sequestering carbon because of their size, rapid growth and durability, said Bill Libby, a retired University of California at Berkeley tree geneticist and consultant to Archangel Archive. The longer a tree lives, the longer its carbon remains bottled up instead of reaching the atmosphere.

"They grow like crazy," Libby said. "I have a clone of what used to be the world's tallest redwood tree in my back yard. It's still a baby, only 30 years old. It's already taller than anything around it, probably 80 to 100 feet."

Archangel Archive crew members have taken cuttings from redwoods and sequoias between 2,000 and 3,000 years old. Among them: the Stagg tree, ranked the world's sixth-largest sequoia by the U.S. Forest Service; and the Waterfall sequoia, considered the widest tree on Earth at ground level — 155 feet around.

Three dozen coastal redwood clones and nine of the giant sequoias have taken root in the Copemish facility and another in Monterey, Calif., David Milarch said. The group also has successfully cloned sprouts from stumps of a dozen redwoods that were felled years ago, including one 35 feet in diameter.

The group uses several processes to develop clones. One is micropropagation, in which branch tips less than an inch long are planted for weeks in baby food jars containing gel-like mixtures of vitamins, fertilizers and hormones and placed on shelves under artificial lights. Eventually they are moved to pots of soil. Another method is to place tips up to 8 inches long in soil blends and grow them in mist chambers.

Terry Root, a Stanford University climate change expert, said giant tree clones could help fight global warming if large numbers are planted where conditions favor their long-term survival. "You can't put a redwood or giant sequoia just anywhere," she said. Location is also an issue in cities. Big, shady trees could lower home energy costs in the summer but could shed limbs and cause damage to houses if planted too close.

Finding genetically superior trees has been challenging, but group leaders acknowledge their biggest hurdle may be selling the public on the urgency of restoring the world's ancient forests.

David Milarch said he was aghast to learn that vast tree plantations were being cultivated in Ireland — not with native oaks, but with pine and cypress imports from California that would grow quickly and be harvested instead of helping cleanse and cool the planet as native champions would do.

"It makes no sense to plant monocultures of exotic species while the last of your giant native trees are in danger of blinking off the earth," he said.

2011-02-22T16:41:00.003-04:00

It has been a long time since Lynnda and I have had a winter like this one... first we have had the weather that is really a winter... it has been cold and snowy. Second, we have Shamus our oxymoron... that is 'our black Golden Doodle.

Several people have asked me how Shamus is doing... he just had his eleventh month birthday, and we are planning to have an Irish beer celebration of his birthday on the 17th of March. He is about 80 pounds and loves to be in the park with his buddies. This is about 60 acres of off-lead area for the dogs to romp... and this winter has been perfect for them. I was there last week and did some snow shoeing with Shamus, these pics were taken when we were alone for a few minutes.

Lots of fun...

"How Canada's 'haves' get had"...

2011-02-22T15:18:00.005-04:00

On the weekend past, I had occasion to read the "National Post" from the Friday prior. I picked it up from my neighbor, who gets it delivered and reads it religiously. I scanned it and realized that it is about as far right from a political point-of-view as one can get... and certainly not something I would put on my preferred reading list.

I made a point of reading each of the commentaries and the editorial... as well as many comments. Yesterday, as I was about to trash the paper, I had a look at the front page... and there was a long article titled "How Canada's 'haves' get had". The sub on it was "equalization a formula for stagnation.

The article was by a Calgary (remember I said this seems to be a right wing paper) writer named Kevin Libin. The writing is really quite good IMHO, and was based on a study published recently called " Dollars & Sense: A Case for Modernizing Canada’s Transfer Agreements " I decided to scan it, and found the article very interesting... ultimately searching for the original published report and finding it thorough and well researched.

But I wasn't as interested in the tact that the writer of the article in the Post was taking. Rather, I looked at it to understand what has happened on the east coast of Canada as a result, partly, of these transfer funds. It seems to me that we want to believe that Nova Scotia for example is a "have not province". As a Bluenoser myself, I have often argued that it is important that the people in Upper Canada should remember that it was Nova Scotia and the other Maritime provinces that were financially able to donate needed funds to build the St. Lawrence Seaway, and many of the infrastructure projects in the late 40's and 50's... isn't it time that the middle of the country support the east in that the east has lost much of the natural resources... fish, lumber, coal and so on... that was fodder for the provinces earlier in the 20th Century.

Well, a couple of years ago I read some history that indicated these transfer payments have been going on for more than the 50+ years that the author discusses and were based on the strategy promoted by James Buchanan, the Nobel Laureate economist. And it seems to me that what has happened is that the off-sets have spawned a culture that seems to need motivation to get it off the lamb. No one will argue that Halifax, St. John and now St. John's haven't jumped forward... industrious, successful and so on. But there are so many people rooted in the mindset that we can have a rustic, peaceful life style, and we are owed a living... that many parts of the provinces are literally rotting from the lack of initiative.

There needs to be some leadership in the east that will convince people that much of what they want in life is unsustainable if they don't change their ways of life. No one in this world is going to hand them a loaf in the future... yes, the fish are gone... yes the coal is gone... yes the pulp and paper and lumber is gone... knowing that, what are you going to do now? Modern health care in Cape Breton... unsustainable for less than 100,000 people living around the coast line, and no one owes it to anyone. Perfectly repaired roads, great schools, universities, day care, palliative care and so on can not be sustained in the villages and towns in areas that do not have adequate population to fund them.

What is the next move... the government has to ensure that the centers are well supported... the large cities especially. Like a living organism, if it is in trouble, nature ensures that most of its resources protect the heart and major organs. The government needs to recognize the importance of sustaining the organs... redistrict the voting mechanism and ensure that the major centers have appropriate representation. Consolidate universities and reduce the number of marginal students, increase the community college spaces for trades training. There are many things that can be discussed, most "have to be done" and soon.

2011-02-22T15:07:00.002-04:00

I have been asked about the "Thanks, Wikipedia" logo on the blog site... why do I have it here. Basically the answer is that I use Wikipedia as a first line, quick overview site for questions that come up in my life at least ten times a week... some times more often. If I am reading an article, a book, or just cogitating, and I don't understand something... I type the item or question into Google and up pops Wikipedia in the first or second place in the page one listing. It gives me guidance as to whether this is worth exploring, and where to look.

Wikipedia was first developed by Ward Cunningham... and it is now supported by a foundation. Below is an outline of the start of Wikipedia, "WIKI" meaning speed in a Hawaiian language. I like the functionality, the fact that each subject has been built by individuals that 'contribute' information... and there may be errors... but I have not found errors that have sent me in the opposite direction of what the item for which I have searched, should take me.

Interesting, useful, free, developed by a foundation... that occasionally asks for donations...

Howard G. "Ward" Cunningham (born May 26, 1949) is an American computer programmer who developed the first wiki. A pioneer in both design patterns and Extreme Programming, he started programming the software WikiWikiWeb in 1994 and installed it on the website of his software consultancy, Cunningham & Cunningham (commonly known by its domain name, c2.com), on March 25, 1995, as an add-on to the Portland Pattern Repository. He currently lives in Beaverton, Oregon and is the chief technology officer for AboutUs.

He has co-authored a book about wikis, titled The Wiki Way, and also invented Framework for Integrated Tests. He was a keynote speaker at the first three instances of the WikiSym conference series on wikiresearch and practice.

Shoveling Snow Tonight...

2011-02-05T22:43:00.003-04:00

I have heard it said that shoveling snow is a rite of passage here in Canada... I just didn't expect that in 20!! I would still be earning that rite! WOW, I just cleared another 5 inches of snow this evening, and it hasn't stopped. As well, it was 5 inches that were not in the forecast.

When I was a young boy, I used to look forward to snow storms in Truro, the town in Nova Scotia where I grew up. Back in the '50s shoveling snow was a big industry in the winter time. There were few snow plows, and fewer snow blowers, especially the two-stage, eight horsepower units that are around today. So everyone shoveled snow... even Moms and Dads.

It seems like there was more snow back then, as well. We had a home on Golf Street... a modest place with no garage, attached or otherwise... and a long driveway. The winds would sweep in over the marshes to the west of us, pushed by the tidal bore and Mother Nature to form huge snow drifts right the length of the gravel surface. And because we didn't have a garage, the car would always be snowed in... that was the first thing we had to consider. How could we extricate the car, before Mom's husband, Garfield needed to leave for work. And my brother and I knew that we had to be careful not to scratch the car in the process.

For some reason the snow that blows in is packed in, not powder. This makes it almost stiff. It doesn't push with a plow... you have to 'block it' and then lift and throw the blocks back off the drive far enough that they wouldn't roll back down into the way. The hundred feet or so would be all hard-pack and the old coal shovels we used, with the short, wooden handles, could fit really large blocks. As my brother Harold and I grew up, we graduated from throwing half blocks, half shovel-fulls, to full shovel, man-sized chunks of snow.

These chunks, with the right quality of snow, could also be used to make forts and snow houses. It was important however to finish the driveway before we started building anything. We would clear the entire path of the car... and make it wide enough so that mis-calculations didn't end with the car in the snow banks. And we would make certain that there were no messy parts to the drive way... it was as smooth as if there were no snow... just a coating above the stones.

Oh, and there were rules... we couldn't pick up any stones with the snow, because we were throwing the snow onto the lawn... and the stones could end up being thrown by the mower in the summer... chipping windows. And we couldn't cut into the lawn itself... this was a really bad mistake... the edging on the lawn could not be damaged in the winter, it would take weeks to repair it and have the lawn perfect by the end of May.

As soon as we would get the drive completely cleared, it seems like clock-work that the snow plows would arrive for the street... and of course... they would push huge amounts of snow back into the mouth of the driveway. These drifts could be as much as 5 feet deep... and if the snow was at all sloppy, it was critical that the drive be opened up, wide, almost immediately. If not... there was a chance the pushed in snow would freeze... and this was a fate worse than even hell freezing over. Without the opening there, Garfield wouldn't be able to get the car in off the street at night... Ouch!

As Harold and I grew bigger and older, we realized that we were pretty good snow shovelers. We got so that we could finish our driveway quickly... and offer our services to neighbors... for money! We learned that if we got up earlier than other kids, we could get our driveway done and move to others... and earn some money. We got to know the neighbors who would pay more than others... and we fought to get there before anyone else. The bigger kids would try... and often did, but we learned to get up earlier and to shovel faster... and to do a cleaner job.

The ultimate snow shoveling job was to get on at the CNR where they shoveled big snow storms for days. And they paid more than anyone else. The rail road was big in Truro, and as we got to Junior and Senior High School, I for one used to want the money, more than the education. I could be found shoveling with guys who hadn't gone to high school and were much older than me. Funny, looking back, I didn't catch on that they were on their way to failure... I thought they were cool and onto a good thing... being strong enough to shovel snow for days at a time... and earn all that money.

Tonight as I mused through the snow I thought about those shoveling times. There is a rhythm to moving snow... one that you learn at a very young age. And if you survive the rigors of life to the point that you are in your 60's, there is a calling to shovel it. Yes, there are people who have heart attacks, and sore backs when they spend some hours shoveling snow. But as I listen to my heart during these times alone in the snow... looking at the flakes and frost in the street lights, I hear the songs of my youth with a steady beat... just another reason to stay in shape, and shovel a little snow, eh?

2011-02-05T09:22:00.002-04:00

Here is an interesting study that is mostly about cardiovascular disease, and how it is treated in various types of institutions in the California emergency hospital markets.

I think it tells us a lot about what we have to do "after" some one has a heart attack. We continue to need to treat cardiovascular disease, and that will continue for some time. However, if we start treating the population for cardiovascular disease before catastrophic occurrences (read... costly), the outcomes would be still better.

When will we start to drive our acceptable cultural norms to include exercise, no smoking (NYC has just legislated that no one can smoke in public areas, including parks, sidewalks and so on), healthy eating and so on. The billions of dollars spent on critical care for CV disease and rehab from Heart Attacks, Strokes, Arterial Aneurysms and so on, could be saved; and recycled into other less preventable diseases.

Here is the report from "Healthcare Business News"...

Higher spending, fewer patient deaths, USC and Harvard researchers find

By Andis Robeznieks

Posted: February 4, 2011 - 2:30 pm ET

Tags: Hospitals, Patient Care, Patient Safety, Physicians

Higher spending appeared to lead to lower hospital mortality rates for patients with any of six common conditions, according to a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The authors warned, though, that the "findings should be interpreted with caution" because it's unknown which costly interventions led to the positive results.

Advertisement | View Media Kit

Studying a database of more than 2.5 million patient discharge records for 208 California hospitals between 1999 and 2008, researchers with the University of Southern California and Harvard Medical School found that hospitals that spent more on treatment of heart attacks, congestive heart failure, acute strokes, gastrointestinal bleeding, hip fractures and pneumonia had lower mortality rates for those conditions.

In fact, the authors calculated that heart-attack deaths would have increased by 1,831 if the patients had been admitted to the lowest-spending rather than the highest-spending hospitals.

The RAND Corp.- and National Institute on Aging-funded study contradicts recent reports showing that regions that spend more on healthcare have poorer outcomes than those who spend less, but the researchers said the results could have been skewed by "unmeasured confounders."

Cancer Free

2011-02-03T18:36:00.004-04:00

On February 2nd, 20!! I was in Halifax for my quarterly cancer follow-up 'check-up'.

This was already an auspicious date for me... it was exactly 10 years ago that I had open heart surgery and the good doctors at the Arkansas Heart Hospital replaced my aortic valve with a prosthesis. So, I was already planning a celebration that evening... and having dinner with my friends from the "Give To Live" Foundation that operated the bicycling trip from Vancouver to Austin last fall.

But now 2.02. (enter any year) was to become yet more important a date to me... During my third check of the day, my cancer oncologist declared me "CURED". And just an hour later, my cancer surgeon conCURrEd! It has been over five years since my second surgery and my chemo/radiation treatments... WOW, Cured!

So, celebrate we did... first with a personal dinner and then as I trudged through the snow thinking about what to do next, I remembered my good friend Todd Abbass and the fact that his bar/dining room often has entertainment, but at a minimum, Stayners in Halifax has great tap choices and champagne. Luckily for me, all was in order... thanx Todd for being there.

Then as time marched on, I walked back to the Marriott for just a few hours sleep, knowing full well that it was now February 3rd, and I am officially cancer free and have a great prosthesis covering where the cancer used to be; knowing full well that my heart beats with a perfectly working prosthesis covering where my original gave up ten years ago; and walking on the Peteller Tendon Graft that replaced my torn ACL 12 years ago... a walking body-shop production from the likes of the Arkansas Heart Hospital, the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital, and the Penrose General Hospital... the so called Canada/USA failed health system... failed you say?

So, now I am ready to start riding again... I have memories of the ride to Austin, Texas, from Vancouver with the five friends in the picture above. I plan to raise a bunch of money again this year, and I am going to attach the announcement I wrote to my email friends on Wednesday... it will fill you in on the attack plan for BRuce's future... hope you come with me

To: My Friends February 2, 2011

This morning I am starting my day here in Halifax, five years after being told I have Cancer, trying to metabolize the fact that I was told yesterday afternoon that I am cured! I am here for my quarterly check-up and after visiting with my four, fantastic, lead physicians; and many of the nurses, technologists, and administrators who treated my cancer... all professionals that have become my friends over the past five years, I start today free of the cancer boundaries that surrounded Lynnda and me all these years. It is an experience that gives me cause to pause and give thanx to them; thanx to the Nova Scotia healthcare system, and also to my support team of family and friends. To Lynnda and everyone who has supported me along the way...

THANK YOU!

So, where to from here? With more support from my friends, I intend to continue to raise money for the fight against cancer, cardiovascular, and Alzheimer’s disease. I am focused on understanding the opportunities... how to best challenge myself, and the population I can touch, to do the best we can against these and all diseases.

With cardiovascular (CV) disease, avoiding it is relatively manageable. Also, we know how to treat it... as long as we catch it in time. Things like better diet choices for our children and young people; a reduction in the numbers of people smoking and working in conditions that expose the human CV system to chemicals harmful to our hearts and other organs; and getting our population moving, exercising our hearts to keep more healthy. Providing proper diagnostic tools and wo/man power, we can diagnose disease and treat it… but it takes capital and principles. I can help with that through leadership, persistence, and self-control.

With cancer, it is clearly less manageable. For some time we have been trying to understand the way our system deals with the over 212 different forms of cancer. How do we rationalize the research into the prevention, symptom recognition and diagnosis, treatments, and appropriate care? How can the governments of the world coordinate an attack on this disease that will claim almost 10million people’s lives each year and devastate the lives of 18million cancer sufferers who survive annually? And what of the economic costs… care and lost opportunity, too? Big questions, with many focused on them… but with the potential of each of us to help at least those we can touch by being knowledgeable, caring, and by “doing”.

Alzheimer’s disease is different… it threatens our very existence as a society… and we haven’t even rubbed the surface of early recognition, diagnosis, prognosis management and cures. The social costs to the familial structure and economy are immeasurable… yet we don’t have a national plan in either Canada or the USA to deal with the tsunami of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease about to sweep over our society. Can we simply dispose of these lost souls… perhaps hide them from our reality… I think not!

We have to do better! We have to make decisions; perhaps to forgo materialistic life styles in favor of pushing our leaders to deal with these real issues… perhaps, our best investment, for the next ten years, is a large percentage of our net worth identifying channels to managing our healthcare problems into submission. This is my mission as a very small part of the cure. So, when I come calling for donations to this cause, please plan your philanthropy well… if you can’t give to these three causes, I hope you will give to other’s that are equally important. But please join me in the mission to get ahead of these diseases.

With national election campaigns revving up in both Canada and the USA we should hold our leaders and representatives to new standards. Let’s ask them what their plan is for these issues… in fact, do they even have a plan? If there isn’t a cogent answer, don’t elect these representatives of ours. Find someone with a plan that is in a party with a plan… not just to get elected… but to implement.

Enough of my pontificating, for this I apologize… but as I do, I remind myself that I have never met anyone who isn’t worried about these issues… yet we elect comparative “do nothings” to our legislatures. Should we ask ourselves, why?

Again, thank you to everyone who helped me through my latest challenge, I hope I can help you when you need it, too…

Love , BRuce

Perspective...

2011-01-09T15:26:00.006-04:00

Much is made of progress... we have seen so much of it in the most recent sixty years, since WW II. Back then we had semi-automatic 9 millimeter hand guns that could only put 8 cartridges in the gun... where as, we have improved our handguns so that today can have enough firepower to get off enough shots to injure 18 people, in a matter of seconds... six of whom, are now dead!

On the other hand, this highway was built in 1948, along a river with lots of Class II to IV rapids, and places for people to ride their bikes, kayak, hike, fish and hunt.

What are we doing as a society that pushes people to miss the latter and promote the former. Which picture would you rather have in your mind... and for your kids? The one above is available all over the world... the one below isn't. The first one below is available on the internet with pricing that is negotiable. The second one below delivers in many states of America... imagine... 18 shots, as fast as you can pull the trigger!

This 9mm semi-automatic hand gun was available in 1945 and is still for sale today for about $400.

Guns International #: 100119024

Lister Inventory #: 23109

CZ MODEL VZ 27 FNH NAZI PROOFED 7.65 CAL. PISTOL CIRCA 1945.

Description:

CZ MODEL VZ 27 FNH NAZI PROOFED 7.65 CAL. PISTOL CIRCA 1945. Phosphate finish serial numbered in the 408,xxx range. All original and matching with Waffenampt (EAGLE/WaA 76) stamp on right side of frame. Fine overall with nearly all the finish showing only modest wear. Working order and fine bore. Original magazine stamped on base “P MOD. 27”.

Price: $450.00

That's the old style, that has been 'improved' to this lovely unit below.

This 9mm semi-automatic hand gun is available for around $480 and has a magazine that holds 18 9mm cartridges. Specs are below... hmmmm, wonder what one shoots at with this type of firepower, available on the internet.

Technical Data

Calibre	9 mm Luger
Magazine Capacity	18
Trigger mechanism operation	SA/DA
Grips	rubber
Sights	fixed
Overall length	207 mm
Barrel length	114 mm
Height	147 mm
Width	37 mm
Weight	1180 g
Barrel	hammer forged
Surface treatment	black polycoat
Safety features	manual safety hammer safety notch

Reflections

2010-12-27T17:45:00.005-04:00

Leading up to the Give to Live "Ride" I decided to have a shirt designed to use both as a warming shirt on the ride and to give to folks to thank them for particularly generous donations. To the left, I have posted the back of the shirt... across the top are the sponsors who donated a large amount of money... and in the body is a listing of folks for whom I was riding as a vicarious foil for several donors who would have gone on the ride, were they able.

It wasn't until I had the shirts printed that I realized how many of Lynnda's and my relatives had died a result of cancer... or suffered from it. Add to that, the number of friends and friends-of-friends and it becomes a daunting number.

I thought I would just post this for posterity. I hope my friends and relatives will appreciate their need to be diligent, stay in shape and do everything possible to avoid the disease in any of its 200+ forms.

2010-12-09T09:21:00.003-04:00

It seems Santa is in trouble this year... that red nose is now on the wall. Perhaps we should all chip in and buy Santa a GPS and have UPS deliver it by December 24th.

Early storm brings new meaning to Snow Fall

2010-12-07T23:24:00.004-04:00

Friends of ours, Ron and Bev Smith live west of us in Ontario, closer to Lake Huron and the Georgian Bay. The area has been hit with several feet of snow this week... and thanx to the power of the internet, Lynnda and I are able to experience the snow through their puppy... Wrex. If you have read this blog, there have been other pics of Wrexy... on one occasion in a yellow So'wester in a row-boat. Here he is, getting an early snow experience... it isn't even winter, but even we here in Niagara had a skiff of snow... but having a meter of snow two weeks before the start of winter is ominous.

Huge... Huger Than I Can get My Mind Around

2010-12-05T17:21:00.003-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, I read about this huge gas ball that was found in a constellation many miles away... in fact, it was about... I guess they didn't want to be too specific... so it was 'about' 25,000 light years away from our planet... Earth.

So, how far is 25,000 light years... well, there are (here's that word again) about six (6) trillion miles in a light year... that's about 150,000 TRILLION MILES from here. And better than that, the bubble is 300,000 TRILLION MILES from top-to-bottom! don't break any speed limits getting there!!

So I got to thinking, when there are all of these stars out there, and gas bubbles and black holes, how is it that we are so impressed with ourselves here on earth... In the picture that was put out by NASA, our sun is marked... and of course, we know earth is 93,000,000 miles from earth. When I was growing-up (my wife argues that I never did), 93 million was about as far as my mind could imagine. A million used to impress people... even a million dollars isn't impressive any more... hell, there are 30,000 millionaires in North America these days (again I digress)... but this Trillion thing is really, really big...

In fact, the picture is so big, I am not certain it will fit in this posting... one may have to manipulate it a little to see all of the parts... I will press publish and see what happens... Holy ...

it is really big!

Anyway... in my office in Wisconsin, I have a pic like this posted and a discussion about when people get too big for their britches... well, now you'll understand big a little better, Eh? I prefer to use the noun "mind" here, rather than "head"... clearly I can't get my head around this... I suppose it would fit in the emptiness... but not being able to get one's 'mind' around something... that's really, really big

Giving and Receiving Gratitude

2010-11-30T11:31:00.001-04:00

I received this from a friend this week... no more is needed...

Subject: Giving and receiving Gratitude

...The Whale... If you read a recent front page story of the San Francisco Chronicle,
You would have read about a female humpback whale who had become entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines.
She was weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat.
She also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her body, her tail, her torso, a line tugging in her mouth.
A fisherman spotted her just east of the Farallon Islands (outside the Golden Gate ) and radioed an environmental group for help.
Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she was so bad off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her.
They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her. When she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous circles.
She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, and nudged them, pushed them gently around as she was thanking them.
Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives.
The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth said her eyes were following him the whole time, and he will never be the same.
May you, and all those you love, be so blessed and fortunate to be surrounded by people who will help you get untangled from thethings that are binding you. And, may you always know the joy of giving and receiving gratitude. I pass this on to you, my friends, in the same spirit.

Cancer Rates and the Economics of Cancer in Canada... by province

2010-11-28T00:28:00.002-04:00

So why is it that the federal government in Canada don't seem to think that cancer is a big problem in Canada...

Could it be partly associated with the incidence rates of cancer by province, and in specific provinces compared to the average in the country. Lower population provinces in particular might want to be tracking the question... the rates in the low population areas, especially in the east, are much higher than in the rest of the country.

The data below are from the Canadian Cancer Society website... numbers have been taken from population and from incident and mortality rates, by province.

Province Population..# of New Cases 2010..% of pop..# of deaths..% of pop

BC.....4,530,960............21,600..............0.48%.......9,500............0.2%

AL.....3,720,946............15,900..............0.43%.......6,200...........0.16%

SK.....1,045,622.............5,200...............0.49%......2,400............0.23%

MN....1,235,412.............6,200...............0.50%......2,800............0.23%

ON...13,210,677...........65,100...............0.49%......28,200...........0.21%

QC.....7,907,373...........45,200...............0.57%......20,300...........0.26%

NB........751,755............4,600...............0.61%........2,020...........0.27%

NF........509,739............2,700...............0.53%........1,420...........0.28%

NS....... 942,506............6,200...............0.67%........2,750...........0.29%

Total 34,108,752.........173,800................0.51%......76,200...........0.22%

Basically we can recognize here that the rate of cancer as a percentage of population increases as you go from West to East. As a matter of fact, the incidence and death rates in Nova Scotia are about 50% higher in Nova Scotia than in Alberta or British Columbia. One might posit that the aging of population has something to do with it... but the rate in Ontario and Quebec are also significantly lower...

Some things come to mind as questions... are the environmental factors so much worse in the east than the west? Is there a need for more financial support of the health system in the east as a result? Do prevailing winds really carry the air pollution to the east through the Jet or other stream to the degree that the cancer rates are impacted by what the folks are doing in Alberta... more than we want to believe. I don't know the questions to ask... but I know we should be wondering, in Nova Scotia, why we keep being dumped on...

On another note... I listened to an article on palliative care, for all types of patients, recently. The statistic was that 90% of all people alive today in Canada will need the support of Palliative Care (or reasonable facsimile) when they are about to die... and it will not be available to 70% of those needing it... this because we are not setting up for the costs, and infrastructure it will require. When are we planning to start doing something about these types of statistics.

It becomes clear to me that in Canada and the USofA we are not willing to do the hard things now, so that the future will be better not only for the aging, but also for the young of today, who will bear the brunt of the costs for the future.

It seems to me that the "boomers" are not willing to confront the issues through the normal channels... the people we elect as members of parliament and the legislatures of the country... and in America the same with congress and the state governments. We can not continue to abuse the future to maintain the material present. It is time to do something about it.

I believe we should consider electing independent members of the various legislative bodies, who will work from the inside to ensure that we start working quickly toward a better health and death system. And if we can not get things changed, at least here in Canada from within the government... we should expect that revolution will occur within the boomer's live time.

Here are some other data points... taken from various web sites including the Canadian Cancer Society and the Government of Canada

Economics of Cancer

Apart from the devastating effects on patients and their families, cancer causes a huge financial burden for individuals and society.

Cancer costs Canadians more than $14 billion every year
Cancer associated healthcare costs are expected to surpass $176 billion over the next 30 years
Federal and provincial governments combined are expected to lose over $248 billion in tax revenues as a result of cancer disability over the next 30 years.
More than $100 billion dollars will be lost in wage based productivity due to cancer in the next 30 years

This huge economic impact to Canadians can be split into direct and indirect costs. Direct costs include care provided in hospitals and other institutions, physician services, drugs and other (including other health professionals, capital expenditures, public health and research). Indirect costs include estimates of the value of life lost due to premature death (mortality costs) and the value of activity days lost due to disability (morbidity costs). The data presented in the following paragraphs may be found in the report Economic Burden of Illness in Canada (Health Canada, 2002).

Cancer accounted for $2.5 billion in direct costs, hospital care costing $1.8 billion and representing 74% of this amount. Of the hospital care costs, 53% was expended for those 65 years and older, although this group accounts for 58% of cancer patients. In contrast, children with cancer accounted for 2.5% of hospital costs but made up less than 1% of the cancer population.

Physician services to treat cancer cost $333 million, or 14% of the direct costs of cancer. Approximately $210 million, or 9% of direct cancer costs, were spent on drugs for cancer treatment. Seventeen percent and 12% of the total drug costs spent on cancer treatment were accounted for by breast and prostate cancer respectively. Cancer research funding, at a cost of $80 million, represents only 3% of the direct costs of cancer but 19% of the total funding for medical research in Canada that could be attributed to a specific type of disease.

The estimated direct costs of cancer are conservative, since almost one-half of the total direct cost of illness in Canada could not be attributed to specific diseases. It is equally unclear whether all cancer prevention and screening activities undertaken by governments and by non-government organizations were identified.

Cancer accounted for $11.8 billion in indirect costs. Cancer accounted for almost one-third of premature mortality costs (32%), reflecting the fact that cancer is the leading cause of premature mortality in Canada. Eight percent of the costs of premature mortality due to all diseases was accounted for by lung cancer alone (or 26% of the total due to cancer). Long-term disability costs attributable to cancer ($962 million) accounted for only 3% of the total long-term disability costs of all illnesses/injuries. Short-term disability costs for cancer were estimated at $174 million, or 2% of the total short-term disability costs.

Cost Benefits of Earlier Detection

Currently, only 19-65% of the most common cancers discussed are detected while the tumours are still in the early, most treatable stages. It has been estimated that, if all tumours were detected before spreading beyond the organ of origin, 5-year survival rates would increase as shown in Figure 1*. A corresponding decline in the economic burden of cancer could be expected. Included in the figure are the current estimates of the direct costs of cancer, for Canadians in $ billions.

* Figure modified from tabulated information in Etzioni R, Urban N, Ramsey S, McIntosh M, Schwartz S, Reid B, et al. The case for early detection. Nat Rev Cancer 2003; 3: 243-252.

General cancer statistics for 2010

An estimated 173,800 new cases of cancer (excluding about 75,500 non-melanoma skin cancers) and 76,200 deaths will occur in Canada in 2010.

· Approximately 83,900 Canadian women will be diagnosed with cancer and an estimated 36,200 women will die of cancer.

· Approximately 90,000 Canadian men will be diagnosed with cancer and an estimated 40,000 men will die of cancer.

· On average, 3,340 Canadians will be diagnosed with cancer every week.

· On average, 1,470 Canadians will die of cancer every week.

The risk of cancer increases with age: 43% of new cancer cases and 61% of cancer deaths will occur among those who are at least 70 years old. However, cancer can occur at all ages.

· Lung, prostate, breast and colorectal cancer account for 50% of all new cancer cases every year.

· Lung cancer accounts for over a quarter (27%) of all cancer deaths each year.

· Breast cancer accounts for over a quarter (28%) of new cancer cases in women.

· Prostate cancer accounts for over a quarter (27%) of new cancer cases in men.

Probability of developing or dying from cancer

Based on 2009 incidence rates, 40% of Canadian women and 45% of men will develop cancer during their lifetimes.

An estimated 1 out of every 4 Canadians are expected to die from cancer.

Cancer is the leading cause of premature death in Canada: 1,026,600 years of life were lost in 2004 as a result of cancer. This represents 32% of the potential years of life lost resulting from all causes of death.

Prevalence

At the beginning of the year 2005, there were approximately 723,000 cases of cancer that had been diagnosed in the previous 10 years.

Survival

Based on 2002-2004 estimates, 62% of people are expected to survive for 5 years after their cancer diagnosis compared to the general population of the same age and sex. Survival rates differ according to the type of cancer.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among Canadian women (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer).

In 2010:

An estimated 23,200 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 5,300 will die of it.
An estimated 180 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 50 will die of it.
On average, 445 Canadian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer every week.
On average, 100 Canadian women will die of breast cancer every week.

Probability of developing or dying from breast cancer

One in 9 women is expected to develop breast cancer during her lifetime and one in 28 will die of it.

Trends in breast cancer

Breast cancer incidence rose steadily from 1980 to the early 1990s, partly because of increased mammography screening. Breast cancer death rates have declined in every age group since at least the mid 1980s.

Last modified on: 19 May 2010

Colorectal cancer statistics

Year: 2010

Males

Females

Cases

12,400

10,100

Incidence rate*

Incidence rank

3rd

Deaths

5,000

4,100

Death rate*

5-year survival (2002-2004)

61%

62%

*age-standardized to the 1991 Canadian Standard Population (per 100,000)

In 2010, an estimated 22,500 Canadians will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer and 9,100 will die of it. Overall, colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of death from cancer in men and women combined.

An estimated 10,100 women will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer and 4,100 will die of it.
An estimated 12,400 men will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer and 5,000 will die of it.
On average, 430 Canadians will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer every week.
On average, 175 Canadians will die of colorectal cancer every week.

Probability of developing or dying from colorectal cancer

One in 14 men is expected to develop colorectal cancer during his lifetime and one in 27 will die of it.
One in 15 women is expected to develop colorectal cancer during her lifetime and one in 31 will die of it.

Trends in colorectal cancer

In both sexes, incidence rose between 1980 and 1985, then declined to the mid-1990s (more strongly in females than in males). Rates then rose through 2000 only to decline significantly thereafter (more strongly in males than in females). Death rates have been declining in both sexes.

Last modified on: 19 May 2010

Lung cancer statistics

Year: 2010

Males

Females

Cases

12,900

11,200

Incidence rate*

Incidence rank

2nd

Deaths

11,200

9,400

Death rate*

5-year survival (2002-2004)

13%

17%

*age-standardized to the 1991 Canadian Standard Population (per 100,000)

In 2010, an estimated 24,200 Canadians will be diagnosed with lung cancer and 20,600 will die of it. Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death for both men and women.

An estimated 11,200 women will be diagnosed with lung cancer and 9,400 will die of it.
An estimated 12,900 men will be diagnosed with lung cancer and 11,200 will die of it.
On average, 465 Canadians will be diagnosed with lung cancer every week.
On average, 395 Canadians will die of lung cancer every week.

Probability of developing or dying from lung cancer

One in 11 men is expected to develop lung cancer during his lifetime and one in 13 will die of it. One in 16 women is expected to develop lung cancer during her lifetime and one in 18 is expected to die of it.

Trends in lung cancer

While still elevated, the incidence rate seems to be leveling off in women. In men, the incidence has been decreasing. Lung cancer death rates continue to climb among women while decreasing among men.

Last modified on: 19 May 2010

Prostate cancer statistics

Year: 2010

Males

Cases

24,600

Incidence rate*

123

Incidence rank

1st

Deaths

4,300

Death rate*

5-year survival (2002-2004)

95%

*age-standardized to the 1991 Canadian Standard Population (per 100,000)

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among Canadian men (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer). In 2010:

An estimated 24,600 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer and 4,300 will die of it.
On average, 470 Canadian men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer every week.
On average, 80 Canadian men will die of prostate cancer every week.

Probability of developing or dying from prostate cancer

One in 7 men will develop prostate cancer during his lifetime (the risk is highest after age 60) and one in 27 will die of it.

Trends in prostate cancer

There has been an overall upward trend in the incidence rate of prostate cancer since 1980, which is likely due to increased early detection or possible changes in risk factors. Death rates rose much more slowly during the same period and started to decline in the mid 1990s.

Last modified on: 19 May 2010

Nova Scotia statistics

Overview

In 2010, an estimated 2,750 people will die of cancer in Nova Scotia, and 6,200 new cases will be diagnosed.

Prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in Nova Scotia, with an estimated 1,050 men to be diagnosed in 2010.

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death in Nova Scotia. An estimated 970 people (450 men; 310 women) will die of lung cancer in 2010.

For the first time, the 2010 Canadian Cancer Statistics report estimates there will be fewer cases of lung cancer diagnosed in Nova Scotia women, compared to previous years. This change reflects the continuing decline in smoking among women that started in the mid-1980s. This pattern has already been observed in men, as their rate of tobacco use began to decline earlier than it did for women.

Cancer statistics for Nova Scotia men

For Nova Scotia men, prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed type of cancer, followed by colorectal cancer and lung cancer, respectively.

In 2010:

An estimated 1050 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer.
An estimated 460 men will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer.
An estimated 510 men will be diagnosed with lung cancer.

For Nova Scotia men, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death, followed by colorectal cancer and prostate cancer, respectively.

In 2010:

An estimated 450 men will die of lung cancer.
An estimated 190 men will die of colorectal cancer.
An estimated 140 men will die of prostate cancer.

Cancer statistics for Nova Scotia women

For Nova Scotia women, breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed type of cancer, followed by both lung cancer and colorectal cancer.

In 2010:

An estimated 740 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer.
An estimated 460 women will be diagnosed with lung cancer.
An estimated 400 women will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer.

For Nova Scotia, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death, followed by breast cancer and colorectal cancer, respectively.

In 2010:

An estimated 310 women will die of lung cancer.
An estimated 180 women will die of breast cancer.
An estimated 160 women will die of colorectal cancer.

The above findings are taken from the 2010 Canadian Cancer Statistics. These statistics are prepared, printed, and distributed through a collaboration of the Canadian Cancer Society, the Public Health Agency of Canada, Statistics Canada, provincial/territorial cancer registries, as well as university-based and provincial/territorial cancer agency-based cancer researchers.

Last modified on: 07 August 2010

Cancer statistics in New Brunswick

Overview of new cases and deaths

An estimated 173,800 new cases of cancer and 76,200 deaths from cancer will occur in Canada in 2010. This is 2,800 more new cases and 900 more deaths than in 2009. Prostate, lung, breast and colorectal cancer account for the top four newly diagnosed cancers.

In 2010, an estimated 2,020 people will die of cancer in New Brunswick, and 4,600 new cases will be diagnosed.

Cancer statistics for men in New Brunswick

For men in New Brunswick, prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed type of cancer. In 2010:

An estimated 690 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer.
An estimated 310 men will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer.
An estimated 420 men will be diagnosed with lung cancer.

For men in New Brunswick, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death. In 2010:

An estimated 370 men will die of lung cancer.
An estimated 120 men will die of colorectal cancer.
An estimated 140 men will die of prostate cancer.

Cancer statistics for women in New Brunswick

For women in New Brunswick , breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed type of cancer. In 2010:

An estimated 560 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer.
An estimated 310 women will be diagnosed with lung cancer.
An estimated 240 women will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer.

For women in New Brunswick , lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death. In 2010:

An estimated 220 women will die of lung cancer.
An estimated 130 women will die of breast cancer.
An estimated 100 women will die of colorectal cancer.

The above figures are taken from Canadian Cancer Statistics 2010. These statistics are prepared, printed, and distributed through a collaboration of the Canadian Cancer Society, the Public Health Agency of Canada, Statistics Canada, provincial/territorial cancer registries, as well as university-based and provincial/territorial cancer agency-based cancer researchers.

Canadian Cancer Statistics 2010

Last modified on: 25 May 2010

2010 Newfoundland-Labrador Cancer Statistics

All statistics below are estimates projected by the Canadian Cancer Society/Statistics Canada/Provincial/Territorial Cancer Registries and the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Rates for other provinces can be found in the Canadian Cancer Statistics, 2010.

Overall,

A total of 2,700 new cases of cancer will occur in Newfoundland and Labrador this year.
In Newfoundland and Labrador 1,550 men and 1,200 women will be diagnosed with cancer this year.
In Newfoundland and Labrador a total of 810 men and 610 women will die from cancer this year.

Lung cancer,

A total of 180 men and 160 women will be diagnosed
240 men and 170 women will die.

Colorectal cancer,

A total of 300 men and 210 women will be diagnosed
140 men and 110 women will die.

Prostate cancer,

A total of 510 men will be diagnosed
85 men will die.

Breast cancer,

A total of 370 women will be diagnosed
110 women will die.

Pancreas cancer,

A total of 25 men and 10 women will be diagnosed
30 men and 30 women will die.

Melanoma (Skin cancer),

A total 50 men and 45 women will be diagnosed
10 men and 10 women will die.

Kidney cancer,

A total of 50 men and 30 women will be diagnosed
20 men and 15 women will die.

Stomach cancer,

A total of 50 men and 25 women will be diagnosed
35 men and 25 women will die.

Bladder cancer,

A total of 85 men and 30 women will be diagnosed
25 men and 10 women will die.

Esophagus cancer,

A total of 20 men will be diagnosed (A number was not given for women)
20 men will die (A number was not given for women).

Leukemia cancer,

A total of 20 men and 10 women will be diagnosed
20 men and 10 women will die.

Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma,

A total of 50 men and 50 women will be diagnosed
20 men and 15 women will die.

Cervical cancer,

A total of 20 women will be diagnosed
15 women will die.

Ovarian cancer,

A total of 25 women will be diagnosed
30 women will die.

Brain cancer,

A total of 30 men and 15 women will be diagnosed
20 men and 15 women will die

Source: Canadian Cancer Statistics, 2010

Last modified on: 20 May 2010

Canadian Strategy on Palliative and End-of-Life Care: Final Report

Table of Contents

Accomplishments

Funded by, and in collaboration with Health Canada, each of the five community based working groups was instrumental in the achievements outlined in the following section. The timeline on the left side of this page outlines some of these key achievements, while the text provides more detail on the full range of activities.

This strategy is far to lengthily to copy into this document. It is available on the web at this link: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hcs-sss/pubs/palliat/2007-soin_fin-end_life/accom-reuss-eng.php

Whoooda Thunk It?

2010-11-25T10:13:00.010-04:00

As you may know, I was a Stage IV cancer patient just over four years ago. What you may not know is that it all started as a small red spot on my gum line over a front tooth, about five years before. It was not recognized by various levels of specialists, until I moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia where my first visit to a dentist generated concern... off to a periodontist, more concern and a positive biopsy... off to a surgeon, took out a part of my upper jaw all the way to my nasal cavity... follow-up CT and MRI show metastasis to my lymph system, lots more surgery... histology shows cancer in the 53 nodes... chemo and radiation... ALL BECAUSE OF A MISSED LESION AT MY GUM LINE ON A FRONT TOOTH... WHOOODA THUNK IT?

In this picture, you can see my prosthesis... it covers the hole through to my nasal cavity from my surgery... the unit itself hooks into the bar across my jaw so it is stable and holds the teeth in place... the scars from my neck surgery and radiation are visible on the lower left of the picture, and you may notice one of the two tendons are missing from the front of my neck... I can see under the bright lights that my coffee habit is staining my teeth, so the folks in Halifax will be ready for my delayed cleaning in January.

If you wonder why I feel so passionate about cancer, it is because losing a smile instead of a life is great... but you only get to do that if you are diligent about what your teeth are able to tell you... I wasn't diligent enough, so I lost my smile... if you can save someone from this... just do it!

So, I am copying in this article that was on Yahoo this morning about "The Seven Things Your Teeth Say About Your Health"... from experience of someone who brushed religiously on a daily basis, flossed for at least ten years prior to my diagnosis and still got cancer... but I was a smoker for a few years...

The story here is, if you smoked... or know someone who did, be extra vigilant. If a sore in your mouth doesn't go away in two weeks, up the noise with your dentist or hygienist. If it is treated, and still doesn't go away in two weeks... ask for a biopsy and have a histological analysis done (in Canada if this is done by a dentist, you will have to pay about $150 for the exam and histology; if it is done by a doctor it will be covered by the provincial insurance ... don't ask, it doesn't make any sense to me either... either way, get it done... because mine wasn't done I almost lost my life and had a huge hill to climb as a result)

The Seven Things

Some messages coming out of your mouth bypass the vocal chords. Turns out that your teeth, gums, and surrounding tissues also have plenty to say -- about your overall health.

"Your mouth is connected to the rest of your body," says Anthony Iacopino, dean of the University of Manitoba Faculty of Dentistry and a spokesperson for the American Dental Association. "What we see in the mouth can have a significant effect on other organ systems and processes in the body. And the reverse is also true: Things that are going on systemically in the body can manifest in the mouth."

So stay attuned to the following warning messages, and have worrisome symptoms checked out by a dentist or doctor.

Dental warning #1: Flat, worn teeth plus headache

Sign of: Big-time stress

Many people are surprised to learn they're tooth-grinders. After all, they do this in their sleep, when they're not aware of it. And they underestimate the physical toll that stress can place on the body. "Crunching and grinding the teeth at night during sleep is a common sign of emotional or psychological stress," says Iacopino.

You can sometimes see the flatness on your own teeth, or feel it with the tongue. Or the jaw may ache from the clenching.

What else to look for: Headaches, which are caused by spasms in the muscles doing the grinding. Sometimes the pain can radiate from the mouth and head down to the neck and upper back, Iacopino says. Mouth guards used at night can relieve the symptoms and protect teeth.

Dental warning #2: Cracking, crumbling teeth

Sign of: Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)

Older adults, especially, are vulnerable to teeth that appear to be cracking or crumbling away. The enamel becomes thin and almost translucent. But this erosion isn't a normal consequence of aging. In fact, it can happen at any age.

Disintegrating teeth are usually caused by acid that's coming up from the stomach and dissolving them, Iacopino says. The cause: Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD, also called acid reflux disease). GERD causes stomach acid to back up into the esophagus -- and from there, it's a short distance to the mouth for some of the damaging acid. GERD is a chronic disorder caused by damage or other changes to the natural barrier between the stomach and the esophagus.

What else to look for: Dry mouth and heartburn are related GERD symptoms. (But in an older adult in someone else's care -- in a nursing home, for example -- these complaints may go unreported.) Cracking or chipping teeth in a younger person is also a telltale sign of bulimia, the eating disorder in which the sufferer causes herself (or himself) to vomit before digesting. Same net result: Stomach acid washes up into the mouth, over time disintegrating the tooth enamel.

Dental warning #3: Sores that won't go away

Sign of: Oral cancer

Many people bite the insides of their mouth as a nervous habit. Others sometimes bite the gum accidentally, creating a sore. But when an open sore in the mouth doesn't go away within a week or two, it always warrants showing to a dentist or doctor. "We all injure our oral tissues, but if an area persists in being white or red rather than the normal healthy pink, this needs to be evaluated to rule out oral cancer," says Susan Hyde, an associate professor of clinical dentistry at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Dentistry.

More than 21,000 men and 9,000 women a year are diagnosed with oral cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute. Most are over age 60. Oral cancer has a survival rate of only 35 percent, Iacopino says, but this is mainly because cases are often detected too late. Smokers are six times more likely to develop oral cancer, but one in four oral cancers develop in non-smokers.

What else to look for: Suspicious oral ulcers tend to be raised sores and often have red or white (or red and white) borders. They may lurk underneath the tongue, where they're hard to see. Bleeding and numbness are other signs, but sometimes the only sign is a sore that doesn't seem to go away. A biopsy usually follows a visual check.

Dental warning #4: Gums growing over teeth

Sign of: Medication problems

If you notice your gum literally growing over your tooth, and you're taking a medication for heart disease or seizures or you take drugs to suppress your immune system (such as before a transplant), it's well worth mentioning this curious development to your prescribing doctor.

"A swelling of the gums to where it grows over the teeth is a sign the dosage or the medication need to be adjusted," the ADA's Anthony Iacopino says. Certain drugs can stimulate the growth of gum tissue. This can make it hard to brush and floss, inviting tooth decay and periodontal disease.

What else to look for: The overgrowth can cause an uncomfortable sensation. In extreme cases, the entire tooth can be covered.

Dental warning #5: Dry mouth

Sign of: Sjogren's syndrome, diabetes

Many things can cause dry mouth, from dehydration and allergies to smoking and new medications. (In fact, hundreds of drugs list dry mouth as a side effect, including those to treat depression and incontinence, muscle relaxants, antianxiety agents, and antihistamines.) But a lack of sufficient saliva is also an early warning of two autoimmune diseases unrelated to medicine use: Sjogren's syndrome and diabetes.

In Sjogren's, the white blood cells of the body attack their moisture-producing glands, for unknown reasons. Four million Americans have Sjogren's, 90 percent of them women. Twenty-four million people in the U.S. have type 1 or type 2 diabetes, a metabolic disease caused by high blood sugar.

What else to look for: Other signs of diabetes include excessive thirst, tingling in the hands and feet, frequent urination, blurred vision, and weight loss. In Sjogren's, the eyes are dry as well as the mouth, but the entire body is affected by the disorder. Because its symptoms mimic other diseases (such as diabetes), people are often misdiagnosed and go several years before being properly diagnosed.

Dental warning #6: White webbing inside cheeks

Sign of: Lichen planus

The last thing you might expect to discover while brushing your teeth is askin disease. But it happens. Lichen planus, whose cause is unknown, is a mild disorder that tends to strike both men and women ages 30 to 70. The mucus membranes in the mouth are often a first target.

Oral lichen planus looks like a whitish, lacy pattern on the insides of the cheeks. (The name comes from the same roots as tree lichen, a lichen that has a similar webbed, bumpy appearance.) Seventy percent of lesions appear in the mouth before they strike other parts of the body, says professor Anthony Iacopino.

What else to look for: Another common area where a lichen planus rash may appear is the vagina. Lichen planus often goes away on its own, but sometimes treatment is necessary.

Dental warning #7: Crusting dentures

Sign of: Potential aspiration pneumonia

Most people don't connect dentures (false teeth) with pneumonia, other than to think they're both words that often refer to the world of the elderly. And yet the two have a potentially deadly connection. "A leading cause of death in older people is aspiration pneumonia, often from inhaling debris around the teeth and dentures," Iacopino says.

In aspiration pneumonia, foreign material is breathed into the lungs and airway, causing dangerous (even fatal) inflammation. Too often, the problem stems from people in the care of others -- those in nursing homes, for example -- who fail to clean dentures properly. Dentures need to be removed daily from the mouth, cleaned with a special brush, and stored in a cleansing solution.

What else to look for: A soft, crusty material developing around dentures. With proper cleaning, though, you don't have to worry about other red flags. "It's amazing. You can get a 100-percent reduction in what's otherwise a leading cause of death for denture wearers," Iacopino says.

Persuasive Communications

2010-11-24T12:20:00.003-04:00

Occasionally one has an opportunity to seriously recommend contacts have a read on a book that has changed one's life. In 1993 I met Maynard "Garf" Garfield when he was the Chairman of a company in Chicago that was one of the best communication improvement companies in the country... I liked to call Persuasive Communications a Sales Training company, but in reality it was way more than that... and it had a lot to do with any successes I have had in my business life... but more importantly, in my personal life, as well.

Recently Garf published a book on the internet... it is a very interesting read... it can teach and it can remind... for me it did both... one of the value of being a great communicator. I strongly recommend the book and am putting the link here... hope you will try it... I did, and I feel like I am a renewed communicator...

http://www.mmgarfield.com/book/#comment-11

The Will to Survive

2010-11-19T10:15:00.004-04:00

On the first day of the bicycle ride from Vancouver to Austin, Texas, the Give to Live team had several people in to do some speeches about cancer and do some motivation as well. One of the speakers was Sarj and his daughter who has leukemia. She is the beautiful princess (in pink) between to other of Sarj's beautiful children. They spoke about her cancer and the special camp that is available to sick kids and their families in the Vancouver area...

She also appears in the video with a song written by Megan that is now on YouTube... called Will to Survive as a part of the chorus. I encourage you to check out this video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9pHISnIj2Y It is most excellent...

2010-11-18T14:43:00.002-04:00

I noticed that this is the time of year that Wikipedia looks for donations... and since I use Wiki quite often, I made a donation... for a while, this horizontal tag will appear on my posts... I would like to thank Jimmy Wales and all of the contributors for the idea and the information we glean from Wiki... it is the 5th largest internet address in the world... amazing that it is free of advertising...

Thank you. Imagine if every person on earth could share in the free an

Windows Over Ohare Airport

2010-11-17T23:11:00.005-04:00

A couple of weeks ago I took an early flight (6 AM EST) from Buffalo to Ohare in Chicago and arrived there at just after 6AM Central Time. As I waited for my next flight, I couldn't help but enjoy watching the sun come up over the terminal... I was sitting in Gate F5 and it was so beautiful I couldn't resist making a Blackberry Moment out of it.

What I didn't expect was the complex photograph that appeared on my computer screen when I looked at it the next day. There is a lot going on here... not the least of which is a beautiful sunrise. The reflections of the lights (or are those actually space ships flying low over the airport) on the concourse appeared in the clouds... which also had entrails of various other flying objects in them. It is actually a challenge to look at the picture and not want to try to figure out all the things going on... we have a TV, several people walking by and so on... hard to keep remembering that I was only trying to take a picture of a sunrise with a Blackberry... this camera has incredible capability as shown in the pictures of the ride... all of which I took with the BB Curve... a great little Canadian product.

Working Inside The System... does it have any potential?

2010-11-16T13:54:00.004-04:00

Yesterday I had a vigorous discussion with a long time friend about the best way to change things in any jurisdiction... his comments were based around the terms Incremental (for any potential change from within) and Revolution (for doing it from outside the system). My friend, who for the moment will remain un-named since I am quite certain he would not have me speaking for him... this is really my interpretation of his comments...

I had spent time explaining my thoughts about how we should change the Rubix Cube of healthcare, particularly CANCER and CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE in Canada... I would, in short, try to get a number of independent House of Commons representatives, who together could hold the balance of power in our perennial Minority Governments, based on independent platforms on healthcare. We would then negotiate for funding for things such as prenatal care; early child development; proper education funding and meal programs; preventative health and physical training; centralized health research; long term care facilities and palliative care services. These things having priority over making war on other countries... having our military focused on defense (as in the Department of Defense which lately has been 'rightly' focused on offence).

My friend thinks we have tried similar things, and the government persists in making short term policy decisions that are tearing at the fabric of our culture. He suggests that we, the Boomers, are at the core of the disintegration of Canada as we know it... leaving nothing for the next generations. In the 60's we knew what was wrong, and we led the revolution to change it. Things got going quite well, but we got lazy and we started focusing on material things, rather than continuing the battles to make life better... we accomplished much, in the 60's and 70's... but since then, only improvements in material things.

I have to admit that were I to spend a lot of time here... enough to work through the arguments of my friend, to which I have not here done justice... I would prove to myself (at least) that my friend is correct. We need a revolution... it is the loss of the material matters that holds me back from supporting his view. I believe that before we revolt, we need to work from inside... but we need to be determined in our work.

Winnable Public Health Issues

2010-11-10T14:01:00.004-04:00

I received this following interview on

Medscape Internal Medicine > Medscape One-on-One which is from WebMD. It is a discussion between

Eli Y. Adashi, MD and Thomas R. Frieden, MD, MPH about several "winnable public health issues" in our western world today. I was struck by the simplicity of the message that Dr. Frieden presented, and I believe that it has a potential impact on all of us. I am hoping that you will be able to just click on this link... if you can't, please consider copying and pasting it into your browser... enjoy... BRuce

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/731362?src=mp&spon=17&uac=152643MV

2010-11-06T18:24:00.003-03:00

I am flying back to Niagara after a short trip with Lynnda for a check-up to ensure that there are no issues with her heart. After an exhaustive check-up, it is clear that she is fine… great news!

We are getting back to the new normal after the three weeks that I was away on ‘the ride’. Lots of things have happened during the period…

First I want to introduce the Team Five Riders in the picture above... In front is Danelle Lesley Titus who is from Fredericton, NB. From the Left we have Rodney Sallmen who is from Bracebridge, Ontario... beside me is our Coach Chad Robertson who is from Halifax, and then on the far right is Jason Stoke who is from Victoria, BC. Missing from the picture is Lindsay Alexander who was unable to come on the ride, but was there at the outset, and at the ending in Austin. The team did well, and was able to complete the ride intact, with no incidents.

1) The renovation on the main floor of the house is almost complete and we move back into the house this weekend. We are exceptionally impressed with the quality of the work being done by Jeff MacIntosh’s company, Olde Towne Building and by the kitchen company Art Craft from Niagara Falls. Yes, this is a reference for them both.

2) Our investment in a holding company, Beachview Holdings has started taking hold… one of the businesses we now own, through Beachview, is a roofing company (Affordable Roofing) and it has legally started in business… and has had several sales and installations… in a late fall start-up, we are happy with the results. This investment is an extension of our belief in the local Niagara and Canadian economy, and especially in the fundamental need to give trades people good management, sales and funding. We believe that this will also extend the benefits of their efforts deeper into the local economy and social fabric. We are One Hundred Percent in support of facilitating good people doing good things, and having their families financially stable as a result.

3) Shamus, our seven month old Golden Doodle puppy is now 62 pounds and still growing. He is a really good looking brute, and has passed his Second Stage of training. Lynnda has done a great job bringing him along… and while I like to call Shamus our ‘oxymoron’ (he is a black Golden Doodle), he is becoming a calm, very good family member.

4) ‘The ride’ proved to me that I am back… physically and mentally. I am fully ready to get back to full-time work!. I have been consulting practically full-time, and have been able to regain some of my intensity… but thankfully, not all of it! I have decided to look for an opportunity to either run a Canadian Arm of a large international medical company, or a US medical business. I have consulting commitments that I will continue to support, of course, and absent an opportunity to run a company, I will continue to do the “Blueknowser Consulting” work. I am excited about life, and want to get going.

5) I have joined a new health club… White Oaks… that is near our home. It has over 4,000 members and a huge facility with everything from tennis to Pilates. I have started the spinning classes, and now know that I will be in much better shape the next time I make a commitment to do the Give To Live ride. I suppose this is a good time to give fair warning to all of my contacts, that I am beginning to consider the ride again… and if you have philanthropy in your 2011 plans, I will be doing a much better planned fund-raising campaign for the next version of ‘the ride’. We have raised $24,000 for the 2010 version… I think it will be appropriate to set some bodacious goal for 2011… any reasons we shouldn’t be targeting $50,000? If there are, I will try to dispel the rumor…

6) There are 8,000,000 million people that will die this year from cancer, in the developed world. That is a Livestrong number, and I hesitate to repeat it since it is hard to verify… perhaps its only 7,000,000. Certainly, we are in the ballpark. I have been involved in healthcare for 35 years now, and when I had my open heart surgery back in 2001 (remembering that I was at the time working in cardiology) I thought that heart disease, and even vascular disease was the most critical health concern… wrong! We have a way to avoid virtually all heart and vascular disease… what we can’t avoid, we have a way to treat virtually all heart and vascular disease. But when I started to look deeply into CANCER, after I became a Stage Four victim, I realized it is a much more strategic plague on our society… we don’t know what causes it; we don’t understand how to care for many of the people who get it; we have virtually no “cure” for it; we don’t have a national strategy to wage war against it; and we shudder to think what will happen when it hits us… so, it is time for a grass roots attack on all fronts. I am suggesting a change in strategy… one of those “if you don’t like the results of what you are doing, you have to change what you are doing to get different results” things. Only a fool will believe that different outcomes will occur if we keep doing what we do. My suggestion is that we should go into a national ‘make war on cancer… not people movement…together, perhaps we will prevail, if we change…

7) I ripped this cancer data from the Canadian Cancer Society webpage…

http://www.cancer.ca/Canada-wide/About%20cancer/Cancer%20statistics/Stats%20at%20a%20glance/General%20cancer%20stats.aspx?sc_lang=en General cancer statistics for 2010