New York Cheese Cake

I had to include one picture of me being me






I tried three different kinds

Cherry


Rating: 4 Bald Heads

Oreo



Rating: 5 Bald Heads

and Rockey Road


Rating: 3 Bald Heads


Overall the cheesecake was delicious! I will for sure find my way back here when I return to NYC.

Birdland Jazz Club

On Friday night we met up with Xhuli and she graciously volunteered to take my stuff with her to her house so that I did not have to travel to her house in Queens just to drop my stuff off.

Travis and I then headed to Birdland Jazz Club



It was a very fun night. It was the first jazz club that I had ever been to. i had a great time and the music was great.



The Club had a $20 cover charge and a requirement to purchase at least $10 off of the menu.

I order chicken, potatoes, and collard greens.







Enjoying the music!

Ratings:

Food: 2.5 Bald Heads

Club and Music: 5 Bald Heads

New York Style Pizza

The first place I went to was called Angelo's Pizza.

It is literally right next door to the Ed Sullivan Theater where Dave Letterman films his show.

It was a white pizza with ricotta cheese, sun dried tomatoes, and pancetta.



Rating: 3 Bald Heads

The Second Place is at the end of the Brooklyn Bridge on the Brooklyn side.



At this place. You had to stand outside in line for about an hour just to get in and get a seat.



For this pizza I just got the regular toppings of pepperoni and sausage. It was super delicious and the better of the two pizzas.


Rating: 4.7 Bald Heads

I would give it a 5 but since I have only eaten at three pizza places in New York City I figure I need to try more places before I start handing out 5 Bald Heads.

The third place: Hot and Crusty



Hawaiian Pizza


This pizza was my last supper in NYC. It was a decent piece of pizza, but nothing to go out of my way to try again.

Rating: 2 Bald Heads

Philapdelphia Cheese Steaks!

This is my first food blog post. I will be rating the places I eat at out of 5 bald heads instead of stars.

So here we go...

So while I was in Philadelphia I wanted to try an authentic cheese steak. So I went to three different places to get a variety and variation of the cheese steak sandwich.

The First Cheese Steak @ Sonny's Famous Steaks:





Rating: 2.5 Bald Heads

The Second @ Steaks on South:






Rating: 4 Bald Heads

This was the best because it had the proper ratio of meat to cheese to bread. The bread was fresh, not dry and tasted homemade. The best part of this sandwich was the meat. The meat was very well seasoned and on the peppery side.

The Third @ Gooey Looie's :





Rating: 3 Bald Heads

Although this picture looks unappetizing it was good. The downfall of this sandwich was that it was 80 percent meat, 15 percent bread, and only 5 percent cheese. It was more of a Philly Steak Sandwich.

Victory Lap to Philadelphia and New York City

After my first victorious fight with cancer I went to Hawaii.

After round two I went to Philadelphia and New York City.

So I will give a quick play by play of the trip in this post. The following posts will focus on the food aspect of the trip.

So Tuesday night at 11:12 p.m. our flight departed for New York City.

We arrived in NYC around 5:30 Wednesday morning.

My roommate Travis and I then took a Taxi to the Port Authority Bus Station. We checked in our baggage and waited for until our bus for Philadelphia left at 8:30.

After arriving to Philadelphia we did a tour of the historical sites there.

The Liberty Bell


Benjamin Franklin's Grave



Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence was signed



After a few hour of tours and pictures we set out to find some Authentic Philadelphia Cheese Steak Sandwiches. We ate at three different places during our search for the best cheese steak.

After our cheese steaks we walked to the Wells Fargo Arena to watch the Philadelphia 76ers play the Toronto Raptors. At this point we had only had about four hours of sleep two on the plane and two on the bus ride from NYC to Philadelphia.

The game ended around 9:00 p.m. after which we waited and took the subway to City Hall where we looked for somewhere to spend the next few hours waiting for out bus to leave back for NYC. Our bus did not leave until 2:55 a.m. so we had sometime to kill.


Low and behold around 10:45 we found Hard Rock Cafe



The kitchen closed at 11:00, but we got there in time to order some food and they did not kick us out until around 11:45.

we then needed to find somewhere that was open and warm to spend the next 2 to 3 hours. We did not want to go to the bus stop because it was not very big and there were a lot of odd people there. So we sneaked into a Hilton Hotel Lobby that was across the street from the bus station. We sat at a table that was around the corner from the front desk so that they could not see us just sitting there.

Reading and waiting for the bus to leave. Picture taken around 1:30a.m. on Thursday.



At this point in the past 48 hours we had not slept for no more than five hours. He got around 2.5 hours on our red eye flight to NYC and another two hours during the bus ride to Philly. Needless to say we were on the tired side.

We departed form Philadelphia around 3 a.m. and I did luck out to sit next to a pretty women my age. She tried to strike up conversation by asking which book I was reading. The conversation did not last more than 5 minutes because once the bus left for NYC the lights were turned off and I could not resist but fall asleep.

We arrived back in NYC around 4:45 or 5 a.m., however the place where we were storing out bags did not open until 7 a.m. so exhausted as we were we sat in the bus station fading in and out of sleep waiting for the place to open. Once 7 o'clock rolled around we obtained out baggage only to wait more.

My buddy Travis could not check into his hostel until 3 p.m. and the person I was going to stay with was not expecting me until 10:00 a.m. at the earliest. We were exhausted. Since we had zero desire to walk around New York City with our luggage and a target on our back screaming "Tourist!" so we waited at the bus stop and I took a two hour nap.

Here:



Around 9:30 a.m. I woke from my comfortable nap and realized that I had forgotten to pack a towel to shower with. This is usually not a problem when people travel because they are usually provided for you either from the hotel/hostel you are staying at or friends or family you are staying with.

This was a problem for me because I was going to stay with a girl named Parnika and other than a few email correspondence I had never met or talked to this person. She was a friend of a friend. So I figured bring my own towel would be convenient for her sake.

So after walking a few blocks I found a towel and met back up with Travis and off we went to Parnika's apartment to met her and drop of our things so that we could walk around the city.

Around 10:30 we arrived to Parnika's apartment and are very grateful to be out of the dreaded bus station and able to sit on a padded chair and couch and no longer for on the tile floor. After talking and getting to know Parnika we took showers. It felt great this was the first shower I had taken since the shower I took before heading to the airport to fly to NYC.

Parnika: She is from India by way of Dubai



After my shower a sat here


and before to long I realized that I had been sleeping for five hours.



So anyways, I am super long winded on this blog post but this is where the trip mellowed out and got more normal. We then spent the Thursday through Sunday in New York seeing sites and eating terrific food.

These first few days I thought were the most unique and exciting.

Thursday after leaving Parnika's

walked around the city at least 70 blocks worth.
Ate at Good Burger and Angelo's pizza. (more detailed blog post later)
Went to the top of the Empire State Building
Visited Rockefeller Square and called it a night.

After which Travis and I split up. He went back to his hostel and I went back to Parnika's. It turned out to be Parnika's roommates birthday and so they was a small surprise Bday party for her. It was put on by her friends and there were about 12 of her friends there. So there I was, not having known any of these people before, at a birthday party with 12 Indian females celebrating a birthday. It was a awesome time and she even had me help her blow out her candles.

Friday:

Grimaldi's Pizza (under the brooklyn bridge)
Times Square
Back to Parnika's house to pick up my stuff to take to where I would be staying the last two nights of the trip.
Then to the Birdland Jazz Club. It was awesome. My first time going to a jazz club and I will defiantly try to go again.

Then met up with our other roommate Mike in the financial district. Walked around Wall Street and then ended up at the Hard Rock Cafe in NYC.

Saturday:

Statue of Liberty
Eileen's Cheesecake
Pierpont Morgan's Library (If you have never heard of this look it up it is amazing)
The Musical Billy Elliot
Shake Shack
Watched the movie RED

Sunday:

We spent the day at the MET Museum
then took the taxi to the airport to return back to reality

So overall it was an amazing trip. I ate a ton of amazing food and enjoyed the time away from reality.

To close, I couchsurfed for the first time on this trip. There is a website called couchsurfing.org and it is a Internet community of people who offer up there couches free of charge to travelers.
So the final two nights of the trip I couch surfed at a Xhuli's house. She is Albanian and in English she goes by Juliana. So was super cool and very down to earth wonderful person.

I took a picture with her and also where I slept during my stay at her apartment.

Game, Set, MATCH!

So this past weekend I once again flew home to beautiful San Diego to have another go around with cat scans and doctor's checks.

First, let me flashback in time. Last go around in my cat scan there was an unidentifiable piece of something in between the two lobes of my left lungs. So instead of waiting the prescribed three months for the next go around with scans I was to have them again six weeks later.

So back to this past weekend. I was slightly nervous because if the object had grown bigger and was once again cancer I would not have had the best Halloween. Also it would have been the third month of October in which I was told I had cancer. The first two being Oct. 2002 and 2008.

So after going in for scans everything was CLEAR! So I will be having scans once again on December 20th and having my wonderful trusty port-a-cath removed. The port and I have been through two years of chemo, a month of radiation, and two lung surgeries. We truly have bonded and it will be a bitter saweet moment. It will be like leaving your longtime childhood friend to move in with Bill Gates.

Anywho, just thought I would update everyone. Also I will be keeping this blog going but will be shifting it from Chalk's Cancer Chronicles to Chalk's Culinary Chronicles. Because besides fighting cancer my second favorite hobby it eating good food.

Thank you to everyone who offered a prayer in my behalf, fasted in my behalf, used humor in my behalf, or just was there along the way with a smile and fist bump.

Many Many Thanks

I will be going to NYC to celebrate my new found freedom from the doctor's office. If you have a restaurant I should take a look at let me know.

So Long Farewell Chemo

This is almost two weeks late, but on August 23rd 2010 I had my last round of chemotherapy. I did not do this on purpose but it was seven years to the day that I had my last round of chemotherapy from the first time that I battled cancer.

Well it was a glorious day because my body tolerated my last round of chemotherapy very well. Usually I would go 24 to 36 hours without eating afterwards due to nausea and other unpleasant stomach feelings, but on the day of my last round I was feeling good enough to have so of the best lasagna ever. It is a Paula Dean recipe and although I do not enjoy watching her on TV and most certainly cannot stand her voice and laugh she does know how to make so good food. Anyways, overall the day was a great day.

So the last two years have been quite the ride and I go in for my first post treatment scans on September 17th. That will be the true judge to determine that I am in 100 percent in remission.

After nearly two years of chemotherapy, a month of lung radiation, and two lung surgeries later I am headed to another chapter of my life. I just started my senior year of college and will take the GRE next month which will hopefully result in the admission into graduate school so that I can continue on the path of becoming a college professor.

I stopped keeping the running totally but it is easy to estimate without any exaggeration that I have taken more than 500 pills and have been poked by needles over 125 times during the two years I have doing treatment. I also had parts of both of my lungs removed and more than likely have a paralyzed left side of a diaphragm. So it will be interesting to see how that effects my ability at long term endurance once I have the ability to be active again which should only take a few more weeks after my body recovers from the last round of chemo.

Lastly, I just wanted to thank everyone who has helped me in anyway shape of form during the last two year that I was fight cancer. Whether it was sending me a card, buying me food, driving me around, calling and seeing how I was doing, sending me a pick-me up text message, it has all been very important to me to know that I am surrounded by should awesome people. So I thank everyone who has done anything for me during the last two years.

I would also like to thank my family for everything they have done to help me. Whether it was my mother who attended every doctor’s appointment, chemotherapy and radiation treatment while I was receiving treatment in San Diego or my father who would take me to a movie and lunch on his day off it has all be part of the physical, emotional, and mental battle that takes place while fighting cancer.

I would also like to thank my sister Emily who has to put up with an older brother who is always sick. She would help me out a lot during my recovery from the two surgeries with getting me a drink, grabbing me a blanket, and helping me out when I needed it.

I would like to thank my oldest sister Melissa for helping and checking up on me while I was receiving treatment in Provo. She takes me out to lunch and gives me grocery after she goes on her crazy coupon fix and realizes that she does not need 30 bottles of mustard or 90 bags of chips. I gladly help “get rid” of food when she has too much.

I can’t forget about my other sister Natalie who stayed with me in the hospital one night after my surgery and talked with me while she watched the entire first season of Veronica Mars to keep herself occupied while I was sleeping.

Overall the last two years have not been terrible. My family has grown closer together and I have learned a lot about myself and those around around me. I know who the people are who care about me because they were always calling, texting, emailing, and facebooking me to see how I was doing.

Onto the next chapter of my life while adjusting to post treatment life and finding my “new” normal

And then there were two

I am down to my final two chemo treatments and then all done!!!

HORAAY!

Three more!

survived another Chemo session.

Only three more.

GREAT NEWS!!!!

Yesterday I flew from Provo to San Diego to have my routine CAT scan and blood work to monitor my progress.

I had the CAT scan today and met with my wonderful Doctor, Dr. Schiff.

She said that from the preliminary readings of the scan everything continues to look clear!

There was even port surgery improvement on some of the thickness of the walls of my lungs where the surgery was.

So I will do 6 more weeks of chemotherapy and then be DONE!

Then I will have scans again in September.


Dr. Schiff gave me the best birthday present anyone ever could have this year.

No Go

The Cancer clinic that I go to was having some minor problems today. Their blood analyzing machine had accidentally be restarted and was going to be out of service of the day.

As I result I was going to have to go to a different clinic to do blood work. Since I have a California Insurance I would not have been covered. So we just rescheduled for next week.

So that means that I get to enjoy my weekend and not be all sick.

That's all

Chemo: Back in the Habit

So this past Friday I once again started chemo treatments here in Provo. Everything went very smoothly other then the fact that my doctors appointment was 8:30 in the morning. Now normal this is not a problem and I prefer the early appointments, but because there is a independent movie be shoot at where I work extra security staffing is necessary. As I result I work until 3:45 the morning before chemo.

But all is well now I am caught up on sleep and ready for my twelve hour graveyard shift.

Thanks again for everyones thoughts, prayers, and well wishes. They all make a difference.

Back in Utah

So this past week has been a good one. I started school, work, met the professor I am doing research with. So I am officially back to life and on my way to graduating from BYU.

so today I had my first doctors appointment sine I have been back in Utah and will resume chemo next Friday. So I will enjoy an extra week of freedom.

That is all. It is good to be busy again.

Last Treatment Before I Return to Utah

waiting in the lobby
getting accessed
` smiling for the paparazzi
keeping occupied
getting some injectionness

My cancer buddy Sean and I

My cancer buddies Mother Susan and my mother

Back at It

So I am back at the hospital two weeks after my second surgery. I am getting Chemo once again and will probably do chemo for six months or so just to make sure everything is wiped out. Better safe than sorry.

So not much going on besides that. I am going to be heading back to school on April 13th and should graduate April 2011 provided there is no surprises.

Thanks again for everyone's support whether it be prayers, fasting, or just a thought it all helps.

Done and Done

Surgery number two has been completed.

I could tell from the moment I woke up that this surgery was going to have a shorter recovery time. The surgeon did not have to touch the diaphragm and was able to work around the muscle rather than cutting through it.

They removed the two nodules and felt all around my lung to make sure there were no stragglers left behind.

I am telling you the two surgeries were like night and day. The first surgery I was basically dead to the world for about three days. And second surgery here I am writing on my blog just about four hours after waking up from the surgery so I am excited about.

Thanks for everyone who fasted and prayed in my behalf I know it played a role in how awesoe surgery two went.

D-Day #2

Tomorrow Surgery number two happens. So I will once again be dead to the world for about three weeks.

Thanks again for the prayers, notes of encouragement, and well greetings

All Systems are a go

So today I met with a Lung Specialist to evaluate how well I will tolerate the upcoming surgery. And I passed all the test with flying in colors despite having part of my left lung removed.

So everything is ready for my surgery next wednesday and to celebrate I will be going to San Fransisco to eat good food.

I will eat some amazing food for my final party before being sidelined for another three or four weeks.

I am also all signed up for my classes at BYU starting in April.

Everything is looking good.

New Date with the Surgeon

My second surgery is now February 10 instead of the third. So I will have another week to recoup from surgery number 1.

That is all.

Chemo and Such

So today I went down to Children's hospital to receive chemo. this will be my first time getting chemo a chldren's hospital since last June when I moved back to Provo.

So it started with getting my port accessed and also getting an IV in my arm for the CAT scan. the nurse messed up on my left arm and had to try again in my right arm. So after being poked three times I met with the wonderful Dr. Schiff. She said I looked good and was surprised to hear that Dr. Seanz (my surgeon) and I had already planned the surgery for the other side of my chest for a week for this wednesday. (Feb. 3) that will be exactly 4 weeks to the day of my first surgery.

She said I looked awesome and that I am the best patient any doctor could ask for.

Anyways after the doctors check I went and got a CAT Scan and once again felt like I was going to pee my pants due to the weird feeling from the contrast they inject in you during the CAT scan.

After the scan I got my chemo which took about 2 hours and then I got a ultrasound just to look at my lung and diaphragm to see how they are doing after the surgery.

So I will have a lung capacity test tomorrow and blood work next tuesday and then surgery again a week from wednesday.

So that is all for now. I will post tomorrow after my lung test.

Home

After
19 X-rays
7 needle poke for IVs
One epidural without gaining a child
10 days in the hospital
Drinking 4 oz. of prune juice to get my bowels moving
Two Chest tubes
and the removal of a catheter

I was able to return home Saturday around 10:00 a.m.

It is good to be home and to be able to sleep in my own bed and not being woke up 4 or 5 times every night to either take pills, get my vital taken, or having my IV machine beep due to the infusion of my antibiotics being done.

During my stay I also lost count of how many pills I had to take but I can confidentially say that it is above 70.

I will just now be kicking it at home letting my chest continue to heal.


This Tuesday I will be going to get the staples that are holding me together removed and then Chemo probably on Friday or next Monday. The Chemo part is not yet scheduled.

That is all for now and I just wanted to thank everyone again for the many Get Well Cards and would like to thank my cousin Clarke Anderson for his Speech. It was Awesome!

If you have any questions about my past surgery or future treatment feel free to comment on this blog or email me at cansirboi1986@gmail.com. I will answer them the best I can.

Thanks for all your prayers you never can have to many!

Update #3 ...

Daves' sister here with a little update ...

His chest x-ray today looked really good.

If it looks as good tomorrow, his surgeon says his last chest tube will come out,

and, hopefully, (cross your fingers) he can come home tomorrow evening!

Dave really wants to come home,

take a shower,

lay in his king bed,

enjoy his new TV,

and eat food not made in a cafeteria.

But, he is also experiencing another difficulty that he wanted

me to share with you, his blog readers.

He can't go #2.

Yep, that's right. He is a little backed up.

So, since my family always turns to a big musical number for inspiration

he wanted me to share with you his song for today.

He is really hoping it will help to get things moving!

As you can tell, Daves sense of humor is still alive and kicking!

Thanks again for all you support!

Update ...

This is Daves' sister again. He wanted me to post a little update so everyone knew what was going on.

I spent the night at the hospital last night with him, and I am on my way back again. He has had 3 of his tubes removed, but we are still waiting for the last one to come out. We are hoping it will come out tomorrow, which would mean he could come home on Wednesday.

Now that he doesn't have the epidural, pain management has been a little more difficult, but they keep trying different things to get the right balance for him. His morphine drip is still his best friend. He is sick of living off of tortilla chips and teddy grahams and will be happy when he can eat sausage links and ham.

His spirits are good and he still has his sense of humor!

There have been some inquiries regarding donating blood. For those interested, you can call the Blood Bank at 1-877-659-2001. Let them you know you are donating for him and they will schedule a time for you to come in.

We appreciate all the love and support we have received. Everyone has been so kind, and we are very grateful!

Surgery Update ...

Hello Readers,

This is Davids' sister here to update you on his progress. Here are his surgery stats:

*They removed a large tumor from his diaphragm. We were told the tumor was the size of a golf ball and they removed a section the size of a piece of bologna in order to get clear borders.

*They removed a small portion of his lower left lung that contained 10 small tumors.

*He has been in the ICU for a few days and today was moved into a regular room. His new room has a bed that is much more comfortable, a DVD player, AND room service ... so he is feeling pretty good.

*Both the surgeon and his oncologist are very pleased with how the surgery went and with his recovery thus far.

*Right now it is looking like he will be able to come home on Monday or Tuesday. He will do some out patient chemo in a few weeks, and then, depending on how well he heals, will have surgery on his right side in 3-4 weeks.

*He has kept his sense of humor. He has been on an epidural since the surgery for pain. When the nurse came in to check on him after he had woken up from surgery he jokingly said to the nurse, "So, since I had an epidural, when do I get my baby?". He is definitely the nurses favorite patient!

He appreciates all your prayers and encouragement. Hopefully, he will be back to posting on his own soon!

T minus Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the big day.

I will be arriving at the hospital at 5:30 in the morning to get all ready for surgery at 7:30.

I will keeping up my blog during my recovery in the hospital.

So Love you all and thank you for your prayers.