It took me a couple days to get over this shocking news.
I wasn’t even completely out of shock when my condition worsened.

I was at Princess Margaret Hospital doing a CT scan so they could plan radiation treatment when after the scan I blacked out. After reviewing the scan it was discovered that there was liquid surrounding my heart not allowing it to completely pump. I was immediately sent to emergency and admitted into the ICU. My heart rate was around 130-140bpm and when I coughed I would almost black out.

That night they removed the liquid from the heart. Radiation began the next day and Kemo a week later. If the liquid was not removed my heart would have stopped within a week.

Scary…

2 weeks later and i’m discharged from the hospital continuing with radiation and kemo as an outpatient. This battle is far from over.

So 29 years of age, I have lung cancer.

Over 100375 cigarettes smoked in the past 11 years.

If you are reading this and do smoke take this moment to save yourself this unfortunate fate.

Yes. It was the most disheartening feeling learning I had to be re-admitted to the hospital again for an extended period of time.

A cat scan of my chest in November showed that the liquid effusion had returned and a lymph node was swelling and the size of an orange pushing against a major vein leading to my head.

Due to this ‘orange’ i was told to not sleep completely flat. Also when I cough my entire face would go red with veins popping out and I would feel like i’m about to black out and get dizzy.

- 8 doctors
- 3 biopsies
- 3 2nd opinions
- 2 hospitals
- 1 university
- 1 surgery
- 1 more scar

All that and 6 weeks in the hospital finally produced a reason why my body relapsed into effusion again. The Cancer word was thrown around again in the 1st couple weeks as there was some unusual samples taken. That was finally ruled out. Apparently I had a inflammatory reaction to the TB medications. We are waiting for one final pathology report to return and I will start a steroids treatment to get rid of the inflammation in my body.

I’ve been cleared from being infectious so I’m no longer in isolation.

The hospital i stayed at was the new one in B town. Its so new that guess what? NO TVs
The food got even worse. It was so bad I couldn’t eat it.
Because of the lack of movement my legs look like a fob girl’s chicken legs.

The road to recovery continues…

Its almost been 3 weeks since I was released from the hospital. I must say that recovery has been a very frustrating at times. My body is still very weak from lack of movement however due to my surgery wounds I’m not able to move around too much. My cough continues to lay siege on me throughout the day with my chest throat and sinuses feeling alot of discomfort and pain at night. I think i tricked myself into thinking I would be up and about in no time once I returned home.

Here’s a picture of the wound from surgery:

The 2 lower wounds are where the 2 tubes were stuck in me to drain the fluid out of my body. The big slice has staples in it before. That whole area is still very tender. I just found out yesterday from the surgeon that he had to remove a rib during surgery to work on my lung area. He also informed me after taking an xray yesterday that my lung has expanded to 50% and will most likely expand to 2/3 its normal size. Unfortunately it doesn’t look like I will ever regain my full lung function however I’m lucky to have function at all in the collapsed lung.

I’m pretty thankful with the news that things are going smoothly since I haven’t felt that great each day coughing all the time and feeling chest pains.

Tomorrow I’m heading to see the TB specialist to see how the drug treatment is going. I’m going to be taking drugs for a minimum of 6 months.

From the way my body feels it doesn’t seem like i’ll be out of the house for some time. I was looking forward to Importfest this Saturday but I need to get better 1st before doing anything.

Anyways just a brief update from me.

After 28 days in the hospital I am finally back at home tonight. The road to recovery has been far from a walk in the park. Alot has happened from my last entry.

I was transferred to another hospital due to politics involved with the surgeon. There was a difference of opinions between specialists, doctors, and surgeon about the future of my right lung. The surgeon believed that my lung was lost and surgery would not make a difference. The specialists and doctors believed that my lung still had a chance to inflate once again. This difference in opinion sparked my transfer to another hospital and immediately after the transfer I was in the operation room having surgery.

My case is a special one. The membrane of my lung has hardened and increased from a normal thickness of a couple mm to 3 cm. The surgery consisted cutting me open, peeling the membrane down to normal levels and draining the liquid around my lung so that my lung could expand again.

The surgery had complications. I lost alot of blood during the surgery, my blood pressure was very low, I had a fever, and a high white blood cell count. The following week in the ICU was a blur with alot of images and perhaps some illusions from morphine. The wall kept moving and had faces and I kept seeing music videos on the ceiling. The good news was that the lung did expand again, not completely but did expand.

They move me upstairs after one week and TV is back to return my sanity. Slowly my right lung continued to expand while the 2 tubes continue to drain fluid from my body. I’ve had problems sleeping since the surgery due to pain and I guess anxiety. They popped out one tube and continued to monitor my conditions. Thursday this week they removed the other tube and the stables from my skin.

I got the good news Thursday night that I would be returning home on friday. I’m still feeling a fair amount of pain from the surgery and continue to cough a fair amount which is a good thing (helps expand the lung capacity) but the surgery seems like it has been a complete success.

Complete recovery is still very far away. At least 3-6 months more of medications and a few more weeks of quarantine. Thank you for all the emails, messages, and well wishes from everyone! I just read some of your messages today but they mean alot. The hospital is one of the darkest places a person can be for one month. X-rays, CTscans, blood work samples, IV needles, blood thinning shots, hospital food, and the waiting…the waiting is the worst…you have to wait to get something done…then you need to wait to move back to your room…

This experience has helped me realize how lucky I am. Over 10 years of smoking and it wasn’t cancer. One great byproduct of my stay in the hospital is one month being smoke free. Its made the road away from smoking much easier than trying to quit on my own.

The recover continues. Thank you everyone once again for everything.

A hospital room is not where i expected to be for Thanksgiving Sunday. Its day 9 of my vacation back Toronto and its day 8 of my visit to the hospital. Two days ago I was diagnosed with Tuberculosis. My right lung is completely collapsed.

This is a normal chest x-ray of a healthy person:

Now my x-ray the entire right side is completely white. You cannot see lung.

I’m feeling alot better about the situation since I was diagnosed. Not knowing what I had was much worse. There are some complications with my case however. There is a chance my right lung will not work again. This fact is a scary one. I’ve been living on one lung for at least a couple months and the shortness of breath is really apparent. Going up one flight of stairs I need to catch my breath.

I’m out of words to say at the moment…

 Xanga access again. I’m in HK for a week to renew my visa and some training.

Heading to macau today

new music:
mixed by DJ LIL MILZ and DJ R2
http://www.defcon-remix.com/dlow/defconracingmixtapevol1.mp3
right click and save as:

playlist:

01. DEFCON RACING MC E.N.G. - Intro
02. The Notorious B.I.G. - Hypnotize (Lil Milz Remix)
03. MIMS - Like This (Lil Milz Remix)
04. Justin Timberlake - Summer Love
05. Inspectah Deck - R.E.C. Room (Lil Milz Remix)
06. Nicole Scherzinger ft. T.I - Whatever U Like
07. Swizz Beatz - Money In The Bank (Lil Milz Remix)
08. Timbaland ft. Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z - Give It To Me (Remix)
09. Kardinal Offishall ft. Akon - Graveyard Shift
10. 50 Cent - Straight To The Bank (Lil Milz Remix)
11. Dr. Dre ft. Snoop Dogg - Next Episode (Lil Milz Remix)
12. Big Pun ft. Fat Joe - Twinz
13. Buju Banton - Champion (Lil Milz Remix)
14. Cassidy ft. Swizz Beatz - My Drink & My 2 Step (Lil Milz Remix)
15. T.I. - Big Things Poppin (Lil Milz Remix)
16. David Banner ft. Akon and Lil Wayne - 9mm
17. Mavado - Last Night (Show Off Riddim)
18. Bounty Killer - Bulletproof Skin
19. Beenie Man - Bulletproof Vest
20. Tony Matterhorn - Goodas
21. Elephant Man - Ready Fi Di Video
22. Tony Matterhorn - Man From Mars
23. Vybz Kartel - Beyonce Wine
24. Collie Buddz - Panty
25. Shaggy - Church Heathen
26. DEFCON RACING MC E.N.G. - Interlude
27. Jay Z - Public Service Announcement (R2 Remix)
28. T.I. - You Know What It Is
29. 50 Cent - I Get Money
30. Black Rob - Whoa
31. Kanye West - Can't Tell Me Nothin
32. Lil Boosie, Foxx, Jim Jones - Wipe Me Down Remix
33. Freeway, Jay Z- Rocafella Billionaires
34. Hurricane Chris- Ay Bay Bay (R2 Remix)
35. J.R. Writer, Cam'ron, Hell Rell - Grill Em Remix
36. J.R. Writer - Grill Em (R2 Remix)
37. Cam'ron, Hell Rell - Cha Ching
38. DJ Khaled, Lil Wayne, Baby - S On My Chest
39. Crime Mob - Rock Yo Hips
40. Da Shop Boyz - Party Like a Rockstar
41. DEFCON RACING MC E.N.G. interlude
42. Dead Prez - Hip Hop (R2 Remix)
43. Fugees - Ready or Not (R2 Remix)
44. Common - Bitch in Yoo
45. Raekwon, Method Man - Ice Cream
46. Firm - Phone Tap
47. Prodigy - Keep it Thoro
48. Notorious BIG - Kick in the Door
49. Big L, 2pac, Notorious BIG - Deadly Combination
50. Nas - Made You Look (R2 Remix)
51. Mobb Deep - Burn
52. Gangstarr - Full Clip
53. Rakim - When I Be on the Mic
54. Onyx - Slam
55. DEFCON RACING MC E.N.G. Outro

My Latest Remix Video:

Tries to show the feeling you get when behind the wheel…

For all those FAB 5 FANS from WAY BACK:

Do it again…do it again!
ESPN LOOK BACK ON THE FAB FIVE

Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Jimmy King, Juwan Howard, Ray Jackson
Five Freshmen changing the face of basketball.

So I’m in Hong Kong for another 1/2 hour. FREE WIFI at the airport. XANGA TIME…

13 Days
12-15 Hours per Day
occasionally no food all day

The convention went fairly well. The 9000 ppl that came enjoyed everything for the most part.
The grand finale was Saturday in Hong Kong at the Asia Expo Convention center.

9000 people and guess how many security guards there were?
10. I couldn’t believe it.

Yesterday I was basically a bodyguard and security for most of the day.
Exciting and exhausting at the same time.

sleep time on the plane and back in Beijing…

Back to work tomorrow….

so no more xanga until i get out of China …until next time

Well its been a fun 2 weeks of vacation back in Toronto.
Thanks to everyone who made it such a fun and relaxing time.

I will be transferring to Hong Kong from Beijing sometime in the summer so my blogs will be returning at that point.

Sorry to everyone I did not get a chance to see during my trip. If you see my car raping other cars out there don’t worry it hasn’t been stolen its in good hands.
Word to the wise: your car is slow don’t bother trying.

I think I’ve spent more money in the past 2 weeks than I did in the past 4 months in China.

Back to never never land…

pe@ce / zaijian…

one final thought…defcon lives…

Yes Ming has returned to Toronto for a vacation. I arrived back on Saturday and went a few days out of town with the MDAWG for some QT.

Catch me if you can. Same Tdot Cell phone.

Current enjoyment since returning to Canada:
- Belmont Mild Cigarettes (btw…when did they drop the ‘Mild’?)
- Tim Hortons (coffee, ice cap, breakfast sandwich)
- 3 Days of Gambling in Niagara (roulette, poker, slots, sicbo)
- Red Bull
- Driving
- Detailed Coverage of the NBA and NHL playoffs
- Speaking English at a normal pace
- Swiss Chalet
- All You Can Eat Meals
- Watching Movies in the Theatre (300 is crazy…ONLY SPARTA WOMEN GIVE BIRTH TO REAL MEN!)
- Mini Golf
- Spending Time with Mags
- Best Buy
- Winners (I know all the brands are real and I don’t need to bargain to get a good price)
- Propel Vitamin Enhanced Flavoured Water
- Red Lobster

Special Thanks goes out to the Defcon Racing crew for ‘pimping’ my ride while I was gone. The Blackman BASS is serious. Unfortunately there wasn’t enough time to make my car super duper fast…but it still feels fast enough…man I missed driving…

So I’ve got 10 days left…Its going to go by fast…

So for some reason in China Xanga.com does not work anymore. I guess someone on this site wrote some things about China that the government did not like.

Anyways…because of this fact blogging activity for me has haulted with an occasional joke or two on facebook.

I will continue to blog on xanga when I am out of China but frequency might be an issue.

On another note…I’m heading back to TORONTO for a visit!

i’m really excited…

Another interesting development is I might be getting transferred to Hong Kong to help with the IS department.

We shall see wut happens. I kinda have mixed feelings bout leaving beijing…living there is pretty chill.

I feel like a king…a star…the man…oh yeah….

i don’t spend any money…and I make real good money with little tax.

the only problem is the language and my lack of improvement due to frustration. What you learn and what people speak are two totally different things. The Beijing accent is difficult to understand…near impossible

HK should be even better but the spending will return…we shall see…i’ll go into more detail when i have more time…i should sleep…have a long day at immigration tomorrow….

TORONTO APRIL 21st to MAY 5th 2007
gimme a shout if u want to chill…number is still the same.

oh yeah one more thing…out of boredom i made a media page for all videos, audio, downloads, mp3, mixtapes etc.

http://www.Defcon-Remix.com/media.html

one stop for everything…