A friend with cancer.

I have decided to post the updates I receive by email from my wonderful friend Melanie Morgan-Dohner who has a huge mixture of cancers, (I think breast, a brain tumour and liver cancer. She also has numerous tumours on her spine).
But she speaks of Hope and Faith even in (really!) tough times!
She also has a blog where you can see all her posts from (I think) when it all started.

Here is the most recent email.

Dear Prayer Partners,

As most of you know, we are once again spending our days surfing between doctors offices. Which brings me to something I was thinking about - the subject of news - you know good news, bad news.

Well, as I was thinking about the things the doctors have told us in the last couple of days, I am beginning to understand that news is neither good or bad -- it is just news. When we have gone to the doctors and received news that we considered good, we announced it to the world. And when we got news that was considered bad, we announced it to the world. So, what we did is broadcast news. News is just that - something new that we did not know before. What we do with that news and how we handle that news determines whether it is good or bad. We are the only common denominator in our circumstances. The question about news, not good or bad, is "what are you going to do with it and who are you going to be, in the midst of it?"

Just to give you an example of what we are talking about - at one doctors office we are told, "all we will be doing is palliative care since you are stage 4". This caught us really off guard and we had to ask, " what does that mean?" The simple explanation is that "palliative care" is all that radiation really does - it kills a tumor (which will stop the pain associated with that tumor, but it does not cure the cancer.)

Radiation is to kill the tumors and relieve the pain in a local spot, while the chemo is systemic. The issue of stage 4 was explained as "once the cancer is in an organ, you are automatically in stage 4". We left that office with news - it had the effect of slowing down our spirits -- definite time for introspection and a chat with God. Melanie was startled and crying. (Even though we had all known that cancer in her liver meant it was getting worse -- even though we knew the facts, already. )

That report had not come to us with any hope attached -- in fact, quite the opposite -- this report had been completely heartless.

We have a Nurse Practitioner at a different Doctor's office -- she is extremely knowledgeable and kind, and carries a cloud of hope about her. I needed to hear this from her. She said, "Melanie, you know your body and you do not need to know the label, as it does not change our treatment plan - which is to get you back doing what you do".

What a difference presentation makes - I believe that how we tell people news has a greater effect than what the news is. We could all learn from that. When said with Love and Kindness, no matter the message, we can leave people feeling loved and cared for, just like Jesus does for us.

We have just spent the last week going to Doctors to try and determine the source of pain in Melanie's back. The results of the test have confirmed that she has a tumor in the upper spine, which is causing a lot of pain, and a tumor in the lower spine which is causing pain along her sides. So, to add to the chemotherapy she just started several weeks of radiation treatment. (It is very unusual to be having chemo and radiation at the same time -- however, the situation calls for it.) Once again our days are filled with doctors appointments and treatment.

The radiation will take between 3 and 4 weeks, each day, Monday through Friday. The chemo, which is oral, is taken twice a day, also Monday through Friday. Our prayer requests is that the radiation would do exactly what it is designed to do, and kill the tumor and therefore stop the pain. That the chemo would do what it is supposed to do and kill all the other cancer in Melanie's body, without side effects. There is one side effect that is currently happening which we would like prayer for: the bottom of her feet hurt. Not all the time but enough that there is some concern about the amount of chemo she is taking. We have had the dose reduced and are now talking to the doctor about what is next. (Melanie would rather have sore feet -- if it kills the cancer -- but the Dr. thinks we can do both....kill the cancer, and save her feet..)

Please pray that the side effects will stop and that the chemo will have no other side effects.

We are also asking for prayer for provision. Since we cannot travel our income has been reduced. If you could just pray for our finances we would be grateful. We are not asking for money, dear friends -- we are asking for prayer. However, if you feel led to contribute to Big God Ministries, please see our web site for details.

You can read Melanie's blog at www.hopeandcancer.blogspot.com When you read these blogs any comments would be helpful to Melanie.

Once again we thank you for all your prayer support, without it this journey would be more difficult. We are grateful for each and everyone of you and those you share our news. Thank you.

Serving a Big God,
Dennis & Melanie, Autumn & Jake & Jet and Monica

Technologically Geeky Times!! The New iPhone and Friends

I couldn't care much less about being a geek right now, largely because I'm just plain excited!

As I just mentioned to the Thinker and Ponderererer this is a very exciting 14 days. Three days behind me and 11 days to come.

Three days behind:
Friday was our 5 year anniversary - we had a lovely time and went out for a delightful meal
Saturday we went to London to see Wicked - an AMAZING musical, funny, musically wonderful, all generally great.
Sunday just a lovely day - saw my parents
Today, Tuesday, Wednesday are in between days. Not much happening
Thursday I get to go to London in the evening after having picked up my morning suit (very exciting)
Friday I help my sister move from her flat to the flat where she is going to be living.
Saturday is the most exciting day of all - Tis my lovely sisters wedding. All very exciting things. She's my most lovely (and only sister) and so I'll probably cry. Deal with it.
Sunday I have to go back to Newmarket sadly.
Then not much happens until...
June 17th... This is where the entire inner geek comes out.

The new iphone OS (operating system) 3.0 and iPhone 3Gs will be released.
I have been waiting for this for some time now (since I first got my phone) not because I'm not happy with my phone but because I love things becoming better! There are some things the iPhone OS 2.0 just can't quite do which stops using it being the pleasure it should be.



I have just this (10) minute(s) finished listening to an audio stream from the WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) in California. This is where Apple were going to announce all the big "things" including the new iPhone stuff and "Snow Leopard" (and probably much more stuff that I am not quite geeky enough to know/care about.)

I was trying to do my report at work but then just ended up following all the updates and then the audio stream so gave that up!!

So the new stuff that is pretty awesome: (Think of this a information for not entirely geeky people, because I don't know all the in-depth technical mumbo-jumbo)

(I think I'll do them in the order they did, it's easier that way)
1. Cut, Copy and Paste - This has been one of the most frustrating things about the iPhone's so far. If you want to email someone something you found on the internet but not the whole article or link, or need to copy part of a text into your notes then you had to go the old fashion way. Pen and Paper. It was a pain. It's surprising it's taken them this long to get it there but at least they're there now! It was almost funny that one of the top "smart phones" couldn't really handle a bit of text transfer!

2. Shake to undo - Maybe a bit gimmikey but probably will turn out to be rather useful. To undo an action, you just shake, simple as that. I'm assuming it will work with text and maybe if you accidentally delete something eg a contact or a note. It'll have it's uses I'm sure.

3. Landscape mode in all Apple apps - Safari (internet browsing) has always supported landscape mode, it helps to see more of a page. It also brings up a wider keyboard, which, if you have large fingers then it makes it easier to get around. This has now been brought to all apples key apps, mail for example. I personally am not really fussed by this. It can actually be a huge pain as I spend alot of time using my phone, I also spend alot of time in my bed. If you try and lay down and use it, it always spins round (with safari) now it's going to do this with everything! I will be frustrated by such a thing. Ideally it'd have a choice in the settings. But we shall see.

4. MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) - This is also rather astonishing that it's taken apple this long to get round to this! Thousands of phones have already been able to do this for years! I think they assumed that emailing on the go would take over from it, but it hasn't. Amusingly with my "super clever" iPhone someone sent me a picture message. I couldn't just view it. I had to go on the internet, log on to o2.co.uk type in lots of details, then view it! What a ridiculous waste of time. So I'm glad this has finally come along. When they announced this (an hour ago) they said that it would be available on 29 carriers (like O2 and orange) etc when they launch. However it wouldn't be available on AT&T until the end of the summer!!! (That's the major carrier in the US!!) The crowd were fairly outraged by that!!

5. Forwarding Messages - They didn't actually mention this (I don't think) but they did back in March at their OS 3.0 preview and I'm assuming they haven't changed their mind! The iPhone has a very clever and sensible way of setting out texts. You get them in a handy conversation like msn. Very useful. But they didn't have any way of forwarding messages. Now they do. Very simple just to forward text messages to someone else.

6. Spotlight - This is very handy. This is an 'entire phone' search function. On the iPhone homepage you have screens with all your various apps on it. To the left of the main page there will now be a "spotlight search" page. This will search your whole phone, contacts, calendar, ipod, mail (although I think not the mail content (little annoying) just subject titles/people) etc.

7. iTunes - Previously in iTunes on your computer you've been able to rent/buy films and transfer them to your phone to watch on the go. Now you can do this straight from the phone, bypassing the computer. Apparently "This is great if you're getting ready to get on a flight, you can purchase and download right at the airport." Doesn't really appeal to me but is useful I guess.

8. iTunes U - This is something I've just learnt about. iTunes U is the "educational" part of iTunes. Basically in it's simplest form, you can download lectures on pretty much anything from a huge range of universities (mainly American, but it does have Oxford and Cambridge too) I think many are free, some you probably have to pay for. A very useful addition to iTunes. This has then been put on the iPhone as well, so as well as having the app store and iTunes, you now have iTunes U for downloading lectures on the go.

9. Parental Controls - There were already some parental controls, but I think they just made them more conclusive, largely with controls for films and tv stuff. Why a kid who needs parental controls has an iPhone I'm not sure, but I don't think it's a bad thing.

10. Tethering - This is rather cool, I'm not sure how it would work yet but we shall see... It Basically involves using your phone as a modem for your computer. So hook up your computer to your phone (usb or bluetooth) then use it as the internet. So your laptop can be on the internet via your phone (albeit rather slow depending on where you are)

(Here are a few little ones in a row)
11. a. Safari b. Javascript c. HTTP streaming - I'm not entirely sure about these I think safari is just a bit better/quicker(?). Javascript runs 3 times faster. Http can stream audio and video (ask someone geekier than I about that!)

12. Autofill - Similar to on the computer, the phone can remember passwords to various website that you "frequent" often - ebay, amazon, etc Also fills out web forms (with addresses etc)

13. More languages - The iPhone 3.0 supports more than 30 languages, including left to right languages - like Arabic

14. Find my Phone - A very useful tool however only works if you're signed up to mobileme (a syncing online program $99 a year subscription, this is the only things that's made it even vaguely worth considering) You sign into mobileme and it'll show you a map of where you're phone is! Great if you've lost it shopping or in an Egyptian taxi! However not helpful if you've lost it in the house... But wait... You can also send a message to the phone telling it to play a sound even if it's on silent, it'll keep playing until you've found it!! Very useful but is it worth $99! Jury's still out! - Also if it's lost or stolen you can send it a message to delete all of the data (all backed up on your iTunes) but stops anyone else getting at it!

15. Various developing things - I won't go into much detail but just outline the things that developers can now do and how they'll affect you and me - In app purchasing - This is basically where you can now buy for example a book reading app. Now you can buy the books individually and then they'll be in the app. Previously you had to have one app per book thus cluttering up your home pages. Also can be used for say a racing game where you can buy more levels or cars. Use your imagination. Although they stressed alot that free apps will remain free, not be free to download then you have to pay to do other things with it! Peer to Peer Bluetooth - Basically imagine playing chess on two phones against eachother. Push Notification - This basically means that instead of having say for example msn running all the time (which would shred battery life like something that's very easy to shred) this kind of keeps you signed in "elsewhere" (not on your phone) but then "pushes" a notification to you when you get a message. Then you can sign in and have a conversation. So is just a different way of doing things. Another examples is if you have a football app then you don't want to have to check on it every 5 mins for the score, but it can "push" a notification to you when a goal is scored or it's full time and then you can read/see about it.
There are some other bits a pieces but again too technical for me/this blog!

16. Tom-Tom - The sat nav company tomtom have developed for the iphone a complete sat nav kit. So a turn by turn direction thingy. (Better than the maps things it has now when it comes to finding your way when you're lost) It comes with a car kit and power so you don't have to worry about battery life. But I think this is all external so will have to be bought (and probably not cheap)

These are the main operating system things that are coming in 3.0

However after all the hundreds of rumours they are also releasing new hardware (an actual phone rather than just a software update)

The iPhone 3Gs

1. Faster - This is basically faster, messaging loads twice as fast as the iPhone 3G. They say everything is faster. Viewing an excel spreadsheet is 3.6x faster.

2. Better Camera - I was pretty pleased with the camera it already has. In fact it's taken some lovely photos!! But the new camera is a 3 megapixel auto focus-auto white balance- camera. It also has "tap focus" where you can tap on part of the photo for it to focus on that part thus being able to take funkier nicer more "composed" photos. Also better close (macro) (Up to 10cm) photography and better low light photographs.

3. Video - This has been much awaited! The new camera has 30fps (frames per second) video with audio capability. Auto focus and white balance just like the camera, and dead easy to use. Also video editing of your videos. Also can easily send via email or MMS.

4. Voice Control - Now this is cool!! Basically you can control it with your voice (duh!) For example "Play Fall Out Boy" then iTunes starts playing fall out boy! Or if it's playing something you say "what's playing now?" and it'll tell you!! Also if it's playing something you can say "Play more songs like this" and it'll create a "genius" playlist. How cool's that!! Also the standard "Call Andy" works too!

5.Built in Compass - I'm not sure why this seemed to be as popular as it was but it now has a built in compass! So it will tell you which way you're facing/going. This is also linkable with google maps. So you can move the map to point the way you're facing. Handy!

6. Links with Nike+ - I didn't know what nike+ was until just now but it appears to be something that the ipod nano, and now the iphone 3Gs supports where it will track your runs giving pace, time, distance etc and then upload it onto nike+ website where you can have all your stats and challenges and targets etc.

7. Battery - The battery life is set to improve (thank goodness!) 9hrs of solid wifi access.

That's pretty much it!! (It's rather a lot!)
As far as pricings go. The software update will be free for all iphone users and will be $9.99 for iPod touch users.

The iPhone 3Gs - Last time they handed it out for free if you were willing to restart your 18month contract back to zero. I'm hoping they'll do it again. I think O2 will let us know of that. Otherwise they were saying $199 for 16GB of storage, and $299 for a 32GB version.


Phew.

Done for now.