LuCaspeRobin + Thomas ;-)
News
No cancer ;-)
Monday the 22nd will go into history as a very glad one (blid, lykkelig, happy, fantastic, fijn, heerlijk). I was heading to the Amsterdam University Hospital AMC to meet with my mother, my brother-in-law and the surgeon who operated on my mother around ten days ago. There we awaited the results of the dissection of the tumor removed from my mother's left ovary. Coming into the conference room the surgeon immediately said: "It's good news, let me begin with that, very good news." A big smile followed and relief fell upon us. It was not and had acutally never been cancer what my mother had. Explaining what had happened the last 2 months, the surgeon told us the reason why every biopsy and every drawing of "ascites" (fluid from the stomach) hadn't resulted in a diagnosis of sort of ovary cancer. Because it never was cancer in the first place ;-) My mother had what was called a "borderline-tumor". That is neither fish nor meat, neither left nor right, it's exactly in between, but always benign (non-angry, non-dangerous cells, that is). Dissection of the tumor also proved it was borderline. There were visible "unstable" and "unruly" cells, but no signs of harmful or "bad" cells. Even though the tumor had grown to 20cm across and weighing in at 4,5 kilo's, it was utterly harmless. Well, as harmless as a tumor anywhere in the body can be. It brought a lot of discomfort and since it had burst open due to twice prodding in it by the local clinicians at my mothers local hospital (yes, "local" in the sense I keep using it here, has a negative charge!!!), it was good that it was removed. The surgeon was very happy to be the bearer of such good news. Normally she's the bearer of bad news for women with different sorts of ovary cancer. Normally she'd be talking about treatment plants and chemo-therapy. Normally she would be showing patients histograms of expected life-expectancy... Now she could say farewell and know that she would never see my mother again with this diagnosis.
So we're very relieved at the moment, having our lives turned upside-down twice in two months, last time for the worse, this time for the "better". Now my mother will only need time to recover from her surgery and then pick up her life where she left off just before X-mas ;-)
So it actually looks like that all's well that ends well!
Link | Add a comment | Posted by Sebastiaan in Sebastiaan | top
Google Buzz
Suddenly it was there - a splash page announcing Google Buzz. A sort of Facebook but then only for Google users. Seemed quite interesting at first until you saw that when switching it on Buzz went haywire... Adding all sorts of people to your list of followers and automagically letting other people follow myself. Hey, that's my prerogative - I want to decide who to follow and who can follow me. It felt like an uncontrollable blow-out that I had no idea how to contain.
Then I found this article over at CNET: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10451703-2.html. The article in clear steps explains how to get rid of Buzz AFTER you yourself have cleaned up the mess it made for you. Read it and decide for yourself if you want to take part in the next Google Buzz or not ;-)
Link | Add a comment | Posted by Sebastiaan in Sebastiaan | top
IE8 X-UA-Compatible
I've read up on some stuff recently regarding IE 8 and the (in)sanity switch they've (Microsoft) built into the browser, the so-called "IE8 X-UA-Compatible". I found some nice articles about it on the Microsoft Internet Explorer blog ( and http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2009/02/16/just-the-facts-recap-of-compatibility-view.aspx), but also on MSDN (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd567845(VS.85).aspx). The articles show a good recap of what to do and how to approach this new "special need" IE browsers seem to have. Of course there were rants (http://ilia.ws/archives/196-IE8-X-UA-Compatible-Rant.html) but also immensely helpful charts (http://hsivonen.iki.fi/doctype/ie8-mode.pdf).
And then I found some nice code to use:
- The first is a simple meta-tag for a per page control of the compatibility mode: <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=EmulateIE7" />. There's a debate on how efficient this is (does it work at all?) but by applying different combinations as stated here, one can try and find the version best suited for ones needs.
- The second was a simple piece of PHP to send as a HTTP-header by the webserver: <?php header('X-UA-Compatible: IE=EmulateIE7');?>. This keeps the compatibility switch outside of the HTML and feeds in directly to the browser from the webserver.
- Last but not least there's a ColdFusion version of the above as well of course: <cfheader name="X-UA-Compatible" value="IE=EmulateIE7" />
With these things you should be well armed to battle the beast with many dreadful heads, or i.e. IE ;-) Hopefully the newest head to pop up will be the best one yet!
Updated 10 February 2010, by Sebastiaan
I found a set of really great articles by Faruk Ates, a Dutch guy big in the Internet world. Read his initial story on X-UA-Compatible here and the follow-up here.
Updated 10 February 2010, by Sebastiaan
While we're at it, here some more info:
- From MSDN: Defining Document Compatibility (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc288325(VS.85).aspx)
- From MSDN Internet Explorer Developer Center: Tips and trics (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/cc405106.aspx)
- From the IEblog: Compatibility and IE8 (http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2008/01/21/compatibility-and-ie8.aspx)
- From A List Apart: Beyond DOCTYPE: Web Standards, Forward Compatibility, and IE8 (http://www.alistapart.com/articles/beyonddoctype)
Link | Add a comment | Posted by Sebastiaan in Webdesign | top
My mother has cancer
Just before Christmas we got a telephone from my mother that her doctor has said she was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer (EN: Wiki: Ovarian Cancer/ | NO: Eggstokk-kreft (fra Kreftforeningen) | NL: Eierstok-kanker (via KWF Kankerbestrijding). It was quite a shock, as we sort of had settled in with the new living situation of my mother (living alone with help-on-call). My mother too was ready to enjoy live again after some years with serious setbacks. Now we're in for quite a fight - well, my mother will have to do most of the fighting, we'll all be coaches encouraging her from the sideline.
If you feel the need to drop my mother a line, please email me or Veronica and then I'll pass your message along. If she's up to it she'll reply herself via email or telephone. Also if you want to send her snailmail please let me know, then I'll send you her postal address.
I guess I'll be blogging a bit more over the coming six months about the condition of my mother and her victories and possible setbacks.
Updated 20 January 2010, by Sebastiaan
Unfortunately the doctors haven't been able to determine the type of cancer-cells in my mothers belly. After three tries they will try a fourth time this Friday. Twice they've drained fluids from her belly and once done a biopt on the tumor itself. Friday will see another biopt try. Things take a while when it comes to cutting or poking into my mum, because she's on blood thinners due to her brain seizures. Four days after having stopped using them (and increasing the risk of another brain seizure) she can be "probed" or "cut". So come next Monday we may know more.
Updated 16 February 2010, by Sebastiaan
My mother was operated on last Wednesday (9th of february) to remove the tumor that was in her belly. This is the piece I wrote about it on Facebook (in Norwegian):
Det ser ut til aa gaa bra med mamma foreloepig, neste uke faar vi resultater.
Dette har skjedd siden sist:
- hun er hjemme naa etter operasjonen forrige uke onsdag
- der har kirurgen fjernet alt som er kvinnelig paa innsiden + blindtarmen
- hun sa, tja, naar jeg foerst hadde aapnet henne opp, kunne jeg like godt fjerne den, den er ikke tul nytte uansett
- kirurgen mener at hun har fjernet alt som var paa insiden av tumoren
- hun er selv av den mening at det ikke er en ondartet tumor men en godartet borderline-tumor
- et slags forstadium paa kreft, men ikke helt kreft likevel
- saa naa er det bare aa vente paa labben som skal undersoeke svulsten (20 cm stor) og se om de finner noe som helst av ondartete kreftceller i svulsten
- dersom ja blir det en cellegiftkur, dersom ikke er hun klar til aa bli bedre
- Saa vi krysser fingrene og haaper at alt er ferdig ;-)
- All's well that ends well ;-)
Link | Add a comment | Posted by Sebastiaan in Sebastiaan | top
Det snoer, det snoer, tiddelibom, tiddelibom, tjohei ;-)
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Flotte vinterbilder fra Nederland - se paa Facebook profilen min for alle filmene. Soek paa Sebastiaan Naafs - van Dijk for aa bli min Facebook venn ;-)
Fantastic winter-images from the Netherlands - please view my Facebook profile for great movies. Search for Sebastiaan Naafs - van Dijk to become mij Facebook friend ;-)
Geweldige winterse taferelen vanuit Werkhoven - bekijk mijn Facebook profiel voor alle films van sneeuw in Nederland. Zoek op Sebastiaan Naafs - van Dijk om mijn Facebook vriend te worden ;-)
Link | 2 comments | Posted by Sebastiaan in Sebastiaan | top
8 jaar getrouwd
Vandaag is het 8 jaar geleden dat Marjolijn en ik getrouwd zijn in de stilteruimte van het Universitair Medisch Centrum in Utrecht. Op het aller laatste moment nog geregeld door interventie van mijn vader richting de burgermeester(es) van Utrecht. Samen met familie en vrienden uit Nederland en Noorwegen en met mijn schoonvader Henk als natuurlijke middelpunt. Met bed en al heeft hij de trouwerij bijgewoond en hebben we achteraf heerlijk taart gegeten en gespeech en gebabbeld. Onze eerste telg Casper heeft het ook mogen bijwonen (mooi he die trouwjurk van Marjolijn) en onze kikker staat vanaf die dag prinsheerlijk in de woonkamer, als stille getuige van die mooie dag (vooral Thomas vind hem spannend).
Ik voel me vereerd al zo veel jaren samen met Marjolijn te hebben mogen doorbrengen. Samen met onze vier kinderen aan een fijn leventje in Werkhoven werken. Samen nieuwe uitdagingen en belevenissen aangaan. Samen leuke dingen doen en genieten van elke dag (sommige dagen zijn beter dan andere natuurlijk, "[...] in goede en in slechte dagen [...]").
Mar, gefeliciteerd, en nog vele jaren ;-) Ik hou van jou!
Link | Add a comment | Posted by Sebastiaan in Sebastiaan | top
LuCaspeRobin + Thomas ;-)
Op de racefiets
Voor het eerst weer in lange tijd ben ik op de racefiets gestapt. Niet met overgave, maar meer of min gedwongen door Marjolijn (dankjewel schat!). Bleek toch een goede zet geweest te zijn van haar (wanneer is dat niet het geval?). In 1 uur en 55 minuten heb ik 52,7 km afgelegd, wat een gemiddelde van 27,3 km/u betekent. Zo midden in de naweëen van de Mexicaanse Blaf vind ik dat best aardig.
In Werkhoven is er een klein groepje begonnen met gesamenlijk zondag ochtend te gaan fietsen. Verzameltijdstip heb ik blijkbaar nog niet helemaal onder de knie, want het is me alleen gelukt om de aller eerste keer mee te gaan met de groep. Die eerste keer was meteen de lakmoesproef, watn zelf waas ik maar gewend om zo'n 25 - 40 km te fietsen op een ochtend. Nu gingen ze meteen voor de 70 en bijna 3 uur later kwamen we weer aan in Werkhoven. In de tussentijd had ik al een paar keer moeten lossen van het groepje (1 keer voor de rust en 2 keer na de rust), maar het wel volbracht. Vooral mijn conditie liet het afweten - boven op de Utrechtse heuvelrug stond ik tweemaal te hijgen als een wild paard. Dat ging vandaag echt stukken beter - nog steeds hijgen, maar ik kon gewoon doorzetten en doorfietsen. De extra ijzerpilletjes die ik drie maal daags slik lijken wel hun vruchten af te werpen. Op naar het volgende weekend, dit keer wel aansluitend bij het groepje?
Link | Add a comment | Posted by Sebastiaan in Sebastiaan | top
Ziek
Al meer dan twee weken zijn we overgeleverd aan de Mexicaanse griep. Eerst een normale seizoensgriep voor Thomas, wel met hoge koorts, daarna volgde Robin, Lucas, Sebastiaan en als laatste Casper. Iedereen leek eind deze schoolweek weer goed te zijn, maar na een ochtendje school en middagje kinderboerderij liep Lucas's zijn koorts weer op. En in de loop van zaterdag werd ook Thomas weer koortsig. Zondag maar met hem naar de huisartsenpost geweest - daar denken ze dat hij nu de Mexicaanse griep overgenomen heeft van zijn broertjes - dus een 2de griep in twee weken tijd. Gelukkig had hij begin deze week antibiotika gekregen van de huisarts vanwege een oneffen geluidsbeeld in zijn longetjes - de huisartsenpost arts zei dat zijn longetjes nu helemaal schoon waren.
Casper's voetbalteam Aurora F2 heeft zaterdag de negende wedstrijd op rij gewonnen en stevent ongeslagen af op het winterkampioenschap ;-) Volgend seizoen krijgen we waarschijnlijk meer tegenstand, dit seizoen waren het maar twee clubs waar we echt tegen hebben moeten vechten om te winnen. En eigenlijk maar een echt spannende wedstrijd, die tegen VVA 71 uit Rhenen (nipt 3-2 gewonnen). Go go Casper!
Link | Add a comment | Posted by Sebastiaan in Sebastiaan | top
Onlinebase CMS
Finally this website now runs on the new and improved Onlinebase Content Management System (CMS). I've always run this website on my own homegrown CMS, running on a Windows box where BlueDragon 6, MySQL 4.x and Apache were installed. For years it was my one, true, stable site environment, but the maintanance has grown me a bit over my head. That's why I made the switch to the Onlinebase CMS. It has proven it's usefulness for many a website owner, being utterly stable, having a wealth of functionality and of course running on Coldfusion 8. All the features I have on my website (comments with CFFormProtect enabled, sitemap, statistics, feeds (Atom and RSS), entry updates and plugins) the Onlinebase CMS provides - even multiple site and multiple languages management ;-) So I've made the switch and hope to see it evolve as fast as my wishes for extra functionalities evolves.
Link | Add a comment | Posted by Sebastiaan in Sebastiaan | top
