Relay for Life 2011

For the 5th year (every year since Garrett was diagnosed) Garrett's best friend, Jason has assembled a fine team of 24-hour relay walkers to raise money and support for the American Cancer Society in Garrett's honor.  My relay-for-life-donation-taking website is up if you would like to make a monetary donation this year, but in the event you can't donate or want to do more please consider some of the other ways you can support the intent of my efforts - reducing the burden of those who have to face cancer:

-Share my donation page with others who might want to contribute.

-Donate blood or register to be a stem cell/bone marrow donor.

-Write your politicians to encourage them to fund cancer research, protect cancer patients and further health care reform.

-Schedule your own cancer screenings.  (Just being diagnosed early can greatly reduce suffering)  And strive for a healthy lifestyle with activity, variety and everything in moderation, the best preventative so far.

(I will be emailing my website link too, my apologies if you receive this info twice!)

Research, reform and relay!

Health care policy and cancer research will probably be on top of my social priorities for the rest of my life as a way to honor Garrett’s fight by helping those who must follow after him suffer less. The following link is about a specific research project and clinical trial by Tgen that I have been following the progress of for more than a few years. It is one of the best chances other people with advanced basal cell carcinomas have to finding successful treatments. Although it will always be frustrating when research could have helped Garrett, this is outweighed by my appreciation for researchers getting closer to treatments that will work for others, so they must not go without targeted treatment options.


"New drug effective against the most common form of skin cancer"

This kind of progress is also a great reminder why support for medical research should remain a high priority in our agendas and budgets. We can all keep research of importance funded by writing or calling our politicians or making financial donations as we are able to organizations like Tgen, Stand Up To Cancer or American Cancer Society - Cancer Action Network which all support collaborative research in important ways.


Also, my favorite economist and health care policy advisor has a new blog article highlighting how our current employment-based health insurance system works by publicly subsidizing community rated insurance and how the health care reform recently passed is not radically different, but expands the system to be more available and affordable to all Americans instead of just those employed by companies who choose to or are large and thus required to provide health insurance to their employees.  Getting the rest of us closer to the insurance model which members of congress enjoy.

"The economics of privately sponsored social insurance"

Soon Garrett’s friends and I will be starting the 5th year of fundraising for the American Cancer Society through Relay for Life… look out for that post and then make your tax deductible donation, donate blood/stem cells/bone marrow at your local blood bank or get your own cancer screenings done for the year in honor of Garrett and all those who must fight cancer after him!

Last Days

Not sure how to start this post since it has been now nearly five months since Garrett died, but I wanted to let anyone still checking this blog know that myself and those closest to Garrett are living onward and recovering from our losses as healthfully as we can. Just as Garrett wanted us to do. It hasn’t been too hard for me to talk about these events, or Garrett‘s life, but writing them down seemed to trouble me for a while so I am glad to be able to now write a bit again.


In the previous post we shared Garrett's feelings about and reasons for taking a break from chemo and going home from the hospital with hospice care. From the start of hospice through his last few weeks of life Garrett maintained his desire to keep fighting and his hope of regaining strength so that he could return to cancer treatments. He was no quitter even in the hardest times.


We were able to spend a few weeks at home with hospice nurses and our immediate family near, but after completing an urgent blood transfusion Garrett had several seizures causing lack of consciousness at home and we had to return to the hospital by ambulance. In the emergency room they were able to wake him, but he was very disoriented while his brain reset from the electrical storm that raced through during the seizures. A head MRI showed a mass and/or bleeding on the left side of his brain which probably caused the seizures. That night Garrett was courageously trying to regain his vocabulary and communicate, he was able to speak some and acknowledge all of us there. I slept at his side and he woke to talk to me as he could and held my hand through the night.


To add to our impending grief, the next morning we learned that Garrett‘s dad, Tom, had a heart attack after leaving the hospital and died at his home that night. Garrett’s body kept fighting valiantly for a few more days while our family and his doctors tried to comfort him as best we could, he took his last breath October 24th . As proud as I was of his determination, it was a relief to see him struggle and suffer no longer.


Our family had tremendous support from extended families, friends, neighbors and coworkers so we could spend the time we needed with each other and in solitude. After the memorials we took Tom and Garrett’s ashes to the wedge in California where Garrett asked to be and we put them to rest in the ocean there which brought me great peace.


I’ve been here at home with Nacho, Kora, Kimo and Olive where the animals are the same, but everything seems different. Garrett wanted us to all go on and live full and productive lives and I am doing the best I can to do so myself. As painful and difficult as it was to lose him, he schooled me on the useful qualities of will power, love, integrity and stubbornness, and I am glad I was able to make his burdens easier to carry and help him get through this life with as much comfort as I could give. The most worthy charge of my life.


These two photos are the last I took, not pretty, but us getting through daily challenges of living with cancer and Garrett being as brave as ever. 

LOVED his daily iced coffee even during doctors' appointments

The PICC line getting inserted here helped get IV antibiotics in when veins kept closing during his treatments for pneumonia/infections in early October

Hospice Patient and Its Misconceptions

For those of you out there who I haven't been able to reach out to recently, things have been pretty hectic in the Love/Olafson household due to my health.  A series of infections led me to become one of the latest in a long line of cancer patients to become a hospice patient. If you are like me, you may not even know what in the world hospice means exactly so here is a dictionary definition:

a. a health care facility for the terminally ill that emphasizes pain control and emotional support for the patient and family typically refraining from taking extraordinary measures to prolong life.

b. a similar program of care and support for the terminally ill at home.

I fall into category b of that definition.  There are many misconceptions though that come with the word hospice and the largest is probably that people instantly think of death.  I am not dying yet.  Just had a pretty tough week that led MaryEllen and I to re-think some of our options.  One of those options was taking a break from the rigors of chemotherapy and start taking advantage of the benefits of hospice.

(Garrett says he is too lazy to finish this post so this is MaryEllen picking up where he left off!)

We headed into the hospital in the first place because Garrett was feeling weaker and having hard time breathing.  After ten days receiving multiple blood transfusions and antibiotics for pneumonia and staph infections, Garrett is feeling better, but still has some shortness of breath.  We made our escape last Monday after learning about all the services hospice could offer and making a plan with their team to keep G safe and comfortable at home.  Waiting for us at home on our planned return day was an oxygen system, hospital bed and scheduled visits from hospice nurse to support me, Garrett and our families.  Hospice does not provide curative treatments, but they manage symptoms and are available to counsel us at all hours of every day.  Some people with terminal illnesses do get stronger and live longer that expected with the great care of hospice and can return to cancer treatments when they choose, this is what Garrett hopes to do.

We are very happy to be home and to know that we don't have to go back to the hospital because we have such great resources here!   

Ramblings For the Week

It's finally Friday, not that it really matters but I am really glad to see this week go. This has been a tough week, mentally and emotionally for pretty much everyone I have talked to lately.

Physically, I am still struggling to adjust to this stupid deafness in my right ear. Not only can I not hear but it just feels like the right side of my face is just clogged up, kind of like a giant cold in my sinuses but there isn't any cold. I don't know if it's from the increased dosage of steroids that my doctor had me on or what it is but its annoying. Then to top it off I chipped a stupid tooth which has me paranoid that a) that tooth is going to fall out and b) the rest of my teeth are going to start falling out. As MaryEllen wrote previously, one of the drugs I am on (zometta) tend to has a bad effect on teeth and jaw bones, etc.

The newest issue that has popped up is that my leg strength has decreased to the point where I cannot get out of a chair without assistance from someone. This started slowly when I was having a couple of infections where I just started losing strength all over. Well at this same time is when the hearing went away and the doctor increased the steroid dosage. We had no idea that a steroid of all things would cause me to lose muscle strength but when at chemo on wednesday, my primary oncologist found out my current steroid dosage and said it is way too much and is definitely causing decreased strength.

Dexamethasone isn't a drug you can just cut cold turkey so I have to take the next few weeks and slowly get off this drug with high hopes that strength starts coming back. It is very disconcerting to basically be bed ridden while home alone because you are afraid if you go anywhere else you might sit down (or better yet fall) and not be able to get up. Its very tough mentally to always have this on my mind. You take it for granted being able to do everyday things like going out the back steps and coming right back inside until you find yourself on your back waiting for someone to get home and help you up (theoretical scenario of course).

Medically, everything else went decent this week. I had what was I think my fourth treatment of gemcitabine on wednesday which went well. We got to meet with Dr. Ye for the first time in a couple of weeks and actually get some questions and concerns hammered out. One thing that was decided by MaryEllen and I was that we want to take a break from zometta, which is a bone strengthening drug that I get a monthly IV for but upon researching we came across many cases where it has very adverse effects on the mouth and jaw so with a chipped tooth and all I just want to take a break from that and try to eliminate another source of frustration. Otherwise, all the blood levels from my labs were promising. Red cells are staying high for how far away we are from the last transfusion and platelets which have been in the tank were actually up a bit although I did spend a couple of hours at the hospital yesterday getting a platelet transfusion.

Anyway, there's the current edition of the wild ride known as my life. I guess a lot of that sounded really negative and depressing but it really was just a tough week that I don't expect to continue. For one, ITS FOOTBALL SEASON!!! That alone makes me look forward to every weekend. Huskies have a huge game against Nebraska tomorrow. Not really expecting a win, just hoping for a solid performance and improvement. Right.

Chemo #4 + Platelets and sudden deafness! oy!

Last week Garrett had his 4th dose of gemcitabine and platlets fell again so we boosted them last Friday with a platelet transfusion and got more Neumega shots over the weekend.  This week we get off from chemo (yay!)  but we were so put off by the stand in doctor last week that we didn't get to talk about the new and perplexing symptoms bothering Garrett.  So we will go in this week to see his usual oncologist to catch him up and get on with finding answers. 

Over a week ago Garrett woke up from a nap with no hearing in his right ear... no pain or other symptoms.  The on-call doc during his blood transfusion the next day looked at it and referred him to an ear specialist who we went to see last Wednesday.  They tested his hearing and saw no physical signs of trouble from the outside, but found very little usable hearing in the right ear. If it is not related to his cancer or cancer treatments the hearing could recover over the next few months aided by steroids Garrett already takes for radiation damage  (when not related to any other ailment one-eared deafness like this is known as sudden hearing loss). We scheduled a head MRI scan for next week to check on the physical condition around the inner ear and nerves.  If all looks well there we can only wait and hope that the hearing returns on its own over time.

In the last few weeks Garrett also noticed a chip in one of his teeth.  Some of the cancer treatments (especially Zometa) have the potential to weaken teeth so we'll go soon to get this tooth smoothed out and see what options they might have for strengthening the rest of his teeth.  We'll aslo consider stopping Zometa for good since his teeth are pretty important for getting food down and keeping his weight up!  Late night muffins and Starbucks ice cream have been contributing to his weight creeping back up and holding steady.

We've got lots of new challenges to take on these days, hopefully more answers and less questions ahead!

Chemo #3 + Transfusion time

Garrett had low-ish red blood cells and platelets making him feel tired this week even though he is feeling recovered from the infections and eating enough to gain some weight.  They went ahead with a dose of chemo, bone strengthening drug and neumega shot yesterday, but he has to check in to the hospital early tomorrow morning to get a transfusion to boost those red cells and platelets.  It will be another long one because outpatient infusion is fully booked this week (more patients sent to the hospital possibly due to new lower Medicaid reimbursement rates) so the hospital has to admit him as an inpatient.  :(  Just the process of checking in and out adds several hours to the transfusion time!  Hopefully Garrett will be able to sleep at the hospital while all the paper work gets done and I will head in to work for the day while he is there.

We were glad to have last week doctor free though and spent most of the time relaxing around the house and eating good food!

Chemo #2 + very low platelet counts

Although Garrett has been feeling better every day since the first dose of gemcitabine as his antibiotics take hold, he developed a rash this week that had no symptoms other than small purple pinpoint bruises on his arm and abdomen.  They are in fact tiny bruises that show up when your platelet counts (blood cells that help clotting) are low, called thrombocytopenia.  Platelets have occasionally dropped from chemo before, but this last chemo dose got him unusually low while the other blood counts (red and white) were strong!  For whatever reason gemcitabine seems to be extra hard on platelets so we started today an injection called Neumega to boost the bone marrow's production, but it can take three weeks to raise counts so we'll call the hospital tomorrow to see when they can fit us in for an outpatient platelet transfusion (takes a fraction of the time it takes to get red blood cell transfusion!). Then we stop by our doctor's office the next three days for the same Neumega shot.  Next week we have off from chemo, but we'll have to keep an eye on blood counts and take it easy enjoying the sun we have planned here! 

Here's some recent relaxation in good weather (not from this cloudy week!) hopefully we'll be doing more of this over the weekend!

Dinner and a movie!

While Garrett is on the mend, I had a wonderful day turning 28 years old!  We've been partying while Tommy is visiting us and last night we all three made it out to Garrett's first in-theater movie in years... I can't even remember the last movie we saw in the theater... maybe it was before his diagnosis in 2006!  We saw The Other Guys this time and thought it was pretty funny. Good times.

On the topic of mending Garrett... we did get a call last Friday with results of the skin culture and started on an oral antibiotic and topical antibiotic cream to fight an infection going on, but luckiy it was not MRSA this time!

Infections

Cancer patients usually are at greater risk for infection because some chemotherapy drugs, cancers in bone marrow and radiation treatments cause neutropinia - low white blood cell counts - that means fewer immune system fighters.  Luckily during Garrett's adria treatments his white cell count remained strong.  We try not to let infection risks keep us from spending time with friends and family, especially when  his counts are so strong, but instead we try to remember the common sense ways to reduce spreading bacteria and viruses - hand washing and sanitizers, covering coughs and not sharing food...  ways that everyone can behave to avoid the cold and flu season!  Amazingly, Garrett does not seem to catch much even when I have something, but when he does it is usually a doozy or multiple issues compounding his symptoms.

The last time we dealt with infection was December 2009 when Garrett was very low on red blood cells and had to be hospitalized for three days.  At the hospital his skin ulcer was cultured and it came back with two strains of bacteria, one of them (we found out much later) was methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) which has been discussed in the media lately for spreading in hospitals.  Although it is a tough bacteria that is resistant to some antibiotics and disinfectants, it can live on our skin or in our nasal passage without causing any trouble for years even.  When someone is neutropinic and/or has an open wound the bacteria can get in and cause real trouble.  Luckily hand washing is one of the most effective ways to not share the bug.  In December Garrett got several days in a row of Vancomycin, a powerful antibiotic that is used when bacteria is found resistant to others.  This cleared up Garrett's symptoms, along with blood transfusions, got him back on his feet. 

During our inpatient transfusion last Friday we learned more about MRSA and how nurses are supposed to wear disposable gowns and gloves when in a patients room with a history of MRSA...  some nurses did, some didn't...  and in all the times we've been in the hospital for transfusions since December this was the first time they tried to address it.  On the 3rd floor where cancer patients check-in it should be a high priority since many are neutropenic, but the night shift wasn't so concerned this time.  I followed up with the infection control department and they gave us a lot of information about getting cultures, washing hands and giving feedback to hospital staff on how to better educate patients like us.

When we discussed Garrett's current symptoms with his doctor this Wednesday he took a new culture of his skin ulcer and saw signs of thrush (a fungus) in his throat.  With a prescription to treat the throat and waiting to hear results of the skin culture, Garrett should start feeling much better and be able to eat and drink without the discomfort he has had the last few weeks.  Hopefully that will get us back on track, gaining weight, feeling good. 

Also, we got a call with the echo results - his heart looks as good as ever!

Chemo #1 Gemcitabine + inpatient transfusion

Over the last few weeks Garrett’s energy was diminishing, his appetite along with it. A sore throat led him to believe it was a virus, but when he started feeling winded walking to the kitchen we figured his blood counts were down. We got in last Friday to see a doc and have blood drawn and sure enough his red blood cells and platelets were low enough to need a blood transfusion. Although we’d had good blood counts the previous week, it seemed like the cold just brought him down faster than we expected. After trying to get an outpatient transfusion appointment with no luck, Garrett agreed to check-in to the hospital that night and get it over with. We went straight over at 5pm and didn’t get done with the transfusion until 5am!  It was a very long night with several quirky night nurses and no sleep.

After being pumped up with new blood, Garrett still had a sore throat which kept him from enjoying drinks and food again this week, argh!  Today our oncologist selected a new chemotherapy that our insurance had already approved, so we went ahead with the first treatment of gemcitabine and a bag of fluid to combat dehydration. He will get a low dose once a week for two weeks, then have one week off. Most of the side effects listed for gemcitabine (aka gemzar) happen when you are getting a higher dose; Garrett should only feel some of them mildly, if any. It is supposed to be as easy or easier on his body compared to adria!

Echocardiogram results were not in, but that should be a good sign because any irregularities would have been immediately relayed to our doctor.

Chemo #13 + Echocardiogram

Last week Garrett had another great blood count result, gained weight (!), got a dose of adria and zometta (bone strengthener) and scheduled the echocardiogram. The echo is also called cardiac ultrasound. It will check on the strength of Garrett's heart to be sure he is healthy enough for another dose or two of adria. I am looking forward to the echo because I get to sit off to the side watching the images and hear the swoosh of Garrett's heart pumping blood, very cool stuff to me!

While Garrett was finishing up his chemo last week I took a little walk around the medical park and their super green retention pond. The weather here has been keeping up with summer and we deserve it after such a cold and rainy spring!

Homemade crab dip, yum

Delicious date at Hearthfire!

Last Friday we made it out to my favorite local fare, Anthony’s Hearthfire Grill. At the last peninsula, on the very southern point of the puget sound, between East Bay and West Bay in Olympia, Hearthfire has a nice twist on Anthony’s well known northwest cuisine and it’s a place Garrett and I can reliably enjoy! It is a bit fancy, but the view and food are worth it to me. We had great seafood and good company as you can see, Garrett didn't let one bite of crab dip go to waste :)

Chemo #12 and concluding hyperbaric for now

This past Wednesday Garrett had impressive blood counts, hemoglobin up at 9.0 and shockingly high white blood cells, which is a continued sign of chemo affecting the bone marrow cancer and a boost from his blood transfusion a few weeks ago. Since the numbers were so strong he went ahead with another chemo dose marking the third to last appointment where adriamycin will be used to fight his cancer. Our usual oncologist was out of the office this week, but we hope next time we will start talking about the next drug up. Garrett has been eating often the last week or so, but was only mildly rewarded for his efforts by maintaining weight this time. We hope for gain in upcoming weeks.

After two weeks of making the daily commute to Tacoma for hyperbaric oxygen therapy Garrett decided he was at his limit. We’ve put further sessions on hold until he feels mentally and physically ready to tolerate more. The daily routine was wearing him down day by day, but since deciding to suspend he has had much energy to work on eating multiple times a day and adding activity as he is comfortable to do like our recumbent bicycle with full back support. Putting more effort into these behaviors will no doubt help him feel well and tolerate continued chemotherapy!  He has already been feeling better making these changes to his routine.

We’re finally feeling summer time heat here in the pacific northwest, but Garrett is lucky to have air conditioning at home and in the new travel van! His body doesn’t regulate temperature well so having a/c available at all times makes the change in weather bearable. Olive on the other hand is basking in the sun, loving every minute! We drove the van down to Centralia on Thursday, taking all the pretty country back roads to get there, for the grand opening of the Centralia Deli & BBQ a new sister to the Chehalis Deli!!! We had a great dinner with Garrett’s parents and hope the Deli family and staff had a good practice run for their public opening night tomorrow!  Good luck!

Patriot

Just in time for the 4th, Olive's US jersey arrived in the mail! We don't usually dress her up, but Garrett said this custom jersey was just too perfect to pass up!

We had a great steak dinner grilled by Garrett's dad last night and watched Seattle's 4th show on tv while our neighborhood was booming late into the night despite a local ban on fireworks. After the first hour or so of darkness the dogs calmed down and tolerated the remainder of the explosions. Hope everyone out there had a great independence day!

Blue

Well, our world cup game didn't go as we'd like, Ghana’s slide tackles and two goals won them a place in the next round. I’m happy for Africa to still have a team in there to root for, but Garrett might be done with this World Cup completely. It was fun while it lasted, in the end unfortunately a downer this weekend.

Friday we had a long day starting at 7:30am checking in to the hospital outpatient infusion center for a blood transfusion. As much as his blood counts have been rising, it is still not enough to avoid transfusions all together, but spreading them 5-6 weeks apart instead of 2-3 weeks is much healthier. The hyperbaric oxygen therapy will make the red blood cells Garrett does have work harder too which usually helps anemic people further delay transfusions.

Washington had some blue skies and sunshine this weekend, but we were still feeling under the weather. Garrett’s been sore in the shoulders and back since starting the hyperbaric treatments and trying to eat and drink more to up calories, but finding it hard to get things down. And little Olive got a hitch in her getalong this morning and couldn’t get comfortable. If only half a low dose aspirin could perk Garrett up like it does for Olive. Hopefully next week will be less painful for all of us!

We did have some decent homemade seafood and vegetable tempura for dinner and we're stocked up on Garrett's favorite dessert... mochi ice cream!

World CUpdate!!!

Here we are for anyone who has been following on the morning of the start of the knockout phase. Group play is over and there are no more round robin formats where you get 3 points for winning, 1 for tying, etc. Starting this morning with the Uruguay vs. South Korea game, it is now win or go home. No more ties!!!

There are 16 teams left in the field with our Patriot boys set up at a better than average shot at making a final four run. We play my other favorite team Ghana this morning at around 11:00 our time. This is going to be a tough matchup considering the size and extreme speed that Ghana brings to the table but the US is a much more highly skilled team. When it comes down to putting the ball in the net, we have that ability with 4 or 5 guys while Ghana has trouble finishing.

Should we beat Ghana, which will be very bittersweet for me, we will face the winner of the South Korea vs. Uruguay match that is played before our match this morning. This is thought to be one of the weaker matches of the knockout round, with neither country being a traditional power. Should we be fortunate enough to get to that game let alone win, that would put us pretty much in the Final Four and looking up at the big boys like Brazil, Spain, Portugal, etc. (Notice no Italy or France).

Anyway, thanks for dealing with my soccer updates. This has been so fun for me to keep track of and actually keep my mind on something other than continuous health updates and issues. What do you guys think of the tournament from here on out? Can we do it? Can we pull a couple of huge upsets like we did last summer in the Confederation Cup in South Africa where we almost knocked of Brazil in the Final for our first major tournament victory ever? It all starts today.

Chemo #11 - wrapping up adriamycin

Late last year when we took a trip to Scottsdale, Arizona research doctors at Tgen (Translational Genomics Research Institute) took a sample of bone marrow from Garrett’s hip bone and looked at the cells for genetic markers which can indicate which chemo drugs might work best against Garrett’s cancer. Tgen has matched some genetic mutations to some chemo drugs giving cancer patients a better chance at getting the right drug the first time instead of just looking at treatment success from other people with the same type of cancer. This is especially helpful information for Garrett’s oncology team because his neuroendocrine carcinoma diagnosis is vague and no other case is exactly like Garrett’s.  In reality, all cancer patients are unique and the same type of cancer can respond to the same drugs differently in each person's body.  The ability to look at each person as an individual and customize treatment is a great step forward in cancer treatments that are shorter, easier and more effective.

Adriamycin, the chemotherapy Garrett currently gets, was one of the drugs identified by Tgen and has been helpful in decreasing cancer in his bone marrow thus escalating his body’s ability to make healthy blood cells. But it is a tough drug that is hard on the heart, so limits are set for the total amount of adria that is safe to take. After three more doses of adria (up to #14) Garrett will have had the cumulative dose our doctor feels is safe for his heart. Because Garrett still has probably some living cancer cells in his body we will need to start a new chemo drug at the conclusion of this one to keep suppressing new growth. We do not know yet what that next chemo drug will be. Our oncologist will be returning to the report made by Tgen to look at other drugs matching Garrett’s genetic markers and then recommend to us which one to try next. Having the report is also a good argument for petitioning insurance coverage for drugs not normally used for his type of cancer. As soon as we know more about the next drug up, we will share the info!

One week of hyperbaric oxygen therapy is now complete with no significant changes in the way Garrett feels or how his skin tumor is healing (we expect to see/feel changes after 2-3 weeks of treatment, with total sessions up to 4-8 weeks). Other than boring Garrett to tears for two hours, it’s not a terrible drive to Tacoma on days other than Friday. We just purchased a beautiful 15 year old conversion van in good shape with a sofa-bed, comfy captains chairs, tv and dvd player and a few other handy amenities for road trips! Our regular cars aren’t very kind to Garrett’s spine so the commute is made much less painful with this acquisition and it gives me a great spot to hang out in while he is in the treatment tube! We were very lucky to find this van in time to drive it to these every afternoon appointments and we’re looking forward to taking it on a few fun trips this summer too.

Here is my co-pilot waiting for Garrett to get out of the hyperbaric tube!

You Tell Me Where the Foul Is?

Was it where Michael Bradley or Jozy Altidore or Clint Dempsey were being put in headlocks and being simultaneously wrestled to the ground? Or was it where Maurice Edu had his greatest career moment stolen from him? This is so ridiculous, I usually have stupid conspiracy theories about the team I am rooting for always getting screwed in one way or another but this is making me think I am not so crazy.

Then this morning the Ghana "Black Stars" get 65 minutes worth of 11 on 10 soccer after the Australian player got a red card for a hand ball in the box and they can't get a single goal to get the win instead of a tie.

I have loved watching almost all of the World Cup games so far but this can be a seriously frustrating sport, especially for the American minded sports fan who just does not understand how you can run for 90 straight minutes and end up in a tie.