I thought I'd start a new thread for updates on my cancer treatments and whatever else is going on, since the bad news thread title is misleading now.
My last treatment went better than the previous two and my chest wound is still closed up, which is a good thing. My arm is getting slightly stronger and I hope to resume lifting dumbbells next week. I need to build up my strength again, because I am going back to Denmark in May and I am extremely pumped about that! I'd like to be able to schlepp my own checked bag and not have someone else lifting it for me.
It's going to be a fabulous trip, 6 weeks and a couple of days for me. My brother is going along as well as my friends Chipp and Rod. Chipp is staying close to 3 weeks and has not gone with me over there since 2006 so he is also very pumped to be going. It will be Rod's first trip and he will be there for 2 weeks. I will get to be a tour guide. Also, I am throwing a party in my favorite pub of all, the wonderful, ever-magnificent Irish House in Aalborg on May 7th. The owner and I are friends and he will give me a little discount. We'll have Irish stew and brews in the cellar and I hope to have around 25 family and friends there. I might bill it as the "Fu** Cancer Party." A few months back, I was not sure I'd ever be able to go over to Denmark again or if I'd even be alive, but the cancer hasn't gotten me yet. I'm doing a number on it, instead.
Some other cool things I plan to do when I am back in my ancestral lands include a wine tasting in a castle, touring another castle and the northernmost manor home in the country, and visiting Skagen, the top of Denmark, where you can stand on a little patch of beach and have one foot in one sea and one in another. They also have a brewpub up there I am wanting to check out. I will start and end my trip in Aalborg and spend 5 weeks in an apartment I rent that is very close to the beach. I can hardly wait for May 4th to roll around! [Reply]
Originally Posted by Lonewolf Ed:
I had my first round of chemo with the triple bags. It hit me pretty well from all sides. I've got the cold sensitivity back, neuropathy is coming back, chemo hiccups, chemo heartburn, and I may be dealing with the chemorrhea soon, too. I got my pump unhooked Friday, so at least I have full freedom of movement now and can use the shower. I go back August 1st for some more and the blood tests should show if the chemo is working on me or not.
God Bless ya, Brother. Please let us know if there is anything we can do for you.
I had a bad day yesterday. For some odd reason, I've been getting a terrible knot in the muscle along my shoulder blade, so bad that it feels like it is trying to pull the bone out of place. I got up at 5:30 am and took a very hot shower, trying to roast that knot until it let up. I got overheated and started feeling faint after I got out of the shower. I was crawling across the garage floor (my bathroom is in the garage) to the steps leading to the kitchen, trying to cool off on the concrete floor, and was barely conscious, seeing spots and panting like a dog. I haven't fully recovered yet, feeling like I've been slogging through mud all day. I am drinking water and eating, so that isn't a problem. I feel like I need a nap now. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Lonewolf Ed:
I had a bad day yesterday. For some odd reason, I've been getting a terrible knot in the muscle along my shoulder blade, so bad that it feels like it is trying to pull the bone out of place. I got up at 5:30 am and took a very hot shower, trying to roast that knot until it let up. I got overheated and started feeling faint after I got out of the shower. I was crawling across the garage floor (my bathroom is in the garage) to the steps leading to the kitchen, trying to cool off on the concrete floor, and was barely conscious, seeing spots and panting like a dog. I haven't fully recovered yet, feeling like I've been slogging through mud all day. I am drinking water and eating, so that isn't a problem. I feel like I need a nap now.
Damn that sounds rough, a good nap seems like the right call
I hate hearing this kind of news, brother. I know this whole thing sucks and I'm sure it's aggravating as all hell, but keep working at it on your side of things, and we'll keep working at it on ours. [Reply]
If I could just shake the fatigue that plagues me, things would be much better for me. Even taking naps doesn't help for long. Weird dreams keep me from sleeping well, also. I generally do have wild dreams, but lately, they have been ones that make me mad, so I wake up at 3 or 4 am every day. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Lonewolf Ed:
If I could just shake the fatigue that plagues me, things would be much better for me. Even taking naps doesn't help for long. Weird dreams keep me from sleeping well, also. I generally do have wild dreams, but lately, they have been ones that make me mad, so I wake up at 3 or 4 am every day.
Today marks two years to the day since a doctor called me and said the dreaded "C" word. The next three weeks were quite the surreal roller coaster ride as my life got turned inside out, upside down, and more. I decided to go out in the heat today and prune some trees by the barn, since I rather dislike being raked by thorns when I am on the riding mower. As I was lopping merrily away, I heard a strange groaning noise and looked over my shoulder. A raccoon was lying about twenty feet away, breathing very hard and making "errrrh, errrrh, errrh" noises. I went back to the house, cleaned off the old .410 which I have not shot in 25 years or more, and went back out to the raccoon to put it out of its misery. It must have been poisoned. I shot it and didn't bear it any ill will since I know it has been plundering my peach and pear trees. What a strange irony today, when I was going out to do things to feel alive in spite of this cancer, and I ended up having to kill something. [Reply]
Off I go for more chemo. It's tough getting back into the old routine of going to the center every two weeks and having the pump to carry around for two days, having to sleep with it beside me, getting the plastic tube wrapped around me at night, and all that fun stuff, not to mention the chemo side effects. Anti-nausea meds twice a day for two days is also part of the routine. I am not sure if it is the blue one or the orange one that tastes worse than a goat's ass. It's got a cloying bitterness worse than the stuff between pecans. I get a half mouthful of something liquid first and try to swallow the blasted things before that foul taste hits, but there is about a two second window at best. [Reply]
