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:
If the weed killer doesn't do the job, I know gasoline will!
I was planning on holding off using the flame thrower as the zombie apocalypse will soon be upon us. Plus, the guy just finished painting the house! At $70 a gallon I'd like a year out of it before the 5-year painting itch hits the wife. [Reply]
Two years ago today, I had my first chemotherapy treatment. I remember very well feeling nervous as it began, not knowing what was going to happen. What side effects would hit me, how severe would they be, and when would they start? I remember the nurse asking me if I had ever had avastin, oxiliplatin, and folfiri before, but at the time those medicine names sounded like alien words to me. I answered, "No, this is my first go-round with terminal cancer!" She looked at me with a sour expression, but I shrugged and added, "This stuff is all new to me." What a long, draining day that was.
Tomorrow, I go in for more. I have lost count now how many treatments I have had, but it has to be more than 40. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Lonewolf Ed:
Two years ago today, I had my first chemotherapy treatment. I remember very well feeling nervous as it began, not knowing what was going to happen. What side effects would hit me, how severe would they be, and when would they start? I remember the nurse asking me if I had ever had avastin, oxiliplatin, and folfiri before, but at the time those medicine names sounded like alien words to me. I answered, "No, this is my first go-round with terminal cancer!" She looked at me with a sour expression, but I shrugged and added, "This stuff is all new to me." What a long, draining day that was.
Tomorrow, I go in for more. I have lost count now how many treatments I have had, but it has to be more than 40.
Hang in there Ed, you're an awesome man and an inspiration to us all.. [Reply]
It may not seem like much to those who are not in my shoes, but I am actually joyful that I am going to be able to have a big COLD glass of orange juice today with my breakfast. The oxiliplatin has not given me lasting cold sensitivity yet, but it is cumulative, so after a few more treatments, it may stay with me constantly. Drinking or eating anything cold when I have the sensitivity is very unpleasant. Think of a mouthful of burrs or tiny cacti in your mouth and throat. Touching anything cold, such as the glass that I poured my juice into, drains the heat from my fingers and makes it feel like I've gotten frostbite. I have to run hot water over my hands because waiting on my blood flow to warm me up again takes too long.
Before cancer, I certainly did enjoy my cold orange juice, but it wasn't something I thought about, being able to drink it that way. Now, I don't take it for granted. When it gets so I can no longer have it, then I'll go back to room temperature cranberry juice, which I also prefer cold, but it is a bit better than tolerable when it is not cold. Warm orange juice, though... forget it!
Now, if I *ever* get off the sodding xarelto and can have grapefruit juice again, that first big cold glass might just make me JIMP. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Lonewolf Ed:
It may not seem like much to those who are not in my shoes, but I am actually joyful that I am going to be able to have a big COLD glass of orange juice today with my breakfast. The oxiliplatin has not given me lasting cold sensitivity yet, but it is cumulative, so after a few more treatments, it may stay with me constantly. Drinking or eating anything cold when I have the sensitivity is very unpleasant. Think of a mouthful of burrs or tiny cacti in your mouth and throat. Touching anything cold, such as the glass that I poured my juice into, drains the heat from my fingers and makes it feel like I've gotten frostbite. I have to run hot water over my hands because waiting on my blood flow to warm me up again takes too long.
Before cancer, I certainly did enjoy my cold orange juice, but it wasn't something I thought about, being able to drink it that way. Now, I don't take it for granted. When it gets so I can no longer have it, then I'll go back to room temperature cranberry juice, which I also prefer cold, but it is a bit better than tolerable when it is not cold. Warm orange juice, though... forget it!
Now, if I *ever* get off the sodding xarelto and can have grapefruit juice again, that first big cold glass might just make me JIMP.
