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 got my test results from Monday and my CEA has soared yet again to 548.6 so the cancer is just having a merry old time in me. On the 29th, I go in for the liver biopsy. If the cancer has mutated and they can match the immunotherapy to whatever they find, then I can get on the trial. If not, I get to try some sort of pill that supposedly works better than the ones I was on in February and March that did nothing but make me feel sick all day.
Ugh.. Hang in there man, and keep fighting... [Reply]
Originally Posted by Lonewolf Ed:
I got my test results from Monday and my CEA has soared yet again to 548.6 so the cancer is just having a merry old time in me. On the 29th, I go in for the liver biopsy. If the cancer has mutated and they can match the immunotherapy to whatever they find, then I can get on the trial. If not, I get to try some sort of pill that supposedly works better than the ones I was on in February and March that did nothing but make me feel sick all day.
Originally Posted by Dagnabit:
Are you wanting to get on the trial?
Yes, I am, very much so. It's immunotherapy so that means using my own body to fight this stuff instead of introducing poisons to my system every two weeks. It sounds promising and like it may be my one shot to actually survive. On the plus side, my cold sensitivity is waning, so I put my cranberry juice in the refrigerator and I am going to buy some orange juice at the store tonight. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Lonewolf Ed:
Yes, I am, very much so. It's immunotherapy so that means using my own body to fight this stuff instead of introducing poisons to my system every two weeks. It sounds promising and like it may be my one shot to actually survive. On the plus side, my cold sensitivity is waning, so I put my cranberry juice in the refrigerator and I am going to buy some orange juice at the store tonight.
It does sound promising. We're all on your side here man, so I would encourage everybody in this fight who believes in the power of prayer to get busy for our friend, please.
And if you don't hold that view, you can still send good vibes out for this mission in any way you see fit. We've GOT to win this thing. No more victories for that goddamned disease at CP; NO MORE.
And I'm glad that you're getting to enjoy your juice the way you want to. I swear I don't take simple things for granted anymore after reading this thread. I enjoy everything, big or small, mundane or magnificent.
Thank you, Ed. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Lonewolf Ed:
I got mad and hit myself in the stomach last night, then took two Tylenol PMs and the lymph nodes stopped bothering me. Maybe violence is the key to whipping this stuff! :-)
Good news! Just don't get too many ideas with it :-)
It's been a while since I've dropped in on this thread, but just wanted to say that I'm sorry to hear that things are a little tough right now. Keep on fighting, and we're thinking of you. [Reply]
As I was watching TV after eating my turkey dinner, the doorbell rang. Just like 2 years ago, someone left a gift basket at the door. This one weighed around 15 lbs. I brought it in and took stock of what was in the basket, seeing a big tin of Royal Dansk butter cookies (score!), many expensive chocolates, cheddar and broccoli soup mix, cookie mix, Chutes and Ladders (I guess I will give that to my big sis Sheri for her grandson), a 50 dollar gift card to my choice of 6 restaurants, and a 100 dollar VISA debit card. I wish I knew who to thank for all this. There has to be 250 dollars or more of stuff in the basket.
It sure beat last night, when I was on the verge of going to the hospital. My head was hot and my torso, but my arms and legs were freezing. I took two Tylenols and a hot bath, which warmed all of me up and my headache and fever went away. My head got hot again and I finally broke down and took a hydrocodone before bed. I woke at two feeling normal but sweaty, so my fever broke a bit before then. I was hungry since I skipped dinner, so I ate some Cheerios and went back to bed.
Merry Christmas to all of you. I hope I am here next year to say the same. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Lonewolf Ed:
As I was watching TV after eating my turkey dinner, the doorbell rang. Just like 2 years ago, someone left a gift basket at the door. This one weighed around 15 lbs. I brought it in and took stock of what was in the basket, seeing a big tin of Royal Dansk butter cookies (score!), many expensive chocolates, cheddar and broccoli soup mix, cookie mix, Chutes and Ladders (I guess I will give that to my big sis Sheri for her grandson), a 50 dollar gift card to my choice of 6 restaurants, and a 100 dollar VISA debit card. I wish I knew who to thank for all this. There has to be 250 dollars or more of stuff in the basket.
It sure beat last night, when I was on the verge of going to the hospital. My head was hot and my torso, but my arms and legs were freezing. I took two Tylenols and a hot bath, which warmed all of me up and my headache and fever went away. My head got hot again and I finally broke down and took a hydrocodone before bed. I woke at two feeling normal but sweaty, so my fever broke a bit before then. I was hungry since I skipped dinner, so I ate some Cheerios and went back to bed.
Merry Christmas to all of you. I hope I am here next year to say the same.
Have a good Holiday Ed. Thinking and praying of and for you. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Lonewolf Ed:
Yes, I am, very much so. It's immunotherapy so that means using my own body to fight this stuff instead of introducing poisons to my system every two weeks. It sounds promising and like it may be my one shot to actually survive. On the plus side, my cold sensitivity is waning, so I put my cranberry juice in the refrigerator and I am going to buy some orange juice at the store tonight.
That sounds like the right way to go, glad its got your spirits up... Merry Christmas, Fast Eddie Ragnarok [Reply]
I got the liver biopsy done and I am in some pain. Oddly, they did it fairly close to my heart and not on my side. I don't remember anything after they said they'd numb the area with lidocaine, but I dimly recall saying, "It burns." I got other stuff through my port that made the ceiling jiggle. A nurse brutally shaved me, but not where they put the leads, so I got a wax-effect when those were ripped off. Sounded like Velcro. Anyhow, I have a bandage over the site, it hurts like hell when I sneeze or cough, hurts when I sit or get up, hurts more getting in and out of bed, and I can't lift over 5 lbs. for a week. I've got green antiseptic stain all over me, but I can shower tomorrow. I've been taking my pain pills, though I've been avoiding them as much as possible, until now. The pain should only last a couple of days and right now, it's not so bad if I am sitting still. That could be the lingering effects of the hydrocodone, for all I know. I will be downing one before I work my way under the covers.
It's good that my cousin is visiting since he can bring up firewood with the wheelbarrow and go to the store with me and get softener salt, a gallon of milk (3 lbs. over my limit) and other items I can't safely handle now. Ow, it hurts to burp, too... so, I will lay off the sodas for a bit and drink water. It's better for me, anyway, but when the tongue still has chemo induced metal tasting coating, water is not very tasty now. I hope that goes away soon.
The results of the biopsy should be in next week. I pray I can get the immunotherapy trial, because how things have been going the past few months, without it, I am thinking this was my last Christmas. [Reply]
