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]
I enjoyed a few brews over the weekend, since I am starting my new treatment regimine today. I got the blood draw done already and am now waiting to see the nurse practitioner before going up to the treatment rooms. All the possible side effects show me that this could be a very rough couple of months. Hair loss, nausea, the runs, constipation (really, both??), swollen feet, rashes, no alcohol, and I am to avoid sunlight. Joy. The doc said only the hair on my head would fall off, so since I have a goatee, I might look like Ming the Merciless. :-) [Reply]
Originally Posted by Lonewolf Ed:
I enjoyed a few brews over the weekend, since I am starting my new treatment regimine today. I got the blood draw done already and am now waiting to see the nurse practitioner before going up to the treatment rooms. All the possible side effects show me that this could be a very rough couple of months. Hair loss, nausea, the runs, constipation (really, both??), swollen feet, rashes, no alcohol, and I am to avoid sunlight. Joy. The doc said only the hair on my head would fall off, so since I have a goatee, I might look like Ming the Merciless. :-)
Originally Posted by Lonewolf Ed:
I enjoyed a few brews over the weekend, since I am starting my new treatment regimine today. I got the blood draw done already and am now waiting to see the nurse practitioner before going up to the treatment rooms. All the possible side effects show me that this could be a very rough couple of months. Hair loss, nausea, the runs, constipation (really, both??), swollen feet, rashes, no alcohol, and I am to avoid sunlight. Joy. The doc said only the hair on my head would fall off, so since I have a goatee, I might look like Ming the Merciless. :-)
That sounds horrible. The runs and constipation?? I shudder at the thought...
Originally Posted by Lonewolf Ed:
I enjoyed a few brews over the weekend, since I am starting my new treatment regimine today. I got the blood draw done already and am now waiting to see the nurse practitioner before going up to the treatment rooms. All the possible side effects show me that this could be a very rough couple of months. Hair loss, nausea, the runs, constipation (really, both??), swollen feet, rashes, no alcohol, and I am to avoid sunlight. Joy. The doc said only the hair on my head would fall off, so since I have a goatee, I might look like Ming the Merciless. :-)
Just shave that head now Ed. Start conditioning that dome with some wax and a buff. May as well get it over vs seeing clumps fall out. Every swinging dick in CP ought do same in support of you all. I am already there mine fell out naturally. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BigMeatballDave:
Yuck. What are they giving you?
First round of Avastin for me tomorrow.
Stuff I can't spell or pronounce yet. One of them that just got started, the first thing I got was a dose of anti-runs stuff since the chemo could give me the trots almost instantly. So far, all is quiet on the southern front, though. I did prepare and bring spare undies today in case there is a mudslide.
Wal-Mart called and doesn't have one of the skin creams i need since I *will* be getting a lovely rash on my head,face, and/or chest. Once it fades away like chicken pox, I was told my fingernails are going to split along the sides and maybe my toenails as well. [Reply]
Hrrrm... gettting cramps along my upper abdomen now. I had probably better head to the can to be safe instead of sorry. I might just need to burp, but since they told me I might get the runs right here, I don't care to roll those dice. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Lonewolf Ed:
Stuff I can't spell or pronounce yet. One of them that just got started, the first thing I got was a dose of anti-runs stuff since the chemo could give me the trots almost instantly. So far, all is quiet on the southern front, though. I did prepare and bring spare undies today in case there is a mudslide.
Wal-Mart called and doesn't have one of the skin creams i need since I *will* be getting a lovely rash on my head,face, and/or chest. Once it fades away like chicken pox, I was told my fingernails are going to split along the sides and maybe my toenails as well.
Geez makes losing the hair inconsequential sorta. [Reply]
Originally Posted by srvy:
Geez makes losing the hair inconsequential sorta.
Yup. I also have to cover myself like a vampire if I venture out into the sun. I might get swollen feet and cracked, peeling skin on the soles. My appetite might take a serious hit, too, and that sucks because Feasting Season is soon upon us and I like to get my grub on in the autumn and winter. I'm talking hearty dishes that take anywhere from all day to 3 days to prepare. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Lonewolf Ed:
So far, all is quiet on the southern front, though. I did prepare and bring spare undies today in case there is a mudslide.
Originally Posted by srvy: Just shave that head now Ed. Start conditioning that dome with some wax and a buff. May as well get it over vs seeing clumps fall out. Every swinging dick in CP ought do same in support of you all. I am already there mine fell out naturally.
Originally Posted by Lonewolf Ed:
The muscles around my eyes are getting twitchy. I better tell the nurse. I might just be sleepy, but who knows with this stuff?
Good idea best to find out these things. Big Ed can't be flopping and twitching. Like the Big Stein episode of Seinfeld. [Reply]
