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:
Unfortunately, he was filling out the same paperwork as me, that being a list of symptoms and side effects that one has had since the last visit.
And as for me this morning, I am parched and hungry, don't feel nauseated like I did yesterday, although it was about a 2 on the 10 points of pain and suffering scale. I am going to make a late breakfast and down my various medications. I don't feel as weak and slow as I did after the treatment either and the rash has not come roaring back yet, but I know what to expect if it does, so that is something in my favor.
Good vibes to you and #24, Ed. Talk about strength beyond strength... [Reply]
I still have strands of hair falling out, but I am not looking like Telly Savalas yet. I get the pump unhooked in 4 hours and can take a shower again for the next 12 days. So I am happy about that! [Reply]
I have lots left, and it's too soon to tell if I will look like Ming the Merciless. Just got to wait and see. But, I am FREE of the pump now! 12 of days of being able to shower instead of just washing my hair in the sink! I can even take a bath with some Epsom salt if I want now. [Reply]
I got a test result notification email and it showed that my last CEA level was 4.7, which is lower than it has been since I saw a reading of 4.0 back in March, I think it was. 3.0 or lower is what people without cancer have in their bloodstream. I was thinking about how strange it is that aside from cancer, most would envy my health. My good friend is currently having his gall bladder removed and I am waiting on a call to come pick him up and take him home. Another friend just 2 weeks after my surgery had his appendix go BOOM.
Life is tough enough without health complications, but what can we do but try? [Reply]
I don't generally get too fancy with potatoes except when I make German potato salad with a warm beer dressing. What sort of cabbage, red or white? I have a nice northern European recipe for red cabbage. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Lonewolf Ed:
I don't generally get too fancy with potatoes except when I make German potato salad with a warm beer dressing. What sort of cabbage, red or white? I have a nice northern European recipe for red cabbage.
it's a green cabbage. with potatoes. i think i know your German potato salad its got taters cured in vinegar.
if you don't mind, what iis the root vegetable Danes eat? [Reply]
Danes love their potatoes. It is the main thing served with most any meal, be it fish, pork, chicken, beef, or wild game. German potato salad does have vinegar in the mix, yes. [Reply]
Okay, NOW I am getting back on track. A couple of nights ago, this particular treatment I am on hit me with a highly annoying all night bout with the toilet. At least it was not the runs this time, like I had a couple of weeks ago. So far, once per treatment, I get a colon clearing attack over the course of one night. I do not know where it comes from, since it would seem I'd have had to eat a small hippo by myself to go so much. I got 4 hours of sleep the night before last, from 6:30 am to 10:30 am, and I was unable to stay up to watch the end of the game last night.
I slept very well, about 10 hours last night, and I am hungry and ready to get outside and walk around the pasture again. I did that yesterday in the drizzle and loved it. Since I have to avoid sunlight due to my treatment and two of the meds I am on, a gray drizzly day was just the thing I needed to get out and do a little work, get some fresh air in me, and enjoy my favorite season. Yes, I got wet, but I was loving it.
I'll whip up a big pot of chicken soup today with organic carrots, celery, onion, garlic, and parsley to enjoy for dinner while watching the second game of the Series. Today is going to be a good day! Let's get another victory, Royals! But this time, please just win it by the 9th, okay? [Reply]
I got mixed results today from my blood test. My white cell count has taken a huge hit so I didn't get any treatment today. Even my red cells are a bit low. Glucose was very high, but it was less than 90 minutes after breakfast when I had the blood draw done. My CEA, however, was great! It's the colon cancer marker in my bloodstream and it was 3.2 today. 3.0 or lower is what people without colon cancer have. The treatment is killing the gunk in my blood that the tumor released. My hair is still falling out, but I am not bald yet. I do have a very visible part along the center of my scalp, but I have lots of hair left yet.
Doc told me not to go to the parade since my white cells are so low. I can't have the masses hacking and sneezing and snotting in my general direction now. [Reply]