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 thought I was in for a LONG day at the cancer center. I was supposed to have a CT scan on Friday, but the machine went down, so I had to do it this morning 4 hours before my appointment with the doctor, and then treatment later. I was looking at 10 hours or more stuck there. But, I caught a break today. My doctor decided not to have me receive chemo today so I can be up for Thanksgiving and all the cooking I have to do, and she even said I can have a glass of wine. The CT scan showed that my liver tumors and blood clots are shrinking and she said the treatment is working well. My doc then told me she is moving to San Diego the first week of January and said it has been an honor to treat me. Her replacement will have some very large shoes to fill. Doctor Baranda has taken exceptional care of me these past 15 months.
I will bring her a thank you card when I see her again for the last time.
Since she's done so well is there any chance she could consult on your treatment? It appears they just look at test results and there isn't any reason why she couldn't do that from distance. If things are going well, I damn sure wouldn't want to change anything if it were my life in the balance.
Originally Posted by Lonewolf Ed:
Thanks, and I did have a great Turkey Day. It was not as memorable as last year where I felt so invigorated after eating the big meal. I was injured and had a lot of healing to do, so it made my body feel good last year. This year, it was not like that but it was just as tasty. I will make another turkey dinner on Christmas Eve and aside from the occasional ham and turkey barbecue sammiches, I won't have turkey again until next Thanksgiving, 2016. If I don't eat turkey as often, then the big turkey dinners are more special and something to look forward to. And that attitude is even more important for me now since I am battling cancer. Anything that is positive for me, no matter how small, I strive to be aware of it and grateful. When I charge that battery up, it helps me through the rough and tough times.
Pretty amazing perspective there. Thanks for sharing. I know I've said it before, but you and your story here are tremendously inspirational. It reminds me of how much of a bitch I am about my "problems".
All the best bud.
Prayers for the families of Patteu and dmahurin. Shitty way to start the holiday season. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Buehler445:
Since she's done so well is there any chance she could consult on your treatment? It appears they just look at test results and there isn't any reason why she couldn't do that from distance. If things are going well, I damn sure wouldn't want to change anything if it were my life in the balance.
Pretty amazing perspective there. Thanks for sharing. I know I've said it before, but you and your story here are tremendously inspirational. It reminds me of how much of a bitch I am about my "problems".
All the best bud.
Prayers for the families of Patteu and dmahurin. Shitty way to start the holiday season.
I doubt she would consult. I heard it is some research stuff she is getting into in San Diego. Thanks, but your problems don't go into quotation marks to me. They affect YOU and they matter, even if they aren't on so-called par with what I am dealing with. I am not the type who would treat it like some poker game. Oh, so your mother-in-law moved in and you have a full house there... well, get your paws away from that jackpot... I've got stage IV liver cancer that came from colon cancer. Straight flush, I win! [Reply]
I met with my insurance agent today since Coventry is gone now and that was what I had. Now I have Blue Cross and Blue Shield and it looks like a very good plan, on par or better than what I had before with the deductible and maximum out of pocket per year. My premiums are a bit less than half of what I was paying before, so I like that a lot. I even got some sort of tax credit that is being applied to my premiums.
Also, I got a call today from Allsup about getting Medicaid and Medicare in January of 2017. Since, according to my docs, I should be dead before then, I wonder if it will cover a nice Viking funeral. I could plan a really cool one out for myself! I would need to be able to get a keg of Carlsberg, though. [Reply]
Sure and you can use it when your 100 or more. Vikings decide when they are checking out not cancer. Keep the body shots that cancer bitch will drop those gloves. Thats when you throw the haymaker and knock that sob out your body. Keep up the fight. [Reply]
Originally Posted by srvy:
Sure and you can use it when your 100 or more. Vikings decide when they are checking out not cancer. Keep the body shots that cancer bitch will drop those gloves. Thats when you throw the haymaker and knock that sob out your body. Keep up the fight.
I like your take on this, srvy. Well said!!!
Ed, keep kicking cancer's ass. You da man!!! [Reply]
Originally Posted by srvy:
Sure and you can use it when your 100 or more. Vikings decide when they are checking out not cancer. Keep the body shots that cancer bitch will drop those gloves. Thats when you throw the haymaker and knock that sob out your body. Keep up the fight.
Oh, hell! I do not want to live to be 100! My mother is 93 and senile and that is a horrible thing. If I blow my candles out on the cake when I am 83 or 84, and fall face into it dead, that wouldn't be so bad. I don't like cake that much so it won't matter if I don't get a taste.
Thank you for the encouragement, guys. It does mean more to me than I can say. [Reply]
I don't know what some of this means, but the shrinking of my liver tumors I can understand. I got the results from the CT scan on MyChart and wanted to share them.
There has been interval improved size of multifocal hepatic metastatic disease. Representative segment 2 lesion now measures 2.0 cm (series 2, image 74) compared with 5.4 cm on previous examination. Right hepatic dome lesion now measures 2.1 cm (series 2, image 69) compared with 3.9 cm on previous examination. Mild calcification is noted throughout this lesion. No new hepatic lesions identified. No calcified cholelithiasis. [Reply]
Remember back to when you were 17. You may have had a girl friend that would fool around with you but not go all the way. Then imagine that you broke up with her and started dating a new, hotter girl that would go all the way.
Now this new girl is a little freaky and she will give you bj's too. This girl is thinking of other things she would consider.
I'm not saying that you are going to ride her chocolate choo choo bareback but you are closer.
Congrats! [Reply]
Originally Posted by Boise_Chief:
Let me break it down for you.
Remember back to when you were 17. You may have had a girl friend that would fool around with you but not go all the way. Then imagine that you broke up with her and started dating a new, hotter girl that would go all the way.
Now this new girl is a little freaky and she will give you bj's too. This girl is thinking of other things she would consider.
I'm not saying that you are going to ride her chocolate choo choo bareback but you are closer.
Congrats!
I must admit, I have never thought of it like that! [Reply]
Originally Posted by Lonewolf Ed:
I don't know what some of this means, but the shrinking of my liver tumors I can understand. I got the results from the CT scan on MyChart and wanted to share them.
There has been interval improved size of multifocal hepatic metastatic disease. Representative segment 2 lesion now measures 2.0 cm (series 2, image 74) compared with 5.4 cm on previous examination. Right hepatic dome lesion now measures 2.1 cm (series 2, image 69) compared with 3.9 cm on previous examination. Mild calcification is noted throughout this lesion. No new hepatic lesions identified. No calcified cholelithiasis.
That sounds fantastic! Praying for you Ed! [Reply]
