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 srvy:
Hey Ed haven't heard from ya in while. I know trip is getting closer and off season and all. We all are thinking of ya check in when can. I think its ok to say we all enjoy hearing your progress reports. Take care update us when ya can.
Yup, srvy, I was also wondering how ol' Ed was doing. Maybe he'll check in and give us a nice update. Seems like a top notch fellow. [Reply]
I did not get very good news today at the cancer center. My CT scan yesterday showed that the larger of my liver tumors grew 50%, from 2.0 cm to 2.99 cm and it started at 5.2 cm when I was first diagnosed. There were new spots on my liver and a lymph node nearby has been infected with cancer, shooting my CEA from 2.9 to 7.9 since my last count was checked. So, the current treatment is doing me no good, and I will be going back Monday and getting some pills to take instead of IVs and the chemo pump. The pills will be giving me side effects, too, of course. Once I return from Europe, I will start a clinical trial of some sort. Once more, I was told I can't be cured and they are trying to extend my life. They just won't say by how much. [Reply]
Thanks for the info, Ed. You are one tough SOB. Here's hoping that a little European Vacation disrupts the stinking cancer and gets you back on track for kicking this stuff in the butt. Hang in there, buddy. [Reply]
I have been reading about the chemo pills. So, I have to wear gloves to handle them, and the pills go in my mouth. I should call the doctor right away if I vomit blood or it looks like coffee grounds. I must be very careful not to wound myself as I might just bleed and bleed and bleed. Sick people must be avoided like walkers on the Walking Dead. My bone marrow may not make enough stuff my body needs, so I may need blood transfusions. It might change my sense of taste. The runs are to be expected. Fatigue may be intense. NO beer. There's more, but I threw all the papers down in disgust.
Oh, and one of the clinical trials sounds really fun. They'd cut me again, laparoscopic surgery, and put beads in my liver that contain mouse cancer and then something would attack that cancer and the stuff I already have. I *hate* mice! I hate having people root around in my guts, too.
If I die on June 22nd, I don't think that would be so bad. It would be my last day in Denmark so everything I wanted to do during my trip would have been done, and I'd avoid at least one airplane meal and Newark airport. Other than flatly refusing, I see no way out of the chemo pills, however. :-) [Reply]
I read an article today that I hope will offer you some encouragement. It was talking about wrestling, the pursuit of a champion thing by a guy named John passaro.
It was about winning, but I think the same things apply in success...and survival.
"It is in working endlessly and seeing no results; and still continuing to work because your will is stronger than everyone else’s doubt.
It is in learning that one man with belief is worth a thousand with only an interest.
It is in learning to master the concept of “Again” – the ability to muster up a little more when the world would understand if you quit."
Originally Posted by Lonewolf Ed:
I have been reading about the chemo pills. So, I have to wear gloves to handle them, and the pills go in my mouth. I should call the doctor right away if I vomit blood or it looks like coffee grounds. I must be very careful not to wound myself as I might just bleed and bleed and bleed. Sick people must be avoided like walkers on the Walking Dead. My bone marrow may not make enough stuff my body needs, so I may need blood transfusions. It might change my sense of taste. The runs are to be expected. Fatigue may be intense. NO beer. There's more, but I threw all the papers down in disgust.
Oh, and one of the clinical trials sounds really fun. They'd cut me again, laparoscopic surgery, and put beads in my liver that contain mouse cancer and then something would attack that cancer and the stuff I already have. I *hate* mice! I hate having people root around in my guts, too.
If I die on June 22nd, I don't think that would be so bad. It would be my last day in Denmark so everything I wanted to do during my trip would have been done, and I'd avoid at least one airplane meal and Newark airport. Other than flatly refusing, I see no way out of the chemo pills, however. :-)
Ed, I don't know if it's been mentioned here or not and I don't really care.
With all the supportive messages you've received and people telling you to keep fighting, somethings been lost.
I want to thank you.
You have decided to enroll in a grueling clinical trial that can have severe side effects. Where you could just decide to say "**** it" and stop all treatment, go on your vacations and things like that and have a huge grand finale, you've instead decided to seek answers for this horrible disease that's taken so many. For that, I thank you. While it may or may not be the answer doctors are looking for, it's a variable they can either eliminate or utilize for future generations.
You are doing important work, my friend. No matter the outcome you've decided to take us one more step towards a cure.
Thank you, Ed. Keep up the good fight my man. You are an inspiration to many. [Reply]
