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 arrived early at the cancer center so now I sit waiting for the nurse to call me in to jab me with the curved needle and take blood and getting me set up for my 13th treatment. I hope they take me off the oxaliplatin today. That stuff has been kicking my ass the past three times. [Reply]
So far, so great! I got a male nurse today and he was terrific. The needle into my chest was one of the most pleasant, if that makes sense, since my first time here. I'd say it was between a mosquito bite and a bee sting. It took far less time to settle down, the feeling of having a needle stuck in my chest, where it will stay for 2 days. I told him he did a great job and I am happy. I haven't seen the doc yet, but so far, so great, as I mentioned. [Reply]
Originally Posted by wazu:
Keep fighting bud. Since you didn't get a hot female nurse, glad to know the one you did get is at least a good one.
I will gladly take him over any hot nurse if he keeps on like he did today! The hot nurses are all upstairs in the treatment area, anyway, so it's win-win for me. Now where are Caroline and Amanda today?? [Reply]
Groan! I am off the oxapilatin, but they ran that bag with another and it ALSO takes two hours, so I am never going to get out of this place early. I didn't say much to the nurse when she told me the leucovorin takes 2 hours, but inside, I screamed, "Son of a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitch!" :-) [Reply]
Originally Posted by Lonewolf Ed:
So far, so great! I got a male nurse today and he was terrific. The needle into my chest was one of the most pleasant, if that makes sense, since my first time here. I'd say it was between a mosquito bite and a bee sting. It took far less time to settle down, the feeling of having a needle stuck in my chest, where it will stay for 2 days. I told him he did a great job and I am happy. I haven't seen the doc yet, but so far, so great, as I mentioned.
Glad it went well. Good on you for telling the nurse he did a good job. I don't know how much they appreciate it, but I'd appreciate it if I were in their shoes. [Reply]
A new side effect has hit me. The soles of my feet and undersides of my toes are cracked and peeling. It feels like I was standing barefoot on a hot sidewalk for too long and I hobble around slowly when I walk because it HURTS! I've put skin lotion on them 5 times today, which has helped a very tiny bit. This cancer is pissing me off even more. [Reply]
It's actually a common side effect, but it took 13 treatments to zap me. It's mostly just red skin around the balls of my feet and heels, and some cracking mainly around my heels, but they've been gnarled ever since my days as an assistant martial arts instructor. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Lonewolf Ed:
A new side effect has hit me. The soles of my feet and undersides of my toes are cracked and peeling. It feels like I was standing barefoot on a hot sidewalk for too long and I hobble around slowly when I walk because it HURTS! I've put skin lotion on them 5 times today, which has helped a very tiny bit. This cancer is pissing me off even more.
Originally Posted by Lonewolf Ed:
It's actually a common side effect, but it took 13 treatments to zap me. It's mostly just red skin around the balls of my feet and heels, and some cracking mainly around my heels, but they've been gnarled ever since my days as an assistant martial arts instructor.
Sucks man. Keep fighting. Keep that inner Viking hacking away at it.
I don't know what kind of lotion you are using but you might try OKeefes Healthy Feet. I can't post a pic with my phone but if you have seen Working Hands it is a similar product for feet. When I get my hands all dried to shit it works pretty well.
