I caught the cancer

[Wally Fairway 5610]

Tomorrow is the day. 

Mrs Fairway has surgery for her mucosal melanoma, after first being diagnosed in late July, and spending more time in Houston than at home since then, done with immunotherapy, radiation, MRI, CT, and Proton scans it is truth or dare time to see what remains off her nasal tumor. 

This hasn't been a long journey (compared to many others) but it sure is a bumpy, nerve inducing ride. 

[SurlyGator 915]

Thoughts and prayers, Wally.  And not in the sarcastic sense.  Kick it's ass.

[RDCanecutter 26570]

Keytruda appears to be trying to put an -itis on my kidney, so we are pausing it and trying some stuff. I am back on the Lenvima though, so not completely unprotected. My bodily numbers have got the wobbles but not all the way haywire. My Cartoonishly Swollen Feet are down thanks to a diuretic and hellaspensive German compression socks. They are giving me a steroid for something else so I am faux-diabetic again at least for this weekend.

Doc wants me doing more exercise, maybe Yoga. I see it as an excuse to get back up with my old Wing Chun Kung Fu group, which is kinda Yoga-y. I also need to hit some weights because I scrawned out during a past weight decline. It is coming back, but I hope not blobularly.

I want to get a trip into Mexico to search for old books, Baja Hoodies, and other rarities. December is chock-full of shows, and since October they started being G.O.O.D. shows, so can't miss em. But Jan-Feb tend towards bleakness and living-off-the-credit-card anyway. That might be a good time. Currently thinking about flying into Mexico City, stay at small hotel I know near the Zócalo, search books nearby and/or go tour Estudios Churubusco south of town. Then maybe Spanish my way into storing heavy stuff at hotel pending my eventual return, and take off by bus towards Teotihuacan, Tlaxcala (Baja Hoodie Factories), Veracruz (reminds me of our favorite Chanoc movie contra el tigre y el vampiro) then back up via local buses so as to replicate the old passenger train route. I figure keep it less than 3,000 bucks for 10 days or so given my propensity for taco stands, clean $15 dollar hotels, and slow bus travel.

Get that all done and they can't take it from me if 2025 brings some random-slam to the old bod.

Edited November 24 by RDCanecutter

[Hornius Emeritus 12517]

4 minutes ago, RDCanecutter said:

Keytruda appears to be trying to put an -itis on my kidney, so we are pausing it and trying some stuff. I am back on the Lenvima though, so not completely unprotected. My bodily numbers have got the wobbles but not all the way haywire. My Cartoonishly Swollen Feet are down thanks to a diuretic and hellaspensive German compression socks. They are giving me a steroid for something else so I am faux-diabetic again at least for this weekend.

Doc wants me doing more exercise, maybe Yoga. I see it as an excuse to get back up with my old Wing Chun Kung Fu group, which is kinda Yoga-y. I also need to hit some weights because I scrawned out during a past weight decline. It is coming back, but I hope not blobularly.

I want to get a trip into Mexico to search for old books, Baja Hoodies, and other rarities. December is chock-full of shows, and since October they started being G.O.O.D. shows, so can't miss em. But Jan-Feb tend towards bleakness and living-off-the-credit-card anyway. That might be a good time. Currently thinking about flying into Mexico City, stay at small hotel I know near the Zócalo, search books nearby and/or go tour Estudios Churubusco south of town. Then maybe Spanish my way into storing heavy stuff at hotel pending my eventual return, and take off by bus towards Teotihuacan, Tlaxcala (Baja Hoodie Factories), Veracruz (reminds me of our favorite Chanoc movie contra el tigre y el vampiro) then back up via local buses so as to replicate the old passenger train route. I figure keep it less than 3,000 bucks for 10 days or so given my propensity for taco stands, clean $15 dollar hotels, and slow bus travel.

Get that all done and they can't take it from me if 2025 brings some random-slam to the old bod.

Not trying to humblebrag, but for crazy reasons unknown to me, I have two credit cards that, together, amount to 100k of credit.  I pay them off every month, so there's almost always 100k of credit available to me. I've always thought that if I get some bad news vis a vis cancer or some other ailment, I'm going to go to Paris or Bora Bora, check into an expensive hotel, go to the best restaurants, drink and and dance as long and as hard as I can, and then shuffle off this mortal coil, leaving my last bill unpaid.  At least, that's what I think about doing. But then there's this conflicting thought: I've had credit cards for more than 40 years and have never paid a penny of interest on any of them because I pay them off every month. I'd feel bad knowing that I was going to break my streak.  My FICO score didn't just build itself, damnit!

[RDCanecutter 26570]

2 hours ago, Hornius Emeritus said:

Not trying to humblebrag, but for crazy reasons unknown to me, I have two credit cards that, together, amount to 100k of credit.  I pay them off every month, so there's almost always 100k of credit available to me. I've always thought that if I get some bad news vis a vis cancer or some other ailment, I'm going to go to Paris or Bora Bora, check into an expensive hotel, go to the best restaurants, drink and and dance as long and as hard as I can, and then shuffle off this mortal coil, leaving my last bill unpaid.  At least, that's what I think about doing. But then there's this conflicting thought: I've had credit cards for more than 40 years and have never paid a penny of interest on any of them because I pay them off every month. I'd feel bad knowing that I was going to break my streak.  My FICO score didn't just build itself, damnit!

Congrats on livin right!

I am not gloom n doom, 1/10 worried about a slip in health, 9/10 just lookin for an excuse to go to Mexico.

[Wally Fairway 5610]

On 11/24/2024 at 9:01 AM, Wally Fairway said:

Tomorrow is the day. 

Mrs Fairway has surgery for her mucosal melanoma, after first being diagnosed in late July, and spending more time in Houston than at home since then, done with immunotherapy, radiation, MRI, CT, and Proton scans it is truth or dare time to see what remains off her nasal tumor. 

This hasn't been a long journey (compared to many others) but it sure is a bumpy, nerve inducing ride. 

Surgery went as well as could be hoped, only went 2 hours (slotted for 10 because plastic surgery could have been required, it wasn't). Now just waiting for biopsy results. 

Thanks to Surly for being here, for the thoughts and prayers, and to all who have helped us make to this point in the journey.

[RDCanecutter 26570]

Things just goin in circles here like a rabbit runnin around a stump.

I forget all the reasons, but Keytruda may have popped my kidney on the lip. So to help heal it, they wanna give me steroids. But steroids make me diabetic. Anyway, it's stable.

Went to see a GP today I was going to in the Days Before Cancer, she looked at my kidney function, said: "It's not that bad," and ordered me some insulin and a glucose meter.

Then I get a text from Oncologist who wants to admit me so they can feed me steroids and insulin at the same time. To which I replied:

No. Please no. Just no. I got shows I already paid to be in, when people spend money, hospitals are cold bright and noisy, and I ain't sick, I can give myself insulin or we can do some outpatient deal don't put me in that cold noisy hospital, and YOU KNOW there'll be some busybody hospital doctor who won't let me go until my jacked-up blood pressure drops to some number it hasn't been in a year DON'T TELL ME TO RELAX and who's gonna feed the animals while I'm freezin in that icy waste tryin to relax my ass to freedom?

So she said maybe not. We'll see. I am supposed to meet her Thursday inside the UAB mega-complex. Need to go online and find blueprints of the interstitials in case it turns into a game of Escape Room.

[Wally Fairway 5610]

RD, I've said for years it's 100x easier to get admitted to a hospital than it is to get released

[RDCanecutter 26570]

10 minutes ago, Wally Fairway said:

RD, I've said for years it's 100x easier to get admitted to a hospital than it is to get released

Ayup. This might be the first time in this series that I just dig in and refuse.

[Chopper 17380]

I'm posting in case it helps one of you or your loved ones. I have a benign tumor (schwannoma) in the sinus cavernous portion of my brain and have had to get an annual MRI. No symptoms, no changes for 6 or 7 years. It was discovered accidentally. But at the end of last year they picked up some very slow growth and said it was close to my left optic nerve. The recommendation was radiation therapy. I said, sure, what the fuck. I thought it was going to be like a fucking tanning bed, that's how ignorant I was. Holy fuck, did radiation on my brain kick the crap out of me. I wasn't ready for it. There were many days I was so dizzy, off-balance and out of breath that I couldn't walk to the street corner. The off-balance feeling has continued for months - in my head it feels like I'm on a moving train going over bump after bump, or in a boat. It's been miserable. And it's now been more than 6 months since my last dose of radiation. Every doctor I spoke with (oncologists, neurologist, ENT) basically shrugged their shoulders. Dumb Harvard Med-educated cunts. All of 'em. Then on the same day in September 2 different sources, neither of whom are MDs, mentioned Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. I was surprised to learn that Fort Collins has the oldest and one of the few hyperbaric facilities in CO and it's at the hospital about 5 minute drive from my house. I had to ask the goddamn oncologist to refer me in order to get approval from insurance and that went smoothly. Wasn't his idea but he did it. I've had maybe a dozen sessions so far. Approved by insurance. The purpose is to help tissue recover and create new blood vessels. I was speaking with one of the techs today and a lot of men utilize it while trying to recover from the after-effects of radiation to their prostate. (I asked them why it seemed like most of their patients are men. They said it goes in waves, but apparently right now they're dealing with a few prostate issues.) I already feel improvement from my symptoms. They re-tested me on a few physical tests this morning and documented improvement in my speech and balance. I go every morning M to F and lay in a pressurized glass tube for 3 hours. They have a dvd library and I've lately been rewatching the Sopranos every goddamn morning. 

 

Edited yesterday at 07:04 PM by Chopper

[Hornius Emeritus 12517]

22 minutes ago, Chopper said:

I'm posting in case it helps one of you or your loved ones. I have a benign tumor (schwannoma) in the sinus cavernous portion of my brain and have had to get an annual MRI. No symptoms, no changes for 6 or 7 years. It was discovered accidentally. But at the end of last year they picked up some very slow growth and said it was close to my left optic nerve. The recommendation was radiation therapy. I said, sure, what the fuck. I thought it was going to be like a fucking tanning bed, that's how ignorant I was. Holy fuck, did radiation on my brain kick the crap out of me. I wasn't ready for it. There were many days I was so dizzy, off-balance and out of breath that I couldn't walk to the street corner. The off-balance feeling has continued for months - in my head it feels like I'm on a moving train going over bump after bump, or in a boat. It's been miserable. And it's now been more than 6 months since my last dose of radiation. Every doctor I spoke with (oncologists, neurologist, ENT) basically shrugged their shoulders. Dumb Harvard Med-educated cunts. All of 'em. Then on the same day in September 2 different sources, neither of whom are MDs, mentioned Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. I was surprised to learn that Fort Collins has the oldest and one of the few hyperbaric facilities in CO and it's at the hospital about 5 minute drive from my house. I had to ask the goddamn oncologist to refer me in order to get approval from insurance and that went smoothly. Wasn't his idea but he did it. I've had maybe a dozen sessions so far. Approved by insurance. The purpose is to help tissue recover and create new blood vessels. I was speaking with one of the techs today and a lot of men utilize it while trying to recover from the after-effects of radiation to their prostate. (I asked them why it seemed like most of their patients are men. They said it goes in waves, but apparently right now they're dealing with a few prostate issues.) I already feel improvement from my symptoms. They re-tested me on a few physical tests this morning and documented improvement in my speech and balance. I go every morning M to F and lay in a pressurized glass tube for 3 hours. They have a dvd library and I've lately been rewatching the Sopranos every goddamn morning. 

 

I didn't like the beginning of this post but I love the ending. Good luck to you, Chopper. Heal strong and well.  We've got some upcoming national championships that you need to witness.

[Chopper 17380]

5 hours ago, Hornius Emeritus said:

I didn't like the beginning of this post but I love the ending. Good luck to you, Chopper. Heal strong and well.  We've got some upcoming national championships that you need to witness.

Thank you. I'm enjoying your posts on blue sky.

[Kennythetiger 9503]

19 hours ago, RDCanecutter said:

Things just goin in circles here like a rabbit runnin around a stump.

I forget all the reasons, but Keytruda may have popped my kidney on the lip. So to help heal it, they wanna give me steroids. But steroids make me diabetic. Anyway, it's stable.

Went to see a GP today I was going to in the Days Before Cancer, she looked at my kidney function, said: "It's not that bad," and ordered me some insulin and a glucose meter.

Then I get a text from Oncologist who wants to admit me so they can feed me steroids and insulin at the same time. To which I replied:

No. Please no. Just no. I got shows I already paid to be in, when people spend money, hospitals are cold bright and noisy, and I ain't sick, I can give myself insulin or we can do some outpatient deal don't put me in that cold noisy hospital, and YOU KNOW there'll be some busybody hospital doctor who won't let me go until my jacked-up blood pressure drops to some number it hasn't been in a year DON'T TELL ME TO RELAX and who's gonna feed the animals while I'm freezin in that icy waste tryin to relax my ass to freedom?

So she said maybe not. We'll see. I am supposed to meet her Thursday inside the UAB mega-complex. Need to go online and find blueprints of the interstitials in case it turns into a game of Escape Room.

She’s fucking up our Mexico plans. 

[hornbri 1476]

I just wanted to post an update on my wife.

Kinda a gut punch today, she had been doing well but the CT Scan today showed new spots in her lungs. Dr. said they couldn’t tell what they were and they need to biopsy. She did get diagnosed with pneumonia last month so we are trying to be hopeful it is lingering infection. 

She was almost through chemo hell and we only had a couple of treatments to go, everything had been going so well. Now everything is on hold while we wait. This fucking sucks.