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 was a bit concerned about how I was going to get out of bed today since mine just stays flat and I can't raise my torso up like in the hospital. To my surprise, I was able to get up with little effort and no pain. I just rolled onto my side, scooted my legs off the edge of the bed and put my feet on the floor, pushed up with my left palm and right elbow to an upright sitting position and I felt some tightness, but no searing pain like in the hospital. I pushed up with both palms while leaning my torso forward and pushed up with my legs, and then there I was, standing upright out of bed.
I am also walking at pretty much normal speed today. A shave and a shower went well, too. I may hit the sheets again for a nap, though. By the way, I saw the entire incision today. It runs from just beneath my navel to the top of my pubic bone, so it's a fairly long one. Staples seem to be holding, though. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Lonewolf Ed:
I was a bit concerned about how I was going to get out of bed today since mine just stays flat and I can't raise my torso up like in the hospital. To my surprise, I was able to get up with little effort and no pain. I just rolled onto my side, scooted my legs off the edge of the bed and put my feet on the floor, pushed up with my left palm and right elbow to an upright sitting position and I felt some tightness, but no searing pain like in the hospital. I pushed up with both palms while leaning my torso forward and pushed up with my legs, and then there I was, standing upright out of bed.
I am also walking at pretty much normal speed today. A shave and a shower went well, too. I may hit the sheets again for a nap, though. By the way, I saw the entire incision today. It runs from just beneath my navel to the top of my pubic bone, so it's a fairly long one. Staples seem to be holding, though.
Great news Ed. Sounds like you have a high threshold to pain. Thats a good thing many times. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BigMeatballDave:
Well, done. Glad you're getting around. What meds do they have you on?
They gave me a prescription for oxycodone, but I didn't get any. I have no been on any pain meds for the third day now. I don't know how high my pain threshold is, but I am not really in pain so much now. It's tight around my abdomen, but on the 1 to 10 scale, I'd have to say it's a 1 to 1.5 at the worst. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Lonewolf Ed:
They gave me a prescription for oxycodone, but I didn't get any. I have no been on any pain meds for the third day now. I don't know how high my pain threshold is, but I am not really in pain so much now. It's tight around my abdomen, but on the 1 to 10 scale, I'd have to say it's a 1 to 1.5 at the worst.
I was given a script for Oxycodone also. Didn't get it. I'm just taking Ibuprofen. Also, Keppra, an anti-siezure and Decadron, which is a steroid. [Reply]
Oddly, I had to make my own follow up appointment with the surgeon. It is set for Friday and I don't have to go to the main hospital but the cancer center instead, so I am glad about that. I want the staples out of me now, though. The bottom few are bugging me a lot. I must be healing well since now the staples are the worst of it. I don't really have much pain now and few twinges if any. I do have a strange numb spot where my left leg starts and across my thigh, about 3 or 4 inches around. It has been that way since after surgery, so I wonder if there was a nerve or two cut when they opened me up. [Reply]
Ed, glad to hear that the pain has subsided. No doubt the worst is over as per your surgery. Now, get those damn staples outa there and go chainsaw something! [Reply]
Originally Posted by Lonewolf Ed:
Oddly, I had to make my own follow up appointment with the surgeon. It is set for Friday and I don't have to go to the main hospital but the cancer center instead, so I am glad about that. I want the staples out of me now, though. The bottom few are bugging me a lot. I must be healing well since now the staples are the worst of it. I don't really have much pain now and few twinges if any. I do have a strange numb spot where my left leg starts and across my thigh, about 3 or 4 inches around. It has been that way since after surgery, so I wonder if there was a nerve or two cut when they opened me up.
My sphincter tightened considerably whist reading this.
In any event, I'll continue to pray for your speedy recovery, friend. [Reply]