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 GloryDayz:
She's not the only one who prays for you Lone. I don't always remember, but I usually do, so there's that. As for people who think they have it bad, there's always somebody who has it worse, but it's not a competition, it just life. So hang in there, pray for her as much as she prays for you, and pray for those who work to heal you both. It's worth it..
I know this place is a huge source of support and I am grateful beyond my ability to express it. I don't think of it as a misery competition with the woman I wrote about; I look at her and know I could be worse off, so I try to keep myself from getting too down by thinking about what she is having to endure. I also never downplay what anyone else is going through, even if they think it is less than what I deal with. Sometimes it helps me stay positive when it is looking at something small like knowing I could have it worse than someone else has it now. Yes, my feet are causing me great discomfort, but... hey, I don't have a feeding tube. That may seem a bit strange to feel grateful over, but sometimes I have to grab onto whatever I can and not take it for granted. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Lonewolf Ed:
I know this place is a huge source of support and I am grateful beyond my ability to express it. I don't think of it as a misery competition with the woman I wrote about; I look at her and know I could be worse off, so I try to keep myself from getting too down by thinking about what she is having to endure. I also never downplay what anyone else is going through, even if they think it is less than what I deal with. Sometimes it helps me stay positive when it is looking at something small like knowing I could have it worse than someone else has it now. Yes, my feet are causing me great discomfort, but... hey, I don't have a feeding tube. That may seem a bit strange to feel grateful over, but sometimes I have to grab onto whatever I can and not take it for granted.
I used to visit veterans in SCI wards a lot, and while they loved the company I think it was as much for me as for them. And I learned to look in their eyes, and one day I met a blind SCI patient.
Not to compare the two, but I'd encourage you to look into her eyes next time, and realize they are both the window to the soul, but a great way to let them know you're listening to them. And I've never met anybody who didn't have a story I didn't find interesting.
Keep fighting my friend, keep fighting... Fight yourself, fight with her at your side, and fight with this whole board with you too.
So I get this email from Expedia this morning indicating one or more of my upcoming flights have been changed and I see that SAS wants to put me on a flight back to KC from Newark almost 6 hours later than the one I booked, so I didn't accept the changes and clicked to have an agent call me. I checked the site, too, and found that my original flight is still available! So, why would I want to get back after 11 pm when I could be here at 4:30 pm instead? Is Newark Airport THAT much fun? [Reply]
Originally Posted by Lonewolf Ed:
So I get this email from Expedia this morning indicating one or more of my upcoming flights have been changed and I see that SAS wants to put me on a flight back to KC from Newark almost 6 hours later than the one I booked, so I didn't accept the changes and clicked to have an agent call me. I checked the site, too, and found that my original flight is still available! So, why would I want to get back after 11 pm when I could be here at 4:30 pm instead? Is Newark Airport THAT much fun?
I was born in Newark and flew out of that shithole more times than I can remember. Top three for late flights and not too much good there if your stuck in the airport. Only good potential is to fly into Newark, stay over night and visit NYC for the day. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Lonewolf Ed:
So I get this email from Expedia this morning indicating one or more of my upcoming flights have been changed and I see that SAS wants to put me on a flight back to KC from Newark almost 6 hours later than the one I booked, so I didn't accept the changes and clicked to have an agent call me. I checked the site, too, and found that my original flight is still available! So, why would I want to get back after 11 pm when I could be here at 4:30 pm instead? Is Newark Airport THAT much fun?
Yes it is. especially when you mistakenly drive a commercial vehicle through it. Should have seen the looks I got :-)
I was trying to get in to the Anheuser Busch near there, but made a wrong turn.
I was very fortunate there were no height restrictions. [Reply]
I am feeling better now, since my feet are not causing me as much grief as they were earlier in the day. I wanted to go see a movie, but that was not to be. Expedia called me within an hour after I clicked that I didn't want the flight. There is a slightly earlier one out of Newark, but I'd still be stuck there for about 5 hours. I could leave Denmark a day earlier, but the flight departure is the same out of Newark, so that was no good. I have, however, seen this every year I go; flight times change at least two times before I go. So, there is a chance I will get my original back, or a better departure that doesn't have me fighting to stay awake in Newark. I might even get rerouted through Chicago, which I would prefer, even though they stuck me there overnight last year. That was no fun. I didn't get one lick of help from the airline agent, not even a voucher for food. Nothing was open when I was trying to get things set straight, but still... the airlines know we're just customers and at the bottom of the food chain. Customer Disservice, that is the modern travel game! [Reply]
Originally Posted by scho63:
Newark Airport is a sewer with planes. :-)
I was born in Newark and flew out of that shithole more times than I can remember. Top three for late flights and not too much good there if your stuck in the airport. Only good potential is to fly into Newark, stay over night and visit NYC for the day.
I have only flown through there once, back in 1995. I heard two white guys speaking as I was headed to my departure gate and could hardly make out a word they said. I *think* it was English, but that was the thickest Joisey accent I ever hoid. I don't recall much more about it other than the plane was in the air a lot faster than I ever got going out of JFK. I hate that airport most of all. [Reply]
What, are you flying Continental? Avoid Newark.. it really is a bad spot, with not enough airlines flying through there. I got stuck there for an extended stay one time, and realized how few actual choices are from there. I kept thinking, if I was at JFK I would be on a flight heading home already. [Reply]
Originally Posted by ChiefGator:
What, are you flying Continental? Avoid Newark.. it really is a bad spot, with not enough airlines flying through there. I got stuck there for an extended stay one time, and realized how few actual choices are from there. I kept thinking, if I was at JFK I would be on a flight heading home already.
No, I am on SAS and United for the leg to KC. I didn't want to go through Newark, but it was the cost that was the factor and times. At least it shouldn't be too busy being mid-week, but who knows? I guess once June 22 rolls around, I will find out. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Lonewolf Ed:
No, I am on SAS and United for the leg to KC. I didn't want to go through Newark, but it was the cost that was the factor and times. At least it shouldn't be too busy being mid-week, but who knows? I guess once June 22 rolls around, I will find out.
Well.. a small price to pay for an otherwise most awesome trip I guess. :-) [Reply]
