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 Lonewolf Ed:
Thank you very much. It's overwhelming hearing all that from you all, but not in the get away from me kind of overwhelming. One of the nurses, one who usually jabs the needles in my chest, told me I was the greatest man she has ever met. I was taken by surprise by that and I really didn't know what to say so I just blinked and said, "Me?" She said something about how I am facing cancer compared to the others she sees. I was beyond humbled and really couldn't say much to her other than to say thanks and I appreciated that very much. Whenever I die, I won't be made a saint, and not just because I am a Lutheran. Maybe part of my strength comes from being bullied and pushed around a lot when I was a child. Cancer is very much like a big nasty bully, too. Now I can fight back, and bullies piss me off to no end. I have had my fill of excrement sammich in this life. Now, if someone or something comes and tells me I have to take a bite, it's going to be a fight.
Originally Posted by Lonewolf Ed:
Thank you very much. It's overwhelming hearing all that from you all, but not in the get away from me kind of overwhelming. One of the nurses, one who usually jabs the needles in my chest, told me I was the greatest man she has ever met. I was taken by surprise by that and I really didn't know what to say so I just blinked and said, "Me?" She said something about how I am facing cancer compared to the others she sees. I was beyond humbled and really couldn't say much to her other than to say thanks and I appreciated that very much. Whenever I die, I won't be made a saint, and not just because I am a Lutheran. Maybe part of my strength comes from being bullied and pushed around a lot when I was a child. Cancer is very much like a big nasty bully, too. Now I can fight back, and bullies piss me off to no end. I have had my fill of excrement sammich in this life. Now, if someone or something comes and tells me I have to take a bite, it's going to be a fight.
Originally Posted by Lonewolf Ed:
I was at the Black Sabbath concert and I got a lot of THC second hand that night! There were many clouds floating around of that stuff.
Originally Posted by Lonewolf Ed:
Thank you very much. It's overwhelming hearing all that from you all, but not in the get away from me kind of overwhelming. One of the nurses, one who usually jabs the needles in my chest, told me I was the greatest man she has ever met. I was taken by surprise by that and I really didn't know what to say so I just blinked and said, "Me?" She said something about how I am facing cancer compared to the others she sees. I was beyond humbled and really couldn't say much to her other than to say thanks and I appreciated that very much. Whenever I die, I won't be made a saint, and not just because I am a Lutheran. Maybe part of my strength comes from being bullied and pushed around a lot when I was a child. Cancer is very much like a big nasty bully, too. Now I can fight back, and bullies piss me off to no end. I have had my fill of excrement sammich in this life. Now, if someone or something comes and tells me I have to take a bite, it's going to be a fight.
Your courage is definitely inspiring, as is all of this travel! Keep it up! [Reply]
Originally Posted by Gonzo:
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.
Originally Posted by Lonewolf Ed:
Not much... she is about 60, I think. Late 50s for sure and married, but I still was totally not expecting the compliment she gave me.
Hey man. Older chicks need love too.
They don't tell, they don't yell, they don't smell and they're grateful as hell. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Gonzo:
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.
As Jason said, this is a quality post... And I agree, along with fighting like hell a thank-you is just as well deserved. [Reply]
Okay, so I've started with the chemo pills. Some of the worst side effects like becoming anemic and needing a blood transfusion are not unique to the pills. My nurse practitioner told me that since my very first treatment long ago, they've monitored my blood cell counts in case I need a transfusion. Throwing up blood was also a possibility with the previous treatment, but I just don't recall reading or hearing about that. I took 4 pills last night, and 8 today (4 after breakfast and 4 after dinner) and so far, I really don't feel much different than I did before I took them. Except for a lingering stomach ache along the left side of my stomach, I can't tell that I am having any side effects at all. I am not more tired than I have been, I have no nausea at all, no chemo runs (yet...), no sores along the sides of my tongue, and so on.
I know it is early on, and the side effects can strike at any time, so I am not ready to hop around in joy and say, "No side effects!" But, on the other hand, so far, so good. My body does not feel tired out, either, so I might just lift some weights tonight and try to get toned up and stronger for my trip. [Reply]
I should have added this to the previous post. My chemo pill schedule is going to work out in my favor big time. I am to take them Monday to Friday, weekend off, Monday to Friday, weekend off and then 2 weeks off, repeat. At the end of the second cycle, it will be two weeks off of the pills on the day I leave for Denmark, so if any side effects do show up, they should be well out of my system that day. So that means I should be feeling good and strong the day I leave and I won't have to worry about getting the runs on the plane! [Reply]