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 Meatloaf:
Yup, cancer is pure evil.....but it's weird too. I had an aunt who had breast cancer. They said it was bad and to get stuff in order too. 40 years later she passed away. Go figure.
Thats the kind of story I hope Ed hears more of, plenty of tales out there just like it [Reply]
I almost did myself in today by carrying a sack of concrete mix from the barn to the house to patch up the front stoop. It's about 250 feet or more between the house and barn. My heart was hammering and I was breathing hard out of my mouth and sweating. The chemo pills have knocked my blood cell counts down, both white and red, so it was not a good idea to tackle this project today. I burned some dead weed patches in the yard and pasture and watered my cedar saplings and my peach and pear trees, too. I should have just done that and left the concrete mixing for another day.
I took a shower and drank some water, and now it is nap time. My endurance right now is pitiful. I can't wait to be done with the pills on Friday and work that stuff out of my system before my departure date. I am looking forward to feeling good and strong again when I am in Denmark and Scotland. [Reply]
Friday is here at last and that means two more doses of the chemo pills today and I am done with the bastards until I return from Europe! I am happy to be near the end with the pills, since they've been messing me up. Low blood cell counts leading to no endurance, a chest cold, a strange knotting of a muscle in my shoulder blade at night which keeps waking me up and at times makes my right leg jerk, feeling queasy all the time, and thankfully just once an attack of the dry heaves... I won't miss any of that stuff when I am once again on the soil of my ancestors.
I can't wait to get over there. I have many new adventures ahead, both in Denmark and Scotland. As much time as I have spent in Aalborg, I still managed to find 4 "new" points of interest for me, so it will add some newness and discovery to that part of my trip. I love the old, familiar things I do in that town, and it is a big part of what keeps me coming back, but a few new things to see and do just adds another element of joy to the trip for me.
Seeing family and friends again will be wonderful, too. My cousin's daughter Helle and her husband Martin will be treating me to dinner my first two evenings in Aalborg, and it's always great spending time with them. They are equal parts family and friends to me. Martin is saving me a Jacobsen brown for my arrival. He knows that is one of my favorite beers of all time. I love the aroma of the six malts blended so masterfully together in that brew as well as the flavor. I like to close my eyes and just smell that beer for about 10 seconds before taking my first sip. Then I feel like I am truly home again in Denmark. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Lonewolf Ed:
Friday is here at last and that means two more doses of the chemo pills today and I am done with the bastards until I return from Europe! I am happy to be near the end with the pills, since they've been messing me up. Low blood cell counts leading to no endurance, a chest cold, a strange knotting of a muscle in my shoulder blade at night which keeps waking me up and at times makes my right leg jerk, feeling queasy all the time, and thankfully just once an attack of the dry heaves... I won't miss any of that stuff when I am once again on the soil of my ancestors.
I can't wait to get over there. I have many new adventures ahead, both in Denmark and Scotland. As much time as I have spent in Aalborg, I still managed to find 4 "new" points of interest for me, so it will add some newness and discovery to that part of my trip. I love the old, familiar things I do in that town, and it is a big part of what keeps me coming back, but a few new things to see and do just adds another element of joy to the trip for me.
Seeing family and friends again will be wonderful, too. My cousin's daughter Helle and her husband Martin will be treating me to dinner my first two evenings in Aalborg, and it's always great spending time with them. They are equal parts family and friends to me. Martin is saving me a Jacobsen brown for my arrival. He knows that is one of my favorite beers of all time. I love the aroma of the six malts blended so masterfully together in that brew as well as the flavor. I like to close my eyes and just smell that beer for about 10 seconds before taking my first sip. Then I feel like I am truly home again in Denmark.
Originally Posted by ChiefGator:
Most awesome.. have a great return trip man, and post lots of pictures.
Keep fighting like hell indeed..
Here are some pics from my 2015 trip, just to give you a taste of what lies ahead for me! The first is me by a tourist bus. Danish can be funny since some of their words look like English, but are not. In this case, "fart" means speed or journey, and turist means tourist (that was hard to figure out! lol), but since I had a big old tumor in my colon then, I found it rather funny since I had many, many "turistfarts" of my own! The second was a beer I had not tried before and it was terrific. I intend to discover many more new ones this year. The third is something I may have again, a wonderfully authentic Viking feast prepared by an eccentric Viking chef, and the fourth is Voergaard Castle, built in the mid 1500s. I love me some castles.
Originally Posted by Meatloaf:
Yup, cancer is pure evil.....but it's weird too. I had an aunt who had breast cancer. They said it was bad and to get stuff in order too. 40 years later she passed away. Go figure.
My dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer 8 years ago, went from golf ball to softball size in 6 weeks.
Told him with a whipple he would last 2 years tops. 8 years later, last Tuesday we were all at the same hospital taking him to visit my step mom who basically raised all of us, she had a small dose of pneumonia. Same doctor pronounced her dead while we sat there after talking to her an hour before. He heart went from 250 bpm to 10 to 275 to nothing...
Who fucking knows whats gonna happen in this life... It's crazy and it fucking sucks [Reply]
