Good news [Lonewolf Ed]
 

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!

Great news Lone. Love the name of your party

This is awesome Ed! Thanks for the update. We're all rooting for ya.

Phenomenal news. So awesome!

That just made my day bud, good for you!

So awesome!

Rock out with your cock out Ed. Good stuff...

Hell yes, **** cancer!

Awesome Ed. Stay strong.

I am staying strong! I have my inner warrior battling the cancer and he isn't as badass as Bwana's avatar, Ragnar, but my Viking is called Rasmus and he is pretty tough! :p

Great news man, keep kicking ass.

excellent news!! so glad for your recoveries and impending trip!! keep fighting the good fight brother!! and like everyone says, eff cancer!!

Glad to hear it, Fast Eddie... may your raiding and plundering be successful.

Seriously keep building your strength and hump it back up here for an ATV ride with rockymtnchief and myself this summer. We've got your back.

Glad things seem to be going well, I lost track of the other thread but I hope all is good on that front and that you keep beating it back!

Excellent Ed.

I'm trying to get the family reunion in Denmark the next go around. Cousin Ole has been wanting to host it.

I'm super glad the treatments are working! Enjoy the trip and F cancer.

Wonderful news!

Enjoy my friend, make some lasting memories for those close to you.

Ed this is spectacular! Little by little, day at a time man... Kick this ****er right in the goatass!!!

Sounds like the trip will be amazing, and it sounds like your family is awesome. Looking forward to more updates.

You're a fellow Dane, too! Awesome! Have you ever been over there to visit? If so, what part of the country?

If I encounter the White Sweater Girl from 2005 ever again over there, she isn't getting away so easily and I'll make some memories for sure! I was too awestruck to say much when I first saw her. She had a fishnet type sweater on and no bra and she was dancing in this little pub with a girlfriend. It was like two jello molds in an earthquake. I may never see her again, but I will *always* love her!

Fantastic

Nice to hear the good news Ed.

Happy for you Ed, sounds like a great trip. Ever been to Kronborg castle?

Indeed good news
Posted via Mobile Device

Praise Jesus !! You are in my prayers.:thumb:

That is excellent news. Keep fighting and getting better. It is fantastic to see you beating this thing.

Amen and thank you!

Not yet. I've explored Copenhagen before, but the last time I was there in the city was in 2005. I toured the Carlsberg Brewery, which was fascinating, and it was where I first discovered Jacobsen Brown Ale in the tasting room at the end. It is one of my all-time favorite brews. Generally, I am in Copenhagen changing planes to get to Aalborg.

That's how you know it is good news. Ed, you done went Whitney Houston on its ass.

Good for you! I have a cousin who is currently "kickin" Cancers Ass", so keep up the work! Best Wishes... Farmerchief

Awesome !! Keep up the good fight ...

Great news Ed!

That is awesome Ed, great to hear it.

Beautiful time to be there!!!

Ugh! Now that wretched tune is in my head! Only my Black Sabbath tunes will break through now and set things right.

Great news!!!!!!!

Great news! Have a great time in Denmark.

Outstanding~

Great news!

I had a rough weekend, not sure why. I went out to Johnny's Tavern Saturday night for a friend's birthday bash and since I was on "chemo week" I had no beer, just Pepsi and no ice. Maybe it was the nasty Pepsi, but I felt terrible until this morning. I had near-constant pressure and slight burning through my entire abdomen and the muscles in my back felt like I had been loading wheelbarrows with rocks all day.

Feeling better, I got outside and watered my cedar tree transplants and burned some trash behind the barn. It's a great day out there and nothing like a late January day that I am used to. Price Chopper is next on my agenda for the day. It's great to be feeling better!

Hope things are going well for you. Wishing you all the best.

Glad you are feeling better..keep kicking ass man

Round 11 of chemo for me is tomorrow, starting with the blood draws and the needle being jammed into my chest where it will stay for two days, pumping chemo drugs into me. My first appointment is at 7:45 am. Ugh.

The whole needle jammed in the chest thing sounds brutal :(. Holy shit, man!?

Well, it depends on the nurse and if she puts her shoulder into it or not. I've briefly looked at it once... damned thing looks like a crooked fish hook. Sometimes, it is about as painful as a large mosquito bite and others it stings like a bee. It takes up to an hour before it gets comfortable in my chest, or maybe it is better to say I can't feel it in there so much so that is about as comfortable as it gets. There is a plastic tube attached to it so the chemo can get pumped into my heart and then throughout my body. I get three bags of chemo stuff, and the final one is given to me through a pump which I have to carry with me in a fanny pack and have it in my bed with me. It pumps folfox or whatever they call it for 46 hours. Then I go back to the cancer center and they take it off, pull the needle out after running saline through the tube, put some cotton and a bandage on me and send me on my way.

It is a pain, but it would be much worse if I had to stay in the hospital for 2 days every other week watching a big bag of stuff drip into me slowly. I can sleep in my own bed and not have nurses and doctors pestering me around the clock, so I just remind myself of that as I bear having a toxic chemical being pumped through me for 2 days. I have to be more careful so as not to catch the tubes in a car door or on a chair.

Wow, I can totally see myself being willing to go through all that so I could spend time at home instead of in the hospital.

Sleeping in your own bed is so much better than anything they could possibly offer.

That depends on which nurse I got! In all seriousness, though, unless it was Kate Upton... send me HOME! Better bed, better food, and peace and quiet.

It's like the pulp fiction overdose needle, huh? :eek:

How many more rounds have you got? Due for any more imaging soon?

It isn't that big of a needle, but in my mind's eye, it seems like it could poke out of my shoulder blade on the other side! All I have heard about how many rounds is "indefinite." I am sure they will run another CT scan on me, but no date has been set yet. I meet with the colon doc on the 20th, so for now it's the routine of nurses and needles, nurse guy who takes my vitals, and alternating with the liver doc and the nurse practitioner, then treatment.

So far, so good. I didn't pass out and the needle stick was not bad at all. It didn't really hurt and was more like a feeling of some pressure. For some reason, the nurse had trouble getting blood from me. She said I was nervous, and I asked why she thought that. "Because you're talking a lot!" she replied. Hrrrmph. Well, let me keep yappin' then! Now I am waiting for Eli to come and call me back to get my vitals.

How about that? He came out and called for me as I typed this.

I got some news from the doc that I liked. She told me the treatments are going great but she wants to take me off the oxa- crap, still can't say or spell it after all this time! Anyhow, she wants me off of it for a while after this treatment so I don't suffer permanent nerve damage. That drug is the one affecting my fingers and feet when they get cold, and currently I have a feeling like someone is pinching my fingertips on several fingers, and it has affected my tongue where I have lost some sense of taste but not much and the tip of my tongue feels rough as if I burnt it on some hot food days back. I also like that since the oxawhatever takes 2 hours for the bag to finish dripping into me, I will be getting out of this place in no time the next several treatments! Woo hoo!

Ah, gotcha. I was interested because the nature of my work involves surgery and endoscopy, so I read these kinds of reports all the time. I guessed that you might have some more radiology soon to see how things are looking.

Great news. Less medicine is better than more.

Later in the day, I got some news I didn't care for so much. My CEA went up a little bit, to 6.1 from 5.3 and it was 6.3 the time before last when it was checked. I want that number to hit ZERO.ZERO, blast it! The nurse said it was not a big deal and I think it may be why I passed some blood again at times the past week. My cold sensitivity is pretty bad this time, too. As soon as my fingers get a little cold, BAM, there it goes. I couldn't type when I got home because it felt like I was pressing my fingers on one of those little ball-shaped cacti with the fine needles. Both hands even felt asleep when my fingers got cold and that is new, as before it has just been in the fingertips. So, the doc was right to get me off the oxaliplatin before permanent nerve damage occurs. It would make me truly disabled if my hands and fingers felt like that all the time.

On the bright side, I had my favorite nurse, Amanda, bringing me chemo bags today. I like her!

I almost forgot... I asked my doc about the CEA numbers and if I was nearly dead in September when it was 88.5 and she said no, she has seen numbers in the thousands before. Holy crap. Here I was thinking with 88.5, I was neck deep in the grave back then!

I am getting the pump removed in 2 hours, so I am happy to be free of it and get back into a more normal routine!

Keep up the fight, brother.

Cancer sucks.

Keep on keepin' on!!!

Hang in there Ed. One day at a time....

Glad things seem to be going pretty well, even with the tiny set back in numbers. Your trip does sound like it will be a blast!

I feel better than I have in a week or so. Part of it is that I resumed lifting some weights. Just lifting my arms over my head with nothing in my hands was difficult just several days ago. My right arm felt heavier and was slower to respond. Now, it is about equal with both the right and left. I suppose that having a 2.5 inch tunnel eaten down my chest from infection would have caused me quite a setback. It is nice to be past that now and I am very pleased with the progress now. I was not very patient for the 2 months plus that it took to heal the wound.

Glad you are feeling better Ed. Keep kicking ass...

Don't know you that well Lonewolf Ed but Good morning and hope you have a great day.

Thank you! It is shaping up to be one. I am on day 3 after treatments and I am hungry, so I don't need any meds. I am going to enjoy a pot of Earl grey with lemon and honey, cereal and milk, a banana, two boiled eggs and yogurt to start my day.

I really do have cancer... see? I look tired and should. My first appointment was at 7:45 am and I had to get up at 6:00 am. Ugh. I took a nap after the photos since the bag hooked up to me went for 2 hours. *yaaawn*

Look at those ruddy cheeks and bright eyes! are you sure you're ill?

You look like a million bucks, Fast Eddie... keep being Ed and doing the things that guy does and you'll come out of this shitpile smelling like Drakkar Noir!

I look exhausted, and trust me, I was!

Dont look it and I'm seriously not joking, your complexion is great, eyes are bright and clear... you look like a man getting ready to go whip some dudes ass and steal his woman.

Ed, I'm sure everyone here is giving you props and heartfelt love. I know I am.

Thanks so very much!

I was napping 10 minutes after that pic! Seriously, I went to bed the night before and didn't sleep well, woke up 15 minutes before the alarm, and had to get there by 7:45 am for my blood draw. I was TIRED!

Thats just what they call "badass practice" for a guy like you... kick some ass, take a nap... then get up and start kicking all over again.

Sleep is how your inner Berzerker recharges himself, get some whenever you can... then get up, AND GET SOME.

Outstanding

Great news brother!! Awesome about your trip!!

Glad you are feeling better.

The last few years have taught me that with all the BS that we deal with in a day, most of it does not matter.

Take care of yourself, block the bad stuff, let the other crap flow off your back. Control what you can control.

I hope things keep getting better.

As my trip to Denmark approaches, I have been planning various things and I always make a DVD of my trips, and film an intro page stating stuff like "Denmark 2014: My Tenth Trip in Ten Years" with a hand drawn Danish flag and whatever else I fancy to put on there. I play some tunes, without a shred of permission, as well. Since last year was my 10th trip in ten years, I chose two songs that mention ten years in the lyrics for the intro music and the ending. I went with Ramble On and Ten Years Gone by Led Zeppelin.

I asked two of my lady friends if they thought it would be in poor taste if I went with Zeppelin's In My Time of Dying for the intro and one of them said yes and said she was about to scold me and the other called me a turd! Ah, wimmens, you need to lighten up a bit! LMAO

I am actually thinking of Zeppelin's Bring it On Home for the intro and Sabbath's Hard Road for the ending.

Treatment number 12, coming up...