Chapter Eleven - A Stranger Comes to Town; Somebody Takes a Trip (May 2020)
June 04, 2020
- 12 min readThe Great Cancer Adventure Chapter Eleven - A Stranger Comes to Town; Somebody Takes a Trip (May 2020) 5/9/2020 Technically, I can still eat, despite what I wrote recently about losing that privilege, but almost exclusively only through my feeding tube. I can, for example, eat up to four almonds at a time or (but not and) two or three wheat thins, provided I chew them into a pulp, but anything…
Chapter Ten - Days of COVAD-19 (April 2020)
May 13, 2020
- 17 min readThe Great Cancer Adventure Chapter Ten - Days of COVAD-19 (April 2020) 4/3/2020 We’re leaving soon for another round of chemo therapy at CTCA north of Chicago and a follow up appointment with the GI Clinic there to make certain my feeding tube is working as it should. Illinois has a mandatory stay-at-home order, which might mean that we might be stopped by police or state troopers, so I have…
Chapter Nine - The Light in Darkness (March 2020)
April 15, 2020
- 17 min readThe Great Cancer Adventure Chapter Nine - The Light in Darkness (March 2020) 3/3/2020 Yesterday, our granddaughter turned six, and today her mother turned 40. I slept OK night before last, but not so well last night, being awake from just after midnight on through the morning. Perhaps I was thinking about the time Elizabeth was born and how small and fragile she looked just out of the womb. More…
Chapter Eight - The High Cost of Illness (February 2020)
April 15, 2020
- 18 min readThe Great Cancer Adventure Chapter Eight - The High Cost of Illness (February 2020) 2/6/2020 My Otho Hip Guy, who told me in December he was leaving his practice to join another one, has officially landed, and I have a follow-up appointment with him late next week. His new office asked me to get all my records from his old practice, and when I called the old practice to arrange for this, whoever…
Chapter Seven - Leaving the Party (January 2020)
March 08, 2020
- 17 min readThe Great Cancer Adventure Chapter Seven - Leaving the Party (January 2020) 1/5/2020 We've been talking for some good while now, The Champ and I, about taking an international trip to a destination of her choice, as a sort of a gesture of appreciation for everything she's been doing and, frankly, an acknowledgment that I'm almost certainly on a downhill slide, even if at a gentle slope (or so we…
Chapter Six - A Short in My System (October – December 2019)
March 08, 2020
- 43 min readThe Great Cancer Adventure Chapter Six - A Short in My System (October – December 2019) 10/3/2019 Here at CTCA, we've just met with the Oncology Doc to discuss today's scan. The primary tumor in the esophagus looks to be contained, and my various bits are stable or smaller. A couple of tiny spots in one lung, likely an infection of some sort, and the home of my persistent pet cough, which I have…
Chapter Five - 5FU (June – September 2019)
March 08, 2020
- 24 min readThe Great Cancer Adventure Chapter Five - 5FU (June – September 2019) 6/7/2019 Because my platelets are so low, I need an injection of something that will boost those. The catch is that this cannot be done until I'm unhooked (from 46 hours of Folfox) which means we stayed at CTCA in Zion, Illinois until mid-afternoon Saturday, rather than being at home mid-afternoon Friday afternoon. And, until my…
Chapter Four - Fighting Back (January – May 2019)
March 01, 2020
- 20 min readThe Great Cancer Adventure Chapter Four - Fighting Back (January – May 2019) 1/8/2019 Mercy Hospital here in St. Louis, which I no longer use for treating my cancer, contends that I owe them for something I paid in February of last year. The story goes, they're quick to turn to a collection agency, so I may need an attorney soon. Any suggestions? If so, please message me. 1/9/2019 (Here's a…
Chapter Three - Spirit Animal (June – December 2018)
March 01, 2020
- 12 min readThe Great Cancer Adventure Chapter Three - Spirit Animal (June – December 2018) 6/1/2018 Chasing a cure, or at least a tailored treatment plan, Betty and I have just returned from the Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) location in Zion, IL an hour or so north of the Chicago Loop. At the time, we were told the news of my condition is even worse than we had thought, in that I'm considered…
Chapter Two – Minimal Residual Disease (January – May 2018)
March 01, 2020
- 15 min readThe Great Cancer Adventure Chapter Two – Minimal Residual Disease 1/2/2018 For New Year's Eve, Betty and I met her brother Mike for dinner, and when I went to the toilet afterward, plodding along on my walker, I felt what turned out to be little screws in the hip brace come out and fall down the inside of my pants leg and into my shoes. Good thing for that, or otherwise these screws being so…
Chapter One - The Hammer Falls (September - December, 2017)
February 28, 2020
- 22 min readThe Great Cancer Adventure Chapter One - The Hammer Falls (September-December, 2017) 9/19/2017 I discovered quite by accident and coincidence just last week that I have cancer. My urologist was looking for something in my bladder that wasn’t there, but the scan showed something wrong in my chest. Having already had a routine colonoscopy scheduled, I called that Doc, who agreed to scope me on…