So much is going on it has been difficult to keep this blog up. So, to bring you up to date:
About 2 weeks ago I was relaxing one night when I started getting this pain in my side chest, just above the liver, that was kind of sharp every time I took a breath. I noticed that if I sat up straight the pain went away. However, through the night the pain progressed regardless of position. By morning I got up and said to the wife that I needed to get to the hospital. The pain was so intense that I became short of breath and really could not catch my breath. Every short sip of air was just killing me.
So, I go to the emergency room and start feeling little better. They think its cardiac and begin all the ekg and other work ups. I also am running my usual fever of about 102. So, I get admitted and end up staying in the hospital for a damn week! My first day, Dr. Personality, the emergency room doc comes to see me bedside. He is one of these guys that seems to know a little about a lot of things but not a lot about any particular thing. So, he starts spouting off about how my ekg was not quite normal and that maybe I will be looking at a bypass or angioplasty in a couple weeks and I know its liver and not heart. Dr. Giggles goes on to say ”what kind of prognosis does you onc give you.” In other words, am I going to be dead soon because we don’t want to waste precious cardiac resources. What a pick me up. To top it off, I was giving Dr. Feelgood my history as to the fever and said “just last night my fever was 102″ to which he responded “fahrenheit?” Are you shitting me? No, Celsius. My body combusted into flames and I had to stop drop and roll just to get my temperature to come down. My onc and other docs quickly ruled out heart or blood clot problems and I was let go from the hospital with some high doses of antibiotic to get the fever down. I am coming to find that you do not have to be as smart as I thought to become a doctor.
Also while in the hospital my doctor was giving me a hard time about not eating. I just have not had the appetite. So, he prescribesmarinol to see if that will help. For those that do not know, Marinol is a marijuana derivative that is supposed to give you traditional munchies and help with nausea and such. So, the nurse is giving me first treatment and which point I break out into a stirring rendition of Buffalo Soldier. Unfortunately, the nurse is unfamiliar with the drug and does not know Bob Marley. The humor was completely lost. Having taken the drug, I cannot say that I am that impressed. Bob is probably rolling over in his grave seeing what they have done to his precious herb.
So, after a brief one day stay at home I was whisked to SLC for my first round of of Sir Sphere therapy. I love my interventional radiologist up there. I tell him that I am retaining some water since being in the hospital and he says “lets git rid of it.” So he adds on a periocentises to get rid of the water for me. The Sir Sphere treatment is quick, easy, without a hitch. You barely know that you have been through a procedure. The radiation is kind of fun because now I can run around the office threatening to sterilize everyone if they get to close. Frankly, sterilizing everyone in my office would probably be good for the gene pool.
So I had the pleasure of an endoscopy in SLC today. You may recall that my interventional radiologist (IR) told me to go get that stent that the endoscopist (END) placed a while back as it was no longer necessary with the biliary drain I have now. So here is the exchange of docs with me as intermediary:
ME (to IR): Hey I’m going in to the END to have my temporary stent replaced
IR: Tell him to simply pull the stent as it is no longer necessary
ME (to END): Hey IR says to pull the stent as it is no longer necessary
END: Hey tell the IR to pull the drain out and we can place an internal permanent stent to replace the drain and solve the problem internally with no external equipment.
IR: Hey you tell him to pull his junk out!
END: Hey you tell him to pull his junk out!
IR: No you tell him to pull his junk out!
END: No, he needs to pull his junk out!
Actually, I think the docs are somewhat on the same page and that page includes a good possibility of me losing this external biliary drain with would be freaking sweet. So Y90 Sir Sphere therapy begins on the 25th and somewhere before, after, in between, we may be able to lose the plumbing. I’ll let you know.
We have had some previous talk here about how breast cancer gets all the awareness. You can buy almost any product these days in pink with some portion of proceeds going to breast cancer. I buy pink batteries all the time. Some Colon Cancer patients have questioned why we don’t get this awareness. Well, its because everyone likes tits.
Well, here is a new one. Kentucky Fried Chicken has started selling its chicken in pink buckets with a whopping 50 cents going to breast cancer. You can learn more at www.bucketsforacure.com.
Can you smell the 11 herbs and spices of irony yet. We take a product, greasy as hell chicken in a paper bucket, that probably goes a long way toward causing colon cancer, and peddle it in favor of breast cancer. However, those that watch South Park know that when the KFC closed there was a spike in testicular cancer until “Medicinal Fried Chicken” was brought back.
Interesting. What’s next? Marlboro? I can see it know, I walk into 7-11 and say “uhhh . . . can I get pack of Marlboro Pinks in the box?”
My reader recently sent me an email wondering if I was still alive because he had not heard from me. I’ve just been a little lazy. I’m glad people are looking out.
I’m still at the regular routine. I missed some chemo because I picked up a nasty fever for about a week. Since then I have continued to have some regular fever. Chills in the morning and hotter than hell at night.
Last Wed. I was back in SLC having a Coil Embolization. This is the first step of the Y90 Sir Sphere therapy. The procedure is for a radiologist to go in through the femoral artery and scope and map out the blood system between there and the liver. The radiologist then coils off and blocks anything to goes anywhere but the liver. This way when they hit the radiation they know it won’t go anywhere but where they want it to. It isn’t a real painful procedure, but you are laying awake on a table for 4 hours.
I’m a little sore after the fact. I thought the femeral artery would be accessed in the inner thigh. Rather it is accessed right at your groin about 2 inches to the right of your unit (trust me I used my penis to measure). So . . . lets just say I will not be masturbating anytime soon. I have never been much for shaving down there, but they shaved basically one-half of the package. So I’m running around with only fur on one side. Real attractive.
I’m headed back to SLC on the 10th to have the stent removed from my bile duct. Later that week or the next week I will have my first hit of radiation with the Sphere Therapy. I’ll keep you posted.
marinol to see if that will help. For those that do not know, Marinol is a marijuana derivative that is supposed to give you traditional munchies and help with nausea and such. So, the nurse is giving me first treatment and which point I break out into a stirring rendition of Buffalo Soldier. Unfortunately, the nurse is unfamiliar with the drug and does not know Bob Marley. The humor was completely lost. Having taken the drug, I cannot say that I am that impressed. Bob is probably rolling over in his grave seeing what they have done to his precious herb.