massive braincaseit's got it's own gravityWeak, tired, sick, etc- (Found July 11, 2008 ) Same old same old this week. Chemo on Tuesday and it didn't take long for the freight train to hit me. I can't even describe what it's like - imagine laying in bed in the morning, feeling 99% normal, getting up and going to the bathroom. Imagine at this point that you must go back to bed, breathing heavily, for a good 15 minutes to rest up from the experience. Even sitting up to eat at the dinner table overloads my system. I can do it for 10 or 15 minutes but after that I have to rest. ...http://massivebraincase.org/archive/2008/04/20/#2510 I love the whole world- (Found July 11, 2008 ) Have you seen that commercial on the Discovery Channel they've been playing lately I love that commercial so much. It's just a bunch of scientists and Discovery personalities and regular people singing a song called "Boom De Ah Da". Go to Discovery.com and over on the right click on the Play Video link for "Musical Mashes: Boom De Ah Da". I love the whole world, it's such a brilliant place.http://massivebraincase.org/archive/2008/04/21/#2511 Time for bed- (Found July 11, 2008 ) Gird up your hearts for my dilemma, my friends. Prepare yourselves for my bad luck, my wrack and ruin. I'm (sob) forced to watch American Idol every week with my wife and daughter and unfortunate vortex friend. I know. Cry for me, Argentina. Anyway. That's over for the night so I'm just finishing up prior to heading up to my comfy bed. I think the worst of this chemo fatigue is passing; I felt a lot better today than the last several days. I'm going to read a little of The Art of...http://massivebraincase.org/archive/2008/04/23/#2512 Friday night visits- (Found July 11, 2008 ) Jeff, Kai, and Kiki stopped by tonight, followed closely by my Dad. We had nice visits and then they disappeared into the nebulous world that I understand exists outside our front door. I can't vouch for this "outside" thing, not having experienced it in some time. There's something pretty outside our windows, though. Getting better, I think, a little more energy, a little more appetite. Looking forward to bedtime, the best time of the day. Watching Friends with Debbie and Maddie right...http://massivebraincase.org/archive/2008/04/25/#2513 Inspiration and depression- (Found July 11, 2008 ) My friends, what a time we've had the last few days. I'm sorry for not updating more often, but the effort is more than I can take, or at least it feels that way. I'm not feeling any better today than yesterday, but here I am talking to you. The effects of this illness are insidious. There's the obvious physical discomfort and problems, the fatigue, the hair loss (ha ha! I already had no hair so I fooled them on that one!). There's the obvious psychological effects, the so-called stages of.http://massivebraincase.org/archive/2008/05/02/#2514 Trucks etc- (Found July 11, 2008 ) I'm again sorry for not updating more often. I know there's lots of you out there for whom this is really your only source of news, but as I said last time, it's hard to generate these entries. I'm so tired. Whine whine whine. My 4th chemo is now behind us, apparently the last for a while, as the next step is another PET scan and a re-evaluation of treatment. Our best guess is that the mass has now small enough and they're sure enough that it hasn't spread that they're going to do several..http://massivebraincase.org/archive/2008/05/12/#2515 Indy Thursday- (Found July 11, 2008 ) I sure hope I can see this movie at some point. The drive-in seems like the only real choice for me - I can lay down and relax instead of sitting up and hoping my cough isn't driving people crazy. Another blood count appointment tomorrow, preparatory to my PET scan on Wednesday and the results of that on Friday, following which we'll presumably know what our lives are going to be like for the weeks and months after that. You know what to do. :) Things are normal, I guess. It's hard to know.http://massivebraincase.org/archive/2008/05/19/#2516 Interesting phone call- (Found July 11, 2008 ) So you know I got a PET scan yesterday, and we're supposed to get the results tomorrow. I'll post again tomorrow after we've met with the doc. However, I wanted to tell you about this phone call we got today while we were out; a voicemail from Doctor Winter. Normally I think, out of the blue like that, just hearing who it was from would freak me out - like why is the Doctor calling! What could be wrong! But the message said, "I just wanted to let you know I saw the results of the PET scan..http://massivebraincase.org/archive/2008/05/22/#2517 PET scan and new plan- (Found July 11, 2008 ) OK, so we met with Dr. Winter this morning, and while almost all the news was good, I still had my hopes up too high and have spent some disappointed hours since the appointment. Hope is a good thing but dammit, dashed hopes suck. The details: the tumor has shrunk still more, perhaps 20 percent, and associated structures are shrinking as well. An area that appeared on the first PET scan, but wasn't clear enough to call a "tumor" or "mass" has disappeared entirely. One of the lymph nodes in.http://massivebraincase.org/archive/2008/05/23/#2518 Happy 4th- (Found July 11, 2008 ) So, so sorry for the extended time since the last update. So much has happened since my last post, I hardly know where to begin. How about here: A day or two after my last post, I was admitted to the hospital again for what we thought might be pneumonia or some other lung infection. Scans and another bronchioscopy revealed not only no infection, but more tumors in my left lung that weren't there 10 days before. Great news, right My prognosis is therefore much less optimistic, but...http://massivebraincase.org/archive/2008/07/04/#2519 |