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Posted
3 hours ago, MissingInAction said:

Final round of chemo delayed another week due to low WBC. Took down two bags of blood which got the globins back up. Thanks to all the donors out there.

Good news is I'll be able to attend the surly game watching party.

They giving you Neulasta injections on your off weeks to force your bone marrow to produce white blood cells?

Posted
5 hours ago, Vanilla Strange Gato said:

They giving you Neulasta injections on your off weeks to force your bone marrow to produce white blood cells?

I get those the following monday after chemo. That's all the cocksucker insurance will pay for.

Posted
I once went to radiation in the morning and then stopped in the cafeteria at Methodist and grabbed a fruit punch Gatorade and a quesadilla and headed across the Skybridge to Scurlock Tower for chemo. 
 
I got fussed at by Bobbi and Renee (chemo nurses) for bringing hot food to the infusion room.  Hot foods give off more aroma and can trigger the other patients to puke if they are teetering on the brink of nausea. 
 
Halfway thru my infusion I took my IV pole to the restroom to take a whiz and empty my bag.  I was sure I had internal bleeding because my bag was full of red liquid!!!
Bobbi and Renee said “did you drink anything with red food coloring in it?”
No more red or purple for me during the year I had a bag.  It was pretty apparent to me at that point why the instructions for the days prior to a colonoscopy say to not have any red or purple liquids a few days prior.
As for corn, it should only be consumed as chips or tortillas.  Kernels are like eating lead pellets as far as I’m concerned. 

I went into resection with the doc telling my I was 50/50 on getting a temp. I interpreted that as I wasn’t getting one and I was wrong. Nobody likes ileos but some people hate them worse than others. I hated it. Only had it two months but worrying about and dealing with that thing day-to-day fucking sucked. Hated it.
Posted
1 hour ago, Basil said:


I went into resection with the doc telling my I was 50/50 on getting a temp. I interpreted that as I wasn’t getting one and I was wrong. Nobody likes ileos but some people hate them worse than others. I hated it. Only had it two months but worrying about and dealing with that thing day-to-day fucking sucked. Hated it.

I had it for a year. Changed the flange maybe every fifth day?  Nobody at work could tell I had one. 
 

It was horrible to wake up to but turned out to be very manageable and probably helped me avoid some side effects. 
 

Had mine for a year.   

Posted
1 hour ago, MissingInAction said:

$3500 is what the dr told me.

One clinic I went to charged my insurance $1200 for Neulasta.  When I switched clinics at my first recurrence, the new clinic charged $6000 to insurance for that shot.   
 

They always wanted inject in the stomach because it was not supposed to hurt as much. 
 

Bullll sheeeet

I think there was Karo syrup in that little syringe.  It was slow going. 

Posted
One clinic I went to charged my insurance $1200 for Neulasta.  When I switched clinics at my first recurrence, the new clinic charged $6000 to insurance for that shot.   
 
They always wanted inject in the stomach because it was not supposed to hurt as much. 
 
Bullll sheeeet
I think there was Karo syrup in that little syringe.  It was slow going. 

Probably. But there are some good drugs out there.
Posted
31 minutes ago, Anton Chigurh said:

The shot didn’t bother me too much, but the bone pain can be shitty. FYI, Claritin actually helps with that, oddly enough (it counters the effects of all those histamines from the WBCs).

I wonder if Singulair would have helped?   Singular suppresses the production/formation of histamine - which for me works far better than trying to treat the presence of histamine after it is formed.  A decade ago it gave me a new lease on life dealing with my adult asthma in pollen season spring on my street full of oak trees.   Shit works. Bigly. 

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Posted
1 hour ago, Anton Chigurh said:

The shot didn’t bother me too much, but the bone pain can be shitty. FYI, Claritin actually helps with that, oddly enough (it counters the effects of all those histamines from the WBCs).

I was able to escape most of the bone pain.  My spine and neck would ache the first day after a shot but it went away after that.  But man there isn’t much to do to get pain out of your bones. 

Posted

So my wife (no pics) just had a mole removed from her toe and it was melanoma. Which is wild because she’s a naturally tanning person with no history of family skin cancer meanwhile, I’m over here going every 12 months because of my fair skinned Irish ass with no cancer so far, just some pre-cancer stuff 🤷‍♂️

I guess all that is to say go in for regular check ups 

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Posted

6th and final cycle has been canceled due to low wbc. My bone marrow is wrecked and cant take it again.

Off to MDA in a couple of weeks for assessment and radiation trial run.

I'll miss not having to manscape.

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Posted
3 minutes ago, MissingInAction said:

6th and final cycle has been canceled due to low wbc. My bone marrow is wrecked and cant take it again.

Sorry to hear that, bro.  If I knew the contact information for Keith Richards human parts dealer I would do you a solid.

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Posted
48 minutes ago, MissingInAction said:

6th and final cycle has been canceled due to low wbc. My bone marrow is wrecked and cant take it again.

Off to MDA in a couple of weeks for assessment and radiation trial run.

I'll miss not having to manscape.

Those chemo drugs are pretty fucking rough. Good news is you can focus on the horns without chemo now. 

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Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, hornbri said:

Those chemo drugs are pretty fucking rough. Good news is you can focus on the horns without chemo now. 

Each cycle was 5 days straight alternating bags of Ifex and the red devil. I took it without too many issues. One bought of neutropenic fever and my heart getting crazy due to low hemoglobin. 

Im still flush with the shit and the tumor keeps shrinking. Just glad to get on with this shit.

Edited by MissingInAction
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Posted
48 minutes ago, MissingInAction said:

Question for the vets: if radiation doesnt work will i get put back on the drip?

Isn't your plan chemo, radiation, and then surgery to remove what's left - which should be a tumor, beaten, old, and shriveled to nothingness, kind of like your nads?

Posted
2 hours ago, MissingInAction said:

Question for the vets: if radiation doesnt work will i get put back on the drip?

Short answer: maybe
 

They would likely put you back on the drip.  Or, if available, a pill for “maintenance chemo”.   Or put you into a trial for experimental drugs if one is available and you qualify.  

Long answer: there could be multiple options

My experience was surgery, heal for a month, then do chemo and radiation simultaneously, then I was clear for a year. 
 

When it came back in my liver (colorectal cancer that was metastatic to my lymph and liver), they switched to a different chemo.  Once that cleared out the tumors, I was clear for a year. 
 

It came back in my liver and one lymph node by my aorta. 

Tumor board and liver board argued about what to do.  Medical oncologist wanted to try another chemo.  Surgeon said “I don’t want to try surgery on him after you have had him”.  Radiation oncologist said “make a decision, I’ll jump in wherever you need me”. 
 

We ended up with liver resection and lymph removal and intra-operative radiation by my aorta where that lymph node was removed.  

I have been clear ever since but it was not easy.  Or cheap.

My oncologist that referred me to M.D. Anderson had even told me she would like to consider chemo before doing something as aggressive as they were suggesting.  But then she thought about it and said “you are young, you can handle all of this”. 
 

If radiation doesn’t work, be prepared for some way-outside-the-box thinking. They don’t like to lose battles and they will try to come up with something to kill that cancer and not take you with it in the process. 

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Posted
8 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

Isn't your plan chemo, radiation, and then surgery to remove what's left - which should be a tumor, beaten, old, and shriveled to nothingness, kind of like your nads?

So far that's the plan. Just concerned what's ahead if my body cant take anymore chemo. My oncologist at MDA was blowing up my phone while i was on the shitter.

No message left. Fuck it for now. Gonna watch Arch throw 10 TDs tomorrow. 

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Posted
On 8/29/2025 at 10:19 PM, MissingInAction said:

My oncologist at MDA was blowing up my phone while i was on the shitter.

No message left. Fuck it for now. Gonna watch Arch throw 10 TDs tomorrow. 

He was probably trying to get you to take the under on the passing yards. 

 

Too soon?

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Posted
So far that's the plan. Just concerned what's ahead if my body cant take anymore chemo. My oncologist at MDA was blowing up my phone while i was on the shitter.
No message left. Fuck it for now. Gonna watch Arch throw 10 TDs tomorrow. 

Hopefully you never need ANY of this shit, but there are some encouraging T cell therapies for recurrent synovial sarcoma. Aside from that, pazopanib is often the second line, which isnt near as hard on the bone marrow as ifos/dox. Also turns hair blonde or silver but doesn’t make it fall out.
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Posted
Isn't your plan chemo, radiation, and then surgery to remove what's left - which should be a tumor, beaten, old, and shriveled to nothingness, kind of like your nads?

That was my sequence of events
Posted

Endocrinologist told me that [whatever the technical name is for the shit blood sugar does, don't ask me because I just listen to him like an Irish Setter Puppy with no idea of words but cueing in on voice and emotions] is so much better that he wonders if I even need insulin anymore.

So I fessed up that I had mostly skipped it the past month because blood sugar wasn't all that high. On hearing that, he for sure told me to keep skipping it at least 3 more weeks to see if my body would keep getting better on its own.

Except that morning before the doctor visit, I had put on a scratchy Velvet Underground record and hunched on a mattress in the basement to shoot up a dose of insulin. A couple months ago, it would have been a somewhat light dose. But taken now, after none for a month? 30 minutes after I left the office, I crashed. Blurry vision, Loopiness. I lined my car up on a McDonalds like a wounded Kamikaze pilot aiming at a battleship, staggered in, incoherent, and had a Bless Your Heart Child cashier make up a basic order for me of essential McDonaldland foods. French fries save lives.

So yeah, maybe no more insulin for a while.

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Posted
11 hours ago, RDCanecutter said:

Endocrinologist told me that [whatever the technical name is for the shit blood sugar does, don't ask me because I just listen to him like an Irish Setter Puppy with no idea of words but cueing in on voice and emotions] is so much better that he wonders if I even need insulin anymore.

So I fessed up that I had mostly skipped it the past month because blood sugar wasn't all that high. On hearing that, he for sure told me to keep skipping it at least 3 more weeks to see if my body would keep getting better on its own.

Except that morning before the doctor visit, I had put on a scratchy Velvet Underground record and hunched on a mattress in the basement to shoot up a dose of insulin. A couple months ago, it would have been a somewhat light dose. But taken now, after none for a month? 30 minutes after I left the office, I crashed. Blurry vision, Loopiness. I lined my car up on a McDonalds like a wounded Kamikaze pilot aiming at a battleship, staggered in, incoherent, and had a Bless Your Heart Child cashier make up a basic order for me of essential McDonaldland foods. French fries save lives.

So yeah, maybe no more insulin for a while.

Dammit dude. 
 

A remodeling contractor we have used is Type 1 diabetic and wears a deal on his arm that connects to a phone app to monitor his blood sugar.  
 

He has totaled two trucks in the past two years because he didn’t make it home in time to get an insulin shot.  Thankfully he went off the road and hit fences or ditches and didn’t hurt himself or crash into anyone else.  
 

It can be scary!  He has decided that come 4 o’clock, he just has to stop and go take a shot because his sugar starts to get out of whack about that time. 
 

Glad you are ok!
 

 

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Posted
12 hours ago, RDCanecutter said:

Endocrinologist told me that [whatever the technical name is for the shit blood sugar does, don't ask me because I just listen to him like an Irish Setter Puppy with no idea of words but cueing in on voice and emotions] is so much better that he wonders if I even need insulin anymore.

So I fessed up that I had mostly skipped it the past month because blood sugar wasn't all that high. On hearing that, he for sure told me to keep skipping it at least 3 more weeks to see if my body would keep getting better on its own.

Except that morning before the doctor visit, I had put on a scratchy Velvet Underground record and hunched on a mattress in the basement to shoot up a dose of insulin. A couple months ago, it would have been a somewhat light dose. But taken now, after none for a month? 30 minutes after I left the office, I crashed. Blurry vision, Loopiness. I lined my car up on a McDonalds like a wounded Kamikaze pilot aiming at a battleship, staggered in, incoherent, and had a Bless Your Heart Child cashier make up a basic order for me of essential McDonaldland foods. French fries save lives.

So yeah, maybe no more insulin for a while.

I hear that there is an anal suppository that slowly introduces sugar over time that is potentially effective.

You just need to remember to cut most of the stick off the tootsie pop first.

 

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Posted
11 minutes ago, Gatorubet said:

I hear that there is an anal suppository that slowly introduces sugar over time that is potentially effective.

You just need to remember to cut most of the stick off the tootsie pop first.

 

I threw out all my sex toys after I attached the flexible shower head that on its narrowest setting feels like Aqua Man ramming a bottlebrush up your ass. I feel like I already mentioned this once.

Posted
1 hour ago, Vanilla Strange Gato said:

Dammit dude. 
 

A remodeling contractor we have used is Type 1 diabetic and wears a deal on his arm that connects to a phone app to monitor his blood sugar.  
 

He has totaled two trucks in the past two years because he didn’t make it home in time to get an insulin shot.  Thankfully he went off the road and hit fences or ditches and didn’t hurt himself or crash into anyone else.  
 

It can be scary!  He has decided that come 4 o’clock, he just has to stop and go take a shot because his sugar starts to get out of whack about that time. 
 

Glad you are ok!
 

 

I know the feeling. Apparently I have some occasional use for insulin, but insulin is the main cause of wooziness if it drops me too far. 

Posted
10 minutes ago, RDCanecutter said:

I threw out all my sex toys after I attached the flexible shower head that on its narrowest setting feels like Aqua Man ramming a bottlebrush up your ass. I feel like I already mentioned this once.

Truth is, we like the way you tell it and enjoy hearing it again.

Sorry that you have that medication tightrope RD.  Like two different doctors giving you Imodium and Dulcolax to keep you regular.

But the important point remains: which scratchy Velvet Underground album were you listening to?

Posted
5 minutes ago, Gatorubet said:

Truth is, we like the way you tell it and enjoy hearing it again.

Sorry that you have that medication tightrope RD.  Like two different doctors giving you Imodium and Dulcolax to keep you regular.

But the important point remains: which scratchy Velvet Underground album were you listening to?

The one with bananas on the cover, mit Niko. I always listen to "Shiny shiny, shiny boots of leather, whiplash girl-child of the night." Like, duh.

Yeah, early this year multiple doctors were setting up opposing stacks of pills for me, each stack pushing back on what the other stack was causing. Like foot-to-the-floor on the gas while also stomping the brakes.

Me, being a student of the Keith Richards school of drugs, analyzed what each did and started peeling back each stack, first by lowering doses, all the while telling the doctors, and then with their approval, dropping them one-by-one as my numbers improved.

I would not have tried this the first couple of years of treatment. At this point they're probably surprised I'm not dead, so I get privileges.

Posted
11 minutes ago, RDCanecutter said:

Yeah, early this year multiple doctors were setting up opposing stacks of pills for me, each stack pushing back on what the other stack was causing. Like foot-to-the-floor on the gas while also stomping the brakes.

I had an older neighbor who kept falling down all the time,  and one doctor told his wife to pack up every single damn pill bottle in his house and take it to him.     After canceling 80% of the drugs from different physicians, the guy felt great from then on. 

13 minutes ago, RDCanecutter said:

The one with bananas on the cover, mit Niko. I always listen to "Shiny shiny, shiny boots of leather, whiplash girl-child of the night." Like, duh.

God, I love that!  Not so easy being a gay heroin addict inventing new rock ‘n’ roll genre in the 60s.  But Lou didn’t give a shit.  My favs on that album are Venus in Furs and I’m waiting for the man.

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Posted

Chemo round 2/4 starts on Monday for me. I have felt great physically in my two off weeks - I had a long weekend in Chicago over Labor Day and finally had a cancer benefit - sitting in the ADA section for Oasis, which was right next to the VIP tent/Gallagher children. It was great to finally have what felt like a few normal days without worrying about doctors appointments.

The only side effects I seem to be having are tinnitus and the beginning of hair loss - I adopted a prison gang haircut to see if that will hold. I know treatment will likely get a little tougher to recover from each time, but I am encouraged by how the first round went.

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