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I caught the cancer


Burt

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2 hours ago, Chewbacca said:
10 hours ago, Sbbruin said:
Simplified, this'll be my new life, except they'll cut out part of the stomach too.
Esophagectomy-Image-1.jpg

They should just cut out some of your colon and move it up there. Would make your burps smell fantastic.

Don't google "colonic interposition."

Or do, whatever floats your boat.

Give it hell, SBB, RD, and any and all others unspoken who may be reading this thread.  We love y'all (homo, no homo, whatever).

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Sbbruin, hang in there. I can tell by your posting style that you have the right type of mindset to deal effectively with this challenge. 
For the rest of Surly, right now you might be just doing your thing. I certainly was, until some personal and family health issues changed the whole equation. I’d highly recommend every surly person over 45 take a few minutes to sit down and think about the rest of your life, and how you might make different decisions if you found out some health issues had the potential risk to shorten your runway, or make your quality of life much worse. . 

This is where I am. I’m not scared of dying, but I fear being incapacitated. I need to make some changes and I know it.
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1 minute ago, Sbbruin said:


Well, probably the last time here for several months. Just met with a guy who lives on his boat on my dock who's done a bunch of work on her, and knows boats inside and out. Gave him the lowdown and he'll come by once/week to run the engine, work the throughhulls, and do a few projects while it just sits here. Makes me feel better. Hadn't been here in over a month and I get the willies worrying about her. So charcuterie board it is, although not the requisite cocktail that usually goes with it.
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Stay hard, bud.

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I'm sure you know that diagram you posted is a very simplified version of what that surgery entails. Nobody ever wants to hear about complications, but make sure you ask about them and how those will be dealt with it. You will not want to process any of that, but be certain to do it. You've certainly had a rough bout  of it, and I wish you well

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8 minutes ago, naija said:

I'm sure you know that diagram you posted is a very simplified version of what that surgery entails. Nobody ever wants to hear about complications, but make sure you ask about them and how those will be dealt with it. You will not want to process any of that, but be certain to do it. You've certainly had a rough bout  of it, and I wish you well

Rachel Dratch Snl GIF by Saturday Night Live
 

kidding.  I know.  It’s my only option though.  If I try to minimize the amount of esophagus and stomach, the likelihood of cancer being left behind gets up exponentially.  I’m going to be fucked for the rest of my life.  But hopefully not dead.

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if by fucked up, you are referring to your diet and the way you eat/enjoy food; let me just say that it is not out of the realm of possibility that you will go back to a normal diet.

the weight loss from esophagectomy is usually in the 5-15% range, longterm. it's not nothing, but for the majority, it's not horrendous.

the DVTs you had are considered provoked, meaning you should be able to get off blood thinners at some point, if everything pans out.

don't want to sugarcoat it and say nothing  will change, but wouldn't accept "fucked up for the rest of my life" as more weighted towards the truth either.

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2 hours ago, naija said:

if by fucked up, you are referring to your diet and the way you eat/enjoy food; let me just say that it is not out of the realm of possibility that you will go back to a normal diet.

the weight loss from esophagectomy is usually in the 5-15% range, longterm. it's not nothing, but for the majority, it's not horrendous.

the DVTs you had are considered provoked, meaning you should be able to get off blood thinners at some point, if everything pans out.

don't want to sugarcoat it and say nothing  will change, but wouldn't accept "fucked up for the rest of my life" as more weighted towards the truth either.

You seem to know a bit.  What’s your background?

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Damn bruin sorry you are going through this. You and your family will be in my prayers. 
 

I don’t know much about the cancer, but given all the patients I’ve taken care of who lost a couple hundred lbs after various gastric procedures and then gained the weight back and then some, I’m confident if you’re goal is to become a fatass post surgery you have an excellent shot at it. 
 

Also fuck cancer

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On 10/28/2022 at 9:34 PM, Dbeasy said:

Sbbruin, hang in there. I can tell by your posting style that you have the right type of mindset to deal effectively with this challenge. 

For the rest of Surly, right now you might be just doing your thing. I certainly was, until some personal and family health issues changed the whole equation. I’d highly recommend every surly person over 45 take a few minutes to sit down and think about the rest of your life, and how you might make different decisions if you found out some health issues had the potential risk to shorten your runway, or make your quality of life much worse. . 

I'm 44.4 years old so this almost hits close to home.  

Have started having some of those thoughts for sure.  

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
30 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Keytruda bought my mom (lung cancer) two really good years.  I mean, so good, that we functionally forgot she had cancer.  Till the Keytruda stopped working (it happens, they're still figuring it all out), then chemo, then the end.  But....two years is two years, and we're damned grateful that we got em, and for Keytruda.

I figure no matter how well I do with whatever I take, my fate is to die crushed under a Range Rover driven by a small angry woman looking at her phone.

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5 hours ago, Sbbruin said:

Well, it is done.  Lotta fucking pain.  Meds are helping but only to a degree.  Turns out the radiation had fried a section of my lung that he had to cut out.  That’s the most painful spot.  But it was bleeding so he thinks that could’ve contributed to the anemia.  Too doped to keep typing. 

Fair winds and Godspeed!

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5 hours ago, Sbbruin said:

Well, it is done.  Lotta fucking pain.  Meds are helping but only to a degree.  Turns out the radiation had fried a section of my lung that he had to cut out.  That’s the most painful spot.  But it was bleeding so he thinks that could’ve contributed to the anemia.  Too doped to keep typing. 

Fight the good fight, because what is the alternative?  I’m happy that you came out the other end of your surgery and hope to continue hearing about your success fighting cancer.

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10 hours ago, Sbbruin said:

Well, it is done.  Lotta fucking pain.  Meds are helping but only to a degree.  Turns out the radiation had fried a section of my lung that he had to cut out.  That’s the most painful spot.  But it was bleeding so he thinks that could’ve contributed to the anemia.  Too doped to keep typing. 

You got those weird inflatable leg things going that alternate pressure, like a calf massage from a sentient love doll?

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On 10/28/2022 at 1:37 PM, Sbbruin said:

Well, I guess a little update might due.  So after a 3 night hospital stay with critical anemia, I got out, did my post-chemo/radiation scans, and good news is the tumor is reduced by about 50%.  Bad news- "oh, you have pulmonary embolisms (i.e. blood clots) in both of the main arteries to your lungs.  I guess not entirely uncommon with cancer.  Cancer can cause coagulation.   So great, onto blood thinners.  But meanwhile I was bleeding out of my ass from a combination of chemo induced hemorrhoids and ulcerating colon from the chemo.  So I needed to get  the colorectal guy to go in there and do his thing, but he can't while I'm on blood thinners, but has to or I'll continue to bleed out.  Catch 22.  So I am switched to Lovanox, which is an injectable blood thinner than can be stopped and it'll be out of you system in 24 hours.  So for 2 weeks I had to inject myself in my stomach (full syringe deal) 2x's/day.  Got the roids dealt with, and simultaneously did an endoscopy to check the cancer from the inside.  Biopsy did confirm I still had cancer, which of course I knew.  Then the fun starts.  I wake up and tell the nurse I think I have to pee.  I try and can't.  Oh well, I'll go home and pee.  Get home, bladder feels pretty full, and no go.  And it starts to get critical.  Rush back to City of Hope, and they insert a catheter.  So I had a pee bag strapped to my leg and a hose up my junk for a WEEK.  I don't recommend it.  What a fucking hassle.  So I get it out, am peeing ok, so head to a rosary for my dear friend who passed from brain cancer.  He was my rock during all of this, and he was now gone.  Anyway, funeral the next day, feeling ok, but the next day I feel like shit.  So thoroughly exhausted I can't keep my eyes open.  Slight fever.  Monday call and they tell me to come in.  Run tests.  Oh, you have a bladder infection from the catheter AND it looks like you have a blood infection.  Time for another hospital stay.   Fevers start raging, full delirium type fevers, have 2 different IV antibiotics, but am feeling like death for 2 days.  Start to come around a little on that Wednesday (of last week), but fevers still present.  Ended up 4 nights in the hospital.  Now on oral antibiotics.  And blood thinners.  And flowmax to make sure I can pee.  Then a blood test shows my hemoglobin is back down to 6.9.  So yesterday get 2 pints of blood.  Not bleeding anywhere so the suspicion is my bone marrow is struggling to produce the red blood cells I need.  Great.  But feeling better today.  Oh, and as a result of the blood clots, had to postpone surgery for 2 months, so now Dec 5th.  And that is the gnarliest part of all of this. The surgery will forever change my life.  I will lose about 3/4 of my esophagus, and about 1/3 of my stomach.  The remaining stomach will be pulled up to create a new "esophagus" and leave me with very little stomach capacity.  So basically gastric bypass even though I'm probably max 20 lbs overweight.  

So that's where I'm at.  Been trying to keep things in perspective, but it is really beating me down with all these fucking curveballs.  But I'm alive, and I have a path forward, however fucked up it may be.  So I guess I count myself as one of the lucky ones.

Rub some dirt on it SB.  You’ll be fine. 

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11 hours ago, Sbbruin said:

Well, it is done.  Lotta fucking pain.  Meds are helping but only to a degree.  Turns out the radiation had fried a section of my lung that he had to cut out.  That’s the most painful spot.  But it was bleeding so he thinks that could’ve contributed to the anemia.  Too doped to keep typing. 

Find a way to get the nurse’s attention to get the good pain killers.   After they cut a hunk of my colon out the pills did not help.  My friend Mr. Intravenous Opioid helped, and I was persistent 

 

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While @Sbbruinis under meds, maybe he will finally admit that the refs helped UCLA win the game in 1997. They missed a holding call late in the 1st quarter that would have totally changed the game!

But seriously, brother, keep kicking ass. Remember, you get to pick the nurse that gives you the final sponge bath when you leave the hospital. At least that is what online documentaries have told me.

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