I'm back (sort of)

Yeah - it ain't gonna be fun but it beats getting at least 4 possibly 5 separate incisions in the old tummy and not having a stomach or being to eat like a normal human for the rest of my life.

This really depends on the side effects from the chemo. Side effects from the radiation are not too big and the entire process only lasts a little over 5 weeks. Chemo goes on for 12 weeks and has the potential for some serious side effects.

Will find out in about 10 days (gulp), lol.

I guess the chemicals are quite serious stuff toxic-wise. All my clothes, bed stuff, towels, and so on have to be washed twice in hot water then washed as normal. Plus no mixing of mine with my wife's after the 2 hot washes. My immune system will be compromised a bit so I should wear a mask if I go anywhere. Not to protect other folks from me but to protect me from whatever they might have. Avoiding little kids as well. The weirdest thing is (and ya'll gonna get a laugh out of this) I'm supposed to pee sitting down. No splashing, plus close the lid afterwards, and flush twice. Methinks they are getting a little carried away with all that, lol.

Ben

Best of luck Ben, I hope that you can make a full recovery after your treatment/op.

Graham.

Glad to seeyou have kept your sense of humour Ben. Mine hepled me greatly during hard times.
Best of luck.
Cheers,
Mike

bendorsey said:

Yeah - it ain't gonna be fun but it beats getting at least 4 possibly 5 separate incisions in the old tummy and not having a stomach or being to eat like a normal human for the rest of my life.

This really depends on the side effects from the chemo. Side effects from the radiation are not too big and the entire process only lasts a little over 5 weeks. Chemo goes on for 12 weeks and has the potential for some serious side effects.

Will find out in about 10 days (gulp), lol.

- snip - The weirdest thing is (and ya'll gonna get a laugh out of this) I'm supposed to pee sitting down. No splashing, plus close the lid afterwards, and flush twice. Methinks they are getting a little carried away with all that, lol.

Ben

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If you flush it once, forget to flush at all, don't close the lid (which I don't understand why women make a big complaint about that), splash anything, what's going to happen to the next user? Is it going to blow up or something?
P.S. I met the surgeon last Wednesday, and he said NO SURGEY! Thank god.

- Deleted. Double Post -

No surgery is always good news - congrats.

As I understand it the chemicals in the chemo cocktail are quite caustic. Get it on you and it can burn your skin (which makes me wonder what its doing to my innards, lol). Plus how does it differentiate between cancer cells and non-cancer cells. First radiation treatment is Monday. First Chemo treatment Tuesday (they changed the schedule a bit) so will do some question asking then.

Felt great yesterday - not so hot today - comes and goes.

Ben

Update:

Had the first radiation and chemo treatments today. In a nutshell - BORING. Radiation takes all of 5 or 6 minutes (walking in the door, getting zapped, then walking back out the door. Chemo took about 4 hours of just sitting there and watching the stuff (5 bags worth altogether) drip from the bags into a machine that regulates the rate at which they are administered until empty. This coming Thursday all they do is remove the pump and bag currently attached to me. That's it until the Tuesday after next when they do it again.

Can watch TV, read, sleep, talk to each other, and so on while it does its thing. I just watched as this was the first one and I wanted to see what was happening. Will take a book next time. Have food and drinks (free) and you can bring your own snacks you prefer. Yes - I could have taken a laptop and Gmaxed while I waited (if I owned a lap top, lol). Lots of folks on line as they have free WiFi. One downer is I have a bag of stuff attached to me and must lug it around until Thursday. Figuring out where to put it is a pain in the drain. Another bummer is no shower until the bag is gone. Stay upwind guys, lol.

No side effects as yet (so far so good) but I suspect it might take a little while for them to develop (if any).

Tomorrow is just radiation. Humongous (and neat) machine).

Ben

Thanks for the update Ben,

Hopefully rest will be as boring and that is it.

You can wash with a cloth, can't you? Not same as a shower but should help with the feel of clean.

Hugs

Linda

Hi Linda:

Too much work - I'll just stink (and get even with our dog for farting all the time, lol).

Unless I develop a bunch of side effects this wont really be that bad - more disruptive to me and some of my family up here in Tennessee then anything else. Depends on if I feel good enough to drive myself as the cancer place is about 25 miles away. Good roads but its still a 40 to 45 minute drive.

Luv

Ben

Well the doctor said that if I dislocated my shoulder again, I'll need surgery. Having said that I decided to resign my post at work, which I did yesterday, due to concerns that I might dislocated my shoulder again, which would require surgery. However, there's a silver lining to this as the local TJMAX, a clothing store chain, has an opening and already has two people with Autism working there. I learned this as one of the workers there go to the same church that I go to. I've been seriously considering taking that job, but I haven't decided whether to fully commit to it or not.
Oh, and after resigning from my job, I went straight over to the local Steak n' Shake restaurant and got me a vanilla milkshake, as it was Happy Hour during which you get 50% off all drinks. Technically, Happy Hour should be Happy Hours, as it lasts from 2PM to 5PM.

Ben,

I'm glad to hear the good news on the surgery, but the bad news on the extent of the cancer. You're stronger trooper than I would be with that part of the news.

How does the chemo know where to go and what to pick on?

That's a good question. A friend of mine just went through some cancer treatment. From what she told me, there are components in the mixture which target specific cells so that the chemo therapy knows which cells to pick on. This is called targeted chemotherapy. The radiation is used to weaken everything so that the chemo can work better. The end result is different side-effects and better prognosis, depending upon the kind of cancer.

Here's a link which explains it:

https://www.cancer.org/treatment/tr...treatment-types/targeted-therapy/what-is.html

Main site: https://www.cancer.org

All in all rest and keep your sense of humor. When all else fails you humor will get you through all this.

Hello Ben,

I be busy say some more, a lot more prayers for you during this time. Your very brave going thru this type treatment too.

Wishing you speedy recovery Ben..

Best

bendorsey said:

Update:

Tomorrow is just radiation. Humongous (and neat) machine).

Ben

Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing the journey with us, Ben
- we can travel with you, and support you
and know what it is like.

take care
Chris

Again thanks for all the kind words folks:

I heisted a bit in my first post of going into this much detail about what was what but after thinking about it realized this could (unfortunately) happen any Trainzer so decided to tell it like it is. If the mods had objected and asked me to dial it back a bit (well within their authority of course) I would have done so. With no operation involved (unless they change their minds again which I doubt) there really aren't any super gross details anyway and I've never figured out how to post screenshots (not that there are any the way it is now) ya'll are safe, lol.

No explanations please - I'm not interested in learning how to post screenshots.

BTW - I actually feel a bit better this morning. Probably more psychosomatic then real but what the heck - I'll take it, lol.

Ben

bendorsey said:

Again thanks for all the kind words folks:

I heisted a bit in my first post of going into this much detail about what was what but after thinking about it realized this could (unfortunately) happen any Trainzer so decided to tell it like it is. If the mods had objected and asked me to dial it back a bit (well within their authority of course) I would have done so. With no operation involved (unless they change their minds again which I doubt) there really aren't any super gross details anyway and I've never figured out how to post screenshots (not that there are any the way it is now) ya'll are safe, lol.

No explanations please - I'm not interested in learning how to post screenshots.

BTW - I actually feel a bit better this morning. Probably more psychosomatic then real but what the heck - I'll take it, lol.

Ben

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Ben,

Tell it like it is. There are some things that are left unsaid, but what you are saying does not fall into that category. On a less dramatic note, I'm off to get my right eyeball peeled. (I'll post another topic about it soon(tm).)

Felling good? That's good and it means your positive thinking and humor is working. Sending some vibes your way.

Rest, eat well if you can, and stay strong.

JCitron said:

- snip -
That's a good question. A friend of mine just went through some cancer treatment. From what she told me, there are components in the mixture which target specific cells so that the chemo therapy knows which cells to pick on. This is called targeted chemotherapy.
- snip -

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One thing that bothers me about medical terms is how they're not spelled the way they sound. Perfect example here: chemotherapy. For a long time, I thought chemo was spelled K-E-M-O, not C-H-E-M-O. I hate medical terms, they're either really long or aren't spelled the way they sound.

JCitron said:

Ben,

Tell it like it is. There are some things that are left unsaid, but what you are saying does not fall into that category. On a less dramatic note, I'm off to get my right eyeball peeled. (I'll post another topic about it soon(tm).)

Felling good? That's good and it means your positive thinking and humor is working. Sending some vibes your way.

Rest, eat well if you can, and stay strong.

Click to expand...

Good luck on that procedure, John. Eventually I'm going to need both eyes done. Fun getting old, innit

CeeBee said:

Good luck on that procedure, John. Eventually I'm going to need both eyes done. Fun getting old, innit

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Oh no it's not.

Good luck with that too!

Just stay strong bendorsey. We are all here to support you 100%.