D_M's Health Update

Thanks friend. I appreciate the offer. Maybe when I get thru these treatments and healed up a bit.

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Itā€™s a little cheesy and poppy and its Paul and all that

But for me once in a blue moom is a nice pick me up
https://youtu.be/NnHu-WLvY5U

If you didnā€™t know Sir Paul plays all the musicians except his wife.

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ā€˜This is not the endā€™: Experimental therapy that targets genes gives cancer patients hope
http://wapo.st/2r2aDab

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Yeah, I mentioned something about Immunotherapy on another thread.

D_M, you might try googling immunotherapy trials.

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Iā€™m in an immunotherapy trial for MS. So far, so good.

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Thanks bro. Yeah, immunotherapy was all the rage a few years ago as a potential replacement for chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The problem isā€¦ as with all new cancer researchā€¦ is that only certain cancers respond to it. Unfortunately, there havenā€™t been enough trials with esophageal cancer to know the benefits if any. As weā€™ve discussed many times here over the years, big pharma isnā€™t going to invest research dollars on a cure for a rare disease because thereā€™s no financial incentive. All the money goes to breast, brain, colon, lung, etc cancer research. My beast bet at this point remains an integrated approach using conventional and alternative treatments.

Please though, continue to let me know if you come across things like this that may help. The volume of data is such that I canā€™t possibly read everything.

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Thanks LR. I did catch your post awhile back and it did in fact prompt me to investigate immunotherapy.

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I think the potential is great, hang in there.

Mostly I posted the article, because the chick is very cute. But yw.

How are you feeling DM?

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Thanks for asking. The past week has not been the best. I had an appointment a few days ago with my Palliative care team. Normally, these are 15 minute meetings where we discuss any needed changes to medications or devices and Iā€™m out the door. This time I wanted to discuss a few issues and it did not go well. The primary issue is reflux Iā€™m suffering from, particularly at night when in bed. Every 30 minutes or so stomach contents from earlier in the day come up my esophagus and choke me. Obviously, I have to jump up and clear my throat and lungs to prevent myself extreme pain or even drowning on my own vomit. Bottom line is that Iā€™m getting almost no sleep because of these interruptions.

My hope or expectation was that there was some medication that would simply put an end to the problem, but it appears there is no such modern medical marvel. It seems there is a valve at the bottom of the esophagus (LES) that opens and closes to control food flow and mine was removed as it was part of the cancerous mass. Dr. Tom explained to me that I would just have to learn to sleep sitting up and offered to have a hospital bed shipped to my house. Not interested. The thought of sleeping in a hospital bed or even having one in my home is just a daily reminder of the severity of my illness. I know there are beds like the Craftmatic that work like a hospital bed, but those are high end cost wise and I need to squirrel away my money to live on and cover medical costs in the event I have to go on long-term disability, which will be a substantial cut in pay (60% of salary).

Aside from all this Iā€™m still having a lot of pain from my slip and fall a few weeks ago and I fear I have a fracture. I donā€™t want to deal with that right now. Chemo starts back up in a week and I just canā€™t deal with both simultaneously. I also found out that one of my best friends growing up, Russ, died of brain cancer yesterday. He went fast. Shit like that not only saddens me, it scares me.

Iā€™ve really beginning to feel depressed and thatā€™s not good for healing. Iā€™ve got to turn things around. Sorry for the depressing response.

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So sorry to hear all that.

As far as the bed thing goes, they make a lot of stuff out of memory foam now. I bet you can get something that you put on top of the bed that supports you in a sitting position.

Where do you think the fracture might be?

How long with the chemo treatments be this time?

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Maybe something like this?

https://www.amazon.com/Elegant-Memory-Comfort-Supports-Pillows/dp/B00M8F8YYO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1496613028&sr=8-2&keywords=memory+foam+pillow+to+sleep+sitting+up

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I have one of these wedges and theyā€™re pretty solid as a propping pillow. I used to put mine under the sheet and it was like it was just part of my bed.

Great idea Lotus.

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What about microdosing a tiny amount of those shrooms you had?

My best guess based on p ain type and location is that if there is a fracture itā€™s in my right clavicle or scapula.

No idea how long the next round of chemo will go. Iā€™ll have to ask the oncologist when they start up next week. Probably depends on how the lymph nodes respond to the first few treatments.

Might be worth a try.

Iā€™m sorry you have to go through it again. I will keep praying for you. :heart:

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I am simply wishing you the best my friend.

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I appreciate the frank response, manā€¦ and I hope youā€™ll be able to hear my frank thoughts about it.

You need to give yerself a pep talkā€¦a locker room pep talk. I have some understanding of the reflux issue, went thru that with my brother a while back. Cancer, and the treatment, do tend to take away some aspects of normal functioning. You have to adapt to changing circumstances.

Case in pointā€¦you need to sleep. If that takes a high end bed that you have to buy, order that sumbitch out. No point in attaching a higher priority to the money if you have it now. You have to get thru the short term issue before you need worry about living on a reduced income later.

In my case, Iā€™m now getting disability income. It may not be enough to sustain my former lifestyle, but I donā€™t NEED that former lifestyle since I donā€™t need a front to support the former cash flow. Gonna sell the house and downsize, live cheaper. Itā€™ll be fine because Iā€™ll still be living well enough. If I choose to keep working Iā€™ll have more doughā€¦but I donā€™t HAVE to do that unless it makes sense.

The Fates give us these choices, and we make the best ones we can.

ā€œUltimately only 3 things matterā€¦how fiercely we love, how gently we live, and how gracefully we let go of things not meant for us.ā€

We are all in your corner, Dingle. Please join us.

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