My life, and my fight with esophageal cancer. I'm winning.
Reclamation!
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I'm reclaiming this blog. It's been a while since I've been here. New computer, new keyboard, new respect for potential built-in followers already on Google's website. Welcome aboard.
23 August 2015 As the title suggests, there’s nothing new here, so if you’re looking for more news, you can go back now. Tomorrow I start the chemotherapy and radiation, and honestly, I’d rather not have to. I’ve been reading the information provided by the doctors, clinical studies, blogs, listening to podcasts (Jesse vs Cancer – not family friendly by any means), and hanging out on some forums, but I still feel like I’m not prepared for this. Despite how many people go through cancer and cancer treatments, it’s a disease that is very isolating. I have no idea what to expect tomorrow, and that’s partly because the treatments are very personalized. Bloodwork is done, and then the drugs are prepared tailored for exactly how you are that day. You may experience neuropathy, you may not. Your hair may fall out, it may not. You may end up with a different color hair after, or curly or straight, or you may not. You could get constipation or diarrhea (but not both) or you may not....
It's hard to believe that it's been 5 years since my last update. I left the job I had then, went and delivered car parts for a while, had my gallbladder out, worked in a residential mental health group home, and now have been a corrections officer at a prison for well over a year. Who would have thought that 8 years after that cancer experience that I'd be getting a face full of pepper spray and wrestling with prisoners? To be fair, I actually haven't had to wrestle with anyone, and there's always backup nearby, but still, it's a far cry from those days where the chemotherapy and radiation treatments made it so I couldn't walk on my own, or when I needed help getting to the bathroom after my surgery. If you've stumbled across this, hang in there. There's hope and a light at the end of the tunnel more often than it feels like there is. We're all in this together.
25 September 2015 Don’t worry, it’s not as ominous as it sounds. I have one week left of radiation. I haven’t been writing as much on here, because I haven’t felt up to it at all. You know I’m sick when I won’t sit in front of a computer. I’ve been throwing up 2-3 times a day recently, and have gone down to 164 lbs. Eating hurts, drinking hurts, living hurts, but the narcotics they give me for pain make life tolerable. I can understand why people like them. My white blood cell count has been low the last three weeks, but they did the chemotherapy anyway for two of them. They skipped this week though, so now I’m looking forward to October 14th as hopefully being my last treatment of that. Honestly, I’m sick and exhausted most of the time. I’ve lost muscle mass, appetite, taste, ambition, and just walking downstairs to the living room wears me out. I just keep looking forward though, only one more week of radiation, and I’ll get to feeling better, swallowing better, and ga...
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