Reclamation!

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.

Location: Veazie, Veazie

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

No news, just feelings (Imported from benvscancer.com 23AUG15)

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....
Read more

The Start of a Long Journey (Imported from benvscancer.com 13AUG15)

13 August 2015 July 1, 2015: A supper like any other. A cheeseburger with my wife and four kids. Unlike others though, I couldn’t swallow the cheeseburger. I choked on it, and coughed half of it back up in the sink. My dad, who has Barrett’s Esophagus, said “You’d better get that checked out.” Two weeks later, I had my diagnosis. After I cleaned up from supper, I went upstairs and messaged my doctor asking for an appointment (Hooray for the online patient portal!). The next day I had one for the day after that. I went into the office on Friday morning at 7 (right next door to work, so I wasn’t even late) and he set me up for a barium swallow at the local hospital the next Monday morning. I went to work, asked for the time off, and prepared for my routine exam. Monday came, I did the barium swallow, they could see that I was having trouble right then. By the way, (TMI alert!) you poop out heavy poops for a week after that. Little white things that sink right to the bottom of ...
Read more

Another update!

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.
Read more