Update on oggbashan's health

[kimbalee]

I can add my prayers with the ones from others offering you and your family comfort and healing. A multitude of people sending positive thoughts your way can be nothing but a good thing.

 

[HectorBidon]

I always smile when I see your avatar—we see it often enough—jolly King Falstaff in full regalia. Then I read in one of your posts that it was a plate of whipped cream. I was so disillusioned. But then I read that it wasn't whipped cream after all. It made me realize that I shouldn't have been disillusioned one way or the other.

 

[Jada59]

Sending positive vibes your way.

 

[oggbashan]

My ailments seem trivial. Best wishes for good treatment.

Thank you, and everyone else.

'Trivial ailments' - so are mine. They cause irritating symptoms but no pain at the moment. They are just fatal but we all have to die sometime.

 

[oggbashan]

...

Falling off cliffs? I've never heard of a clumsy puffin .

In my miss-spent youth I was a member of a cliff rescue team. I was unique in that team as being also qualified in surf rescue. If the rescue was on a sea cliff - it often was - with rough or stormy seas - I was considered the best qualified so I jumped off the cliff with a bare rope wrapped around me. In those days we had no harness, no safety helmets, no health and safety rules - just the friction of a bare rope to stop me.

I was banged against the cliff on the way down, battered against the rocks by the rough seas at the bottom, and banged against the cliff on the way back up as I protected whoever we had rescued. Apart from losing a few teeth I have left permanent marks of trauma on my spine. If my skeleton is ever examined by a future archaeologist they would never guess most of my working life was as an office-bound senior manager.

 

[mynameisben]

Ogg,

This is bitterly terrible news. About the cancer, I mean. And the Lambert-Eaton syndrome. I wish so very much that I could say something inspirational, something that would lift your spirits in the wake of such devastating news, but I'm at a loss. I'm nearing 60 myself, and life's been pretty good to me. I don't have any illnesses, so I've got nothing to draw on to inspire you with about my "courageous battle." It's just the opposite, in fact. You have the courage to come here and tell this little world all about your condition and the treatment regiments you face. You have the courage to keep churning out stories and set lofty goals for the time you have left -- for ALL the time you have left -- to leave your mark and to keep your friends entertained for as long as possible. I am the one who is inspired and humbled by You.

In the 16 years that I have been a member of Literotica, I've never said Word One to you. I've never read any of your stories. I have read many of your posts, however. I always thought that you had something important to say, and that there was a quiet dignity about you. I deeply regret both of these oversights. Shame on me. I deeply regret I can't be counted among your friends.

Friend or not, I'll keep you in my prayers. I hope like hell you prove the doctors wrong and have several more years yet to go, and that you meet and exceed all the goals you've set for yourself.

In your honor, I took the time tonight to read one of your latest stories, Public Rejection. It was way too short, but I liked it just the same. I'll have to read more. Thank you for being so damn prolific. I've got some real catching up to do.

God bless you, Ogg.

Ben

 

[jsmiam]

I agree. You’ve been a role model to us all on how we should behave, even on a site where we need to be discreetly anonymous.

You are courageously fighting back. It is a brave and personal decision (Ironically, it’s just as courageous in a different way when people of a certain age say no to chemo and radiation. Cancer manifests such courage in people in so many ways.)

Shit...



You've been a comforting and wise presence here for many years. I lurk more than anything, but I do slow my scroll to read what you have to say. Why I found this.

Courage and best wishes, sir.

 

[CoffeeWithMonkeys]

Thank you, all.

While I wait, I am trying to finish more stories. I have five ready to be submitted for the Halloween contest and a few dozen more in progress. But my writing is slower and more awkward than it was. I have to wear an eyepatch to correct my double vision and my fingers don't always hit the right keys. 'rgw' or 'yjr' sometimes appear when I intended 'the'.

You're writing faster than I can read them

Not much more that I could say that hasn't been said better by everyone else here.

Thanks for keeping us updated. I hope to one day be a quarter as amazing as you!

 

[where_is_RUTH]

Thanks for flying the British flag in here, and I even agree with you on some subjects I'm sure:

Stay well Mr Ogg

 

[londoner2]

Ogg

Your contributions have always entertained and informed in the most civilised manner - rebutting the trolls and fools with aplomb.

I wish you well and all those around you.

 

[ThisNameIsntTakenYet]

Good luck Ogg. I'm not good with this stuff and all the other people on here have already said anything I might have wanted to say, and probably worded it better too. Just know that even though I haven't been on here for long (my join date gives the wrong impression, I wasn't really active for most of it) it's always a pleasure to see one of your posts when scrolling through threads. Stay strong, and may you find ways to enjoy how ever long you may still have on this little rock hurtling through space that we call home.

 

[oggbashan]

Warning - to those who read my stories.

I don't expect anyone to like everything I have written. Some of them I don't even like myself.

Some of them were and are intended for a specific fetish fan base in Yahoo Adult groups but the groups have now been deleted.

Even when I am dead, my stories will stay on Literotica. Obviously I won't respond to comments or feedback then.

 

[Handley_Page]

I don't expect anyone to like everything I have written. Some of them I don't even like myself.

Some of them were and are intended for a specific fetish fan base in Yahoo Adult groups but the groups have now been deleted.

Even when I am dead, my stories will stay on Literotica. Obviously I won't respond to comments or feedback then.

Ogg,
I'm not keen on a fetish thing, but your stories of the French Village, the War Memorial, the village whore and Mrs Jones are how a story should be told.

 

[oggbashan]

Pre-Assessment

This afternoon I went to hospital for a pre-assessment before starting chemotherapy on Monday. They checked my height and weight - apparently I have shrunk by a centimetre in a week (I blame short nurses who can't reach high enough!) and gained a kilo (because I forgot to empty my pockets of loose change: £14 worth in coins of 20p or less).

My blood pressure and pulse rate are good. My blood/oxygen level is still ridiculously high for someone with lung cancer. It was 100% and has been at 100% for months.

Tomorrow I have booked to have a flu jab at a supermarket's chemist. My GP surgery isn't starting theirs until the weekend after next and it is recommended I have it before starting chemotherapy.

We had to sit through a video discussing all the possible side effects that could occur - apparently everything except the bubonic plague but if we came into contact with that we'd probably die, and all the things we should avoid eating. There were snorts from the men in the group at the statement we should avoid alcohol for three days after each chemotherapy session. One man who had chemotherapy twenty years ago said (in a whisper) 'Nonsense! - I was drunk as a skunk for the whole course last time and didn't notice anything except being drunk.'

Now I wait until Monday and in the meantime continue writing and submitting stories.

 

[JamesMiehoff]

I am at a total loss of words. Having lost too many family members and too many friends to the ravage that is cancer, I wish I had words of comfort. Your posts indicate that you have grasped the essential reality of our predicament, "No one is getting out of this game alive". But that makes it no less difficult when you find the end is fast approaching.

As others have said, there is no expiration date on the bottom of your foot, so take the estimates of the doctors with a grain of sand. A good friend went from diagnosis to dirt nap in 4 weeks. My father was told to put his affairs in order because he had stage 4 tongue cancer (average life expectancy 1 month). He outlived 2 oncologists before finally succumbing to a completely unrelated issue 9 years later.

Be well on your journey. You are one of the motley crew of inhabitants on this desert island I would have loved to meet up with IRL.

James

 

[gordo12]

Like so many others I'm not good at these kind of moments. I hope if this is your final hurrah that you can find peace, contentment & satisfaction with your life. I'm in my upper sixties and the "how" has been on my mind lately. I hope I can meet my own end with the dignity that you are exhibiting. Good luck.

Have you got a family member that will make any announcement here?

 

[Carnevil9]

I'm an infrequent poster here, and late to the party to boot, but I would like to add my best wishes. Ogg, I have followed your cogent and discerning posts for many years, and wish you the best.......Carney

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Dear Ogg,

Hope the chemo went well.

 

[oggbashan]

Dear Ogg,

Hope the chemo went well.

Hasn't happened yet. It starts in four hours from now.

 

[SimonDoom]

Best wishes to you for a successful treatment, Ogg.

 

[BuckyDuckman]

Ogg, you have my thoughts, prayers, and good wishes being beamed in your general direction. To me, you've always been one of the elder statesmen of Literotica. Your calm, level head had always been welcomed. Be well, as well as you can, anyway. Thank you for sharing your advice, wisdom, and now demonstrating how to accept this sort of shit with remarkable grace. Would this be that stiff upper lip showing that I've heard so much about?

 

[lovetoread]

so sorry to hear about this, i am sending best wishes your way

 

[Vix_Giovanni]

Hasn't happened yet. It starts in four hours from now.

Thinking of you today and praying for a successful start, Ogg.

 

[jomar]

Best wishes, ogg. You are a mainstay here on the AH!

 

[oggbashan]

Just back from first session of chemotherapy.

Overall impression - boring.

I had to be there at 2 pm. They didn't start attempting the procedure until 3.15 and then took until 3.45 to find a suitable vein. I have marks of four unsuccessful attempts.

Then I had to sit in a chair until 7pm when the procedure finished. I felt nothing and feel no after effects now. That may change and I have come away with a bundle of pills to take over the next couple of days, plus a self-administered injection from Wednesday onwards.

Next session is three weeks from today - the second of six in this cycle, followed by another five (six session) cycles - if I live that long.