Update on oggbashan's health

[TarnishedPenny]

Fingers Crossed, Ogg

Another pair crossed here.

 

[oggbashan]

Thanks for the crossed fingers.

My doctor was worried about my high pulse rate and ordered yet another blood test (done with my pre-chemo otherwise I might have had to wait a month).

She rang today with results - all OK. No sign of heart problems. I just have a high pulse rate (which I knew), but that is one more thing off the list of problems.

 

[Handley_Page]

Thanks for the crossed fingers.

My doctor was worried about my high pulse rate and ordered yet another blood test (done with my pre-chemo otherwise I might have had to wait a month).

She rang today with results - all OK. No sign of heart problems. I just have a high pulse rate (which I knew), but that is one more thing off the list of problems.

Are they fixing you in a process of 'elimination'??

 

[CyranoJ]

Ogg, I've never commented on this thread b/c I just don't have words. I don't know what to say. I'm fucking bad with things like this.

I just want you to know that I value you, and that every added minute you manage to hang in does indeed make the world a better place. I get that ultimately, nobody "wins" the kind of battle you've been committed to. I guess I want you to know that I see you, that I value you, and that I'm rooting for you.

 

[oggbashan]

Ogg, I've never commented on this thread b/c I just don't have words. I don't know what to say. I'm fucking bad with things like this.

I just want you to know that I value you, and that every added minute you manage to hang in does indeed make the world a better place. I get that ultimately, nobody "wins" the kind of battle you've been committed to. I guess I want you to know that I see you, that I value you, and that I'm rooting for you.

Thank you CyranoJ.

I'm hanging in there. I was written off by the medics 18 months ago when I should have died. I am continuing to confound them and the chemotherapy appears to be working. I could have another year or so. I hope so. My fiftieth wedding anniversry is next March and I want to get to that at least.

 

[CyranoJ]

Thank you CyranoJ.

I'm hanging in there. I was written off by the medics 18 months ago when I should have died. I am continuing to confound them and the chemotherapy appears to be working. I could have another year or so. I hope so. My fiftieth wedding anniversry is next March and I want to get to that at least.

I'm glad to hear it. One of my aunts hung in for decades after what was supposed to be a fatal 6-months-to-live brain cancer diagnosis. I got to meet her because of that and I'll appreciate whatever further time we get with you.

I really appreciate the effort you've poured into this forum and LitE generally, and I've benefited from it. You're a good cat. "Keep fighting" is a trite sentiment that's easy to say when you're not the one who's ill, and I know that. I'll just say that I'll keep hoping to see you tomorrow.

 

[MsNatalie99]

Keep fighting and don't give up.

In late June a close friend of mine lost his 6yo to leukemia. It broke his heart and on the 22nd of last month he took his own life. I know it's a selfish thought, but there are many people who are still fighting, and would have liked his support. I apologize if this is out of context, but just stay strong for those who shield themselves with your strength.

 

[oggbashan]

I lost my brother to cancer. He survived two sessions of chemotherapy with no problems but the third was terrible. He decided enough was enough and wanted to empty his wine cellar before he died.

After a year of being in a happy alcoholic daze, he failed. He shouldn't have married the daughter of a major wine importer who had been given him cases of wine for birthdays, Christmas etc.

In his will he asked that what was left should be used at his funeral wake - but the wake was in the village hall for which he had raised the money and had recently raised more for disabled toilets and a bar. The funeral was in the large village church with standing room only on a Friday afternoon. It was raining but the roof didn't leak - because he had raised money for it to be repaired.

The mourners walked past the tennis courts - him again, the football and cricket pitches - more of his fundraising, and the children's playground - yes, again.

The village hall committee had refused his wine cellar and provided all the alcohol themselves. The Women's Institute did the food at no cost. 600 people attended the wake yet 24 bottles of wine and six barrels of beer remained at the end. The whole village had a hangover on Saturday morning.

His sons are now trying to empty his wine cellar but it will take them decades and they might need the grandchildren's help...

 

[oggbashan]

CT Scan

This afternoon, yes I know it is Saturday but the CT department works seven days a week, I had another scan. I wait for the results in mid-October.

They have two CT scan machines but I don't fit in one, I'm too large and it is a squeeze to fit me in the larger one. Even my feet are nearly too large to go in...

It was scheduled for 6 pm but we were driving out of the hospital at 6.10.

As usual, I have no side effects from the contrast media injected into an arm.

Next one is due in three months' time.

 

[Handley_Page]

This afternoon, yes I know it is Saturday but the CT department works seven days a week, I had another scan. I wait for the results in mid-October.

They have two CT scan machines but I don't fit in one, I'm too large and it is a squeeze to fit me in the larger one. Even my feet are nearly too large to go in...

It was scheduled for 6 pm but we were driving out of the hospital at 6.10.

As usual, I have no side effects from the contrast media injected into an arm.

Next one is due in three months' time.

The contractor which got our scanner going was staffed by a complete waste of time & space; she has the most unhelpful 'nurse' (attendant I EVER MET.
Fingers still crossed, Ogg.

 

[oggbashan]

The contractor which got our scanner going was staffed by a complete waste of time & space; she has the most unhelpful 'nurse' (attendant I EVER MET.
Fingers still crossed, Ogg.

Thank you, HP. My unit is staffed by very efficient people. The last time, the insertion point for teh cannula was invisible after 24 hours. It looks as if it will be this time too.

The only problem they had was getting me into the machine but I and they managed.

 

[TxRad]

Ogg, this probably has nothing to do with some of your odd symptoms but there was a program on the giants from upper Ireland. They described some odd maladies that sounded somewhat like what you have.

I don't know if you have relatives from that area but I assume you do. You might want to check in on it. I'd supply a link but it was on the TV and I don't remember what program it was on.

Good luck on the test results.

 

[LAHomedog]

Yeah, as we have discussed, getting that line into you after your veins are shot from a lot of chemo is a bitch. Hang in there. Do you taste the contrast? It always lingers in the back of my mouth for about a day.

Good luck.

 

[oggbashan]

Ogg, this probably has nothing to do with some of your odd symptoms but there was a program on the giants from upper Ireland. They described some odd maladies that sounded somewhat like what you have.

I don't know if you have relatives from that area but I assume you do. You might want to check in on it. I'd supply a link but it was on the TV and I don't remember what program it was on.

Good luck on the test results.

Not Irish, but I have more than a normal percentage of Neanderthal genes. In my youth, when I was 300 lbs of muscle, some rude people suggested I was 100% Neanderthal.

I was watching a programme about Gibraltar last night. The first Neanderthal skull was found on Gibraltar six years before the Neanderthal man. The species should have been called Gibraltar man but wasn't published in a scientific journal until later.

Archaeology on caves inhabited by Neanderthals on Gibraltar is still ongoing. They have already established that this was the last surviving colony in Europe, still active 30,000 years ago and that they interbred with Homo Sapiens.

They also produced art and were far more sophisticated and skilled than they had been thought to be. The time of Neanderthals on Earth has been estimated at more than 100,000 years - longer than Homo Sapiens.

When I was on Gibraltar as a child I explored the caves where the archaeology is now happening. They weren't (and aren't) open to the public but steps and ladders have now been installed for the archaeologists. Then I had to descend about 200 feet of cliffs.

 

[Athalia]

Not Irish, but I have more than a normal percentage of Neanderthal genes. In my youth, when I was 300 lbs of muscle, some rude people suggested I was 100% Neanderthal.

It must be that Neanderthal part of you that is confounding the medical establishment!

 

[oggbashan]

Today I took a new pill. It has to be taken once a week but the instructions with it are worrying:

Take half an hour before a meal, not with any other medicine. Do NOT lie down. Stay standing or sitting upright for at least half an hour after taking. Frequent side effects are nausea, vomiting or heartburn. If so, drink plenty of water.

Of course, being me, nothing happened at all...

 

[KeithD]

Some of us are at the stage of life that it's certainly a risk to lie down and close our eyes.

 

[oggbashan]

Some of us are at the stage of life that it's certainly a risk to lie down and close our eyes.

If I were to do that, the cat would stomp all over me.

 

[KeithD]

If I were to do that, the cat would stomp all over me.

Not an issue with me. I've managed to outlive all of our cats.

 

[oggbashan]

Not an issue with me. I've managed to outlive all of our cats.

We have had a succession of cats that lived very long , for cats, lives. The current one is only about 9 and is really a granddaughter's cat but she can't have pets in their rented house so the cat lives with us.

But whenever she visits, he knows whose cat he is.

 

[Handley_Page]

My last cat managed to poison itself on some ghastly chemistry, followed by a
a rather terminal meeting with a motor car. He's currently assisting the plants in growing.

We've had rain and a cool blowing and later, sunshine:
And I have a parcel to be collected tomorrow.

But what I really need is a decent cup of Tea.

 

[oggbashan]

Today I went back to dermatology to check how the operation on my right ear went.

That ear has healed well with no recurrence of the cancerous growth that had been there. But it is now 1/2 inch in circumference smaller than my left ear. Most people won't notice. They were too big before.

On Thursday is my next hospital visit to the oncologist to get the results of my last scan. I hope it is clear - for a while.

 

[KeithD]

Moving right along on the survival path.

I just saw the bill for my latest MRI. $7,000. My share of that: $91. But, really . . .

 

[oggbashan]

Moving right along on the survival path.

I just saw the bill for my latest MRI. $7,000. My share of that: $91. But, really . . .

I have no idea what my treatment costs. That is the advantage of the 'free at the point of use' National Health Service. I have seen a consultant under my medical insurance as well. Cost to me? Nothing.

But over the years I have paid many tens of thousands of pounds in taxes for the NHS, and currently eighty pounds a month for my health insurance for me, my wife, children and grandchildren - from 1962 until 2020 when I used it first.

 

[Handley_Page]

Fingers still crossed, Ogg.