diagnosed with lymphoma

[Meadbh]

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Originally Posted by chemist I was diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma Stage 2B in 1986, Malignant melanoma Stage 1 in 1991 and last year 2 separate lesions of Basal Cell carcinoma. Have been through countless surgeries, 6 months of chemo, and 15 days of radiation.

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Originally Posted by chemist Climbed Kilimanjaro this past February.

Way to go, chemist! What a role model....and welcome to the forum!

[Moemg]

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Originally Posted by chemist Oh also I was a bit of a tightwad and now I find it easier to spend my money! Climbed Kilimanjaro this past February. So I will be interested in 5 years from now how your outlook on life has changed for the better! Every cancer survivor I talk to (I go to Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philly) has told me that their life has improved because of their ordeal! Hard to believe now perhaps but trust me!

Congratulations and thanks for a great post !

[ratface]

Hey FinanceDude I never got out of the 4 plus hour category, I think 4:20 was my all time best. Not a fast runner, weighed 175lbs in 7th grade and 185 at my leanest marathon. Thats a lot of weight to carry for 26.2 miles. I just finished Lance's book by the way. It talked about his oxogen volumn as the all time greatest ever recorded. Amazing man and amazing fight agaist cancer, really enjoyed the book.

Chemist thats quite a fight you put up yourself. Congratulations!!!! Sounds like your past the worst. I have the same mindset of planning for the worst and hoping for the best. I don't consider myself a survivor yet. I'm in the too soon to tell category. I've read from other survivors what you describe to be true, that cancer can in fact be a blessing in disguise. I can see how that can occur but I'm not ready for that frame of mind. I first need to be rid of the beast and I still harbor anger at the disease. It has drastically changed my life plans and has changed me profoundly.

I'm hoping to get the feeding tube out on Wednesday if I can get an appointment. I understand it's a highly technical procedure where they give you a bullet to bite on then yank as hard as they can. Pain suppossedly subsides quickly. Well worth it to get a comfortable nights sleep, I can bring my own bullet.

[freebird5825]

Hi Chemist
Welcome to the board
You sound like one heck of an adventurer!

[ratface]

Was able to get an appt. for removal of the feeding tube. The tube was below my left pectoral muscle kind of in between two rib bones it then extended about a foot to allow bending and manipulation when feeding and taping. The back side inside the stomach is a plastic bulb which keeps it from being pulled through the small openning about the size of a pencil. The bulb is about the size of a half dollar. On the outside there is a bumper which keeps it from falling into the stomach.

The nurse has me unbutton my shirt and lift up my undershirt. She then states it's going to hurt for a few seconds only as it is comming out. She then grabs it firmly and pulls the tube where the half dollar bulb now must travel through the pencil size hole. It's over almost as fast as it started with some of the most intense pain I have ever felt. She then uses some chemical on long sticks to burn a flap of skin which has built up around the hole in the last five months, It was nitrious something? It cauterizes the wound and makes the extra skin eventually fall away. It is now some 10 hours later and this stuff continues to burn, almost like a lit match in your stomach.

No one could have bought me a Christmas present that would equate to the elation of having this damn plastic tube gone from my body. No more dangling of the tube afraid to get it caught on something. No more taping everyday and being restricted every night to what position I can sleep in. Santa came to my house first and I'm grateful. I am tube, port, and drain free as of today. It's totally amazing how much discomfort some foreign plastic thing can cause a human body.

[SarahW]

Wow, that sounds unpleasant and I'm glad it's over for you. Here's wishing you a very Merry Christmas, RF...and a happy, healthy New Year.

[Alan]

Another step forward and more good news - very pleased to hear of your early Christmas present.

I hope the burning wears off before long. Happy Christmas !!

[freebird5825]

Good riddance of the tube thingie.

You sound better and better with every post. You da man.
Merry Christmas!

[bbbamI]

Oh RF...I'm so relieved you are rid of all the plastic in more ways than one!

Seems like this whole experience has brought many congratulations your way. I expect you've been a good boy this year....Santa sure seems to like you.

[ratface]

hello everyone

just updating on my latest scans. These would be six month scans done last week. Despite some anomolies for all intents and purposes at this moment my scans are considered clear. They are watching some nodules that are not believed to be related to the cancer. Hopefully time will bear this out. Resigned to another three month wait. I am hopeful that if the next one is good it will get easier to wait from that point forward

[bruce1]

All the best! Waiting must be awful.

[bbbamI]

Well...I have to tell ya, I danced a jig when I read this post (even though my hip is a bit cranky this a.m.)! Here I go...

Clear scans....that's what I'm talkin' about!

I'm sure it's not a lot of fun to wait until the next scans, but for now smile as you look forward to the future...as we all try to do.

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

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Originally Posted by bbbamI Well...I have to tell ya, I danced a jig when I read this post (even though my hip is a bit cranky this a.m.)! Here I go...

Hey, that's not a jig.

RF: glad to hear you are doing well.

[REWahoo]

RF, thanks for checking in with us. Anytime you have an excuse to get bbbamI to do a hoochee-coochee dance, let us hear from you.

[bbbamI]

Ok, ok fellers....tell you what, I'll just call my dance a 'ho down'....

[Amethyst]

Ratface,

Funny, I was just thinking about you, hoping no news was good news. May all your anomalies be benign ones!
-A.

[Alan]

Thanks for the update. A shame it couldn't be the big ALL CLEAR that you would have liked, but excellent news all the same

[Bestwifeever]

Clear scans for Valentine's Day--something to celebrate! So glad to read the good news.

[chemist]

Congrats Ratface!

[Buckeye]

Great news!