From the end of chemo to Grand Mal seizures to brain surgery (3 tumors) and yet another GM seizure
- From the chemo/round 4 days:
- (somewhere between 14Apr06 and 18Apr06): the modem in my laptop died...updates to these pages stopped for a while
- 18Apr06 - Last scheduled chemo
- 19Apr06 - Happy birthday to me....
- 19Apr06–??? - the key word here is STRESS.... (cancer, lack of a job/income, bills I can't pay and the possibility of losing most of my belongings as a result, and other stuff that I won't discuss here all working together...and inability to sleep becomes a very real problem)
- 16May06 - USB modem arrives (from a friend): thanks again, Mike! ... but job-search activities, as well as new limits here on setting up the laptop and use of the modem, still working together to limit updates to these pages
- 16May06 - visit to doctor - among other things, says it's not likely anyone will hire me any time soon, due to the uncertainty about the cancer (and its possible, maybe even probable—I'm not sure exactly what the doctor is thinking as far as that goes, return)...just the things I needed to hear to help with the STRESS...too bad it helps make it worse, not better....
- 20–27May06 - visit from family (including my mom)...stress levels down...but there's more....
- 21May06 - got a voice mail regarding an interview...call back/no answer (yet)...called rep from Jobs Plus, NFI (update: I'd heard the company name wrong), but they do have information on another job, one that they haven't even LISTED yet...that they're giving me a referral on (before, or perhaps without, listing it).
- 22May06 - got through about interview: scheduled for Thursday. Also had CT scan...waiting for results (Thursday). Social Security/disability (appeal) and rep from Patient Advocacy Foundation also waiting for CT scan results (one, the latter, trying to help me with the other)....
- 24May06 - found out that I did get unemployment (found out how much on the 25th), so bills will be getting paid. Definitely good news....
- 25May06 - had interview, offered job a few minutes after getting to my truck (call center/tech support job with hourly pay, so not up to what I used to make, but at least it's a start, and I got it DESPITE what the doctor said to me about nobody being likely to hire me for a while).... The unemployment bit was good news...this is (much) better news!
- 25May06 ... part 2 - CT scan results are good: no new bad stuff, and the old stuff is significantly reduced. As the doctor said, the results so far are as good as we could possibly hope for.
- 25May06 ... part 3 - Apartment hunting ... aka dealing with complete jerks (and I'm being polite) who don't appear to care whether or not they rent to anyone, particularly someone working their way out of a bad situation (as someone said to me today, it seems that the people who are trying to work hard and claw their way out of a deep, dark hole, instead of just leaving everything to the taxpayers, always seem to be the first to get the shaft). Fortunately, I have friends...lots of friends.... My friends have other friends, who have still other friends....
- 26May06 - started work at the new job today. It seems like a nice place to work, with cool people. Also, see above re: friends...one potential lead went dead, another two or three opened up. Information from the American Cancer Society may be worth several more, but I (probably) won't know until after the holiday weekend.
- 31May06 - the people at work all seem really cool, so that's a good thing...but the LONG
drive to/from work (about 60–70 miles—ONE WAY) is definitely NOT a
good thing.... I've got updates piled up here for this page...I've got a new modem (thanks
AGAIN, Mike!) that works and can get me connected to upload these updates...but unless I
happen to wake up earlier than I have to (i.e., early enough to set everything up, get connected,
upload the updates, disconnect, put everything up, and still get in the shower by about
0400 local), they'll probably end up waiting until the weekend to be uploaded to the web
server....
So...for anyone who has been waiting for updates here to find out how I've been doing, my apologies for the delays (and thanks!). I might have some options from work later, after some research (they pay for a high-speed Internet connection for employees...up to $50/month, but I have to find out if such a beastie is available out here, preferably in wireless form that I can use in Ft. Walton, too, when I'm able to move back there again...otherwise, I end up paying installation twice, and that's just not going to happen right now).
- 31May06 - part 2 - insurance woes.... I just looked at the insurance forms (Medicaid is about to go bye-bye). Deductables and co-pays are going to bankrupt me before I even get a friggin' paycheck! This is NOT cool. Oh well, most small group insurance plans aren't based on someone having to get a CT scan—aka "cat-scan—and visit to a specialist every month for the next several YEARS, at a minimum, with the possibility of other, nastier stuff, along the way. At this point, I've got to hold off on filling out any paperwork until I can talk with someone from either the American Cancer Society or, more likely, the Patient Advocate Foundation.
- 16Jun06 - after work...trying to hook up a DVD player, could not see any of the connectors even remotely clearly...before I got finished, I woke up on the floor in the other room...several hours later. I'd assumed at the time that I was just that tired after work and the long drive (because I was)...but.....
- 20Jun06 - At work, after lunch...having trouble seeing, then concentrating, and the next thing I knew, I was waking up in a room in the emergency room after having had Grand Mal seizures, etc.....
- 21–23Jun06 - Put simply, it's three tumors...one (2.5 cm) in the occipital lobe of the brain, and two in the front motor strength area of the brain. The neurosurgeons are going in for all three in a little while..... After that, there may be radiation and/or chemotherapy....
- ICU then, on Thursday 22Jun06, up to room 440 of the Cancer Care Unit, then surgery Friday, then ICU again until Monday, then back to the Cancer Care Unit (room 442) on Monday 26Jun06, then finally set to be discharged for outpatient radiation therapy starting on 03Jul06. I've lost a lot of this time...and from what I remember of some of it (e.g., waking up, horrified, struggling against the tube shoved down my throat during surgery), it's probably just as well.... We're talking complete sensory overload here....
- 29Jun06 - speaking of sensory overload...let's try another Grand Mal seizure on for size.... It started off with me at the coffee pot (the nice automatic type here at the hospital—you just put your cup under the faucet and press a button for coffee. I was standing in front of the coffee pot, knowing the above steps to get coffee...but not sure just how to go about getting them done. Yes, that's right—I knew that I needed to A) put my cup under the faucet, and B) push the button, but could not figure out how to accomplish those tasks. I quickly realized I was in need of medical attention, and got a nurse. Within seconds, I had a few nurses helping me into a wheelchair, doing various tests (reach out, touch your nose, etc.—the general result being that my right side failed every test...I had no strength, control, or hand-eye coordination AT ALL on my right side), and not long after that, was a code blue (Grand Mal seizure). The next thing I knew, I was waking up in my room in the cancer care unit not knowing who, what, when, where, why, or how I was.... Things gradually came back, and within an hour or two, I was more or less myself again.
- The Story of the Little Medal That Woudln't Be Lost - Read this!
- Some pics:
- On another note...it looks like I'll be getting my own place back in Ft. Walton again, so I'll be moving back in the direction I call home...with (just in case I didn't mention it earlier) high speed Internet connectivity per doctor's orders ... same goes for playing computer games—all per orders from both the neurosurgeon and the speach therapist. :-)
- 03Jul06 - Finally released from the hospital today, straight to radiation therapy....
Next: Radiation Therapy
