Sunday, November 28, 2010

Sunday, Nov 28, 2010

Good afternoon or evening,
   Yesterday day was good, today is even better. I have some sense of uphoric high about today.  Went grocery shopping,  and actually began to think about being around at Christmas, in a form that would allow me to be more than a slug.  All this is a good feeling(only thing that was missing was the "sound of music playing in the background")  To be honest, I felt better today than I have since July or possibly prior.  Susan's comments have made me think about how much fun I used to have at the winter dance camp in Norway, the friends made, the food, snow, dancing, and the weekend festival in Kongsberg.  She is right, I do want to get well and return. I guess it's a ray of optimysm on my part. My recent thoughts have not much gone beyond the end of the year, so good to look out there. So, lets all keep up the cheery thoughts about London, Scotland, and Norway.  It's been a great day!
John

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Saturday Nov 27th

Yahoo, Feels so good  to not be totally sick to my tummy. Actually a good day today. Had a cheeseburger and it tasted soooooo gooooood. Probably the first meat I've had in week and weeks.  Seem to be bouncing back fairly quickly at this point. Still very tired and low energy, but no pain in my poor tummy. My nose, mouth and finger tips are another matter however.  Still all very tingly with cold- so no DQ milkshakes yet. Just happy to be interested in eating again. Thank you all for the comments, tidbits and help with the blog. For some reason, I can no longer see who my followers are. It all showed up last week , but this week a blank page. Beleive it has something to do with security. I think it's actually the Apt's security system, which blocks all known social networking sites as being?? No one knows why they're blocked , we just know they are.  I will be at my son's tomorrow so will access from his computer. If I get to see my followers it will confirm  my suspicians on mr K-9.
    I must admitt I'm reveling in the heavy rains we're having. May go for a walk in the rain tomorrow-just because I can(one of life's little joys we should all take advantage I suppose).
 John

Friday, November 26, 2010

Friday Nov 26,2010

Ok, I survived yesterday, but it was ugly. Spent all day and night in bed sipping water. Liz was correct, the day after was terrible for chemo side effects. I think I'm on the mend. Had a waffle for breakfast this morning which helped(and it stayed down)  Guess I need to find out from the DR if the 2.5 days of continus chemo is what made it so bad or will is always be that bad? Any experieced folks out feel free to chime in here.  Soon as I think I can hold down a milk shake I'm off to the DQ.  Hope the chemo is worse on the cancer than it is on me. 
   Alice, could you add a comment on how to leave comments. Apparently there are some who wish to but not able to .  Another fun day, but getting some food in.
John

Monday, November 22, 2010

November 22,2010 First chemo

Yes!!!!  First chemo is behind me. Have a pump pack on that will continue to pump chemo into through Wednesday afternoon. Will then give it all a rest for a week and a half.  So far so good. Gave me lots of anti nausea medication so hope that will all work.  Big thanks to Gail and Shirly for being my taxi service today. I didn't know what to expect, so they were kind enough to get me there and get me home.  No snow helped us all.  Those of you who have been there could help me with a question That kind of came up for me throughout the day. There were about 50 people in the room most of the time getting chemo. Sort of a continous changing of the guard. Health wise, I thought I looked great in comparison to what I was seeing.  My question became, did the other people look bad because of the long term effects of the chemo, or did they look bad because of the cancer? Guess I'm curious because if and when I start to look that way I will want to know which is causing the effect. My Dr is a very upbeat positive Dr which is of course what I want. But I want to know if I'm wasting away from what?? if it comes to that. All hypothetical of course.  Anyway , great to be on the road to doing something about it-for me kind of a euphoric feeling. Possibly by Wednesday night a little less so.
John

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Day 4 Nov 20 2010

Hi all,
The hospital visit this morning went well. They replaced the bandage etc over the picc line and there is no sign of infection which is the big worry since it's a direct line to the heart.  It appears I'm all set for Monday's first chemo.  The R.N. this morning was most helpful and informative.  I learned alot about my form of cancer in the liver, the treatment plan to expect and she gave me a very positive outlook which is very helpful. Sort of wanted to say, wait, wait, tell me more, but we were done.  Spent the early afternoon napping; and then spent the rest of the day with my son and grandson. My grandson plays a mean game of "mousetrap".   Unless something dramatic happens tomorrow, next post will be Monday evening. Guess I get to come home with a pump pack that will keep on pumping the  juice to me for a couple of days. So hope you are all well.
Maximize the good things in your lives.
John

Friday, November 19, 2010

DAY 3 November 19

Hi all,
Long day today. Had a PICC line installed today. Those who've been there done that know how much fun that was. For those who havn't had the pleasure, it's a semi-fixed small tube fixed in the upper arm that goes straight to the heart vein in your chest.  Monday will be the first day of Chemo. The PICC line allows a quick hook up and by sending  the goods directly to the heart vein it is big enough to absorb the goods with out impenging the tissue around it and a litttle quicker absorbtion of the stuff(this is all heresay to me). I will be at the N.W.Cancer center inVancouver most of Monday. Arrive around 10:30am and there until 5;00. I am allowed to have visitors while the process is going on, so if you're not doing anything on Monday and want to chat, I will be available. Send me an email an I will send you the address. Not that i expect anyone. I think chatting with some one getting Chemo is probably as much fun as watching paint dry.
  Thank you to those unidentiefied blog followers who have dropped off the page. only one left yet to get to know. Thank you to the rest who have i.d.'d themselves. 
  Also apologize for sending the masse email in the open. Have been advised how to do that with blind email address. Hope you all don't hear from my cousin who is  a retired Nigerian Army General who needs a little help in getting some funds out of his country!!

I go back to the hospital tomorrow for some "clean up work"
ummm, wondering now what that means. They mentioned that  when I was still a little stupid this Morning.
John  

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Day 2 in the adventure

Good evening. It's November 18, 2010. A quiet day. Thank you for the responses and kind thoughts. Am receiving some interesting information on non traditional cancer treatment and am surprised at how many people seem to know the whereabouts and availablity of medicinal smokes.  I suppose if nothing else works might as well go out laughing and with a big smile-huh.  Also surprised at how many of my friends and associates have already had bouts with cancer-I just didn't know.  For those following this blog whom I don't seem to recognize-my apologies, but  who are you??
Big John

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Day one in my new adventure

Hi all,
I will use this blog to provide a place for friends to check on my status. I'm sort of overwhelmed with emails so think a blog will be the best way to tell all my daily progress in the new journey.  It is Wednesday evening November 17th.
  Iwill have a PICC line installed on Friday and my first Chemo session on Monday. That will probably hold down any thoughts of over eating on Thanksgiving. Since I'm new at this blog stuff please bare with me. It's my understanding you can leave me notes and we can all stay tuned in. It's my intent to try to continue life as normal(much as possible anyway. So I will launch this blog. Please pass it around to anyone you think might be interested in what's going on with me.
Thanks
big john
a.k.a. John Campbell