Subourbon
06-08-2004, 09:34 PM
...are somewhat premature.
Just got back from my consult at Wake Forest/Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem, NC. 3 weeks ago, we found a number of small tumors developing on my abdominal wall. They appear to be escapee cells from the first go-round that have finally become large enough to show up on scans. The vaccine protocol I was in at NIH in Bethesda, MD, may or may not have worked to a small degree. That's still pending. I have a date with the knife on 30 June 04, and again 1 July 04. Things are in motion to once again filet me like a trout, monkey around with my innards, and bleach 'em out. They're going to split me pretty much from kisser to kiwis, sandpaper my abdominal wall, cut away the bad spots, toss out the spare parts, spotweld me shut, and send me on my merry way after 10-14 days in the cooler. From my perspective as patient and yours as friends and family, it should be pretty much the same as the first time. For the medical professionals, however, things will be quite different.
Somewhere in between the hacking open and stitching shut, I'm going to have a procedure that they lovingly call the Shake'n'bake. It sounds more like a chinese stir-fry to me, but then again, I haven't been to med school. They are going to fill my abdominal cavity with a chemo solution, crank up a heat lamp, and simmer me uncovered for an hour or two (salting to taste, no doubt). They drain that stuff back off and duct-tape me back together, and with any luck, the little microscopic 'stealth tumors' (their term- highly scientific) will be toast.
Just like before, I'll be 3 months (Sept) at least before fully operational, and maybe 6 (Dec) before I can do a whole lot of physical activity. Lucky for me I have some handicapped-accessible duck blinds in Hyde County (NC)- now I just need a good retriever. Hopefully I'll be back in casting/paddling form sometime around the winter striper runs at Hatteras, but I'm not going to push it. Odds are high that I'll have some sort of chemo follow-up after I recover from surgery, but at this point I don't know what kind or how long.
That's where we're at right now. For those of you in eastern NC, I'll probably be down there this week. New Englanders, I'll be invading next Friday for a little striper action around Newburyport.
Peace and Chicken grease.
--Russ
Just got back from my consult at Wake Forest/Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem, NC. 3 weeks ago, we found a number of small tumors developing on my abdominal wall. They appear to be escapee cells from the first go-round that have finally become large enough to show up on scans. The vaccine protocol I was in at NIH in Bethesda, MD, may or may not have worked to a small degree. That's still pending. I have a date with the knife on 30 June 04, and again 1 July 04. Things are in motion to once again filet me like a trout, monkey around with my innards, and bleach 'em out. They're going to split me pretty much from kisser to kiwis, sandpaper my abdominal wall, cut away the bad spots, toss out the spare parts, spotweld me shut, and send me on my merry way after 10-14 days in the cooler. From my perspective as patient and yours as friends and family, it should be pretty much the same as the first time. For the medical professionals, however, things will be quite different.
Somewhere in between the hacking open and stitching shut, I'm going to have a procedure that they lovingly call the Shake'n'bake. It sounds more like a chinese stir-fry to me, but then again, I haven't been to med school. They are going to fill my abdominal cavity with a chemo solution, crank up a heat lamp, and simmer me uncovered for an hour or two (salting to taste, no doubt). They drain that stuff back off and duct-tape me back together, and with any luck, the little microscopic 'stealth tumors' (their term- highly scientific) will be toast.
Just like before, I'll be 3 months (Sept) at least before fully operational, and maybe 6 (Dec) before I can do a whole lot of physical activity. Lucky for me I have some handicapped-accessible duck blinds in Hyde County (NC)- now I just need a good retriever. Hopefully I'll be back in casting/paddling form sometime around the winter striper runs at Hatteras, but I'm not going to push it. Odds are high that I'll have some sort of chemo follow-up after I recover from surgery, but at this point I don't know what kind or how long.
That's where we're at right now. For those of you in eastern NC, I'll probably be down there this week. New Englanders, I'll be invading next Friday for a little striper action around Newburyport.
Peace and Chicken grease.
--Russ