Long day today. I started out going with Matt to Knoxville to a place where a lot of computer shops get their computers to be repair or resold. We left out about 8:30am. Later on Denise came home and we headed to Knoxville, my second trip of the day to Knoxville. We were both pleasantly surprised to get to UT to a pretty much empty waiting room. Seems we hadn't sat down for long before I was called to the window, then blood work, then straight from there to the room. Man it was quick. It was nice to see some familiar faces back that we didn't see the last round. We even seen Ruth as we went back, but as usual, she was wide open. I don't know what she makes... but it ain't enough.
Dr Panella came in with a big smiling face as usual. He asked several questions about the neuropathy, especially in the hands, which hasn't changed. He looked in my throat with a light and liked what he saw...or rather that is what he didn't see. I asked him about the CT Scan. He said it wasn't good news. He said the mass was still there but since it had not grown that he was calling the cancer gone for now. It appears to be radiation damage. The nodules in my lungs, some had gone and some had calcified, a little infection, but no cause for concern. Judging from that, no CT Scan was ordered for my lungs again. He also didn't order a follow-up CT when I return in 6 months.
I think sometimes that Dr Panella don't know what to make of me with my twisted sense of humor and straight forward, blunt approach. I don't think many people do. He just smiles and laughs along with me. I actually think he is as good a person as he is a doctor. On the way out I looked in the Chemo Hut and lo and behold, there was Cindy surrounded by a room of new faces working. I couldn't help but stop in and say hello to her. There was, I think just two people left taking treatments, I remember when I was one of them. I thanked her for taking such good care of me.
We went to Sams and got some stuff, then picked up Megan and headed back out, shoot, we even celebrated with dinner at The Golden Coral. Then, later tonight, Matt called and had found a board and processor on Craig's List. Guess where we took off towards at 11pm... Clinton, TN. The guy lied about what he had, but it was still a good deal. It would have been a better deal if we didn't have to drive all the way there in a storm. Too funny, Matt says he is going to take the heat sink off the processor, then looks at it and says, "That's not a quad core, it's a Core Duo". The guy's face though had lite up when Matt said he was going to check it out. He had brought the box from a Quad and was passing it off as the box it belonged too. At 1am, he just had to see if the guy was also lying about it being good, so he rigged it up. It works great! This is the start of building a new computer for the Sunroom.
Matt has stayed busy, and this is just his first week! He named the business M&M Computer Services, aka Matt & Misty. Today it seems that the Apples have done the best, yesterday it was the PCs. He picked up another doctor's office this week and the computer repair shops that bring their hard to repair computers to him are still bring them to him, despite his opening his own shop.
Yesterday I got the bulk of the Bookcase made and it's standing up against the wall it will mount to. We gave away 3 dozen eggs. Annie got into Nursing School. Charlie got his arrangements made for his appointment at Vanderbilt. It has been a GREAT week.
Now for the worst part. I weighed in at 225! Time to lose a few pounds.
Dr Panella came in with a big smiling face as usual. He asked several questions about the neuropathy, especially in the hands, which hasn't changed. He looked in my throat with a light and liked what he saw...or rather that is what he didn't see. I asked him about the CT Scan. He said it wasn't good news. He said the mass was still there but since it had not grown that he was calling the cancer gone for now. It appears to be radiation damage. The nodules in my lungs, some had gone and some had calcified, a little infection, but no cause for concern. Judging from that, no CT Scan was ordered for my lungs again. He also didn't order a follow-up CT when I return in 6 months.
I think sometimes that Dr Panella don't know what to make of me with my twisted sense of humor and straight forward, blunt approach. I don't think many people do. He just smiles and laughs along with me. I actually think he is as good a person as he is a doctor. On the way out I looked in the Chemo Hut and lo and behold, there was Cindy surrounded by a room of new faces working. I couldn't help but stop in and say hello to her. There was, I think just two people left taking treatments, I remember when I was one of them. I thanked her for taking such good care of me.
We went to Sams and got some stuff, then picked up Megan and headed back out, shoot, we even celebrated with dinner at The Golden Coral. Then, later tonight, Matt called and had found a board and processor on Craig's List. Guess where we took off towards at 11pm... Clinton, TN. The guy lied about what he had, but it was still a good deal. It would have been a better deal if we didn't have to drive all the way there in a storm. Too funny, Matt says he is going to take the heat sink off the processor, then looks at it and says, "That's not a quad core, it's a Core Duo". The guy's face though had lite up when Matt said he was going to check it out. He had brought the box from a Quad and was passing it off as the box it belonged too. At 1am, he just had to see if the guy was also lying about it being good, so he rigged it up. It works great! This is the start of building a new computer for the Sunroom.
Matt has stayed busy, and this is just his first week! He named the business M&M Computer Services, aka Matt & Misty. Today it seems that the Apples have done the best, yesterday it was the PCs. He picked up another doctor's office this week and the computer repair shops that bring their hard to repair computers to him are still bring them to him, despite his opening his own shop.
Yesterday I got the bulk of the Bookcase made and it's standing up against the wall it will mount to. We gave away 3 dozen eggs. Annie got into Nursing School. Charlie got his arrangements made for his appointment at Vanderbilt. It has been a GREAT week.
Now for the worst part. I weighed in at 225! Time to lose a few pounds.
10 comments:
Hi Anthony,
Forgive my ignorance, but how is "the cancer is gone from now" anything but a good thing??
I assume the bad news was that the tumor itself is still there? Make no mistake, while I am sure the both of you wished the tumor gone, the fact that it hasn't grown and the doc says the cancer is gone has to be a good thing right?
Anyway, thanks for the update and I'm glad to hear the tumor hasn't grown!
Hi David, No, Panella said the tumor is gone. The mass he isn't pleased with is the damage left behind by the radiation. It is posing some risks to breathing and swallowing. I think he is leaving that up to Rathfoot to repair though. The damage from the mistake they made when I was doing chemo done quite a lot of damage. I'm with you on the as long as the cancer seems to be gone, it's all good. :)
So far I've been on an anti-inflammatory and Predisiome, plus Vit E high doses, and a pill to open the smaller veins in an attempt to avert surgery to cut away scar tissue. I think there is one other drug that can be given with a shot in the throat again, and now I don't think they have to do surgery to do it. I've had that once already. If that fails then I'm guessing the surgery he talked about will be back on the table, and maybe some more Hyperbaric Oxygen treatments. Crossing my fingers not. The way it was first explained was that they were going to drop a nuclear bomb on the battle field, it done more damage than they had expected. Despite the mistake made during radiation, I think they done great and who knows, maybe that was what finished it off. We were both tickled to hear they were calling it gone. I think a good side to it is that since there was no growth that the damage has went as far as it will. I’m still not sure about the neuropathy and which caused it, but a couple of pills and some readjusting and it ain’t so bad. I think Panella just wanted it to end up better. I don’t swallow or breathe as good as I should, but as long as I focus, I seldom get chocked too bad. This is fixable I think, I hope so anyway, and if not, beats doing this with cancer eating away. .
Well that's even better then! :)
I can only imagine how hard it must be having difficulties breathing and swallowing, but as you said it beats having the cancer eating away.
While I am certainly no doctor, I think the state you are in now is much better than if the cancer was still there but, say, you could swallow and breathe slightly better?
Anyway, I agree that it sure sounds fixable. I suppose I thought the cancer being "gone" would be incredible news even if there was collateral damage to the throat. But you are saying that the damage is pretty severe, yes?
Well I will continue praying for you, Anthony. I always look forward to your posts and as always, keep us updated!
Hi David, The damage was done by accident and it is 4.7cm (?) I know the 4.7 is right but not sure about the unit of measure. The tumor was 2.5. But I like the term was, lol. There is a possibility that the cancer could be hidden in the 4.7 but it isn't looking like it is.
I have most of the breathing problems at night while I'm asleep or when it's hot. As far as choking I'm pretty use to it. I done it today eating green beans, but they were good.
All in all, beats they heck outta cancer though where it was growing fast. At one point it was discussed about losing my voice box due to the damage but 90 treatments of HBOT took care of that. I'm out of that danger now.
Who knows, maybe the mistake could have been what burnt it out. I still believe that everything happens for a reason.
Ah now I see. Well just so you know, I agree that it almost certainly happened for a good reason. You may never know for sure what that reason is, but I think you can rest assured there IS a reason for it.
Yea, I think so too. For most of my life I wanted to know what the reason was when something happened, but it doesn't matter these days if I will ever know. I know He has His reasons and has my best at mind, even though I sometimes wonder for a brief moment.
I think we're allowed those moments. That comes with being imperfect beings.
Someone who tells me they are 100% doubt free all the time in life tends to make me wonder. ;)
lol, ain't that the truth. Kind of like when someone has it all figured out. I have it all figured out. I figure the more I figure the more I figured that I don't have figured out, and that leads me to wonder sometimes :)
Hi Anthony,
Glad to hear your great news about everything! I haven't checked things out the past 6 days or so as my computer is at the shop! I have my husband's old computer, but it is so slow so I am not doing much. Glad Matt is getting business... I am sure he will have more than he can handle. Hope the babies are feeling better. Hi to Denise.
Fondly, Lori
Hey Lori, thanks, they are much better now. I know Misty can't wait for school to let out, seems to be a breeding ground for bugs. Hopefully you will get you computer back quickly, I know that is aggravating to use a slower computer, especially if it ain't the one you use all the time. I'm slowly learning this one, man it's fast and completely different.
Matt picked up a few more, especially when he advertised he works on Apples. I think in 3 counties there is like maybe 3 shops but none work on those except him. Plus he is still getting business from some shops in Knoxville that get some in they can't fix. They sub it out to him.
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