Universal Love ***k cancer

[Doctor Feel]

God I can't wait to have like, a meaty salty tasty doughy pizza in a week or two. It'll go straight through my new sewerage works but i am just so ready for something tasty.

 

[manureid]

Unfortunately just got the news that I have not avoided chemo. 7 lymph nodes removed, 1 was positive right near the site. Means some chemo is inbound. Means I may have to miss the birth of my second child. Damn.

Pretty similar to me again Feel. 1 of the 21 nodes they removed had cancer in it. 3 month 'mop up' chemo. Look, it isnt amazing, won't lie. They do have a couple of different regimes, but with mine I didnt lose my hair. They will give you a big list of 'possible' side effects. You might get a couple or a lot, it is pretty much pot luck.

Worst for me was I lost the feeling in my fingertips, it did return. I couldnt touch anything remotely cold (that included cutlery), so wore gloves almost all the time. My regime was a mix of infusion then 2 weeks of tablets. So I went constipation for the 1st few days from infusion, then the runs due to the tablets. Pretty fun. Did get a nuclear indigestion one night, thought I was gonna die! Oh, and fire ant cheeks was an interesting one......

Anyway, I was the same when they said on my last does did I want to reduce the dosage, I was like nah, blast that shit!!

Good luck with it man, I really 'Feel' for you (se what I did there). But seriously, it is a bit ****ed the whole thing.

 

[Janey]

God I can't wait to have like, a meaty salty tasty doughy pizza in a week or two. It'll go straight through my new sewerage works but i am just so ready for something tasty.

Make the most of it, once you get going on chemo most everything will taste like rubbish anyway

 

[raman]

You wouldn't believe but i go to the hospital today for the biopsy and after going through it they did the procedure on the wrong bloody lung. Lucky i picked it up on the paperwork. The doctor apologised to me and now i am getting a different type of biopsy where they do it externally with a big needle instead.

Jesus I fractured my shoulder a year or so ago coming off my bike, the GP who sent me for scans said there was no break and it’ll just take a few weeks to feel better. After it didn’t feel better in a few weeks I saw a physio who looked at the same X-ray and saw a fracture immediately.

Yeah your story is way better, but these things are just amazing.

I always thought “get a second opinion” was just a platitude.

 

[snozulu]

Jesus I fractured my shoulder a year or so ago coming off my bike, the GP who sent me for scans said there was no break and it’ll just take a few weeks to feel better. After it didn’t feel better in a few weeks I saw a physio who looked at the same X-ray and saw a fracture immediately.

Yeah your story is way better, but these things are just amazing.

I always thought “get a second opinion” was just a platitude.

Me too mate me too. Problem is i think the second opinion was possibly the issue as there were two specialists in the team with different opinions on my biopsy procedure. One said i should have had the needle type less invasive and the other one said get the bronchoscopy because he can check the lymph nodes whilst i am under. I got so confused by it all and didn't know what to think. The original Doctor i saw called me today and apologized again and made sense in the end. He has already reported the incident to the safety committee to review.

 

[rogerjames]

You wouldn't believe but i go to the hospital today for the biopsy and after going through it they did the procedure on the wrong bloody lung. Lucky i picked it up on the paperwork. The doctor apologised to me and now i am getting a different type of biopsy where they do it externally with a big needle instead.

Wows, that's so incompetent. Well done on being vigilant.

 

[rogerjames]

A little write up of my time now im home.

Update on my Agon, details that may be seen as TMI included but I want to be visceral so be warned.

I have finally made it home after 6 days. There is no denying that it's been extremely challenging.

Naturally being so anxious about the procedure, and what is the come when I was admitted on Friday they needed to put me onto an ECG because my BP and HR were going haywire. What came next did not help.

I was wheeled into the operating room, nurses unpacking hundreds of different scissors and instruments and I was instructed carefully not to make contact with anything in the room unless told to. As instructed I made my way around to the operating table and took a seat. There was my surgeon texting on his phone like its any another day. Up he pops over and says "righto, i've had my tea. I'm nice and refreshed and ready to go." In his posh british accent.

So they commence the anaesthetics, which first meant unfortunately a lumbar spinal injection of morphene. To do this they first do a local anaesthetic injection into the site, then do the morphene in another. The local hurt, a buttload. So much so it made me feel quite sick but on they go with the next part getting the morphene in. I warned them, i'm feeling quite sick. So they all crowd me and give me the sick bucket and the anaesthetist is like "its ok, almost done." As I feel him jiggling and pressing about on my spine. "Count back from 10" so I start counting back and get to 0 and he goes "ok you counted too fast, do another 10!" Then I got to 7 and that was all I remembered. I woke up shortly after with a mask on my face, lying on my side and the team around me. The first thing I say "the mask is on too low, its blocking my nose!" And the anaesthetist says "oh my man i'm just glad to see you awake!". In short, spinals absolutely dont agree with me!

I remember time being at a total standstill the whole time in that room. Staring at the clock, each tick ringing in my head with authority. I knew when I woke up my life was to be changed forever.

Not wanting to observe too much of what was going on around me. It was cold and as you expect, surgical. After passing out, I actually felt much better and total zen. (Probably the morphene in my spine), but they rolled me over and said righto we are going to give you some fentanyl now. This will probably be the last thing you remember.

3 hours and 10 minutes later, I woke up in recovery. Feeling pretty pain free but extremely heavy, extremely tired as expected. Didn't feel sick. Couldn't even percieve the huge wound on my belly that stretches from my pelvis to my ribs straight down the middle. Certainly didn't feel like I was missing 3/4 of my large intestine, appendix and several lymph nodes.

First night was mainly ok in critical care..apart from the fentanyl making me so extremely sweaty, clammy and hot. I also had 3x canulas in and an arterial line (this thing is the worst). Its a probe they put straight into the artery in your wrist that monitors your BP, HR etc. This thing was hyper sensitive and every time I so much as wiggle my wrist it meant alarms going off.

At this stage I had a catheter in which made life a little easier but by the second day they took it out. This wasn't fun as I then had a big urge to go that kept coming and going and wasnt finally able to go until day three. It was getting bad enough that they were about to wheel me for a bladder scan, so it was good timing...was a bit of a scene as it ended up being a little under a litre. Day two passed mostly under a fog of fentanyl, sleep, constant beeping, poking, prodding, blood tests. Totally at the mercy of the nurses. My arms look like a deeply bruised mess from the 10+ blood tests, arterial lines and where they had to catch me from falling as I passed out.

Everything so far was made a little worse that my wife had gotten a cold and I was unable to see her...

By day three, being so maimed that at age 35 I needed a zimmer frame to take my first steps with assistance to the shower, where I had to be washed by a nurse was humbling to say the least. She was lovely and remarked at my cut and bruises and said "oh darling, whatever have they done to you?". I must have looked like a bullied test subject.

Thankfully day 3 signalled the end of my time in critical care which meant out came the arterial line and one of the canulas, and I lose access to fentanyl and go to oral pain relief. This was fine since i'd already been weening off the fentanyl anyway because it just makes you feel shit. The arterial line wasn't fun. Out it pops followed by plenty of blood. Poor nurse had to stand and pressure it for me for ~20minutes till it sorted itself out. Unpleasant.

Up to the ward I went, where I saw the sun and the outside for the first time since the operation and I felt more comfortable already, but it wasnt to last. Mostly passed this day having to do lung exercises (my lungs had partially collapsed) and physio (this was terrible! They make you cough. Cough! With this wound!).

Day 4 arrives and recovery is not feeling linear. I still have no appetitite and food makes my quezy. But the good news was that the intenstinal works had fired up again, having woken up after being manhandled. That was a big box to tick but it wasnt helping my bloatedness, I was like a barrell. Every movement hurt because there was no room for anything to move in my body as it had all filled with air and whatever else. At this point if it didnt relieve itself I was headed to get a tube down my throat to my guts to suck everything out. I was told this is thoroughly unpleasant and something you would want to avoid, so the clock was ticking.

Enter the sudden, extreme projectile vomit on the night of day 4. I managed to snare most of it in a sick bag but it overflowed. Yes, it overflowed. These sick bags are capacity 1.6L. I cleared over 1.6l of fluid in around 5 or 6 seconds. Called the nurse with the call button as I sat there in darkness holding my very heavy sick bag and she comes in and I go "ive had a bit of an accident". She says its ok and takes the bag as they have to measure the amount. They claimed it was some sort of record, but noted sternly that I was very lucky not to aspirate it. This event was double edged. It prevented me from going home for another day, but it also cleared everything out and my stomach started working again. The issue I had was "gastroparesis" which is basically your stomach stops emptying. So all my fluid and (little) food intake was just chilling making me very uncomfortable. Anyway I felt great after the chuck so I can't complain. It was however, extreme pain to chuck like that with the wound. Strong and sudden abdominal clenching, not fun. Either way, I slept really well for the first time that night. Day 5 mostly without a hitch, boredom kicking in, did some very gentle waddling circuits around the ward. About 50m of walking was enough to make me snooze for around an hour or two.

Day 6, home and able to write this!

This sounds horrific. You are very brave, it would have been very frightening. So glad you are feeling a bit better & the pain has subsided to some extent. Such a shock for you to have such major surgery. Take it easy & look after that wound. Hope your wife is feeling better & you have good support around you.

 

[rogerjames]

Unfortunately just got the news that I have not avoided chemo. 7 lymph nodes removed, 1 was positive right near the site. Means some chemo is inbound. Means I may have to miss the birth of my second child. Damn.

So sorry to hear that news DF. F*ck cancer is spot on. Hope they can find a way for you to be at the birth.

 

[rogerjames]

Reading this thread certainly puts things into perspective. As has been mentioned already it makes brutal reading. Our issues with the club are just so insignificant compared to these health issues.

 

[Doctor Feel]

 

[Doctor Feel]

In this phase where the small intestine is just firing full bore and your appetite is coming back and meanwhile the 1/4 of my remaining large intestine is just getting blasted by the fully functioning small one. This results in as many as 15 near completely liquid toilet visits a day. Pretty grim. I cant imagine I am keeping up with the fluid loss. Smashing hydralite, water, broths etc.

Besides my ass becoming a red hot bed of searing pain, its also really rough to wipe because of the wound and the new small intestine join being on one side making it VERY sore to lean to.

Drawing on a level of mental fortitude now...

 

[Doctor Feel]

What the **** have we done to deserve this? My sister has just had a brain aneurysm and is in surgery at Flinders.

 

[Janey]

What the **** have we done to deserve this? My sister has just had a brain aneurysm and is in surgery at Flinders.

Unlike the old saying, people definitely don’t always get what they deserve. Hoping for the very best for you and your family.

 

[bomberclifford]

What the **** have we done to deserve this? My sister has just had a brain aneurysm and is in surgery at Flinders.

**** man, sorry to hear this.

 

[chiwigi]

What the **** have we done to deserve this? My sister has just had a brain aneurysm and is in surgery at Flinders.

****ing hell.

Nobody deserves anything like this, it’s just pure ****eupedness.

 

[240volt]

You spend enough time in hospital's you'll see and hear shocking things happening to people on a daily basis.
In our day to day life's these realities never cross our minds.
Fortunately there is also many positive outcomes with the improvement in medical treatments.
I've always believed as bad as I might think my problems have been there's always some poor sole worse off.
Hopefully the tragic events people in this thread are going through now will end up with a successful outcome.

 

[snozulu]

What the **** have we done to deserve this? My sister has just had a brain aneurysm and is in surgery at Flinders.

So sorry to hear mate

 

[Lagooner]

What the **** have we done to deserve this? My sister has just had a brain aneurysm and is in surgery at Flinders.

F@&king hell that’s just cruel. Hope she’s alright.

 

[Doctor Feel]

F@&king hell that’s just cruel. Hope she’s alright.

Induced coma in ICU. They operated. Not really much more known yet.

 

[rogerjames]

What the **** have we done to deserve this? My sister has just had a brain aneurysm and is in surgery at Flinders.

Oh that's horrible for all your family. Hoping that your sisters surgery is successful & that you start to get some relief soon. What you are going through sounds awful. Your family have been so unlucky.

 

[gbear]

Induced coma in ICU. They operated. Not really much more known yet.

So sorry to hear this. Hopefully it is just an induced coma to allow the brain to rest and heal.

 

[Doctor Feel]

Looks like I'm gonna be talking to the media today for a story about my experience.

 

[Portwon]

Hope your Sister goes well Feel and you continue to heal and all is good. Thank you for raising awareness amongst us all.

Putting some positive vibes out there.

Have had an older family member have challenges over the last couple of weeks (pretty much non communicative pretty intensive assistance) so much so that we had that dreaded late night call from the hospital and the prepare yourself speech from the doctors.

We go home with the intent of coming back early the next morning and decided to call the hospital first.

Speak to the nurse and she says did you want to speak to them and after we picked up our jaw from all the wtf's they put us though and the family member says"Hello is that you, I woke up this morning"

The human body and mind is an incredible thing.

 

[snozulu]

Looks like I'm gonna be talking to the media today for a story about my experience.

It's great for others to learn from your experiences and gain knowledge about their own health. I appreciate you for sharing here your journey and am grateful that you are on the recovery journey. Onward and upward my friend

 

[manureid]

Looks like I'm gonna be talking to the media today for a story about my experience.

If you dont slip a Sack Hinkley in then GTFO!