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Showing posts from June, 2019

THE FACES OF MY CANCER – ‘THAT PART’.

Some may find the visual aids within to be too emotional for many people. The written media also targets at the minimum 14 years plus.) Here are some pictures from various stages of my Cancer treatment. “I have always been highly spiritual. Rarely religious. My Queen Heals Me Spiritually AS YOU CAN SEE I LOOKED FINE. But, I had slowly been feeling flu like symptoms for a few weeks at this point . I spent most mornings reflecting about life. Subliminal messages telling me to beware. I should have not procrastinated. Night-sweats  became  day-sweats 7 I have a strong survivalists side. I do not lay down in a battle. It is an Irish Gene tic Inheritance. There’s humour in all instances of life. I soon had to find reasons to smile. Hospital stay 7. Combined weeks since January 4th, 2019, equal 19, so far. The smiles are half truths. I hide many emotions. Or rather, I ‘used’ to hide them. Now, I let the truth be told. THE PRINCESS MARGARET CA

GOT THEM MONDAY CANCER BLUES

When it comes to the Cancers, it’s the constant “ hurry-up and wait”  game that lays responsible for fifty percent of my stress. I despise waiting, unless for a cab or a bus. Waiting on the Specialists, the Surgeons, the Radiologist Oncologist, the Surgical Oncologist, the General Practitioners and the various Nurse, Psych and Support Staff is extremely nerve wracking. This is compounded by the seriousness of my current status. I am now classified as “ Late Stage 4 Squamous Cell Carcinoma”.  Presently, “ Non-Treatable”. “Terminal”  if suitable and efficient therapy is not developed. That is “ Stephen King Scary.” In Princess Margaret Cancer Center’s defence, I must say that no singular party is the blame. The system is well stretched to the maximum, yet the Hospital still manages to get the patients through. Yes, we may have to wait. Not long for most procedures or test results. Usually with in hours as an in-patient and a day as an out-patient. I have many an occasio

THE FEAR OF CANCER CONTINUED

Today, May 30th, 2019, I attended the Head & Neck Cancer Clinic in the marvelous Princess Margaret Cancer Center. This was the appointment I so eagerly awaited in my previous blog, “ The Fear of Cancer”. I was not expecting good news. Many years ago I had trained myself to always expect the worst in this type of a situation. “ Why, you ask?” If I expect the worse, then no matter what the diagnosis is to be I will be relieved as it is not the worst. By the way, “ It was the worse I have heard so far.” Soooooo, I will break down the first three parts. I will be receiving 39 sessions in a hypobaric chamber. They average 1 to 2 hours per session. As you all know, from the previous and numerous blogs, now that the tumors have been destroyed by the radical radiation, I am plagued with ulcers of a yet ‘ unknown’  type growing in the pockets of necrosis flesh left behind by the diminishing tumors. These come in three types. 1) Non-cancerous ordinary ulcers 2) Cancer

THE FEAR OF CANCER

Not often I have ' fear '. I have it now. I fear that I may not beat this cancer. I was diagnosed on October 22nd, 2018, with Pharyngeal and Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Stage four. I was past the ability to be treated via chemotherapy and conventional radiation. My only three options were let nature take her course or surgery to remove my complete tongue and lymph nodes ( leaving me with zero quality of life) or receive radical aggressive radiation. I chose the latter. Receiving a double session twice per day for twenty days. The actual treatment was easy. Just lay down, strapped in a cage and a mere fifteen minutes listening to Pink Floyd as the machine's robotic arms did their task. I was pleased when on March the first I completed the therapy and was told it had succeeded in killing all the tumors. What I didn't understand at that time was the worse part comes after the therapy. As the tumors diminished the damage from the radiation and cancer surfaces. Thi