I guess it is time for me to update the membership on my health condition. We have had such a large influx of new members lately that many are not aware of what I have gone through for the last 2 ½ years.
In June of 2005 I was diagnosed with lung cancer (fairly large tumors in both lungs). I was given 3 to 7 months to live and was quite devastated. My Oncologist put me on heavy chemo therapy including the relatively new drug called Avastin(not yet covered by Medicare or other insurance and very expensive). During the 7 months of this treatment I lost 30 pounds and since I only weighed 160 to start with you can imagine I looked like a walking skeleton. However the tumors had been reduce to almost nothing. Since that time I have gained the 30 lost pounds back.
Then over a year and a half had gone by and I had a stroke. This made by left side fairly useless. Six months after that I was diagnosed with an abdominal aortic aneurysm close to a size where a rupture could occur however it was located where stints were not an option. The entire organ would have to be replace. My Vascular Surgery said that there would be a 10% chance I would not make it though the operation and we should continue to monitor it’s size. I had a scan last week and the aneurysm has not increased in size.
That all seems to be good news - however my last PET test revealed that lung tumors have resurfaced and I started back on a chemo therapy regiment yesterday.
I have been unable to continue woodworking since by Oncologist told me that the almost 60 years of breathing all the saw dust (especially all the exotic stuff) probably had as much to do with the lung cancer as my 55 years of smoking did. Of course that is debatable but does sound reasonable. It was really hard for me to quit and it look quite some time. But now I am smoke free and have been for 6 months.
Having to quit woodworking was hard to take since it has been by passion for near 60 years. I was quite curtailed with all my other activities as well during this long recovery period. Chemo therapy is certainly no picnic, especially for such a long period and what effect it has on your body not counting the effects of the lung cancer itself and the breathing problems it creates.
The Cancer Institute here is a remarkable place and they do wonders. Hopefully the treatments they have me on now will stifle the present tumors. They have kept me alive for more than 2 years from the initial prognosis so why not a little longer.
I was the initial moderator of Sawmill Creek when it was formed and still hold that position . Since we have grown and added many more moderators (and darn good ones at that) the job has not been a problem lately.
This is a long winded post, but I have been getting PM’s and e-mails lately from my long term friends here wanting a health update so I thought it would be better to post here than answering all of them.
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