Heading Home

Yes! I am finally going back to the house on the cliff in Aticama.  On Monday the 6th of May I will be taking a bus from Bakersfield to the Tijuana airport to catch an early morning (1:45 a.m.) flight to Guadalajara and then a bus to Aticama.

When I arrived at my brother Rick's house the last week in September, I thought I would be back in Aticama for the holidays but that was not to be.   What could have been a simple surgery to remove a lesion from the top of my head turned out to be way more complicated.  With all the red tape involved in getting my Medicare card the surgery was delayed until December 10th and then with the holidays everything took longer than it should have.

My brother Rick and his wife Karen welcomed me into their home and there was never any discussion about  wearing out my welcome; it was made clear that I could stay as long as it took.  My proposed visit of a few weeks turned out to be over 7 months.  Thanks, Bro!

Also, thanks to Rick and Karen, I have a new laptop computer to keep up with the blog and email.  You know how they say "You can pick your friends but you can't pick your family?", even if I could pick my family I think you all know it would be an easy decision!

Good News!

Cancer Update

On Tuesday the 16th I had appointments with the three doctors responsible for my cancer treatment.  The ENT who first discovered the tumor on my tongue told me he couldn't find any remaining evidence of the tumor and after feeling my neck he pronounced the affected lymph node to be back to normal.  The doc that handled the 7 weekly chemo treatments checked me out and simply said "Congratulations!".  The doc who supervised the 7 weeks of daily radiation therapy agreed with the other two doctors and feels the cancer is all gone.  He did say that he was surprised at how well I came through the radiation and when I asked him why he said "Very few patients come through as well as you did".

The radiation treatments covered the area from just below my nose to about two inches below my shoulders and there was some skin irritation involved but it was light.  Out of all of the side effects that I read about on the internet, mine were few and not that bad at all.

The bad:  My taste buds were affected so that I had a bad taste in my mouth constantly and most things I ate tasted like cardboard.  My saliva glands were affected to my mouth was extremely dry at times.  Nothing to complain about as most people who have the same treatment I did cannot swallow and wind up with a feeding tube.

The good:  All of the hair follicles in the treatment area have temporarily gone dormant.  Why is this listed under "The good"?  No shaving for now and no trimming of those annoying "old man" hairs on my ears!

My next appointment is during the last week of June for a full body PET scan which is the only way to be sure the cancer is all gone.  I will have to have a scan every 4-4 months for the next 5 years!

Six months of news in one post!

Dear Followers:

Some of you have emailed asking about my lack of posting.  I don't like to include anything negative in my blog so I have delayed covering this topic until I knew most of the facts and found them to be more positive than negative!

I developed a growth on one of the many bald places on the top of my head and returned to the states in September for medical treatment and have been staying with my brother Rick and his family for six months now.

After removal of the lesion from the top of my head and lab analysis, it turned out to be a not-so-good form of cancer prompting further tests.  After completing all of the latest and greatest tests available, all they found was a tumor on the back of my tongue and involvement of the lymph nodes in my neck.  That is all the bad news!  

Absolutely no other cancer in my entire body.  I was surprised as I have been a smoker and heavy drinker for 50 years!  All of my blood work, xrays, ekgs, etc. surprised the doctors and they said that my results were more fitting to someone 20 years younger.  Rather than take that as a recommendation to continue smoking and drinking, I started on Chantix to quit smoking an am happy to report I have just completed my third week smokeless.  I have not quit drinking but have cut down to only one or two cocktails a week!

Good news is that I lucked into one of the premier cancer treatment centers west of the Mississippi, CBCC Comprehensive Blood and Cancer Center (Bakersfield, CA)  which is affiliated with UCLA.  Rather than surgery, they elected to treat my cancer with chemo and radiation.  My last treatments are on April 3rd completing a 7 week M-F schedule .  More good news is that all three specialists who are treating me agree that I am doing much better than expected and they give a 90% estimate that the treatment will be 100% successful!  The "average" news is that I will not know for sure until mid-July as they have to wait 3 months after treatment to do a full body PET scan to make sure all of the cancer is gone.

The normal side effects of chemo and radiation are (in no particular order): Nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, hair loss, constipation, diarrhea (don't know why they always list these two together), fatigue, insomnia, and trouble swallowing.  Since my radiation is being applied only to the throat and neck we get to add:  Sore throat, loss of taste buds, blisters on skin where radiation is applied, dry mouth, change in saliva, more trouble swallowing (many patients have to have a feeding tube), weight loss, change of voice, and several others I am probably forgetting.

My side effects have been limited to: A change in taste buds which makes all food taste pretty bland; some irritation of the skin on my neck (similar to a severe sun burn), minor pain at the site of the tumor and insomnia (as I recall, I have always had insomnia).  So, all things considered, I am going through the treatment like a walk in the park. 

I could and would return to Aticama the second week of April but my little brother is having knee replacement surgery on April 16th and I will stay as long as needed to help with his recovery!   According to the docs, that may not take too long so I may be back home by mid-May, returning to the USA only for testing about every 4 months (with a visit at my brother's home as an added bonus).

Next post April 17th after my exit examinations by three specialists.  Wish me luck!