Nasty, Just plain Nasty

Thursdays’ seem to be my bad event day and yesterday was no exception. I made it home from the nuke session and was just sitting in the truck resting up when I felt a warm wet feeling.

Now I’m sure there are valid good warm wet feelings but none that I could remember ever happening while sitting in a truck parked in the driveway, by yourself.

Opps, look like I am a victim of a belly puke. One or more plugs in Wilbur have come undone and he is busily spewing the breakfast contents from this morning into my lap.

What a mess, all over the shirt, the jeans, in my lap, and when getting out I unload a fair amount on my shoes. Thursday has struck again.

Formal word is seven more radiation days after this Friday, and the nurse thinks two chemo days but still checking. Then the recovery begins.

Milestones in the recovery process, as I see them:
1. Filmore gone, gut plugged up
2. Mediport removed
3. Food by mouth,
4. Throat no longer raw as the dickens
5. Red neck reduced to farmer tan lines only
6. Back to work
7. Teeth or something close to them

Late entry – Fed-Ex delivered box from the lil bro, seems as I am no longer considered to be portly and the loss of my trade might be the end for Omar the tent maker. Anyway, in the box of L size shirts, there was a true rare gem. How John ended up with it is unknown but in the box is a one of a kind original handmade Deb shirt!

That’s right, way back in the days, before she became ex-wife#2, Deb made me several classic shirts, all in the Hawaiian style and all with pearl snaps. We were to poor to afford the fancy buttonhole maker for her sewing machine, but I could do the pearl snaps. This shirt is one of the last ones she made. I will post a picture of it later this week.

The second half of the Miriam or Donna shirts today:
Hawaiian bottle shirt in blue, but is it Duke blue?:

Weight today – 204
Hair loss – 3, found three short hairs in comb
Sunburn – getting tight and itchy,
Throat – dry and scratchy



It’s coming up on the weekend!! Lets party hardy

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Dust Bowl Dry

Drier than a West Texas Playa lake in August, we talking drier than OC Fisher in San Angelo, all shrunk up and cracked, that’s the condition I think my neck is in. ‘It’s accumulative’, that what they keep saying, what they should be saying is it isn’t going to be getting better for a while, just worse.

My neck is a dark tan, somewhat akin to the color and texture of an old, dried up saddle. Come to think of it, neatsfoot oil and saddle soap are about the only two things I haven’t tried on it to ease the burn.

On the plus side, I look like a oil rubbed bronze work of art, at least my neck does.

I plan on working from home again today, Yesterday it worked out a lot better than I thought, thanks to Alex getting the kinks out of my VPN connection.

Thanks for all you guys that weighed in on the ST disability issue, I have decided to move forward on it, I am being less effective every day and the stamina just isn’t there. After I logged off last night I think I was asleep in less than 5 mins, just sitting on the couch.

Today’s shirt is provided by ether Miriam or Donna, these two beautiful ladies sent me a couple of shirts but I don’t know if they were individually picked out or a joint effort. So today and tomorrow, shirts by Miriam and Donna!!

Hawaiian Sunset in Paradise Aloha shirt:

Feed bags hung - 1
Weight today – 206
Hair loss – none
Sunburn – maybe not as bad as yesterday,
Throat – dry and scratchy


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Hump Day Part Deux

Want to know what really chaps my butt? Forgetting to save my work, and then having windows forget to auto recover it. I am pretty sure I started today’s fine missive last night during one of my midnight strolls, made a pretty good start on it.

But I get up this morning and find that my computer decided to reboot last night and no auto recovery file to be found, dang it bobby, that’s just worong.

And seeing as I running a bit behind, and lost a lot of the stuff I put to paper, this post might take most of the day to get posted, pardon me while I save this.

Today’s shirt is from hunting buddy Marvin and his bride Sue, two good people from down Austin way, Marvin is somewhat of an oddity, he was actually raised in Austin, there aren’t that many people living there that can claim that status.

Anyway, true to form the Hawaiian shirt he sent me is green bamboo, jungle camouflage, but will work in a pinch with upland birds in Texas.

It is hump day that means I am looking down the barrel at Thursday. Historically Thursdays have been my bad days so this week I am going to try to come out on top.
It’s a lot of attitude and knowing when to push and when to back off.

Had a pretty good day at work yesterday, Bob and I improved a process reducing processing time by about 60%, good but we need a bit more. May try to work on that today again.

Still no decision on the short term disability need to talk to the HR lady and get more details.


-----> NEWS FLASH It's official I now have 9 nuke days remaining NEWS FLASH <---

Weight today – didn’t weigh
Hair loss – none
Sunburn – worst day yet
Throat – really scratchy (wonder if related to red neck)


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Tuesday !

So, yesterday pope Buford comes by after work to check on me, or did he?, perchance he wanted to ensure that I had actually worn that fine shirt he provided. Proof is what you see is what you get. As I opened the door I am pretty sure the flash of orange cause him to take a step back , shield his eyes and realize the shirt was on.

So today I wear one from Sissy, and as like the one from Monday, it to is a parrot shirt, it is a subtler shade of red, adorned with purple parrots. Looks like last week was fish this week parrots, so far.

Dudes, these are some fine shirts, if I was up to kicking up my heels I would be out at the bar strutting my stuff. Guess the ladies will have to wait it out till I’m man about town again.

Chemo went fine, still feeling the Mr. Happy bag of drugs that is included with the course of treatments. Without that one I would had been in bed at least twice by now, instead I am about to go enjoy another double chocolate shake of the low carb design.

Dr. Visit went well except for low blood pressure, seems losing 32 pounds might have had a good effect on the blood pressure and now the benicar is working too well, my new instructions are to watch the blood pressure.

Also Dr Nguyen was very pleased he could no longer feel the secondary mass that was so apparent in my neck at the start of treatment, and that’s a good thing.

Looks like the plan going forward is going to be something like this; end of mission is on the day of the last radiation treatment, that’s ether 30 March or 3 April. Healing and recovery should run for about four to six weeks with a PET scan scheduled around week 6. This tells the tale; the PET scan is used to locate any active sites that might have survived.

I think today or tomorrow I make a decision on short term disability, it’s getting harder and harder to get to and stay on task at work, I’m just so tired. That I think is the worst part of this, being so tired all the time.


After a few sips of clamato juice I decided to pass on the rest of it. I’ll try something new today.

Weight today – 207 might be due to the 3 liters of fluid I received yesterday
Hair loss – none
Sunburn – not so bad


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Monday!

So here is the deal, my main peeps that have been hauling me to chemo are trapped on a cruise ship at sea and unavailable. I’m sure they are having a bad time having to drink and party all day and such, so keep them in your thoughts,

Meanwhile Bruce shows up in the purple assault vehicle festooned with more antenna than a RC-12N Guardrail, seems spotter activation was required this morning and now I am traveling to chemo inside a what I hope is a true faraday cage in the event one of the thirteen eleven antennas decides to act a conductor for natures big spark.

So what radio is on? FM, light jazz. At least we are a spectacle as we tool down the interstate looking all official and cool.

Most days are like yesterday; get up eat, sleep , get up , eat, sleep, get up , sleep etc.etc till dark then eat and sleep. Just a tad low on the energy, not a lot of get up and go, it got up and went.

Today’s shirt brought to you courtesy of pope Buford, a fine shirt that can double as a hunting shirt if the need to show blaze orange arises. Me I like the parrots.

Managed to drink about ¼ of a banana malt via straw! Only took 3 hours.

% chemo complete: 85.17 – 1 chemo days left unless they change it
% radiation complete: 68.57 – 11 sessions remaining
Weight today – 205.5
Hair loss – none
Sunburn – painful


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Ralph!

Saturday night on a Saint Paddy day and it unfolds like this all around the world. Thousands of revelers driving the big bus, praying at the porcelain throne, calling their buddy Ralph. But they all had one thing in common, green beer or copious amounts of alcohol.

Not me, I’m on the wagon for the duration, and poking wine or scotch down a feeding tube is just to crass even for me. So who has opposable thumbs and is in the finals for training for the vomit comet? That’s right baby, pedro is, that’s who.

Last night I guess I just over ate. Three cans of goodness down the feeding tube and then I have validation as to why they flavor this stuff. Pretty sure two cans worth hit the return to sender button, ya gotta love those big ol trash cans, Yummy vanilla.

Not saying I went to bed hungry, just a tad light on the nutritional meter for last night. Looking forward to seeing what today brings. Throat is a little scratchy this morning, wonder why?

Over on six-man football a football buddy gave this description, and I liked it so much I want to share “ . . . To kill all your taste buds gargle with gasoline about 5 minutes at a time 5-6 times a day (remember that taste from sipohin gas to go cruzin as a teenager from someone elses car?). Next cut a small hole in yer gut with a dull rusty pocket knife (yes you can use evercleer for sedation but it's just going to run out when you poke the hole). Stick a piece of garden hose in the hole and superglue it in place. Put a funnel on the end of the hose and pour in a bucket of carp guts that's set in the sun about a week. This should simulate the nausea. Now hold a blow torch up to yer throat to get that burnin feelin. Now do the full workout in the afternoon sun till ya pass out to get that exhausted feelin.”

51eleven has done went and hit a home run with that one. Some times greatness is just thrust upon you.


% chemo complete: 71.42 – 2 chemo days left
% radiation complete: 65.71 – 12 sessions remaining
Weight today – 204
Hair loss – none
Sunburn – really, really painful


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Another Trophy on The Wall

Might not be the largest one ever, maybe not the meanest, but he was sure the most destructive in a long time. We’re talking about Mickey’s cousin, Wilbur the rat, the one with a taste for washing machines.

Seems he was revisiting the scene of the crime and found out about sticky pads. Yeah, they work good, he’s not going anywhere anytime soon. That's one stuck up rat.

Felt bad about the gecko though, oh well, collateral damages did occur. But the washing machine remains intact, and that’s a good thing. Sticky mats remain in the off chance Wilbur had a cohort.


No shirt today because no treatments, just healing. I am looking forward to a great Saturday.
No great projects to take on today, maybe just a sit and vegetate day, no reason to get excited, nothing to see here, just move along.


Weight today – 203.5
Hair loss – none
Sunburn – really painful


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Friday, Fun and Games

Just when I thought I had beat Nadir Thursday’s it ups and bites me. First gag and puke at the train station, then more to follow through out the evening. At least it does seem to settle down a bit over night. Think I’ll try working from home today. Less distraction if I’m gagging over a local trash can than at the office.

Throat and neck are all toasty, radiation burns keeping them that away. I apply the special cream after treatments but it is being less and less effective. I am developing a real bad sunburn.

All the above are issues I was told I would face so it’s not like any big surprise just wish they had missed a few.

Anne is the provider of the fine orange koi fish shirt which is described by the shipping documents as a Hawaiian shirt(green), Kam Koi shirt. Right now it’s bit large on my smaller frame than normal but after I put back on a few it’ll fit perfect.

Purple flowers and cute orange koi fish

Weight today – 204
Hair loss – none
Sunburn – really getting there now.
Throat - getting better


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Red Fish – Black Fish – More Fish

Today’s shirt is the second of the shirts brought to you by Pawl the troll motor. A beautiful shirt in the classic pattern of vintage sealife crafted out of what I like to refer to as women’s underwear material. Soft, smooth, slinky, ya got to love it, feels good, but in black. Gotta love re-purposing previous posts.

Ya know why insurance cost are so high? Let me tell you. The insurance company sent me 3 big boxes of Filmore food. In each big box were four cases of twenty-four cans of food. Are you with me? We are talking about ninety-six cans per big box. I’ve used almost two cases so all I have left is two big boxes (192 cans) and two cases (48 cans).

So they are now going to send me the low carb version to help with the blood sugar. What about the rest of this fine stuff? Can’t take it back, once shipped, it’s used. For sale, tasty, delicious, vanilla flavored nutrient shakes, cheap.

This just goes to show you can’t fix stupid, not even with duct tape. May be some one out there that needs it and can’t afford it, just got to find them.

Today is the traditional nadir day but I woke up feeling pretty darn good. Maybe I‘ve broke the cycle.

Laundry room update; A new new discharge hose has been installed and loads of laundry were done with out spilling a drop. Thanks again to Josh for fixing me up.

I think I might be getting used to the mask, yesterday I fell asleep at the end, woke myself up with a snore but no panic, just the proper amount of embarrassment.


Weight today – 205
Hair loss – none
Sunburn – fair to middling, I am a true red neck now.


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You want fish? I’ll give you fish

Today’s shirt is brought to you by Pawl the troll motor. A beautiful shirt in the classic pattern of vintage sealife crafted out of what I like to refer to as women’s underwear material. Soft, smooth, slinky, ya got to love it, feels good,

Yesterday was one of those cause and effect days. The Drs have been riding my butt about losing too much weight; hence the feeding tube. So yesterday the issue was the blood sugar levels are way to high. So what is the cause of the high blood sugar? It seems like the cans of joy that go down FIlmore tube are a bit heavy on the carbs.

The nutritionist wants me to be downing 7 cans a day, each can has 42.3 carbs, that’s a total of 296.1 grams of carbs, guess this isn’t an Akins type of diet.

Anyway, the final result was two new meds, and a warning to watch my blood sugar. Watch it what? It’s a function of the damn food you want me to eat. This just goes to show you can’t fix stupid, not even with duct tape.

I suppose today I will have to call the nutritionist and get the low carb version of Filmore juice.

On the plus side, got the two legged coach here for a visit and young nephew Seattle, wish I could do more with them but I’m not on spring break.

On the minus side, flood in the laundry room; seems the new discharge hose has developed a crack, one that leaks a little more with each use, At least it wasn’t a big flood as in days past, but just enough to really tick me off. But it’s not getting to me . . .

Weight today 208
Blood sugar - before feeding - 136
Blood sugar - 1 hr after feeding - tbd


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ACE in Action - Air Combat Element

Like all good operations, movement to contact, observation, supporting fires, resupply and retrograde, The ACE plays a huge part. The shirt today is from Air Warrior, He’s got a lot on his plate right now but he is staying in touch and providing support.

AW darling wife person is the worlds greatest mom to my two grand kids and those two are pretty much the worlds best any way.

Sunday was great, my mom and sister showed up, I got to interact with the three young un’s and I might be agreeing that the youngest is a possible serial killer in progress, cute smile just as he destroys the unbreakable.

Today’s visitors included a mysterious man that stole my full trash bag and left me an empty, right after the cardboard box parts on the porch disappeared. This evening I went out to clean it up, and it was done, big thanks on that one. BTW - you aren’t fooling anyone, I know who you are, I’ll thank you in person.

How is it, since I cant eat/ aren’t eating anything by mouth, there is always a sink full of dishes? I use a couple of glasses when Filmore get attended to but I always wash them up so I can use them at the next sitting.

Momma Jackson, you are slacking, you need to get your butt over here and pick up after your kid. All funning aside, Brandon who I refer to a trusty sidekick has been a boon to me during this adventure. Hopefully by the end of this, I will have him house broke.

Got to go eat my fill and go get nuked, what a day this is going to be.

Late in posting as day light saving times got to me. But alls good now

Here the shirt:

Lots and lots of attack choppers on it, looking good and feeling fine, but one of the nurses quested it, wanted to know where the fish were, inside of course.

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The End Is Nearing

Yes sir, that’s right, week five starts today and that means there are but three scant weeks left to endure. Fifteen ,15, treatment days, it’s not over by a long shot but three weeks from now there won’t be a chemo day and the mask is but a bad memory.

Hard to believe that I’ve come this far this fast with only a few bumps in the road. They seemed a whole lot larger when they were occurring but looking back I don’t see then as such a big deal now.

From this point forward I am wearing the KcS [Kill charley Shirts], that I’ve been given, they were a lot of support even when just hanging there on the wall waiting to be worn.

Today’s shirt is a joint effort between Ron and Laynette, a smooth subtle pink thing adorned with pink flamingos a tropical isles paradises, plus I’ll be looking good in it.

So far the nausea express is still sitting at the ready, I’ve managed to keep the beast under control with the ginger caps and the prescription meds, so it’s only a matter of waiting it out.


This morning 205
hitting the 7 can limit with ease so weight loss should hold here


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