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Oh, Sweet, Thanks

Cobra, sorry to hear that your medical bills are so high, but it sounds like Bounce had some good advice for ya, I never knew it at least. If you get approved for Medicaid they might pay the bills you

I hate cigarettes and will make it a point to push a smoker out of my way if I have to to reach fresh air.... As far as the other stuff goes...I've always heard that smoking weed was what helped canc

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"The unwise man awake all night,

Thinking of this and that-

tosses, sleepless and is tired at morn;

nor lighter for that, his load." Havaml 23

 

Worry gains you nothing, though usually allows other adversaries to blind side you. Stay positive.

When rage grips you(and it will) find an outlet, but NOT those that are there for you. A heavy bag or simple physical labor are great de-stressers.

 

Take joy in the battle, for the warrior is sad and lost when battle is done.

 

May Luck, Science and the Gods be with my friend,

Mikel

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Just got back from the hospital around 4 PM EST...

 

Just Got a call from TJ's mom... he was in recovery until six O'clock...

 

The Mass is Malignant... they are certain of that... it will take at least 2 days on the biopsy to come back with exactly what he is facing... they are thinking bone..

 

More info as I get it...

 

Please continue to keep TJ and Shannon in your prayers.....

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Just got back from the hospital around 4 PM EST...

 

Just Got a call from TJ's mom... he was in recovery until six O'clock...

 

The Mass is Malignant... they are certain of that... it will take at least 2 days on the biopsy to come back with exactly what he is facing... they are thinking bone..

 

More info as I get it...

 

Please continue to keep TJ and Shannon in your prayers.....

 

that sucks!new prayers sent ,for the amount of money spent on research you would think the dam disease would be old news by now.

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Really sorry to hear the news Shannon.

 

I know several people that have had cancer, and have a couple of family members that have had different kinds, one that does currently and is beating it, and the odds are in your favor these days. Its not like it was 50 years ago.

 

Stay strong, keep your spirits up and you will beat it.

 

I will be pulling for you both.

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After reading some inspirational posts in Juggs "Cancer Survival Stories" thread....Thanks BTW Drew! I thought it might be a good idea to post a little more detailed info on what I have and what we plan to do about it. Maybe that will help if someone sees something they can identify with, I don't know...

 

First off, like I said at the beginning, I didn't think anything of it at first. I thought maybe it was nothing more than a flue bug or something causing my lymph node to swell on that side. I've seen that many times before. I was blessed with a pretty good immune system and hardly ever get sick. I hope that isn't changing now that I'm 44....

It went away (I thought) at first, then came back again a month or so later.

Seemed to go down again, then back again.... (That's when I should have had the damn thing checked out!:killer: )

 

That was about last Oct or so.

 

Then over the coming months it slowly grew bigger and bigger, but still didn't hurt. I didn't know what it was but with no insurance, and going through some really tight and tough times, I didn't think I could afford to find out. So like a dumbass, I waited...and waited...and it grew, and grew.

Then over the past 4 or 5 months I have been really worried about it because it was growing bigger and starting to hurt, but I still didn't have the extra money to go get it looked at, for fear that they would tell me I needed surgery, and I would get caught up in a snowball of mounting doctor bills before I could even find a way to pay for it. I was also trying very hard to finally get a successful business going here. I couldn't see just checking into the ER like some crimigrant, and start adding up a huge tab I had no intention or ability to pay for. If everyone that owed me money would get off their ass and PAY ME, it sure would be helpful, and would have been a long time ago.

 

 

This part here is something that I want to share with anyone who thinks they cannot afford to go seek help they need because of their financial situation....If you have some kind of extreme condition (like if it turns out to be cancer), you can automatically qualify for Medicaid and they will pick up at least most of the tab. Do NOT do like I did aand wait forever to get something checked out, when your LIFE could hang in the balance!! There are many many ways the hospitals and other places have options to help those who can't afford the extremely high costs of health care. This info should be made much more public. It would have helped me and it could have possibly helped my Aunt who we lost to Ovarian Cancer about ten yrs ago...

 

So finally I was able to get in a program that helped me pay for the doctor visit, and long weeks later, an ultrasound. Then, just as I suspected, I was immediately scheduled for even more expensive appointments, which I had my first one at UNC. Now I find out that I will qualify for Medicaid and can finally stop worrying so much about the money it's costing for everything, and get to finally doing something about the problem. I'm still gonna have to struggle to keep busy and take care of everything here at home while I'm going through all this crap, but I can bust ass like usual and do that I hope. They say the chemo and radiotherapy is gonna really make me feel like shit so I really don't know what to expect. I'll still be taking orders though and will let y'all know if I don't have the ability to fill them for awhile. I DO NOT see that happening though because Racegal is going to be helping me through this. I can still do everything I've been doing service wise, and I'll keep carrying all the parts I sell in my store.

 

Now for the plan...sorry this is taking so many words...it's helping me to write all this shit down, trust me.

 

1. First they want to take out my tonsils. They did two CT scans which I haven't seen results from yet, but hopefully it hasn't migrated (or "metastasized") down into other areas like my other lymph nodes and lungs...<prays hard>

He said he hopes they find it hiding in my Rt tonsil that's a little larger than my left one, but otherwise looks normal to the naked eye. He said it may have started there and then moved into my lymph nodes in my neck (like FatBoy's did...BTW thank you for that success story FatBoy!).

I'm scheduled for surgery on Oct 6th.

 

2. They want to get my teeth checked out good before starting radiation treatments and chemotherapy. Seems if you have any cavities or anything, the radiation gets in there and fucks something up...

So it's the dentist's turn then to poke and prod and cut and whatever....ughhhh...haven't seen one of them in a few years so not lookin forward to that either.

 

3. Then as soon as that's done I can finally begin treatment for the cancer. The swelling and the tumors are too large and invasive in my neck and throat to just go carving it all out, so they plan to try and shrink it down (hopefully all the way) with 7 WEEKS of chemothrapy and radiation treatments.:cryss:

The chemo doesn't kill this type of cancer but it does somehow magnify or speed up the way the radiation does. So it will be on day of chemo per week, and 5 days of radiation. I'll fortunately get Sat and Sun off to rest. It's a one hour drive each way to UNC and back, but that's better than having to drive farther like many people have had to do for this kind of stuff.

 

4. If they can't kill it all the way down, they will then do surgery to try and remove what's left, and again.....I'm praying hard it hasn't spread farther than they knew at the time we made this plan.

 

Side effects.....ughhh.....

 

1. Tonsillectomy sucks! I love ice cream but I can't live off the shit! From what I hear though, I won't feel like swallowing even that! That blows cause I love to eat and they said I need to fatten up now to help with the next one....

2. Weight loss...They say I'm gonna drop some pounds. I don't know if it's just the radiation that does that or the next side effect....

3. Dry mouth...they say radiation kills saliva production, so I will have to keep water with me all the time to keep my mouth wet, and won't be able to swallow worth a damn. So much for solid foods.....They said I may even have to have a feeding tube put in so I can even get the liquid diet to my stomach. Dammit! That sound real fun...

4. Gotta cut out my main diet...BEER! FUCK!!! I want it now more than ever! It helps my nerves and also helps me sleep. And I love the taste!

I'm willing to do all this shit though if it saves my life, and only had two yesterday (last night).

5. PAIN.....hmmmmm...don't care too much for that either....They said they will hook me up on that though! Opiates= GOOD! Poppy's are our friends! Right Pauly?

6. TIME....I didn't think I had enough time to do what I gotta do already...now this shit....Well if it buys me 40 or so more years of time I guess I can do whatever they want to do with me...just please let me live through this shit!

 

Well that's it for now, and I've worn out these two fingers so it's off to get some used tires put on my truck, so I can get the damn thing inspected, and get my past due tag renewed before they start fining me for that shit....and so I don't have to worry about these maypops wrecking me on one of these many trips to Chapel Hill I have coming up.

 

Thank you for letting me spill all this crap here and for being my friends.:super:

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We will be here to support you. Luckily with my incidents, they just cut the tissue out and that was that.

 

In case you are wondering about radiation and chemo, the process is actually kind of interesting. I initially refused to undergo either, but now that I am informed, it would not bother me to have to go through it now.

 

Chemotherapy is simply injecting chemicals (drugs) which kills cells regardless of whether they are good or bad. The trick is that it affects cells that multiply rapidly while leaving others (like brain tissue) unharmed. Cancer cells are different than normal body cells, almost like the magical stem cells that we have. They can multiply like mad which is why chemotherapy rapes the cancer cells. While cancerous cells can multiply like crazy, the trade off is that they cannot repair sequencing problems in the DNA... this leads to the next topic... radiation therapy.

 

Radiation therapy works by using tightly focused beams of radiation to destroy cells. This is much like an X-ray. A little bit is ok over time.. a lot at once is bad. Radiation causes DNA damage which is non-lethal to the individual cells. The healthy cells quickly repair the induced sequencing errors and all is well. The cancer cells, however, do not fix the added errors in their sequence and continue to multiply, passing those errors to the new cells. With each added radiation session, those cancer cells get scrambled more and more until they eventually suffer lethal damage or are screwed up so bad that they can no longer multiply.

 

In each case, you own body works to fight off the negative effects of the treatment.

 

I know that when people think of bizarre chemicals and radiation they think "this is the shit that causes cancer". The treatment seems counter-intuitive and even scary to those who are faced with it. Hopefully this helps relieve any concerns. :)

 

Stay strong.

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You hang in there buddy, and spill all you need to, lots of big shoulders around here.

 

Just to let you know...not everyone reacts to the various treatments the same. Sue had surgery,chemo, and radiation, as I recall she only had an upset stomach two or three times, took the medicine for that and that was it. Oh yeah, she did loose all of her hair, well actually...she made me cut it all off with the clippers so the fucken cancer wouldn't get it :haha:

 

Dean

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Cobra, you are quite the stud to be able to share this info with everyone. I can't imagine how

hard this is going to be for you guys. Thanks for the details because it gives us something

very specific to help direct our prayers. You guys stay strong and we'll keep praying for

healing.

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Still prayin for you guys...

 

FWIW, my mother had both radiation and chemo.. She said the chemo made her feel a little bad, but the radiation was painless and did not make her feel bad. I am about 40 miles west of UNC. If I can help with anything, don't hesitate to ask.

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Thanks again guys!

Hey I forgot to mention the good news. It was about the only good news they told me.

 

I get to keep my hair!!! Apparently this type of treatment doesn't cause your hair to fall out like it does with breast cancer patients.

 

Yay!!! That shit was worrying me a lot.

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Thanks again guys!

Hey I forgot to mention the good news. It was about the only good news they told me.

 

I get to keep my hair!!! Apparently this type of treatment doesn't cause your hair to fall out like it does with breast cancer patients.

 

Yay!!! That shit was worrying me a lot.

 

Thats good to here,Ya know that was one of the first things i thought of when Racegal came on and said it was Cancer,but i didnt want to mention it...im behind ya all the way bud,oh and wife says hope all goes well also.

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Shannon, the radiation and chemo are going to make you feel weak and not want to eat. Eat, no matter how much it sickens you. If you go without food when you're healthy, you notice the difference. If you go without food while recovering, it's gonna take longer and the treatment will be less effective. Eat the shit out of whatever you can get. If flavor is what it takes to get you to eat, get some really strong flavored stuff in you.

 

You like Indian food? The point of the way they cook is to get the appetite up of people working in the heat. Also.... to hide rotten meat, but let's ignore that.

 

I made up some meatloaves last night. I put so much stuff in those, the whole house smells amazing. Don't worry about overdoing the fat or calories in your diet at this point, you're gonna need all of it.

 

I understand the ice cream being awesome but also not interesting if even eaten twice a day. It just gets boring. When you're restricted to liquids, your favorite soup + a blender is good. Also fruits and veggies in a blender is good. Carrots suck up until the point you want something with a lot of flavor! Maybe find a friend that rides dirt bikes a lot, ask them what's good on a liquid diet! They sure like their jaws wired.

 

Good luck punching cancer in the face.

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Sorry to bump this thread again...I know it's depressing. I wanted to let y'all know that I got the results back today from the two CT scans they did (head & neck, and chest)...GREAT NEWS!!! It hasn't metastasized into my lungs or anywhere below my neck! I've been extremely worried about that, given the time it has had to run it's course. Maybe I can actually SLEEP tonight! :super:

 

Have a great weekend everyone and thank you for all the prayers and good thoughts. They must be working!:)

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