Starting treatment on Monday

bbb

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
will pray for a speedy recovery michael
i know with your determination you will be cancer free....:)
larry
 

Michael Andros

tiny balls, GIANT pockets
Silver Member
will pray for a speedy recovery michael
i know with your determination you will be cancer free....:)
larry

Thanks Larry, sincerely.


Now... that said, I have to tell you I would feel MUCH BETTER about everything if I had a beautiful sideways Joss West to keep me company and give me pep talks! THEN I would feel the planets were REALLY aligned in my favor!

WINK WINK WINK
:yeah:
 
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Matt_24

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Since Garczar first posted the thread about my being diagnosed with throat cancer, numerous people here, most of whom I do not know, even casually, have reached out in the thread with encouragement and best wishes. There is no way I can really describe how much that has meant to me. And, again, my thanks go out to everyone for the kind words and other things as well. I have also received many private messages with those same encouragements and best wishes. Due to so many of those, and so many here in the forum itself, I am going to let everyone know, here, that I am starting chemo and radiation treatments ( at one of the most highly rated cancer hospitals in the country, which I am lucky enough to have within driving distance ) on Monday. 6 weeks of radiation 5 days a week and chemo, weekly, for 6 weeks as well.

It's going to be a bumpy flight. But I'll do what needs done, then I'll move on with my life.

Many of you expressly asked me for updates and for that reason, mainly, I am posting this. I deeply appreciate everyone's attitudes, feelings and thoughts. Thank you all.


So... here we go. Off to see the wizard.

Michael, I'm wishing you all the best. The AZB community was very supportive of me as well when I was going through my cancer ordeal in 2007. Now, I'm 12 years clear last March and very thankful. The whole experience, while so frightening and monumental at the time, doesn't even seem real now. It's very surreal. Sending positive vibes your way that this is nothing but a stumbling block in the adventure of life for you as well. I wish you good health and to experience a lot of positive from this tragedy as well -- new friendships made, knowledge learned, loving relationships strengthened. All the best!

P.S. I'll add -- don't believe everything your doctors tell you either. Trust and respect them, but take some of what they say with a grain of salt. Don't let it upset you. My radiation therapists said even with nausea medication I would throw up daily. I had to receive a measurement of 28 Gray over 4 weeks to the abdominal area. I never threw up once. I went to work every morning, radiation treatment in the afternoon, and kept a pretty normal schedule. I was frightened, but tried to treat it like nothing out of the ordinary. A year after treatment, from a CT scan the Doc called and told me I had recurrence and I would have to start a different treatment. I went into a deep depression and was scared out of my mind. I'm not too proud to say that. I wasn't even 30 years old yet....had a new daughter. I had a lot going on. I emailed my info to Dr. Lawrence Einhorn, the foremost expert in the type of cancer I had, and the inventor of the chemo treatment that made that cancer a once, 98% death rate, to one of the most curable cancers. Guess what...he wrote me back. And he told me that based on the data he didn't think it was recurrence and recommended continued observation. Well, we did some additional biopsies and then surgical biopsies and guess what... it was a benign condition. Which I'm grateful for. I say all that, just to say....always get a second opinion.
 
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hitman22

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Hang in Mike.I just started chemo for my cancer stage four lung cancer.I dont know why these things happen but carry on with the best that's in you Pard with valor.Talk to God when you have the need ..We dont know why things drift astray or where they wind up in this life. All we can do is do the tour of duty, so you run the race full on in this misunderstood thing called life and take the heat good or bad Brother and know your not alone in the circle of life that can hit us hard yet bring us up to rise to the occasion. . .
 

Michael Andros

tiny balls, GIANT pockets
Silver Member
Michael, I'm wishing you all the best. The AZB community was very supportive of me as well when I was going through my cancer ordeal in 2007. Now, I'm 12 years clear last March and very thankful. The whole experience, while so frightening and monumental at the time, doesn't even seem real now. It's very surreal. Sending positive vibes your way that this is nothing but a stumbling block in the adventure of life for you as well. I wish you good health and to experience a lot of positive from this tragedy as well -- new friendships made, knowledge learned, loving relationships strengthened. All the best!

P.S. I'll add -- don't believe everything your doctors tell you either. Trust and respect them, but take some of what they say with a grain of salt. Don't let it upset you. My radiation therapists said even with nausea medication I would throw up daily. I had to receive a measurement of 28 Gray over 4 weeks to the abdominal area. I never threw up once. I went to work every morning, radiation treatment in the afternoon, and kept a pretty normal schedule. I was frightened, but tried to treat it like nothing out of the ordinary. A year after treatment, from a CT scan the Doc called and told me I had recurrence and I would have to start a different treatment. I went into a deep depression and was scared out of my mind. I'm not too proud to say that. I wasn't even 30 years old yet....had a new daughter. I had a lot going on. I emailed my info to Dr. Lawrence Einhorn, the foremost expert in the type of cancer I had, and the inventor of the chemo treatment that made that cancer a once, 98% death rate, to one of the most curable cancers. Guess what...he wrote me back. And he told me that based on the data he didn't think it was recurrence and recommended continued observation. Well, we did some additional biopsies and then surgical biopsies and guess what... it was a benign condition. Which I'm grateful for. I say all that, just to say....always get a second opinion.


Mat - Very happy to hear you're free and clear. This isn't my first rodeo. I, also, was diagnosed in 07 and did surgery, chemo and 7 weeks of radiation in Oct, Nov. and early Dec 07. Followups for 10 years, free and clear. Now, it's the exact same type in almost the same place but it's not recurrence, it's an original occurrence. Which, strictly speaking, is good news, as recurrence is much more difficult to treat than an occurrence. There are other positives as well. So I'm treating it exactly as I did in 07. To me, it's the same as going to work. I have to get up, wake up, shower, drive to work, work, come home. Whatever needs done, that's what I'll do, then I'll be out the other side and moving on down the line.

Again, very happy for you and your success. Life is an odd duck at times... sometimes you get the rolls and sometimes the rolls smack you upside the head with a 2 x 4. C'est la vie... thanks for your support and kind words.
 

Michael Andros

tiny balls, GIANT pockets
Silver Member
Hang in Mike.I just started chemo for my cancer stage four lung cancer.I dont know why these things happen but carry on with the best that's in you Pard with valor.Talk to God when you have the need ..We dont know why things drift astray or where they wind up in this life. All we can do is do the tour of duty, so you run the race full on in this misunderstood thing called life and take the heat good or bad Brother and know your not alone in the circle of life that can hit us hard yet bring us up to rise to the occasion. . .

Much appreciated, HM. I'll keep you in my thoughts. You'll be fine... just a bump in the road.
 
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