I’m Not Dead Yet (I.N.D.Y.)

Well, today was generally a good day.  I got tired toward the latter part of the workday and ended up coming home and taking a nap!  (Did I mention I don’t take naps? — At least I didn’t take naps?)  I actually felt as if I were doing okay, but then dinner arrived.  The Deacons at Eastminster Presbyterian Church, where MaryBeth is a member, have been sending over food to our house on Wednesday nights after their Wednesday night dinner program.  Well, Annie Ruth (our family’s Deacon) showed up this evening and when I opened the door, she said: “Not a good day, eh?”  I guess I look a little more rough around the edges than I thought.  Well, we can’t always look beautiful, now can we?

I have a friend I want to introduce to you.  After my radiation treatment this morning I met with Dr. Korah (one of Dr. Landry’s residents).  I asked her if she could show me where my tumor was on my CT scan (I have a CD with over 1000 images, and I couldn’t tell you what was which).  So without further ado, I present Merle’s Tumor (which, I have not named, unlike Tory who named her tumor Hank).

So there you have it.  The premier of the tumor.  I should say that I fully expect that my tumor is growing smaller each day.  This image was taken before I began my chemo/radiation therapy.  So I am sure it is smaller now.  By the way, the white circle on the right side of the tumor is the beginnings of the superior mesenteric artery.  If you will recall, one of the reasons my current condition is risky is because the tumor is in contact with 2 of the 3 mesenteric arteries that supply blood to the intestines.

One other ray of hope, the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Result database hosted by the National Cancer Institute provides a variety of statistics (mortality, survival, incidence, prevalence, etc.) related to cancer.  According to the most recent data I was able to find, the 5-year survival rate for males aged 40-49 is between 15%-19%.  Now you may be saying to yourself: (a) this is pretty morbid and (b) 15%-19% doesn’t sound like really great odds.  Well, I have two responses: (a) keep in mind that if there is an improbable outcome, I am likely to get it (see my post from a couple of days ago about all the improbable things that have happened to me thus far) and (b) 15%-19% is 4x to 5x better than what I thought the survival rate was for pancreas cancer (4%).  So I’ll take these increased odds any day of the week and twice on Sunday!

More tomorrow.

Merle

Tags: Cancer News, church, Main, Treatment by Merle
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I have to say that I am feeling generally okay during the first part of my second week of treatment.  I have even be able to stay awake later and later (though, that is, in part, ’cause I’m trying to make up time I have taken off from work for my treatments / doctor visits).  I am still having mild nausea and yesterday I had a bit of a scare with an incredibly sharp, but not localized, pain in my abdomen.  It started on the drive to the hospital.  By the time I got there and dropped my car with the Valet (I get free Valet parking while I have my radiation — then again, I have gotten the EOBs and I know the charges Emory is submitting to my insurance for my radiation, so they can afford to pick up my $7 parking fee), I was in a lot of discomfort.  I very quickly decided to take some pain medication and that relieved the discomfort in 15-20 minutes.  The nurse practitioner was nonplussed about the event and made some suggestions on what I can do to prevent it.  We’ll see, but I spent a large portion of the day yesterday being tense, waiting for another attack.

Other than that, yesterday a friend and I went to see an ATROCIOUS movie: 10,000 BC.  I’m not sure what possessed us to pick that movie, but oh my, but it was bad.  Here is Dave White’s (from movies.com) review:

The Basics:Teenage caveman from Bedrock goes on hero’s quest, fights giant dino-birds, wooly mammoths and bad guys with darker skin, then befriends a huge tiger and some jungle people with even darker skin than the bad guys. So it’s kind of like a movie made in 1959, if only 1959 had fake-animal-creating technology.

What’s the Deal? When you enjoy yourself, do you really care what the reasons are? You don’t, right? You shouldn’t anyway. So if I tell you that this movie sucks but that you’ll have a good time anyway, will you just let that be? Because the parts with the fighting and the running and the throwing of spears and the battling of giant animals and the bonking of people over the head with clubs and rocks and stuff — all of which make up about 85 percent of the movie — are kind of fun, even if none of it makes any sense and the whole thing is just a PG-13 attempt to bite off a piece of that Apocalypto box office.

The Game Is Called “Pick One,” And Here Is the First Question: Early in the movie, we see tribes moving through a snow-capped mountain pass. They stop to find evidence of a kidnapped young woman from their clan. Then, in the very next scene, they are slashing their way through a steamy bamboo jungle. Is this because:
     (a) The reels were shown out of order.
     (b) The continents were still really close together then.
     (c) No one cared enough to think that part through very well.
I don’t have an answer to the question. But it’s a fun game, isn’t it?

Best Things About It:Foxy cavepeople with good teeth, decent CGI animals, blatant disregard for actual archeological findings regarding the existence of ancient humans, made-up languages, actors who look like they’re freezing their butts off.

Dave doesn’t go into:

• Why most of the cast members are speaking with British/English accents
• The similarities to the exodus story of the Jews.  The bad guys are going around the land capturing folk (including people from the “hero’s” village) to go to work on building pyramids for “The All Mighty” (some shroud encased guy that fancies wearing metal “Freddy Kruger” type nails on his fingers).  The “hero” (and his ‘army’) get to the city where the slaves are working; he then, almost single handedly, convinces all the slaves (note there are more slaves than bad guys) to rise up against their masters; and in the end kills the “All Mighty” and frees the slaves.
• The similarities to the Thanksgiving story.  After freeing the slaves, members of one of the tribes that fought with our “hero” gives him and his people bags of seeds so they can plant corn and other (presumably) vegetable bearing plants.

It was awful…I saw it at the $2.00 movie theater and I paid $1.99 too much.  I just don’t know what’s worse: (a) that someone came up with, wrote, and pitched this idea to a major studio; (b) that the studio actually agreed to have it made; or (c) that I paid money to watch it?  In the end, though, it’s nice to have something other than cancer to talk about from time to time, so there is that!

Merle

(ps – I bought a lottery ticket last night, though I haven’t checked to see if I have won or not.  Wouldn’t THAT be a kick!)

Tags: church, Main, Theology/Philosophy, Treatment by Merle
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