MARCH 2ND, 2018
It was a Happy Birthday no matter what
Okay so I went in to have my “port” put in on Monday the 26th of February, two days after my birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!! Why do they schedule things at 8:00 AM? The Wilson family does not do mornings. I never have and never will like them.
Let’s say it was an interesting experience. Had a nice private day surgery room and more nurses than an episode of Marcus Welby. Got the dreaded gown (although you can leave underwear of for this one) and an IV inserted and then we waited and waited and waited. The piece of my Bladder that they took out for the biopsy was the size of 3 full sized SD cards stacked on top of one another. That is pretty large when you consider that the bladder is about 2” in diameter empty and about 6” when full (or so they say). Anyhow, suffice to say that peeing several times while waiting for surgery was needed.
The time finally came around 11:00 AM and two nurses came and wheeled me towards the O.R. Look, it’s a relatively minor operation but still a big deal. I was fully awake when they parked me outside the OR and asked some more questions. I watched Donna walk by the door (but she didn’t know it) and then they wheeled me in. She had things to get done like arranging things with the oncologist and banking so I am glad that she had something to do to keep her mind occupied.
Into the O.R. we went and they set up the mundane things like sliding me from my gurney to the table, setting up the oxygen and lighting and chit chatting.
Next thing I knew I was in recovery talking to a nice nurse that said everything was fine and did I want anything to drink or anything for pain? I was still a little up on whatever they gave me in surgery so I declined. Also passed on the drink when she said it would be about 30 minutes before I was taken to my room (back to that having to pee thing).
We finally got out of the Day surgery around 2:00-2:30 PM and Donna drove me home. The port is on the left chest so I couldn’t use a seatbelt so I get to be chauffeured for a while.
It is now Friday morning, the chest area is a little sore (I once had a rotator cuff injury, the pain is similar but much less intense). It is bruised and swollen but things look good all things considered. Oh, one bright spot. In today’s mail we got a “Hope You Are Doing Well” card from everyone that was in the O.R. that day. Made us both smile a lot. It’s the little things these days.
On this coming Tuesday I go in for my first Chemo infusion at the local office. It looks like the treatment in the chemo chair is about 3.5 hours each time. Then we have a consult later in the week with the radiation guy in Murfreesboro and I would guess the following week if all was good, I will be full steam ahead on the treatment.
What that means is Chemo and Radiation on Monday then Radiation on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday that week and every week for the next 3 – 4 months. To put that in perspective we will be driving to Murfreesboro daily (110 mile round trip). That means when we are through with the treatment the car will have driven 8,470 miles for treatment, we will have been out of house 156 hours on the road, I will have gotten 192.5 hours of Radiation into my bladder and 56 hours of Chemo infusion in the chair. So yeah, this is a bit of an involved deal. And that doesn’t take into account the other appointments to make sure things are going well and that I am stable. So hopefully I can stay healthy through it all so I can ring the bell at the end of it all and say that I beat this shit.
Yes, it is going to suck, yes I am likely going to lose anything that resembles hair on my body, yes I will likely be sick but I am going to beat this damned demon and get back to what I want to do. Live my life with the love of my life and make some music. Speaking of music, make sure to check out our music pages, our contact page and our video page. For more about our 20+ years together (we were writing together almost 2 years before we were married) check out the About Us Page.
I wrote this song during that first summer we lived together as HUSBAND AND WIFE - THE SUMMER OF 1998!!
I'll be back soon,
It was a Happy Birthday no matter what
Okay so I went in to have my “port” put in on Monday the 26th of February, two days after my birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!! Why do they schedule things at 8:00 AM? The Wilson family does not do mornings. I never have and never will like them.
Let’s say it was an interesting experience. Had a nice private day surgery room and more nurses than an episode of Marcus Welby. Got the dreaded gown (although you can leave underwear of for this one) and an IV inserted and then we waited and waited and waited. The piece of my Bladder that they took out for the biopsy was the size of 3 full sized SD cards stacked on top of one another. That is pretty large when you consider that the bladder is about 2” in diameter empty and about 6” when full (or so they say). Anyhow, suffice to say that peeing several times while waiting for surgery was needed.
The time finally came around 11:00 AM and two nurses came and wheeled me towards the O.R. Look, it’s a relatively minor operation but still a big deal. I was fully awake when they parked me outside the OR and asked some more questions. I watched Donna walk by the door (but she didn’t know it) and then they wheeled me in. She had things to get done like arranging things with the oncologist and banking so I am glad that she had something to do to keep her mind occupied.
Into the O.R. we went and they set up the mundane things like sliding me from my gurney to the table, setting up the oxygen and lighting and chit chatting.
Next thing I knew I was in recovery talking to a nice nurse that said everything was fine and did I want anything to drink or anything for pain? I was still a little up on whatever they gave me in surgery so I declined. Also passed on the drink when she said it would be about 30 minutes before I was taken to my room (back to that having to pee thing).
We finally got out of the Day surgery around 2:00-2:30 PM and Donna drove me home. The port is on the left chest so I couldn’t use a seatbelt so I get to be chauffeured for a while.
It is now Friday morning, the chest area is a little sore (I once had a rotator cuff injury, the pain is similar but much less intense). It is bruised and swollen but things look good all things considered. Oh, one bright spot. In today’s mail we got a “Hope You Are Doing Well” card from everyone that was in the O.R. that day. Made us both smile a lot. It’s the little things these days.
On this coming Tuesday I go in for my first Chemo infusion at the local office. It looks like the treatment in the chemo chair is about 3.5 hours each time. Then we have a consult later in the week with the radiation guy in Murfreesboro and I would guess the following week if all was good, I will be full steam ahead on the treatment.
What that means is Chemo and Radiation on Monday then Radiation on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday that week and every week for the next 3 – 4 months. To put that in perspective we will be driving to Murfreesboro daily (110 mile round trip). That means when we are through with the treatment the car will have driven 8,470 miles for treatment, we will have been out of house 156 hours on the road, I will have gotten 192.5 hours of Radiation into my bladder and 56 hours of Chemo infusion in the chair. So yeah, this is a bit of an involved deal. And that doesn’t take into account the other appointments to make sure things are going well and that I am stable. So hopefully I can stay healthy through it all so I can ring the bell at the end of it all and say that I beat this shit.
Yes, it is going to suck, yes I am likely going to lose anything that resembles hair on my body, yes I will likely be sick but I am going to beat this damned demon and get back to what I want to do. Live my life with the love of my life and make some music. Speaking of music, make sure to check out our music pages, our contact page and our video page. For more about our 20+ years together (we were writing together almost 2 years before we were married) check out the About Us Page.
I wrote this song during that first summer we lived together as HUSBAND AND WIFE - THE SUMMER OF 1998!!
I'll be back soon,
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