Damn, Frank, sorry to hear that. Wishing you the best.
Heh. My mother is going to have one of her minor wishes granted–she’s going to get to see what I look like without a beard again. 
Good luck! Here’s to many more good days!
Fucking cancer. :mad:
I’m so, so sorry, Frank. I swear that evil fucking disease is going to get us all in the end and it pains me terribly that you’ll have to go through it all. When my husband was dying, chemo was the only thing that helped. I’ll be praying for the same for you and that whatever time is ahead of, is peaceful, happy and without sickness.
And you were a damn fine mod. I appreciated your service here and hope we get to see you around for a long time to come.
Damn.
I hope it works out for you, Frank. Fingers crossed.
Best of wishes.
If I try to say much more, I will sound idiotic. Everything coming to mind falls under “Duh”.
(at least I won’t be praying…)
Just starting? I talked to my relative recently about her experience with chemo. She said that if she had to go through it again, she would have chosen to have a PICC line installed in her upper arm, as that would have been an easy long-term access for the drugs (she chose to just alternate arms every few days with a regular needle… eventually they had to go hunting through her hand veins, and other places, as her arms got too bruised and veins collapsed).
Also, eat all the tomato based products you can enjoy for the first week or two; after that, anything even vaguely acidic burned like fire and started acid reflux. Prilosec is your friend, later on she needed 3 different kinds of prescriptions like that just to find the concept of eating vaguely appealing, and to keep it all down. Apples/pears/(pasteurized) cheese/peanut butter were the most palatable to her. Things that smelled strongly, even home-made chicken soup, turned unappetizing after a month.
On that note, tell your doctors all of your symptoms, the medicine they gave her for home use to boost her immune system made her feel as if there were balloons expanding inside all of her bones; but once she got some codine the pain was barely felt. Also, expect your eyesight to get suddenly -and steadily- much worse during chemo (still tell the docs when it happens, of course, so they can help you) so try not to need to drive yourself places.
Even though your hair will fall out, if you never-ever touch your eyebrows (sleep face up, don’t even wear your glasses all the way up, etc) there is a good chance that they will stay in place. So start sleeping on a towel, no need to shower your true bedding/pillows with molting hair.
While you can use the hospital internet to while away the hours, it is still a good idea to sandbox your laptop and never type any important passwords/information while there. At least with a Kindle and 6 hours a day every other week, you finally have an excuse to catch up on all your favorite authors.
Jesus Christ, Frank. I am so sorry. Please accept my good wishes and prayers. Fuck.
I’m very sorry to hear this, Frank. Here’s to hoping you have as many good days as possible.
Frank, I’m really awfully sorry you’ve got this horrible disease and diagnosis, but I hope there are a plentiful number of good days ahead and that we can enjoy your company for some time to come.
Damn, Frank! Through the years we’ve hardly been each other’s favorite poster but I’d never wish ill on you because of it, and most especially not this kind of ill. I wish there were more I could say other than that I’m sorry, but there isn’t. I am truly sorry though, and I join with the others in wishing you many of the good days and few of the bad ones.
As I said in your previous thread, my best advice is to take life one day at a time. Don’t dwell on what will happen in weeks, months, years; just do the best you can today.
I have incurable cancer. When it was diagnosed, I was told I had three years to live. That was eleven years ago. You truly never know how things will turn out. A little bit of hope – even if false hope – makes you stronger.
At some point early in the game, I lost my fear of death. It’s going to happen eventually – no big deal. I felt better as I got my affairs in order.
Best wishes.
Damn. I’m really sorry to hear that.
Frank, I’m very sorry to hear this news. I hope the chemo helps you as much as possible.
Sorry to hear this, Frank. I wish you nothing but peace and happiness through the rest of your days.
Same goes for **MaggieTheOcelot **and any other Dopers currently battling cancer. Peace to you all.
I’ve been through chemo and the one thing I learned is that cancer is NOT the end of the world! (Although many people think that is it, bye, bye.)
Anyway I’ve since met many people who have been through chemo and are still around to talk about it. They can do a lot of stuff these days to keep you around.
One thing which will help, is if you have any friends, family, or neighbors who can drive you to the doctor/emergency room at any time of day or night, that would be a BIG help. If you don’t have anyone, check into medical transportation and see if your insurance will cover it. Ask about this at your cancer treatment center.
The thing with chemo is that it can deplete certain blood cells and you may need a “refill”. But you also may be very weak and not feel like driving to get that done.
Same with doing things around the house. Ask for help if you are too tired to do it yourself. (At one point I didn’t have the energy to walk upstairs!)
I’m very sorry to hear this Frank. It’s fucked up.
I hope you are as comfortable as possible under the circumstances, that you suffer as little as possible as time goes on. Take care of yourself, and I wish you all the best for however long you have left, whether it be weeks, months, or years.
I don’t know what to say, except that I wish you all the best through this. I hope it goes as smoothly as possible.
Frank, I am in Kettering as well and will be sending local positive vibes your way. Sorry to hear this.
