The following cartoon hangs on a wall in the hospital:
A mouse doctor is standing next to his mouse patient sitting on a bed. The mouse doctor says to the mouse patient: "Here is our latest technology for diagnosis. It is called a CAT scan and it works like this: You will be running down the hall and a CAT will be chasing you. If you outrun the CAT, you will live. But if the CAT outruns you, you probably will not make it." A bit dark, I admit, but funny!😄
My oncologist phoned today. She is concerned and alarmed by the CEA level that keeps going up. She is trying hard to get me scheduled for a CT scan to see if the cancer has spread. The scan will be around December 7th. I am really glad and thankful that she is looking out for me. But in retrospect: I wish I wouldn't have had this latest Covid vaccination. The level has been going up since then. But that's hindsight of course, and could be coincidence.
You'll pardon me if I need a few days to reflect on this.
3 results are in: from the colonoscopy, the cardiologist and my bloodwork.
I happened upon the report of the colonoscopy biopsy on-line mixed in with my bloodwork results. The tiny polyps that were removed and sent for biopsy were "unremarkable", i.o.w. not malignant. (This needs to be yet confirmed by the surgeon though!) Hurrah! Yes!
I also had a chat with the cardiologist about February when I ended up in hospital with a-fib and was told that I was heading for heart failure. Turned out that "an error was made" and that my heart is just fine, and that I'll be just fine, providing I keep taking the prescribed meds. Hurrah! Yes!!
The CEA level in my bloodwork has increased for the third time in a row. That is not good news. Either the Nanoknife surgery failed, the liver cancer is not gone and is growing, or, my recent Covid vaccination plays a role in the increase. Fingers crossed it is the latter. I won't know till I have the CT scan next month. It continues to be a waiting game. Not so hurrah!
Back in a couple of days with my take on longevity. I'm not so much into football, but wasn't that a really great Grey Cup game on the weekend? Too bad the Roughriders weren't in it. Tomorrow Canada competes against Belgium in a soccer game. We may just watch a bit of that also. Keep well! SanTeh!
That's the question and the topic of today's post,... sort of.
Many years ago I was caretaker of a government building with more than 20 office staff working there. Over time I got to know some of these employees quite well and had some friendly conversations, exchange of jokes and good-natured pranks, mostly with the male staff. But I figured that things were starting to get out of hand when, while making my rounds through the building one day, I found a sock laying in the middle of the lobby floor. I decided to put a halt to the horsing around. The best solution I could think of, was to pin the sock to the bulletin board in the entrance hall on top of an accompanying letter-sized note. My note read: "Please remove, if this sock belongs to you." in big, bold letters, with underneath in smaller print: "Good grief, What's next? Your gotch?"
It was perfect! You couldn't miss it! Both stood out like a sore thumb in between the numerous dull government pamphlets. I was convinced that it was bound to attract the attention of the culprit! But all week the sock and note stayed firmly attached to the bulletin board. No one touched them. I couldn't understand why.
Then, to my surprise - and horror- I found the sock's twin at the bottom of the dryer when I did laundry the following weekend. So the next night I removed sock and note as quickly and as stealthily as I could. None of the staff ever brought up the subject... to my knowledge! Nothing like putting your foot (or in my case your sock) in your mouth! S.A. commented that I "came out clean"! (Smart-y-pants!)😄
Still waiting on the results of the biopsy. Lots of appointments coming up in the following 2 weeks. Back after Monday probably. SanTeh!
Gemmie had x-rays and a biopsy recently. The Vet thought it might be cancer in her leg joint, but fortunately, this turned out not to be the case. Meanwhile she still walks on the injured leg but when she runs, she uses her other legs only. It does not seem to affect her too much. Hopefully she will be around for a while yet. We sure are attached to her.
When I was having chemo treatments, one of the nurses told me of a situation where both a patient and his dog were on the same chemo drugs at the same time albeit taking different doses. Wow!
Before my bowel surgery last year, I had an extensive pre-op consultation with the surgeon who handed me a 30-page booklet on what to expect before, during and after the surgery and how to prepare for it step-by-step.
Contrast this with the preparation for the Nanoknife surgery: there was no pre-op consultation let alone any hand-outs, not even a leaflet. Following the said surgery and before being released from hospital, I was given a 1-page paper with discharge instructions (from a different kind of operation), and told to go to emergency if there were any problems. Lucky for me there were none, but I had no idea what the after-effects might be, or what to expect. I had no discomfort from the surgery as such, but did from the anesthetic (I assume). Afterwards, surfing the web, I came across the website of a clinic in Germany specializing in Nanoknife surgery for prostate cancer. There I found excellent information, including what to expect after the procedure and found the answer I had been looking for: that it takes 6 to 8 weeks to heal (I have never had any pain) and that "the body may need up to 6 months to evacuate the tissue destroyed by Nanoknife procedure's ablation." Good to know! (Nanoknife is "closed" surgery, so your body has to get rid of the dead cells on it's own!) Apparently there also exists an equivalence to Nanoknife called GammaKnife (with radiation instead of electricity (?)), intended for brain tumors. The nephew of an acquaintance underwent this operation for a benign brain tumor 16 years ago when he was in his twenties. He's alive and well and happily raising his family today.
NanoKnife prerequisites: 1. absolute correct knowledge of the exact location of the tumor and 2. the electric field must be placed in the right position Of course! Duh! But unfortunately both are not as easy as it sounds! 😕
In December I am having a follow-up CT scan. Here's hoping...
https://vitusprostate.com/en/science/treatment/nanoknife/
I found on-line footage from a local newscast dating back to 2017 when Nanoknife surgery was first started up in our province and was not yet financially covered by Medicare. In the newscast, a fundraiser was held to send a Saskatchewanian to Germany to undergo the Nanoknife procedure. In total, the procedure required a fund of $60,000! Yikes! I hope that he got a lot of tasty sausage and sauerkraut thrown in! ... And I guess that makes me a very lucky person!
Yesterday I underwent a 1 Year Follow-Up Colonoscopy, i.o.w. it has been a little over a year that I underwent surgery for colon cancer and therefore you automatically get scheduled for a colonoscopy one year hence. The technical term for my surgery: a laparoscopic right hemicolectomy. (There's a mouthfull!) In plain language: all of my ascending colon, a small part of my small intestine, 6 lymph nodes as well as my appendix were removed and the disconnected parts were re-assembled. No, I did not end up with an ostomy (bag) thank goodness. And everything healed up well, also a blessing! That was last year. So it would not surprise you then that I was not looking forward to this because I was dreading that more cancer might be detected. It turned out that 1 polyp was found, removed and sent for biopsy. Much to my relief nothing else was discovered! 😅 And I have 3 nice photos of the inside of my colon, much nicer pictures than the ones I was presented with last year let me tell you! The colonoscopy was performed by the same surgeon who did the above operation. I was sort of awake through it this time and there were no after-effects such as pain, nausea or what have you. I was a bit drowsy and went to bed early, but felt fit enough to join the women of our walking club this morning. The surgeon said that I would not need another colonoscopy for the next three years. But pending on the result of this biopsy, I may try to get a colonoscopy in another province in a year or so, even if that means I'd have to pay for it out of pocket. I am not too confident that the cancer won't come back (see post nr. 21 about the FIT test) Here in Saskatchewan all our health care is covered. I shudder to think what my cancer treatments would have cost if we'd be living in the States with no health coverage. I guess I might not get the care that I would need then?😢 Now if only we'd be able to also get this liver "thing" under control. That would be awesome!
Back tomorrow with some more info on Nanoknife and then on to more pleasant things. SanTeh!
