Do Better…

Do Better…

Hello and happy weekend to all–Just wanted to give a quick update and complain about some stuff………

First and most importantly, I got through my last round of oral chemo this week with no issues, after adding in the anti-nausea meds of course. The plan now is to wait until the week of June 24th to get my final blood test (the send to Greece one) and see how all of this has turned out. The test will take a couple of weeks to come back with results so it is going to be more waiting, but I am sure it will be worth it. I will also get an MRI around that week as well, so at the least there will be a visual to hold me over. I am feeling super positive about the protocol and I am confident that the results will be good!

I had a little set back this week, which is more annoying than anything else. I was super missing all of my time spent in the ER over these last couple of years, so I decided that I needed a reason to go and “check in.” I’m kidding, of course, as it is the last place I want to go. Ever. Ever, ever. On Wednesday, I hurt my back at work doing nothing unusual and it was a doozy. I have a pretty sensitive lower back, and it isn’t the first time I have “pulled” something, but this one was pretty brutal. I knew I did something, but tried to work through it. I basically tried to enact the old, “if you ignore it, it will go away” strategy, which clearly didn’t work. Never does. So the long story short of it is, I woke up the next morning and couldn’t even stand up to walk. It is amazing how much we use our lower backs in almost everything we do–not just little things like, say, walking, standing, bending over, you know, the not that important things. Ugh. It was pretty tough and I am still dealing with it currently. Three days in and I am getting better, but we decided to go to the ER first morning since it was so painful, and that was a joke. I know that everything ever is literally watered down and half-baked these days, but it is really annoying when it comes to healthcare. To be clear, I am generalizing here, and I know there are good people in every aspect of life, surrounded by “the rest, ” but doctors should be held to a higher standard, like they used to be. I have dealt with wayyyy too many C- med students/turned doctors who are filling space because there aren’t enough people, but c’mon man. Once we were in the ER-doing what you do in the ER, waiting and waiting, Doogie Howser M.D. decided to give me a CT scan to tell me that there really wasn’t anything there and that I am 47 and these things happen. These things happen…….Really? Wow. Who knew? I am way past the days of verbally crushing this guy, but c’mon man, DO BETTER. In between hanging out with his staff (out in the open too) and taking about the weekend, etc. he decided to give me that nugget after 2 plus hours of sitting there. Needless to say, this guy is off of my Christmas list. The only benefit of all of this was that the CT showed that there is no tumor or cancer causing this particular issue, which is a relief (and something I already knew). He couldn’t tell me anything more than that about the scan (details, other areas, etc.) because, well, why would he be able too? He sent us home with some muscle relaxers and one, yes, one lidocaine patch. What a joke. Not that any of this is surprising or new, it is just irritating.

Alright, rant over. thanks for listening. Sorry about the negativity, but I have no doubt that many of you have experienced the same issues and also feel the same.

I have been recovering the last couple of days and it is improving. I am looking forward to being able to fully do stuff again, which will help me be less annoying to everyone around me, lol. Anyway, the positive in all of this is that there is not tumor or cancer causing me to have extreme back pain, so that’s a win! A painful one, but a win nonetheless.

Have a great weekend—talk soon!

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I’m Brian,

Welcome to The Stage IV Life. I am living my life with cancer – not dying from cancer. Posting here gives me the opportunity to share the ups and downs….the lessons learned along the way – with the intention of giving others hope where they might not think there is any. We are navigating cancer … our way.

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