So I ended up back in Calgary on the 19th, I stopped in at Davenport where Steve had been nice enough to acquire me a new rear view mirror for the car. I just installed it tonight and am happy to say unlike when i removed the original one last fall and cracked the window reinstalling it I removed the old one and installed the new one without difficulties! Now I should be less likely to stunt without realizing there is a RCMP directly behind me!
Steve's C7 ZR1 was outside with fin etc. and it looks just amazing. Being yellow doesn't help of course but the car just looks menacing. I had a C7 come up behind me on the QE2 and I was fast to get out if its' way!
So from there off to my hotel room. The car I ended up parking beside really gave me a chuckle. This old car, with a bolted on steel cargo rack on the bumper, ground grip tires, cargo rack on the roof, police style front bumper, pushed in hood, slew of bumper stickers and best of all the shotgun shell ornaments around the roof cargo rack just struck me as being so funny. Not even a "redneck" Alberta car but from Kansas too. I couldn't find any positive Trump statements anywhere on it though!!!!
OK so we've done the mirror and the good. Well here comes the bad and the ugly. I'm not sure how many of you who are not following my other threads have read this far and I probably only expect those who know my situation that might be reading this but here goes.
Let's start with the bad then.
So the reason for going to Calgary was to see the doctor who did my surgery back on April 20th. The conclusion, which I think might be generous, is that the treatment was partially successful. Maybe.
Now the ugly.
About two weeks ago we noticed a blemish on the left of my back. The thought is that it might be a tumor. If so, for the first time in two years since the cancer came back we have tumors that are outside of my left arm, something that we had always been confident would never happen and if it ever did move would be a very serious turn of events. Well in the doctor's opinion they are melanomas. Thankfully this was not a surprise for me and having had two weeks to digest this possible turn of events leaves me slightly less freaked out than if I would have learned that news that day.
Now we are being aggressive with these new tumors (one, possibly two of them). This Tuesday, the 24th I go to Edmonton to have the two largest tumors removed from my left arm for a quality of life improvement. At the same time we're going to get these one or two tumors on my back removed and biopsied to see if they are cancer or not. I don't think there will be any surprises here though. If it looks like a tumor, feels like a tumor, well you get it.
It is hard to think that this could be the beginning of the end game for me. Mom was with me so she knows, my gf and son know and mom told dad. Dad is having trouble understanding why this is happening to me. That really isn't an issue for me though. It is what it is. Now the other thing is that the imiquimod lotion that we are treating the tumors with is starting to show some signs of action. This is six weeks in to treatment and last time we went until 11 weeks and yes tumors did die and one even fell right off and the skin flattened out. So we're going to continue to hit them all with the lotion and hope that as time goes on it works that way again. And we'll be watching the location of the two large tumors on my arm and the site on my back especially carefully to make sure if some start to regrow we're all over them.
I find it odd but you know if I died from a heart attack it would suck and everyone is sad. Cancer is a different sort of situation. Yeah, you know I'm probably going to die in 6 months or 6 years, but unlike a heart attack the timing is more uncertain. I take some solace from that. How knows, maybe as the lotion kicks in it will really hold things back. And it appears we're going to continue with the original PEMBRO treatment as well. I don't think it is working but my lead doctor thinks it is preventing it from spreading any faster than it is. I hope he is right.
Anyway, cross your fingers and pray for me please.
I'll let you know when I learn more.
Cheers,
Garry
Steve's C7 ZR1 was outside with fin etc. and it looks just amazing. Being yellow doesn't help of course but the car just looks menacing. I had a C7 come up behind me on the QE2 and I was fast to get out if its' way!
So from there off to my hotel room. The car I ended up parking beside really gave me a chuckle. This old car, with a bolted on steel cargo rack on the bumper, ground grip tires, cargo rack on the roof, police style front bumper, pushed in hood, slew of bumper stickers and best of all the shotgun shell ornaments around the roof cargo rack just struck me as being so funny. Not even a "redneck" Alberta car but from Kansas too. I couldn't find any positive Trump statements anywhere on it though!!!!
OK so we've done the mirror and the good. Well here comes the bad and the ugly. I'm not sure how many of you who are not following my other threads have read this far and I probably only expect those who know my situation that might be reading this but here goes.
Let's start with the bad then.
So the reason for going to Calgary was to see the doctor who did my surgery back on April 20th. The conclusion, which I think might be generous, is that the treatment was partially successful. Maybe.
Now the ugly.
About two weeks ago we noticed a blemish on the left of my back. The thought is that it might be a tumor. If so, for the first time in two years since the cancer came back we have tumors that are outside of my left arm, something that we had always been confident would never happen and if it ever did move would be a very serious turn of events. Well in the doctor's opinion they are melanomas. Thankfully this was not a surprise for me and having had two weeks to digest this possible turn of events leaves me slightly less freaked out than if I would have learned that news that day.
Now we are being aggressive with these new tumors (one, possibly two of them). This Tuesday, the 24th I go to Edmonton to have the two largest tumors removed from my left arm for a quality of life improvement. At the same time we're going to get these one or two tumors on my back removed and biopsied to see if they are cancer or not. I don't think there will be any surprises here though. If it looks like a tumor, feels like a tumor, well you get it.
It is hard to think that this could be the beginning of the end game for me. Mom was with me so she knows, my gf and son know and mom told dad. Dad is having trouble understanding why this is happening to me. That really isn't an issue for me though. It is what it is. Now the other thing is that the imiquimod lotion that we are treating the tumors with is starting to show some signs of action. This is six weeks in to treatment and last time we went until 11 weeks and yes tumors did die and one even fell right off and the skin flattened out. So we're going to continue to hit them all with the lotion and hope that as time goes on it works that way again. And we'll be watching the location of the two large tumors on my arm and the site on my back especially carefully to make sure if some start to regrow we're all over them.
I find it odd but you know if I died from a heart attack it would suck and everyone is sad. Cancer is a different sort of situation. Yeah, you know I'm probably going to die in 6 months or 6 years, but unlike a heart attack the timing is more uncertain. I take some solace from that. How knows, maybe as the lotion kicks in it will really hold things back. And it appears we're going to continue with the original PEMBRO treatment as well. I don't think it is working but my lead doctor thinks it is preventing it from spreading any faster than it is. I hope he is right.
Anyway, cross your fingers and pray for me please.
I'll let you know when I learn more.
Cheers,
Garry