I had a super day with the class at the park. Running around, hot dogs, water fights, soccer and lots of sun. Just exhausted. Got the dates for the Ct scan and surgery and the pre-surgery all arranged this morning so that will start on Monday.

I tried out the coolest toy, I got it at Costco earlier this week. Water balloons that come in clusters like a bunch of grapes sort of. A threaded plastic fitting you connect to a hose, the balloons are attached by thin plastic tubes and are held in place by an elastic. Turn the water on the balloon fills up and they all drop off when they get heavy enough and are sealed by the elastic. A Nobel Pirze winning toy if ever there was one. Each cluster is 35 I recall.

One of the girls in Aidan's class is leaving today to see her dad. In the class picture she is standing in front of me with the pink pants sandals and to the right of my son. Anyway when we got back to the school she came to say goodbye as I would not be seeing her again this year. A hug, misty eyed, I was rather touched. Then when I was getting gas she and her mother came up to the store and when she got out she came running up to me and gave me another hug. I was so happy to have had that impact on her. Perhaps she does not see her father often or have a lot of positive adult male interaction in her life. Nice to know you can move these kids like that sometimes. I wished her a safe and happy summer and told her I would be looking forward to seeing her again in September.

Beautiful day for driving the Z06 as well. On Main Street there were some kids from the grade ahead of my son who called out to me "Hey Banana Man!". My nickname given my love for all things yellow!

Just a super day all over.
 
Good evening Colin,

Ya, starting to get ready to go down this road again, nine years later.

I know the first test will be waking up after surgery. If there is no drain in my underarm then they didn't have to go deep which is a good start. So I can imagine as groggy as I am going to be that will be the first thing on my "to-do" list.

So weird all the things I find myself thinking about now. Who I would ask to be my pallbearers, for example. Life just seems to have taken a turn now and it is hard to find the road that I was on just a month ago when everything by and large was looking so very good for me................

The hard part now is staying busy enough to prevent my mind from drifting to dark places.

On the plus side a whole lotta Z06 driving recently and that can never hurt one's state of mind!!!!

Cheers,

Garry
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jeremiad
Hang in there buddy,

Maybe we need to go on a road trip up to the peace country to meet you in person, perhaps late September when we really should be back in school,

Let us know how you are making out.
Later jeff
 
Good morning Jeff, everyone,

You'd all be more than welcome to come up here in September - especially if you have any previous experience in swather, combine or grain truck operating/driving!

I find myself looking for signs of hope, mainly that the Dr. was unable to find any signs of swollen lymph nodes when I saw him. If this was a bad situation, quite far gone, you'd have thought the cancer would have spread to some lymph nodes and would have started growing and they would have been easy to feel. I mean with the Hodgkin's I had there was no doubt there was a lump as even I could feel it under my arm. So something to be hopeful about.

And even if they find some, lets hope it is only in my arm and no where else. It was be rougher if they have to bring in the second surgeon to look deeper and elsewhere for the sentinel node. So those are sort of the key things that I am focusing on right now.

A nice day yesterday, I finished spraying the wheat. I have to gear up for the 2nd application on the canola but as I am still struggling with a flue/cold right now I'm going to rest today.

I have to pick up my tracer liquid from the hospital tomorrow for the CT scan on Tuesday. I hope that I can exercise with my son in the morning, zip in to the hospital in the late morning and then go for my son's summer carnival after lunch. Should be a good day I hope. Maybe start the canola tomorrow night if I have the energy.............

Cheers,

Garry
 
Good morning Vince,

Nice to hear from you and I hope that I'll be as lucky as your dad, tell him that I hope I can follow his example with this!

I have to pick up my tracer drink for my CT scan tomorrow and today will be the last day I can hang out with my son and his class, exercise first thing, to the hospital and then back to Fairview as they are having their summer carnival after lunch. Then Aidan is gone until the 16th. I'm happy that surgery will be taking place when he is gone and I'll have 5 days to mend before he returns.

Spent the day in GP yesterday shopping, spotted a red C7 and a super nice blue C2. My gf said it was a split window too but as she was driving and it was on her side I didn't see this myself, but what a lucky person who was driving that car.

I also hope to start the 2nd application on the canola this evening and to finish it tomorrow after the CT scan that should bring my spraying to an end for the season.

Cheers,

Garry
 
No worries Bill,

So CT scan day. Not until 11:30. I hate having to fast from midnight until it is over. Makes going for exercise a thirsty proposition! I won't get the results until Monday when I see the surgeon in GP again.

Went to exercise with my son in the morning, then attending the school summer carnival with him in the afternoon - fun mostly other than the sun was bright and hot. Didn't feel too good when I got home so rested the rest of the night. Might try to start spraying, at least the homeplace, prior to the CT scan to have less to face afterward.

Lets get this show on the road!

Cheers,

Garry
 
So CT scan done, they threw in an x-ray for good measure too. Spraying is done as well, I'm so relieved that job is done. And there is even a 60% chance of showers tomorrow to boot.

So now the waiting game until Monday to see if they learned anything. The 11th can't come soon enough but then again I have to remember that this is pretty darn quick or at least that is how it seems to me.
 
As usual I forgot to add part of the story. I had the CT at about 12:30 yesterday and I was out spraying shortly thereafter. Around 4 I must have started to develop an allergic reaction to the contrast dye that they gave me. Now sadly I've had a whole lot of CT scans in my life and never had this happen before. But my left arm puffed up like a sausage, turned bright red and then I lost all strength in my arm. I actually couldn't use my left arm to steer the sprayer which is the arm I steer with. I had the most intense back pain and I just remember praying I'd be able to finish the last field, I think it really kicked in with 8 passes left to go.

So I finished, went home, was barely able to make it into the house when I just started to shiver violently. I mean I was so cold and then sweating profusely. When my gf came home she wanted me to go to the hospital but being sort of stubborn I wanted to give it a while to work through. And after about 2 hours the chills and shaking went away.

I had a horrible sleep, walking up every 10 to 15 minutes and didn't even get out of bed to go and exercise this morning.

Anyway, my gf goes to work and maybe around 8 there was a knock at the door. Mom and dad came over and wanted to take me to the hospital. So I knuckled under and said I would go. I was lucky that the Dr. working today is one that is familiar with my case. She agreed that it was probably a reaction to the dye but said that she wanted to consult with another Dr.

And this is the reason for the update, when I didn't think I would have anything to share for a while. She was able to get the results of the CT scan and it appears there is no cancer in my chest, abdomen or pelvis! So I've learned earlier than the 4th that if it has spread, it may only be within my left arm which is pretty good news! She said that the surgeon in GP will be very happy with this result as it means he just needs to see what happened lymph node wise in my arm and that it didn't spread into the rest of my body!

Really I ought to go out and do my first burnout with the Z06 to celebrate. Yes, something I have yet to do in 4 years if you can believe that. Maybe I'll save that for around the 18th............................

Cheers,

Garry
 
Last edited:
So my arm is still pretty red and swollen but I'm good if it is just an allergic reaction as it will pass. I even dug out one of my old compression sleeves to see if it could help speed up the reduction process. Oddly it is an almost overpowering feeling of positiveness to know that there is no cancer in my torso and that if there is any, it is confined to my left arm. And with luck not even there!

Finally due to start cooling off, it was hot enough the past two days that the inside of my house got to 27.5. I open the door and windows at night and it only dropped to 24.5 and none of the thunder showers forecast for last night arrived but are forecast again for today - bring them on and the cooler temperatures too!

One question that I was thinking about - if a CT scan on my torso could detect cancer - why couldn't they have done the same thing for my arm?? I'll have to ask the Dr. when I see him next.

But certainly a much happier day today and after a beautiful nights sleep things are looking much better!

Cheers,

Garry
 
Good to hear the positive new Garry! Woo! Thoughts will continue for more positive news. Hopefully that swelling will go down and your arm will get back to normal.

Also glad to hear that the crops are doing well.
 
Old Thread: Hello . There have been no replies in this thread for 100 days.
Content in this thread may no longer be relevant.
Perhaps it would be better to start a new thread instead.

Similar threads

Users who are viewing this thread