Living with Esophageal Cancer November 2024 Update 3
Another batch of procedures, another post. The main event this week was a probe being sent down my wife’s throat to check out her esophagus. The opening at the top of her esophagus is now a whopping 5 millimeters in diameter. The doctor was able to dilate the opening slightly, but this measurement is much smaller than last time when it was able to dilate to 20 mm (2 cm). As a result, he had to use a pediatric sized camera to see what was going on in there. The active tissue on the PET scan appears to be an ulcer at the bottom of the esophagus. No tissue was biopsied in this exam. That is good news; however, it sounded to me like the pediatric scope was not really capable of doing any tissue samples if they were needed. We will have a follow-up exam in about 3 weeks—assuming scheduling allows for this since it’s right in the middle of the holidays.
Also, this week a cyst was removed from her back. This is likely not a big deal, but it did appear during the early phases of chemo and radiation. Pathology is likely a week away.
My wife is capable of about two hours of activity a day before crashing. This is enough to put on a good show at the grocery store or church. Overall, her energy level is low. She is down to 155 pounds. This is the least amount she has weighed since beginning college. She is getting more calories but most of them are “junk calories” like pie filling and cheesecake. After some trial and error, she is now comfortable eating cold things like ice cream. Her daily calory goal is up to 1,400 per day, but like I said it’s quantity not quality nutrition.
Living with Esophageal Cancer November 2024 Update 2
Well, the big PET scan and meeting with the oncologist finally happened. It was somewhat of a letdown. The cancer, of course, looks to be still present (or the damaged tissue from it) but the tumors have shrunk. Her ability to breathe is improved but eating anything solid at this point is just not possible. As previously stated, the tumors are inoperable. When meeting with the doctor, he made a matter of fact comment that the radiation/chemotherapy only had about a twenty-five percent chance to be effective.
It got even better. It turns out that the PET scan can’t check to see if the blood clots in my wife’s lungs are still there. As things stand now, there are no plans to ever check to see if they have gone. They are just going to keep her on blood thinners.
She is slated to have a throat scan later in the month. For this procedure, they put her under (sedated) and then will put a camera down her throat. If anything looks worthwhile, then it will be biopsied. Her remaining esophagus was lit up on the PET scan and the report said her SUV (standardized uptake value) reading was at 9.5. This is indicative of moderate cancer activity and a short prognosis of life expectancy.
Based on the throat scan results, a monitoring schedule will be established. Once again when this was being discussed palliative care was mentioned. The doctor also mentioned that further chemo or immunotherapy might be in her future.
My wife has lost about 40 pounds from the current bout with cancer. Lately, she has upped her calorie intake to about 1,000 per day. Food is still via a spoon or straw. The sensitivity to cold still persists even after about a month of being off chemo drugs so all food must be room temperature or warmer. It seems like the opening of her esophagus is still small, but the pain and discomfort of swallowing food has decreased. At her last throat scan, it was reported that the maximum that the esophagus would open was 2 cm.
We are both looking forward to having all the kids here for Christmas. We know there is a good chance that this may be the last time we spend the holidays together.
I enjoy helping my wife deal with her illness, but I really hate to see her suffering. She always has a smile on her face and a positive attitude. Some time next year, I expect to start hearing about hospice care. I hope that day is far off. More updates as things develop.
Election Thoughts
Kamala Harris is clearly not an upgrade from Joe Biden. I think of her as Jezebel, the wicked wife of King Ahab. Oh, Jezebel’s dad, amongst other things, was the high priest of Ba’al. The “bel” part of her name is related to Ba’al. In the case of Harris, I think of her more as the Molech type due to her single-minded advocacy of unlimited abortion, the sacrament of Liberals everywhere.
The Democratic Party has fully embraced murder and mutilation of children as the social cornerstones of their platform. Harris was being honest when, at one of her campaign rallies, she told those proclaiming that “Christ was King” that they were at the wrong political event. Clearly Jesus and God are not welcomed in Democratic circles.
The Democrat Party’s economic ideas are not rooted in the real world but in the sin of envy. Envy, per the dictionary, is defined as “A feeling of discontent and resentment aroused by and in conjunction with desire for the possessions or qualities of another.” Another definition is “Malevolence.”
It’s no surprise that this is a direct violation of the Tenth Commandment.
“Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.”
— Exodus 20: 17.
Oh, coveting someone’s ass has nothing to do with sexual desire, but I can see why Democrats might think that given their embrace of sexual perverts and perversions. Actually, it might be better to think of the “ass” mentioned in this Commandment as your mode of transportation, while “ox” is your job, work truck, or equipment. i.e. your vocation.
Jealousy and ingratitude also come to mind when listening to Democrats whine about economic issues.
During his campaign, Donald Trump was rather quiet about details of what he would do when elected. Oh, I know he promised some tax cuts and things like that, but I don’t recall him presenting another list of potential Supreme Court nominees or specifics about Cabinet appointments. Other than promising Elon Musk and Senator Kenedy a job, much was kept under wraps.
We all know that he will unleash hell on the swamp rats once he takes office, but details are scarce as of now. What has been foreshadowed since his election is that he will go after those in the government that coordinated with big tech and private companies to debank, cancel, silence, or otherwise impede the exercise of free speech. He also promises to crackdown on those that violated immigration law. Other than those breaking our laws by committing criminal acts within our borders, I think he can’t do very much unless Congress gets involved; something they have not done in any meaningful way since Ronald Reagan was President.
Speaking of Reagan, Trump will end up butting heads with the unions representing government workers. Reagan’s ability to fire the air traffic controllers will loom large as a precedent for Trump as he tries to fire folks in the bureaucracy. Reagan’s situation was different in that the air traffic controllers were on strike and thus Reagan could appeal to public safety. The bureaucracy is largely controlled by the Executive Branch (President) but is it really? Do union contracts trump (pardon the pun) the Constitutional power of the President? If Congress authorizes money to be spent, is the Executive Branch obligated to spend it even if they don’t want too?
Also, the recent Supreme Court ruling on the Chevron Doctrine might be a tool that Trump can use to roll back the power of various agencies. Were the Democrats in power, the ramifications of this ruling would take years to work their way through the courts, and in reality, little would change; however, with Trump at the helm, Chevron might be the most effective lever that Trump has to change the overreach of government agencies.
Whatever Trump does, he needs to get Congress to adopt his programs. Governing via Executive Orders is unconstitutional. Trump needs to codify whatever changes that he makes as law. It might not make them immutable, but it will make it harder to undo. He needs to start by making his tax cuts from last time he was in office permanent.
If I could caution Trump on anything, its keep Congress out of any legislation dealing with In Vitro Fertilization (IVF). IVF is eugenics and morally something that should not be enshrined into Federal Law. Hard as it may sound, some things need to be kept at a state level even if the result is “messy” and inconsistent from one place to another.
Lastly, Congress needs to find a way to fix our elections and voter rolls without federalizing the election process. Maybe mandate paper ballots and a national holiday on election day. The postal service is a Constitutionally created agency so placing rules on vote by mail would be within their power. Outlawing ballot harvesting by requiring vote by mail ballots to be postmarked on or before election day might be a good start. (The merits of this being a state or federal will be debated, I’m sure, but you get where I’m going with this.)
I gotta go so until next time …
Living with Esophageal Cancer November 2024 Update 1
In addition to everything else, my wife is now taking blood thinners. About a month ago, she had another scan. It showed that her tumors had reduced in size, but also that she had two pulmonary embolisms (blood clots in her lungs).
The PET/CT scan will be in about two weeks. This is the final verdict on the effectiveness of radiation and chemotherapy treatments. This is the benchmark of the best she will be or her “new normal.” The day following the scan, we will meet with the oncologist.
Thus far she is still on an essentially liquid diet. The exceptions are these: she can eat some cream-based soups and her oatmeal breakfast if she runs them through the food processor and liquifies the heck out of them first. The only somewhat solid food she can eat is slices of apple. She chews the apple slices and can swallow some of it. The rest she spits out onto a napkin and then tosses in the trash. Due to the lingering effects of chemo, she still can’t eat anything cold, so ice cream is not an option at this time. Also, anything with spices or tomatoes (including soups) are not something she can eat.
All her medicines are crushed into powder and mixed with liquids, or she can’t take them. Nasea is her constant companion, and she can’t sleep well at night. Amazingly, she has only lost 35 pounds since July. She has trouble walking and we now have handicapped placards in both cars. She needs either my help or that of a shopping cart to walk more than a few feet.
She has an amazingly positive attitude, but it is horrible to watch her suffer.
I plan to update again after the next scan.
Living with Esophageal Cancer October 2024 Update 2
Chemo didn’t happen last week because the white cell count was too low. We are planning to try again tomorrow. If the white cells are again too low, then I think we are done with chemo.
Meanwhile my wife says she has lost 30 pounds since being diagnosed with her cancer again. Previously, I told her that I expect her to lose 50 to 60 lbs. before this “treatment” is over.
Eating is literally a pain. She has to take medicine just to allow her to eat. Foods (more correctly liquid substances that she eats in place of food) cause pain when she swallows them, and the pain continues all the way to her stomach. The amount of distress that she endures is amazing. She is happy and positive even in the face of the difficulties that she is experiencing. A side effect of the medicine is that she is sleeping much of the day. She is also weak.
I think she is beat up and broken and part of me hopes the chemo is over. I think we have crossed the line between medical care and torture, at this point it is simultaneously both.
Her radiation burns are slowly healing. The two open sores are healing up and get new dressings on them each day. The discolored skin is still visible but improving. You just can’t help but wonder what the tissue inside her body looks like if the outside is this messed-up.
Living with Esophageal Cancer October 2024
As October begins, my wife is struggling to eat. Most of her nutrition is via a plastic soda straw. She also has severe burns from the radiation treatment. These burns cover an area between her shoulders and from her neck to her arm pits. Her skin in this area varies between being brown or black (dark in color). Near her right collar bone are two large sores about the size of silver dollars. She is using a pill crushing device to pulverize her medicine because it hurts too much to swallow any capsules. She also has been given liquid versions of some other things she needs to take. Nasea is her constant companion.
She is in good spirits as always, however; this past week she did not experience the rebound that had been the case between weeks of chemotherapy. This week will be yet another round of treatment.
Meanwhile, the meeting with the radiologist last week promised some degree of relief in the future. Hope that’s the case.
Lots of waiting in my immediate future.
Living with Esophageal Cancer September 2024
Note: My second post for August was never completed so here’s the update covering the last few weeks.
This week my wife completed her 25 radiation treatments. She was told that there will be two more chemo treatments in October. This is in addition to the previously scheduled five that she has had. Chemo weeks are full of nausea, vomiting, dry heaves, lack of sleep and of course breathing difficulty.
The results of the treatment thus far is that she is on essentially a liquid diet. Nope, ice cream is not on the menu. A known side effect of her chemo is that she is hypersensitive to cold. Everything must be at room temperature or slightly warmer. Many foods don’t taste the same.
She has lost close to thirty pounds thus far, even though she is trying to eat high calorie foods.
Yesterday for example, it took about five minutes to successfully swallow a pill that was about the size of 1/4th of an M & M candy.
I have lost count of the number of medical people recommending that she get a feeding tube. She is not interested.
The radiation doc has said that in a few weeks, her esophagus will begin to work better.
Mid to late November she will have another set of scans to see what impact her treatment has had on the cancer.
It has been a blessing to have my father-in-law here for the last several weeks. Sadly, this is not his first rodeo with seeing a loved one slowly fade away.
My parents popped in one weekend and their visit was probably the best one we’ve had with them in our twenty plus years of marriage. Miracles do come from such tragedy.
Our church here has been very supportive as have others in the community.
On days when her dad drives her for treatment, I am expected to continue working on the house. I have been painting, installing flooring, door and window trim, and other things as needed. The craft room is up and running and I also have a shiny new desk upstairs for computer work. Soon my toolbox will be delivered and then I can get my stuff in the garage organized.
Why isn’t Trump Winning by More?
The answer is simple but also complex. I will try to break it down for you as only I can. It’s wild, Kamala is the farthest left politician ever nominated and has a douche bag of a running mate. Polling has shown a tie, or maybe a 1 percent edge either way. Its close.
1. He isn’t likable. Trump is very polarizing, you either love him, hate him, or live under a rock.
2. He keeps spewing rhetoric no one wants to hear. Rigged elections, voter fraud, mass deportations. Stop it! The election was 4 years ago, he lost. Granted their were shenanigans but folks don’t want a January 6 redux if he loses again. The deportation thing should be softened to be we are going to deport criminals here illegally. We are a nation of immigrants, I have no issue with the hard working folks, the criminals I do. However you cannot vote if you are illegally here.
3. Kamala is focusing on her agenda??? LOL sure. The media has done a good job of not asking her hard questions. However Harris is staying positive people like to hear that. Again, we are not fans of her agenda, but positivity compared to Trump is helping her.
4. Name calling, insults and personal attacks are juvenile. Its childish, you are running for President of the US. Not in a comment section of a right/left wing website. Act Presidential, you will win.
There you have it. Trump likely loses the popular vote, NY, CA and IL are too populated and any Democrat will win. The Democrat will win big. The individual swing states are what I am blogging about. I think it s odd such a liberal nominee can be tied in pretty much each swing state.
Folks its going to be close, very close. If you live in a swing state; make sure you are registered to vote. Vote! Its sounds dumb but i know of 3 republicans who either have never voted, or never registered to vote. Yup, all 3 have Trump memorabilia on their vehicles/person.
The Chief
Living with Esophageal Cancer August 2024 Update 1
The first week of chemo is now over. As before, the second day after infusion was the worst. Thankfully we have the next week off.
On deck are 25 treatments of radiation that run concurrent with more chemotherapy. Yep, five days a week for five weeks. Radiology is now part of the treatment regime. Our consultation was moved up by a week. The finding was that radiation would be possible, but surgery was not. This is the second doctor to say that surgery is not possible in this case.
The folks at the church have been very kind to us with all that is going on.
Our workers, Joe, Josh, and Zack are all doing their best to help us have a place to house guests. Up next is paint, tiling, and building the Murphy bed. The electrician and HVAC test guy are expected later in the week.
My wife also has been subjected to a bunch of new tests. Some of the results are beyond our comprehension as they involve proteins and genetics, but a new CT scan showed 10 millimeters (one centimeter) of grown in her largest tumor in two weeks (July 30 to August 14). That is about four tenths of an inch. The growth in her neck is now 3.8 cm x 2.6 cm; no wonder her breathing and food consumption has gotten so difficult. Also, tumors are wrapped around arteries branching from her heart. “… encasement of the right brachiocephalic artery as well as proximal right subclavian and right common cartid arteries which is newly apparent.”
Tuesday chemo and radiation continues …
Kamala Harris Lady of the Evening
When you ponder Kamala Harris, the lyrics to “She Works Hard for the Money” must be the first thing to pop into your head. Kamala got her start sleeping with Willie Brown, the former Speaker of the California Assembly and ex-mayor of San Francisco. Oh, King Willie was married at the time. He was 60 and she was 29.
Per her scrubbed Wikipedia article, “In 1994, Speaker of the California Assembly Willie Brown, who was then dating Harris, appointed her to the state Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board and later to the California Medical Assistance Commission.”
Kamala had a different set of patrons than Gavin Newsom, but both were involved in San Francisco politics at the same time. As Gavin was maneuvering for the Governor’s chair, Kamala was following the track to a different statewide office, the Attorney General.
(Gavin put his gubernatorial ambitions on hold for eight years because Jerry Brown outmaneuvered him. Gavin cooled his jets as Lieutenant Governor until Brown was term limited out.)
Harris refused to be the chief law enforcement officer of California and instead only enforced laws with which she personally agreed. Most notably, she refused to defend voter approved Proposition 8 which amended California’s Constitution stating that marriage was only between one man and one woman. Harris also used the power of the State of California to prosecute “an antiabortion activist who had made secret recordings and then accused Planned Parenthood doctors of illegally selling fetal tissue.”
Harris moved from the AG Office to the US Senate.
Harris has been called the “Whore of Babylon.”
… we might just be witnessing her grand entrance on the world stage in the form of Kamala Harris – “sex-worker” to the elites – whose payment wasn’t money (so far as we know) but political advancement. It’s pretty much common knowledge that Kamala “sex-worked” her way up the political ladder from total obscurity to where she currently has a reasonable chance of becoming the most powerful political figure in the world.
Frankly, it’s a bit shocking to watch the dramatic implosion of radical feminism that Kamala’s ascendency as the world’s top woman represents. All of the relentless and passionate work women across the globe have done for decades to promote women as equal in all ways to men based upon merit is going up in flames before their eyes.
“Kamala Harris — she’s the original ‘Hawk Tuah’ girl — that’s the way she got where she is. And the party’s going downhill if it’s in her hands,” Lace said.
His comment refers to a viral TikTok clip in which a woman is asked the question, “What’s one move in bed that makes a man go crazy every time?”
“You gotta give ’em that ‘hawk tuah’ and spit on that thang,” the woman replies, alluding to oral sex.
Fox Business guest slammed for calling Kamala Harris a ‘Hawk Tuah girl’ in sexist outburst
If Kamala rose thru the “glass ceiling” it was on her back.
Even Democrats don’t like Kamala
Biden’s out, Kamala is in. Don’t be fooled: policies won’t change. Just like Biden wasn’t the one calling the shots, Kamala Harris won’t be either. She is the new figurehead for the deep state and the maidservant of Hillary Clinton, queen of the cabal of warmongers. They will continue their efforts to engulf the world in war and taking away our liberty.
Her husband is just as bad. His previous marriage ended after getting his nanny pregnant, and then forcing the nanny to get an abortion.
Kamala is obsessed with killing the unborn but that is stating the obvious.
She is the handmaiden of evil and mistress of Moloch.