Daniel 3:17-18

Daniel 3:17-18 "If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Seven Days to Better Health

What a difference a week makes! Take every side effect from the chemo and radiation and cut it in half. That's about where I am at today. It's nice to be able to say, "I am back to just being tired." My energy is doing much better. I can get an 8 hour shift in and only be tired when I get home (as apposed to falling asleep right away). Very nice. It is emotionally empowering having the chemo and radiation behind me.

This afternoon I had a followup appointment with my radiation oncologist. He was very pleased with how I am healing up. Which basically means my butt is getting better. Yay! Also, all indications are that the treatment did it's job. Double yay! We beat up my tumor! He also said I handled the treatment extremely well considering what they threw at me. While I'm glad for the compliment, it left me wondering what other cancer patients experience during their treatment. Holy moly!

My date for surgery is penciled in for Friday, December 3rd. That is the week after Thanksgiving. I will meet with my surgeon on Thursday, October 27th, to go over the results of the chemo and radiation as well as to confirm my date for surgery. I like the date. It will allow me to enjoy Thanksgiving and be recovered enough from surgery to enjoy Christmas. Let's think of my surgery as an early Christmas present. I'll donate my rectum to science and in return I'll be cancer free!
Merry Christmas, everybody!

Posted by Steve Chamberlin at 10:57 PM

4 comments:

  1. The Whitaker FamilyOctober 20, 2010 at 9:00 PM

    Very good news! I'm so glad to hear that you're feeling so much better!!!!! Hope it all works out just like planned...

    ReplyDelete
  2. FumigatorOctober 22, 2010 at 9:38 PM

    Gross question here. Well, everything about your cancer is gross (sorry I have to inform you) so maybe I should have just said Question here. So every time you have an appointment, what tools and tests do they use to evaluate how the R&C did? Do you have to go through a colonoscopy every time you go in to get checked out? Cuz I'm familiar with the prep work you have to go through prior to a colonoscopy and none of that sounds like any fun.

    Just curious.

    Anyway I'm super glad to hear you are improving so much and I agree, the timing of the surgery is right on. I'll probably be getting the carcinoma carved off my face about the same time but it hardly compares to your adventures.

    Any time you need something, whatever time it is day or night, just lemme know.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousOctober 22, 2010 at 11:39 PM

    Dude, that is so awesome to see you healing well. I'm glad to that you can get a whole day in at work now. Try and save some of that energy for game night. Just write one less line of code. That should do it, LOL. Anyway, just wanted to say YEAH for STEVE, he's on the mend.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Steve ChamberlinOctober 25, 2010 at 9:38 PM

    Randy,

    I have only had one colonoscopy to date. That's the one where they found my tumor. Because my tumor is in the last part of the rectum, my surgeon doesn't need me to clean the entire colon to examine me. He just needs me to clear the rectum. A simple saline enema does the trick. The solution goes in at the bottom and then a few minutes later everything comes out of the bottom leaving a nice clean rectum for the doctor. This is done about an hour before the exam.

    As to any instruments he uses during the exam, I don't get to see any of them. He used a gloved finger several times as well as several metal rods with various attachments on the end. One of them takes a rectal ultra sound. This gives the doctor an image of the tumor, including its mass and depth. The image shows up on a screen near by.

    Mostly the exam is uncomfortable. Carla tells me I made some great faces. I guess you could re-read my Bend Over post. I'll be doing a repeat of that this Wednesday. Then the doctor can compare the before and after treatment results.

    Glad to hear yours is only a carcinoma. Melanoma is a different beast. I expected carcinoma in my future. Rectal cancer caught me by surprise. Hears hoping all goes well with your carving session.

    Thanks for your family's support.

    -Steve

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