After pressuring the doctor's since about 8/1 on what the chemo routine would be after I get out, and really turning up the pressure after we found we had a donor match, I finally got my answer last Friday evening. I have to have 3 LPs with methotrexate, and I can get them any time in the next 3 weeks. That is it. So this PICC line that has been keeping me out of the water and off the golf course was not needed, not since 8/7. It is coming out today, Yippee Aye Oh Tie Ay #$*&)ยช$% (yaotamf).
That news also allowed me to reschedule Yellowstone and move it up a day, since I moved the 9/2 LP to today. All I have to do now is go get this LP today and another on 9/12, pack for Strawberry Festival and for Yellowstone today, go to Strawberry MF tomorrow, come back next Monday by noon, shower and switch luggage packs and get on a plane at 2 pm for Bozeman. Donald will then test my will in the backcountry for 4 days, and I return on the 6th. This should be a great buildup to the Thrilla in Manila, the Rumble in the Jungle, a Slap and a Crap, a Poke and a Tickle, Spaghetti on the Wall, the Call to the Dinosaurs, Slow me then Glow me, I'm on Fire But I Don't Burn, Thrill me Spill me Chill me just don't Kill me, Get Away From My Ears You Psycho, ?????. Help me out here, I am trying to name the chemo/radiation/recovery fight coming up.
I remember at some point in our youth we made up slogans for mortuaries - You Kill 'em We Chill 'em, You Slay 'em We Lay 'em, Billy and Pat, be my memory here, I know we had a lot of these. Don't know why I bring that up, I must be feeling morbid heading for another LP.
So after Friday's double LP, we had a Team-in-Training training session on Saturday am, a mere 6 miles. Like the fool I am, I went, did the 6, and have been suffering with sciatica since. Silly. During an LP, which they are doing under fluoroscopy (xray), they can see the needle and the spine, but not the nerves, so they bang the sciatic nerves occasionally. Hooah. Smile and move on. Off I go, it is time.
This is me in 2002 with my niece Jennie standing behind me, flipping her hair onto my head. More new hair to come.Flash update - it is 6 pm, and I am packing up for the two trips. I called it on the morning schedule, I got there at 7 am, they got me on the table at 9, Doctor hurt me as much as he could in 45 minutes but had a good LP, I laid on my back the required time and was out at 11:15. Went into my docs and had the PICC line removed - I can swim, golf, surf!
johnny you're too bad.
ReplyDeleteI remember them but am showing uncharacteristic good taste and not sending them in. I will admit I could probably still walk the cut-through in the dark..."St. Peter's cemetary, people are dying to get in." If Billy wants to answer he can, but let's hope he doesn't concentrate too hard if there are any lit candles around. That Christmas Eve vigil with the burning hair was the end of religion for me.
I think a lifetime of practice winning will have you ready to win this one. So what if you come out finding you have turtles for pets and start calling your wife Adrienne?
Hey John-
ReplyDeleteSandy here at Dana's doctor office. You're a tough guy and LP's you can do no problem! Sorry, I don't know any creepy sayings to add but no worries, we aren't going there. Anyway, thinking of you and Dana!
Stay tough!
John,
ReplyDeleteGood luck on getting through with this puncture juncture. You’ve had your share of sticks and PICCs and I hope you have a wonderful time on your trip to Bozeman, Yellowstone and the music festival.
Mac
It's a pretty steady downpour, nothing like Florida, so I hear. The rain is just about vertical. The splash boils on the neighbor's driveway. I hear it outside my window, it drowns out the highway whine that I often hear in the distance. Now it is a dull drumming heard mostly on the leaves and the gutters. Hidden from view in some sheltered place I can hear the soft high pitched warble of some small bird, there it is again. A staccato chirp hidden in the foliage. An ever so light breeze stirs the small branches and their succulent leaves and climbs through my window. I draw it deep into my chest, and exhale ever so slowly. The rain has passed. What I hear now is the water that drops off the trees. Once again I hear the highway sounds in the distance. " Rain, rain, oh beautiful rain."
ReplyDeleteLOVE the hair, chickie!
ReplyDeletedidn't see it when I first commented, you must have been at the beauty parlor...
While I am gone to parts probably unbloggable until 9/6, I hope you literati can put together a book here in the comment section. I suggest you start with a poem from Mo, and then everyone else adds a paragraph based on the image. Or not.
ReplyDeleteI always sleep the best when I have the sound of water nearby. I was thinking how that would probably not be true if there were things around that would eat me. You wouldn't hear them over the water. I bet indians never slept by running water.
John,
ReplyDeleteYou cease to amaze me with your memory so if Pat is showing good taste, I will not. How about You dice them and we ice them,You nepalm them and we embalm them or You fry them and we dry them. I bet this could go on for a while with your input. Have a good trip and you seem mentally prepared for your upcoming fight. We are all wishing you well from the east coast.
Bill
way to go, Billy; I had forgotten about napalm, but it sure is a wonder none of us went into advertising, huh?
ReplyDeleteI sure hope one of us thinks up a working title for the"match"...it is not coming to me...
maybe I am too preoccupied thinking about John leaving Maurice to hall-monitor the blog--whoa, thank god it is Dana and not him setting up for the 3rd grade is all I can say;
though who knows? probably could get a book out of it...stranger things have happened; a lot of them here.
The Fanfare at Stanford.
ReplyDeleteBuild me up, Buttercup.
Bleeding Love?
Warriors at the Gates of Hell
The (Hepa)Masked Wonder vs. the Bloody Mess
Leggo my Marrow
Somebody stop me!
Spudhead
John,
ReplyDeleteYou amaze me...I always thought you were a sick puppy but when I read your friends comments I realize you are just one of a group of sick puppies. I can imagine you all as little houdlums running around a cemetary...what a visual...Your poor mother's...I prefer to visualize you as the pain in the butt I worked with who terrorized us all at Arcad/Conner/Seagate/Veritec...all I can say is (and I am sure many of you know this) never, never, never leave your computer on or unattended while you step away to the bathroom or a meeting...John will come sit down at your computer and send some of these lovely sayings that he remembers way back in the back of his head...to a hundred or so of your closest friends or work mates...Now I understand you and your friends have been thinking of these lovely little quotes for years..
Gotta love it...You have your sense of humor still that is the most important...Keep us and you laughing they say it is the best medicine...I agree but keep praying too...couldn't hurt.
MB
Hi John:
ReplyDeleteOK, back in the day and in the same neighborhood, I was hanging around with another group with a dark sense of humor: Jeff Berube, Claudia Hinsley, Robin Andrade, Lynda Kapsinow - and we spent many afternoons at Jeff's house (remember double sessions?) dreaming up our disease names: I was Marty Multiple Sclerosis, Claudia was Claudy Cerebral Palsy - don't remember Jeff, Lynda or Robin's names...what was WRONG with us?
Anyhow, I can't think of any names for your upcoming ordeal except for Hard and Hell. Many healing thoughts and prayers are heading your way!
Hope you are having fun with Mikey B at Strawberry!