Category: F Cancer, GBM

12/3/2025

Howdy,

I’m still here, just taking it easy. Thanksgiving was a blast, the whole family was here. Spatchcocking the turkey was a bit of a bust, the butcher failed to do it, so I spent the afternoon doing it myself, but the family still took care of the sides so it all worked out and we had plenty of leftovers that we’re still eating. My siblings found a place in Baltimore that they like, so that’s taken care of (and took them a while). We’re decorating the house, picked up a small tree from Wegman’s that’ll do the job, now it’s just a matter of setting up the lasers without ruining the upstairs condo which shouldn’t be too bad.

To be continued.

October 21, 2025

And another week goes by.

As part of the Optune device, there’s a cable plugged into the side of it, and the back of it. Which is just part of the machine, and usually it’s fine. Until I get up to go to the restroom, or the living room, or anywhere really. At which point I inevitably forget about the damn cable and drag the power box with me and typically everything on the desktop, too. Which is a lot of fun, and makes a lovely crashing sound as everything goes crashing down, especially at 3AM.

Anyhow, I’ve been told to lower my sodium intake, and you’d be absolutely blown away by how much sodium is in typical food, (okay, I don’t exactly watch my food intake very carefully because let’s be honest, it’s not going to kill me, that’s already taken care of by my uninvited guest. But, I’m not trying to rush the process or anything exactly. I do eat whole Domino’s pizzas, and chips and salsa, and pita with lots of hummus, and my appetite has been outstanding even though I was told the Chemo would fuck it all up. That definitely hasn’t happened, yet anyhow.

To be continued.

September 29, 2025

Pulmonary Embolism(s)

Yeah, those suck. I had a bad cough that just wouldn’t go away, so urgent care got a visit. The only nurse working decided it couldn’t possibly be pulmonary embolism(s), but sent me (us) to the ER the next day anyhow. I bounced around between CT, MRI, Echo, (this poor guy had to chase me around because I kept getting moved between rooms),the food person was much better than Alexandria because they actually took my order before meal time, which was nice. Including breakfast, unlike Alexandria where I just guessed what I was getting for my next meal. These things matter when you’re not allowed to have any control over what happens next.

Oh yeah, DVT is no fun. (Deep vein thrombosis, essentially blood clots in your legs, discovered by doppler exams of your legs. And so I’ve ordered these elliptical things that you see ads for but think they’ll never apply to you because they’re for seniors, which I couldn’t possibly be, I’m not old enough. And yet I apparently am. Cancer doesn’t care. The idea is they keep your legs moving so the blood clots can’t settle in and cause more problems. They’re due any minute, thanks Amazon/UPS.

But, until then, I have a game called Whiskerwood to mess around with. It’s a demo, so it still needs some work, but it’s promising. Essentially you run a mouse empire and try to keep some cats and pirates happy.

September 16, 2025

And I’m back. Avastin infusions are going well, all things considered. They keep feeding me Oreos, I’ll keep going. The Avastin is keeping the Edema (sp), swelling down around my little friend, which means my left side is functional, so that’s a win also. I’m still working on what I can do around the house, which is pretty limited to avoid falls, but I’m trying. I refer to it as the illusion of control, which is what I’ve been calling it since March pretty much. I’m capable of a limited set of tasks, most of which don’t include a lot of standing without assistance, mechanical or otherwise.

What I’ve started to focus on for the last few days includes puppies, which is a broad term that includes little bitties and larger varieties, all of which are currently occupying space in our adoption center. They have a couple different ways that I could potentially take one in, fostering, “Tails Out” which is basically just baby-sitting a slightly larger variety for a period of time, and anything in between. All of which would require assistance that I’m working on. We’ll see.

In other good news, I was able to take my partner out for her birthday (9/11, yes, she’s aware). I have another friend with MS who’s been complaining about ADA compliance for years, and I got a taste of it right in my face/feet. The restaurant had a set of ‘shops’ that were technically handicap accessible, but the button opened the inside doors, not the outdoor ones, and of course it was fucking raining at the time. And the indoor shops were all closed, as some employee gleefully informed me while watching me stand there in the fucking rain.

So, I found a shitty door/entrance to the restaurant in question, that had no handicap button at all, (apparently it was on the far side), and some guy at the bar inside realized I needed some help (mostly a napkin to dry off my very wet head), so he held the door for me, and we had a very nice dinner. Braised ribs for me with mashed potatoes and hericot verts (they’re green beans, get over it France), double crab cake meal with more of the same for my partner. Then there was the dessert, bread pudding with 3 scoops of vanilla ice cream that was absolutely amazing.