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I would hope it was “dead” fried chicken 😊🐓

Keep hanging in there!

Thanks for posting this Shaman - had been wondering about your progress.

In addition to several progressively involved surgeries, our absolutely dear and precious loved one went though 4 of those regimes - rang that bell every time with a smile. Still can't fathom how she managed all of that with such grace, and yet she left and is hearing bells in Heaven now.

Still praying on your behalf and wishing you all of the best - want you to be among us and able to remember ringing that bell for many years to come. Forward.

Prayers for your recovery
Thanks for the updates

I often go into Lee's and when they ask what I want I tell them I want a half a dead chicken in a box. You should see the looks I get. When I'm asked to explain I tell them "I want the chicken dead. I want it cut up. I want it fried and put in a box with sides. You can do that, can't you?"

"You want it dead?"

"Do you serve it any other way?"


There's a Wednesday night 3 piece dark special I call "Dead Chicken Bingo." It costs a few bucks to enter. There's a waiting area full of people. They hand out tickets and then call out numbers. When they call your number, you win dead chicken in a box. Everybody's a winner.

I showed up for Day 2 and found that things had changed. They'd double-checked my COVID story and realized that I was well outside the 21 day exposure limit. I got sprung from the COVID oubliette and thrown back out into the main area. My attendant was sick and tired of having to suit up in hazmat every time she went to see me.

Yeesh!

How did you come to lose your balls?

Thanks for sharing your personal journey as you ring that damn Bell!!

Mr Shaman, Keep the faith. My wife & I have both had cancer. I got a "neo bladder" out of my bladder cancer 12 years ago.
I did not have to go through any chemo or radiation but had plenty of cat scans and catheters for 10 years.
On the other hand, my wife had ovarian surgery and then 6 cycles of chemo. The last two cycles were delayed a bit due to lousy lab results.
Still have cat scans and oncologists visits for awhile yet.
Keep that positive attitude and I believe God has good things for you down the road
God's blessings
Rod

Unless something changes, today is my last day at Chemo Camp.

My kidneys took a hit with COVID, and they want to go easy on them. The easiest way to do that is to knock off the bug juice a day early. I go for my final labs at 0730 and then report to camp. They'll make the decision while I'm on the initial saline flush.

I know now why so many people I've known who go through this ordeal come away saying they were glad they did it, but would never be able to do it again. I still have the worst of it to go through. That will start sometime in the next couple of days and last most of next week. It's like one of those video games where every level gets harder. The next two weeks will be a grind.

How do I feel? I signed the release form. I walked into this fully informed. It beats the alternatives. This AM, the results of my latest HCG Tumor Marker test have me back below 1, and my AFB from earlier in the week is on its way back down as well. These would be a good indication the cancer is dead. I have a PET scan scheduled in early August that will confirm it.

KYHillChick keeps wanting to know how I'm doing. Every day of this I keep being reminded that I've entered a land without a vocabulary to describe it. Next to nobody ever goes here, so there just ain't words for it. The surgeon who took off my nut last year gave me some numbers:

5000 cases of Seminoma in the US per year.
About half are a form that is not like mine: that leaves 2,500 cases.
Of those 2,500 cases, 95% get successful treatment by just having the nut removed. That leaves 125 poor schlubs per year getting a trip to Chemo Camp. Most are under 25. None of them are over 50. I'm days away from turning 64.

Outside my dorm room Junior year there was a Graffiti wall that guys had been marking up for a few years. The one that used to catch my eye every morning when I'd leave for classes was "Any man can piss on the floor. It takes a hero to $hit on the ceiling." If I get to ring the bell today, I will feel I've lived up to that motto.

Only way to get through is to go. This whole thing has not dulled your axiality to communicate effectively!

It's official. Chemo Camp will be over for me this afternoon. The latest labs show my kidneys are improving, but they don't want to push them any further. I'm on my second to last bag of bug juice.

Awesome! Good going shaman

That is some great news. Rattle the walls when ya ring the bell, congrats.

Great news Sha!

Praying for you. Kick it’s butt.

The Bell Ringing Ceremony is teed up. I'm just waiting for the last drop in the IV

With apologies to Anonymous, the Scot, my address to the IV Infusion Room:


"Of all the comrades that e'er I had
They may be sorry for my going away
And all the nurses that e'er I had
They might wish me one more day

But since it fell unto my lot
That I should rise and y'all should not
I gently rise and softly call
Goodbye, and Joy be to you all."

Just a quick update: all is well.

I've felt like crap on-and-off, but this is normal. I have no stamina, but I can at least get to the bathroom from the recliner and back again. Things are gradually improving. I still get waves of feeling poisoned, but those are getting less.

I'm overstocked on reading material, but have no way of enjoying it. Reading takes concentration, and that takes stamina. You don't notice it until you don't have it. Luckily, I've got Youtube on the big TV, and I just surf mindlessly. That kills hours.

I also seem to be able to write. Go figure.

Good news, sir. Get strong, stay strong and be well.