i had five people simultaneously trying to get blood from me from five different spots and all of them failing because of my LAYERS OF FATTY LARD, all because i fell down some stairs and my leg might have been fractured(which it wasn't) but why they'd do a blood test is beyond me... maybe... maybe in house md... they'd do a test for bone marrow leakage in the blood stream....

man I had a dream with the latest picture you posted Steel, I dreamt I had those, but instad of staples it was one giant zipper, all the way to the abdomen, when I opened it, it wasn't pretty
Very good luck with this I hope it doesn't hurt much.

Why would you want to open that?

it doesn't hurt that bad. it kind of tickled when i got some stiches removed

Stitches for bitches. At uncle house, staples hurt a little, like a pinch. Got big ole holes. W00t.

stitches hurt but i'm a pussy

Stitches for bitches. At uncle house, staples hurt a little, like a pinch. Got big ole holes. W00t.

Do you feel like Frankenstein's Monster now?

So you're gonna go for badass skinhead with holes in the head or get some funky wig
that will blow everyone's minds away? Will the hair like grow back at a regular speed?
I don't have a clue on what chemo/cancer does to your hair >_>

i had 21 stiches in my forehead once! it didn't hurt so much (i guess there was numbing shit though), but watching someone sew up your head was just really creepy. i couldn't imagine what it would be like to know someoen was STAPLING your head! eee :S

So you're gonna go for badass skinhead with holes in the head or get some funky wig
that will blow everyone's minds away? Will the hair like grow back at a regular speed?
I don't have a clue on what chemo/cancer does to your hair >_>

Chemo works by killing quickly dividing cells (ie. cancer), but it's sort of like a WMD for your body because it does not differentiate between hostile and friendly cells. In this case the cells of the hair follicle are the fast growing cells and get wiped out by the chemo. Hair growth resumes normal speed once the chemo is completed and the cells have had time to recover.

i'll get a pic of it later, and probably write out a sad explanation of what is to come.

i'll get a pic of it later, and probably write out a sad thoroughly confident and optimistic explanation of what is to come.

waiting

okay.

so first off what exactly happened. with this type of cancer, it tends to run into the brain. normal chemotherapy cannot pass the blood brain barrier, and so it may have been there already or it may have just grown from after my surgery on my chest. we don't know. either way I've been told they might not have done anything if they found it early anyways, as it would be too small to justify resection, and would have let it grow a bit, although maybe not to peach sized.

as for effects, cognitively I was fine, I didn't even have a headache. they checked all this. physically though, my left side was weaker than my right for some reason; I would drift to the left, they did a test where I held out my hands palms up, closed my eyes and when I opened it, the left had dropped about an inch for some reason, blah blah. there were physical side effects but none too bad; I tripped on the shoes on the way out the house for the MRI so.

the tumor was almost certainly resected entirely. the smaller tumor, located behind my right temple, cannot be surgically removed, but will be treated with radiation sometime this or next week and is not a concern. fun fact; in the old days they used to surgically attach a halo to you so your head wouldn't move during the radiation. but now, they create a perfect mold of your face so you can't move and it's this mask. AND YOU GET TO KEEP THE MASK!

here's the bad part...adelines...brace yourself.

because of how quick this tumor is and how resilient it is, we'll be going to Indiana to see Dr. Einhorn, the best with this type of cancer. the belief is we'll have to do something called high dose chemo.

I am not even going to describe high dose chemo. just know; this is a chemo so bad it damages your bone marrow. it can't be done on the elderly, as it might kill them. this will make the old chemo look like a walk in the park. I'm not sure if we'd do it in Indiana or in NC, but that will be determined later. right now the timeline is to do the radiation and then see Einhorn. buuuuut this is gonna kick my ass but good.

ahhh you'll pull through.  you got that punjabi blood (or delhi... orrisa?  tamil nadu, bihar, maharashtra just tell me if i'm pinpointing your families nationality). 

i'm rolling your fortitude save.  oh look at that, natural 20.

I know we have our differences, but



I mean it.  High intensity whatever you've got radiation going straight to your body I'd piss my pants.

i believe in you. two times you've kicked cancer in the balls and only cancer can have three balls. what i'm trying to say is good luck and beat up that shit. it sounds really painful and sucky though. =( fuck cancer seriously

yeah good luck. don't die. gw n-needs you

Steel,

A friend of mine growing up had high-dose chemo (from Leukemia and a brain tumor) and survived.  She was I think 6 or 7 when she had it and actually had to have a marrow donor afterward.  However, the important part is that she survived and she's living a great life right now.  To this day, she actually does the art for the holiday cards for Memorial Children's Hospital (may be M.D. Anderson now -- this crap changes so quick down here) Cancer Center for Kids, here in Houston.

It's ugly, it sucks, and it can be painful as hell -- but keep in mind that a 6 year-old girl can go through it and pull through fine.  I'm sure you'll be able to do it.  Best of luck!

--Terin

I am willing to donate bone marrow.  Just saying, if you need marrow I'm on the active donors list for both Virginia and Washington I WILL VOLUNTEER MYSELF AND FLY THERE.

Probably won't help you in Indiana and you might get a taste for children's cartoons, mango, and Middle Eastern cuisine.