Cancer Sucks: The Backstory

First of all, if you have a cough that just won't go away, go to the doctor and get it checked out. That was how this all started for me. I was miserably sick for about a week at the end of November 2014. It was just one of those things, but the cough kinda hung around. I didn't think much about it, just chalking it up to asthma. It wasn't until December that my daughter came to visit and expressed concern over my cough and general breathing sounding funny to her. It was at her urging that I went to the doctor in January. A quick in-office xray revealed what I was told might be a mass in my right lung. Since it was possible that it was just pneumonia I tried antibiotics for two weeks, but when a second chest xray showed that mass was still there I was scheduled for a CT. The radiology report recommended a PET scan and/or biopsy to determine what was going on in my lung so I quickly got both of those scheduled. The PET revealed suspicious but inconclusive results. The first biopsy similarly revealed inconclusive results. However, I had an incredibly hard time recovering from the biopsy, suffering three days of what turned out to be pneumonia before ending up in the ER.

Since I was having such a hard time breathing I was admitted to the hospital during which time it was determined that they would need to do a second biopsy. When that one also turned out 'inconclusive' it was recommended that I go ahead and have an entire lobe of my right lung removed by a process called a thoracotomy. That was not fun. If you research it, you will find that it is one of the most difficult and painful surgeries to try and recover from. They make a massive incision, spread your ribs, and cut out a piece of lung. This left me in ICU for about a week with virtually no memory of the first few days after surgery although I was told that I was conscious and responsive. The pain level is truly hard to explain although the hospital did a decent job of keeping me medicated to try and alleviate it. Because the first few days were so bad I ended up with multiple blood clots in my left arm causing it to also swell and be quite painful though I got lucky that they didn't break loose and cause any more trouble.

At the end of my hospital stay it was recommended that I go to a nursing home for a short time while they made continued adjustments to my medication. That was actually the worst decision of this entire process. While I had felt that I was successfully recovering while in the hospital, my week in the nursing home seemed to not only stop my recovery but make me feel worse. They couldn't cope with my vegetarian requirements, getting nearly every meal wrong and pretty much leaving me to eat grilled cheese for every lunch and dinner. I was expected to share a room with three people, one of which was in extremely bad shape, pre-surgery, and necessitating nurses come in multiple times a night turning on lights and making massive amounts of noise. It was nearly impossible to sleep for more than about 20 minutes at a time. My own blood was drawn between 4 and 5AM every day. I was basically begging to be released home every day until they finally said yes. While I understand that nursing homes are a necessity, this is not a good option for surgery recovery if you can possibly avoid it.

I am now home and working on my recovery before entering into the chemo step of this process. 

Live well....eat well: UC Irvine Area Farmers Market

Like most things, there is endless debate about how much healthy eating makes positive contributions to your health. For every article you read about the benefits of drinking organic juices, for example, there is another article that says not to drink juice at all. But, as an officially seriously ill person, my personal opinion is that when I eat well, I feel better. That does not preclude the occasional treat, but eating and drinking fresh, homemade, organic products definitely seem to me to be a good choice.

On Saturday mornings (8am-Noon) Irvine hosts what is arguably the best farmers market in Orange County. Formerly housed in a shopping center parking lot at UC Irvine, the market has recently moved down the road into the Mariners Church parking lot at 5001 Newport Coast Dr. The produce at this market is so insanely popular that you will spot not only a wide range of general patrons, but a number of professional chefs who show up each Saturday morning to stock up on awesome foodstuffs for the following week.

Since we were pretty well stocked already, this weeks haul focused largely on juice. We bought both organic orange juice and organic blood orange juice for only $4 a bottle, as well as individual serving size bottles of apple-cherry organic cider, and apple-pomegranate juice. There was also an awesome stand that sells small batch salsas, both green and red, that are fresh, flavorful and all around amazing. We also picked up a dozen organic, free range eggs for under $5. The 'occasional treat' for this week was an amazing cinnamon roll covered in maple frosting, from the donut stand that makes amazingly fresh, gourmet quality donuts.

This farmers market is not only a great source of good food, but a great excuse to make a short excursion out of the house without too much strain and effort for those of us currently disabled by drastic illness. Since chemo will be starting soon, I may not make it out much for a few months, so all of you need to go check it out and support this market in my absence.

The Kindly Prince of Trader Joe's

While my cancer fight has been underway for several months now (will fill in more of the backstory later) I am finding that every day is a new adventure. On one of my rare adventures out since my surgery in March we made a brief stop at Trader Joe's Brea for a few groceries. By the time we made it to check out I felt overwhelmed and took the keys to go sit in the car. So, it was with great surprise that when my daughter brought the groceries to the car she handed me a bouquet of lovely flowers, a gift from the gentleman who had rung up our groceries. As anyone who has ever shopped at Trader Joe's knows, the checkers are a friendly and conversational bunch and so when my daughter mentioned having moved back to California to take care of me during my cancer fight, the checker darted from his stand to go pick out the most beautiful bouquet to bring to me, along with his wishes that it make me smile. Now you can go on all you like about what a disconnected, uncaring world we live in, but now and again, the kindness of a total stranger really shows that it's not as bad as you think.