Saturday, June 28, 2014

Cancer stage

So here is the problem..... belly cut open from the sternum to the nether regions..... my insides scrambled to get to the kidneys.....  need pain meds to dull the pain.... pain meds remove any energy that might be trying to break through. So, I am trying to type a few lines before my morning medications.

No sense dancing around the big news..... my cancer is stage 4. That means that it has escaped the kidneys, and has gone looking for new places to settle. They could see that the cancer was outside of the kidneys, and cancer was found in 2 of the 25 lymph nodes that were removed.

My surgeon tells me that it is not a “really bad” stage 4.... no evidence of distance metastasis. He also says that the recent chemo may have “cured” me. I am hoping that he is right.

For now, heal up, get good at dialysis, and get a cancer scan every 3 months for the next year.

I know that “every bodies cancer is different”,” I am not a statistic”, “could live another 20 years”, etc...... I recognize that statistics are general in nature, and there are always exceptions. I am also a realist, and would rather be stage 1 than stage 4.... after all, there is no stage 5.

I want to remind everyone that this is not a tragedy. As a family, the Crains have been very lucky health wise..... no premature deaths, no wheel chairs, no one institutionalized,.... Statistically speaking, one of us was going to get some awful illness. I know that others in the family have done their part, but now that I have stepped up and filled that spot, for now at least, the rest of the family can breath a bit easier. Y’all can thank me later..... LOL

My pain meds are starting to kick in, and I can feel my IQ sliding down 30 - 40 points, so I need to wrap this up for today.

Thanks for all of the encouragement and support.

5 comments:

Barbara and Ron said...

Wow, John. I guess all we can do is pray the cancer screens come out good. We'll be thinking of you.

pdurant said...

Do you remember what Dad always used to say? "If a germ ever got into me, it would die of neglect." Surely that attitude will work for orphaned cancer cells that wandered where they weren't supposed to go as well. If ever a person could "think a cell to death", I believe you could!

We'll help by praying those critters to death.

Love you John. Hang in there.



Anonymous said...

Thinking about you this morning. How are you healing? Praying you are feeling better day by day. Love you, brother.

Anonymous said...

Hoping and praying you are gaining some strength. Love you, bro.

pdurant said...

I'm hoping for an update soon. How are you doing my brother?