jordanlund

Had the surgery 2/19 to remove the entire sigmoid colon and all the related lymph nodes.

Was in recovery 2/19 to 2/23 and released to go home!

The biopsy results came in late today and confirmed 0/12 lymph nodes were malignant. That's it! It's clean! No stage 3, no chemo required!

Follow up with the surgeon on 4/1 to talk about where we go from here, my guess is colonoscopies 2x a year for life now since it went from 0 to stage 2 in 6 months.

March is Colon Cancer Awareness Month, wear blue and get checked!

#✅UR:

Not sure when I'll be back modding, I still feel like someone slammed me in the gut with a baseball bat. Cricket bat for our international folks! Maybe another 2-3 weeks.

I still lurk and comment occasionally, just as my health allows!

Edit Bonus - Since my wife had her own medical event this year involving a massive infection, spinal intrusion and below knee amputation, we already hit the out of pocket maximum on our insurance for the year.

Sooo...

Get insurance guys, no, seriously, get insurance.

So some people stress bake... Anyway! Cowboy Cookies!

1.25 cups (6.25 ounces) all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon table salt

Whisk all that together in a bowl.

In a SECOND bowl:

1.5 cups (10.5 ounces) packed light brown sugar
12 tablespoons (1.5 sticks) melted and cooled unsalted butter
1 large egg + 1 large yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whisk all that together until evenly combined, then stir in the flour mixture and whisk until all the dry flour streaks are gone.

1.25 cups (3.75 ounces) old fashioned rolled oats

Stir to combine

1 cup chopped toasted pecans

Stir to combine

1 cup (3 ounces) sweetened shredded coconut

Stir to combine

2/3 cup (4 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Stir to combine

Spray a 1/4 cup measure with cooking spray and use that to scoop up the dough.

Place 8 cookies 2 inches apart on an unrimmed cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (I used a Good Cook AirPerfect sheet which doesn't require parchment or Silpat or anything!)

Bake at 350° for 8 minutes, rotate the sheet and bake another 8 minutes.

Remove from oven and let sit on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes to finish cooking.

Place cookies on a wire rack to finish cooling and bake the other 1/2 of the cookies, makes 15 to 16 cookies total.

Some of you know I was offline for a bit this week for surgery. What you didn't know (and what I didn't know until about 2 hours ago) is that the surgery has uncovered cancer.

I'm intentionally using "c" cancer and not "C" Cancer because 6 months ago the biopsies I had done were pre-cancerous with no sign of cancer proper.

So, whatever it is, it developed in the last 6 months and I take that as a good sign.

From here I need to focus on doing what the docs tell me to do starting with blood tests tomorrow, then we're doing genetic stuff and a CT scan, that will tell us the official "stage" of the cancer.

My plan is to come back, but it won't be immediate and I don't (yet) have any sort of timeline. My ideas are probably more aggressive than the doctors and insurance will allow. 😉

So I'm planning on the worst, doing paperwork, advanced directives, all the stuff you don't usually have to think about. Then we'll see where it goes.

I wish Lemmy all the luck in the world!

Edit

OK - met with the surgeon. At a minimum it's stage 2 (invasive) with the potential for stage 3 (in the lymph nodes).

We won't know until they remove the sigmoid colon (all of it) and the related lymph nodes and have it all checked.

Scheduler is going to call me, right now it's looking like 3 to 5 weeks out, so late Feb. or early March.

Potential to move me up because cancer patients have priority.

If it's stage 2, no further action needed, surgery fixes it.

If it's stage 3, that requires chemotherapy, but we won't know that until after the surgery.

Edit 2

Surgery is scheduled for 2/19. It was going to be 2/11, but they decided they need more time to review the drugs I'm on and figure out which ones to stop and when.

Edit 3

Doing the last bits of surgery prep tonight, reporting to the hospital tomorrow. Estimate is 3 days in then back home.

Edit 4

Edit 5

Surgery on the 19th went well, I have 4 laparoscopic scars on my belly and it seems well contained. But if I cough, it's like I want to die.

Day 1 - 3 were kind of tough with all the tubes running in and out of me, it all dramatically improved on day 4 with removing the catheter.

Apparently they were confused why someone with a heparin blood thinner drip would be bleeding internally in their urethra. I'm like "Hey, I'm no doctor, but maybe the catheter has something to do with that?" 🤔

They were worried about blood clots blocking urine flow and didn't want to remove the catheter only to have to put it back in.

Saner heads prevailed, the catheter was removed, and the bleeding stopped immediately. No worries on the bathroom front, all clear and blood free!

Plan is to cut me loose in the morning! Just in time to visit my wife on her rehab ward for a 5 hour caregiver training.

Training I won't immediately be able to do because, surgery, but good to have it for when I am able!

Now, we wait for lab results for the cancer stage. Minimum stage 2, which is why we did the surgical intervention.

If it somehow got into the lymph system, that's stage 3 and I'll be back in for chemo.

Results take 5-7 days from the 19th soooo ... 2/24 to 2/26 we'll get the word on that!

Some of you know I was offline for a bit this week for surgery. What you didn't know (and what I didn't know until about 2 hours ago) is that the surgery has uncovered cancer.

I'm intentionally using "c" cancer and not "C" Cancer because 6 months ago the biopsies I had done were pre-cancerous with no sign of cancer proper.

So, whatever it is, it developed in the last 6 months and I take that as a good sign.

From here I need to focus on doing what the docs tell me to do starting with blood tests tomorrow, then we're doing genetic stuff and a CT scan, that will tell us the official "stage" of the cancer.

My plan is to come back, but it won't be immediate and I don't (yet) have any sort of timeline. My ideas are probably more aggressive than the doctors and insurance will allow. 😉

So I'm planning on the worst, doing paperwork, advanced directives, all the stuff you don't usually have to think about. Then we'll see where it goes.

I wish Lemmy all the luck in the world!

Edit

OK - met with the surgeon. At a minimum it's stage 2 (invasive) with the potential for stage 3 (in the lymph nodes).

We won't know until they remove the sigmoid colon (all of it) and the related lymph nodes and have it all checked.

Scheduler is going to call me, right now it's looking like 3 to 5 weeks out, so late Feb. or early March.

Potential to move me up because cancer patients have priority.

If it's stage 2, no further action needed, surgery fixes it.

If it's stage 3, that requires chemotherapy, but we won't know that until after the surgery.

Edit 2

Surgery is scheduled for 2/19. It was going to be 2/11, but they decided they need more time to review the drugs I'm on and figure out which ones to stop and when.

Edit 3

Doing the last bits of surgery prep tonight, reporting to the hospital tomorrow. Estimate is 3 days in then back home.

Edit 4

Edit 5

Surgery on the 19th went well, I have 4 laparoscopic scars on my belly and it seems well contained. But if I cough, it's like I want to die.

Day 1 - 3 were kind of tough with all the tubes running in and out of me, it all dramatically improved on day 4 with removing the catheter.

Apparently they were confused why someone with a heparin blood thinner drip would be bleeding internally in their urethra. I'm like "Hey, I'm no doctor, but maybe the catheter has something to do with that?" 🤔

They were worried about blood clots blocking urine flow and didn't want to remove the catheter only to have to put it back in.

Saner heads prevailed, the catheter was removed, and the bleeding stopped immediately. No worries on the bathroom front, all clear and blood free!

Plan is to cut me loose in the morning! Just in time to visit my wife on her rehab ward for a 5 hour caregiver training.

Training I won't immediately be able to do because, surgery, but good to have it for when I am able!

Now, we wait for lab results for the cancer stage. Minimum stage 2, which is why we did the surgical intervention.

If it somehow got into the lymph system, that's stage 3 and I'll be back in for chemo.

Results take 5-7 days from the 19th soooo ... 2/24 to 2/26 we'll get the word on that!

Some of you know I was offline for a bit this week for surgery. What you didn't know (and what I didn't know until about 2 hours ago) is that the surgery has uncovered cancer.

I'm intentionally using "c" cancer and not "C" Cancer because 6 months ago the biopsies I had done were pre-cancerous with no sign of cancer proper.

So, whatever it is, it developed in the last 6 months and I take that as a good sign.

From here I need to focus on doing what the docs tell me to do starting with blood tests tomorrow, then we're doing genetic stuff and a CT scan, that will tell us the official "stage" of the cancer.

My plan is to come back, but it won't be immediate and I don't (yet) have any sort of timeline. My ideas are probably more aggressive than the doctors and insurance will allow. 😉

So I'm planning on the worst, doing paperwork, advanced directives, all the stuff you don't usually have to think about. Then we'll see where it goes.

I wish Lemmy all the luck in the world!

Edit

OK - met with the surgeon. At a minimum it's stage 2 (invasive) with the potential for stage 3 (in the lymph nodes).

We won't know until they remove the sigmoid colon (all of it) and the related lymph nodes and have it all checked.

Scheduler is going to call me, right now it's looking like 3 to 5 weeks out, so late Feb. or early March.

Potential to move me up because cancer patients have priority.

If it's stage 2, no further action needed, surgery fixes it.

If it's stage 3, that requires chemotherapy, but we won't know that until after the surgery.

Edit 2

Surgery is scheduled for 2/19. It was going to be 2/11, but they decided they need more time to review the drugs I'm on and figure out which ones to stop and when.

Edit 3

Doing the last bits of surgery prep tonight, reporting to the hospital tomorrow. Estimate is 3 days in then back home.

Edit 4

Edit 5

Surgery on the 19th went well, I have 4 laparoscopic scars on my belly and it seems well contained. But if I cough, it's like I want to die.

Day 1 - 3 were kind of tough with all the tubes running in and out of me, it all dramatically improved on day 4 with removing the catheter.

Apparently they were confused why someone with a heparin blood thinner drip would be bleeding internally in their urethra. I'm like "Hey, I'm no doctor, but maybe the catheter has something to do with that?" 🤔

They were worried about blood clots blocking urine flow and didn't want to remove the catheter only to have to put it back in.

Saner heads prevailed, the catheter was removed, and the bleeding stopped immediately. No worries on the bathroom front, all clear and blood free!

Plan is to cut me loose in the morning! Just in time to visit my wife on her rehab ward for a 5 hour caregiver training.

Training I won't immediately be able to do because, surgery, but good to have it for when I am able!

Now, we wait for lab results for the cancer stage. Minimum stage 2, which is why we did the surgical intervention.

If it somehow got into the lymph system, that's stage 3 and I'll be back in for chemo.

Results take 5-7 days from the 19th soooo ... 2/24 to 2/26 we'll get the word on that!

Props for bringing a horse though!

This is Portland Police saying this, so a slightly smaller grain of salt than the Rock of Gibraltar sized one for the DHS tweet.

Male shot in the arm released to FBI custody, female shot in the chest still hospitalized and stable.

~~"Killings" is inaccurate, but it's their headline.~~ Hey! They fixed the headline! Man was shot in the arm (or maybe the leg? Reports vary.) Woman shot in the chest. Both survived and were hospitalized but their conditions have not been reported.

Mayor Wilson nails it:

Portland’s mayor, Keith Wilson, said at a news conference: “We know what the federal government says happened here. There was a time when we could take them at their word. That time is long past.”

“We cannot sit by while constitutional protections erode and bloodshed mounts. Portland is not a ‘training ground’ for militarized agents, and the ‘full force’ threatened by the administration has deadly consequences. As mayor, I call on ICE to end all operations in Portland until a full investigation can be completed.”

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/45158324

That explains all the sirens I heard coming back from lunch...