My Visit with My New GI Doctor

April 16, 2010 | By Dan

I just got done with my visit with my new GI doctor. I felt that the visit went really well.

This is what he said about:

Cancer Stuff

  • He is perplexed how someone my age could get the cancer that I got. At first he thought I was 43 and was blown away even more when I said I was 34.
  • He really doesn’t know if it was GERD that caused it or not.
  • He said cancer can spring up anywhere anytime in anyone.
  • It is normal to assume that GERD is a precureser to cancer but maybe not in my case.
  • He thought it was a bold move not to do surgery.
  • Her agreed that surgery was major and that I would permanent side effects from it.
  • Other then the two points above about surgery we didn’t talk too much about it.

GERD Medication

  • He thought it was really weird that I had the side effects from Prilosec and the other medications in that class.
  • I asked if I should be taking the current medication I am taking and he said sure but he does not know if it will help.
  • He is not even sure that I need to take anything but try it and we will see the results
  • I told him about what DR Godel said about the current medication and my body getting used to it where it would be ineffective. He said that does happen some times but we would have to see in my case.

Read More »

Posted in Acid Reflux, Cancer, Ciliac Disease, Health | Leave a comment

Post Cancer Treatment of Other Stuff

March 24, 2010 | By Dan

Now that the cancer thing is pretty much over and done with I get to visit other doctors about various other items.

One doctor I am waiting to see is a hearing doctor since I now have constant ringing in my ears. From what I have been told this is probably a side effect of the chemo drug Cisplatin :-( . The good part about this is that during the day I don’t really hear it. It is only when things are quiet (which isn’t all that often). I don’t want to go deaf though so I am having it checked out.

The other doctor that I am visiting is the GI doctor. This is the guy that goes down your throat and up your backside to make sure things look good. I am glad I haven’t had the latter test yet ;-) . The reason I am seeing him is that is where the cancer was so we need to keep an eye on it.

One thing this doctor says I have is acid reflux and that is what probably caused the cancer. Fair enough, that makes sense other then the fact that I am no symptoms of acid reflux. No heart burn, no upset stomach, etc. Nothing. The only time I have any of these symptoms is when I take the medicine that he gave me for acid reflux – then I feel like I have it.

The other item that he says I have is ciliac disease. This is because although I did not have a positive biopsy for ciliac (it wasn’t positive but abnormal) my blood test shows elevated antibodies, etc, etc. The common side effects of ciliac disease are weight loss, malnutrition, anemia, etc to which I have none of these symptoms. The doctor says that I should go on a Gluten free diet which I am told is a pain in the arse.

If that wasn’t bad enough I am getting conflicting information from this doctor about the ciliac disease. He said my biopsy was not positive but the blood test was and this means Gluten free. But he handed me a packet about ciliac disease and it outlines a variation called latent ciliac disease. In latent ciliac disease the blood test is positive but biopsy is negative. The treatment for this –  do NOT do a gluten free diet. Weird.

The good news is that our insurance changed and this doctor does not take the new insurance. That means I will go see a new doctor and see what he has to say. In the mean time I will be eating as much gluten as possible since I may never be able to eat it again.

Anyone know where I can get a couple gallons of gluten?

Posted in Acid Reflux, Cancer, Ciliac Disease, Health | Leave a comment

The $70 Piece of Plastic to Fix My Microwave

February 18, 2010 | By Dan

Broken Part

After getting home yesterday from being out I was informed that the door on our 18 month old microwave would not open. It is a built-in microwave so replacing it was not as easy as running to Walmart and buying another one. Since I knew it was out of warranty I decided to crack it open to see if I could fix it.

inside I found that the part that is in between the button that you push to open the door and the door “claw” was broken. I tried several different combinations of pins and tie straps and got it partially working but I knew it wouldn’t last long.

This morning the wife and I drove to Home Depot, Lowes, Ikea, and a local appliance dealer and nobody had anything even similar to what we had in stock. They could order the same unit or something similar but prices started at the $250′s and went up from there. The soonest that anyone could get one in was 2 weeks. I looked online and I could get one in a week.

New Part: $65

In a stroke of guinness I called a local appliance parts dealer to see if they could order the broken part. To my amazement they had the part in stock. The only catch was it was $65! SIXTY FIVE DOLLARS for a piece of plastic that I am sure cost a whopping $0.15 to make. I swallowed my pride and went and paid $65 for the official piece of plastic from Whirlpool.

The good news is that the part has a lifetime warranty so if it breaks again I am not out any more money. The other plus side to this is that I am only out $65 as opposed to to $250+ for a new microwave. The last piece of good news is that we now have a working microwave and thus everyone is happy.

I tell you, I have felt ripped off before but I think this tops the cake. Thanks Whirlpool, you really know how to stick it the consumer. I have to tell you, I don’t think I will be buying another product from you again :-( .

Bag part came in

Here’s info for anyone else that may find themselves with the same issue:

  • Brand: Whirlpool
  • Model #: GT4175SPB-2
  • Issue: Door won’t open when you push the button
  • Cause: Broken knob on push bracket
  • Replacement part #: 8205451
  • Where you can buy it: www.1stsourceparts.com
  • Price (as of writing):$72.50 w/tax/warranty

P.S. I am going to try and tweet Whirlpool to see if they can explain this crazy pricing.

Posted in Doh! | Leave a comment

A Great Way to Practice Surfing

February 17, 2010 | By Dan

A guy I worked with out in California has come up with a product that lets you practice surfing at home.

It’s called the Goof Board.

Basically it looks like a skate board without wheels sitting on top of a ridged plastic tube. It is supposed to help learn to balance better which would ultimately make you a better surfer.

You can check it out at goofboard.com and/or the video below.

Posted in Other | Leave a comment

My EDG Went Well and What That Means For Me

February 17, 2010 | By Dan

I had my EDG on Friday to visually inspect my esophagus to see how the treatment did in killing off the cancer. The doctors said that it looked as though I had never had cancer which is very good news. He did take a biopsy since he likes to be cautious but he does not expect to find anything.

So what does this mean for me?

This means that I am done with treatment for cancer. Yeah!

It also means that I do not have the weekly doctor’s appointments that I had before. In fact I do not have an appointment with my oncologist until April. He doesn’t want to see me anymore which is cool. I am assuming the April appointment will be to discuss my follow up plan. I know getting a PET/CT scan and EDG every 3-6 months is pretty standard for the first year so I am sure he will recommend something like that.

Other then that I am doctor free from here on out. Groovy.

What about work?

Good question.

I feel better but I feel like I need to have a couple of months where I do feel well before making a commitment to show up to work everyday. I want to make sure that I am done with the doctors completely and that I have the stamina to show up every day.

The other issue that affects work is health insurance. Currently there may be an issue with returning to work and the health insurance from a company not covering my cancer follow up. The reason for this would be that it is now considered a pre existing condition. I really cannot go without my follow up being covered so we are looking into that.

So how do you feel?

I feel great. 

I am eating well (maybe a little too well now), sleeping well, and have pretty normal energy. As far as I can tell I am back to normal if not a little better. It is hard to believe that it was just 5 months ago that I was diagnosed.

It has been a journey and I am really happy to be at the end of it. I am happy to say that cancer is not the death sentence that I thought it was 5 months ago. Cancer is treatable and you can return to normal life. It may be scary along the way, but you can make it through.

I am so thankful to be sitting here writing that.

Posted in Cancer, Health | Leave a comment

I’ve Decided to Become Social

February 10, 2010 | By Dan

Actually I have been “Social” (Facebook, Twitter, etc) for a while but nowhere on the web could you find be being social all in one place.

Well now you can.

Right over to the right hand side I have a whole bunch of little icons linking me to the rest of the world. So if we are linked up in one place now you can link up with me in other places as well.

See you around the social arena!

P.S. Here are the links also:

Posted in Web Site News | Leave a comment

Whoa. I Gained 10 Pounds

February 10, 2010 | By Dan

So my quest to get my weight up to 150 has been more successful then I had anticipated.

I went to the doctor yesterday and weighed in at 154lbs. I weighed 144lbs about a month ago. My ideal weight is supposed to be in the 150-160 range.

This means that I need to enter the “Maintain Mode” as opposed to the “Gain Mode”. I guess that means no more chocolate doughnuts and possibly a little exercise. Oh the horror!

Posted in Cancer, Health | Leave a comment

The Day I Have Been Waiting For

February 5, 2010 | By Dan

I mentioned earlier in the week that I got the results back from my PET/CT scan and they looked good – no cancer activity. We were happy about that and still are. Today though a couple of things happened that have pushed us over the edge to extremely happy.

It all started when I went to the doctor to have my blood drawn to check my hemoglobins for my anemia. After they drew my blood they had me wait for the results. The results came back at 11.7 which was up from 10.3. At first I was actually disappointed with the results until I realized that I have more energy at 11.7 then I have had in years. Also, I remember during one of my stays in the hospital that my level got above 12 but I did not have this kid of energy. I can only imagine how I will feel when my level is up to 16 where it should be.

What this tells me is that there are some things that are no longer going on in my body. Those things are the side effects from chemo, radiation, and namely cancer. I have turned the corner on all of these things. It has been a long time in coming :-) .

The other thing that gave me an ah-ha moment is when I was leaving. I checked with the scheduler as to if I had an appointment to go over the scope that I am having next week. The scheduler said no and the nurse that was standing there said no, you will get the results the day of the procedure from that doctor, the oncologist does not need to meet with me.

I then asked the scheduler if I had any appointments in regard to the cancer at all. She told me that I just have a standard follow up appointment in April. That’s it, a follow up appointment. Not a “test this” appointment, or results appointment, or a treatment appointment. It’s a “how are you doing” appointment. Awesome.

The reason that these two things are so significant to me is that I am so used to going to appointments, taking treatment, taking tests, and waiting for results. Now that I don’t have to do all that stuff it means one thing -

I am done with cancer!

I am just in shock. It is not that I never thought this day would come but I guess I just really didn’t think about it. Now all of a sudden Boom! It’s there. It is so crazy. Literally I don’t know what to do with myself.

Posted in Cancer, Health | Leave a comment

Results are in From My PET/CT and CAT Scans

February 2, 2010 | By Dan

In short – the results are good.

The first indication that the results where good is that they gave them to me over the phone (docs don’t usually give bad news over the phone). The second was that the “activity” level in the area was very low which they are not concerned about at all. They attribute the little bit of activity to the radiation that I received only 8 weeks ago. Usually you need to go at least 3 months if not longer before that activity drops off the scope.

Needless to say I am very happy about the results :-) .

From here I am going to have an EDG done to take a visual inspection of my esophagus. When that comes back clean then I have a clean bill of health. I will probably need to follow up with both tests at 3 or 6 month intervals for a while but that is it.

I have to say that I am breathing a big sigh of relieve and am happy to not have cancer in my body any longer.

Posted in Cancer, Health | Leave a comment

Alternative Esophageal Cancer Treatment Methods

January 26, 2010 | By Dan

In looking through the stats on this site and doing some Google searches as a result I came across a couple of alternative non-surgical treatments for esophageal cancer that I had not heard of before. As mentioned before I have opted to not have surgery at this stage because the deficits seem to outweigh the benefits of surgery and my Oncologist does not feel it is necessary.

The article is from The University of Maryland Medical Center and has a couple of different methods outlined. Both are done via an endoscopy and I believe they do not require chemo or radiation.

The first is called Cryotherapy Ablation and  uses liquid nitrogen where it is sprayed on the bad cells to kill them. This procedure is repeated every 4-6 weeks until all the bad cells are gone. They say it usually takes 3-4 treatments.

The second is called Photodynamic Therapy and uses a laser which kills the bad cells. The article mentions that this is a more accurate treatment but does not mention how many session are needed. The major side effect of this is that it uses a light sensitive drug and so you cannot go out into direct sunlight for 4-6 weeks after treatment.

Here is a link to the article:

http://www.umm.edu/gi/cryotherapy.htm

Also, they have a cool little video on the right side of the article on how the Cryotherapy Ablation is done.

Here are some other resources that I found as well:

Posted in Cancer, Health | Leave a comment

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