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.

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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:

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My Resume Has Been Updated

January 25, 2010 | By Dan

I spent some time to get my resume updated this morning. Most specifically I added my most recent employer which was Solarwinds. Also added were .txt and .pdf version of it.

I am not currently looking for a position but as soon as I get the good results back from my PET/CT scan next week I plan of starting to look. My energy has been great and I am expecting that it will continue to stay that way.

If you know anyone that is looking for a web or software product manager I would appreciate you giving me an honorable mention ;-) .

You can see my resume on the resume page here.

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A Couple of Updates at danmasters.net

January 22, 2010 | By Dan

broom I have done some cleanup here at the ol’ blog.

The first you may notice is a new design or what we like to call in the blogosphere as a “theme”. I would like to take credit for the design but unfortunately I did not design it. Cozmos Labs did and I think they did a great job. I made some enhancements here and there for my liking.

Another change that I did to the site was to eliminate the  daily Twitter rollup posts. They were kind of redundant and annoying so they are all gone. You can see my tweets in the column to the right if you are really that much into Twitter.

The last thing I did was to add my resume as a page again since I will need to be getting a job here in the near future. It is kind of up-to-date in that it is the resume that I used to get my last job. It does not have my last job that I had for a whole 7 weeks on it though. The reason for this is long and irrelevant to probably everyone in the world so I won’t bore you with the why. I will say that I will update it soon.

Enjoy the updated site and please let me know if you come across anything that doesn’t work properly.

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I Got My PEG Tube Out Today

January 22, 2010 | By Dan

PEG-Tube It is a red letter day for me. I got my PEG tube out today after 3 months on it sticking out of my belly.

I would say that the tube and I had a love/hate relationship during the time that I had it but honestly I hated it the whole time I had it. I am thankful that it kept me from starving and dying of malnutrition but other then that it and I were not friends.

The procedure to get it out was quite simple. The doctor just cut the top off the tube, let the saline drain out, then he gave it a yank and I was free. Ah, the sweet feeling of freedom.

PEG tube – you kept me alive and I thank you for that but if our paths never cross again I will not be disappointed ;-) .

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The Next Steps – Where Do We Go From Here?

January 12, 2010 | By Dan

signpost As mentioned on my Twitter updates last week we had some significant events happen. The first was that we were finally approved for Medicaid. The approval came with a retro date of November 1st so that means the majority of my radiation treatments will be covered. That was our largest bill to date weighing in at around $20k after the discount so you can imagine how happy we were to finally get approved after 4 denials.

The other thing the approval for Medicaid did was allow us to see another Oncologist for a second opinion. The reason for the second opinion was to determine whether to have surgery or not. The issue that we were having with surgery was that our Oncologist wasn’t sure if it was necessary. He wanted it to be a joint decision with the surgeons. When we went to talk with the surgeons they just wanted to do surgery, no questions asked. As you can imagine this made us a little uncomfortable.

A New Doctor

Now that we had insurance we went back to the original Oncologist that originally diagnosed me. After explaining to him the issue that we had with the other Oncologist and surgeon he asked me about the details of the treatment that I already received. I explained to him the 6 weeks of radiation with the first and last weeks having 5 days of 5FU and 1 day Cisplatin.

Read More »

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A Special Thanks to Family and Friends in 2009

December 31, 2009 | By Dan

As most of you know 2009 was quite eventful for my family and I. From being laid off in January and being unemployed for 8 months to being diagnosed with cancer in September without having health insurance. The last part of the year saw me going through radiation and chemotherapy to fight cancer. In the final weeks and days of 2009 I spent my time recovering from cancer treatment.

Now some might say that for my family and I 2009 was a terrible year. While I was tempted at times to label it that I have to say that it has been one of the best. During this past year we have been tried and tested but still have come out on top. You never know how strong your relationships are with family and friends until they are tested and this year was a lot of testing. In that testing I am glad to say that I became aware of more support from family and friends then I ever knew was there.

In the mist of everything that we went through this year we never asked for help from anyone but the help poured in, from everywhere. Folks that I hadn’t talked to a long time tracked me down because they heard that I was having a tough time. The sheer magnitude of people’s willingness to help out and contribute to our well being was overwhelming at times. As overwhelming as it was I am thankful for every contribution and offer of help that was sent our way.

With that I want to take the time to say thank you to the following organizations that helped during 2009. I have purposely not mentioned individuals because some if not all folks aren’t quite comfortable with that.

  • Coremetrics – Austin, TX – Thank you for your pool of donations. Even though it had been 10 months+ since I worked there you guys cared enough to put your resources together to help out. Thank you so much, it really means a lot to me.
  • Solarwinds – Austin, TX – Your support during and after my diagnoses helped to cushion the blow. You are a great group of people to work with and I hope I have the opportunity to do so again in the future.
  • Softserve – Lviv, Ukraine – I always enjoyed working with you guys and am so thankful for you pooling your resources together to help out. I hope we work together again in the future.
  • Best Gasket – Whittier, CA – As a former client I was not even aware that you knew what I was going through. Your contribution was greatly appreciated.
  • Celebration Church – Georgetown, TX – Thank you for the counseling support while I was in the hospital each time and the sessions that I was able to attend on my own. You helped me to keep my bearing during this difficult time.
  • Jimmy Jacobs Custom Homes – Georgetown, TX – Thank you for adopting us for Christmas. The presents you had for the kids where more then we would have ever given them and they loved it. Thank you for helping to make Christmas special in the mist of everything that was going on.
  • Wonders and Worries – Austin, TX – Thank you for your time with the kids during this time. You made my diagnoses and treatment less scary for the kids and for me. Thank you.
  • Shivers Cancer Center – Austin, TX – Thank you treating me when nobody else would without insurance.
  • All the individuals – Family and Friends - There are so many of you that are not directly associated with the organizations above that have done so much for us. You are located all over the country and made sure that you did anything you could to help out during this time. You will always be remembered and I hope we are in a position to help you out in the same manner if you ever need it.

I hope when you look back on your 2009 I hope the good outshines the bad as it has for us this year.

Here’s to an even better 2010!

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Back In The Hospital

December 26, 2009 | By Dan

Yep, I am in the emergency room right now waiting to get admitted to the hospital. I had be feeling pretty wore out for the last two days and developed a fever last night. Basically fevers and cancer treatment recovery are something to be concerned about so the wife and I went to the emergency room to be on the safe side.

After checking my blood they found that I have some sort of infection and my white blood count is low. With that they are admitting me to give me some antibiotics and something to raise my white count. I just hope the food is better here at the Round Rock Seton hospital then it was in the Austin one ;-) .

I feel alright but but have no energy and if I get up too quick I start to black out. The doctor here says that is par for the course being 3 weeks out of treatment. Oh well.

It looks like I will be here in the hospital a few days while they give me the meds.

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Latest Update on Dan’s Cancer Treatment

December 7, 2009 | By Dan

As most of you know I was diagnosed with Cancer back in September. I have been doing various posts on my progress but they get buried because I also have my Twitter updates post here as well (Incidentally there are things about my Cancer treatment in my Twitter updates but not always).

Anyway, the below link will take you to all the posts on this site that are specific to my Cancer treatment if that is what you are looking for.

http://www.danmasters.net/cat/health/cancer

Also, if you are looking to contact me you can do it via my Contact Page, on Twitter, or on Facebook.

Thanks,

Dan

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I Am Done with Chemo and Radiation!

December 7, 2009 | By Dan

victoryThis morning I finished the last dose of chemo and on Friday last week I finished my last does of radiation. In all I had 12 chemo and 25 radiation doses.

How do I feel?

I feel great.

I feel better now then I did at any other point of treatment which is pretty amazing since I currently have the highest doses of treatment “affecting” my body right now. I am able to swallow better then I have been able to in a long while even though my throat is probably swollen from the radiation. What this all means to me is that it only gets better from here.

From this point on I will be focusing on transitioning from taking food via my PEG tube to taking it all by mouth. I want to get rid of the tube as soon as I can.

Where do we go from here?

I should have a follow up appointment within the next week with my Oncologist to see how I am doing. At that point we should schedule the PET/CT scan to see if there is an active cancer left in the body. If there isn’t then we will schedule a scope of my throat to do a visual inspection. If they do find anything in either test then they will want to talk about surgery but I am praying that they don’t find anything. My Oncologist has started to sound optimistic that forgoing surgery is a possibility.

If I don’t need surgery then that should mean that I could return to the working world sometime after the first of the year which would be nice.

I have to say that I am extremely happy that things have gone as well as they have and expect that trend to continue.

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