My Official Treatment Plan and Start Date

October 22, 2009 | By Dan

So I just got the final word on the what and when in regard to my treat plan. The 6 week chemo and radiation treatment plan is still in place but with a twist. See I am to have chemo on the first and last week of the 6 week plan. But during those weeks I am supposed to be getting chemo for a 16 hour period each day. On top of that I am supposed to make it to get zapped by radiation each day as well. We asked our nurse about the logistical part of this yesterday and she said she would work it out with the doctor and call us.

Well the doctor himself called today and said if I still want the 6 week treatment plan that I would need to be admitted to the hospital for the 1st and 6th week of treatment. The reason for this is that the standard chemo treatment office is only open regular business hours Monday through Friday. If I am admitted they can administer continuously like it needs to be done. He offered me that or a 3 month treatment plan where I have to carry a pump around with me.

We chose the 6 week plan.

The first reason for this is that I get the treatment done in half the time. The other benefit is if I do have an complications and/or pain I am there and they can help me with whatever I need. Sure it will be a week in the hospital but I think it is the best place for me to get this done. Also, they will ferry me each day to the radiation a couple blocks away so I will be getting the royal treatment.

Currently the doctor is looking at when I can be admitted but he is shooting Monday the 26th. We should hear back from him soon to confirm it.

Posted in Cancer, Health | 1 Comment

I’ve Been Pegged and Ported

October 20, 2009 | By Dan

Well today was the very first surgery of my life.

I have to admit that I was very nervous.

I think I was nervous about having a “real” surgery to begin with but also nervous about the results of the surgery as well. The results of the surgery were putting a port for my chemo treatment and a feeding tube (PEG tube) in my stomach. The thought of various tubes permanently hanging out of my body was kind of freaking me out. My wife was there by my side until they wheeled me away though and helped me to stay strong.

Upon waking up I was no longer freaked out but felt pretty good about what had taken place (I think the pain medication may have helped).

I think the main reason for this switch is that the anticipation of the unknown was now gone and so I could focus on the benefits of the work which was done. I think I am more excited about the feeding tube then the chemo port. The reason for this is that I have had trouble eating for a while and it had been getting worse. With the tube I will be able to get the food into my system that I need without struggling.

With the chemo port I am told that I will not need anymore IV’s so that is a bonus. IV’s and shots are my least favorite part of this experience so far but as bad as they are they don’t comapare to the…

BLOOD PRESURE CUFF Read More »

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I’ve Left My Job in the Name of Treatment

October 15, 2009 | By Dan

The last 24hrs have been a whirlwind of information, decisions, and action. I will start with yesterday.

Yesterday I had my appointment with my radiation doctor. This is a private practice doctor meaning that he is not directly associated with the cancer center and thus we are footing the bill for his services. At the appointment he inquires about when I am scheduled to start chemotherapy. I inform him that I do not know yet and that I do not even have an appointment with the surgeon to get my chemo port. He looks a little concerned about this since he will be ready to do radiation in a couple of days but I must first have my chemo. He then mentions that yeah, because you don’t have insurance things run slower for me over there (at the cancer center).

This took me by shock.

In so many words he was saying that because I did not have insurance that my treatment was being delayed. I then inquire about him whether I should be concerned about the delay because my cancer had not spread – yet – but could it spread because of the delay? He said that a week should not make a difference but that yes, a month would not be good. It had been a week and a half. The doctor goes on to say that if I had insurance he could send me right up to his oncologist and get me taken care of. This got to both my wife and I. Read More »

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Having Cancer Without Having Health Insurance

October 13, 2009 | By Dan

healthcare-reform As if being diagnosed with cancer wasn’t a big enough shock there is another part to my story that delivered almost as big of a blow to my wife and I. See, I was laid off from my job back in January. As apart of being laid off I was offered Cobra which would have allowed me to continue my company-sponsored health insurance.  I would have to pay the whole amount of the policy which was about $950/month. Being recently unemployed and unable to find a job I elected not to participate and we had kids covered under a local Medicaid program (funny, the kids qualified but Elsy and I did not).

I few months later President Obama was nice enough to pass a bill for unemployed people that would cover up to 65% of Cobra costs and we elected barack-obama to participate. Our monthly total for insurance would be around $350. It would still be tough to come up with that extra money every month but it would be worth it we thought. When we got the first bill to start the Cobra coverage it was $1250. See they wanted us to pay for the ~3 months of coverage that we never used. While $350/month would be tight, but possible, $1250 was unattainable after being unemployed for almost 4 months.  We did not take the coverage.

Fast forward to late August.

Read More »

Posted in Cancer, Health | 3 Comments

The “C” Word Hits Home

October 12, 2009 | By Dan

It has taken me a month to write this post.

A month ago I went to the doctor with what I thought was an ulcer. While explaining the issues with my stomach to my doctor she looked at me an said “You look very pale”. After a quick blood test she had me admitted to th hospital as I was extremely anemic. At the hospital I received 4 units of blood and a syringe full of iron over the course of a few days. During that same time the doctor performed an endoscopy to look down my throat to see if I did indeed have an ulcer causing blood loss. Unfortunately I did not. What they did find was a tumor in my esophagus and told me that I had Esophageal Cancer.

I was shocked to say the least.

I think it has taken me up until now to decide if I wanted to blog about it. I know I have been scared as this is a whole new world to me. Up until this time I had never been in the hospital. Now I am facing something that I never thought I would face in my life.

During the last few weeks I have written in a private journal and that has helped me when times have gotten tough. My hope is that be writing about my experience publicly that I can keep folks up to date about my status and bring encouragement to those who may unfortunately find themselves in a similar situation. I know that I have done a lot of searching online and have found little in the way of personal information about how to fight this. My hope is that others will not have that same difficulty.

I will be setting up a dedicated page on this site to bring all the info together about my fight and will announce when it is available. I thank you for you prayers and support as my family and I go through this battle.

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I Got the Facebook URL That I Wanted – Dan.Masters

June 13, 2009 | By Dan

facebook-small-logoI wasn’t planning on it but I happened to grab my computer a couple of minutes before Facebook opened up folks to get their vanity URL’s. I was able to get dan.masters and so my Facebook URL is now -

facebook.com/dan.masters

Honestly I am not sure how much good that is going to be for me but I got it none the less.

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Texas Bluebonnets and How Twitter Helped Us Find Them

March 24, 2009 | By Dan

texas-bluebonnets18This past weekend my wife and I had our monthly day off from the kids and decided to go look for Bluebonnets which are the Texas state flower. Initially we started to drive north of Austin but were not finding very many so we decided to drive out to 290 toward Houston since we had seen Bluebonnets in that area in years past.

On our way to the 290 we passed a large group of RV’s and tents setup in Cedar Park and were wondering what was going on. I had my wife do a search on Twitter for Cedar Park and someone had Twittered about attending a cook off in Cedar Park and so our question was answered. Being inspired I asked my wife to search Twitter for Bluebonnets and sure enough there were people Twittering about seeing a lot of Bluebonnets on the way from Houston to Austin. Specifically there was mention of them being in Brenham which is about half way between the two. One person who Twittered about the Bluebonnets mentioned that there were a lot behind the Walmart in Brenham at the 290 and 36.

We headed that way. Read More »

Posted in Nature, Twitter | 1 Comment

My First iPhone Amazon Kindle Purchase

March 18, 2009 | By Dan

p-480-320-b0200dfe-74af-4e45-aac9-bb6924ef1b81.jpegCool! I just made my first iPhone Amazon Kindle purchase. I was in a book store and found a book that I was about to purchase when I thought “it would be realy nice to have this on my iPhone instead of luging this hunk of paper around”. So I jumped on amzon.com/kindlestore to check it and and sure enough they had the book. The best part was that it was 50% cheaper as a ebook then a real book. I did a quick “One Click Purchase” and was told that the book would be added to my iPhone the next time that I opened the Kindle app.

After closing Safari I opened the Kindle app and it said that it was syncing and in less then 30 seconds my book appeared. I opened it and the whole thing was there. I though that it would need to download for a while but it was actually pretty quick. The whole experience was pretty cool!

This has opened up a whole new world for me as having the book “in my pocket” will give it a much better chance of getting read. Good work Amazon!

- Posted from my iPhone, please excuse any typos!

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Places I Like – Que Pasa Mexican Restaurant

March 10, 2009 | By Dan

que-pasa-round-rock-tx1 I have been eating at Que Pasa in Round Rock, Texas for several months now and thought that I would give them a shout out. I like Mexican food in general but was severally disappointed in the type of Mexican food that was served here in Texas. The reason for my disappointment was that Mexican food on the West Coast is different then it is here in Texas.

There is a reason that Mexican food here in Texas is called Tex Mex – it’s different. After several months of not having an Mexican food my wife and went to try some Tex Mex with a different mindset – we are trying something new so don’t expect it taste like West Coast Mexican food. With that mindset we loved it and frequent several Tex Mex places in the area.

Back to Que Pasa…

We stumbled upon Que Pasa about 6 months ago when El Arroyo closed near the Baskin Robbins off of Highway 79. We decided to try. From the first day we were impressed. It was West Coast style Mexican food and was great.

I have tried several things on their menu but usually go for their Flautas (made with corn tortillas as opposed to flour). Some times I will opt for a crispy shredded beef taco and/or an enchilada. Their fajitas are good as well. Another thing that I really like about Que Pasa are the prices, they are really affordable.

Some people here in Texas may not like Que Pasa because their food is not traditional Tex Max and that is understandable. I think if they would go there with an open mind, like we did to Tex Mex restaurants here in Texas, then I think that they would be pleasantly surprised.

Posted in Entertainment, Food, Round Rock, Texas | Leave a comment

The Allure of a New Mac Mini

March 6, 2009 | By Dan

mac-mini-09Apple updated their Mac Mini line this week after almost a year of not touching it. The upgrade was not that significant other then the fact that it is now possible to use dual monitors via the Mini DVI and Mini DisplayPort ports. This has raised an eyebrow for me because I have wanted to use two displays with my present Mac Mini for quite some time.

My current Mac Mini is setup as the kid’s computer in our upstairs family room and the kids absolutely love it. I have a 22″ monitor and a hard drive full of movies on it. Across the room I have a 42″ Phillips plasma TV that at times I will hook my MacBook up to in order to watch something that is on Hulu or that is ripped to a hard drive. My ideal setup would be to have the ability to display the Mac Mini on the 42″ so that we could watch items off of it as opposed to having to setup my MacBook to do so. It would also be beneficial to the kids to have this setup as they could watch their movies and even surf on the big screen as well.

At $600 for the base version of the new Mac Mini it is not too expensive to make this change but in the current economic client I may have to wait a while. it is nice to know that this is now a native possibility though.

Posted in Apple, Mac Mini, Technology | Leave a comment