Rutherfordectomy results!

[Tig***]

It finally hit me about the name "Lumpy Rutherford". Geez, I'm usually the first to associate TV characters, too.

[Brian Krashpad]

It finally hit me about the name "Lumpy Rutherford". Geez, I'm usually the first to associate TV characters, too.

Haha, yep, that ****er tried to kill me!

Drain came out of neck today (went in to Doc's this morning). Throat's gotten really bad, as Doc predicted for today/tomorrow. Slept most of afternoon, staying doped on hydrocodone, alternating with Tylenol (as I have occasionally done) is not an option today. May do my first double dose of Vicodin for overnight.

Good times!

[bigoldron]

Glad to hear everything's going to be OK, Brian. Don't play around with it - be sure to take the treatments. You're definitely in my prayers...

Keep us posted!

[Brian Krashpad]

Thanks Ronnie Beth (and everyone). I'm taking it easy and doing whatever I need to do. Odds are very very good that it's totally localized being at such an early stage.

But whatever it is, it is, and I'll deal with it as it comes.

[Brian Krashpad]

So, went to the radiologist today. My surgeon (just after the surgery) had said that the condition was T1N1, without explaining what that meant. That's actually pretty good, which is what I figured. However, I'm also Stage III, which is what I heard from the radiologist for the first time today. Which sounds pretty sucky, since Stage IV is the worst. Apparently I'm way over at the good side of Stage III, and the prognosis is no different from what I've always understood it to be, but fecking A, you'd think either one of these guys would've given me some sort of explanation, particularly the first guy since at that point I didn't even know I'd had cancer so would have had no reason to have done any background research myself.

If you're really masochistic (or, insomniacs), a discussion of the 2 "staging" schemes can be found here:
http://cancerguide.org/basic.html

So now my Mom is all upset, basically for nothing.

And on the list of stupid things radiologists say to overweight patients: "If you can, I suggest you put on ten pounds before the treatments, because you will lose that much."

Seriously dude? Are you fecking blind? The onliest upside to this is that I've lost 7 or 8 pounds. In fact if I DON'T another lose ten pounds during the treatment, I'm suing. So, you better give it your best shot.

Sigh.

[guitarhack]

Hang in there, Brian and keep asking questions. Best of luck to you.

[Katastrophe]

Keep up the fight, Brian! Don't stop questioning. That's the only way that you're gonna find out what they're doing, the reason for it, and how it affects you.

[Tig***]

Keep up the fight, Brian! Don't stop questioning. That's the only way that you're gonna find out what they're doing, the reason for it, and how it affects you.

+1
Doctors usually don't tell us enough and can avoid answering questions almost as good as politicians. Educate yourself as much as possible.

Keep on fightin' the good fight!

[Robert****]

I hope this all goes well Brian.

We're all thinking of you!

[Eric***]

Wow, I just read this thread for reals. Good luck with everything, BK.

[sunvalleylaw]

I hope this all goes well Brian.

We're all thinking of you!

Ditto! Keep up the good rockin' attitude!

[Brian Krashpad]

I'll be fine guys, thanks.

Manana: the chemo guy!

(I do not expect to do chemo but the radiation doc wanted me to go see him anyhow. Sigh.)

Friday: back in with the surgeon.

[oldguy]

Continued mojo and support, Brian. We're prayin' for you on this end my friend.

[Brian Krashpad]

Thanks OG!

Well, went to the chemo doc today. Unsurprisingly, he recommended chemo. But, in no uncertain terms (both my surgeon and radiologist led me to believe it was at most. According to him, in the scheme of chemo treatments, mine (assuming I do it) is a relatively "easy" one. No hair loss, no nausea. But the combination of chemo and radiation can make eating/drinking painful and about half the patients end up just having a feeding tube put on their stomach so as not to deal with it.

Lovely.

Fwiw, he does not think I would be in that 50% because I'm considerably younger and in better shape (ha, how many times could I ever say that?) than most patients with head/neck cancers. He also said that my radiologist is probably one of the top guys in the world for head/neck radiation treatments. So that's good.

Meanwhile, however, I could swear I heard him say, while reading my chart on his computer, "T1N2b." That's a lousier grade than T1N1, which I had been hearing from the other 2 guys. So I have calls in to all 3 docs to get to the bottom of that. Also, I had thought all the lymph nodes on the left side have been taken out, but chemo dude said if that had happened I'd be missing half my neck. In fact he felt palpable lymph nodes (at this point I know exactly where they are) on the left, which he said not to worry about, since the radiation and chemo will take care of any possible cancer in them.

So, just call me "chemo boy." Or at least very probably.

An interesting side note. As it so happened, a copy of the mag I write a music column for was in the doc's office, that I talked to chemo doc in, today. He introduced himself and said "Mr. Kruger?" So I pointed to my byline pic and said, "Yep, that's me!" He asked about it and said that it was good for it to have come up, because he was going to ask me about whether I was a musician or not. Why would he ask such a question, you're wondering? So was I.

It turns out that the strongest cocktail for this application can also destroy or damage upper frequency hearing, as well as have a tiny possibility of nerve results in the hands! So they always ask people if they are singers or musicians or others whose hearing is integral to their work, and those people (me!) get a slightly different chemical.

So there you have it.

[Commodore 64***]

I'd be worried, except I know that no cancer can withstand your guitar face. And even if it could, it would be destroyed by the dichotomy of your guitar face mandolin modifier.

Our secretary had 20+ lymph nodes removed from her neck (and her thyroid), and she's been cancer free for over a decade. And I'd still hit it. So that tells you something.

[Brian Krashpad]

I'd be worried, except I know that no cancer can withstand your guitar face. And even if it could, it would be destroyed by the dichotomy of your guitar face mandolin modifier.

Our secretary had 20+ lymph nodes removed from her neck (and her thyroid), and she's been cancer free for over a decade. And I'd still hit it. So that tells you something.

Pics?



And thanks, that made me smile. Actually, I'm really in good spirits. Better than I probably should be, haha. The throat is finally getting closer to healing up, I'm on my feed, and aside from some minor weird post-op nerve issues (some nerves inevitably got bruised/damaged, in some cases they're still "asleep" and there's numbness, others are "waking up" and I'm sore in odd places, like my left shoulder) I'm feeling pretty great.

[sunvalleylaw]

Great to hear that you are feeling great Brian! Keep on Keepin' on!

[Eric***]

...and I'm sore in odd places, like my left shoulder)

Does that mean that you sometimes look back...over your shoulder??

[Brian Krashpad]

Does that mean that you sometimes look back...over your shoulder??

Haha, actually, right now, with the nerves waking back up and shite, it kinda hurts to look back, over either shoulder.

Not that I've ever spent too much time looking back anyhow, haha.

The shoulder thing is quite weird. Basically feels like I've had a heavy backpack slung over that shoulder for hours, or been playing a 12-pound Les Paul all day. I know that there's not actually anything wrong with the shoulder, the doc didn't touch it. Still hurts though. Not serious or debilitating or anything, just an annoyance. I have a pretty high pain tolerance, or so I've been told.