Happy Birthday Old Crow, thicko, jammer, p3aewguy, bamajenk, Mr_Sloww, ... [Archive]

Old Crow

January 7th, 2011, 10:23

Thank You and My Best Wishes to all others on this day.

For those who know me and might be interested, I am praying for a better 2011 than what 2010 was for me. To bring my situation up to date, I started becoming ill in March of 2010 and was almost fatally Jaundiced with Bilirubin Poisoning due to a collapsed Bile Duct. They put a Stint in and I started getting better. They could not figure out what had caused it, even after many tests, scans and biopsies. In late June I had a High-Tech test done which went wrong. During the SpyGlass ERCP there was a micro-perferation which resulted in Septic Shock. They did not expect me to survive....and I would not have if it had not been for a very special ICU Male Nurse who broke all the rules to bring my blood pressure up, from the lowest level they had ever seen, to save my life. After recovering from that, my doctor replaced my Stint and did another Pancreatic Biopsy which he sent to Johns Hopkins for testing. This Biopsy came back as positive for Cancer. They believed that they had caught the cancer in the earliest stage possible, making me one of the very luckiest 5% of Pancreatic Cancer Patients. I had major surgery "The Whipple Proceedure" in late September. They found that the Cancer was much more advanced than they first thought, but felt that there was still a very good chance for further treatment. I have been struggling with recovery since. I started getting Chemotherapy in early December with a certain type of Chemo called Gemzar. Starting Monday "Jan. 10" I will get a pump that will treat me with another type of Chemo, which will be with me 24 hours a day for 6 days a week along with having to go to the hospital for Radiation Treatments 5 days a week. The Chemo Pump and Radiation Treatments will go on for 6 weeks, after which I will go back on the Gemzar Chemo treatments once a week for 3 weeks a month for the following 3 months.
All in all, I am lucky to be alive and able to celebrate my 61st Birthday. Hopefully, I will be around to Celebrate my 62nd, 63rd.......so on. I realize that what I have "Pancreatic Cancer" is one of the worst types of Cancer to have and that I will likely die sooner than later, I will fight to overcome the challenge as I have past challenges and beat the odds.
I thank you for the priviledge to be able to come here and use the SOH to read and share in this Hobby.
My Best to All,
Old Crow (Dana):wavey: