jaster
3rd July 2006, 09:38 PM
Hello ozgolfers. I hope you don't mind me posting this here but I thought it would be the easiest way to let you all know what is happening in my life at the moment. I have been unwell over the past month or so that sitting in front of my PC has been impossible but over the past few days have felt ok so thought I better get this out.
I apologise also for not posting earlier regarding the loss of good friend Duncan but to be honest have been quite devasted since learning of it. After swearing I saw his face on Channel 10 news to goughy and then learning the next day that he had been killed 3 months earlier I really have the wind swept from my sails. He was an everyday bloke who left a great impression on me at the ozgolf champs last year. I spoke and dealt with him for a good year or so before actually meeting him in person including mammoth late night MSN sessions while he was at work and I was at home last year and got to know him real well. Being a left hander like him I also dealt with pretty closely in club deals and contributed in part to several clubs in his bag which I feel privileged to have now been able to have hooked him up so well. Small Mercies I know. Goodbye Duncan - I will miss you lefty.
As for myself, goughy (who I must say has been one of my Rocks throughout the past year) informs me that he has told you guys that I have become sick again and unfortunately it is true. I am unsure as to what detail you guys know/care about but if you feel like knowing please continue.
Approximately a year ago I was diagnosed with "appendix cancer" which as you are aware I am sure is pretty rare. There is no treatment for it other than to treat it like Bowel Cancer. This they did, firstly they removed my appendix (which is how they discovered it) and then they performed as a precaution a removal of the right part of my lower intestine or bowel. This was done as precautionary as the appendix is attached to this part and hopefully this ensured that there was no left over cancer from the part where the appendix is attached to the bowel. After this the treated me with a 30 week course of 5FU which is a common cancer drug used not only in bowel cancers but skin cancer treatment among others.
Up until the point of being diagnosed I had not presented any signs of having Cancer and only being 31 at the time I assumed that my appendix had acted like a lighthouse warning. My doctors without being too specific also held this belief but playing the odds always gave me around a 50/50 chance of the cancer returning. One of the things that stuck in my mind and was that they did remove 25 lymph nodes from my stomach area at the time of my 2nd operation and 5 of these did present as cancerous. I guess I always had in the back of my mind that there could be bad cells still in there.
After a pretty long and exhaustive recovery both mentally and physically I was able to make it back to work not long after Easter this year. Albeit a week later than planned due to my poor suffering wife spending a week in Tweed Hospital with pneumonia for Easter while I was at a wedding in Charleville (long long story).
I was able to get back to work for 3 weeks before I started suspecting something wasn't quite right. My entire stomach for a good 2 weeks was swollen to a point where it was like I was 9 months pregnant. Of course I should have done something about this immediately but I guess knowing that I already had used part of a return ticket I was very hesitant to speak with the doctors.
After a visit to both my GP and the local emergency department they both were at a loss to explain it and with my extensive history at first really didn't know what was going on so a trip to the CT scanner it was. This trip revealed a huge mass of fluid that was filling the empty cavities around my bowel/stomach regions, not in them but the empty spaces around them. This as you would imagine was causing quite a distress on most parts of my body and particularly my lungs as they were being compressed and not allowing for full unrestricted airflow. This news was then related to my oncologist's who unfortunately informed me that this fluid excreted from the bowel and is a by-product of a mucus type cancer that is like a fine covering over the bowel area.
That night (approx 6 weeks ago) they drained 6.5 litres of fluid off my stomach which was not a pleasant experience at all. Not that painful as such as I had a local-anesthetic before the procedure (which did hurt like pi$$) but extremely uncomfortable as you can still feel and see the 6inch needle being inserted around 4 inches into your stomach and actually breaking through the layers of skin.
Testing of this fluid confirmed cancer cells and initially my doctors were not forthcoming with the information as to "what now" which was quite distressing I must say for myself and my family and those that I spoke with during this time. Thankfully after consulting with other doctors my Oncologist decided on a regime of chemotherapy that they felt had around a 30% chance of working. They decided 4 treatments at 2 weeks apart over 8 weeks would be the plan of attack.
First step was for me to get a PICC line inserted in my right arm as a temporary measure of giving me my chemo drugs. This was a blessing in some ways as I endured 30 weeks of once a week needing a drip inserted into the top of my hand which in some ways was more painful than any part of the treatment that I endured as any of you who have had a drip can relate to I am sure.
The PICC line is basically a piece of tube that is inserted into a major vein in your arm usually that travels then to the top of your chest allowing a direct feed to your heart. Mine was inserted into my right bicep and I was informed was 37.5cms long. Again not really a painful procedure but it sure was weird to think they can do this type of thing.
Unfortunately during these first few days due to poor circulation a pain started in my left calf muscle which kinda felt like a cramp but didn't have the "grab" they we all know too well. After receiving my first chemo treatment that weekend which hit my like a double-Decker bus my leg kept getting worse and worse and the resultant ultrasound discovered that the pain was a 2.5cm clot in the popliteal vein right at the back of my knee. Not really something to worry about as such but it felt like someone was really out to get me when I learnt of this.
Moving along a few weeks though being mindful you are know doubt bored sh1tless reading this I have been managing the chemo, the clot and other things as best I can. I have since had the PICC removed and a "portacath" inserted into my right chest which is basically a permanent intravascular device that allows for the injection of my chemo directly into a major vein above my heart. The major bummer with this is it means my golf will be limited to chipping and putting when I can get motivated to get out but at the moment I am focused on health so will look at that in the future.
As for how the treatment is going? That is something that is hard to gauge but the promising sign is that the fluid has not returned. They did attempt 4 times 2 weeks ago to drain some more out but only succeeding in getting 200mls which I was very pleased about as this hopefully means we are fighting it.
The major thing I have learnt and taken from all this is the over whelming love and support myself and my family have received from everyone that we know. I am cannot even wish to go into everything that is and has been done for us since people learnt of my relapse but the one thing it does confirm is that even though you don't get told or shown throughout the course of general day-to-day living you do make an impression on people. As you all know I have always been one to speak my mind but at all times I have been truthful and honest and am so thankful now that this is the approach that I took.
I am taking the chance to fight cancer again head on which is the only way I know how and hope that once this journey is over I can once again take up arms with my fellow ozgolfers on the fairways. At the moment I have been given no time frames for anything so it is a real wait and see affair. I will try and call in here when I can to chat with you all and update you if you want.
Take care and hit 'em hard
Leon (Jaster)
I apologise also for not posting earlier regarding the loss of good friend Duncan but to be honest have been quite devasted since learning of it. After swearing I saw his face on Channel 10 news to goughy and then learning the next day that he had been killed 3 months earlier I really have the wind swept from my sails. He was an everyday bloke who left a great impression on me at the ozgolf champs last year. I spoke and dealt with him for a good year or so before actually meeting him in person including mammoth late night MSN sessions while he was at work and I was at home last year and got to know him real well. Being a left hander like him I also dealt with pretty closely in club deals and contributed in part to several clubs in his bag which I feel privileged to have now been able to have hooked him up so well. Small Mercies I know. Goodbye Duncan - I will miss you lefty.
As for myself, goughy (who I must say has been one of my Rocks throughout the past year) informs me that he has told you guys that I have become sick again and unfortunately it is true. I am unsure as to what detail you guys know/care about but if you feel like knowing please continue.
Approximately a year ago I was diagnosed with "appendix cancer" which as you are aware I am sure is pretty rare. There is no treatment for it other than to treat it like Bowel Cancer. This they did, firstly they removed my appendix (which is how they discovered it) and then they performed as a precaution a removal of the right part of my lower intestine or bowel. This was done as precautionary as the appendix is attached to this part and hopefully this ensured that there was no left over cancer from the part where the appendix is attached to the bowel. After this the treated me with a 30 week course of 5FU which is a common cancer drug used not only in bowel cancers but skin cancer treatment among others.
Up until the point of being diagnosed I had not presented any signs of having Cancer and only being 31 at the time I assumed that my appendix had acted like a lighthouse warning. My doctors without being too specific also held this belief but playing the odds always gave me around a 50/50 chance of the cancer returning. One of the things that stuck in my mind and was that they did remove 25 lymph nodes from my stomach area at the time of my 2nd operation and 5 of these did present as cancerous. I guess I always had in the back of my mind that there could be bad cells still in there.
After a pretty long and exhaustive recovery both mentally and physically I was able to make it back to work not long after Easter this year. Albeit a week later than planned due to my poor suffering wife spending a week in Tweed Hospital with pneumonia for Easter while I was at a wedding in Charleville (long long story).
I was able to get back to work for 3 weeks before I started suspecting something wasn't quite right. My entire stomach for a good 2 weeks was swollen to a point where it was like I was 9 months pregnant. Of course I should have done something about this immediately but I guess knowing that I already had used part of a return ticket I was very hesitant to speak with the doctors.
After a visit to both my GP and the local emergency department they both were at a loss to explain it and with my extensive history at first really didn't know what was going on so a trip to the CT scanner it was. This trip revealed a huge mass of fluid that was filling the empty cavities around my bowel/stomach regions, not in them but the empty spaces around them. This as you would imagine was causing quite a distress on most parts of my body and particularly my lungs as they were being compressed and not allowing for full unrestricted airflow. This news was then related to my oncologist's who unfortunately informed me that this fluid excreted from the bowel and is a by-product of a mucus type cancer that is like a fine covering over the bowel area.
That night (approx 6 weeks ago) they drained 6.5 litres of fluid off my stomach which was not a pleasant experience at all. Not that painful as such as I had a local-anesthetic before the procedure (which did hurt like pi$$) but extremely uncomfortable as you can still feel and see the 6inch needle being inserted around 4 inches into your stomach and actually breaking through the layers of skin.
Testing of this fluid confirmed cancer cells and initially my doctors were not forthcoming with the information as to "what now" which was quite distressing I must say for myself and my family and those that I spoke with during this time. Thankfully after consulting with other doctors my Oncologist decided on a regime of chemotherapy that they felt had around a 30% chance of working. They decided 4 treatments at 2 weeks apart over 8 weeks would be the plan of attack.
First step was for me to get a PICC line inserted in my right arm as a temporary measure of giving me my chemo drugs. This was a blessing in some ways as I endured 30 weeks of once a week needing a drip inserted into the top of my hand which in some ways was more painful than any part of the treatment that I endured as any of you who have had a drip can relate to I am sure.
The PICC line is basically a piece of tube that is inserted into a major vein in your arm usually that travels then to the top of your chest allowing a direct feed to your heart. Mine was inserted into my right bicep and I was informed was 37.5cms long. Again not really a painful procedure but it sure was weird to think they can do this type of thing.
Unfortunately during these first few days due to poor circulation a pain started in my left calf muscle which kinda felt like a cramp but didn't have the "grab" they we all know too well. After receiving my first chemo treatment that weekend which hit my like a double-Decker bus my leg kept getting worse and worse and the resultant ultrasound discovered that the pain was a 2.5cm clot in the popliteal vein right at the back of my knee. Not really something to worry about as such but it felt like someone was really out to get me when I learnt of this.
Moving along a few weeks though being mindful you are know doubt bored sh1tless reading this I have been managing the chemo, the clot and other things as best I can. I have since had the PICC removed and a "portacath" inserted into my right chest which is basically a permanent intravascular device that allows for the injection of my chemo directly into a major vein above my heart. The major bummer with this is it means my golf will be limited to chipping and putting when I can get motivated to get out but at the moment I am focused on health so will look at that in the future.
As for how the treatment is going? That is something that is hard to gauge but the promising sign is that the fluid has not returned. They did attempt 4 times 2 weeks ago to drain some more out but only succeeding in getting 200mls which I was very pleased about as this hopefully means we are fighting it.
The major thing I have learnt and taken from all this is the over whelming love and support myself and my family have received from everyone that we know. I am cannot even wish to go into everything that is and has been done for us since people learnt of my relapse but the one thing it does confirm is that even though you don't get told or shown throughout the course of general day-to-day living you do make an impression on people. As you all know I have always been one to speak my mind but at all times I have been truthful and honest and am so thankful now that this is the approach that I took.
I am taking the chance to fight cancer again head on which is the only way I know how and hope that once this journey is over I can once again take up arms with my fellow ozgolfers on the fairways. At the moment I have been given no time frames for anything so it is a real wait and see affair. I will try and call in here when I can to chat with you all and update you if you want.
Take care and hit 'em hard
Leon (Jaster)