Ebola News Coverage

  Ebola has been figuring prominently in the news lately. You'd think, by the way it's being covered, that we're on the verge of an Ebola pandemic. I don't see this happening. From what I've read and heard about it, this disease isn't very infectious. Ebola's not like the flu. It can't be spread via sneezing or coughing. You'd pretty much have to get the bodily fluids of an infected person in your mouth or bloodstream in order to become infected yourself. The reason it's so prevalent in Africa is because far too many people are exposed to the bodily fluids of the infected that aren't taking the proper precautions.
  Here in the U.S., we've had two cases that I'm aware of, one in Dallas and one in New York. Both of these individuals have been quarantined and it's extremely unlikely that Ebola will spread beyond them. So why is there all this panic in the news? I expect this sort of thing from the Fascist Fucks at the Fox Propaganda Network. Their whole business relies on fear mongering, lies, homophobia, misogyny and race hate. Those huffers of their own fermented shit aren't interested in the facts. They just want to use anything and everything to push their right wing ideology. They have no morals, ethics or standards of decency. The other news networks, however, should know better. Politicians should know better too. Their overreaction is just as bad. They act like they're medical professionals and go around ordering people quarantined without consulting with actual medical professionals. They also make a bunch of asinine suggestions regarding how to deal with individuals coming into country from Ebola ridden areas. Stupidity like this has resulted in one nurse being confined to an unheated tent with no running water and a box for a toilet for period of time. The politicians need to leave the medical problems to those with the knowledge and training to handle them and go back to doing what they do best, licking the shit out of ass cracks of the rich in order to get that sweet, sweet campaign cash. More information on this can be found here.

You've got to be fucking kidding me

  On tonight's Daily Show, they had a spot where they talk to Rev. Bob Larson about him conducting exorcisms via Skype. Can you believe it? Can you FUCKING believe it!?! It's the 21st century and we still have people in this country that think demons and demonic possession are real. Now I've seen videos of these so called exorcisms and they consist of nothing more than people making funny faces and talking in weird voices. Nothing even remotely supernatural occurs. You'd think if the person in question were really possessed, the possessing demon would make every effort to demonstrate its power in order to intimidate the exorcist yet this never occurs. The people receiving these exorcisms are nothing more than mentally unbalanced people in need of serious therapy. These so called exorcists, by catering to their delusions, are simply acting as enablers. This is bullshit plain and simple. And Rev. Larson asks for donations of $290.00 for each exorcism. Nice scam you've got there, buddy. You delude people into thinking they're possessed and then bilk them out of $290.00 so you can "cure" them. And the law makes no effort to arrest you for being a scam artist.

The Upcoming Chemotherapy Treatment

  At some point in the not too distant future, I will be starting chemotherapy. This is because some cancer cells from the malignant polyp penetrated my intestinal wall and got into a lymph node. Even though this node, along with 19 others, was removed during the colectomy, some cancer cells may have gotten into my bloodstream or lymphatic system. This could lead to the cancer recurring at some point in the future. Chemotherapy is designed to kill fast dividing cells like cancer. Unfortunately, other fast dividing cells, like bone marrow, get killed as well.

  The drug cocktail the oncologist wants to use consists of the following three drugs, 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU), Oxaliplatin and Leucovorin. The first two drugs have a lengthy list of side effects. While I won't necessarily suffer all the listed side effects, the treatment will still wreck havoc on my system. They want me to be part of a clinical study and I've agreed. They want to see if six treatments are as effective as twelve. They also want to see if the drug celocoxib, also known as Celebrex, can prevent the formation of intestinal polyps. I'm hoping to get into one of the six treatment groups for two reasons, it'll cost me less and I'll suffer less side effects. The medical costs are racking up fast and I have yet to receive my first disability payment. While the insurance I have through work pays for most of it, what's left in a few instances has been quite substantial. My biggest worry is that at some point the insurance will stop covering the treatments and I'll be stuck with the entire bill. I'll post more as things progress.

The Results of the Biopsy

  The appointment I had with the surgeon that did my colectomy brought news of a less than rosy nature. The cancer that was in my intestines has affected one of my lymph nodes. This means that my cancer is officially at stage 3. I have an appointment with an oncologist this Wednesday to go over my treatment options. Dr. Needle said that chemotherapy is the most likely course of action. Given what I know about chemotherapy, this won't be a pleasant experience. On the plus side, I've heard that there are a variety of chemotherapy treatments out there and not all of them make you sick, kill your appetite and cause massive hair loss. I'm not looking forward to this but I have little choice. Doing nothing means the cancer will spread and I'll end up at stage 4. Stage 4 is pretty much death. I can't let that happen. The cancer can still be stopped.

Home from the Hospital

  After spending five days in the hospital, I was released this past Monday afternoon. The surgery went quite well and the healing process continues. The surgery has left 3 small incisions currently being stitched closed by a single staple each. Another incision, held closed by 3 staples, is on the lower lip of my belly button. The longest incision runs between my belly button and sternum. It's about 4 inches long and has about 16 staples closing it. The incisions are healing nicely. The bruising that surrounded them is gone. There's no pain so it's unlikely that I'm going to need to fill the prescription for Percocet I was given when I was discharged. Here's a picture of the incision.

I wonder what it's going to look like once the staples are removed.