Latest Health News & Other Items

  I saw an opthamologist a short while back. My prescription has changed slightly since my eye exam about a year ago. I don't need to upgrade my glasses just yet but I might upgrade my prescription sunglasses prior to Gen Con. Both eyes are exhibiting the early stages of cataract development. This could mean cataract surgery in about 10 to 15 years. The opthamologist also noticed that I had a weirdly twisted artery near the optic nerve of my left eye and recommended that I see a retinologist. After dilating my eyes and taking some scans and pictures, the retinologist said that it was a vascular loop and, other than looking weird, was nothing to worry about.
  My tumor markers came back negative for the third time in a row. The CT scan of my pelvic and abdominal regions showed that my organs are functioning properly. Things are looking bright on the health front.
  Plans for this year's Gen Con are proceeding better than expected. I've been making large payments on my credit card while putting as little as possible on it. I have more than enough room on it to cover my hotel bill and gas. Between my Simple and Serve accounts, I have a little over $1,000.00 put aside to buy stuff at the convention and eat. I'm going to try to add another $200.00 to the total before August. I want to get some of the Doctor books Cubicle 7 is publishing for the Doctor Who RPG plus get a copy of the revised The One Ring rule book and Bree supplement. I'm also going to see if anyone is selling the gargantuan Orcus miniature my friend TJ told me about. It will go nicely with my gargantuan blue and black dragon, colossal red dragon, balrog and Great Cthulhu miniatures.
  I've recently purchased a lifetime VPN (virtual private network) subscription from VPN Unlimited. I found out from the iDrop newsletter that they were offering these subscriptions for a limited time at 92% below the normal price. The offer was too good to pass up. PC Magazine gave VPN Unlimited 4.5 out of 5 stars. I'm including some VPN related YouTube videos to provide you with further information.

Random Bits

  After spending about $1,200.00 on medical bills, I decided to indulge myself a little. First up, on 4/15/16, I placed an order with The Cabil for the latest editions of Hol and Buttery Wholesomeness. I'm still waiting for them to arrive and my email inquiries regarding the status of my order have gone unanswered. If something doesn't happen soon, I'm going to inform PayPal about this order and see if they can get a response. Second up, I've ordered a ballhood on eBay. Since it's a custom order, it will take a while to get here but it will be worth the wait. Now I realize that this wasn't the smartest move. Why order something like this when I have no sex life? It seems pointless and wasteful. Still I want to see what it's like to wear one and I had some extra money.

  A second CT scan has revealed that the lymph node has gotten bigger. This is both good and bad news. It's bad because it means whatever caused it to enlarge is still present. It's good because the doctor feels that they can retry the ultrasound technique that failed last time they tried to biopsy it. I'll be undergoing said procedure on 5/31/16. My biggest fear is that the biopsy will reveal that I have another form of cancer and I'll have to undergo more chemotherapy.
  Plans for this year's GenCon are progressing. The hotel room has been reserved and event tickets purchased. Despite my planning, things didn't work out as I'd hoped they would. I had to wait almost 4 hours before I could make my hotel reservation. As a result, I'm several miles outside the convention area and I'll have to drive to it everyday and pay for parking. It's either that or find a bus or shuttle service to and from the area. When it came time to register for events, I logged onto my account before registration went live, picked 7 events that I wanted to play and put them on my wish list. The second registration went live, I submitted my wish list for processing. The problem was I ended up 5,744th in line for processing. 5 of the 7 events filled up before my list was processed. I couldn't add any replacement events until my list was processed and then I had to get back in line. When all was said and done, I ended up with 4 events, Wraith, Doctor Who, The One Ring and Luchador. I've been paying on my credit card bill and I want to eventually shift some money to my Serve and Simple card accounts so I'll have some spending money for the convention.

End of the Year Thoughts

  2015 is almost over. Overall, it was another blah year. The only major highlight was Gen Con. Other than that it's been little more than work, home, work, home, bills and dealing with medical issues. My last colonoscopy produced only a benign polyp that was removed. The CT scan showed an enlarged lymph node deep in my abdominal region. They're going to do a PET scan to try to determine whether it's enlarged due to some minor gastric problem or cancer. Let's hope for the former. My weight's been on the rise again. I weighed 321lbs. at the oncologist's office. I have to get this under control. If I keep this shit up, I'll be over 400lbs. this time next year.
  2016 looks like it's going to be a nothing year like the rest. My whole life's been a series of nothing years. There won't be anything on the relationship front. Why would any woman be interested in a bloated fuckwad like me? I'm going to try to go to Gen Con again. I've marked off the dates for badge, hotel and event registration and put in a request to get the latter two days off. I've been paying down my credit card and shunting money into my Google Wallet and Amex Serve accounts. Hopefully everything will work out.

Colonoscopy Update

  In my last colonoscopy post, I mistakenly stated that one of the polyps was in a precancerous state. That statement is wrong. The polyp found in my cecum is cancerous specifically an invasive moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma. As far as I know, the cancer is limited to the polyp itself. I had a CT scan this past Friday that will provide more information about the extent of the cancer. Needless to say, I'll be getting surgery to remove it some time in the future. Updates will be posted on this blog as more information comes in.