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.

Heading for Surgery

  On Sept. 25th, I'm going to have laparoscopic colorectal surgery to remove the cancerous polyp from my cecum. Despite the fact that the polyp is only approximately 1cm, about one third of my large intestine will be removed. I believe this is being done in order to prevent the cancer from spreading to my lymph nodes. There's some lab and prep work that needs to be done prior to the surgery. I also have to get in touch with Human Resources at work to secure the time off. I'm going to be in the hospital for about one week and off from work for about a month. I also need to call AIL and see if they need to get involved.

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.

Colonoscopy: The Results Show

  Dr. Hernandez called me at work with the results of my colonoscopy. It seems that the polyp that was partially removed was in a precancerous state. Fortunately, it was discovered before it became a major issue. He recommends that I get a CAT scan and then some surgery to remove what's left of it. He'll most likely called sometime in the near future to make the appointment.

Colonoscopy

  This past Monday I had my first colonoscopy. Yup, I had a camera up my ass. Overall, the process wasn't that bad. Whatever sedative they gave me zonked me out to the point where I have no memory at all of the procedure. I remember being wheeled into the room where it was going to take place. Then they attached various monitoring devices and administered the sedative. After that, nothing until I was in the recovery room. Two polyps were found. One was completely removed. The other was partially removed. The results are expected to come in the mail in about 10 days. The least pleasant part of the whole thing was drinking the MoviPrep. Despite smelling somewhat like citrus, its taste left much to be desired. I had to drink two batches of this stuff at 3:00 and 7:00pm this past Sunday. Each batch was drunk in four stages over the hour in question. Then I spent all kinds of time running to the bathroom in order to clear out my bowels. In all likelihood, I'll have to repeat this process in about 3 months in order to deal with what remains of the one polyp.