A health update- listen to your body

[Gideon Parker]

Due to the nature of this subforum (aka smoking), I have been reluctant to post much about what I am dealing with now. I have a cancerous tumor in my stomach. While smoking does not help, it is not the main driver of this type of cancer. Those would be acid reflux, obesity, and a diet low in fruits and vegetables. I caught it early- because, just for once in my life, I decided to get my butt to the doctor and not put off getting my symptoms checked out. It got caught in stage 2- the doctor said a lot of patients put off getting this type checked out until much later. So, what were my symptoms? It started with a constant dull ache (about a 2 out of 10) behind my diaphragm. After a couple weeks it turned into maybe a 3, with a sharp jabby 5 to 7 when I ate. This made me get to the doctor and get scoped. I got my colonoscopy (another very important screening) at the same time, too.

My main reason for posting this encourage people to get to your doctor when you know something is not right. Us men tend to be a little bit stubborn in this department. Luckily, I was not in this case. Even though I am stage 2, the treatment is not going to be fun. On Monday I start my first round of Chemo. I will have 4 treatments over an 8 week period. After a short rest, my stomach will be removed. What I can and cannot eat will not be affected, just the quantity. After that, I have another 4 rounds (8 weeks) of Chemo. On the down side, this is going to knock me down a few notches for a bit. On the up side, I will finally lose that weight I have been needing to lose for a while. Since I have no other health issue (like diabetes or high blood pressure), my recovery chances are a lot better.

The wife made me sell off most of my pipes. I agreed that I would do it (didn't want to, since the pipe likely wasn't the cause), but I told her that I will use the money for what I want- a Springfield Armory 1911 (now to actually locate one ). Now I have to figure out how to get rid of 20 or so pounds of jarred tobacco. I know some sites will buy aged tobacco in tins- anyone know about jarred?

Great advice, thanks a lot.

 

[njpaddy]

Thru college in the mid-late 60's, I smoked 2 packs of Lucky's, or non-filter Kool's a day. I don't remember anyone ever bumming a cig off me. If I bummed a filter cig off anyone, I tore the filter off and smoked it from the other end. When my body told me enough, I quit. I started smoking again in basic and advanced training at Ft Polk in the 70s. Afterwards, I quit again. I smoked some pot in the mid 70s, but quit when my body said enough. Now in my later years, I wish it was that easy to quit the gin.