by Steve Blitzer, MD
From the Parkhurst Exchange Vol.17, No.03, March 2009
Steve Blitzer, MD, DAAPM practices family medicine in Thorn- hill, ON, and has a special interest in medical rehabilitation and pain management. He is on staff at York Central Hospital, Richmond Hill, and at St. Joseph’s Health Cen- tre in Toronto.
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HEALTH TESTIMONIALS
t’s 1:23 a.m. and I’m awake. Guess that could be a good thing or not. In my case, it’s an either/or.
Hi my name is Tank. I’m 47 and I have terminal cancer. I had a buddy that did two tours in ‘Nam and was a POW for 4 years. He always said to me, “Any day you wake up, the rest is cheesecake.” Chris, I’ll always miss your advice. As I clear the various Oxy- codone or Oxycontin webs from my head with some coffee, I hope you have some as well. I’m going to tell you four years of Hell; the life of a cancer patient. This all started out for me in the early summer of 2005. I found a small lump just under my jawline, on the left side. I didn’t think any- thing of it, so I called my general practitioner and showed her the bump. She wasn’t too sure what to make of it, so I went on antibi- otics and the thing went away, only to come back a year later on the right side of my neck. So off I go to see a Dermatologist. She suspects something isn’t right, and gets me set up for a “Soft Needle Biopsy.” Folks, let me stop here and tell you one thing — THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A SOFT NEEDLE. Believe me! I’ve had more stitches put in me than a baseball.
Well, the biopsy comes back as Squamous Cell Carcinoma. I make arrangements to see a
Cancer Surgeon. He tells me it has to be cut out, but then I shouldn’t have any more worries. I’m now set, and a little scared about sur- gery. He operates and splits my neck open, my head tilted back like a Pez dispenser — his words, not mine — and removes the black gunk and a lot of Lymph nodes from the right side. I do a day at the hospital and two weeks later the staples come out. Brass staples aren’t any fun, either. I then get set up for my first round of radiation. 43 one hour- long sessions, fouled me up bad again. Lost my sense of taste, which is a terrible, terrible thing to have happen. I managed eight of those, and quit when my tongue started to swell up and bleed. Six months go by, and I have a follow up with my Derm. She now doesn’t like the looks of a mole on my left arm that has separated from itself — yet anoth- er biopsy.
It’s Melanoma skin cancer. A bad one, too. So I’m off to see a plas- tic surgeon, because the area is so huge: 6 inches by 4 inches across. He plans a surgery and it’s removed, and so is most of a very cool tattoo I got when I got my second black belt. Off to yet more radiation treatments, 48 20- minute sessions this time. Again, I lose my taste buds and my poor full beard, and now my neck mus- cles hurt, my tongue is swelling a
bit and I have radiation burn marks on the left part of my neck due to the treatments. I eat what and when, if I can. Pain pills do wonders, but will kill an appetite very quickly. I proceed to have a few more follow up treatments until one day, the back of my neck hurt like a badly-pinched nerve... I go talk to my G.P and she sets me up for an MRI. This is a machine with a huge, round mag- net, that will pull your fillings out if possible. I get the scan done, which takes approximately two hours. The cancer is back with a vengeance, and I get set up for surgery again. This one was the big nasty, seems this cancer does- n’t like being treated if caught rather late, it tends to move if it can.
I have my surgery set up, and this time, they worked my skinny arse over. I had my jugular vein on the left side removed (Didn’t know that could even be done), all of the lymph nodes removed (About 200 of them) and about 25% of the muscle along the side and back of my neck. They then wheel in a radiation unit to zap my neck while it’s exposed. Because my surgeon had to remove my jugular vein, he had to open my chest on the left side and physically detach my chest muscle from the ribcage and push it up under the skin, before attaching it to my left lower jaw. Anybody wincing yet? 85 to 90 brass staples go in to
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Living on
Borrowed
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by Tankclose me up, and now I have 4 very long rubber hoses coming out of me like a lab rat. Somehow, I convinced my doctor to let me out of the hospital the next day. I can be persuasive when I have to be.
My dear wife Sandy is going to take care of me at home. She’s got a heart of gold, this woman does, and I am no easy patient when it comes to being in pain. By now I’m eating 12 to 18 Oxycodones and Hydrocodones per day to deal with the pain. She forces me twice a day to get up and walk and to eat. She really had to bust my butt to eat, I went from 187 lbs. down to 135. Again pain pills are no fun. My wife even took gentle care of the drainage tubes in my chest. I couldn’t have done it myself. I’m a wuss at times. Back to radiation again for anoth- er round of 45 daily treatments — while still pulling a 40 hour work week. I actually had a job I liked, I was finally a baker. We get me fixed up and to a point where I can be trusted to be by myself at home, just me, my dog and the four cats. I go back for another followup. Guess what? Yep, the cancer is back again in my shoul- ders and neck.
By now I’ve gone through three sessions of radiation and two rounds of chemo. I am now set for yet another and final round of chemotherapy. This is going to be a bad one: I’m required to have a two hour-long chemo session each week, and then every third week I get two chemo drugs in a treat- ment that will take about five hours to complete. The last round was nasty enough, with the pains I would get after the steroids wore off. This round will make me go completely deaf. I have 40 per cent hearing (with tinnitus) in the right ear and have 60 per cent hearing in my left ear. I was not born under a good sign. I current-
ly have two large tumors on my shoulders and a large open one very near my left arm pit. Some- times, the pain actually overrides the pharmaceuticals I’m taking. That’s when I turn to my other meds. I have been enjoying the advantages of marijuana for over 30 years. I’m not a slacker, nor your “typical” stoner. Granted, what I used to do for fun is now my pain and sleep meds. I’m a heavy indica smoker when I can get it or grow it out. I live in the U.S., but in the redneck section of the country and there’s no way this state will allow Medical Mari- juana to become an issue. Those of you that live in one of the 13 states here that allow Medical Marijuana use — congrats to you all. The rest of us can only hope and strive to be as fortunate. Until then, I must fly under the radar and try to live out the rest of my days without causing ripples in the big pond of life. My Oncolo- gist knows I smoke. He’s even given me Marinol to help stimu- late my appetite, which hasn’t really helped much but will let me pass a pee test,
haha. My Oncologist isn’t too hip about my condition and is trying what he can to keep me alive and still have a quality of life, something which a lot of doctors don’t seem to care much about. I try to do what I can with the use of only one arm, and help out around the house when I’m able. Most days are just an Oxy haze and depression-
filled. This may sound funny to some of you, but I wish you an early Christmas because I proba- bly won’t be here to enjoy mine with family and friends. I would like to thank the friends I have made here at TY, for their moral support and other great kindness- es. I wish nothing but the best for all; these folks have been there and especially both Twisted Sister and Mamahawk6, love you ladies. DoobieDuck, for his inspiring pic- tures and courage. Netbuddy, for putting this project in my head. Sevens, Red Sky, Rynvllien, Some- newguy, My big Bro Lowkon XC — thanks for the help and encour- agement. And a big hug and “love ya more” to my wife of twelve years, Sandy. I am so sorry you have had to deal with this... You’re my bestest friend. And to my daughters Diane and Jen, son Lonnie and my grandsons,Tim, Isaac & Keil (Whom I’ll not get the chance to watch grow old and stumble through the early stages of their lives) — peace to you all on your various journeys. May your god go with you. Peace. Tank.
HEALTH TESTIMONIALS
HEALTH TESTIMONIALS