BoneDaddy

Hey all!
 
treatment for throat cancer is allegedly more physically challenging than most. It certainly did suck at the end, and the healing process has continued to be somewhere between painful and merely aggravating since. By the end of October I had received all the radiation my neck can take, I think ever. We will take a look via PET scan on December 28 to see if they got it or not. Dear lord I hope so. 
 
I feel more or less fine, but far from perfect. The waiting is the hardest part right now: without the PET scan I’m Schroedinger’s cat, both fine and doomed simultaneously. 
 
I’m still having a hard time keeping my weight up, a ridiculous complaint for a middle aged American. Eggnog is a fantastic way to inhale calories, and I am getting a bit sick of it.  I look much better than I did a month ago, so everyone in the house is looking at me less balefully than they did before. 
 
as far as we can currently tell, I don’t have cancer anymore. As far as we can tell right now.  December 28 will, I dearly hope, provide better evidence for that conclusion. 
 
 

Hey all!
 
treatment for throat cancer is allegedly more physically challenging than most. It certainly did suck at the end, and the healing process has continued to be somewhere between painful and merely aggravating since. By the end of October I had received all the radiation my neck can take, I think ever. We will take a look via PET scan on December 28 to see if they got it or not. Dear lord I hope so. 
 
I feel more or less fine, but far from perfect. The waiting is the hardest part right now: without the PET scan I’m Schroedinger’s cat, both fine and doomed simultaneously. 
 
I’m still having a hard time keeping my weight up, a ridiculous complaint for a middle aged American. Eggnog is a fantastic way to inhale calories, and I am getting a bit sick of it.  I look much better than I did a month ago, so everyone in the house is looking at me less balefully than they did before. 
 
as far as we can currently tell, I don’t have cancer anymore. As far as we can tell right now.  December 28 will, I dearly hope, provide better evidence for that conclusion. 
 
 

Yes! They strap me to a slab ( down in the lab) and point a linear accelerator at my neck. To hold me down juuuuust right they made a nifty mask of my face that bolts to the slab. It has a mouth guard in it to keep my jaw extended away from the danger zone as much as possible. The doc has programmed the accelerator to aim at exactly the right spots on my neck. (You can see three cross hairs on my neck in the photo - the computer uses those to line up the linear accelerator’s aim.). The inflammation of the non- cancerous tissues is used to squeeze the tumor into the line of fire. The whole thing is really cool, aside from the throat cancer part. 
 
(edit: yes, I asked them to wait a minute before they started so I could take a selfie.)

I had a response here, but I've deleted it.  I don't feel comfortable ranting at someone, even if they don't fully understand where I am coming from.

I’m an American, and this is news to me too.  
 
I think the massive weight of historical legalized and codified white supremacy will continue to have an impact on our culture and individual outcomes for a long time.  There is a lot of litter, we have to work together to clean it up. No blame, no guilt, just a mess that needs cleaning. We need to keep the conversation focused and refocused on that. 
 
I would also humbly submit that one reason we continue to talk on and on about white privilege is so we don’t talk about class privilege, which is to my (admittedly white) mind a greater problem, and one that White Privilege is used to obfuscate. 

Is this a good time to remind everyone that Trump’s coronavirus team literally killed its national testing plan because the virus was only killing people in blue states at the time?

Organization: M.I.B., the Men In Black. You got alien problems? We make ICE look like a bunch of jerks. Which, in fairness, they really are. 
 
Location: Mobile undersea base. (I can only find an unsourced mention of the base on Wikipedia. I’m told I’ve been there myself, but I have no memory of the place.)

Since there's not a WTF pictures thread...
 

I don't want to be a reverse-snob, but more often than not, I tend to like the less expensive wines to tipple.

... surviving cancer is a superpower.

Yes! They strap me to a slab ( down in the lab) and point a linear accelerator at my neck. To hold me down juuuuust right they made a nifty mask of my face that bolts to the slab. It has a mouth guard in it to keep my jaw extended away from the danger zone as much as possible. The doc has programmed the accelerator to aim at exactly the right spots on my neck. (You can see three cross hairs on my neck in the photo - the computer uses those to line up the linear accelerator’s aim.). The inflammation of the non- cancerous tissues is used to squeeze the tumor into the line of fire. The whole thing is really cool, aside from the throat cancer part. 
 
(edit: yes, I asked them to wait a minute before they started so I could take a selfie.)

Yes! They strap me to a slab ( down in the lab) and point a linear accelerator at my neck. To hold me down juuuuust right they made a nifty mask of my face that bolts to the slab. It has a mouth guard in it to keep my jaw extended away from the danger zone as much as possible. The doc has programmed the accelerator to aim at exactly the right spots on my neck. (You can see three cross hairs on my neck in the photo - the computer uses those to line up the linear accelerator’s aim.). The inflammation of the non- cancerous tissues is used to squeeze the tumor into the line of fire. The whole thing is really cool, aside from the throat cancer part. 
 
(edit: yes, I asked them to wait a minute before they started so I could take a selfie.)

Dude made more than 5 movies with stage 3 & 4 cancer. I’m down here at stage one like “I made part of a fence?” I know this isn’t a race or anything, but I’m deeply impressed. The day after chemotherapy day I’m impressed with myself if I stay awake through a whole tv show. 
 
The man had deep, deep wells of determination to draw from. 

Yes! They strap me to a slab ( down in the lab) and point a linear accelerator at my neck. To hold me down juuuuust right they made a nifty mask of my face that bolts to the slab. It has a mouth guard in it to keep my jaw extended away from the danger zone as much as possible. The doc has programmed the accelerator to aim at exactly the right spots on my neck. (You can see three cross hairs on my neck in the photo - the computer uses those to line up the linear accelerator’s aim.). The inflammation of the non- cancerous tissues is used to squeeze the tumor into the line of fire. The whole thing is really cool, aside from the throat cancer part. 
 
(edit: yes, I asked them to wait a minute before they started so I could take a selfie.)

Yes! They strap me to a slab ( down in the lab) and point a linear accelerator at my neck. To hold me down juuuuust right they made a nifty mask of my face that bolts to the slab. It has a mouth guard in it to keep my jaw extended away from the danger zone as much as possible. The doc has programmed the accelerator to aim at exactly the right spots on my neck. (You can see three cross hairs on my neck in the photo - the computer uses those to line up the linear accelerator’s aim.). The inflammation of the non- cancerous tissues is used to squeeze the tumor into the line of fire. The whole thing is really cool, aside from the throat cancer part. 
 
(edit: yes, I asked them to wait a minute before they started so I could take a selfie.)

Yes! They strap me to a slab ( down in the lab) and point a linear accelerator at my neck. To hold me down juuuuust right they made a nifty mask of my face that bolts to the slab. It has a mouth guard in it to keep my jaw extended away from the danger zone as much as possible. The doc has programmed the accelerator to aim at exactly the right spots on my neck. (You can see three cross hairs on my neck in the photo - the computer uses those to line up the linear accelerator’s aim.). The inflammation of the non- cancerous tissues is used to squeeze the tumor into the line of fire. The whole thing is really cool, aside from the throat cancer part. 
 
(edit: yes, I asked them to wait a minute before they started so I could take a selfie.)

At the time of his attempted murder, I think he was being arrested for trying to leave.  I believe his warrant status was unknown. I believe these were all warrants for his arrest, and not previous convictions for which he had evaded the state’s punitive measures. This status, wanted but not convicted, is what we lawyers call “innocent.”  An innocent man was shot in the back, and the person who shot him in the back allegedly found a knife near the location where the peace officer shot the innocent man in the back seven times at point blank range. 
 
I would be interested in hearing the innocent man’s statement that he had a knife. “Hang on a minute officer, let me get to my car so I can get my knife, and then we’ll just see who’s boss around here. Don’t mind my three kids in the minivan waiting for me.” I’m not certain I’m willing to accept the word of the man who shot the innocent man in the back seven times, or the word of his coworkers, all of whom are in a profession notorious for covering up the crimes of coworkers. 

Pain management for this type of cancer is essential - the longer I can keep eating, chewing, and speaking, the greater my odds on making a full physical recovery, in addition to staying cancer free. I’m getting treated at Johns Hopkins (finally a benefit to living in Baltimore!) And their modality for throat cancer is becoming the global standard. Not swallowing for two weeks in your forties massively increases your chances of having serious swallowing difficulties in your sixties. I’m not certain under which rubric they are justifying the prescription, but the upshot is this - better pain management now = better outcomes later. At other hospitals treatment starts with a NG tube, and a year of learning how to swallow again. I’m working on strengthening my swallowing muscles now, and continuing to eat, and that relies on aggressive pain management. 

More to the question, if the group using the cement was not the same group setting the fire, they may not have known about the fire to begin with.

At the time of his attempted murder, I think he was being arrested for trying to leave.  I believe his warrant status was unknown. I believe these were all warrants for his arrest, and not previous convictions for which he had evaded the state’s punitive measures. This status, wanted but not convicted, is what we lawyers call “innocent.”  An innocent man was shot in the back, and the person who shot him in the back allegedly found a knife near the location where the peace officer shot the innocent man in the back seven times at point blank range. 
 
I would be interested in hearing the innocent man’s statement that he had a knife. “Hang on a minute officer, let me get to my car so I can get my knife, and then we’ll just see who’s boss around here. Don’t mind my three kids in the minivan waiting for me.” I’m not certain I’m willing to accept the word of the man who shot the innocent man in the back seven times, or the word of his coworkers, all of whom are in a profession notorious for covering up the crimes of coworkers. 

At the time of his attempted murder, I think he was being arrested for trying to leave.  I believe his warrant status was unknown. I believe these were all warrants for his arrest, and not previous convictions for which he had evaded the state’s punitive measures. This status, wanted but not convicted, is what we lawyers call “innocent.”  An innocent man was shot in the back, and the person who shot him in the back allegedly found a knife near the location where the peace officer shot the innocent man in the back seven times at point blank range. 
 
I would be interested in hearing the innocent man’s statement that he had a knife. “Hang on a minute officer, let me get to my car so I can get my knife, and then we’ll just see who’s boss around here. Don’t mind my three kids in the minivan waiting for me.” I’m not certain I’m willing to accept the word of the man who shot the innocent man in the back seven times, or the word of his coworkers, all of whom are in a profession notorious for covering up the crimes of coworkers. 

At the time of his attempted murder, I think he was being arrested for trying to leave.  I believe his warrant status was unknown. I believe these were all warrants for his arrest, and not previous convictions for which he had evaded the state’s punitive measures. This status, wanted but not convicted, is what we lawyers call “innocent.”  An innocent man was shot in the back, and the person who shot him in the back allegedly found a knife near the location where the peace officer shot the innocent man in the back seven times at point blank range. 
 
I would be interested in hearing the innocent man’s statement that he had a knife. “Hang on a minute officer, let me get to my car so I can get my knife, and then we’ll just see who’s boss around here. Don’t mind my three kids in the minivan waiting for me.” I’m not certain I’m willing to accept the word of the man who shot the innocent man in the back seven times, or the word of his coworkers, all of whom are in a profession notorious for covering up the crimes of coworkers.