Thanks!

this is so ****ing good

literally cracked up at this, wp

Used to make cotton candy at the zoo as a teenager. Granulated sugar and food coloring. After spending a day making 50+ pallets (8 bags each), I was covered in sugar floss. Disgusting. I'd eat a giant ****ing peppermint patty before I'd put even one bite of CC in my mouth again, and it's been 40+ years.

Also, I thought that gif was Joel Olsteen.

This jogged me into an "in like a lion, out like a lamb" update:

As I write this, our daughter is with my wife at the oncology office getting the pump that was placed on her two days ago when she had the primary chemo treatment done removed. The pump keeps pumping more chemo into her for 46 hours after the primary in-clinic chemo treatment. This is her second time--gonna be happening every two weeks for 3-4 months. I had a conflicting medical appt this afternoon so daughter took my spot. TAmes Law: if two medical appts can conflict, they will.

As noted previously when I missed the initial oncology consult (cf: TAmes Law), the oncologist told my wife that she was going to hit her "hard and fast with chemo." We weren't sure what this meant and since I wasn't there I had no context or opportunity to ask for more detail at that time. Two weeks ago we found out. I have never in my life seen anyone as sick as my wife was two days after her chemo. I considered calling an ambulance or taking her to the ER, but "hard and fast" kept reverberating and I encouraged her to tough it out until her afternoon appt to get the pump removed. Along the way I discovered that a good measure of how much you love someone is correlated to the length of time it takes you to decide to wipe their butt when they are writhing on the floor two rooms away from the nearest bathroom.

Apparently the oncology office staff weren't used to that degree of "hard and fast" either. We showed up in the waiting room with puke pail aka barf bucket in hand (nobody else seemed to be toting one) and looking like death warmed over. The staff in the adjacent lab noticed my wife's suffering and fetched a couple of nurses who took us to an exam room. Every nurse, including the nurse practitioner, who came into the exam room looked absolutely mortified. I honestly don't think any of them had seen a patient in the early stages of treatment that sick. They took great care of her, got her stabilized enough to go back home, wrote some extra prescriptions, etc. The NP said she would talk to the oncologist about reducing her chemo doses, etc. We spent the next two weeks anxiously wondering if she actually would. Meanwhile my wife made a few comments about preferring to die than go through that again. I admit that I'm not sure that I would be able to argue the point.

When we went back for the second chemo treatment two days ago they did reduce the dosage significantly, but said they were going to up it again for #3 but not back to the original level. I do not think my wife would have taken the same dosage again this week. Perhaps she would have changed her mind later, but it wasn't happening this week. Home meds now include two nausea meds to be alternated and a third, stronger one, if those aren't effective and one anti-diarrhea med with a second, stronger one, if that isn't effective. And instructions to call immediately if she began to get that ill again.

BTW, chemo farts are real and they are spectacular! Good god almighty!!! I swear these things penetrate walls. I'm surprised our two 20-lb dogs have survived even though one of them does have quite the appetite for the poop of any other animal he finds in the yard.

Other than when she was in 48 hours or so of complete agony and talking about wanting to die, my wife has soldiered on like a champ. She generally has maintained her sense of humor and positive outlook. As I've already said, I have no doubt that she is tougher than I am. Hopefully, now that we know that the oncology folks are actually trying to hit a chemo level that avoids suffering, we'll get through the next several weeks in good shape. The next real hurdle will be when we find out whether surgery will be necessary; we expect that it will but hope it won't.

Another thing to be aware of is that good health insurance (or absolutely no assets at all, I guess) is critically important. Not sure how good her insurance is as we chose a 10k deductible for her and have avoided using it very much. If we haven't hit her deductible for 2023 yet, I'm sure we'll be there next month. Cancer and its treatment don't seem to be for the sickly or underinsured.

I hope this will be the last installment of this TR for a while; it shouldn't need to spill over into the April thread. It isn't an experience anyone wants to encounter--especially if they have no idea of what to expect when they do.

Sounds like tons of "fun", Tom. Best of luck to your wife and family in this fight.

No assets is about right for GOAT insurance, or completely obliterate the ceiling to the point where no one can be reasonably expected to cough up that much.

My medical bills for the past 3 years are approaching $5M, out of pocket cost - a tiny fraction.

OUCH!

$5M. That's so scary. I've got to get insurance!

Continued best wishes to Mrs. Ames on the ongoing treatment. Thanks for the update, Tom. Good reminder to have the docs set expectations when having something serious done, so you know when to say, "ok, this is out of bounds."

Be careful with the lack of appetite, if her chemo is anything like my mom's. Keep badgering her to eat and drink.

Thanks!
I'll watch the appetite. On most days the appetite is there, but not the ability to eat all (or even half) of the food she requests. As the chemo treatment wears off, and the next one draws closer, she is able to eat more. Mostly bland stuff though. At least that is our very early experience. Thanks for the heads-up!

Sending my thoughts and continued prayers Tom. Cancer is a vile disease and I'm not sure I'd be tough enough to battle it. Glad to hear your wife is fighting like a champ. I appreciate the update.

Thanks.
From my short-term, one-case sample observation, the early stages/treatment would not be nearly as daunting as the prospect of future treatments with no guarantees of success. I have found new respect for anyone who has ever been through it.

Well, I guess I'm coming out of retirement. Kind of.

Last fall, I was a fill-in replacement one night for a dealer that didn't show in the little bar poker league I play in.

The other night, the owner of the league was talking about how scheduling is getting tight with people leaving, upcoming vacations, etc. I reminded him to not be afraid to use me again.

We talked about it some last night. I'm going to be in the rotation and deal once in a while.

Looking forward to it. Something different than playing. Though I'm not sure about being a contributing member of society again.

If any of you are (or find yourselves) in the greater Broomfield area and would like to play some not-very-good poker with a bunch of fun folks, look us up. Make sure to introduce yourself.

They should join the bar poker league. They have a huge tourny every year in Vegas with all the bar poker groups from around the country. DM me if you want more info, I can send you straight to the Pres.

Thanks, 27. I talked to the boss last night. He said he'd heard of this previously and was interested in learning more. He emailed barpokerleague.com sometime back and got nothing in return.

So I asked if we should take advantage of your offer and put the two of them in touch. He's no longer interested since there was no response. No second chances I guess. ;(

Made me sad. Maybe at some future point he'll have a change of heart.

Appreciate your offering.

@Tom Ames

Not work, or at least not unfun work. Between the small wage and tips, I'll probably make ~ what I spend up there, which means...

Damn and I'm only 30 minutes away. Progress on the house rehab is slow, especially with recent events. I will eventually make it there as it sounds fun.

Location checks out:

for those of you who say 'york patties are not meant for me', i'm curious your opinion on these?

Olive Garden dessert!