Posted by jukkahoo
Home. Don't you just love to be at home? Isn't home just the grandest place on this planet? Is there possibly anything as wonderful as home? Don't tell me. I don't care, really. I'm at home!!!
And I'm less. A kilo and Then Some (as Bruce Cornelius Willis might say). 1030 grams! That's a big lump (much appreciate the sentiments - as well as the mentioning on heffalumps: "Mutta minähän olen Nasu!") and I shouldn't forget them pints of blood they bled from me during the three hour operation. They did give me some back in the following night (that or/and drugs, Snufkin ought to know), when I was half delirious with the bloodloss and the weird concoction that tubes away from the side of my chest. The tube is reddish/yellow and they want me to have it until Tuesday. I have tubes, metallic devices and strange wounds and scras all over my body. I look like a very bad costume of a borg: "Prepare to be assillymated!"
My side hurts. I can't raise my left arm above my chin. Well... actually I'm not suppose to do that, but I can raise it a bit more, but not that much and it takes quite a while to lower it back down, since some muscle tissues and whatnots don't really appreciate the motion. Hem.
My Plastic Surgeon Man was a bit worried that he might have broken a nerve whilst surgeoning. He visited me at the hospital and made me do silly moves with my arms ("Eh, this hurts?", "Good, it should.") and finally was satisfied that he hadn't done anything wronk, since my left... scapula/shoulder blade (?) didn't do funny things when I straightened my arms in front of me. Since I too considered that to be a Good Thing, we were both relieved. Then I realised I could have sued a Plastic Surgeon for malpractice for gazillions of dollars! But only in America, the Land of the Law-Suit...
The skin (in question) feels weird. It's very soft, relatively fleshy and quite numb. Until I do something really drastic like stand up or move my left arm or try to turn in bed. Shudder the thought... And then there's the dreen (?) ie. the tube/container from my side. I have now accidentally pulled it a few times and let me tell you, it ain't no picnic (hrm, how could it even possibly be a picnic, since it it essentially plastic and mainly tube...?).
It hurts. My roommate managed somehow to wriggle his dreen (while sitting down) around his knee and when he got up, the fleshy part nearly came off. He almost fainted. Good thing the dreen in his case was attached to his head so no vital parts were in danger. Heh, a bit of "dreen" humour there. We dreen-people horse around like that. It must be all those fluids that are seeping out of our bodies. (I have no idea what I'm writing here, must be the drugs, more info available from Snufkin.)
I have to go back to Töölö in Tuesday, so that the blasted dreen gets separated, but I have no idea when I should report back to Ward 7 and Dr. James. I'm having the Monday off (I might even close my cellphone!), but I guess I have to go to Meilahti or call them to see how things will continue. I'm expecting both chemo and radiation, but not too soon (hopefully!). The stiches come off at 13th and Dr. JeeJee (the sixth) said it ought to take about 3-4 weeks for the scar to heal. I'm guessing they will start the chemo a bit earlier but not too early, since if I start reatching with these stiches, I'm gonna fall to pieces. (Snufkin!!!)
If you're ever given these purple antibiotics, just say no. They might be good for you but boy does your mouth taste weird! It isn't necessarily a bad taste (I'm certain you, My Dear Reader(s), are as sick as me with my continuous tales of my mouth tasting like raw sewage after chemo/drugs/etc) but it would be nice to be able to actually taste the food/drinks I eat!
I have a new headgear (courtesy of Family Nieminen). It looks like some German enterpre... entropoo... entrop... salesman has come up with a neat idea What to do with all those extra sleaves that shirt factories get when they cut off the sleaves of a shirt and turn it into a T-shirt. Use it as a H.A.D. (Multifunctional Lifestyle Headwear!) I mean hat/headgear. Versatile stuff. I'm still wearing the pirate-look one I made eight hours ago. I don't know whether I can turn it into a balaclava - oops! sorry, I meant Sturmhaube or a Saharatuch! I think I can turn it into a Mütze or a Stirnband!
Sometimes Less is More and sometimes...
Great to hear that you are less! Happy lessing!
Posted by: Ben | November 03, 2003 at 11:33
Now dear, If you had just managed to swivel in the chair a half-turn and grab the dictionary with your healthy arm, you might have found out that dreeni is very mundanely just drain in the language of Shakespeare and Milton. And think of all the bad puns you could have gotten out of that one while under influence....
Posted by: Your loving wife | November 03, 2003 at 11:52
Happy unlumping! I'm sure you wouldn't want to be lumped in with that lump. Prepare for the post-lumpenproletariat existence...
Will you really get more radiotherapy at this stage? I'd have guessed it would just chemo. Well, we'll see!
Posted by: Johan A | November 03, 2003 at 12:11
Really 1030 grams? What was it, iron? Think of a 1000g roast beef.
That's huge, isn't it? Feeds the whole family, and the dogs, too.
Sari2's too shy (imagine *that*, if you will) to write comments, but
she sends her regards, as do I.
Posted by: Veriveli | November 03, 2003 at 13:22
Indeedy it is... WAS (hahahahahahahaaaa!!!) a big lump-o-meat. The size of a man's fist.
Terveisiä Juhalle.
Posted by: jukkahoo | November 03, 2003 at 14:49
dont get too less... =)
Posted by: Jouni | November 03, 2003 at 16:13
Parempi kasvain kastroituna kuin kilo kainalossa.
Hilsener fra Norge.
Posted by: Mikael | November 03, 2003 at 18:11
Jukka, you can take the magic head gear of now if you like. We did not (yet) inforce it to be a permanent accessory.
Still I can relate to the problem of removing the pirate scarf, if you cannot lift your arms above shoulders ;-)
We'll bring the litl' dogs over next time... (Buah-hah-hah)
Posted by: MikaP | November 03, 2003 at 20:55
Good to hear! And that's some lump that was taken out. Imagine all the extra space to make your innards happier now.
And goddamn I didn't know you were in Töölö hospital, I thought you'd be in Meilahti. I was in Töölö hospital on Sunday, and I could have popped in to say hello.
Posted by: Fionna | November 04, 2003 at 10:12
Good to hear! And that's some lump that was taken out. Imagine all the extra space to make your innards happier now.
And goddamn I didn't know you were in Töölö hospital, I thought you'd be in Meilahti. I was in Töölö hospital on Sunday, and I could have popped in to say hello.
Posted by: | November 04, 2003 at 10:18
Read carefully, because I write this only once. CONGRATULATIONS!
Hva gjør du i Norge, Mikael?
Posted by: Ceijucas | November 04, 2003 at 17:22
Jeps, tämmöistä löytyi www.slashdot.org sivulta
Science: Killing Cancer With a Virus
Posted by Hemos on Tuesday November 04, @02:55PM
from the kill-it-dead dept.
just___giver writes "The U.S. National Cancer Institute has just decided to fund multiple human clinical studies to test the reovirus. This naturally occuring virus has a remarkable ability to infect and kill cancer cells, without affecting normal, healthy cells. Here is a before and after picture of a terminal patient with an actively growing neck tumour that had failed to respond to conventional treatments. This tumour was eliminated with only a single injection of the Reovirus. Researchers at Oncolytics Biotech have shown that the Reovirus can kill many types of cancer, including breast, prostate, pancreatic and brain tumours. Human clinical trial results indicate that there are no safety concerns and that the reovirus shrinks and even eliminates tumours injected with this virus. Numerous other third party studies show that the reovirus should be an important discovery in the treatment of 2/3 of all human cancers."
Posted by: Jouni | November 05, 2003 at 13:13
Sari2?? I know Sari2, and she's Jukkas loving wife. So there.
Am bouncing about like a very bouncy thing upon hearing this news. Happy undraining!
Posted by: Linnéa | November 05, 2003 at 16:16
My blood-brother was slightly less than correct in his message. When he said Sari2, he actually meant SARIP2, his loving and delightful companion.
I'm also bouncing, but not as bouncily, since I do have a fair amount of stiches to keep me in shape and they do not appreciate too much of the good thing ie. bouncing.
Posted by: jukkahoo | November 05, 2003 at 18:47