Bloody Damn Good

I woke up this past Sunday figuring I was about to head into Day 4 of misery with this whole chemo poop. The three days before had been, without question, the worst stretch of the entire process. I was rolling into Day 7 of Round 5, and let me tell you—I was not enjoying the ride. This round hit me hard.

But I didn’t quit.

I just did what I could while I meandered around the house. Managed to knock a few things off the list, but more importantly, I got a whole lot done mentally. I took some time to really work on prioritizing the important stuff. Slowed things down. Tried to change a few things I’d been doing that weren’t sitting right with me.

And wouldn’t you know it—Sunday didn’t turn into Day 4 of pure misery after all. With the exception of Round 1, I actually pulled out of the hole of Round 5 faster than I ever have. I played the game, finished second, and had a pretty darn good day all around.

The biggest issue is still the whole mouth and taste bullpoop—but let’s be honest, that’s probably got more to do with how I’ve taken care of it (or not) over the last forty years. Health and wellness, folks... deal with it early—not when it’s too late and you're deep into the chemo poop.

One more of these wonderful fuel injections to go, and supposedly I’ll get a break from them—for now, at least. I’m definitely looking forward to the upcoming scan comparisons in a few weeks. My mindset right now is to find out if this honorary chemo degree I’ve been working on is gonna mean something moving forward.

Now, let’s talk blood tests.

Every Monday, like clockwork, I’ve been going in to get poked and drained. Truth is, I haven’t thought too much about them this whole time. Sure, I’ve got access to all the results through the medical portal—but I don’t check them. Never saw the point. I wouldn’t understand half of it, I wouldn’t research it, and I’m not the guy to pepper the doc with questions. In my simple world, I figure if something’s wrong, the docs will say something. That’s their lane.

But a couple weeks ago, something different happened. After I filled up a test tube, they asked me to wait in the duck, duck, goose room. First time that had happened. I sat there about ten minutes, then someone came out, called my name, and said I could go. I left, but the whole “hang around a bit” thing stuck with me.

Then it happened again yesterday. They asked me if I wanted to wait on the results. I said nope. But I did ask why they’ve been asking me to stick around lately. Turns out, some of my grumpy, “I don’t want to play duck, duck, goose” crowd were pitching fits about having to come back to the gym later in the day when something showed up in their results.

I get the grumpiness. I never want to be that guy at the gym either—but seriously, throwing a fit because your doctor is looking out for you? Come on, folks. If they want to double-check something, just let them.

Me? I told them nah, I’d head out. If something’s wrong, I trust they’ll call. And if that means a trip back to the gym, so be it. Honestly, I welcome the excuse. Gets me off my butt, gives me something to do besides sit in this chair all day.

And let me say this loud and clear—the folks at the gym are nothing short of amazing. What they deal with every day, always with smiles and upbeat attitudes... it blows me away. Over seven months and I haven’t seen a single negative moment out of any of them. They’ve earned my respect ten times over. These are the people I’ve trusted to get me through this, and so far, they haven’t let me down. Sure, they’ve made me feel like poop during parts of this—but they warned me. They were crystal clear about what to expect. They were right. I owe them big time.

Then wham—Mom pops up. “How’d your blood test go today?”

Well, poop. Gotta admit—I didn’t know. I figured everything was fine because they didn’t call. But her asking got me thinking. I woke up wondering how my blood test really went yesterday. Thirty-five or so tests later, I actually pulled it up. Saw a few highs and lows—not by much—and decided to do something I’ve never done: I researched each one that was a little off to see what it meant.

Jump to the end of that rabbit hole:

Mom, and everyone else—my bloodwork looks pretty darn good. Promising, even.

Bottom line—I just need to get to the next phase. See where I’m at. And keep trusting the folks running the show right now. If there’s a problem, I know they’ll catch it.

I’ve got a lot to do today. Came out of the hole early this round, and I’m feeling pretty good this morning. So I’m wrapping up this little tidbit for now. Looking forward to being all I can be—today, tomorrow, and however long my buddy Penthouse Dude wants me stirring the pot on this big ol’ round ball we all play on.

Have a GREAT day, everyone.

— A Simple Man