Welder Dave update

[whtbaron]

Hope you're feeling better soon... in the meantime, I'll drink your share of the beer for u...

[N2 Welding]

Wow that had to of sucked big time to be in pain like with out knowing why. Diagnosis must of hurt and been a hard pill to swallow as well. Sounds like you are in good hands. God speed to you. Hope you are feeling better and on your way to a full recovery. Best of luck and wishes to you.

[Guardian]

Good luck. Hope this goes well for you!

[Welder Dave]

Thanks for the support. Not real religious but will take any support I can get. Several horror stories of Dr's. and nurses in the hospital. Worst I'm filing an official complaint with a fairly new hospital about an ER dr.

Went to hospital for CT scan at 2:30pm. In major pain. Night before called ambulance and they gave me meds. to tide me overnight so I could make appointment. Figured there was an ER so would wait and get results. Saw Dr. who had a real attitude. Said nothing nothing looked out of place. I mentioned the Dr's. on the ambulance and he took real exception, paramedics like they were below him. Paramedics were great. I said I was taking Tramadol then got prescription for Toradol that is longer lasting. He said they weren't really that strong of pain meds. I asked about heat and cold packs and he said they were mostly gimmicks but heat might be better. I think because I hadn't shaved for a couple weeks (last thing on my mind) he thought I was some kind of older stoner looking for drugs. He prescribed 10 Morphine pills. Very next night called ambulance again. In extreme severe agonizing pain times 10! They gave me a shot of Toradal and Morphine to get me up off the coach and out to the ambulance. They were taking me back to same hospital only because I had been there before. The ride was torture but they gave me 3 more Morphine shots on the way. I stayed on the ambulance stretcher for about half an hour waiting for a hospital stretcher. Then they asked if I could go in a wheelchair so the ambulance could be back on the road. I agreed and they gave me another shot of Toradal and waited about 20 minutes for it to kick in. Two paramedics then helped me into a wheelchair and pushed me about 30ft. to the ER waiting room. There were some rubber mats on the floor and when they hit the first one caused more pain. They slowed right down over the next 2. 10 minutes later a male nurse comes to get me and pushes me at normal walking speed. Hits rubber mat. I yelled inn pain and said go slow. He said we have to get over them to get you in the ER. He then proceeds to drag race down the hall to to the room. Tells me to get up on the bed. I said I can't. He said try. I said no, 2 paramedics had to help me into the wheelchair. and I'm not moving. He said then we might have to move you to a larger room and he would check with boss and goes away. About 15 or 20 minutes later a med student comes in to access me. Asks me a bunch of questions and then cuts me off while I'm trying to give him all the details. Then asks if I can stand up. I said I can try with help. The Toradol was kicking in. I stood up and took 2 stepes out from the wheelchair and he felt my back. I asked to use the washroom and he siad it's just down the hall. I said I'd go back in the wheelchair and go down. He said your standing OK and could walk! I said no. Thank god a nurse was cleaning the room across from me. She yelled out make sure to put the brakes on on the wheelchair before I sat down. She came over and told the med student I could use the wheelchair to go to the washroom. I made it to the washroom and back fine. 3 steps out and back in the wheel is not the same as walking 300ft. and down a hallway by myself and possibly collapsing. Male nurse was utside of room and and made a comment I was walking. I'm not if it was sarcastic or genuine. I wouldn't say a few steps out of wheelchair is walking. Same Dr. I saw before came in the room. Now he says I'm on some pretty powerful meds and then says..."What do you want us to do for you?" I'm godsmacked. Then he says don't worry most back goes away on it's own and discharges me. I ask if there is a phone I can use to call for my ride home. I thought I would be admitted. Male nurse comes back in and says there's a phone in the waiting room and pushes me there. He was a slower but still a little fast over the rubber mats and pushes me beside the phone and leaves promptly. The phone was above my head and the Toradol was wearing off rapidly. Called to get ride home and hung up phone. Didn't realize wheelchair was was half on a rubber mat. Went to roll into waiting room and had major spasm getting wheel over edge of rubber mat. Yelled in pain. Intake nurse was walking in waiting room and no one else was there. She totally ignored my yell. I then said can you help me. She then came over and talked to me. She said I see you have some papers there and maybe there's some exercises you can do. Then she leaved through and said here we go. Then she read it, walking. No chance! The Toradal was completely worn off by now. I asked if they could give me something for the ride home and she said "you've been discharged!" I thinking this is supposed to be a hospital. I lived in complete agony for what was quite awhile at home. I think if there was ever a reason to make a formal complaint about a Dr. this was a clear example. He may have took exception to my calling the paramedics DR's. but I think he must have got his medical license in a Cracker Jack Box. Would love to burst his cocky attitude in front of the administrator of the hospital that he did nothing to check my medical history and discharged a patient who came in ambulance with Multiple Myeloma and 10 vertebrae with compression fractures! I do not not know how I survived the severe pain I was in. Maybe everybody has some kind of hidden adrenaline that comes out when really need it? So much better now. Thanks for the support. Dave

[Welder Dave]

Wow that had to of sucked big time to be in pain like with out knowing why. Diagnosis must of hurt and been a hard pill to swallow as well. Sounds like you are in good hands. God speed to you. Hope you are feeling better and on your way to a full recovery. Best of luck and wishes to you.

Diagnosis was easy when a Dr. did more complex blood tests. The calcium in my blood was off the chart. Later bone marrow biopsy and bone biopsy confirmed the diagnosis. Pretty life changing to say the least.

[Kevin Morin]

Diagnosis was easy when a Dr. did more complex blood tests. The calcium in my blood was off the chart. Later bone marrow biopsy and bone biopsy confirmed the diagnosis. Pretty life changing to say the least.

DAMn Dave! I'm sorry you had to encounter such lame health care people and as a result suffer such extreme pain. I've been blessed not to encounter your "hospital staff" who aren't fit to change a 'bed pan'.

I've added you to my daily Prayers for relief, recovery and restoration to your body's functions, and absence of pain.

DAMn, Bro' that is approaching the 'trials of Job' in pain and suffering. Wish the advances in tech, medical science and knowledge were accompanied by increasingly generous attitudes of care giving by the various health care workers we have to help us all?

Cheers,
Kevin Morin
Kenai, AK

[William McCormick]

I wanted to give an update on why I have been off the forum for a couple month's or more. I received a PM from Lis2323 and Terry was wondering if I'm OK. The answer is yes and no but mostly yes. I'll try to give as brief an explanation as possible in kind of point form.

In November I sprained my back and in December went for Physio therapy. Come January I felt great again with no pain or limited mobility. Late Jan./early Feb. noticed a slight ache in my right shoulder blade. A few days later noticed the ache go down to my right elbow. That ache went away but I shortly after the ache in my right shoulder also went to my left shoulder. The ache started to gradually go away from my shoulder blades further down my back. Near the end of Feb. was progressively getting worse at my lower back. Went to Dr. and was scheduled for CT ultrasound (possible kidney stone). Had X-Ray showed everything normal. Scheduled CT scan and it showed no problem with spine. Pain was getting bad. Scheduled bone scan (CT scan with radio active dye to show more) Everything looked normal but excruciating pain getting off of cradle on machine. I'm figuring when I sprained my back I must have pinched a nerve bad or really pulled a muscle and it's showing the effects. Went to ER's 3 times, once in ambulance. Dr.s, I think, were figuring muscle injury. Moving to near the end of March went back to Dr. and he said I should go directly to University hospital ER because blood work was really erratic. Went to hospital. Riding in the car was terror. Every crack in the road I cringed and bumps went straight to my back. Partner driving me was doing everything to make it easier but you can't drive 1 MPH on public roads. (Earlier ambulance ride was worse (heavy truck, stiff suspension) but they gave lots of meds. (Toradol and Morphine) to help with pain) Got to ER slipped into a wheelchair and waited till Dr. could see me. Thank &^%$#@! god Dr. ordered more specialized blood work. Got a diagnosis. Had too much calcium in my blood. Dr. said I have Multiple-Myeloma. I wasn't sure what it was but my partner Debi new it was bad. She's worked in healthcare for 42 years. She used all her will power not to let on and wait till the Dr. could tell me. I had a type of cancer of the bone marrow that would not show up on CT or bone scans. It caused me to have compression fractures in TEN!!!!!!!!!! of my vertebrae. Later bone marrow biopsy and bone biopsy confirmed diagnosis. To give an idea of the pain when I was at home before the diagnosis at one point it took me 2 1/2hours to roll out of bed and get on my feet. Yes a few times I was wishing for death and thinking of..... sorry can't say it, it scares the crap out of me I thought it.

Admitted to hospital and spent about 2 weeks there until being transferred to first class Cancer facility where I spent another 2 weeks. The care there was 5 star luxury resort! They looked after everything I needed. I had several horror stories in the hospital. Funny but true, many of the staff at the cancer facility did a double take when they saw my name and I thought it was the reason I was getting such fantastic care. My name was exactly the same as the director of the facility!!! Tey said everyone gets the 5 star service.

Onto the prognosis which is the good part. Many advances have come in cancer research. 10-15 years ago my prognosis may have been up to 3 years. Last comprehensive study was in 2015 and 30-40% are going 10 years and longer. Seems every 3 years or so they come up with better treatments. My cancer is not curable but can be slowed and go into remission. However it is a smart cancer and can come back again sometimes years later. That scares me. Heavy meds. slowed the the the calcium loss from my bone marrow into my blood. I had a blood transfusion (my blood make up was matched to blood in the blood bank) and it took about a week to get the results for a match. The transfusion restored the restored the red hemoglobin in my blood and my calcium levels were in the blood were back to normal. I'm not real clear on all of this so may be a little off. In The hospital the top specialist (1of 2) for the whole province (multiple myeloma is not real common, less than 10,000 cases a year in Canada) performed a Vertebroplasty to repair 5 of my fractured vertebrae. 10 was too many for one procedure. May have to the others done at a later but depends on how chemo and radiation go. Bones may repair themselves. The procedure is effective pretty much 100% and is a miracle! I had much more mobility the next day and the 1000 out of ten pain went down to about 8. It also a very cool procedure. It is X-Ray guided and they basically use a bone cement to repair the fractures and essentially make an inner cast for your bones. The specialist/my savior gave me confidence the 1st time I met him. He looked the part and had the demeanor of a someone you can trust your life with. He has to be very careful to inject just the right amount of the cement to repair the bone and not glue it to the discs in your back. My partner would have loved to have watched the procedure being done. I might have too but maybe on someone else.

Fast forward and I just came home yesterday afternoon. I have to wear a catheter for awhile until by bladder and muscles get re-trained. The muscle gets lazy and won't contract to let you go after having a catheter in for pretty much a month. Not uncommon for some to need to keep a catheter in for a little while. I did have some success if I pushed through the agony of not being able to go for a max of 10 seconds. However it was only a tiny portion of what was in my bladder. The catheter was out at the time to see if I could go. They did an in and out catheter to drain what was in my bladder. I was holding 800ml when the average of when your brain tells you to go is around 300ml. The nurse that did it said it was the most she's drained in 17 years. A couple hours later they did another one (everything drains to the bladder) and the charge nurse said he's seen some hold close to 2 litres. (2000ml) (a litre is slightly less than a quart) The 800 and 600ml are not added together, they are totally separate drain amounts.

Almost done, sorry for such a long rambling post. I'll blame it on the meds. LoL I am scheduled for a Stem Cell Transplant after the 3rd round of chemo. Chemo is a 4 week cycle so maybe middle of Aug. It is not nearly as bad as it sounds and used to be referred to as a bone marrow transplant. They basically remove some of your blood and put it a centrifuge to remove bad stems cells in it. It is then frozen. In the mean time they replace it with a strong dose of of good stem cell blood? and/or something strong that helps clean inside your bones. Then they put your cleaned/filtered blood back in. May need a second time done but depends on how everything goes the same as with the back repair procedure. I got a bit of a shock because I thought it was maybe up to week at the cancer center but they said depending on how I react and side effects I would be there for 3-4 weeks.

I am keeping positive and my twisted sense of humor and long posts like this and other things I'm working take my mind of everything else. I am trying to contact an artist about a song that came in my mind that could help raise money for cancer research and a book they could right that could do the same. It was an epiphany I had at about 4:30am. My sister and partner both think I'm really onto something with my ideas. Why mot try to help others live longer through battling cancer or other disease in addition to myself.

I will try to come on the forum fairly regular but if I'm not is because of other stuff like the song I'm working. Please feel free to PM if you like. I will check those regularly. If you're still with me, thanks so much for reading my endless rambling.

Dave

A young woman I know received that treatment, and they replace the cells in your bone marrow and believe it or not your fingerprints change. The weirdest thing, apparently your DNA when altered changes your fingerprints. She is doing great it has been a while now. Glad to hear you are doing better!


Sincerely,

William McCormick

[BillE.Dee]

Hello Dave. Sorry to read of the situation. I've taken one of those rides myself and can appreciate what you are going thru. I am not a very religious person BUT I do believe in prayers and am including you in mine. All the best to a speedy recovery. I'm certain that the family right here are wishing you the best. Positive thoughts.
Bill

[Rondo]

Terrible long winding road. All the best to you on your recovery. Get well soon.

[Willie B]

Best wishes. I hope there is good news soon.

[Welder Dave]

If you need to know how take care of side effects just let me know.
The doctor start with taking over counter that did not work.
But the RX does work and tell after you had bad days.

Dave

SIDE EFFECTS. First heavy dose of Dexamethesone(sp) steroid was 40mg a day for 4 days(40 pills total). I was like a 10,000 piece jigsaw puzzle in all these different universes having dreams inside of dreams. If the Seroquil(sp) that's supposed to lessen effects was helping, I am clueless how worse it could have been. Had other instances of side effects. Steroid is down to one dose(10 pills) a week and the Seroquil seem to help. Seroquil can can cause some of it's own side effects and Ativan for sure can be bad.

[Welder Dave]

Hope you're feeling better soon... in the meantime, I'll drink your share of the beer for u...

Not a beer drinker or drinker much at all but if it would have helped with the pain before I was diagnosed, I'd be the worlds fastest alcoholic!

[Welder Dave]

Thank you to EVERYONE! I've got a little fight in me after all. LoL Should be able to pick up a stinger as long as it's not laying on the ground and maybe burn some physio therapy beads. Probably not with 6010 although I do have a Red Face SA200.

[CAVEMANN]

Prayers for you Dave, back pain is not a fun thing at all, I'm on 6 several pain meds to knock the edge off enough to function. I wish you the best & hope they knock the crap outta that cancer and you can get back to a somewhat normal relatively painfree, cancer free life!

[MinnesotaDave]

Best wishes for your recovery Dave

[BD1]

Wow !! Dam, that's scary.
Health issues sucks !! I'm still going through tough times with my wife. It's not fun for sure .
Hopefully it will be fine.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[smithdoor]

The day it hit me is when doctor gave 30 day supply RX of hydrocodone. I never take that medication as is habit forming even when the Denise's try give RX I said no and use over counter pain pills.
Now I up all RX need for side effects.

Dave

SIDE EFFECTS. First heavy dose of Dexamethesone(sp) steroid was 40mg a day for 4 days(40 pills total). I was like a 10,000 piece jigsaw puzzle in all these different universes having dreams inside of dreams. If the Seroquil(sp) that's supposed to lessen effects was helping, I am clueless how worse it could have been. Had other instances of side effects. Steroid is down to one dose(10 pills) a week and the Seroquil seem to help. Seroquil can can cause some of it's own side effects and Ativan for sure can be bad.

[farmshop]

Stories like this always make me wonder how many people were mis diagnosed over the years. All of these ailments can’t be new. Hopefully your treatments continue to go well

[Capt B]

Really sorry to hear about your health issues Dave. At least it sounds like you are in good hands now with treatment. I wish you a speedy recovery!

[smithdoor]

Try this my doctor's miss my cancer from 2013 to 2018
I have great blood tests and cat scans missed too.

Dave

Stories like this always make me wonder how many people were mis diagnosed over the years. All of these ailments can’t be new. Hopefully your treatments continue to go well

[Welder Dave]

I'm still taking Dilauded for pain. Apparently it is 5 times stronger than Morphine. At worst was taking 12 hour long acting with booster shots every 2 hours! Also taking Gabapentin for nerve pain. Thanks so much for the well wishes. It's kind of overwhelming.

[smithdoor]

Get well soon
Dave

I'm still taking Dilauded for pain. Apparently it is 5 times stronger than Morphine. At worst was taking 12 hour long acting with booster shots every 2 hours! Also taking Gabapentin for nerve pain. Thanks so much for the well wishes. It's kind of overwhelming.

[CAVEMANN]

I'm still taking Dilauded for pain. Apparently it is 5 times stronger than Morphine. At worst was taking 12 hour long acting with booster shots every 2 hours! Also taking Gabapentin for nerve pain. Thanks so much for the well wishes. It's kind of overwhelming.

Are you getting any relief from the Gabapentin? I take 1600 mg a day & i don't really think it does much, hope it's better for you, in it's own way it's more aggravating than the back pain. I came out from the surgery anesthesia with 3 1/2 toes numb & burning from the nerves being cut & screwed up, it's only gotten worse.

[smithdoor]

I take 300mg of Gabapentin per day for Chemothera pain it works great.
I think hydrocodone would work better for back pain.

Dave

Are you getting any relief from the Gabapentin? I take 1600 mg a day & i don't really think it does much, hope it's better for you, in it's own way it's more aggravating than the back pain. I came out from the surgery anesthesia with 3 1/2 toes numb & burning from the nerves being cut & screwed up, it's only gotten worse.

[Welder Dave]

I'm just going by what the Dr's. are prescribing. If the Gabapentin is working, I'm in a lot of pain. Take the 12 hour Dilauded and have extra I can take as needed. They all have side effects though and that's the worst part. You have to take them for pain but they mess with your mind and how your body feels. I had almost no appetite today and just feeling completely burnt out since last night. The steroid I take (Dexamethasone) has bad side effects but is the most effective to slow the cancer.