Welder Dave update

[Welder Dave]

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

[BaTu]

??????

[Welder Dave]

WOW! No one said you had to read it. I thought I would have been put on your ignore list quite awhile ago. Go crawl back under your rock! If mods don't like it they can remove it or move it to a different forum. Someone inquired about me so I thought I would give an update for others who may have been curious. I'm on another forum where a lot members have been very supportive and others just weren't interested which is there choice and fine. It is off topic. Can the mods please decide if it is appropriate or not to post the above. If it isn't and needs to be removed is perfectly fine with me. I thought this was a pretty close knit forum and some would be interested in why I was away. Maybe I was wrong???

[Kevin Morin]

Dave, thanks for the explanation, and I hope (and Pray) you're able to overcome all the implications of this bout w "cancer of the bone marrow"? ( IF I understood what I read?)

I'm thankful we live in the era of so many discoveries in medical related treatments- like gluing vertebrae back together! and all the other machines that allow life to go on- where anyone suffering like that would have passed when we were children.

Thanks for the update, hope to hear more from you as you beat this disease and its impact on your 'old welder's hide'.

Cheers,
Kevin Morin
Kenai, AK

[Welder Dave]

Dave, thanks for the explanation, and I hope (and Pray) you're able to overcome all the implications of this bout w "cancer of the bone marrow"? ( IF I understood what I read?)

I'm thankful we live in the era of so many discoveries in medical related treatments- like gluing vertebrae back together! and all the other machines that allow life to go on- where anyone suffering like that would have passed when we were children.

Thanks for the update, hope to hear more from you as you beat this disease and its impact on your 'old welder's hide'.

Cheers,
Kevin Morin
Kenai, AK

Thank you!

Dave

[shortfuse]

Dave, here's hoping you can get this under control and get well. Your info may help someone else battling your disease.

As for BaTu.......go suck one.....

[Mac's Crew]

God speed on a full remission.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[cwby]

Keep 'er strokin bud.

[G-ManBart]

Positive thoughts heading your way Dave!

[walker]

WOW! Man that is horrible! It sounds like you have a pretty good ‘tude about it, which makes life easier. Best of luck to you through your troubles.

[Popeye an old miner]

I wondered myself why I didnt see you. I figured you were busy tinkerin or somethin. The news you got isnt good but it sounds like they got it under control and you on the mend.

Now if that doc figures the rest of them vertabray wont take that treatment one or two of us crazies on here can probly weld them broke ones back together for a beer or 2

Get well soon and watch out some of them nurses can get pretty fiesty, i know my daughter is one.

Take care my freind and God Bless You

[12V71]

Thoughts and prayers headed your way Dave. Hoping for the best outcome. My father has been in remission for advanced prostate cancer for 10 plus years and is still with us.

[welding1]

Nothing worse than feeling crappy, especially when the Doctors have a hard time diagnosing. Good luck!

[Shootr]

My old man is 89, you're right, these treatments are evolving all the time. He pulled through his - I know you will do the same. You have the right attitude to beat this deal.

[Kelvin]

Sorry to hear of this, Dave. But I guess it helps explain why you were so biotchy a few weeks back. J/K hey laughter is the best medicine!

Best wishes for a full and speedy recovery. We'll be rootin' for ya. Hope you're back up and at 'em soon.

[John Bartley]

Dave,

I am not a religious guy, but I am a cancer survivor and I have known a couple of people with exactly the cancer you have and I am going to think about you sometimes and if there's any sort of karma transmission of good thought waves in this world i am going to send them to you. It;s the best I have to send and I sincerely wish you the strength and will of spirit that you will need. If you are a religious person then I wish for your god(s) to take care of you and help you thru.

Take care, work hard at it !!

John

[smithdoor]

I know how you feel.
In 2018 I was told I had back ingeriers the X-rays, CAT scan and blood test show no cancer. So Doctors said cancer free.
Both my wife and myself ask for biopsy it said you have stage 4 cancer. 6 months of Chemothera and some radiation cancer free.
This year my doctor's did biopsy and said you have cancer for third time in 11 years. No Chiropractor need or pain shots need.
Back to Chemothera and everyone know my name .

Good luck
Dave

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

[Reebz]

Sound like you are seeing the right people. Good job

[123weld]

I'm sorry to hear this. When I hear this kinda stuff about people (friend or foe, distant or whatever), I put all personality clashes aside, as it's actually really nothing. I noticed you were gone, and wondered, but this kinda thing didnt cross my mind. The technolgy them Dr.'s got now days, is amazing, theres hardly nothing they cant do. Keep up the positive attitude. Sounds like you got a good partner/girlfriend or whatever. Thanks for posting this.

[Reebz]

Thank you for sharing your story.

[Xsbank]

Break a leg, Dave! My busted clavicle surgery seems pretty tame after your ordeal. Godspeed!

[FlyFishn]

Sorry to hear of the diagnosis. Sounds like things are being taken care of by some good docs and nurses. Hoping for the best.

[smithdoor]

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

[farmersammm]

Good luck with this thing. You'll beat it.

[Bob]

Keep your chin up, it's all better from here let's hope. I'll keep you in my prayers. Good luck on this.