Yo-yo syndrome

brea588 said:

I am so

HAPPY for you.  Wonderful news.  Now you can ride, play guitar anything you want!!!!   I will continiue to pray for you as always.  Love to you tooo!!!

I don't want to sound like I have super power when it comes to recovery. Side effects of votrient can be tough. The days of fatigue and diarrhea are no fun. Chronic upset belly and difficulty getting an appetite keep me skinny. I think the white hair is kind of cool. I remain pretty weak in my right upper extremity. I can't hold a golf club out horizontal to the ground without it slowly falling. So I don't hit the ball far but I'm hitting it well. I ride my Harley fine but it is difficult to muscle aound an 800 lb. bike. I will have to consider a smaller bike. But all things considered, I will happily take what I'm getting. When I look back  only 6 months ago, this is amazing and inspiring to me. I still can't do everything that I could with my guitars. I've had to change my playing style a bit but who cares? It's not like I get paid to play. Another thing I forget to mention is that I have lost a fair amount of hearing in my left ear due to the radiation. It is strange because I can't hear myself talk and trying to sing while playing is shot. My wife says she doesn't miss my singing. My father used to say that I "sang flatter than piss on a rock." But no serious complaints from me. I used to be more concerned if my socks didn't match my sweater. The "Summer of Fox" continues!

I am alive said:

radiation and hearing loss

Fox,

Just wondering.....what radiation affected your hearing?

The spinal canal tumor(s) was too large to zero in on. And poor results of any treatment were expected. My radiation was palliative in nature. Large dose radiation to the base of my brain down gave me the typical symptoms of mouth sores, burns and hearing loss. I went to an ENT MD. He said the loss was from the stiffening of the hammer, anvil and associated tissues. It may improve. I was so sick at the time and expected to die that I didn't ask too many questions. All I wanted was to be free from pain. Goal accomplished. I have another radiation oncologist who will zero in and blast away anything that returns. No second thoughts or regrets here. My thyroid was also damaged but we have that under control with thyroxin now.

I am alive said:

warrior

Jeez Fox,

   You really do have to be a warrior to endure these treatments. Radiation is a life savor but it does take its toll, doesn't it? we don't think of that at the time. My L1 vertebrae was radiated back in '11. Piece of cake. And thank God it did it's job. But it weakened the area around it and a fracture occurred a while later. Now I've got a 3cm in the right humeral head of the shoulder and am facing more radiation. Trickier, perhaps. Thinking of you enduring your own radiation - no picnic indeed - helps me man up for my own. Radiologists don't go into the details of the downside of radiation. Newbies don't really have much of a clue. But, as you say, beats the alternative and damn glad to have it.

I did have stereotactic radiation to several ribs and vertebrae. I've been living with a fracture in my 8th rib since about then. I forget all the places I've had tumors.