| Joined: Mar 2008 Posts: 3,082 Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) | Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) Joined: Mar 2008 Posts: 3,082 | Dan
I've been away from the forum for a couple of weeks for multiple reasons (entering into a database 1515 comics to sell to a place in Texas, and having to arrange them in boxes in their specific order plus dealing with PEG issues)but quick checks showed the forum was doing just fine without my particular views. Your post however compels me to jump in with my usual contrarian position. IMO, You can make the first wedding with some effort, and, IF you want to badly enough, you can make the second wedding. Please note this is just my opinion (IMO), based on how badly I wanted to avoid the PEG which let me go through not only 8 weeks of radiation but also 8 full chemo treatments (one each friday of radiation)without any dehydration or issues. Like Eric S 's signature, if you have the WHY, you can do this. I'm not saying it will not be one of the most difficult things you have ever done in your life, but I think you can do that second wedding. You should be able to walk down the aisle with your daughter but you won't be giving any toasts later or being the life of the reception. It will be very hard but it is doable if you are willing to live with pain and fatigue like you never had before. But I was back at work at week nine, barely able to walk down the halls. Get good pain pills. Now although I am opposed to PEGs, in your case,the 10% weight mandatory PEG requirement does not leave you any real choice. I was fortunate that my CCC understood the psychological significance to me and just let me drop from 177 to 140 instead of using a one size fits all percentage. Like Michael Douglas, I just didn't want one plus my RO is one of the proponents of the theory that PEGs hinder full swallowing recovery - a point that OCF disputes vehemently but I had not found OCF until after my TX was over. But I don't see how you won't lose 19 pounds even if you were really buff and muscular like Eric S and I were before TX. If they really enforce 10% loss then you might as well get the PEG now since I have not heard of anyone losing less than 10% weight without a PEG. Heck lots of posters here lose more than 10% with a PEG. Here's the part I had to post: get a doctor's note now addressed to the TSA spelling out that you have a feeding tube and that it's medically necessary for you to bring the syringes and tubes and bags on the plane with you. With the latest paranoia about terrorists having implanted explosives, all the blogs and site about PEG tube people have increased the horror stories about TSA. I used to have a heck of a time with TSA minions trying to tug on my tube as part of a security check and almost got arrested pushing one away. Now however, I found that loudly demanding "help me", " you need to examine these syringes", " I need a supervisor over here", etc works wonders. The TSA screeners do not like to be told what to do, so they just wave me thru with no hassles now. It's only if you try to be normal, like Donald Rumsfield did, that the TSA gets nasty and does extra exams because now they have "discovered something". Being told they have to work and help you elicits a different response because terrorists do not demand to be checked or call attention to themselves. IMO TSA is going to be you biggest headache. Now if you were female and pretty like Christine, then it'd be a different story, but us males over 50 can't charm TSA. Last but not least, you CAN DO this Dan. We have, it's hard, but we all finished. Keep posting and welcome to the club no one wants to join. Keep the Faith Charm 65 yr Old Frack Stage IV BOT T3N2M0 HPV 16+ 2007:72GY IMRT(40) 8 ERBITUX No PEG 2008:CANCER BACK Salvage Surgery 25GY-CyberKnife(5) 3 Carboplatin Apaghia /G button 2012: CANCER BACK -left tonsilar fossa 40GY-CyberKnife(5) 3 Carboplatin Passed away 4-29-13
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New member, question about travel during radiation
| DannyJ | 08-04-2011 03:47 AM |
Re: New member, question about travel during radiation
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Re: New member, question about travel during radiation
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Re: New member, question about travel during radiation
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Re: New member, question about travel during radiation
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Re: New member, question about travel during radiation
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Re: New member, question about travel during radiation
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Re: New member, question about travel during radiation
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Re: New member, question about travel during radiation
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Re: New member, question about travel during radiation
| ChristineB | 08-05-2011 01:17 AM |
Re: New member, question about travel during radiation
| EricS | 08-05-2011 07:00 AM |
Re: New member, question about travel during radiation
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Re: New member, question about travel during radiation
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Re: New member, question about travel during radiation
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Re: New member, question about travel during radiation
| bethers0808 | 08-18-2011 08:11 AM |
Re: New member, question about travel during radiation
| Eshwar N | 08-06-2011 05:07 AM |
Re: New member, question about travel during radiation
| DannyJ | 08-17-2011 06:07 PM |
Re: New member, question about travel during radiation
| Maria | 08-17-2011 06:17 PM |
Re: New member, question about travel during radiation
| DannyJ | 08-18-2011 02:02 AM |
Re: New member, question about travel during radiation
| ChristineB | 08-18-2011 03:12 AM | |
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