Things are relatively stable here in Lenvimaville. After being “grounded” in Montreal from February through May, I finally got back on the road at the end of the month. First, I flew to Aarhus for a seminar at the Center for Sound Studies (BECAUSE OF COURSE THEY HAVE A CENTER FOR SOUND STUDIES) and then …
Category Archives: Cancer
7 is a lucky number/WTF is thyroglobulin and why is it a tumour marker/didn’t want to be “that guy” at the Broken Social Scene Show
Good news! My tumour marker keep dropping. It is down to 7. That’s pretty amazing given where I started out. It’s not the absolute numbers that matter, but the relative numbers that do. If the numbers doubled in a short period, my doctors would be worried. So that I’m down from 45 is a very …
On the side effects of treatments for my side effects
I sometimes like to think of my current condition as “shitty puberty.” Not that puberty is a fun ride for anyone, but this experience seems like a cut-rate version. Instead of well thought out, illustrated “what’s happening to my body?” books and parents talking to me about things I don’t want to hear about, plus …
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Of Nouns and Pain
I am way overdue for an update and there are multiple posts to be made. Today’s topic is in the header. First: no tumour marker news. The cancer centre at Jewish General was a mad house yesterday* and the blood tech somehow forgot to do a test for thyroglobulin. It’ll likely be another two weeks …
Foggy Middle
So we enter week six and things are a little unstable. The good news–very good news–is that my tumour marker is down to 10, from over 40 when I started. The bad news is that the hand pain hasn’t abated. It’s different from day to day and I seem to have good days and bad …
Hypersensitivity Phenomenology, or Touch-and Learn with Hand-Foot Syndrome
So I appear to have the “hand” part of hand-foot syndrome. It’s a relatively mild case, as hand-foot syndrome can be so bad that it’s painful to touch anything with your hands or impossible to walk. In my case, it’s just in the hands. I’ve got the tight skin, tingling and burning, and extreme sensitivity …
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Week 5: Good days, bad day, side effects
I saw my oncologist again on Thursday. Things continued to be good so I was promoted to 20mg. My tumour marker in my blood is a tiny bit lower than last time but no magical drop. Because I told him about my skin peeling off and being bummed to lose a callous, I also learned …