Bud Baker
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Posts posted by Bud Baker
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Heidi, glad your body pain is gone. I hope the rest will go away soon, too.
Yes, Judy, I've been in a world of hurt this week. I usually don't use any hydrocodone when they give it to me. I didn't touch it after my thyroid surgery. In fact, I hadn't taken it since shortly after my lung surgery. But I've taken it the last three evenings. This is some serious nerve pain. But it does seem slightly better, today.
Donny, the swallowing problem sounds pretty scary. I'd like to see Wyoming, too...................... in the summer, LOL!
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Welcome. So sorry you're going through this. Mine was early stage, so I haven't gone through most of what your husband is enduring. But I wanted to welcome you, and confirm what the others have said, that there are lots of other caregivers here to give you support.
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Good morning, everyone! TGIF!
It was 67 degrees this morning, with a forecast high of 79. Weather radar showed a line of storms bearing down on the area when I got up, so I drove to work.
The last three days, I've gotten home from work, showered, checked email, then sagged into my recliner in front of the tv for the rest of the evening. Today will likely be more of the same.
Have some cobbler for me, Judy. Have a great day, all!
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Good morning, everyone!
It was 60 degrees as I rode to work this morning. The forecast high for this afternoon is 76 degrees, a really nice day, but that south wind will be tough to ride home against.
Starting tomorrow, I'll be coming to work a half hour earlier. They've finally increased the hourly employees hours again, so we salaried people get to come in earlier, too. It means that instead of getting up at dark thirty to come to work, I'll now be getting up at dark o'clock.
Have a great day, all!
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Good morning, everyone!
It was 52 degrees as I pedaled to work this morning. The forecast high is 80 degrees.
Not much on my mind today except that I hurt, from my shoulder to my leg. This is not going to be fun. I guess I need to adopt Rose's attitude on it. When my shingles diagnosis was finalized, her first words were, "At least it's not cancer!"
Have a great day, all.
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Kimberly,
Sorry your mother is having a tough time right now. It does sound like nerve pain, and if it is, the Neurontin should help, but sometimes it takes a while. Best wishes for her; I hope she gets better!
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Good morning, everyone!
It was 50 degrees with scattered fog as I rode to work this morning. The forecast high for the day is 75 degrees.
I hope Stan catches some fish, Judy, but any day fishing is a good day, even if they're not biting well.
Recumbent bicycle seats are usually the most comfortable bicycle seats around, but with the worst of my shingles rash in the middle of my back now, the bicycle seat back wasn't that much fun this morning. But I think I'm going to ride to work whenever I feel up to it, since I'll not likely do any more long distance rides until I'm well.
Have a great day, all!
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Welcome to the six month club, Dana! Big congrats!
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Sounds very good, Kasey!
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Welcome, Jim! I also had stage 2 and had an upper left lobectomy. I resumed my long distance bicycle riding and am now an over two year survivor. Best wishes for your dad; keep us updated.
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What a cute puppy!
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Good morning, everyone!
It's 50 degrees with drizzle here. Today's high is supposed to be 68 degrees.
Well, it's my turn to start the Air in the wee hours of the morning. I usually post during my morning break at work, but since I just got home from the emergency room at the Dallas VA Medical Center, I'll be sleeping when I would normally be posting.
The weekend ended up being a little more adventurous than I planned. I noticed a pain in my left side Friday afternoon at work, but didn't think too much about it. When I got up Saturday morning, the pain was so severe that I thought about going to the ER then, but it got better in a couple of hours.
The pain felt deep inside, near the bottom of my left front ribcage. Internet and researching nerd that I am, I googled it. The only things that are there are the spleen and bottom of the left lung. I knew I hadn't done anything to injure my spleen, and I couldn't imagine anything wrong with my lung that would hurt that bad. I have to say though, that severe pain from an area that's at the bottom of the same lung that you've already lost the upper lobe to lung cancer is pretty bothersome.
When the pain eased up Saturday morning, I didn't go to the ER though, I went fishing...........LOL. I drove to Cedar Creek Lake. It's a great crappie lake, and seemed to be the only area around here that was going to avoid the flooding rains Texas was getting Saturday.
Sure enough, it didn't rain on me all day, and I caught some really nice crappie. When I got home and showered, I noticed a small rash on my left side.
By then, the pain had changed, spreading out more, and becoming a pain that was right on the surface, a kind of sensitive to the touch pain and tingling that I already have in that area, from nerve damage from my lung surgery incision.
The drizzle started here Sunday morning, so I just stayed home and tackled chores around the house. By Sunday afternoon, the rash had spread quite a bit, going from the center of my back around to the area on my left front side where the pain had first shown up. But I didn't get around to researching again until Sunday night. If you google abdominal pain with a rash, it doesn't take long to find what I ended up being diagnosed with: shingles. Sheesh.
One of the things that I read was that the rash can usually be controlled much better if you get treatment quickly, so I didn't wait, heading for the ER right away. The lidocaine ointment seems to be finally taking the edge off the rash pain, so I think I'll go to bed now.
Have a great day, all!
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Welcome! Great blog!
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Good morning, everyone!
It was 62 degrees as I pedaled to work this morning. It's supposed to get up to 78 degrees this afternoon. It's cloudy, and we had a few showers during the night, but nothing like the floods they're having in south and west Texas right now.
I was planning on making that Lake Fork trip this weekend, but now they're calling for showers and thunderstorms on and off all weekend in that area, not exactly the best conditions for trying to spot a bass on a bed. I may revise my plans.
Two months of holiday in July and August, Eric? I think I like that job already. Are they hiring? Congrats on the anniversary, Ned! Glad to hear you're holding up well after that nasty old chemo. Have a great day, all!
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Van,
Glad to read that you're feeling better. That's always a good sign. Here's wishing you great success with your chemo.
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I can definitely identify with the wariness of treatment, especially chemo. When I was diagnosed, my surgeon was sure it was stage I. When I called after the surgery to check on my biopsy, it was obvious that my doctor hadn't looked at the results yet. I got to listen to him instantly go from happy voice to grim, as he read that one lymph node had been found to be cancerous.
I had done my research. I knew that my odds for long term survival had instantly gone from 80 percent to 40 percent. The doctor next mumbled something about my cancer being squamous cell, which is almost always caused by smoking. Thanks, Doctor; I feel much better now.
So I agreed to chemo, which would supposedly raise my long term survival odds to more like 50/50. Taxotere was the first chemo they gave me. I had been on the IV for about 10 minutes when Rose took off for a bathroom break. By the time she got back, I had serious chest pain and was on the verge of passing out.
Rose called the nurses, who rushed over and took my blood pressure, which was 70 over 40. As I fought to stay conscious, eyes rolling back in my head (according to Rose), they raced me in a wheelchair to the ER, where I spent the next several hours.
Rose started calling family members. Our daughters arrived at the hospital shortly, and my sister drove all the way from Oklahoma City to get there that evening. I must have looked pretty bad headed for the ER, and Rose thought I was a goner.
Of course, a short while after they had unplugged the poison, I was fine. But I can tell you that coming back the next week to let them try a different chemo was one of the more difficult things that I've ever done.
So yes, I understand dreading treatment very well. One of the toughest things about this disease is that the treatments can be as bad as the disease.
I hope the steroids didn't keep you from getting a good night's sleep, and that you feel better today, Judy.
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Good morning, everyone!
It was 59 degrees as I rode to work this morning. It's supposed to get up to 78 degrees this afternoon. There is a chance of storms this afternoon. I'm hoping to dodge them for my ride home, but looking at the weather radar to the west, it doesn't look promising right now.
Eric, I hope that bad air doesn't affect your area too much. I really struggle when there's bad air, whether it's pollution, dust, or whatever.
Have a great day, all!
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Good morning, everyone!
For the third day in a row, it was 55 degrees this morning, with a forecast high of 80. In spite of the continued great weather, I took a day off the bike and drove to work today. I have a couple of errands to run after work, and my tired old body needs a recovery day off the bike here and there, anyway.
Stephanie, don't let those photos fool you; Pixie is a little terror. She bites our 14 year old male dog almost non-stop during her awake time. Thankfully, Chihuahua puppies don't have enough jaw strength to do much damage to furniture and other belongings, but with her needle-like teeth, she can inflict pain when she attacks a tender part of your foot.
Judy, glad you enjoyed your group and dinner. Rose definitely enjoys time out with the girls, too. Eric, a lot of doctors don't seem to like anything that's not their own idea. That's just human nature, I guess.
Have a great day, all!
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Dog photos to finish the evening:
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Good morning, everyone!
It was 55 degrees this morning as I rode to work. The forecast high for this afternoon is 80 degrees.
Eric, Crowley, Texas is bounded by Fort Worth on the north and Burleson on the south. My 12 1/2 mile commute to work takes me to an old part of south Fort Worth, just south of Texas Christian University.
Lake Fork is 150 miles east northeast of here, between the towns of Quitman and Emory. Granbury, both the city and lake, are 30 miles southwest of me. Granbury is a historic town on the Brazos River, which is what was impounded to make Granbury Lake.
Good luck on the scans, Eric; I'm sure they'll be good! Enjoy group and dinner, Judy! Have a great day, all!
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Congrats, Dana!
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Glad to hear from you, Will. As far as I'm concerned, there's never any need to apologize for or explain about taking time away from here, and everything else that's about cancer. Most of us have to do it.
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Good morning, everyone! I hope everyone had a good weekend. Good to see you posting, Will. I can't view those photos on this work computer, but I'll check them when I get home.
It was 55 degrees with scattered fog as I rode to work this morning. The forecast high for the day is 81 degrees.
As usual, I had a busy weekend. I was planning on making a trip to Lake Fork on Saturday. Most of the year, I'm just a crappie fisherman, but in April and early May, I can't resist using light tackle to sight fish for bedding bass at Lake Fork.
But Fork is over three hours away, and when I inspected my trailer tires Friday evening, I knew I wasn't going to Fork. I spent Saturday morning buying tires, then made a short trip to Lake Granbury. The crappie there were biting great, again.
Sunday morning, I drove to Dallas to do a 49 mile bike ride with friends in the rbent group. Then, I spent the rest of the day doing my taxes.
Last year was the first time ever that I spent a large enough percentage of my income on medical expense to claim it on itemized deductions. But, in the usual catch-22 fashion, my other itemized deductions were down enough last year that I still didn't have enough in total deductions to itemize. Don't you love tax time?
Have a great day, all!
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Good morning, everyone! TGIF!
The north wind died down last night, but it was another chilly morning this morning, 38 degrees as I rode to work. It's supposed to get up to 76 degrees this afternoon as the wind switches back to the south.
I'm spending my morning repairing buttons on a machine control that someone took a hammer to. It never ceases to amaze me what some people will do.
Have a great Friday, all!
Monday's Air
in JUST FOR FUN
Posted
Good morning, everyone!
It was 50 degrees here as I rode to work. It's supposed to be mostly sunny and get up to 78 degrees this afternoon.
I went fishing on Saturday, and on Sunday, Rose and I went over to Benbrook Lake and rode our bikes in the low traffic park there. Other than a few blocks in the neighborhood, it was Rose's first ride on the bike in quite a while. I ended up riding 26 miles.
Tonight is support group night. Have a great day, all!