Waiting for the Enemy

 

Headline - Granddaughter & cat team up in attempt to save mans life

It started innocently enough in December with a cold. 

This particular cold entered our house attached to a little sweetie named Junie and it packed a real punch with both Rose and I suffering with it a long while, but for some reason I was slower to recover and never fully did.

Then it was January and I started to have very strong allergic reactions to a cat we have had for years. All of a sudden I had a whole bunch of new, asthma- like symptoms. After a few days of this I went to our family doctor and came away with a prescription for a salbutamol puffer and a requisition for a chest x-ray and a bunch of blood tests as well as an appointment to have my breathing measured.

Then I got the phone call that changed everything.

I had pneumonia, but on the chest x-ray there was something suspicious on my lung, a shadow, maybe nothing, but maybe something serious.

Another chest x-ray led to a referral to a lung specialist and an emergency appointment to have a CT scan in a couple of weeks. But hey, just in case you’re not freaked out by all this scary news Mr. Petry, your ecg showed some irregularities and I’ve scheduled you for a cardiac stress test next week, yikes!

I should say at this point that I am very grateful that all the tests and doctors’ appointments happened so swiftly. Today is February 20th and my first doctor’s appointment was on January 25th and since that time I’ve had ten different medical test appointments culminating with a CT scan on Friday the 18th and 6 hours in the emergency department for an unexplained very strong throbbing pain in my right side towards the back.

It was a long night but of course the pain subsided greatly over time and they ruled out a few things and sent me home about 1:00 am Sunday morning to await my referral appointment with a lung specialist. I was told that they would call when they are back in the office on Tuesday or when they see the CT scan.

The ER doctor did confirm that there is some kind of mass on my left lung and after some probing questions from me he did say that he couldn’t see anything amiss in my abdomen even though that’s where most of my mysterious pains seem to be coming from.

A few days have passed and I now have an appointment to see the Lung Specialist at the Royal Alec Hospital on March 14th so that’s great! I also have an appointment to have my lung capacity re-tested at the orders of the lung specialist.

Until then, I am in a kind of limbo, knowing that there is something terribly wrong, fearing the worst and yet trying desperately to hang on to some hope.

Rose has been amazing; kind, considerate and loving as she tries to navigate through this unexpected, frightening time in our lives. I know I’m not helping her state of mind as I get our financial papers, life insurance, will and all the other need to know issues dealt with. 

There is a lot to know with two rental properties and their finances and possible issues as well as our own house and all its little foibles that only I know about.

Where is the switch for the furnace?

Where are all the water shutoff valves?

What about those interconnected wireless smoke alarms, they are a pain in the derriere sometimes!

What about the security system, passwords for accounts and apps on my phone, where are those important papers, keys, warranties and instructions, etc.?

The drainage in our yard sucks big time, in spite of all that I have done to improve the situation over the years and what if I wasn’t around to take care of things?

What about the water sensors in the basement? We have 5 of them for peace of mind as well as 2 at the rental property and 1 at the condo.

We tend to assume that we’ll be around for a long, long time but that can change in a heartbeat!

Rose and I have tended to compartmentalize our various jobs around the house and in our marriage and all of a sudden we are realizing that we both need to know the other persons jobs as well as our own!

Right now, poor Rose is getting a crash course on on-line banking and general computer skills and I think she’s now regretting leaving it to me for all these years. I know she’ll be fine, but if the worst happens, feeling confident to take care of these day to day tasks will definitely help her a lot.

2

Well the enemy has now arrived! It’s April now and the weather is beautiful with sunshine every day and the snow melting from the yard at a furious pace, spring is here at last and along with the spring comes the news that we’ve been dreading. Lung CANCER has been confirmed at last. 

Where did it come from? What does it mean for our lifestyle and future? How will we treat it and what will that mean for our lives?

These are the questions that we are asking ourselves right now. Today is a week after my bronchoscopy at the Royal Alex hospital and yesterday I received an email from MyAHS Connect, the Alberta Health services website that allows patients to view their own test results online. What a great blessing this system has been as we try to navigate this illness.

When I had the bronchoscopy, the doctor told us to expect a call with the results in about a week and that is today, I expect he will have some kind of a treatment plan worked out so he can offer us some hope along with the news. I wonder how doctors feel about this new system; I wouldn’t be surprised if I saw the results of my test even before he did!

Speaking of the bronchoscopy, I DID NOT ENJOY IT! Not that you are meant to of course, a necessary evil I suppose. But for a person like me who has not given birth or had much in the way of illness or injury over the years it was a bit of a pain. Once again though, I feel compelled to say that all the health care people, doctors, nurses and support staff have been terrific and I very much appreciate them!

On the other hand, I am a model patient, following instructions compulsively and trying to be as cooperative and compliant as possible, so I suppose that may help things go more smoothly on occasion.

We don’t know yet what he will say when he calls or what the treatment will be but for now I am trying to be as proactive as possible and I’m chugging our frozen cranberry and chokecherry juice daily in an effort to give my body a fighting chance.

It just so happens that my happy place, (the cabin of course) is covered with berry bushes with branches weighed down by Saskatoons, Cranberries, Chokecherries and Black Currant/Gooseberries (we have both and It’s hard to tell them apart).

A berry healthy breakfast

We have a freezer full of various berries and juice so I’m well fixed for anti-oxidants and those nasty free radicals had better watch out! Chokecherries in particular look promising as a cancer fighter but don’t worry, beyond guzzling juice I plan on doing whatever the doctors and my wife tell me to.

Rose is a bit of a tiger when it comes to treatment and she is determined as can be that between God, the doctors, herself and Chokecherry juice, the dream team can beat this thing.

3

I’ve had a while now to get used to the idea that I may have cancer and now that it’s been confirmed the focus shifts to next steps, getting my affairs in order so to speak. Beyond that, what can I do to help my body fight this as much as it can? As a Christian I actually believe in the power of prayer so the prayer will continue and probably get more intense!

Not that it’s easy when it comes to something like this. I’ve prayed for others hundreds if not thousands of times and I absolutely know without a shadow of doubt that in as much as it depends on God, prayers are often answered. 

So I will ask for prayer and I will pray for myself, slipping these prayers in alongside all the others that make up my usual prayer life. But still it seems strange to be praying for myself since the usual prayer ratio is about 50 to 1 in favour of friends, relatives, church members, our city, our country and this messed up world. It feels a little bit selfish to bump myself up towards the front of the queue.

One encouraging note is that the cancer is likely stage 1 at this point, meaning that it is of a relatively small size and doesn’t appear to have spread to the lymph nodes or beyond the left lung.

In one of those coincidences that God is famous for, a common cold that entered the house through my little granddaughter got my immune system ramped up into high gear. Helped along by my usual dosing of herbal antivirals, it kicked up such a fuss that I could barely breath!  

Rose immediately began a series of “keep the cat” measures that includes using the furminator cat fur remover, rubbing Zoey down with Allerpet, vacuuming the house about 4 times a week and buying a high end air purifier. Yet in spite of all her herculean efforts my dormant cat allergies finally drove me to do what is obvious to most people.  

A few nights with a head that felt like a solid block of wood absolutely forced me past my stubborn male reluctance to see a doctor and ultimately caused the cancer to be discovered at a very early stage, so for that I give thanks!

4

Well it’s April 8th and we heard from the doctor today. It’s officially stage 1 and they are booking me in for a Pulmonary Lobectomy in May. Apparently with this procedure called VATS (video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery) one of the 5 lobes of your lungs is removed through three small incisions and after a few days in the hospital, the patient recovers at home in two to three weeks.

Apparently my lung function now is perfect so with one lobe removed I should have about 80% of my current lung capacity after the surgery. This means that my Everest climb is off (just kidding) but otherwise I should be ok for most day to day exertions. 

They’re going to do a PET scan before the surgery to make sure that there are no other areas of concern and if all goes well I won’t need chemotherapy, so yahoo on that!

Emotionally, I feel I’ve done ok so far, with the possible exception of a few days ago. I made the mistake of listening to Jason Isbell and the 400 unit sing “If we were Vampires” with headphones on and that led to a good cry as I thought about not being here for Rose and for Junie and Kait and April.

P.S. the song is not about vampires so don’t be afraid to give it a listen. 

https://youtu.be/JV7c8V5XLk8

We’ve probably all lived it, or at least seen those movies where the ones left behind have to deal with the loss of a loved one and the thought of doing that to my family is painful in the extreme.

Rose of course believes rather strongly that it is all going to be ok, and if you’ve read any of my other writing, you will know that she is usually right!