Cois

Hi WaynemolSorry, Back a Buddy sent the link this afternoon... The link is https://www.backabuddy.co.za/francois-marais And thanks for anyone that can contribute. It means a lot to me, and will help my wife a bunch. She hid it from me, but we were slapped with a bill of R3000 for the Anesthesiologist because he was not contracted to Momentum. And that was for 30 minutes of sleep to insert the port into my chest. The rest of the treatment we do do not know yet, but she is busy running up an overdraft on her account. And that makes e feel like a dog.

The last episode tugged at my heart. We will never know the true scope of the event and how it has changed the world. And just the coverup of the whole situation and the lies. Reminds me a lot of some things of South Africa

Sorry for not replying to the messages and request for an update. Have been hit hard by the UIF news and going to fight these bastards. More than 20 years of UIF payments and when you need the funds, you can’t get it because one power tripping douche. The chemo treatment hit real hard. I am in bed most of the time. Had to go to Clicks yesterday and had a very hard time walking in the store. Decided to buy a cold drink, but found that I am unable to swallow cold liquids. Even having trouble drinking water and it is a bit important as I have a very nasty Chemo Tummy. In the last 3 days I had 13 hours of sleep as sleep just eludes me. But that might be the stress of the whole situation. I decided to wash my bike today. Not a clever choice. I could not get it out of the bath and my pulse and breathing raced as I tried to get the bike out of the bath and onto the repair stand after the wash. My hands took a bit of a beating as well. But at least the bike is clean now. I must thank everyone for the messages and prayers this week. I thought I was done this week. The stoma is still bleeding a lot, but that can be bleeding caused by the chemo as well as it is quite damaging to the organs. The tumor is also still bleeding, but a little less than before. I am experiencing a lot of dizzy spells so cycling (even though I want to go cycling) is still a no go at this stage. Will have to try the spinning bike, as the sun is enemy number one at this stage of my treatment. One thing to look forward to is my brother that might visit me next week. They are in Pretoria next week from Cape Town. So hope to see my brother as I miss him a lot.

Guys and girls. Sorry, but if you believe please pray. The pain level is at 10 out of 10. The UIF thing was the tipping point of it all today. The tumor is bleeding like never before. And the stoma is bleeding way more than usual. I am in a huge amount of pain and only opioids will work to dull the pain. (First time in a very long time that I will take pain meds) I will try to send PM’s tomorrow to those who requested info. I am a bit out of it at the moment. The pain can alter a lot of things and reality is one of them. Thanks for all the messages and thoughts.

Waiting for approval. Started the process, but it timed out every attempt. Got it right This time... or at least I think I got it rightWill post the link ASAP. Thanks everyone. I do not know what to do, but the next job I have I will refuse to pay UIF.

Will have to and thanks. Had to fork out R400 for meds that the medical aid does not want to pay. Nausea meds and a beta blocker. Will try to get the page up soon.

And another kick to the nads. My UIF claim was rejected. So now I have to go back to the incompetent Department of Labour to find out why my claim has been rejected.

What a very tough week... Went for infusion on Tuesday. Spent the whole day at Wilgers. The new treatment (Erbitux 900mg) took 2 and a half hours, and then started with the Leucovorin or FOLFOX treatment. Got the usual chemo pump (5-FU) again. Went back on Thursday and the nurse told me to get on the bed and gave me 4 drips (I wasn’t feeling to well) One with B12 and one with more nausea meds. So spent about an hour getting some more IV’s pumped into me. Got in the car and pushed for home. The usual symptoms presided again, nausea and not being able to sleep without CBD oil or weed. And lost about 2 kg’s of weight again. Went to fill my prescription at Dischem, but the one branch forgot to add that there are 4 refills for the prescription. I am just glad I took a photo of the prescription and the pharmacist said she will phone the branch and sort it out. She was a darling and filled the prescription (maybe because I was as white as a sheet and on my way to the floor). I lost most feeling in my hands and feet. My nails are giving me a hard time. Feels as though they are going to fall out of the nail bed at any moment and is rather painful to touch and has a funky red yellow color to it. I am not to eat my nails. Showering has become a problem as I am limited to 5 minutes and not with hot water but warmish water. I can’t use normal soap anymore due to the harsh chemicals. Dischem gave me a few samples to use with the new treatment. My skin is taking a huge hammering with the new treatment. The only indication that the treatment is working is that it causes skin problems (acne-like rash on my back, neck and face) I still miss cycling, but can’t due to my hands as the skin can rub off due to the treatment.

Darn bud, hope you heal soon. Not nice to get such a freaking scare! This is sort of an every day worry for me. What if I sneeze and I tear the sites of weakness created by incompetence and lack of attention on the doctors side. And the constant hiccups are starting to get to me. Not funny anymore

What??? That is insane! I had to do a cleanse and if you did not do a cleanse they would not continue. And I was out for the colonoscopy. They had a Anesthesiologist in the rooms as well. IBS is most of the times the go to for doctors. The MD I saw thought it was my IBS getting bad. But decided to play safe. R7800 is not that bad. Mine was around that price without the anesthesiologists. She came in at around R3800 and then R1100 for Lancet to do the test on the biopsy.

They did, but it just a little unexpected and caught me off guard. And I was dazed by all the pretty lights and the CT scanner. Remember this was the first time in more than 15 years that I was a patient that had to go for a x-ray or worst a CT Scan. I am used to working in hospitals but never had to be a patient. Funny thing, the nursing staff was wondering who will do the IV, and after about 3 minutes of them wondering who would do the IV, I asked them to call my mom that was waiting for moral support in the waiting room. I was and still am severely anemic and my veins were not easy to spot and feel, but my mom knows how to get a vein. So off they scurried and called my mom. First try and the IV was in.

I grabbed the little thin almost covers your privates as I thought I peed myself, it was met by laughter from the CT assistants.Just glad it happened when the scan was complete

Sounds about right. The prep for CT is about an hour. They give you contrast to drink before hand. Two 750ml cups of weird tasting water.They will put an IV with contrast fluid, iodine if I am not wrong that will give you a warm fuzzy feeling down stairs. A CT is quick compared to an MRI (hope that I never need an MRI again as I freak out due to a severe case of claustrophobia) and is less stressful than an MRI. The MRI caused a lot of heat in some areas that they focused on more, and was quite uncomfortable. The images that I received from the CT on a DVD was better quality than the MRI quality. The MRI images are not clear, but it might be the lower quality they gave me. I did read on Facebook that the one gentleman they did a CT and an MRI but could not detect the cancer cells, but with the colonoscopy they found tumor cells. He was stage 4. Cost of MRI was in the region or R7681 without the chill meds. Or that is what Momentum paid for the MRI.

The house doctor I am saw did not want to do any blood tests. The problem with colon cancer and the one that I have is that there is no trace of it in my blood.You have a few options... CT or MRI Scan. Post diagnosis they did a CT Scan to check the spread and size of the tumors. Best option would be to get a Colonoscopy. A very good doctor I can recommend is Dr Durandt at Eugene Marais hospital Dr Michiel Christoffel Durand Surgeon Telephone +27 12 335 2840 Address Suite 16 Eugene Marais Doctors Village, 683 5th Avenue, Les Marais, 0084 Location Pretoria, City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, Gauteng, South Africa He is one of the best doctors I have ever seen. He picked up the tumor and the mets in my liver and spleen with ‘n sonar test. I would trust him to do the operation when the tumor has shrunk enough to be removed. He is a very friendly doctor and not a doom prophet like some of the other doctors I have seen. I am not able to recommend dr M Heyns at Pretoria East hospital. He lacks tact and bedside manners. You do not drop a bomb on the patient that is already under stress. And rather get to a doctor as soon as possible. It is not some disease that one has time with. I waited to long, but I did not have the finances to go see a specialist at the first sign of trouble. Rather get to the needed medical help sooner than later. It is one of the toughest things I have ever dealt with. And seeing the pain and agony it brings to my family... it is not worth waiting! Best of luck and I hope and pray that you do not get the same diagnosis as the one I got.

Try to get an NVME drive. They are a tad faster than the normal M2 SSD drives. I upgraded my wifes notebook to a NVME and it is now a workable system. My notebook got an 970 Samsung NVME drive upgrade as well, and it works well enough to run most games at a semi decent level. Bought the laptop just before I was retrenched and traded a game PC for my wife’s notebook.

Wanted to go out cycling but have glands on both sides of my jaw that is swollen and I think it is not from my medical condition. The roof part of my mouth is also sore and rather painful but not bleeding yet. Had a little gum bleed brushing my teeth so have to switch back to mouth wash. Had a bit of trouble speaking as well, but might be the exposure to the sick people at the Department of Labour that might have infected me. So will monitor it this weekend and try to get more rest before next weeks treatment session

Both companies are academic institutions. But can still try.The IT Manager at one institution said they are not running any projects now. Will maybe start a rollout next year. The other company just did not advertise correctly at all. In the interview it came out that they need an CCNA qualified person and I had to correct the HR lady on that. So they just wasted my time from the get go. But I am looking for anything at the moment. Even tried a coffee shop as a shop assistant and as soon as the guy heard cancer it was like talking to a brick wall. But he lost a client and all the clients that I told to support him after they heard what transpired. It is tough out there at the moment as everyone cuts on IT first, and the unknown of a cancer patient added to the mix does not sit well with most companies. Even one interview I went for with a guy who survived with Brain Cancer did not go well as the guy wanted me to work for him, but not while I was on chemo, because my hands was shaking due to the effects of chemo, and he did not like that.

I am beyond negative today. Got two job rejections from applications. One I went for an interview and the other rejected me before interviews. But what sucks... the one job was advertised within 20 minutes from the time that I got the rejection letter on PNET. Same job, same reference number. And the problem is I see this happening every day. Jobs that I apply for just gets rejected and advertised again on the web. At least I went and got my UIF started yesterday. Just glad the Doctor gave me a letter to jump the line, as I did not make it far before I had to pull off the road due to nausea that overtook me and I vomited for the second time since I started chemo. I am feeling sick today. I have sores in my mouth, and my glands are swollen. But I have to get out of the house and I am thinking of pushing through the pain and to take the bike to CowHouse tomorrow morning and attempting my first bike ride of 2019

Episode 3 is a real shocker! If you have kids, it would be best for them not to watch it. Know that the radiation is different from what they use in the medical field, but still hits close to home for me

Episode one had it as well. Think episode 3 will have it as well.But watching it with my wife so do not want to watch episode 3 now. Will have to wait till tonight

Can’t wait for the next episode. If you want to watch some background programming watch the heroes of Chernobyl on youtube. It is a real sad story and gives a lot of insight on what happened there that day

It is somewhere, but I do not wear it. It was a huge irritation the last time that I had it on. The bag is located on such a weird location that the belt keeps on slipping down to my waist. Might give it another go as I lost a few KG’s since the last time that I used it. Problem is I stood up to close to the table and the device disconnected. The plate I stuck with some plaster because it was loose this morning after I replaced the old plate. The system I use is a two part. A plate and a loose bag (I am a clean freak and the one piece system did not work for me) but the brand I use have been going to crap. It feels as though they dump all their rejects on South Africa or the suppliers are dumping crap on us. CANSA gave me another system that works better lasts longer, bu still prefer the one system because the one system has a bad with a flange with a double rim, and that was the crappiest idea ever.

Was a very emotional weekend this far. Yesterday I had a problem breathing. Was bad, but my pulse was stable and my BP was in normal range, I did have a fewer, but that is due to the chemo, so did not visit the folks yesterday. This morning I felt up to a visit (boy was I wrong) Copperhead your words hit real hard when I saw the puppy at my folks. Your words resonated in my head the whole time. This is Abby And this is either Fudge of Beano (my folks can’t decide what name to use. So as I am posting this tears are streaming down my face. Its been a very tough and emotional day. I was way weaker than I have ever been and then my colostomy bag detached (just glad it was empty and that the pups did not take off with it) to top the day. I am just thankful for my wife and my folks for the support. And when I mentioned the support from the Hub I could not keep the tears back So thank you. Each and every one of you keeping up to date on this tread. I can’t fight this battle on my own, but I know I have all you folks on BikeHub waiting for the day that I am NED (No Evidence of Disease)

Will have to watch it again, fell asleep in the film

Today is one of the hardest days ever for me. I have zero energy, my mental state is not where I should be. I struggle to sleep and things are catching up. This morning I had a bit of melon and papaya with some yoghurt. Noticed hairs in the bowl after I was done eating. So the hair-loss started. Weird thing is it started with my beard and two hours later I noticed my head itching. Just a bunch of loose hair there as well. Doctor asked if I was attached to the beard and I said no, but it seems that I was attached after all. At this stage I am a mess. My tears (not from crying) are burning my eyes. At least the fever I had last night broke, and the worse of the nausea abated (CBD oil and some weed calmed it down) . Tummy is a little upset by the chemo, but I had the same problems last time and have meds to assist with that as well. We are going to visit my folks tomorrow, just to get away from the city and to see their new puppy that they got yesterday. So at least something to look forward to