Welcome to the Community About Nothing, and Yet Everything.
Well, howdy to anyone who still monitors this thing. I wanted to get y'all up to date on what's going on and why I disappeared. Also wish to tell you that the MurphyVerse will return at some point in 2024 (it depends on the VA, and I'll tell you how later in this post).
Last year I started feeling really tired. Well, tired isn't really the word for it. It was a level of fatigue with which I was not before familiar. Later in the year, around April or so, I noticed a node on the inside of my right jawbone (mandible). After a few weeks it remained. After a couple of months, it still remained. As God would have it, I ran across an ENT doctor at work who told me I could come in and we could check it out. Short version: Fine needle aspiration x 3, and an excision biopsy later, I was diagnosed with Marginal Zone Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. So, then I got hooked up with a Hemo/Onco doc in New Orleans and we did the PET and marrow biopsy. Well, it turns out that about 60% of the cellular activity in the marrow was cancerous.
Congratulations, I am Stage 4. Now, before any preconceived notions occur, you need to know that this is quite common. I'm at the right age, I had a chemical exposure when I was younger, and finding it at Stage 4 is...well...par for the course. Thus far, I have had 2 chemo treatments (a 2 drug course, Bendamustine and Rituximab), and I have my 3rd of 6 total next week (28th, 29th). Being on a 28 day schedule, I laugh when I tell people that although I'm a 60 year old male, I apparently now have a menstrual cycle.
Any old way, I have applied to the VA for benefits for several afflictions, and just recently finished gathering my case evidence for the lymphoma application. I'm awaiting decisions.
If things go my way, I should be 100% disabled and retired some time in 2024. When that happens, I fully intend to reenter the MurphyVerse.
Merry Christmas, and blessings in the New Year,
Murph
"I am standing on the Mountain of Right, and you are standing in the Valley of Wrong." Deputy Frank Sloup, Pinal County, AZ
Why do I like this one? I have a primary residence on the Mountain of Right.
Of you who read my previous post, how many of you caught the quote I stole from a movie? Can you name the movie and who said it?
Bet you didn’t know there would be a test…..
So, I have completed 4 of 6 chemo infusions, and I have to say that the last one seems to have caused almost no side effects that cannot be otherwise explained by the disease itself. I remain exhausted all the time, and I go home at the end of the workday positively depleted. That, however, seems to be due to the anemia that somewhat existed before chemo started but certainly seems to have been exacerbated by it.
I presently sit at a 40% disability rating with the Veterans Administration with some big stuff pending. I am awaiting a decision on my hearing loss and the PTSD/Depression. The cancer aspect takes a step forward with an exam by a VA contracted provider who will provide a recommendation as to the service connection to the cancer. If it goes my way and I get to 100%, then as soon as the first check hits the bank, I’m retired. While this exam is scheduled for Monday, I have no assurance that a VA determination will be quickly forthcoming. Patience is the key.
My spirits ...
