The Long story made short

Well, here is the "complete" story of my meltdown last week. ... On Monday evening, day 3 of my new chemo treatment, I was feeling a bit too crappy and decided to get to bed early. Now then.. that is the last thing I clearly remember until Wednesday morning. I woke up to the entire family and a gaggle of friends standing around with worried looks. UH OH! WHAT IS GOING ON?

It seems that Tuesday Morning, Cathy (my lovely wife) was about to leave for work and she wanted to rouse me to let me know she was headed out for the day. She couldn't wake me, even when she shook me and sat me up. ...I woould just collapse back into bed... after a time she called 911 and when they arrived they tried to rouse me also but also had no luck and they immediately began bundling me for the ride to Winter Haven Hospital. The only thing I remember of this trip was how unbelievably cold I was and the constant gasping for air. Memory of the next few hours is blank.

It seems that I was totally non-responsive to everything the Doctors and Nurses did. CTscans, EKG, nothing , nothing, nothing.

What now follows is only what I was told by my wife and not a personal remembrance. When My Oncologist arrived he suggested that she gather the family as perhaps my time had come because I had been fighting a long hard battle with stage 4 colon cancer for nearly 4 yrs and my body was nearly torn apart inside out.

Finding what went wrong has been nothing but a guessing game and no clear answers have come out. The only clear and unmistakeable facts are that my Liver and Kidney functions completely shut down, my lungs filled with fluid and my blood Oxy levels had gone haywire.

After IV's, Oxygen and constant monitoring , I finally began reganing conciousness and cognition.... On Friday, I finalloy showed marked recovery and was allowed to come home. I have been doing virtually nothing since my return and am getting a bit better every day.

I have an Appt with the Dr on Friday (3/26/10) to see what is what and to make a decisino on my next course of treatment... This will be the toughest decision I have had to make in the 4 years of treatment so far.

So now, my friends, You have the full story as best I can provide it. I never saw a bright light, no long tunnel, no out of Body experience, just what I've relayed to you in this blog. May God Bless You All as he has Truly Blessed me.
geno

Low Country Boil

Original Recipe Yield 15 servings




Ingredients

· Old Bay Seasoning or Geno's Florida or Southwest Flavors
· 5 pounds new potatoes

· 3 (16 ounce) packages cooked kielbasa sausage, cut into 1 inch pieces

· 8 ears fresh corn, husks and silks removed

· 5 pounds whole crab, broken into pieces

· 4 pounds fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined

· newspapers

· beer

Directions

1. Heat a large pot of water over an outdoor cooker, or medium-high heat indoors. Add Seasoning to taste, and bring to a boil. Add potatoes, and sausage, and cook for about 10 minutes. Add the corn and crab; cook for another 5 minutes, then add the shrimp when everything else is almost done, and cook for another 3 or 4 minutes.

2. Drain off the water, and pour the contents out onto a picnic table covered with newspaper. Grab a paper plate and a beer and enjoy

March 9 2010

Well, Monday was not a good day. My cancer began giving me pain under my right ribcage around noon and it got so bad that I reluctantly had to tap into my morphine for relief... needless to say, It really knocked me for a loop. Sleep was really restless last night and I woke up just as tired as when I went to bed.

The onlygood news from Monday was that my final proof books (5) came in and I did the autograph thing for my family members. I have 25 more coming later this week and will begin sending them out next Monday. I've decided to include a sample of one of my favoprite spices in each book shipped. If you've ordered the spices or a full rack, I'm sending something totally new that I really like... It's a chili mix.

Let me hear from you on this blog.
geno