Wish me luck!!!

[jumbodbassman]

just finished treatment number 26.  25 more to go over 37 days to beat this sucker......   First week was pretty tough as i got to really test the elasticity of the human body with fluids.  Gained 14 pounds in 3 days then lost 20 over the next 3 days  now back on hydration yesterday and tomorrow.   Starting to feel like a woman in menopause..... my legs look so fat   

keep rockin dudes.....jim

[Rob]

just finished treatment number 26.  25 more to go over 37 days to beat this sucker......   First week was pretty tough as i got to really test the elasticity of the human body with fluids.  Gained 14 pounds in 3 days then lost 20 over the next 3 days  now back on hydration yesterday and tomorrow.   Starting to feel like a woman in menopause..... my legs look so fat   

keep rockin dudes.....jim

Dayum Jim!
Stay tough Bro

[Dave W]

No doubt it's tough, hang in there.

[drbassman]

Yikes Jim, that sounds a bit more intensive than mine was.  Hang in there, I think about you every day and pray for the best for you.

[gweimer]

Hang in there!  Prayers sent.

[jumbodbassman]

It's hard to believe it but I am in the home stretch.  3 days of treatment left starting tuesday and it will be over.   There a no words to describe what the last 6 plus weeks have been like unless you have experienced it.   All i can say is thanks all for your support and well wishes as it has truely helped  inspire me beyond what anyone expected.  I am famous around the sloane treatment center as when i meet a new nurse or Doctor and they start to look at my chart they say I heard about you.  "It is amazing"  has been mentioned probably 15 times over the last few weeks.    Throat area  radiation and chemo regimen is considered the most difficult for patients and every estimate had  20-25% weight loss as the usual with many much more.   So far I have lost 4 pounds.  I have continued to play several days a week,  just no public area gigs.   Every meal is an adventure but I make sure i eat something (mostly only drink lately)  with added protein powders,  nutrients ,  carnation instant breakfast stuff like that added.  They tell me thanks to this my recovery time should be much faster than the normal  as chewing and eating/swallowing atrophies very quickly.

I will check in again on thursday to say the magic words but i have one public announcement  for all my buds out there.

My cancer was HPV related ,  not from cigarette smoke or alcohol abuse. But most  of the throat related stuff is  and the cure rate drops in half.  Mainly because  it usually surfaces later along and the damage from tobacco is much worse.    IF ANY OF YOU HAVE A PACK OF CIGS IN YOUR POCKET THROW IT OUT RIGHT NOW  FOR ME,   NOT FOR YOU!!!!!!!    AND TOMORROW TOO......

NOBODY SHOULD HAVE TO FEEL THE PAIN I HAVE THE LAST FEW WEEKS UNLESS THEY ARE MURDERS,  RAPISTS AND THE SORT

Jim

[Dave W]

Excellent news, Jim. 

[Highlander]

Stopped smoking before we had our daughter, now twenty years back but fell off the wagon for two months in 2000... spent my time working in bars and such from '83 to '04 so been around the stuff for too many years... my dad smoked but stopped, suddenly, post a doc visit, but remained secretly chewing the stuff until he passed... non-specific melanoma took him, which is skin cancer that has no specific source - vicious and quick death - 2 months from diagnosis to death... he was 78 but that is no great age these days... mum went much earlier with two forms of cancer - bile-duct and a rare liver cancer... what actually killed her was a burst peptic ulcer they missed during her treatment... age 65...

Smoking...

Best thing I tell people is this - think about the cost of each packet and how many you smoke per day... now think about how much that would cost you over the coming twelve months, and if you put all of that money aside in a savings account, and at the end of those twelve months you used all of those savings as a treat for yourself or the family...

"I've been stopped for five years, three months, two days, five hours and fifteen minutes now..."

That is the expression the person who is so hooked it still plays on their mind every second of the day... if you have to think about it, it still has you hooked... I cannot remember exact times or days...

An addict is forever an addict... I know that it still has me and my mind knows it... that is the addicts curse, and it's not just smoking or drugs or drink... collecting is just the same...

Oops...

Jim... we're all there for you and your family, as best as we can be...

[jumbodbassman]

I smoked back in college days  and thru to mid  20's clubing days and  then lots of those hand rolled non filtered things    for years.   But I played lots of gigs in smoke filled bars and such and actually developed a mild case of asthma from it over time  which has gotten better as the laws have changed.  

And  I certainly get the addictive nature that humans   all have but  I believe musicians / artists much more so than normal folk.

Lost my dad before age 60 from a 4 pack a day habit,  first heart attack at 44.   Ditto both grandparents of which one i never met and the other only a few times.  

Its just that we know so much more now  and this has suc ked so bad  its tough not to get preachy...   i am sure as time moves on i will forget ,  maybe not.....  but feel less passionate about it as today.  

I remember trying to get my wife to stop for years but she wouldn't.   but i got her to agree that  she would stop as soon as she got pregnant.  At the time i was on the fence about kids but i remember after the test was positive grabing her pack of Marlboros and putting them onto of a pantry in the kitchen where she could she them each day but way out of reach with a step ladder as she is only about 5'3"  and they stayed there till we sold that house about 9 years  later.   She of course now is in great shape as she works out about 2-3 hours  6 days a week,  weighs what she weighed when we got married   and  breaks my chops about not working out.....

So i guess after this i will have to start some exercising...  doesn't playing the bass for 2 hours count as working out?

[godofthunder]

 Jim, I am glad to hear your treatment is almost done. As someone said we are all pulling for you. Thanks again or that Schaller P pup I still have not had time to install it I'll let oyu know how I like it as soon as I d.

[Highlander]

... doesn't playing the bass for 2 hours count as working out?

Of course...!

My dad's notes he wrote up before he died... he made a comment as to how a doctor would shove a ciggie in a patients mouth (war zone) if they were in shock and the doctors often smoked too...

Times change... times change...

[jumbodbassman]

                I MADE IT!!!!!!

My last treatment was yesterday and now i start my recovery and enjoying the rest of my life!!!!   A few more hydration appointments to help the liuver out but basically i am done.....


Thanks all for your very welcome well  wishes in really helping me get through this rather difficult time.   Sorry if I got to preachy or ornery on other days but it was a tough 7 weeks.

Got a bunch of recovery toys and plans that i will share as they start to arrive/happen.....

love ya all!!

Jim

[Pilgrim]

My dad's notes he wrote up before he died... he made a comment as to how a doctor would shove a ciggie in a patients mouth (war zone) if they were in shock and the doctors often smoked too...

Hey, if a nicotine jolt could keep me alive, I'd welcome it and worry about lung cancer later.  One smoke does not a habit make.

CONGRATS, JUMBOD!! 

[TBird1958]

That's really great news! The best to you

[Nocturnal]

Great news!!!!