GET YOURSELF CHECKED!!!

thank you momo! That is very sound advice.

 I am very lucky to have been accepted to the tumor board at UCSF.  The type of lymphoma I have is very rare, less than 100 cases per yer in the US.  I am also working with another local oncologist who is a lymphoma specialist. 

I am staying positive hopefully I will be able to spend some time in my yak during my treatment. 

After 20+ years as a public servant, most of which was spent as an expert HazMat firefighter/medic, my uncle in law finally retired a couple years ago to pursue his life-long passions of fishing, hunting, and working on his mountain ranch home.

I turned him onto kayakfishing in '09, shortly before his retirement. 

See http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=18407.msg182985#msg182985. 

He liked it so much, the following weekend, he purchased two fully rigged hobies from Kayak Connection in SC Harbor.  You may have run into him at some point if you fished SC, since he was often locally targeting hallies, RF, and WSB with one or both of his younger sons.  But most of the time, he and his boys were up in the hills, fishing and laboring and happily spending time in the woods.

Two months ago he went to the doctor, experiencing unusual changes of mood and unilateral irregularities in motor function.  Diagnosis:  brain cancer.  Terminal.  12-18 months.     

He lived his entire life as a moral, hard working person of the utmost character, looking to settle into a well-deserved retirement that would have paid reasonable benefits for the rest of his life.  Only to be told it would all be taken away in a year.  The inequity and randomness of it all has me puzzled and furious.  Am left to question so many things and about the Grand Design of life.  But mostly, I'm gutted over my family's impending loss of a dear husband, father, uncle, and friend.

When you can, please think a cheerful, positive thought for a fellow kayakangler whose time OTW will have been far too short.

Man, this is heartbreaking Martin.  Thought and prayers for sure!

What a sad story, life is so unfair.  My condolences and positive vibes for a better than expected lifespan.  It sure puts my story in perspective. 

So sad and it's all too common... There's no explaining it. It just is.

Blessings on you and your's

Will give this a bump.

Went Saturday for blood work, I'm 41. Wife also went same age.

Doc called and said I have to come in...soon as possible. Wouldn't give me any info over the phone. Lovely.

Wife got an email saying alls good.
Apparently not so much for me.

So... GET YOURSELF CHECKED.
Guess I'm not doing anymore casino runs.

Hoping for the best for ya Matt 

~Bill

Sending good thoughts your way Matt.

Will keep you in my thoughts and prayers Matt...

Sincerely,

Jim

Will keep you in my thoughts and prayers Matt...

Sincerely,

Jim

X2 amigo, hoping for the best!

Guess I'm not doing anymore casino runs.

All the more reason.  fingers x'd for you bro

Uncertainty is scary.  Praying that your uncertainty is nothing. 

Didn't think I'd be posting up on this one as I'm pretty good at preventative stuff, PSA tests ever few years, the incredible journey AKA colonoscopy, and even dermatology for burning off the pre-cancerous patches.

This post I guess is more on the keep a routine for those checks.

2yrs ago I went to see the dermatologist for removal of some odds-n-ends that were showing up.

At that time I had a suspicious looking little brown spot on my ear lobe.  Doc took a close look with a magnifying glass and passed it as OK.

As time went on more of those pesky odds n ends showed up and that brown spot had started to get bigger. It actually started to look like the poster pic of melanoma.

Short story, she trimmed it off, called me today, said it's melanoma, scheduling me to have more cut off in the next week or so.

Melanoma is the type of skin cancer that can spread to other organs and can do you in.

They'll probably take the whole ear lobe she said, but after that everything should be OK. 

I'm glad I went when I did, but I wish I'd gone in sooner,

Hey, good you kept on it and are getting it taken care of. Hope all goes well.

Ben

Hey, good you kept on it and are getting it taken care of. Hope all goes well.

+1, thanks for telling your story Dale.