Felt sick, went to docs this morning... ended up being hospitalised with a new cancer diagnosis...in my liver this time. Fuck cancer. I beat the bowel one, I'll beat this one too.
Just got off the phone with the surgeon. Surgery worked, cancer is all cut out, liver is healing fast and I'm all clear. Looks like I've kicked cancer's arse. Again.
A wee update on the cancer front...
Just had a chat with the oncologist. She confirmed that all biopsy results they took from various places during my surgery were all clear,they cut all the tumor out of me & I don't need any chemo or radiotherapy. Onwards!
Bugger. Just been diagnosed with bowel cancer. It means surgery in my near future. Doc's confident of getting the wee alien out of me, so I'm trying not to worry overmuch. But I can't see me getting much writing done until it's clear and gone.
@nytimes
"Fact check: At a rally on Saturday in Green Bay, Wisconsin, President Trump lied about doctors executing babies" - there, fixed that for you.
Just had a visit from the surgeon. (Surgery time was 10.5 hours and the poor man's knackered.) They got all of the tumor out from the liver... just a matter of letting it heal itself now
Saw the oncologist today. All good news from the first checkups since the surgery. CT scan shows my liver recovering nicely, no signs of any cancer, and blood work is all clear. Blood work every 4 months from now on, CT scans once a year.
Cancer's arse? Kicked.
Just had the surgeon along to see me. There was nothing else unexpected found on my CT scan, which means the cancer hasn't spread anywhere else. Surgery tomorrow as expected. Probably around 1:00pm Newfoundland time (4:30 pm in the UK)
Just been down the road to the hospital for my one year check up after last year's surgery. All clear, and don't have to go back for three years... it appears I have kicked cancer's arse.
Anyone who voted this the worst opening paragraph has obviously had a sense of humor bypass and shouldn't be allowed anywhere near any awards ever again.
I've called the cancer Boris, and I've been telling it to fuck off every couple of hours. Doesn't do anything except make me feel better. But that's something.
Two weeks after surgery, and I'm feeling a lot better. Moving around a lot more, the incision is healing really well, and there's only a little bit of discomfort left. Still get tired in the evenings, but better every day. Onward!
@Mel_Ankoly
@AmirTalai
Fuck off. If you're in a room with a woman, and show her your dick when she wasn't expecting to see it, it's indecent exposure, private room or not. Also, you're a fucking arsehole.
@BBCPolitics
"It has emerged that the father who confronted Boris Johnson in a London hospital is allowed to have an opinion." - there, fixed that shit right up for you.
@SoldierOfGawd
@NickGrimesYT
"Trump is the anti-establishment guy" - the billionaire? The one with the solid gold lavatory bowl in the penthouse apartment? That anti-establishment guy? Yeah, sure, if you say so.
One week on from the cancer surgery; I'm in surprisingly little discomfort, getting about the house just fine and sleeping (and pooping) okay. Next milestone is getting out of the house and getting the staples out of the incision on Friday.
18 months on from getting the tumor in my guts removed (and losing some small intestine with it), now cancer free and happy to still be here... that's the tweet...just counting my blessings.
39 years ago since I saw THE THING and BLADE RUNNER on the same day in Leicester Square, with beer and curry to follow. A day that lives long in the memory.
Thanks for all the good wishes from the many hundreds of you who've replied to the tweet below. I'm humbled at the support...and it'll stop me feeling sorry for myself to know that so many of you are watching :-)
Bugger. Just been diagnosed with bowel cancer. It means surgery in my near future. Doc's confident of getting the wee alien out of me, so I'm trying not to worry overmuch. But I can't see me getting much writing done until it's clear and gone.
I'm a writer. I'm also a human being with opinions. If you don't want to hear my opinions because they're too left wing for you, then fuck off. Problem solved.
Getting some blowback here for being political. So head's up for those who haven't been paying attention. I'm old school Scottish socialist from a line of miners and steelworkers, all of whom would have taken one look at Trump and said...wanker.
Good news on the round of follow up tests. All clear on the cancer front, and everything healed up nicely from the surgery. Clean bill of health apart from minor age-related things...
If you want to belittle me because I'm supposedly a 'boomer' having been born in the late 50s, go right ahead. Just don't be surprised when I tell you to fuck off.
3 months on from the tumor removal surgery, and given how I've been holding up to the snow digging these past few days, I feel fully back to normal. Not bad for an old man :-)
Wee checkup at the GP today. Blood pressure is best it's ever been, cholesterol is low and stable and everything else looks fine after the tumor removal, no meds required. All set for Christmas.
Starting to get twitchy about the surgery next week. I've reached my '60s without having had a stay in hospital before now. I suppose I'm overdue. Stocking up on reading material... the unexpurgated THE STAND awaits
Update:
Recovery has been going remarkably well despite a couple of minor setbacks, and I'm waiting for the surgeon to tell me I can go home tomorrow... just one last set of tests to take... think positive thoughts for me.
I'm still very stiff and sore from the surgery, but improving daily. Time to catch up on the TBR pile. I've got three Phil Rickmans to read that'll keep me going for a while.
Just got accused of ripping off GOT in the Watchers series. Unfortunately for them, WATCHERS was written 20 years ago, before I'd even read ASOIAF. Big walls on northern borders aren't just a GRRM thing.
I don't get all this "Millennials", "Boomers", "Gen-X" shite. Differential labels for people don't do anybody but advertisers and politicians any good.
I need some happy thoughts. Had a colonoscopy two weeks back and they found something suspicious. I get the biopsy results later today, and I'm a bag of nerves...
@toothmandarrell
@uranoutofluck
@yilnovich
Judging people on sight is an advertisment to the world that you are damaged. Same with an aversion to anybody not exactly like you. It says, "I'm a dickhead."
Also now got a long scar from under my ribs down to my pubes, so I can casually mention 'that sword fight that almost killed me'. There can be only one!
The cheek of it. Arsehole DMs me to tell me he got my audiobooks free from a pirate site, then asks me to send him the epubs because he wants the full set in ebooks too. Well, he can fuck off.
Someone asks "Which authors are overrated" What follows here is a steady stream of negativity that does nobody any good. It's so fucking depressing. Why not ask "Which authors are underrated?"
@fareedstory
You haven't watched much TV since before about 2010, have you? Or do you consider things like M.A.S.H. , The West Wing, Hill Street Blues and many others not to be truly great shows?
The biggest mistake I've made since the cancer diagnosis is in allowing myself to believe I'm getting too old to still be writing. Have given myself a good talking to, and have got my arse back in the chair. Onward!
Slowly coming out of the fugue. I wrote 1000 words today and enjoyed it...the best wee spell since surgery a month ago. The engine is still stuttering, but looks like it's not ready for the knacker's yard yet.
#amwriting
Six months on from getting 1/2 my liver cut out. I'm mostly recovered, cancer free and alive, all things to be thankful for. Day to day general tiredness and lack of concentration is a small price to have paid. Makes writing harder work though...
I see Dan Simmons has joined the ranks of angry old men telling young Greta how to behave...and being a real wanker about it. Another one off the Christmas card list.
Haven't written a word for two months since my cancer diagnosis. My brain is badly broken by anxiety. Will jut have to wait and see if it comes back after the surgery. But it feels very, very strange.
9 months today since I felt ill, took myself off to the docs and discovered I had liver cancer. A night for counting my blessings ( and thanking my surgeons) that I'm still here. Everything from now on is gravy...
@Chris_Harkey
@ChuckWendig
Keep your politics out of the Empire, young Jedi. It is not hard to do. If you want to use the Force in the privacy of your home, that's fine, but the Empire has no need for your kind of thinking. Do not purposefully alienate the Emperor.
In 2019 I had a tennis ball sized tumor and a foot of my small intestine cut out of me then was subsequently given the all clear of further cancer. Bring on 2020. I'm ready for it.
Yes, I'm a writer. No, I won't stop talking about my political stance on social media. I'm a human being first, writer second. If my politics stops you enjoying my books, don't read them. Pretty simple really.
Got an email saying that my books should all be free on Amazon because they're all free on the pirate sites anyway. The 'fuck off' count for today is at '1'.
The S-Squad series is a tribute to several things - 50s big-bug B movies, Alistair MacLean books and movies, Aliens, and Dog Soldiers are all rattling around in there.
But mostly it's for the love of big beasties. Mostly.
Off to hospital tomorrow for a CAT scan on the current state of my liver 2 months after the surgery, and hopefully an update soon after that as to whether they successfully got at all the cancer when they cut out the tumour. Can't say I'm not a wee bit twitchy tonight...
Trying to maintain a public profile on social media while fighting cancer is proving beyond me... I'll just have to let everything slide and try to claw it all back later. If that's possible.
Got a date. I'm due in for the big surgery next Thursday (16th). Will probably have to go in on Wednesday to check in and get the preliminaries done... waiting to get that confirmed. But that's one weight lifted. Now the hard part starts.
#cancer
#cancersucks
I've had great Hogmanays, shite Hogmanays, noisy Hogmanays and quiet Hogmanays. This year, it'll be simply a glad to still be here Hogmanay with a single malt and a tin of shortbread.
As we approach the end of 2023, I'm just glad to still be here, still in recovery from the surgery, getting slowly better every day. Small steps.
#cancer
#cancersucks