Fuck Cancer

[Buzzworthy]

Been watching your progress over on that other site and I want to say that your grit has been inspiring and the love you show for for family has been a gift to watch. I wish nothing but the best for you and the family. Keep kicking cancer’s ass D!!!

[Trackhead]

Thx Ron….hope to be in Utah skiing this spring. Maybe Alta/Bird.

[Trackhead]

We've never met but I do drive through your town almost every week on my way to/from Big Sky so let me know if I can deliver anything you need from Helena. Happy to do a dropoff or whatever if you don't feel like making the trip.

Thx for offer. Helena makes me wanna puke now because I associate it with all the chemo at St Pete’s. Migjt need to move to the desert after all of this. I’m old.

[Buzzworthy]

Thx Ron….hope to be in Utah skiing this spring. Maybe Alta/Bird.

Not sure if y’all like Great Danes but there’s room at the Inn to help make the trip much easier. You know where to find me.

[ötzi]

You got this TH. Good luck mang.

In ohter news, found out about a week ago my 40-year-old nephew in MD has colon cancer. I quickly did some research, figured out who he should see at Hopkins, got him the names addresses etc. a couple days ago and he says thanks.

Today I find out he had surgery yesterday at a shitbox hospital that's much farther from where he lives than Hopkins is (he lives maybe 3 miles from Hopkins). wtf? He has great insurance, he lives very close to one of the best hospitals in the world, he knew who to contact...arrgh.

I guess he felt like he was already too far down the path to change course, but fuck that. And to top it off, they found two more spots and say he needs to come back in 2 months for more surgery. This isn't good.

[bodywhomper]

good luck TH. Sounds like prognosis is pretty good!

Is it too early to talk about how your hair may grow back? My grandfather went from straight hair to wicked curls.

[berko]

Best wishes, TH! All the stats quoted to you are just for regular people, not beasts such as yourself. This will all be behind you before you know it.

[Trackhead]

good luck TH. Sounds like prognosis is pretty good!

Is it too early to talk about how your hair may grow back? My grandfather went from straight hair to wicked curls.

I’ve heard many stories of curly grow back! I’m more excited for red blood cells than hair But yeah I’m bald, still have eye lashes and eye brows but gonna lose them too. My legs look like a road biker

[Meadow Skipper]

My wife’s previously straight hair grew back curly as shit after her first chemo round.

[Trackhead]

My wife’s previously straight hair grew back curly as shit after her first chemo round.

Breast cancer?

[Meadow Skipper]

Breast cancer?

Ovarian. You’d have to read way upthread but she passed away ~4.5 years ago after a 7 year struggle. 3 rounds of chemo, and one that she had a terrible reaction to, and a number of alternative treatments. Lost her hair twice, but it always grew back.

Sorry, I didn’t mean to get all gloomy, but I guess this is a thread for honest information and support.

Fuck cancer.

[Trackhead]

Oh crap I’m sorry. Obviously a horrible diagnosis. I’ve unfortunately discovered it in the ER setting on a few patients, along with lung cancer, renal, and others…

[Trackhead]

No. If anyone wants to read a more comprehensive review of the state of cannabis therapies for cancer indications, please read this (scroll through the sections):

https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/...pdq#section/_1

They jury is way out and proving benefit will take well structured, statistically powered clinical trials. Specifically, there are SO MANY compounds that kill tumor cells in a culture dish and in a mouse model of cancer that those results are often considered untrustworthy.

Curious your opinion on functional relevance of cannabinoid receptors in Hodgkins. I considered edibles for the bone pain related to pegfilgrastim until I read this study, which seems to propose CB1 receptors in Hodgkins promote tumor growth….I’ve scoured the internet for follow up research and have found nothing else specific to Hodgkins. I had chemo yesterday and have chemo brain bad right now so forgive my shitty text.




https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ar...l.pone.0081675

[zion zig zag]

Then dirt bag somewhere in the truck camper and head to Jackson. That’s my spring goal.

If you need a place to shower and sleep in a bed for a bit while you’re around Jackson let me know, I have a house you’re welcome to use in Victor.

[Tri-Ungulate]

I'm absolutely certain TH can still kick my ass on the uptrack even when he's at his chemo nadir and his crit is 25%

He just won't have to wait for me as long at the summit.

Edit to add:

The PLoS paper (good journal, as huck knows) is all cell culture based, and does NOT associate endocannabinoid stimulation (i.e. by THC) with tumorigenesis, rather that a certain endocannabinoid receptor CB1 is upregulated in tumors (breast, and in the study Hodgkin RS cell lines).

Inhibition of CB1 expression may be a proposed mechanism of decreasing HL cells, but this is distinct from CB1 activation/inhibition. They show that inhibition seems to decrease HL cell viability based on their cell assays, but also show that activation also mildly decreases HL cell viability, if I'm understanding the manuscript's conclusions.

TL;DR is that the preclinical data from the PLoS paper is not enough to convince me that there is any functional relevance to THC exposure one way or another.

[Trackhead]

I'm absolutely certain TH can still kick my ass on the uptrack even when he's at his chemo nadir and his crit is 25%

He just won't have to wait for me as long at the summit.

Edit to add:

The PLoS paper (good journal, as huck knows) is all cell culture based, and does NOT associate endocannabinoid stimulation (i.e. by THC) with tumorigenesis, rather that a certain endocannabinoid receptor CB1 is upregulated in tumors (breast, and in the study Hodgkin RS cell lines).

Inhibition of CB1 expression may be a proposed mechanism of decreasing HL cells, but this is distinct from CB1 activation/inhibition. They show that inhibition seems to decrease HL cell viability based on their cell assays, but also show that activation also mildly decreases HL cell viability, if I'm understanding the manuscript's conclusions.

TL;DR is that the preclinical data from the PLoS paper is not enough to convince me that there is any functional relevance to THC exposure one way or another.

Before chemo I pulled off a few units and put them on ice, planning on post chemo transfusion and a hematocrit of 55%. 7/12 infusions in, last Hgb was 12.6…….I guess I’ll end up around 10?

Thx for insight on CB1 receptors. I’m suffering pretty bad some nights with distal femur pain and tried edibles but really didn’t help. I just lay in pain all night and deal with it. Getting stoned isn’t helpful and ruins my motivation to exercise which I feel is more beneficial.

Thx Launce, your insight is super super helpful.

[Trackhead]

If you need a place to shower and sleep in a bed for a bit while you’re around Jackson let me know, I have a house you’re welcome to use in Victor.

Truck camper has a shower! Thx though. Love dirt bagging with the kid.

[Yonder_River]

Positive vibes to TH and all of the folks dealing with a shit sandwich. Best of luck to each and every one of you!!

[priapism]

Went on an easy hike in Stowe yesterday and it truly kicked my ass. Bummer I think I'll be sitting this touring season out until I recover more. I still have 1.5 cycles of chemo before maintenance (should get there in Feb) and it just doesn't feel worth it to train during this when my blood cell counts will get nuked after the various rounds

Man I am glad the 21/22 season was so good to me

Edit
TH, awesome that you're crushing it when you can. The good days are so good. Kinda ironic but an addiction to T2 fun probably was what delayed our diagnoses–sometimes it's hard listening to your body

[Mazderati]

In ohter news, found out about a week ago my 40-year-old nephew in MD has colon cancer.

Do you know how it was discovered? Colon cancer is on the rise in younger age groups and aggressive when it shows up.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/14/healt...ase/index.html

[jono]

Crushing is unlikely. Breathing and a pulse is the goal, and seeing my kid grow up a bit. If I can pseudo keep up with my son on skis I’ll be happy. He’s going to out climb me next summer. But hey, that’s every dads goal, right?

So sorry to see this. Your comments on changing goals and re-focusing on what matters ring familiar. I've never been satisfied with my descriptions of that for anyone who hasn't experienced it. Thanks for that--and telling the story.

We lost an under-40 friend to breast cancer last year who opted out from day 1. Just waited a few years. It makes me crazy that the success stories (even with the attendant challenges) don't seem to get more traction for some people.

Welcome to the club we never wanted to join, but you got this.

[easyrdr]

Sorry to hear TH. Fight like hell man, time to make cancer your bitch!

[skinipenem]

TH, impressed by your attitude. Hang in there man!

Glad the odds are in your favor.

Sent from my SM-S908U1 using Tapatalk

[Trackhead]

Went on an easy hike in Stowe yesterday and it truly kicked my ass. Bummer I think I'll be sitting this touring season out until I recover more. I still have 1.5 cycles of chemo before maintenance (should get there in Feb) and it just doesn't feel worth it to train during this when my blood cell counts will get nuked after the various rounds

Man I am glad the 21/22 season was so good to me

Edit
TH, awesome that you're crushing it when you can. The good days are so good. Kinda ironic but an addiction to T2 fun probably was what delayed our diagnoses–sometimes it's hard listening to your body

I’m done with chemo Jan 4 if I stay on schedule. I’m getting more anemic too. Rode gravel bike 10 miles yesterday and felt as good as you can I guess. Real exercise always improves my mood. But holy crap some days it’s hard to get motivated. I don’t push it either, just move your body, use your muscles.

I’m not even planning on ski touring until March, and don’t give a shit really. I’ll be happy just walking in the mountains with skis on my feet. I’m focusing/planning spring ski trips with my son. That’s literally the one thing keeping me going. I don’t look beyond April. I can’t see the future and really nobody should. No guarantees for any of us, healthy or not. I live in two week blocks focused around chemo. My interim PET was negative and I’m hopeful end treatment PET will be too. If that’s the case, I’ll get three months off between scans to forget about this and enjoy time with kid skiing all over Montana.

I was asymptomatic entirely and kinda got lucky I noticed a lump in my armpit. Also glad I work healthcare because I was super aggressive figuring out WTF it was before it got worse. Also not an ultrasound tech, but I put that probe on my axilla every week (in the bathroom at work) and it’s amazing to watch the lymphadenopathy resolve. All my coworkers know exactly what I’m doing.

Cancer is tough. Takes daily effort to not jump off a bridge.

[goldenboy]

TH, Sorry to hear that and best of luck to you. Sounds like you're in good hands (often your own)

That’s rough man. Get your colonoscopy people if you’re waffling. Don’t wimp out and choose Cologuard, if something shows up you have to get the scope anyway. The prep and procedure aren’t bad.

Care to elaborate on what's wrong with Cologuard (or anyone else in the medical field)? My primary was cool with it since I'm healthy and under 50, with no family history of cancer. I took a few minutes to Google it and was satisfied with what I found as well. So I pooped in a box.