Thursday, January 17, 2008

Tattoos, Bondage, Women, and Good Health

Kinky, eh? This is a custom made restraint for my head. It starts life as a flat piece of plastic then it is placed in hot water until soft. When the plastic is ready it is wrapped around the head and molded to the person's face. You can't see it in this picture but there are three anchors that hook up to a table, strapping the head firmly down.

I guess I need to explain a bit here. On Tuesday I went in for my visit to my radiation oncologist. He laid out my radiation therapy for me: 20 treatments. The treatments will be done every work day. I start on Wednesday. After I visited him I joined five highly skilled women into the planning room to map out my body, get custom restraints (shown) and headrests made, and tattooed all so my body can be aligned perfectly for each treatment. If your idea of sexy is laying on a hard CAT scan table, strapped down, topless, having a bunch of women draw on your body with Sharpie markers, and tattooed, then I had a sexy time. They also had REM's "Out of Time" on their Ipod, which is what I requested we listen to. "Losing My Religion" is actually a great song to listen to while having medical stuff done to you. I don't know why that is. It just fits.

On Wednesday, I visited with my main oncologists Heather and Martha. It was Heather's turn to shove her hands down my pants to check for lumps, oh, and other places. I bet you didn't know just how sexy cancer exams could be. It was a great visit. My docs told me that my PET scan was almost completely normal. They also said that the areas of concern are so small that radiation will annihilate them. My largest tumor went down from the size of two golf balls down to the size of a marble. Basically, I am the poster child for Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Whoopee!

The only negative about my health right now is that my white blood cell count is extremely low. So I have to take my temperature several times a day to make sure that things are ok. If my temperature hits 100.5 F then I have to go to the emergency room. The doctors said that in time my count will get higher. For now I have to be extra careful around people and keep my hands sanitized.

Anyway, a month from this Wednesday will mark the end of my cancer treatment, for good I hope. The chance of a full recovery for me is 85%. That's pretty damn good. Let's all hope I will be saying goodbye to cancer forever. BTW, if you connect all the dots from my tattoos you'd make a really far out Star of David.

Have a great weekend!

15 comments:

Clearlykels said...

That is good news! Happy Weekend to you too!

Diane Mandy said...

Good news! I'm happy to hear this. Hope you also have a wonderful weekend.

Nessa said...

85% is my favorite number.

Christielli said...

Great news. I'm glad that you can find humour in your medical ordeals.

Here's to hoping that your white blood cells getting busy and multiplying!

Outdoorsy Girl said...

Yay! :D I am so happy to hear the good news! 85% is great!

I think you should wear your mask this Halloween. Creepy!

Jules said...

This is all extremely pleasing to read and exciting too!! One month from now, you're all done. Free to recover and begin anew!! Are you gonna be throwing a party? Am I invited?

Tys on Ice said...

you know you hve arrived whn ur name becomes a verb .

Rite now to do a grunt means to give cancer the middle finger.

way to go stud...btw the Bondage mask looks outta thw world...u cud be our next Jason

Me Myself and I said...

woo hoo! great news :)

Keshi said...

thats REALLY great news Grunty!

fingers n toes crossed for ya!
Keshi.

The Grunt said...

Kels~ Thanks! So far it has been a great weekend. The best part is that it will be a four day weekend for me.

Diane~ Thanks to you as well! I hope you sell your home for a good price as well. I forgot to leave a comment on your blog about it.

Nessa~ Mine as well.

Christielli~ Yeah, I need some poor white blood cell to get lucky and multiply.

O-girl~ It really would make a great Halloween mask.

Jules~ I will party. You can hang out at Moochies with me.

Barb Michelen~ Even though we just met I really feel a closeness between us that is so extraordinary. Thanks for giving me good spam. I hope your knees don't hurt after all of that.

Tys~ I like being a verb. Jason would be a great costume for a Halloween party.

Celeste~ Isn't it, though?

Keshi~ Thanks! I need all the luck I can get, always.

Chandra said...

Yay! Awesome news....you will become one with the aloe vera very very soon. Nothing says sexy like random sunburned dots.... but if things work out you will get a new tattoo from the sounds of things lol!

This made my heart grow three sizes... just like the Grinch, yay again for YOU!

Jay said...

Hot nurses giving tattoos and plastic mesh bondage? Sounds like you have a 100% chance of making something sexy happen.

Crystal said...

they really tattoo you??

The Grunt said...

Chandra~ I don't want to be responsible for giving someone an enlarged heart;)

RZV~ The room was even cold, which made my nipples so hard that they could cut glass.

Crystal~ Yes, they do really tattoo you. I have six dots that they permanently inked into me with a plug that had some needles in it. Now if I ever go to prison I'll get respect.

Autumn Storm said...

I do love your attitude. :-) Great news, Grunt, just great!!