wujcik.blog

The big surprise was that it was so comfy! Since I had been up half the night working on e-mails, projects, the blog and so forth, I found it incredibly easy to sleep. Especially since the staff catered to my every wish, happily bringing me warm blankets, water, cookies, and answers to my every question.

It took five hours total, starting with the insertion of the i.v. shunt (my right upper wrist this time; and the nurse was happy that I had a lot of prime spots up and down my arm), and proceeding to two hours of ‘hydration.’ Basically just filling me with enough fluids to make sure the chemotherapy chemicals are most effective. Then a combination of anti-nausea and steroid medications (I was also given the first of three daily ‘by mouth’ anti-nausea pills). The third hour was Cisplatin, mixed with what seemed like a full liter of fluid, and the fourth and fifth hours were used to inject the most specific Pancreatic Cancer drug, Gemcitabine.

Before I was released (with the cutting of my hospital wristband), it was time for another set of blood tests.

Happily, as I was informed by my primary physician later that day, one of my main liver disease markers, bilirubin, had gone down dramatically, from 3.2 this past Thursday, down to 1.8. Great news, since the greater the bilirubin, the lower the quality of life (translation in my case: less bilirubin equals less itching!).

As I write this, nearing 6:00 am the following morning, about the only side-effect I’ve experienced are deep naps.

Cool!

Erick (San Rafael, California)

When I entered the hospital, exactly a month ago, it was my first hospitalization since I was a small child, more than fifty years ago, and I thought the doctors were just over reacting, treating a stomach flu as if it were a heart attack.

Later that day I had an ultrasound. The tech was close-mouthed, but I knew something was wrong, if for no other reason than a routine examination shouldn’t take all that long, or require that much double-checking. Sure enough, as the follow-up CT Scan and biopsy revealed, I had cancer, malignant, in multiple places, none of them good. It had started in the pancreas (explaining my diagnosis of diabetes earlier in the year), and spread so extensively to the liver that the tumors were described as ‘innumerable.’

A couple of days later I was informed that my beloved friends, Dan and Tina Iyama-Kurtycz, had booked flights from Madison, Wisconsin to Oakland, California, and that they had made arrangements for me to see a world-class specialist in pancreatic cancer at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center. Since they’re both medical doctors, with hellishly busy schedules, it was a big clue they were taking this thing seriously.

Fast forward through various meetings with Kaiser doctors (I’m covered by the Kaiser-Permanente HMO), including my primary and my new oncologist, and it was clear that the prognosis was dire. Of greatest concern is my liver, and trying to maintain its function, so ‘aggressive chemotherapy’ was recommended.

The only remaining mystery was about the exact nature of my cancer, on a cellular level. Based on the written pathology report from Kaiser, it was thought I might have a very rare form (Dan’s only seen two cases in 30 years!). Just a couple hours later, after Dan and the experts at the University Pathology Lab reviewed the slides, there was an indication that my cancer might be something even more rare and obscure. At this point, until more material is excavated from the ‘block’ (the thing that contains the raw cells from my biopsy), nobody really knows.

Whatever it is, I start chemotherapy on Monday, December 24th, at 8:30 am pst.

Wish me luck.

Erick (San Rafael, California)

For weeks I’ve been trying to figure out how to broadcast the news that I have cancer, and that I’m hoping to hear from all my beloved friends.

Naturally, my friends beat me to the punch. Not content to wait around, Kevin Siembieda and a bunch of others snagged the ‘erickwujcik’ URL and posted the big news. It was a total surprise to me.

Even more surprising, it moved me to tears. Still does.

http://www.erickwujcik.com

I am crazy rich in friends.

Now that the ball is rolling, I’ll try to keep everyone posted on this blog, letting you all know how my life, and the fight for more of my life, is progressing. I also plan to let you know about my day-to-day joys, about my insane plans for the future, about how people might be able to help some of my dreams become reality, and other stuff, good and bad.

I’m also planning on posting some bits and pieces from notes on role-playing. All part of a master plan to build a new book, On Role-Playing, which I’m hoping will make available to a wider audience many of the crazy concepts I’ve shared with friends over the years, but never published.

Thanks!

Erick (San Rafael, California)

After struggling with a few digital arcana, I’ve managed to upload the WordPress blog package to 47rpg.com. No promises as to frequency, but as of this date in November of 2007, I will be posting various and sundry missives, reflections and oddities. Thanks for your kind attention.

Erick (Novato, California, USA)