showtime89
03-06-2007, 12:17 PM
Hey guys and gals, long time no speak. I am sorry I am back here talking to you under these circumstances. I know I haven?t been around much lately as, well I am not sure why. Well enough about that. In the last month, I have been poked, prodded, scoped and all sorts of stuff. Then end result is that I have Rectal Cancer. If you want specifics, I have a mass about the size of a billiard ball on the wall of my rectum(VERY PAINFUL). I have pain when I go to the bathroom, when I sit, lie down, walk, and sleep, so basically CONSTANTLY. I also have 2 lymph nodes higher up, about kidney level (not affecting the kidneys, just that high in the body) that they are concerned about and will treat with the radiation. This is treatable and for that I am grateful, but not without some costs, physically, mentally and financially. This is not something I brought on myself, but a genetic thing, usually occurring in people in their late 40?s or 50?s (I turned 30 this past December), but there is no family history of it. I start Chemotherapy on Monday, March 5th, followed by 6 weeks of radiation which also started Monday. 6 weeks after the radiation ends I will have surgery to clean up the area around the tumor, followed by 6 months of drug infusion through the chemo pump/chest port that they are putting in this Monday. I?ve been on Darvocet for about 3 weeks and now MS Contin (Morphine Sulphate) for about 2. These HELP with the pain, but don?t entirely remove it. Sleep is difficult, because something will irritate it and I wake up in pain a few times a night and it?s not easy to go back to sleep. Work is not fun, moving around with my first graders, but it has to be done. So eventually, if all goes according to plan, sometime around December I will be done with all the treatment and cancer free. The physical costs are the following. They are 98% sure that I am going to end up with a colostomy bag for the rest of my life. Because of where the tumor is, they can?t see how they are going to save the sphincter muscle and with that gone there would be nothing to reattach the colon to, resulting in the colostomy bag. Another physical cost is that because of the area of my body that is receiving the radiation, that I will lose my fertility and possibly sexual function. They are attempting to use a testicular shield, but won?t know if they can even use it until they start the radiation on Tuesday. So I?ve had to make ?Deposits? at the ?Bank? to help ensure that there can be little Showtime?s some day.
Now I know I am going to beat this and I know I have lots of support but what I don?t have is lots of money. My health insurance covers a lot of it, but not nearly all. The ?deposits? at the bank cost me $300 each and I have had to make 3 of them (talk about an awkward situation). My co-pays for the different sorts of visits to all the different doctors, adds up, as well as the co-pays on my prescriptions does too. Additionally, the surgery will most likely be inpatient surgery, costing me a good chunk of change and since this is a genetic thing, they want to do genetic testing on my family and myself to see where this came from and if it might be passed on. But since this is not part of my actual treatment, it most likely won?t be covered by my insurance. Lastly, depending on how I feel throughout the treatment from the chemo and radiation I may use up the few sick days I have left at work and each one after I run out, gets docked from my pay. So I have set up a PayPal account incase people want to help me out. I know, this sounds like that girl and her self inflicted CC debt, or the guy who was going to kill the bunny, but trust me this is for real. I?ll even provide paperwork if necessary. But honestly, I did get the idea from them.
Anyone willing to donate to my cause is welcome to do so. A few dollars here and there adds up. I will gladly recognize any people who donate in this post. I will recognize it with screen name and amount (if you leave your screen name and what message board(I am putting this on a few I frequented)) and if you want only your name or only amount or want to make it anonymous I will do that too. I?m not looking to profit from this horrible set of circumstances, just to make it easier for me to do what I need to do. The PayPal account is [email protected] http://www.paypal.com
If a mod wants to make this a sticky, that's cool too.
Thanks in advance and many happy miles motoring along or turning wrenches. Also, if you can?t donate, at least leave me a good joke, because this thing is really a pain in my butt. And regardless of whether or not you can donate, please pray for me.
Thanks muchly,
Ron Sardina
p.s. I guess this ruins my chances of trying out for StateWars this year too, since I am not allowed to skate. Maybe next year.
Now I know I am going to beat this and I know I have lots of support but what I don?t have is lots of money. My health insurance covers a lot of it, but not nearly all. The ?deposits? at the bank cost me $300 each and I have had to make 3 of them (talk about an awkward situation). My co-pays for the different sorts of visits to all the different doctors, adds up, as well as the co-pays on my prescriptions does too. Additionally, the surgery will most likely be inpatient surgery, costing me a good chunk of change and since this is a genetic thing, they want to do genetic testing on my family and myself to see where this came from and if it might be passed on. But since this is not part of my actual treatment, it most likely won?t be covered by my insurance. Lastly, depending on how I feel throughout the treatment from the chemo and radiation I may use up the few sick days I have left at work and each one after I run out, gets docked from my pay. So I have set up a PayPal account incase people want to help me out. I know, this sounds like that girl and her self inflicted CC debt, or the guy who was going to kill the bunny, but trust me this is for real. I?ll even provide paperwork if necessary. But honestly, I did get the idea from them.
Anyone willing to donate to my cause is welcome to do so. A few dollars here and there adds up. I will gladly recognize any people who donate in this post. I will recognize it with screen name and amount (if you leave your screen name and what message board(I am putting this on a few I frequented)) and if you want only your name or only amount or want to make it anonymous I will do that too. I?m not looking to profit from this horrible set of circumstances, just to make it easier for me to do what I need to do. The PayPal account is [email protected] http://www.paypal.com
If a mod wants to make this a sticky, that's cool too.
Thanks in advance and many happy miles motoring along or turning wrenches. Also, if you can?t donate, at least leave me a good joke, because this thing is really a pain in my butt. And regardless of whether or not you can donate, please pray for me.
Thanks muchly,
Ron Sardina
p.s. I guess this ruins my chances of trying out for StateWars this year too, since I am not allowed to skate. Maybe next year.