Well, I'm completed with chemo and all surgeries... This all comes at a cost to me of 8 months of cancer treatment has weakened me quite a bit. I'm slowly working with my body giving myself a chance of pushing a bit and working muscles that haven't worked in 8 months. I'm off all my Big Pharma drugs and my blood pressure is back to normal. No pain meds or anything. I'm back to using my herbs are supplements and managed to keep normal blood pressure now. I'm now without a bladder or prostate I will never have bladder cancer again. 

 

This is a weird one I know people have phantom limb and experience pain and a sense of feeling. How about having a phantom moment thinking I have to urinate? Yup, I had a moment in the morning thinking I needed to pee and get to the bathroom looking down at the bag. Face palm moment knowing that my body doesn't work like that anymore. Yeah, I've had 5 different times feeling like I had to take a leak but nothing there. Try calling to open the bladder and urinate. I more or less get a message back "Printer not available" 

 

I've had one ER visit having a bleed on my stoma and wound up spending the day in the ER. It was my blood thinners and of course, my body just wouldn't heal up with anti-clotting pills and blood thinners. That was a bit scary to wake up and find the tubing full of bloody urine and about a full liter overnight. By the time I was done with the ER my backup mount started to fail because of the wipes they used to clean me up so I had my shirt plugging the hole and drove home to change my mount and bag again. Argh!  Be aware most hospitals do NOT supply any ostomy supplies because of how rare it is to see one of us.

 

I've been learning how to live again. For a while, it was here at home sore from the pain I could feel and then my blood pressure would reflect the other pains I couldn't feel. It's not too bad being the way I am and I can see how people get along with life but I had to build my confidence in handling my bag changes and doing the mounts quickly. Now I'm showering without any appliance on my body just me and my little red stoma poking out on my belly. I shower normally and wash all the sealants off around my stoma. Yup, I'm currently fighting a minor yeast infection around my stoma. The bad part is having an itch under the base mount. Oh, talk about crazy trying to rub or scratch close to the base to stop the itch. 

 

As for my mental state, I'm still a crazy Cummins owner. Seriously, my makeup work and cosplay are getting better as time goes on. It has been a wild ride working with many medical people and at the same time dealing with all the depression that you could be faced with and finding a way to always pull it together and do something wild and make people laugh and smile at what I do. For a very short time, I'm capable of enjoying life with all the medical devices I've had on my body between the pair of bags hooked to my kidneys and now the ostomy and stoma on my body. 

 

 

Something else to throw in there... I met a gal in one of my appointments. On my last ostomy appointment, I was 2 hours early because of worry about road construction but made it early. I was waiting in the hallway by the elevators and started talking to older gal that was waiting for her appointment you have to remember I'm in full makeup and with my spiked collar and concert shirt on. Suzanna came off the elevator and points at me and said, "I remember you from the last visit!". I was very curious what she had to say. Suzanna was the first of anyone to ask me for my phone number because she was truly interested in me for my wild nature and makeup work. We talk every evening and phone calls last for hours talking about all kinds of topics and being very open with each other. We both come from abusive past so neither one of us wants to hurt the other. The crazy part is I wouldn't have met her unless I had my ostomy surgery and went to my appointments in full dress mode with makeup. 

 

So my limitation now is I'm a high hernia risk for life so I cannot lift anything heavy at this point because my belly has a lot of scars where the doctor was pulling my bladder and prostate out then a larger scar under my belly button where he reached in a cut about 9 inches of small intestine where my small and large intestine met. This is brought forward to hook both my kidneys to the right side of my belly. All this healed up well and no issues. Good news! 

 

I'M CANCER FREE !!!!

Now keep in mind I just cheated death TWICE. I will survive this but I'm pretty sure it took a bit out of my lifespan. So I'll admit my life has been forever changed by the two runs of cancer. Its very frustrating to attempt to do some of my old tasks and have issues with the ostomy being in my way or limiting what I can do because currently I have to still be careful of my kidney till I hear bac on my labs if my kidney are improving. 

 

Edited August 14, 2024Aug 14 by Mopar1973Man

Good Morning Gang! 

Mopar1973Man is up and getting built into my new way of life. OK! I'm going to attempt to return to my previous plans. Beast is getting a bit slobbery with a oil leak at the rear main seal. The GF and I agree that Thor needs to return to be put back to function. Mark just got his truck out of my shop and we are going to be shoving Thor in being its been dead for 2 years just about. I need Thor to bring some of the GF stuff back here to the house before winter really hits. 

 

Myself I';m going to move forward working on producing 3rd Gen articles off of the adventures of Thor failures. The GF wants to get involved and help in rebuilding this industry of Cummins Support and make it work for all of you. Yeah I'm under limitations that prevent me from going whole hog right now but I'll keep you all posted. Thor's first project is to retro fit a AirDog 150 on that truck then I'm going to sell the bumpers, flat bed and return this truck to factory bumpers and bed. Thor is way too heavy empty to even get good MPG nearly tipping the scale at 10k empty. 

 

As for the Titanium side of things., This will remain a part of my life from here on out. Why? I continue to get stellar comments about my appearance. More fun when you have nurses betting money on what I'll wear next. I'm still creating videos on TikTok and Titanium is growing in followers. Too many people here even locally look for me in makeup and hair most days and get bummed when it just normal me which is rare. 

 

Edited December 9, 2024Dec 9 by Mopar1973Man

Again here we go... Ugh!  I started PT today and trying to strengthen my core. I've lost a lot of muscle mass and control over some areas of muscles that are weak. My PT doctor is working on getting more info on my limitations. As for today was an intro to how am I doing. Well not too good sadly, but it is fixable. Just in a few exercises I'm sore already and need to keep going and working on building my strength and movement. Almost a full year since my start which was December 17, 2023 today is December 11, 2024. Now to try and build back some to get back to a normal life. 

Keep plugging away!   When life gets "odd", I always think of this motivational poster:

10 hours ago, PilotHouse2500 said:

Keep plugging away!   When life gets "odd", I always think of this motivational poster:

 

Yup. Im still here plugging along slowly but still going forward. 

Well I'm coming back. I'll admit I'm not able to do a lot of jobs. Anything in the heavy lift is over. Currently have Thor stuffed in the house garage and getting ready to go back over the injectors again. Now Thor my 2006 Common rail is my pet project. 

 

Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes the new version of me will be going public. Sadly no more wrench time for me. I'll still play with my own rigs. My problem is I've got to consider my stoma and kidneys. So I'll continue my education of the Cummins line. As for my medical issues I'm clean of cancer nearly 6 months. Check up coming. I'm stuck with Stage 3 Cronic Kidney disease this is due to my kidneys being choked by the cancer.

 

The website I'm going to upgrade software and there is a lot of new features coming. Stay tuned in. There is a feature to have live chats again and when the chat ends it will convert the chat unto a forum thread auto-magically. One of many.

 

 

Even like today I got up and hauled out to the shop to see if I could finish the injector repair. Hit my wall by breaking off a terminal of the injector. Ok. Having been out of service for 1 full year, I'm allowed to make mistakes. Oh well, I'll still get it fixed just delayed repairing one injector. 

 

Yesterday I got the injectors out and needed a can of brake clean and scotch brite pads. I got to McCall wearing my split white and black wig and basic black makeup. This older lady in her 60s looked me over and started to chat about my appearance. She enjoyed that I had the spirit to do as I please and be colorful. I went into the store and came back out and she was still there and she started a new conversation with me again. It's to the point I'm getting more people telling me to keep going and don't stop. I've had several people who come up to me to give me a hug from different stores and places. It is very commonplace when I'm dressed as Titanium. 

Edited January 7Jan 7 by Mopar1973Man

Have you ever considered an Alice Cooper look?

 

Mark

Heck I just did a live video on Tiktok just about an hour ago.

 

 

I'm still here. I'm learning that my ostomy is a PITA. Like my post on fixing Minnie, I've learned more about the limits of my body and ostomy. I've been chasing a bad ground issue and trying to fix it by tearing apart the dash but found out it's just my battery terminals. Ok, wasted time in the cold but got it running. Beast is getting problematic being the rear main seal leaking. Thor I'm still waiting for the injector to come back soon. 

 

As for my body I'm gaining strength in my body and energy. Still my main problem is my ostomy bag being in the way of normal activities. I'm still learning how to protect and guard my ostomy completely. Yeah its rather PITA when you bend over or lean against a counter or anything where the bag is squeezed even a little you might be covered in urine. Yup. Its happened quite a few times.

 

Edited January 29Jan 29 by Mopar1973Man

6 month check up done. Cancer free is the good news. Bad news my right kidney is taking damage and struggling. I've just switched over to a local doctor to look it over and he's setting me up with a kidney specialist to get this all figured out so I gain my full kidney function back.

 

Then during all this I found why my back issues and my pain / blood pressure is from my L3 and L4 have been compressing my disc which now gives my that numb area for my kidneys but lower back pain. This isn't get better sadly. Final got a doctor to give me a 40 pound weight limit for lifting. Now ive got to relay this to my PT doctor my lifting limits.

 

On top of all my issues now toss in sleep apnea so I'm currently working by video chat to get a sleep lab done to set me up on CPAP machine. My days are super busy most days.

 

Keep working the issues!   I know there are several new sleep apnea options out there that are way less of a PITA than the standard old school options were.

Edited February 21Feb 21 by PilotHouse2500

I'm ok with a full face mask through the night. I've experienced @Tweety Bird machine and started sleeping great. I'm in process of getting my own machine and setup. As for my new doctor he agrees with moving forward on getting a CPAP being I get slow to breathe or occasionally pause for long periods. Good O² levels actual retard my pain in my back and swelling.

 

My back will never get better. Is just normal degeneration of my lower back. Getting old hurts and you gotta be tough.

 

As for the kidneys my new doctor is scheduling all all kinds of labs, and procedures for me very soon. Wait and see time. Even got a kidney specialist diving in to attempt to wake my kidneys up.