Craig Cameron - My Story

Just Posted - a short article about Watchman.

Watchman Procedure I slipped this short piece in as I was so happy this was finally going to be done :)

For anyone who is being treated or has been treated for cancer, you might want to read this....

Cardiotoxicity - The What's and Why's Definitions: Cardio – related to the heart. Toxicity – the quality, state, or relative degree of being poisonous. Cardiotoxicity refers to the potential for certain cancer treatments, primarily chemotherapy and radiation therapy, to cause damage or dysfunction to the heart muscle and cardiovascu...

Just launched the new website which hopefully explains the direction it seeks...

cardiooncologyinfo.com Cardio – Oncology InformationGetting Started!All about the risks to the heart during and after cancer chemo/radiation therapy. Introduction Cardio-Oncology Information I’m still figuring out what to do with this website, how to design it etc. The mission though is clear. Firstly I’ll start wit...

Following on from my post a couple of weeks ago, I have been doing some research, had discussions with my Cardio doc and my GP (I'll be seeing my Oncology doc on the 4th March) and also met a fellow traveler who is experiencing cardio issues as a result of chemo/radiation.
Unfortunately my suspicions have turned out to be true in that there is a gap in medical knowledge and research into the true effects of chemo and/or radiation on the heart.
Today I registered a new domain - cardiooncologyinfo.com and plan to launch a website and facebook group to hopefully raise awareness of the potentially deadly issues we face after cancer treatment. All of us who survive cancer are eternally grateful for the treatment we received, however that treatment comes with a huge risk that is never explained and little is being done to better understand the link between chemo/radiation and heart failure.
More to come 😉

Wow, nearly 2 years since I last posted! I can happily say that I am still in remission which is great! I am living with the after effects of the treatment and still can't eat solid food, my taste buds and saliva glands are still messed up and now I believe this is something I will have to cope with for the rest of my life.

It is only when one can't eat, one realizes how big a part in life food plays.

Also, I am now starting to realize that there is a darker side to chemo and radiation treatment that is little understood. As treatments for cancer have become better, more people are surviving the cancer and now the long term downsides of the treatments are becoming more apparent.

Certain things have happened over the last few months which have made me seriously concerned, so maybe it is time to start blogging again and explore the serious long term side effects of cancer treatment.....

Today was ICD implant day and tonight I'm sitting at home glad that what was needed to be done, has been done. It wasn't an entirely pleasant experience as the promised 'twilight zone', feel like you've had a few drinks, reduction in anxiety part of it never happened. Unfortunately this morning my blood pressure dropped to 87/50 and it was considered too dangerous so sedate me to any extent.
So I went through the whole procedure, wide awake on Lidocaine only.
It was ok. A few times I did feel pain, I was fairly anxious throughout and feel exhausted tonight but on the plus side at least I don't have fentanyl and the other drug inside me.
Tomorrow a follow-up visit and then the 6 weeks of restrictions but thankfully only 2 days not driving.
I'm very grateful to all the hospital staff and the device manufacturer for everything they do.
I'll try and bore you with a follow-up blog in the next fews days....in the meantime my new 'Engine Management System' is actually pacing my heart and the defib is ready to pounce should anything serious happen ;)

It's been a while since I last posted and in truth, I wasn't really expecting to post again. Time has moved on and I'm thankfully just shy of two years in remission - so all is good....except for the aftermath of the treatment.
During my treatment, my heart, which had always been extremely healthy began playing up and I needed an ablation because of A-Fib. The ablation worked for a while but since treatment finished my heart efficiency has dropped to around 30% and I have a lot of premature heart beats. Drugs have failed to cure the problem and I am now at risk of Sudden Cardiac Arrest....
So, this coming Monday I am scheduled to have a combo defibrillator/pacemaker fitted which should keep me alive if my heart goes into arrest.
Hopefully this will be a relatively easy procedure to recover from and even result in me having more energy but we shall see...
I'll probably write a blog about it on the website in the coming days....I can't say I'm looking forward to Monday but there really is no other option.
Cancer, the disease and the treatment that just keeps on giving....

A PET scan on the agenda for tomorrow. When I get to the cancer center I'm taken to a small room, more a closet really, given a shot of something radioactive and left to chilllax for about 20 minutes. I then get taken through to the scan room where I lie on a moveable slide, get trussed-up in a blanket like a burrito and then delivered head first into 'the machine'. As long as I stay still, the (full body) scan takes about 40 minutes. I won't hear the results for a few days but I'm not expecting anything unfavorable....we shall see!

I saw my ENT doc today and had a scope poked up my nose and down my throat - not nice! However, the good news is that there are no visible signs of cancer which is a relief :) Next month I will be getting either a PET scan or a CT scan from my Radiologist but after today I'm not expecting any nasty surprises.
The next checkup will be in December.
Thanks for all the kind comments - they are much appreciated :)

What a difference a year makes...

https://craigcameron.us/a-year-out/

A year out.... - Craig's Story What a difference a year makes What a difference a year makes! Maybe not a day, but a year does change things for the better. May 28th 2020 was my final radiation session, so one year 2 days ago. Last night, because my six monthly examinations are due this coming week, I posted on Facebook…

It is that time of year and on Tuesday I have to go back and see my Radiation doc who will probably order another pet scan. On the following Tuesday, I have to see my ENT doc, who will look for any visible signs of cancer....it is always a worrying time until the scans and exams are complete.

Right on a year since I finished radiation treatment, I still can't eat and have constant drip from my nose/throat. Saliva production is still low. But I have no pain, so I'm hopeful it is just the damage done by the radiation treatment. Fingers crossed!

Just had the results of my 3 month post treatment PET Scan and thankfully the results were excellent. This was a full body scan and there is no sign of any cancer, which is a huge relief to me. I'm still suffering with symptoms from the radiation treatment (problems swallowing, food tastes like cardboard, highly sensitive tongue and poor saliva production) so I was worried that the cancer might have spread. I will be able to sleep easier tonight. I will be getting scanned every 6 months from now to look out for any issues.

Bringing things up to today...

https://craigcameron.us/up-to-today/

Up to Today - Craig's Story I Had to Stop! I got out of hospital on Sunday evening and was able to make my last two radiation treatments during the following week. It was a huge relief to have the radiation treatment over and done with and assumed the damage being done to my throat and mouth would stop there and…

Trying to play catch-up.

https://craigcameron.us/and-then-i-stopped/

And Then I Stopped..... - Craig's Story I Had to Stop! And then I stopped….. I had meant to document this procedure the whole way through but I couldn’t do it. Things just got too bad! After week 4 of treatment I lived in a blur of drugs and exhaustion. Increasingly strong doses of Hydrocodone and Acetaminophen kept me doped-up withou...

Heart Ablation done today. All went exceedingly well. In hospital at 7:00AM, out, job done 3:30PM. Follow-up with surgeon in 4 weeks. Despite all my worries, it was an easy day! Just tired now. Got to take it easy for a few days.

Doctor Day…..

It was Doctor Day for both of us today. Firstly, Linda had an accident at work on Saturday and while pulling hot ‘beef tips’ out of the over, spilt a load of hot oil and fat all over her right leg and foot.

I had to rush her up to the ER for treatment but she was very badly burnt. We spent several hours in the ER and they managed to deal with her pain and get the burns dressed. Today we had to go to our local Doctor to have the wounds examined, cleaned and dressed and the nurse did actually drain the worst of the blisters.

She has to go back of Friday for a progress check - obviously no work before then.

We then spent the next several hours at my cardiac Doctor. The stress of doing chemo put my heart into A-FIB and though for now they managed to get my heart beat back in synch, I am on drugs to keep my blood thin and hence my blood pressure low.

The solution, as discussed today is a heart ablation and this is going to be done on the 16th July assuming my blood labs results are allowing it.

It really has been one thing after another. Poor Linda has been in quite some pain and the pain meds prescribed are narcotic and she doesn’t like taking them. Obviously, while she’s not working, she’s not being paid either……

The heart ablation is not something I’m looking forward to. The procedure is done as an out patient (though asleep) and can last 2-3 hours. After that a recovery period of 4-6 hours is needed before being sent home. This assumes the bleeding for the thigh entry point behave itself and stops bleeding.

I have blood labs to do a week prior to the operation and afterwards I will still need to be on pills for a while while recovery takes place.

While all this is going on, I am still trying to recover from the radiation treatment, still suffering for bad mucositis and still surviving on a liquid diet.

Days follow days……..

This recovery thing is going to be a long haul. Day by day, time is passing slowly.

My throat was badly affected by the radiation and this is the main source of annoyance for me. My throat is recovering but as it does so it secretes and kind of mucus/plegm stuff which can be very thick and impossible to swallow. (Mucositis?).

It fills my mouth and causes me to drool which is not very nice. I flush out my mouth with baking soda and water and this helps pull more of this stuff out whereby I can use paper towels to clear out my mouth.

Talking is still quite difficult and painful at times. Talking also seems to promote the mucositis and I can only talk for so long before having to do a huge mouth clear out.

I’ve been tube feeding for weeks now, injecting nutritional drinks through my PEG tube. This week however, I’ve started drinking straight from the bottles and this helps get my swallowing back in order.

Over the next few days we are going to start playing with solid food - first mash, then maybe some mince and try and building up eating real food again.

This is all progress, albeit slow.

I have a heart follow-up on the 22nd when hopefully I will see some light at getting my A-FIB under proper control. I’m looking forward to getting off blood thinners as these seem to really dump my blood pressure and I’m always wary of fainting when I stand up.

The days are long and boring! It is very hot here so my walking takes place in the morning but there isn’t much to do for the rest of the day. The evenings are the worst. I have developed insomnia and although I take a couple of pills to try and make me sleep, it is often not until 2AM or so that I can finally get some sleep.

Although PCB is pretty much open for business, I am very aware of the Corona Virus and the fact that my immune system is low. I am very wary of going anywhere or doing anything when there are other people around. I wear a mask as needed but apart from outings with Linda in the afternoons, I’m rather stuck at home.

Linda is my rock! She is helping me through all this - she comes to my appointments, puts up with my drooling, spitting and throat clearing and does my bandages and medications. I would be lost without her!

I expect 2-3 months is a reasonable time to really see real progress but who knows? It may take longer. I aim towards feeding properly, losing the PEG tube and the Life port (in my chest) and then I can get back to normality.

All I can do is keep persevering and pushing myself to achieve more and more each day.

I find it difficult to relate watching the News on BBC with all the information on the virus and the lock-down while also seeing the beach party in full swing here in Panama City Beach. There seems to be two different worlds in operation, one concerned about the rising death toll and the other concerned about the next round of drinks and meals.

Lock Down Panama City Beach style.....

I haven’t written anything for ages. The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of Doctors visits, treatments and unwelcome hospital stays.

I’ve forgotten how to type! And my spelling is even worse.

And now I’m feeling somewhat lost, in a state of anticlimax.

New tests are lined up for me. My heart did not take kindly to the chemo and I resulted going in to into full blown A-Fib and hospitalized twice to get my heart rate under control. So now we have to get this next problem dealt with.

I finally got my radio sessions and chemo sessions complete and now the healing must begin. I can’t talk much, my mouth if full of thick, nasty saliva and I am having to learn to swallow again. It could take some weeks before I can return to eating solid foods.

I’m just taking one day at a time, trying to exercise as much as possible to get my body functioning again.

I’ve been living of weeks of narcotics and the more I can do to get them expelled from my body such much the better!

The last three days I have been able to get Linda out and about, taking her to three of her favorite restaurants and for eats and drinking. So we hit Diago’s for Machos and Margerittas, Los Anjohitos for all sorts of stuff including drinks and today we made it to Temperley’s Fish and Chips.

To cap it all she had her hair trimmed!!!!

I’ll write as days go on. This was just a small practice session to bet my fingers moving again.

Awful times...

https://craigcameron.us/awful-times/

Awful Times... - Craig's Story Awful time, awful, awful Awful times…. I’ve been though some bad times in my life, some awful times in my life and these have lasted various mounts of time but never before have I been through a persistent nightmare such as this treatment. This torment is going on for weeks and it is extremely u...

Fentanyl pain patches come with instructions- lots of them and all in English both sides!!

Week 4 begins....

https://craigcameron.us/week-4-begins/

Week 4 Begins - Craig's Story Won’t end soon enough…. Monday beginning treatment Week 4 Not a football score but: Radiation 14 : Chemo 7……… After a rather horrendous weekend I made it through to Monday for another round of radiation and a well-earned Doctor’s visit. I wasn’t able to consume any solid food over the ...

I've lived in the USA for over twenty years now. I'm lucky to be married to an amazing American girl and for good or bad, America is my adopted home. I am also being treated here by the best doctors and nurses I could hope for (anywhere) and my future is tied to the USA. I try and keep politics out of Facebook, but I have to confess I do get upset by the number of stupid Facebook 'memes' posted by people in the UK which essentially belittle and criticize the place that has become my home. I would just ask that people think a little before posting stuff of this nature that I am bound to see, and that I find deeply upsetting. I'm sorry to have to write this but I think there is enough misery around today without the constant criticism of America and those of us who are happy to call it home.

The Honeymoon is over!

https://craigcameron.us/the-honeymoon-is-over/

The Honeymoon is over! - Craig's Story Well and truly over! I was pretty sure that my reaction to treatment was going to get worse and my word, it just did that! (Slight moaning section but please allow me some leeway!) Friday morning, throat like a furnace, tongue swollen up both sides and difficulty speaking. I was sort of expecting th...

A week in the life of a cancer patient...

https://craigcameron.us/a-week-in-the-life-of-a-cancer-patient/

A week in the life of a cancer patient - Craig's Story every day’s and endless stream of ci******es and magazines So what’s it like being a cancer patient? For me it is perhaps still early to tell but every day I learn a bit more and survive a bit better. I’m now 6 Chemotherapy sessions down and 12 Radiation sessions complete so not quite half way...

A few pics from this week.

Changed font - thanks Fiona for comment - I'll do a test print and then see if anyone at the treatment center wants to buy...

My radiologist, Dr Murshed has just called me to see if everything is ok today! How nice is that?

My new T Shirt design - I rather like it, Miss Linda rather dislikes it!

Thoughts?