Tag: Seattle

Today

On By Fred KingIn 2025, blossoms, cancer, colors, garden, Health, iPhone12, personal, Personal History, wandering photographer, yellowLeave a comment

Finished 8th round of immunotherapy today. Few more months to go, if no surprises. Next scans in September.

All good 👍🏻💪🏻.

🫶🏻

Portal to another World

On By Fred KingIn 2024, bubble, cancer, cancer clinic, Ireland, personal, Seattle, Thoughts, wandering photographer2 Comments

Finished 3rd round of chemo a couple of weeks ago. That part is going as one would expect- usual side effects that pass after a week or so. My anemia is negatively affected by the chemo so I now have to get a Retacrit shot every week ( side effect of the shot is a constant, massive headache 🤕). As much as I like the staff at the clinic….seeing them weekly was not on my radar. The normal weekly dose of Retacrit is 20K units. I’m given 40K! It’s become a real battle between Anemia and Cancer 🤷🏼‍♂️😙. A bit absurd, but what can you do? It’s fun to watch the doctors as they react to these skirmishes.

The fourth ( and perhaps last 🤞🏻) chemo is coming up on Tuesday, next week.Enjoying feeling normal -relatively speaking-for the next few days.

The title of this blog post is a reference to a song lyric by Dublin singer, songwriter, writer & guitar player, Keeley Moss. Her band, KEELEY, is pretty amazing. Like me, she is a True Crime buff, and has a WordPress blog, The Keeley Chronicles, which is dedicated to the 36 years old, still unsolved murder ( in Larne, Northern Ireland-Ballypatrick Forest)of 18 year old German student/tourist, Inga Maria Hauser, in 1988. It’s a heartbreaking case that Keeley Moss has presented in a multitude of chapters or posts on her blog, with sensitivity and insight.

Anyway, here is a shot of me during round 3 of chemo, recently. Not bad for almost 73! Lol!! No close ups allowed! I’m more comfortable being on the other side of the camera lens 😉.

My best to all!

Don’t sweat the small stuff.

💪🏻👍🏻💙.

Second Chemo

On By Fred KingIn 2024, B&W, black & white, cancer, cancer clinic, Fall, iphone 12, nature, Nature, Personal History, Seattle, Thoughts, wandering photographer, West SeattleLeave a comment
Was a long one yesterday, 4.5 hours. Mostly due to extra labwork to check on my kidney function – would I be able to handle a dosed down Carboplatin infusion ( one of two chemo drugs I’m getting). This particular lab had to be sent up to the main hospital lab, rather than the in-clinic lab. I was given an injection of Retacrit, which should increase my RBC. I’ll have to get this injection and kidney testing with each cycle of chemo, but I’m still on track to finish by November and then do a PET scan and assess where we are.

Can’t say enough good things about the Oncology staff and especially the nurses. It’s got to be a taxing job, on many levels. I have a great rapport with my Oncologist-brilliant guy!

It’s nearly the official start of Fall.

Don’t sweat the small stuff.

All good 👍🏻💪🏻🙏🏻.

Health Update

On By Fred KingIn 2023, backyard, cancer, Environment, Human, iPhone12, reflection, Seattle, Thoughts, wandering photographer, West SeattleLeave a comment

Today I met the radiation Oncologist and his staff. They were all wonderful. I’m in really good hands. Next week I go in for CT Mapping of the tumor. Once mapped, the coordinates of the tumor are entered into the SBRT machine and will be ready for treatment. I have one more CT scan with contrast to do so the doctor has the latest image of the tumor. Doctors at two hospitals have been tracking this tumor for the last 9 or so months, so there is a plethora of imaging and data to work with.

Pre-Sunrise

What’s in My Bag

On By Fred KingIn wandering photographer2 Comments

For an itemized list see the homepage of my blog. Thought it would be fun to do an aerial shot of what is currently in my camera backpack.

Note: On my Gravatar, I mentioned I am a cancer survivor. Today I have updated that status. The cancer has returned ( so far, a 1″ tumor with cancerous tissue surrounding the tumor, in my upper left lung.) to the same place as last time. Surgery is out of the question this time around as the tumor is very close to a major blood vessel ( which caused problems last time). One more CT scan on Oct.2nd to get a fresher look at things before starting treatment, which of this writing will be Directed Radiation. Treatment may be more comprehensive as new imaging and tests are completed. Probably won’t know something substantive until early November. Doctors want me to get my back surgery completed before I move onto treating the cancer.

I plan on posting till early October, when appointments get a little crazy and distracting. ( Just a warning :-)).