Some news

[Guest guest]

The dietitian at the radiation oncology unit at UCSF told me that

they thought I was losing weight much too fast (and pretty much

everyone else, including Dr. Stiles, concurs). They found a

supplement for me to take, which turned out to be hard to get hold

of, but Dr. Stiles worked her magic with the pharma company

representative, and they sent me a free case and expedited my order

for two more. When it arrived two days later, I took one - and

promptly had my first attack of gout in about three years, and it

was BAD. I will still be taking two of this supplement a day, but

splitting the dosage in half - which means now I'll have to drink

three protein shakes a day instead of two, and I'll still have to

guzzle the last quarter somehow. It's tasteless, but the texture is

like chalky grease (it's almost all fat). Well, gotta do what I

gotta do - but I still expect that I will need to go on a feeding

tube in a week or two, as my throat seems like one giant blister

now. You can even see a red burn mark on my skin.

I may have mentioned in the past that my girlfriend is something of

a guru in the blogging world. She, as well as some of the Kaiser

doctors and other friends, have been pressing me to start a blog.

This past week, my girlfriend set up my blog for me. I am currently

drafting a summary of my medical history as an introduction, so that

what I write about makes sense to whoever happens by. Since there is

no case of anyone being diagnosed or treated for cancer so soon

after bariatric surgery, my case is unique, and I hope that my blog

may prove interesting or useful. I am, of course, very opinionated,

and what use is a blog if you can't air your opinions there? I hope

that you enjoy that part of it, too.

Randy

Orientation - 313

Surgery (2/2/06) - 281

Current - 221