Hal Wilson’s Blog

   Alas, history is an interesting subject.  This week I have been reflecting on Hal’s History of Cancer and Other Things Not So Fun!!

   In August of 2006, I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Kidney Cancer and had my left arm operated on to install a metal plate to prevent my arm from breaking as the ugly cancer had eaten it partially through my left humerus. (Please keep this procedure in mind as we go along)  In Oct 06 my left kidney was removed. ( This was done laproscopicly which prevented me from selling a used kidney on ebay!!)  In Dec 06 I opted to participate in a clinical trial study which I remained on until Dec 08.  At this time I came off the study due to a lung disorder called pneumanitis caused by one of the treatments.  In an effort to treat the pneumanitis, I was put on a heavy regimen of prednezone, a strong steroid.  The prednezone cleared up the pneumantitis however it also had side effects as were manifested last Monday, 3/30/09, when I was admitted to St. Thomas emergency room.  This manifestation began about 2 a.m. when I woke up with hot flashes.  I got out of bed to walk down to the other end of our house to cool off when I passed out.  Dickie, my wife and caregiver, found me unconscious in the middle of our bedroom floor.  She was able to bring me back to consciousness at which time I crawled across the bedroom floor and pulled myself up using the side boards of the bed.  I then collapsed back into a rocking chair at which time I started throwing up blood; went into the bathroom and started passing blood.  The scariest part of this ordeal was that I couldn’t breathe.  During this time Dickie called 911 and within 10-15 minutes the EMT’s arrived.  What a great team!  They picked me up and carried me to the stretcher and the ride began.  I must say I felt sorry for the EMT’s as they had no heat in the ambulance and only one blanket.  A little rough as so much as the temperature was 30 degrees outside.  After they hooked be up to oxygen, I began to breathe fairly normal.  The emergency room people at St Thomas were wonderful.

   During the 6 days in ICU, it was learned that I had 2 bleeding ulcers which had caused me to lose quite a bit of blood, both at home and at the hospital.  On Wed. I had an endoscopy and a colonoscopy but the colon was so full of blood it was hard to get a good read.  It was also deduced that the probable cause of the ulcers was the prednezone.  In an effort to stabilize me and get my blood count up I received 9 blood transfusions.  I was told that we only have 15 pints of blood in our bodies so I had loss over half of my total blood.  Fortunately my counts began to come back up and the ulcers quit bleeding.  Another little problem was that my left arm was swelling and my hand looked like a catchers mitt.  At first the medical staff thought it could have been a blood clot so they conducted an ultra sound but supposedly found nothing wrong.  Then a vascular surgeon looked at the arm but found nothing.  On Sat. I was moved to a regular room on my usual 7th floor wing ( cancer wing).  On Sun. my staff doctor came in and felt like I was well enough to be  released so low and behold I came home.  Yea!!

   After arriving at home, I felt pretty good except for my left arm.  By Wed. it was hurting even worse so I called my orthopaedic doctor for a Thurs. appointment.  When the doctor came into the room he took one look at the arm and exclaimed “no wonder you are hurting your arm is broken”.  After 2 xrays it was confirmed that it was indeed broken. As near as we can determine it broke when I passed out on that fateful Monday 1 -1/2 weeks ago.  So as a result I have been walking around for almost 2 weeks with a broken arm being held together by 2 titanium screws from a previous operation.  On Mon., 3/13, I am scheduled to have another operation to reattach a new and longer steel plate and set the arm.

   As I reflect on the events of the past 2 -1/2 years, I can’t help but think how much these events are like life itself.  For example, I believe that cancer was possibly caused by the ingestion of poisonous particles in the air when I was doing demo on a number of the old houses I worked on over the past 40 years.  At the time I had no idea of the potential dangers that were present.  It seems that in life so many things we do have far reaching effects on our life in the future.

   What do you think?

   Thanks for taking time to read my story and thanks also for all the prayers that have been offered up for me by each of you.

   Hal