Still alive & Well... (every now and then I know it's kinda hard to tell...)

Well, I haven't posted here in a while and I imagine that the legions of adoring Wild Ride readers are clammoring mightily by now... (cough) [sound of crickets]

Today is my last day of Whole Brain Radiation Therapy (WBRT). I hope it has done me some good but have to admit that I don't have a lot of confidence in it. Most literature I've been able to dig up seems to suggest that it (WBRT) is just no good at wiping out "radioresistant" tumors such as Renal Cell Carcinoma.

Still, if it buys me some time and quality of life then I guess it'll have been worth it.

I am starting to get a little uncomfortable about the following weeks as I understand that the cumulative effects build over weeks and months and that it's likely to get worse before it gets better. But we'll see. I still feel fairly decent for now though I'm weaker than a geriatric lamb these last few days.

Lets see.. lots of other stuff going on around here.

My brother is flying in from Baltimore today with our 17 y/o nephew whom has been staying with them in DC while his father was in jail for assaulting the boy's mother - my sister - who was recently admitted to a full-time nursing care facility, probably permanently due to severe diabetes, spinal meningitis and a whole host of other dire health issues both mental and physical, some self-inflicted and some just plain shitty luck. She is 9 years my senior.

My bother, 10 years my senior, has just recovered from a quadruple bypass accompanied by a few scary days from complications - revisits to the hospital due to infection. But he seems to have come through it all in fairly good shape.. Oh and his younger daughter is getting married in a few months so I sure hope everyone can remain healthy long enough to attend, including myself. The wedding will be on the east coast so I'm not sure if I'll be up to it by then or not but I am hoping, even though I barely know her, sadly.

The father of my sister's son, my nephew, was arrested for assault I believe on the same night that I went to the hospital for that initial brain tumor/hemorrhage. No one mentioned it to me till a week or so after. I guess they figured I had enough on my mind as it was.

Turns out that this normally quiet, timid man got drunk, freaked out and tried to stab my invalid sister. The charges were eventually reduced from attempted murder to assault. He's still in the clink as I type this and there's a whole lot more to that story but no need to go into it here...

My father is losing his eyesight to macular degeneration and suffering severe depression for which he flat refuses any sort of treatment for and my mother seems to be slipping into early stage alzheimer's and hearing loss.

Sometimes it feels like our entire family is going to hell in a bucket.

But I know many out there have it as bad or worse so I keep my head up for the most part. But some days.....

I don't usually talk about my family much here and I'm not sure why I did today.. it was just on my mind I guess.

See you next time..