Larry’s Discovery & Decision
For those not aware, in late November 2024 Larry had received confirmation of what he had expected was the cause of serious stomach and digestive issues which had more regular over time along with having begun experiencing episodes of vomiting blood for now apparent reason he initially attributed to his history of ulcers given the fact he had not been able to eat much and keep it down for a while. After an episode of vomiting blood which was enough to cause him concern (given how it takes a lot to cause him concern) he decided to seek emergency medical treatment.
During the ER visit the treating DR with an oncologists after conducting endoscopy of throat and esophagus , CT scans of the abdomen and stomach, kindly informed Larry he had stomach cancer. Despite that diagnosis given Larry waited until some pathology exams & other test result were confirmed before making it known to friends, family and then to all. Larry was diagnosed with Stage 3 stomach cancer which required him to make some decisions on how he intended to approach it. Given the that Larry watched both his parents as well as step mother, close friends etc do what most people are told by Dr’s and others to do when diagnosed with cancer, undergo the surgeries, chemo treatments, radiations treatments etc… all with the same reasoning almost everyone uses when telling someone with cancer to undergo those things: It will extend your life if not completely stop the cancer altogether. If surgeries and chemo gives you 6 months or 2 years more to live then why wouldn’t you do it?
Larry has always felt and expressed openly to his mother who despite extending her life for years undergoing surgery after surgery, rounds of chemo after round of chemo, radiation and everything else she was advised to do, even though she was alive, she was not ever actually living with any quality of life of any kind. In fact she continued to develop one cancer after another, from breast cancer to colon cancer resulting in her wearing a coloscopy bag for the rest of her life, to liver cancer, continuing to undergo chemo only to be sick the whole time, and ending up being killed by bone & blood cancer after her Dr missed it and instead determined she was going into complete kidney failure. The same with his step mom who listened to people after she was diagnosed with Breast cancer and while she was undergoing chemo that consistently made her violently ill all the time, she had developed bone cancer which had spread so fast she literally spent her last partial year of her life with not a single day having any quality of life in any way.
Larry after discussing with Dr the success rates for treatment on stomach cancer at stage 3 at his age, as well as taking his other health issues into consideration, the fact he had been having difficulty swallowing for years which he wrote off as being a result of his severe acid reflux his 5 plus decades history of ulcers. After consulting with Dr’s and conducting his own extensive research on the treatments available, their success rates based on age, medical history, other existing medial issues, Larry decided he was not going to waste a single day of his life living without having quality of life. So instead of putting himself thru surgery after surgery, rounds of chemo, radiation, which would rob him of many days of quality life resulting in him going for months spending each day sicker from the effort to extend his life by a few months. Instead Larry has decided he will live out the rest of life concentrating on quality of life rather than quantity, planning as best he is capable of doing, to make himself as comfortable as he can as his health begins to worsen while using the time to make sure when the day comes where he is no longer here everything needed to be taken care of has been making sure not one person needs to do anything other than lifting the shot glass and throwing back that one last shot on him.
With the arrival of the New year Larry got yet another expected diagnosis. Larry had tumors form in his saliva glands back in the early 2000s and after one had become the size of a golf ball he had them surgically removed in Dec 2007. Over the years since he had smaller ones return and form in the same glands, but they had remained so small he didn’t bother with them. In January 2025 after having 3 tumors form in his saliva glands the size of marbles he sought to have them removed and tested. In 2007 despite the size of the tumors they were not cancerous, given the stomach cancer discovery Larry decided the new tumors should be removed rather than left alone and end up finding out later they too are cancerous. After removing the tumors in January pathology confirmed them to be cancerous this time. It was determined at time of removal nothing else was found needing to be removed. Recently Larry has found that tumors have reformed in the saliva glands and did so in rapid time compared to the past. The decision was made to have a needle biopsy done to determine if they too are cancerous but Larry had already decided he was not going to undergo another surgical removal of the tumors. As expected the biopsy resulted confirmed the newly formed tumor are cancerous. Knowing allows Larry to continue with life knowing what he is facing rather than being hit with an unexpected surprise later.
Right now Larry has concentrated on being able to maintain a roof over his head by being able to pay his rent, his water, electric, internet, medications, hygiene supplies, certain cleaning & disinfectant supplies, liquid nutritional supplements and certain food products which he prepares and liquefies which allows him to get a few spoons at a time down and hold it down. Larry would like to Thank those who are responsible for his on this date being in his house and being as comfortable as he can be because of your contributions over these almost 6 months.