Popular Post hostrauser Posted July 16, 2023 Popular Post Share Posted July 16, 2023 When we last saw our intrepid hero, he was undergoing a battery of tests (some of which involved objects being shoved in uncomfortable areas). On August 1st, 2022 the verdict came back: stage 4 colorectal cancer that had metastasized to the liver. Not the news I was hoping for. I was three weeks shy of my 46th birthday. A large part of the past year has been spent in hospitals and cancer wards having gallons of poison injected into my body. The goal was to knock the cancer down enough that they could perform a bowel resection and remove part of my liver. Seventeen rounds of chemotherapy and one week of radiation later, tests in May, 2023 could not detect any signs of active cancer in my body. We actually overshot the goal: both of my oncological surgeons agreed that surgery was no longer necessary, at least not right now. In June we decided to shut down chemo to let my body recover. My next round of tests is in early August and, if those come back clean, I will officially be in remission. Far too early to say we've won the war, but the first major battle has gone as well as we could have hoped, literally a best case scenario. I thank you for all of your prayers and good thoughts. To the delight of some and the dismay of others, I don't intend on leaving any time soon. So, in the words of Meatwad from Aqua Teen Hunger Force: "God has allowed me to live another day, and I'm about to make it everyone's problem." In DCI, everyone is facing the usual perennial problem: how to catch up to the Blue Devils. Forget going undefeated: will Concord even lose a CAPTION this season? Also, while Vanguard is inactive, another corps is stepping up to try to ensure that California continues to have three finalist corps. 99.045 Blue Devils 96.742 Bluecoats 96.517 Boston Crusaders 96.180 Carolina Crown 93.180 Phantom Regiment 92.078 Mandarins 90.711 Cadets 89.567 Blue Stars 88.956 Cavaliers 87.689 Troopers 87.433 Colts 84.440 Pacific Crest 82.923 Crossmen 82.736 Blue Knights 82.571 Madison Scouts 82.121 Spirit of Atlanta 81.582 Academy 79.217 Music City 79.185 Blue Devils B 76.129 Gold 75.215 Genesis 74.731 Spartans 73.194 Jersey Surf 71.011 Golden Empire 68.106 Cascades 67.426 Impulse 66.947 Southwind 66.894 River City Rhythm 66.191 Vessel 64.830 The Battalion 64.468 7th Regiment 63.830 Guardians 61.947 Colt Cadets 60.095 Blue Devils C 59.726 Heat Wave 58.979 Raiders TBD Les Stentors 24 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KVG_DC Posted July 16, 2023 Share Posted July 16, 2023 HE LIVES! Welcome back! Glad to hear the fairly positive prognosis! Given your avatar, I was remembering all the 'redundant organ removal' gags done to Zoidberg. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barneveld Posted July 16, 2023 Share Posted July 16, 2023 Welcome Back!! For those of us with severe cases of CRS (can't remember ####), could you remind us how you get your results? Please and Thank You!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Corps Guy Posted July 16, 2023 Share Posted July 16, 2023 8 minutes ago, hostrauser said: When we last saw our intrepid hero, he was undergoing a battery of tests (some of which involved objects being shoved in uncomfortable areas). On August 1st, 2022 the verdict came back: stage 4 colorectal cancer that had metastasized to the liver. Not the news I was hoping for. I was three weeks shy of my 46th birthday. A large part of the past year has been spent in hospitals and cancer wards having gallons of poison injected into my body. The goal was to knock the cancer down enough that they could perform a bowel resection and remove part of my liver. Seventeen rounds of chemotherapy and one week of radiation later, tests in May, 2023 could not detect any signs of active cancer in my body. We actually overshot the goal: both of my oncological surgeons agreed that surgery was no longer necessary, at least not right now. In June we decided to shut down chemo to let my body recover. My next round of tests is in early August and, if those come back clean, I will officially be in remission. Far too early to say we've won the war, but the first major battle has gone as well as we could have hoped, literally a best case scenario. I thank you for all of your prayers and good thoughts. To the delight of some and the dismay of others, I don't intend on leaving any time soon. So, in the words of Meatwad from Aqua Teen Hunger Force: "God has allowed me to live another day, and I'm about to make it everyone's problem." In DCI, everyone is facing the usual perennial problem: how to catch up to the Blue Devils. Forget going undefeated: will Concord even lose a CAPTION this season? Also, while Vanguard is inactive, another corps is stepping up to try to ensure that California continues to have three finalist corps. 99.045 Blue Devils 96.742 Bluecoats 96.517 Boston Crusaders 96.180 Carolina Crown 93.180 Phantom Regiment 92.078 Mandarins 90.711 Cadets 89.567 Blue Stars 88.956 Cavaliers 87.689 Troopers 87.433 Colts 84.440 Pacific Crest 82.923 Crossmen 82.736 Blue Knights 82.571 Madison Scouts 82.121 Spirit of Atlanta 81.582 Academy 79.217 Music City 79.185 Blue Devils B 76.129 Gold 75.215 Genesis 74.731 Spartans 73.194 Jersey Surf 71.011 Golden Empire 68.106 Cascades 67.426 Impulse 66.947 Southwind 66.894 River City Rhythm 66.191 Vessel 64.830 The Battalion 64.468 7th Regiment 63.830 Guardians 61.947 Colt Cadets 60.095 Blue Devils C 59.726 Heat Wave 58.979 Raiders TBD Les Stentors Such great news. I was back in MKE and CHI a couple weeks ago for Summerfest and Drum Corps and I was wondering how you were doing. I am very glad to hear the news that no cancer is detected. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brassboy Posted July 16, 2023 Share Posted July 16, 2023 Amazing news! I'm SO happy that your treatment went so well! Welcome back, and thanks as always for your Power Rankings! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sh0uldN0t Posted July 16, 2023 Share Posted July 16, 2023 Delighted to see this. The data too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hostrauser Posted July 16, 2023 Author Share Posted July 16, 2023 12 minutes ago, Barneveld said: Welcome Back!! For those of us with severe cases of CRS (can't remember ####), could you remind us how you get your results? Please and Thank You!! Blood tests, endoscopies, CT scans, MRIs, PET scans. I've had them all. Oh, did you mean the drum corps scores? I enter the results into a spreadsheet loaded with formulas (formulae? forumulai? formica?). Only Wed-Sat scores are considered. The formulas compare the results against prior scoring margins to determine if the scores are progressing in a reasonable fashion of if they are jumping all over the place. Dampening or boosting factors are added to specific shows if they calculate significantly above or below other recent shows. Daily progressions are then calculated to give every corps a score for that day, even if they did not perform. Then I add a dash of magic (or bs, depending on your opinion) to get the final results, and extrapolate the weekly rating forward to guesstimate a season-ending score. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KVG_DC Posted July 16, 2023 Share Posted July 16, 2023 That cold open on the response.....Should have just left it at that for both results! 😛 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barneveld Posted July 16, 2023 Share Posted July 16, 2023 1 minute ago, hostrauser said: Blood tests, endoscopies, CT scans, MRIs, PET scans. I've had them all. Oh, did you mean the drum corps scores? I enter the results into a spreadsheet loaded with formulas (formulae? forumulai? formica?). Only Wed-Sat scores are considered. The formulas compare the results against prior scoring margins to determine if the scores are progressing in a reasonable fashion of if they are jumping all over the place. Dampening or boosting factors are added to specific shows if they calculate significantly above or below other recent shows. Daily progressions are then calculated to give every corps a score for that day, even if they did not perform. Then I add a dash of magic (or bs, depending on your opinion) to get the final results, and extrapolate the weekly rating forward to guesstimate a season-ending score. OOPS!! I meant the scores....... the other stuff is none of my business. I'm just happy to hear you're on the road to remission and wishing you the best going forward. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldbandguy Posted July 16, 2023 Share Posted July 16, 2023 WELCOME BACK! Congrats to your medical team. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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