San Tan Valley, AZ
Ok, renamed this and bumped it so people are aware and don’t do stupid things like ask me how I get up in the morning, which yancy was a real class act dick tread.
Hello Pinside!
It’s not every day one gets the bad news of their own demise, however this past week my Doctors actually held up a mirror and pointed to a interesting birthmark that I had never noticed before… “Best if used by 3/1/2025”.
I have been diagnosed with liver cancer.
My prognosis right now is not very encouraging. The MRI and CT scans have identified 2 tumors in my liver and to keep it topical, one is about the size of a pinball and the largest is just a little smaller than the circus ball in Circus Voltaire.
Size and number of tumors places me at Stage 4 liver cancer. Which is the really bad news, even though we caught it before I exhibited any symptoms. Currently I don’t feel sick and not experiencing any outward signs.
To answer your immediate question, we found this via yearly bloodwork, and then only by the fact my white blood cell and platelet counts came back being low.
I am scheduled for a PET scan to determine metastatic issues, such as did the cancer start elsewhere and end up in liver or did it start in the liver and has it moved outside it yet?
The Surgeon said I am not a candidate for resection (removal of tumor) and not a transplant candidate until we can determine if it is isolated only to the liver, but in his experience (28 years) he was fairly sure we will find it outside the liver. In this case, that would be the “worst” scenario.
Survival rates for liver cancer are not promising, and currently only 32 out of 100 patients live past 3 years, and only 12 people out of 100 are standing at 5 years. The problem with these numbers for me are they are based on finding the cancer in stage 1, and unfortunately we found it at stage 4, so my treatment is already way behind schedule, making my chances even slimmer.
Now, I will acknowledge you sunshine and rainbow types who will point out there ARE survivors at 5 years and that possibly could be my fate, and yes, that is the slim hope I do have to cling on to, but that was not the “mood in the room” when talking with my health care professionals.
Which brings me to the Topic of my post…
Pinball Bucket List.
Do you have one? What is on it? If you were given a more brief engagement on this planet than you had casually and originally expected, which machines would you like to spend you last days playing? Are they machines that traditionally kicked your ass and you would just like a few months “mono a mono” with them? Or would they be machines that make you feel good when you kick there ass like you always could? What machines would you turn to to make your pinball life as complete as possible before you grab your coat and hat from the coat check girl and head for the exit?
Currently, my Pinball Bucket list is short, simple, and consists of a single title, and one that not too many of you would probably choose, but of all the pinball machines that I have walked past, and now, after years of walking past it to play more modern games, wish I had dropped a quarter in as much as I did every Pinbot I NEVER walked past-
Bally Centaur
I do not think a more fun ruleset has ever been hidden away waiting for you to find it and play it on a flatwood pinball machine. Given a chance to play almost any kind of pin at ZapCon this year, including all the latest Rudy this, Rush that, Godzilla-smilla, Valhalla-schmalla, and a whole lineup of more than 120+ titles ranging across almost every decade, I spent it mostly playing a ton of Centaur.
But then again I am a sucker for an add a ball ruleset. Which is why I own a Gottlieb Subway… and yes it is almost as much fun as Centaur in a “for it’s day” kind of way.
So what’s on your list?
). God bless. I’ll keep you in my prayers. Pinball wise, I’d go to the Pinball Museum in Vegas and play EVERYTHING.
Lempäälä
Zemst
