Reality Skewed Gamers run for the American Cancer Society
For their 2019 Charity Campaign, Reality Skewed Gamers is partnering with the American Cancer Society to help bring an end to cancer. This year, cancer has affected someone close to Reality Skewed Gamers - Stu's World. Who is Stu? Stu was an original founding member of RSG back when RSG was Real Sith of Genius. The eccentric, hilarious and foul-mouthed man known as SithLordStu quickly became a viewer favorite for his no-holds-barred opinion sharing, quick wit and fun-loving attitude about games and life. Stu was recently diagnosed with thyroid cancer. He has underwent treatment, and while the surgery seems successful, he will never be deemed fully cancer-free.
This year, Reality Skewed Gamers wants everyone out there to be as strong as Stu has been through his situation and be #stustrong. Being #stustrong doesnt have to mean you are battling cancer. Being #stustrong means you will face all obstacles head on, keep a positive attitude about life, and know that friends and family will get past those obstacles! Listen to
Also, we will be posting new RSG merchandise where the proceeds from the sale will go to good causes. Our first product is the first stitched RSG hat which is available for a limited-time to commemorate the 2019 Charity Campaign of RSG and ACS!
https://tinyurl.com/ybelpq9h
On July 20th, 2018 I was diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer. This was discovered after my doctor performed a routine physical and felt a lump in my throat. He seemed fairly concerned about it and sent me for blood tests and x-rays. After the results came back negative, he suggested to wait a month and see if the lump decreased in size. I expressed that I was not comfortable waiting a month so he recommended I go see an ENT.
I went to see the ENT he recommended and the ENT quickly said that there was a nodule on my thyroid and ordered an ultrasound. The ultrasound discovered a 6cm nodule growing on the left side of my thyroid that also had central course calcification in the center. So he ordered an ultrasound guided biopsy to determine if the nodule was malignant or not. While I was undergoing the biopsy (which really hurt due to the size of the nodule) the doctor decided to double check my lymph nodes. She did find a suspicious looking lymph node and decided to perform a biopsy on that as well. That is the point that I knew...
The following day I received "the call" from the ENT's office. "The doctor would like for you to come in and discuss the biopsy results". My hands are shaking just thinking about the feeling I had when I heard that. I went straight into his office where I was informed of my cancer diagnosis. Papillary thyroid cancer that had spread to my lymph nodes.
I had a CT scan done to my ENT could get a good view of the inside of my neck to prepare for surgery. My entire thyroid needed to be removed as well as the surrounding lymph nodes.
During surgery on August 15th, he noticed other swollen lymph nodes and that a couple of the lymph nodes had swollen and attached themselves to my jugular vein. So he removed my thyroid, many lymph nodes, the lymphatic veins and my jugular. This obviously resulted in a much more in depth and lengthy surgery. After a couple days in the hospital, he removed one of my two draining tubes from my neck and discharged me to finish recovering from home.
After having the staples and other drain tube removed from my neck it was time to move onto the radiation part of my treatment. Radiation therapy for thyroid cancer is different and unique to it. I definitely learned about the limitations of the body during my time being treated by the nuclear medicine department. You essentially take ALL of the radiation at once and are quarantined for a week, as you are physically radioactive and dangerous to other humans. You also have to be in a severely hypothyroid state which causes a bunch of physical issues on top of the radiation side effects. I had to take a VERY high dose of radiation due to the fact that my cancer spread and the extracapsular extension to my jugular.
We will not know if I am in remission for another 6-9 months as the radiation courses through my body and kills off the remaining thyroid cells in my body. My fingers are crossed.
Donate to ACS through Tiltify for some fun and rewards: https://tiltify.com/+reality-skewed-gamers/2019-rsg-acs
Donate directly to the RSG Team page with ACS: http://main.acsevents.org/goto/RealitySkewedGamers
