Author: Bruce McLarty

Yesterday was the start of my second round of chemo, 5/23, not May 23rd. It was suggested that with a stronger dose, 350mg, I should take it at night to combat the nausea. Ok, good. I did that. However, I forgot to take the Zofran 3x a day yesterday. This was not good for me. It is an anti-nausea med. I sure could have used it last night. I’ll let your imagination tell you what happened. I’ll just say it wasn’t pleasant, and I won’t be forgetting those meds again.

Tonight I was hesitant to eat and almost just wanted to have a protein shake for dinner, but I did take my meds as directed. I’m hopeful that I won’t have the nausea tonight. We had some leftover lasagna and a salad, same as last night. Let’s see how I fare. I was nervous at breakfast and lunch, but remembered the nausea came after the meds last night. So I ate my breakfast and lunch as I normally would. No issues in sight. I’m sitting here after dinner typing this up, waiting with bated breath to see if it comes again. I sure hope not. It started last night with some sneezing and extreme salivation. I bought some Emesis bags (barf bags) before I started all this madness months ago. Last night was the first time I had to use them. My wife came in to check on me last night after dinner, and I said, “Perfect timing, hand me that box of bags.” With my slowness, there would have been no way I would have made it to the bathroom on time. It would have been a mess to clean. I’m so happy I had the forethought to get all these things prior to my treatment cycles.

Tonight, so far so good. If it happens, it happens. What more can I do? I’ll just deal with it if and when it happens. I have the supplies at the ready. I won’t get upset like I did last night. Sometimes it just gets to be too much to handle. I’ve maintained a positive attitude throughout this change, but a person can only handle so much.

Side note: I like to go to bed with a glass of milk each night. I’ve done this ever since I was a kid. I love a nice cold glass of milk before bed. Last night I was nervous to have some, but I couldn’t resist my normal bedtime routine. I had a half glass. I was fine. The nausea had subsided by then, and I was okay. Please don’t let it happen tonight.

I think I told you about the Liquid IV being too sweet for me. It’s brutally sweet. I wish it were sugar-free. I have more than half still. I did, however, order some Nectar hydration instead. That, I can tolerate more than the Liquid IV.

On a lighter subject, my boys stayed with me all afternoon. It was nice to spend the afternoon with them, even though they slept through the day. Just having them near is comforting to me.

I started watching The Knick on HBO Max. What a show! I was hooked straight away. I also watched another BritBox show today called Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? Very good. I like that these series are straight to the point and only have a few episodes. I believe this was an Agatha Christie story. Very enjoyable.

Thank you for stopping by!
~Bruce

So last night, I increased my steroid dose to combat the vertigo. I messaged the patient portal on my app and let my nurse know the trouble I’ve had with vertigo since last week. She said to increase the steroid again, and I am so glad she said that. I was on a lower dose of steroid. I tried Meclizine to help with it, and it made the vertigo much worse. I took more steroid last night, and this morning I was so much better. I prepared my breakfast. I could walk a further distance without the boozy woozies.

So breakfast came and went. I watched a couple of episodes of Frasier and some news. I then made my way out to my wife’s car to head to my blood work appointment. That was no problem, in and out. Back home, the cats greeted us at the door. My wife made sure I had everything I needed, and she made her way to work. I had my lunch and drank 3 nectar hydration packs today.

I had my wife take out a frozen lasagna for dinner. From frozen, it said it could take up to 2 hours. No thanks, I asked my wife to just put it in the microwave to thaw for the day. This should now only take 30-45 minutes. It’s in the air fryer oven combo now cooking, and it smells amazing.

I took my first dose of my second round of chemo about 5:30 PM. I will only be on this for 5 days and then 23 days off. I tried to get as many kisses as I could before going back on these meds. Kisses from my wife and kisses from my kitty cats. They are a few of my favorite things in life. I hope this higher dose of chemo meds won’t have too many effects on me. Time will tell.

I watched YouTube cooking shows and off-road recovery videos (my new obsession). These off-roaders give me such anxiety seeing the aftermath of them getting stuck. The recovery crew also gives me great anxiety watching them get unstuck. My goodness, the mess it is. I’m glad my rooster is a pavement prince. I’d never put him in that situation. Say what you will, but no way.

My nurse put me on Ativan to help with the vertigo. I’m not sure how it will affect me, seeing how the Meclizine messed me up. Unless it was all from the lower steroid dose. I’m not going to play around trying to figure out which caused what. I will say though, I haven’t felt better stability with walking than being back on a higher dose of Dexamethasone (steroid). Ativan is the generic Lorazepam. This cracks me up. Did you watch the most recent White Lotus season? Parker Posey was on Lorazepam, and the way she would say the name was hilarious to me. Imagine a thick Carolina accent: Luhrazuhpahm.

Anyway, thank you for stopping by!
~Bruce

This week has been hell on Earth with my vertigo. The docs started me on Meclizine. This was supposed to combat the vertigo, but it made it worse. Just my luck. I stopped taking it on Wednesday, I think. I just wish it would get out of my system and give me back the little stability I had. It wasn’t much, but it was more than I have now.

I start my next round of chemo on Tuesday: 5 days on and 23 days off. The dose is much higher than before, being that it is only a week a month. I am hopeful I won’t have too many, if any, symptoms. The meds should arrive Monday from the specialty pharmacy. I have blood work Tuesday.

We’ve been wanting to get me out of the house for dinner for a while. As Dexter says, tonight’s the night. I made my way to the front, but my knees were weak. I was a bit slow moving, but I made it. I get nervous when I’m like that: shaky and wobbly. I was afraid it would rain while we were out. I didn’t want my hand to slip off the cane handle. Luckily, no rain came. I made my way out the door and to my Jeep. Slowly but surely, I got there, climbed in, and we were on our way. We went to our local pub we love so much, Fat Rabbit. I had some wings, buffalo garlic ranch, and some tots. My wife enjoyed her Cuban sandwich and some tots. If I wasn’t on so many meds, I would have enjoyed a nice peanut butter old fashioned. They even put a peanut butter cup in it. It’s a yummy drink. I swiped a sip of my wife’s. Very tasty and chocolatey. The wings were amazing, super crispy as I requested. They make their own sauces, so my fave is the buffalo garlic ranch. So yummy.

So we made it there and enjoyed our dinner. Back home and had to floss…wings, you know? lol We were going to stop for ice cream after, but it was too soon after dinner and we both didn’t feel up to it. Chunk Doggins. Once home, I had to give my Chippy a pill. He has his monthly injection at the vet tomorrow. We have to give him an anxiety pill, gabapentin, to calm him down. The last time at the vet, they didn’t want to inject him without it. They said he was spicy with them last time. Well, I would be too if I got poked 5 times and didn’t get the meds injected. So I popped the pill down his throat. Tomorrow will be another pill a couple of hours before the shot. Wish us luck. He’s usually a good boy, but I get his spicy outlook. That’s about it.

Thank you for stopping by!
~Bruce

Well, all has been decent-ish since my MRI. I just have terrible vertigo and dizziness. The doctor wrote a script for Meclizine to combat this. Well, I think it’s doing the opposite. Yesterday was a normal amount of boozy woozies and dizziness. Today, on the other hand, has been a nightmare for walking. I took my doses as directed 3x a day. The first couple of days, I didn’t notice much help or hurt. Today is nuts with it. My worst day for walking. Even after my biopsy, I was getting around better. I have since pulled them all out of my pill planner box. I won’t be taking them anymore. I messaged my nurse through the patient portal and let her know how today has been. Rough to say the least. I prepared dinner; that was a chore. I got my lunch; that was also a chore. My wife helped me with breakfast. She could see me struggling to walk this morning. She said, “Just go sit down and I’ll get it for you.” I am thankful to have her. I feel good. I just feel like I can barely walk today. Very unstable. Not so much spinning, just balance issues.

On a lighter note, I ordered some LiquidIV instead of the nectar this go-round. I wanted to try a couple of different flavors. Unfortunately, they aren’t sugar-free. But they are oh so delicious. Today, I tried the pink cotton candy and the blue cotton candy flavor. With the nectar, I pour half the bottle of water in my yeti cup and then I mix the packet with the other half of the bottle. It’s a perfect flavor ratio this way. I tried this with the LiquidIV but didn’t realize how much that sachet has in it. Way too much for a half bottle. It was sooooo sweet, too sweet even. I powered through it. I won’t order these again. I’ll stick to my Nectar hydration packets. Plus, the LiquidIV gives me pause because of the dyes in it. I don’t know if they are the bad dyes, but my Nectar packs don’t tint the water. The LiquidIV turned it pink and blue. Weird, but I’ll deal with it for now. I mean, I already have cancer, so what is a little extra dye? lol

Well, that about sums up my day. Oh wait, I almost forgot. I made sausage and peppers and trusted Google for timing of the cook. Well, it was raw inside. I like to set it and forget it in the air fryer oven. I didn’t check when it beeped and said it was done, due to the boozy woozies. My wife noticed, so we had a bit of delay for dinner. I mean, it was RAW. No worries; we fired up the cooker and let it finish. Some dark spots here and there, but it was fine.

All in all, it was an OK day. I did some work remotely. Normal stuff. I watched a Britbox series which was amazing. You can find them on HBO Max here in the States. The one I watched today was called The Sixth Commandment. So good.

Thanks for stopping by!
~Bruce

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 8, 2025

LOCAL BRAIN TUMOR HUMILIATED BY PATIENT’S STUBBORN REFUSAL TO DIE

TAMPA, FL — In a stunning turn of events, local troublemaker “Rudy the Tumor” has failed to advance his position for the second MRI in a row, according to reliable sources inside Patient Bruce’s cranium. Medical imaging confirms that Rudy is “stable,” which in oncological terms translates to “You thought you were going to win, didn’t you? Well, you didn’t, you gelatinous loser.”

Radiation treatments have officially concluded, leaving Bruce no longer subject to daily zapping. “I kind of miss the warm, toasty feeling,” Bruce said, “but I’m not going to miss being a walking Easy-Bake Oven.”

Chemo will resume under a new “five-days-on, twenty-three-days-off” model — a schedule so relaxed that Rudy has reportedly filed a workplace grievance citing unfair labor conditions.

Notably, Rudy’s current size is smaller than at initial diagnosis, although unchanged since the last two scans. Experts call this “good news,” while Rudy calls it “fake news.”

Bruce remains upbeat: “Stable means I’m winning. And if Rudy thinks he’s moving in rent-free, he’d better start paying utilities.”

About Bruce

Bruce is a man of grit, humor, and unnervingly resilient middle fingers, currently deployed in the general direction of his tumor. He enjoys cats, Jeeps, and proving MRI technicians wrong.

Media Contact:

Warp Speed Whiskers PR Department

press@rudysucks.com

Celebrations in order? Yep! My MRI was done today. Scans show stable, no growth, change, or migration. Good news! Dr. P was happy about it. Still a low-grade glioma. No change there. I’ll take it.

I was a ball of nerves this week leading up to the MRI. I kept it all in so as not to worry my family. I know it’s not good to internalize things, but it seemed to help me just push it all down. Focus on other things. Keep your mind busy. Why worry anyone with how I feel when we would not have news till today anyway?

No radiation is ordered. Yay! However, I am going on the 5/23 protocol of chemo. 5 days of chemo, 23 days off. Now I just wait for the pharmacy to fill it. They had to take my weight today. I told the scale to be nice to me. It was not. Between the steroids and my increased appetite, I have put on some weight. I am not too happy about that. Shirts are a bit snug. My watch is tight on my wrist. I don’t want to be chunky again. Gotta reign this weight in.

I have a Zoom call with my surgeon Dr. L on Monday morning. The MRI went as expected, timely and to the point. My medical oncologist was running behind today. 2 hours waiting is brutal. I’m so happy, well as happy as I can be. I know this isn’t going away. Rudy, my dark passenger, will always be there, but it is not growing or changing, which I am super thankful for.

It is also International Cat Day. My boys are spoiled enough. Do I spoil them more on this illustrious day of theirs? Nope. They have all the things; they get all the love. I won’t abandon them as they do to me daily. I will give them their due love and kisses, but they are such spoiled brats. I need to get all the kisses I can in between them and my wife before I start back on the chemo.

Thank you for stopping by!
~Bruce

Let me tell you, it has been difficult the last week. The vertigo has been through the roof. I am having to take so much extra time just getting around. I messaged the patient portal, and one of the nurses responded, saying potentially the steroid could be causing a negative effect. I don’t know about that. From everything I have read from other patients, it seems that is not correct information. The nurse recommended I step down further with my dosage. I am currently on 5mg dex: 2mg in the morning, 1mg at lunchtime, and 2mg at dinnertime. I felt much better on 6mg. IDK how this will go if I just take 2mg at breakfast and 2mg at dinner. We will see.

I had bloodwork this morning. I had such a difficult time getting to the car to go. I was so nervous. Coming home wasn’t bad, and getting in the house wasn’t too bad. Nothing like going. I got my sandwich okay at lunchtime. I walked to the bathroom no problem, multiple times today. I heated up dinner and was a bit wobbly. What a mess this is.

I have an MRI and doctor appointment Friday. Hopefully, there will have been some shrinkage or stability to Rudy, the tumor. No headaches to report. Honestly, the only thing that has been plaguing me lately is this vertigo. Vision is fine, speech is great. Even the phlebotomist said she noticed my speech was so much better. In the beginning, the slurring was so terrible. Now it’s non-existent.

On a lighter note, my cats have been absent most days. They still abandon me for the front room of the house each day. Tonight, Chip didn’t come see me until his mama got home from work. I rested most of the day. What more do I do, really? I watched a couple of YouTube videos and some Britbox. I’ve been into watching offroad recovery videos. Britbox shows have been on HBO Max. I’ve been recently watching Blue Lights, an Irish cop show. It’s really good. The Gilded Age is coming to its season finale. I hope Mr. George Russell pulls through, but IDK because I read that he did not sign a contract for next year. I love his character. I always laugh when I’m watching F1 or The Gilded Age. George Russell is both a character on the show and a racing driver. It just makes me chuckle.

Tonight we had some carnitas sandwiches and a salad. It was yummy.

Thank you for stopping by!
~Bruce

Well, I thought I was done with blood work last week, but the scheduler called and scheduled another month’s worth of blood draws. Yay. Sarcasm. Then I had to call back because they scheduled at the wrong campus. This would have been a nightmare to get to. I had to have them reschedule each appointment. I asked if she could just schedule and I’ll check the patient portal. That did not happen. Now I was on the phone with the scheduler for another hour. Yippee, more sarcasm.

The last few days have been okay. Today we made some egg bites. I got pretty dizzy afterward. It took me a little longer to get back to my resting area. My knees were weak. Mom’s spaghetti? lol I had to take my time to get back.

I noticed I get fewer views on here when I don’t post on FB about a new post. I really don’t want my Facebook page to be all cancer-related and telling of new posts. I’ll take the fewer views to maintain a more positive FB. It’s been more cat and Formula 1 posts. Stuff I enjoy.

We watched the new Happy Gilmore movie on Netflix last night. I loved it. I hated Frank Manatee; he has such a punchable face. It was good to clear my mind and go to a happy place. Shooter was fantastic.

Yesterday, the cats were hell-bent on getting in my way, playing with my cane and rubbing up against my legs when I walk. This could lead to disaster and me falling. I wasn’t too happy about it. They annoyed me with their antics. Leave me be, boys. Pancake is the worst offender. Chip just started doing these things. Sometimes, in the morning when I am getting my breakfast ready, Pancake will swarm me and knock over my cane. I have to then wait for my wife to come and collect him so he isn’t in my way.

New legislation in Florida allowed for my county to offer free Weight Watchers for residents who are already on a paid monthly plan. Not much criteria to meet to access the free service. Since I have been on the steroid, I gained a bit of weight. This increased my BMI, which allowed me to get the WW for free. That’s pretty rad, but I gotta drop this weight. It saves me $16/month on a WW fee. It only took a phone call and a bit of time. Not too shabby. I’m glad I watched the news that morning. I was going to skip it and just put something else on.

That’s pretty much it. Thank you for stopping by!
~Bruce

The other day, I went for my last scheduled bloodwork. My schedule is now open. It’s odd not having to be anywhere at an appointed time. I find more time on my hands.

Scanxiety is starting to set in. I have my next MRI scheduled in a couple of weeks. I’m hopeful for some Rudy shrinkage. Keep me in your thoughts and prayers over the next couple of weeks.

Most days I’ve been streaming shows and working. It’s been an adjustment not going to my radiation appointments. It’s been nice; I’m not complaining. I enjoy not having the head sweats and brain buzz. The chemo brain is fading away. Much clearer in there now. Not taking the chemo meds has been wonderful.

Thank you for stopping by!
~Bruce

We had to take the boys to the vet for their annual visit: shots and check-up. Wrangling cats is usually not a difficult task. Today was a different story. Chip really didn’t want to go. Normally, you just show him his carrier, and he walks right in. This morning, however, he did not want to. He ran through the house and made it more difficult than it should have been. We finally cornered him in the front room, and he was put in his carrier.

This would be my first visit to the vet office since my diagnosis. I ordered a wheelchair so I can be more mobile outside of the house. We stowed it in the bed of the Jeep. I made my way outside, and we were on our way. The boys screamed in unison the whole trip to the vet. High and low cries. Screams even. We arrived, and I wheeled in with Chip in his kennel on my lap. The tech saw us and helped with the door and collected Chippy off my lap. We were then escorted to their cat room. Today’s visit will consist of a rabies shot for each boy, and Chip gets a shot for his back knee. He has a luxating patella. His knee pops out of socket. It looks worse than it is. It really doesn’t seem to bother him all that much. He still runs on his wheel and throughout the house. Fast as can be, this boy is the Usain Bolt of cats. Pancake was a bit nervous on the way, and he peed a little in the carrier. I hope it didn’t seep through onto my seats in the Gladiator. It won’t be the first time. When Chip was little, he went in my other truck. It wasn’t bad, but it lingered in the heat and had a minimal stink to it. Eww.

Normally, Chip is a good boy at the vet. He gets his shot for his knee each month. They jab him, and he goes and waits in his carrier. Today was different. He was feisty and didn’t want to be there. Growling commenced; he doesn’t usually do this. The shot for his knee squirted out. He got his rabies shot no problem. Pancake, on the other hand, is not a good boy at the vet. When he was a kitten, he had to spend a few nights at the vet because he ate carpet and cherry stems. This ruined his opinion of the vet for life. Now, each time he goes, he turns into the devil himself. Lots of growling and hissing. We let Chip go first as not to let him see Pancake get so upset. That made no difference. Chip was like Pancake Jr., growling, hissing, and fighting the whole way through. They tell us to come back tomorrow as not to ruin his perception of the vet visit. This boy has the memory of an elephant. I think he’ll be just as mad tomorrow. Let’s hope it goes smoothly.

We finish up and pay, and I’m feeling froggy. I want to try my hand at driving. I haven’t driven since my diagnosis. That’s 4 months. I climb in the Jeep, and my wife loads up the boys and the wheelchair. We’re on our way now. I felt at home again behind the wheel. I got a bit dizzy when I turned my head. That goes away pretty quickly. It felt amazing driving again. I know my wife was nervous to let me, but I needed this. I missed driving so much. I missed my Jeep. The control of machinery. I’m not sure how soon I will be driving fully, but this was a great first step.

Thank you for stopping by!
~Bruce