For almost a year, the well-known humorist and actor Rasťo Piško (63) has been struggling with a serious diagnosis that changed his life from the ground up. Last year, he was diagnosed with melanoma on his back, the magazine recalls. Although he was dependent on the help of others for many months and was going through an extremely difficult period, he did not lose his famous optimism and smile on his lips. Today, after months of treatment and uncertainty, comes with encouraging news about his health, which has started to move in the right direction.
Doctors found three metastases in his body. “Hip and spine, these two probably resulted in my legs going away. And the third finding was on the brain. I have a feeling that there is still something there. The legs improved, so it is possible that the treatment worked. And as for the brain, once they gave me some terrible drugs for three days. When I had a scan I was told it had not improved. And since then I didn’t know what state it was in. However, I had an MRI of the head just recently,” he was shocked. The doctor told him during the check-up that the situation was good and the humorist believed him.
Cancer put him in a wheelchair, on which he appeared a few months ago at the launch of his new novel entitled The Gift of Eva Braun. Although he is still an oncology patient, he sometimes forgets about his illness during his great effort to get back on his feet. “I cycle on a wheelchair stationary bike, I exercise on my bed and I feel pretty good physically,” he shared.
His legs are slowly starting to obey him, and Piško thanks to that he believed that he might recover. He continues with demanding treatment. According to his own words, he receives chemotherapy in the form of pills and goes for check-ups once every two weeks. However, he does not hide that he also overcame crises in the past months.
“I had a fever of 39 degrees Celsius. And here they have an order that when my condition starts to change, worsen, that is, if I start vomiting or have some visions, or the temperature rises, they immediately call an ambulance. At that point I was taken to oncology, where I stayed for a week and even ended up on ARE” he recalled.
The doctors found that he had low blood pressure, but they could not raise it in any way. “So I was connected with about six cables for about three or four days and they literally scraped me off the ground. Well, they settled it and I came back here. And what is important is that my physical health has somehow not deteriorated, that I can move my legs and arms. I’m trying to gain muscle mass. I like to eat, that’s an important thing, because I didn’t like it at all before. I threw the food in the trash. I even wanted to opt out of lunches and dinners. Well, I had to eat, I was ordered to. That’s when I really thought I was done,” he confided.
At that time, Piško already had dark thoughts. “I really thought I was done. I wanted to call the notary to make my last will. I was going to do it. However, I found that it wouldn’t last long, I don’t have that many assets. Apart from the apartment and some savings. My heirs would share that once or twice. And some books, I would bequeath them to friends who could choose. But since my condition has improved, I haven’t called the notary yet,” he said honestly.
“It felt the same as when a person passes away. I would basically fall asleep and die. It would be quite a pleasant death. (Smile.) But they started pumping me, it took my blood pressure every 20 minutes. I had six cables in me, even a bladder outlet, so I couldn’t move. They took very good care of me, they put me together. But it took a week. The second time I was taken by the ambulance again because I got a cold. I must have caught a cold. They kept me there for six days, during which time I was on new meds and it looks like it was the side effects of the new meds. Fortunately, I didn’t physically fall at that time.” he added in conclusion.
