Hello everyone,
Well, its been a couple of months so i thought I should let everyone know how things are going. To those of you who take the time to read these entries, thank you for your interest in me, my health, my family... my life.
When I last posted in April, I had conquered the nausea I was getting from the chemo pill that I am taking (Xalkori/crizotinib). I was gaining strength back slowly but was having a real problem with shortness of breath. Well, I talked to the physical therapist at the Cancer Treatment Center, Timi is her name, and she said my breathing problem was because I had lost so much strength, particularly in my legs, that my muscles were very inefficient in their use of the oxygen they were being supplied. So, since the first part of May, I have been going to physical therapy twice a week. My therapy is basically a very light workout and then some time on a Nustep (recumbent stepping machine). Well, Timi was right. Slowly my strength is coming back and my breathing is very much improved!
As soon as I started getting that issue resolved, another one arose. Isn't that just life in general?! For the last few weeks, I have been having a lot of dizziness! When it first popped up, it was bad enough that it would cause the dizziness-nausea-vomit cycle to kick in! That REALLY sucked!! My oncologist wanted me to move up my July MRI to see if there was something happening there, but I haven't because the dizziness isn't making me sick anymore. I told him that I didn't think it was the brain timor because the orginal symptoms with that was that I lost hearing and that hasn't happened in the slightest. The bad part is that with my dizziness and my numb feet from the neuropathy, sometimes it looks like I've had more than a snoot full! (I'm glad my church family knows the situation!) I'll let you know in July if the MRI shows anything new.
As for the cancer, according to the latest CT Scan and MRI, everything is the same size and remains unchanged at this point in time. As I said in my last post, considering the endless negative possibilities, I am very, very blessed!!
Everything with the Hicok clan a snapshot of the last entry I posted. Catherine keeps plugging along. She is going to a National Embroiderers Convention in Louisville, KY next month for a week. Melissa is off from UNI for the summer, but still working part time. Next year is her senior year in Accounting and once she graduates, she'll take the CPA exam. Grant is still doing well at Deere PEC and just got assigned his own test cell so he doesn't have to float/fill in every night. Jody is pretty much recovered from her borken ankle but it stills bothers her a bit now and then (especialy when pushes too hard or is really tired). And as always, Eli is just fun to have around! He is full of energy and giggles, is stringing together words, is interested in everything, and still loves guitars.
And now what you've all been waiting for... Bible trivia. The question from the last post was: What religious movement began with Martin Luther's attack on the sale of indulgences? The answer is: The Protostant Reformation. Now for for this entries question... On the ark that Moses built, how many decks were there?
In closing, I once again would like to thank all of you for your prayers and support. I told a friend recently that I never think of blaming God for being struck with this disease. I know that we live in a sinful world and sometimes we get caught in the crossfire. Being a sinner, as ALL of us are, I and we deserve far worse! But we have the sacrifice of our Savior for our sins and the strength of God to get us through even the worst of times. We just need to accept His grace and mercy.
God's Blessings to you and yours!
Jace
