10-05-2011 Wednesday

Hello everyone. I wanted to wait to post another entry until I got my voice back (I don't know why, you can't hear me anyway!) Anyway I'm over the cold or whatever and am now dealing with last week's chemo kickback. I don't feel too bad this week, just very tired. I did want to tell you that back on Tuesday, 9-27-2011, I had the joy of another MRI. If any of you have had an MRI of your head you know what I'm referring to. Its not painful, but it it really hard to not move your head AT ALL for over an hour! But, I survived and then went to see Dr. Ryken, my neurologist. He looked things over and told me some great news and some maybe not so great news. The great news is that my last MRI showed that my brain tumor was 1x1cm and this latest MRI show that the tumor is now 1/2x1cm! Woo hoo! Still shrinking. The maybe not so good news is that because the tumor continues to shrink so quickly, it may in fact be related to my lung cancer and not a beningn meningioma. Again, not good news but it doesn't really change any treatment approach at this point in time. I'll have to talk it over with my onocologist, Dr. Masri, at my next treatment and see if he would recommend it be treated, and if so when and how. As far as the rest of my life (yes, there is life beyond cancer... its a part of me now but not all of me), things are going well. I am still working, either at home or at JD PEC when I'm up to it, the rest of my family is busy, healthy, and growing... Eli especially! God continues to bless and strengthen me through all of my daily trials... as he does all of us! I have been practicing for the East High Alumni Swing Show which will take place on Thursday October 20th at 7:00PM, Friday October 21st at 11:00 AM & 7:00PM, and on Saturday October 22nd at 7:00PM. I'll be playing electric bass and singing. DON'T MISS IT!! Now, to close with this entry's trivia question. Last entry's question was: What is the shortest verse in the New Testament? The answer is: John 11:35 "Jesus wept." Those of you who responded, all got it correct! Kudos to you! OK, now for this entry's question: What were the names of Lazarus' two sisters? Good luck and God Bless!
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09-19-2011 Monday

Hello all. Kinda felt crappy all day today so I worked from home at least part of the time and took a long nap as well. Somehow I lost my voice starting Friday night and it comes and goes at will. Its not a sore throat or anything, just a coating of really thick mucus. Everybody hungry now?  hehe. I was invited to attend the Iowa - Pitt game this weekend by my brother-in-law Roy (Catherine's younger brother). It worked out great because the comeback touchdowns were scored in the north endzone about 20 yards in front of us! It was so kewl! Thanks again Roy! Nothing else too earth-shattering on the home front. I went and had bloodwork done today and the counts are holding at a good level. Catherine spent today at a quilting class (sounds booooring to me but she loves it and that's what counts). The kids are all good and as usual, Eli is the cutest and smartest grandson in the world! :o) God has truly blessed me. It's easy to fall back and say, "He let me get cancer, how is that a blessing!". But the fact that I have His strength and guidance is the blessing. The fact that I have family and friends who love and pray for me is a blessing. And the fact that I realize my body has failed me and He is the only real strength that I or any of us have is a blessing! Lord we thank you without end! Oops, I almost forgot the trivia portion of this posting. I was asked if you as readers were supposed to respond. You are all welcome to respond... it might actually create some interesting conversation. The last question posted was: What was Paul's original occupation? the answer: Acts 18:3 And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tentmakers. Did you get is right? Here is the next question: What is the shortest verse in the New Testament? Good luck and God Bless!  :o)

09-13-2011 Tuesday

Hello again friends,
My apologies for not posting my status in quite some time. It truly was a case of no news was good news. Treatments have been holding the cancer at bay and I didn't think that you would be interested in hearing of my aches and pains over and over. As I think about it though, by not hearing anything you all could be thinking either, "Awesome! He's cured!" or "I'm so sorry he's gone." Well, I'm not gone and I do have more than the mundane to pass on today. Last Thursday I had my 11th chemo treatment and got the CT Scan results from the day before. Now you must keep in mind that my treatment is in the "maintenance" cycle which means that we expect and pray that the chemo keeps the masses from growing again. But this news is much, much better! The radiologist report noted that every mass that he measured had DECREASED in size! They're still shrinking!! My heart thumped hard and tears welled in my eyes when I heard that! Thanks be to God in all of His glory! He is awesome! My body still is very fatigued from the internal battle that continues, but with the prayers and strength of family, friends, and God, we will continue battling! My family continues to do well, with work and school, and my grandson Eli growing like a little weed! He has discovered that he can stand on his legs now and he giggles and smiles all the time (especially at Grandpa!). Today I'm going to add something extra that I thought you might find interesting. My lovely wife Catherine sometimes says that I am a walking encyclopedia of useless knowledge. I simply tell her that she is free to have her own opinion. But not all of that knowledge is useless so... from time to time I am going to add a Bible related trivia question to see how well all of you "know your stuff'". If you guess it, pat yourself on the back. If you don't quess it, too bad, so sad. So, here is the initial trivia question: What was Paul's original occupation? Have an awesome week everyone, thank you all for your continued prayers, and GOD BLESS AMERICA!

07-31-2011 Sunday

Well, it was a good week and has been a good month overall. I had my 9th chemo treatment Thursday which now take only two short hours rather than six or seven. Before treatment, Dr. Masri, Catherine and I went over the radiologists report on my last Monday's CT Scan and looked over the actual scans as well. The report said that the masses are basically unchanged in size or shape, which is a good thing... we just don't want them growing again! Looking at the actual images seemed to indicate (this is just visual mind you) that the scar tissue that was in my lung from when it partially collapsed (at the beginning of this whole adventure) seems to be healing well to the point of disappearing and that the mass on my chest seems to be flattening out and maybe even getting smaller. Again, those are visual observations and not on an official medical report... but its encouraging to me! A little more good news. My feet are starting to feel much less numb and painful. I don't know if its is the ALCAR/ALA suppliment that I've been taking, the steroids that I have to take before treatment, or some combination of those and the passing of time... it doesn't really matter, all I know is that they're feeling better right now! Grant brought Eli to the Cancer Treatment Center during my treatment and we got to watch him that afternoon. He is so cute!... and growing so fast, and he's starting to smile and giggle and coo and blow bubbles and... He's just awesome! The rest of the family is doing well too. We all feel so blessed to have the support of friends and family and church family and most importantly, the love and grace of God in our lives. There are still brief instances when it flashes through my mind, "why me?" But then I look around and see all of the blessings in all of our lives and especially in my own life and I think, "God uses all things for good and this is my opportunity to demonstrate how God's strength and love can bring anyone through even the worst of situations!" God is not just good, God is truly awesome!

07-18-2011 Monday

Hello everyone. I know it's been some time since my last entry but it truly is one of those situations where "no news is good news". I've had another chemo treatment (number 8) over the past month and the side effects seem to be holding pretty steady. The first feeling of total exhaustion hits me on the Monday or Tuesday after my Thursday treatment. It seems to be taking a little longer to get back up to speed unfortunately. I worked from home most of last week only making it in to work on Thursday. As I said in a previous post, I no longer loose my appetite nor does any food or drink taste like crap. My top three side effects are extreme fatigue, achy joints and muscles, and the lingering neuropathy (numbness and pain) in my feet. The neuropathy seems to be improving slightly but it can pick up the pace anytime as far as I'm concerned! Since my last post, my beautiful wife had a birthday on July 4th and my beautiful daugher-in-law Jody had one just yesterday July 17th. Eli, my grandson, is growing like a little weed and now he is starting to smile and giggle and use his voice more and more. Jody said the best birthday present she got was from Eli when he rolled over from back to tummy for the first time! Way to go Eli! One of the nurses at the Cancer Treatment Center asked me the other day, "are you tired of telling everyone that you're tired?" My answer was "YES!" I do appreciate their concern and I'm sure it gets redundant for them to repeatedly ask, "How are you doing?' simply to hear my reply of' "Pretty good... just tired." But at the same time I thank God that I can honestly say, "just tired" rather than, "just horrible" or "I can hardly stand the pain!". You know, the Bible tells us that God only gives us burdens that we can bear with His help. Well, last January I found out that my body was attacking itself and He was immediately there to hold me up when I thought I would fall, to give my body and mind the strength and wisdom needed to battle this devious and deadly enemy, and guide the those who give me love and support and reassure me that I am not in this battle alone. God, I thank you for your love and grace and for your presence in my life. Amen.

06-18-2011 Saturday

Greetings and salutations! : ) It has been quite a busy week. Early Monday morning I went to visit Lynette at Covenant and get another CT Scan of my lungs to see how treatment is progressing. Then on Thursday, Catherine and I headed to the CCTC (Covenant Cancer Treatment Center) for the morning. I had gave blood and urine samples before doing a follow up with Dr. Masri. My blood counts are all holding pretty good and the CT Scan gave us good news. Of the three masses in my right lung, one was quite a bit smaller than the 04-25-2011 CT Scan, one changed to a more round shape and was slightly smaller, and the third had remained the same size. The mass in my left chest/breast was also the same size as well. At first I was kind of disappointed that they hadn't ALL shrunk but Dr. Masri pointed out that I am now in a "maintenance cycle" and the goal is to shrink the masses if possible but to definitely "maintain" their size... we don't those nasty things getting bigger! That made feel alot more positive about the results! After that I had my treament, which only took a couple of hours and then we got to go home. Eli spent the afternoon with us too which made our day even more special! Then, last night I went to the Relay For Life walk at Hawkeye Community College. I was truly impressed! It was extremely organized, free food was provided to cancer survivors (my cancer isn't gone but I am surviving so I'm considered a Survivor) and their caregivers, I got a free "Survivor" t-shirt, and walked my first "survivor lap". Not an event anyone really wants to participate in but it was an honor for me. As we all walked the lap, the spectators and team members applauded all of us all along the route. It felt kind of strange to be applauded for being sick but it was truly moving to have them appreciate the mental and physical strength needed for all of us to become survivors. I also ran into a bunch of old friends and classmates (most of whom were team supporters and not survivors thank the Lord) and got to chat for a while with them. You truly felt the support and compassion of your fellow man and the presence of God. He truly is an awesome God and I believe He is guiding the efforts of researchers to find a cure for this disease. Have a blessed week everone and all you fathers (including my son this year... woo hoo!) have a safe and happy Father's Day. God Bless.

06-13-2011 Monday

Hi everyone. I have a few things to share that I think you will find interesting. To begin, let's start with news of my brain tumor. Last Wednesday morning I had another MRI, my 3rd so far. As I've said before, they are not painful in any way but this time I had to hold my head still - perfectly still - for around 75 minutes! If that wasn't bad enough, I was fighting of the tail end of a cold and swallowed so much to keep from coughing, that I almost ran out of spit! talk about cotton mouth! But God was with me and we made it through with flying colors! Later that afternoon, Dr. Ryken (my neurologist) compared my three MRIs. Even he was somewhat surprised to see that the tumor is now about 1/3 of the size it started at in January! He even said he was going to do some reading on the current studies of the effect of Avastin (one of the drugs I get during my chemo treatments) on benign brain tumors. He also noted that since I don't seem to have any permanent hearing loss or symptoms, he now believes that my tumor is not an acoustic neuroma but a meningioma. Needless to say, with these results, Catherine and I were beyond happy! We know that it is the hand of God guiding my healing, my treatments, and all of those who care for me during this ordeal! Thank you heavenly father!!! As for the cancer, I had another CT Scan this morning and we will review the results with  Dr. Masri (my onocoligist) this Thursday before chemo treatment #7. The side effects on the new chemo cocktail that I receive seem to be much less caustic (for lack of a better word) to my body than the mix used during my induction phase. My biggest complaint at this point is the perepheral neuropathy (numbness/nerve damage) in my feet caused by the treatments during the induction phase. However, as I've said before, I new there would be pain and discomfort going into this situation, and I also know that God is guiding my treatment and my recovery and we all know that God's plan is not always easy to understand. We have become creatures that want immediate satisfaction, but must remember that our ways ARE NOT God's ways nor vice versa. Thank you for your healing strength Lord. To close, I had to include a little about our newest family member... my grandson Eli. He is simply awesome! In addition to being the cutest baby ever, he is now starting to smile a lot and coo, giggle and talk back when you talk to him. Thank you Lord for blessing our family with this source of joy! He is the the boost that we all needed at this time in our lives! God Bless all of you and thank you for your continued support and prayers! Praise Jesus!!