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Friday, September 19, 2014

Update 9/19/14

Four down and two to go, I am going to get the full six chemo treatments. The scans they took last week. We got good and bad news, then some not so bad news. The scan showed the lymph nodes have shrunk by half, good news, bad news is something showed up in the bladder that they didn’t like, not so bad news is a urinalysis showed no caner in the urine, so now they will go into the bladder via the catheter route and see what they can see. They think it might be from the prostate cancer so we will wait to see what they will find.

Last post I said I hadn’t found any pros on the hot flashes, will I have found one and that is I DIDN’T GET THEM BEFORE NOW. I am sure they will back in full force after Sept 30 when I get my next hormone shot. Oh well small price to pay.

Sarah and I have done some landscaping around the house and before anyone asks no we nor I did any of it, we hired it out. We think she did a great job, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pretty-N-Pink-Jeannes-Landscape-Design/464053257018525. Here are a couple pictures.

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We have received quite a few compliments from the other home owners.

Went to WI via Mt Pleasant, IA and Burlington, IA, saw a lot of friends and had a good time. We got to see Mason play baseball, his team is made up of nine year olds and they played a team of twelve year olds and almost beat them. It was fun to watch.

We left on the tenth and got home on the fifteenth I was a tired puppy but loved the whole trip.

Not much else going on here at the moment, trying to walk as much as possible but I am still gaining weight, I guess it is due to the steroids I am getting. I suppose I could play major league baseball as long as they don’t test me for drugs.

Until later

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Update 9/9/14

It has been a while since I last posted so here goes with an update.

I have been feeling good, as I have said before I have a couple of days after a treatment where I feel lousy and very tired, other than that I feel good.

We bought two more chairs and a mirror, the chairs are for the living room and bedroom and the mirror is hanging on the wall of the dining area. I believe we have the house the way Sarah wants it. I like it too.

Haven’t really done anything outstanding the past few weeks, trying to get some walking done each day, if it isn’t to hot, and doing some reading. Russ Cerniglia stopped by a couple Sundays ago, he was in Lincoln promoting his BBQ sauce, it is good sauce, http://www.russandfranks.com/. Try some, I believe you will like it.

Today I had to go to the VA for a kidney/bladder scan and a CT scan. Before all of this I had to have blood drawn and for this I go to the Infusion clinic where I get chemo and (I don’t know what it is called but it goes in my port and they can draw blood from it or put fluids into me through it) but they put in this tube so they could draw blood and then when I went to X-ray for my CT scan they used it to put some sort of dye in me.

The kidney/bladder scan was first scheduled for nine but we got there about eight thirty so we were able to get in early. The tech asked me if I had drank three glasses of water an hour before, I said no and she seemed concerned but I told her if I had drank that much water I would never had made it without going to the bathroom, in fact, I said I needed to go to the bathroom at that time. She did the scan and didn’t seem to think it wasn’t a good scan. We’ll see next week when I have my urology appointment.

Then the CT person came out and gave me a twenty ounce cup of something, lemonade flavor, to enhance the CT scan. I drank it fairly fast so I got in early and before they could start I had to drink another cup, same size as before, then they could get started. As if I hadn’t had enough liquid they hook me up to a bag of saline,using my port, and then they inject some dye to enhance the pictures. I haven’t yet stopped going to the bathroom and it is four hours later. When the CT was done the tech told me to be sure and drink plenty of water. It seems I will get water logged in no time at all.

Next week I will have my fourth treatment but more important is on Tuesday I meet with the oncologist and hopefully he will tell me the chemo is working and the cancer is being eradicated.

In the mean time we are taking a short, quick trip to Burlington with a stop in Mt Pleasant to visit Dave & Shari Frantz and Moe. Then onto Burlington to visit my aunts, Marcella and Millie, then have dinner with Mark & Sharon Brueck. We are spending Weds & Thurs nights with my brother Larry and wife Kathy. Thursday we will visit cemeteries and then go to Ft Madison to see if we can find brother Jerry, hope to see him. Friday we are meeting a group of HS classmates for lunch and then onto Beloit, WI to visit Robert & Sarah, Mason and Madyson. Mason has a baseball game Sunday and then we head home on Monday. We are really looking forward to seeing the kids. We won’t be stopping in Des Moines on the way home but have planned a trip for some visits there in October.

Everyone tells me not to over do it, I don’t believe we will but the only thing you can do is listen to your body and if my body says to much then I rest but I believe I will be fine.

Some day I have to write about Hot Flashes, the pros and cons of them. Oh, wait a minute there aren’t any pros for them.

Till Later.