Blog Update 08/26/2017

I saw my oncologist, Dr Ganti, last Tuesday and had a CT scan from the head to the hips. Received good and bad news from Dr Ganti. The bad news is the cancer is growing, I have had a lot more pain in my abdomen than usual, he said this was the lymph nodes getting bigger, so the current cancer medicine isn’t doing the job anymore. The good news is he has two other treatments he wants to try. So, we will see how that all pans out.

Tuesday, I still am having surgery on my right arm. It was schedule for a 5:30 am check in and surgery at 7:30 but for now has been changed to a 10:00 am check in and surgery at 11:30, all subject to change. I will be glad to get the surgery done and eventually use my arm again.

I believe God will show Dr Ganti the right treatment to use and that the surgery will be a success but I can use all the prayers I can get. So please pray for me.

That’s all for now

God’s Blessing to all.

We had a great weekend, Carl & Merilee came down from Mitchell, SD Friday night and stayed through Monday. Sunday Jim & Jo AuBuchon, Jim and I were roommates when we were stationed at Dyess AFB in Abilene, TX. He & Jo were on a two-week sojourn of the Midwest and stopped by to say hi. It was great visiting with them.

While Carl & Merilee were here we played Canasta and Rummikub. I remember playing Canasta with my grandmother and my brothers and sisters. We had a ball playing then and we still enjoy it today. It was great having them visit.

I went to the orthopedic doctor last Thursday and after looking at the x-rays he said the bone wasn’t healing as it should. I have two choices, continue the way we are going now, that is do nothing, or he can surgically put a plate over the fracture and screw it into place.

I called the oncology case manager and asked her to ask my oncologist if he thought surgery would be ok. I didn’t want to do anything detrimental to my treatment regimen. She called back a day later and said we could go with the surgery, she has started the ball rolling, the surgery would be done outside the VA and so she will get everything set up and then all I have to do is show up for the appointments she set up for me. I probably should have done this from day one but hind sight is always better than foresight.

This weekend we are going to Wisconsin to watch some baseball and visit with the kids and on our way home we will stop in Ames to see Tiffany and family.

What a great weekend we had in Wisconsin, the weather was beautiful and we saw great ballgames. Grandson Mason was playing in a wooden bat tournament. (That’s all we had was wooden bats) It was a good tournament, a bit warm on Sunday but overall very nice. Mason caught all three games on Sunday minus two innings. He was a tired kid by the end of the day. Madyson helped me by getting me some refreshments. All in all, it was a fabulous weekend.

Monday morning, we get up and my back is killing me, muscle spasms from left shoulder blade to the right shoulder blade. I was prepared though I got some medicine a week or two before to help alleviate the pain and it did the job by lessoning it.

We left Wisconsin for Ames IA to see Tiffany and family. We stayed at the GrandStay Hotel & Suites, it was a nice place. We had a living room with kitchenette and a bedroom with king size bed. There must be different sizes for a king size bed because the one at the GrandStay and the Hampton Inn are different in width. We got to visit with Tiffany and family and had dinner with them. We went to Old Chicago, it was right next door, the food was pretty good, the service was very good, we had a good time visiting with them.

Headed home the next day, Sarah did all the driving coming home and I will say she did a great job.

I received a call, on our way home, from the orthopedic nurse saying that I am set for surgery on my arm on Aug 29. I want to get it done as quickly as possible and probably should have had it done when we came back from Arizona. I waited because I didn’t want to surgery if we didn’t have to but the arm is not healing and so I will now have a plate screwed onto the humerus so the bone does not move and with therapy hopefully I will be able to use it again. Also, the bone may heal itself over time.

The bad thing about this is Sarah’s 50^th class reunion will be Labor Day weekend and my 55^th is the following weekend. We had to cancel all our reservations.

That is about all that has been happening around.

Until later.