November 7th

Today we met with my oncologist at the Center for Health and Healing at OHSU.  Very good news in that the bone scan they did of me showed that the cancer had not spread to any other part of my body.  My lungs and all vital organs were cancer free.  The shadowing that they had found on my hip bone was simply an extension of my tumor that is already there  It is so insignificant that they felt there was no need for radiation at this time.  I will monitor any of my symptoms and as long as there is no change in any of them then we will not worry.  If I get any new symptoms I am to tell them and then they will decide what to do.  If my condition goes unchanged, my next scan will not be until some time between 6 to 8 months.  So today's appointment was great.  Brother B, Michael, Tiff, Amber and of course my beloved Kath were all very excited, as well as myself.  .

The swelling of my legs has gone down, so they have taken me off of Lasis.  I was excited about this because it means I get to take one less pill.  One of the problems I have been having is my lack of sleep.  I have tried two sleeping pills the last couple of nights and it has had no effects.  So tonight I am going to take three pills and if that does not work I will take four pills the following night.  If that doesn't work, they are going to have to figure out something different so I can get some semblance of sleep.  The only question they could not answer was about the shooting pain that goes through my right foot, which is like getting an electrical shock.  They said that it was a result of the tumor but they had no answer to it.

So all in all, the day was a very good day.  I will continue to get around using my walker and monitor my condition on a daily basis. I know all of your thoughts and prayers have helped and I ask you to continue them.  I love you all.

     Last weekend presented a lot of challenges.  Just when things were most difficult, Kath opened the front door to go outside and found a bag of goodies from Great Harvest which is one of our favorite places.  As we read the note, we discovered that the family that started Great Harvest had left it along with their good wishes and prayers.   It added a bright spot to our difficult weekend.
     Wednesday I had my CT scan done.  During the scan, the electricity went off in the hospital.  I was so unaware that I thought that it was part of the procedure.  After the scan, we went down to the Center for Health and Healing (where Tiffany, Michael, and Amber met us) for my appointment with the doctor helping me deal with the pain.  We then met with my chemo doctor who told us the results of the CT scan.  The positive is that the tumor has not grown at all and it is the same as it was a month ago.  Also, the cancer is not in any of my organs.   However, they found some shadowing on my hip bone which is a cause for concern.  Because of this, I had a bone scan done Thursday morning at OHSU.  Kath and brother Brad were allowed to watch this procedure because it did not involve x-rays or any radiation.  They did a full body scan which lasted eighteen minutes, then did a three minute scan of one side of my skull, and then another three minutes on the other side.  Really enjoyed all the doctors, technicians, etc in the nuclear medicine department.  Now I wait until late next Wednesday to see if anything shows up.  All my doctors will conference about the results before I see them.   Basically, if they find anything, they will use radiation or chemo to treat it.