Twas The Night Before Christmas

And all through the house, every creature was stirring and our house smells like cookies. Well Done cookies at that.

We are all ready for Christmas, now if we could just fall asleep and stay asleep all night. If this Christmas is like any of the past ones, Julie will be up all night and around 3:00am she will nudge me and ask if it is time to get up yet. Oh the joys of Christmas.

What A Day At The Hospital Today

Well, today was the big day for my mapping. We had to be there at 6:30am which was fine, then they took me in and started to hook me up to all the hardware and all of a sudden I started having panic attacks as I flashed back to the time I was there before.

I started feeling okay up till they told me that they would have to shave me again to prep the area. That is were I lost it. You just lose all manhood when they do that to you so I was not feeling good at that point.

The good news was that they only shaved my legs in that area just enough to make a 1/2 inch incision. I was now feeling pretty good. they then rolled me down to the operating room and gave me the drugs to get me loopy before they started. It worked.

When I was done, I woke up and they said I had been there for a while but was still recovering so I went back to sleep. Later they gave me lunch and then told me I could go after they took out my IV. That is when it went bad. I ate my lunch, got my IV out and stood up to go and got sick and had to vomet my lunch right out.

I then felt okay so we started to leave and I got on the elevator and went down to the first floor and I started to black out so when I got out of the elevator I dropped right to the floor and was close to out.
Note to anyone reading: When you pass out in a hospital, you get a LOT of people that come running. I looked up and found about 10 people that were standing above me calling for help and asking me how I was feeling and checking my blood pressure. They finally got a gurney and put me on it and took me to the ER. I told them I didnt want to be checked in there so they just let me sit on the chairs outside of the ER and watched me for a while. after about 5 minutes, I started feeling fine so we stood up and left.

I tell you, it was really strange having so many people fuss over me. I have always been on the side lines watching other people have that type of stuff happen to them. I really felt like an idiot but oh well. I guess it was the safe thing to do.

So now I am home and letting my leg heal up so that I dont start bleeding. I was told not to drive today but other than that, I am fine.

We really never found out what made me pass out but I think it was just that I was still groggy from the meds and should have waited a little longer before trying to get up and leave.

Now we have to wait for a couple of weeks and then they will call back and set up the day for the Radiation treatment. Then back in for a repeat.

I will keep you posted.

Just for Fun

So today I am posting a picture of my fourth grade class here. Yes, that is me in the back second from the right in the yellowish shirt.

Okay, now that you have had a good laugh, let me point out the really funny thing.

If you look at the top left hand corner, you will see my sweet wife Julie. Yup, that is her, right there in my fourth grade class with me.

We have known each other a LOT longer than the 20 years we have been married. It makes it interesting when we look at this picture because we both know all the kids and can point them out easily.

Here's to Good Ole Times !!

Latest Dates for my Cancer Treatment

So here it is, the middle of December and I am gearing up for Christmas and Radiation. I don't know which one I am least looking forward too. At least the Radiation treatment wont come with lots of boxes and wrapping paper that I have to find a place for right?

any way, so here is the deal. I am scheduled for a CT scan on the 19th of Dec. They want to do that to make sure that everything inside looks normal and ready for the mapping.

Then on Dec 23rd I will be going in for "mapping" which is where they will do an incision into my groin and into the Arterial artery and they will shoot die into my blood and watch it via live X-ray and see where it goes. if that goes well then they will proceed with the scheduled Radiation treatment on the right lobe of my Liver.

That will take place about two weeks after the mapping but the exact date will not be determined until I do the mapping. I will keep you all updated on when that will be.

As for Christmas, I am not really the type that gets excited for this holliday, (unlike my wife) and this year is no different. I cant believe that we are only a few weeks away. I think I am more excited for January 1st so I can get this year over with. It has not been the best of years and the only good thing that came of it was that our Daughter was married and is happy.

well, thanks for stopping by.

Cody having the Time of His Life

Here is Cody in our backyard the day that they poured Cement at our home, he was having the time of his life.

Thanksgiving Today

Today is Thanksgiving and I thought I would tell you a few things that I am thankful for. I have been extremely blessed in my life and have a wonderful wife and family. I am truly thankful for them and for all the support they give me.

I am also thankful that I have been given an extension on my life so that I can be with my family and watch my kids as they grow and mature.

I am thankful for the ability I have to love, to feel, to to simply be alive. My wife and I have been married for 20 years now and I am thankful that she has loved me unconditionally all these years and continues to amaze me as to how giving she is. She is the best!!

I am thankful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and for the understanding that I have of the truths that he taught. There are way to many things that I could list here but just know this, that I am thankful for so many things this year. I have been tested almost beyond what I could take and have learned so much through it all. I truly am thankful just to be alive. That is something I never thought I would say.

feel free to reply and say what you are thankful for. I think it does the spirit good to know what we are thankful for.

Today's Radio News

So today while I was driving to work I was listening to the radio which is what I usually do. And yes, because I am getting older, I listen to the news when I drive in the mornings. It seems all that they report on is Bad news.

Someone robbed a Bank, Someone Got Stabbed, The Economy is going terrible, our retirement investments are shrinking by the minute, and on and on.

It makes me sick to hear so much Negative News. I wish there was a station out there that just talked about the positive things in life.

Something like this:

Hello everyone, Today is going to be a great day, we are going to be able to see the sun come up and shine on us and warm us up today, we are also looking forward to having some callers call in and tell us where they are and how great their day is going.

Right now, looking at the roads it looks like most of them are traffic free and moving smoothly. Yes, there are a few that are backed up but hey, most of them are moving along greatly.

Today, we also need to report that there were 5 new babies born in our City yesterday and we would like to welcome them into this wonderful world. Lets all work together to make this a better place for those 5 kids as well as everyone else.

Don’t forget to hug someone today and smile at everyone. Remember, you only get 1 today. After that, today will be a tomorrow and you cant re-live it. Just make it better every day.


Now that is something I could listen to Every Day.

Bungee Cords

When we moved, we had a lot of help and someone brought a clear plastic container of Bungee Cords and they were left at our house after the move, does anyone remember who brought those or whose they might be so I can return them to their owner?

Thanks,

The Picture that I Promised

Okay, finally here is the picture that I promised I would take of our new house. It is about dusk so the lighting wasn't that great but it is okay. You can see the new Cement that we had poured on the right side. That is for our Camper. I sure hope it fits.
We measured two or three times and every time it looked good but I am still nervous. We will see the end of the month when we bring it back home.

Thanks for stopping by

Weekend Entertainment

This weekend we were invited to go to the movies with some of my family and the movie we saw was called "Fire Proof" it was a very touching movie and had a lot of spiritual lessons in it.

We also decided that we needed shelves in the garage and built some and then cleaned up the mess that we had from the move. wow, it is sure good to get that whipped into shape.

Today is now Sunday and we went to my nephews home coming. He went on a mission to North Carolina and it was great to listen to his talk and hear all about his mission.

We have not really had that much else going on around our home and I am still waiting to hear more from my Doctor so at this point that is all I have to report.

SetBack to Report on My Health

Today we went to the Doctor's and met with the Doctor that reads the CT scan and he had a little different take on what he saw. He says that the Tumors in my liver are growing and have now increased enough to make him want to treat them. Not the news we wanted to hear, but we are going to fight this and get through it.

His suggestion is to meet with several other Doctor's and view the old scans with the new one and compare and make sure that he is seeing them correctly. At that point, they will set up an appointment with me to give me Radiation in small glass balls that they will feed directly into my blood stream and have then go directly to my liver. He said this is a very effective way of treating the Liver and thinks this is all that I will need. It will be two treatments, and will take a couple of months to set up and do.
I will keep you updated as I hear more.

We Moved and it went Great !

Well everyone, the move to the new house came and went without a hitch. we managed to pack up the moving truck and several other trucks and get it all over to the new house in about two hours. 8:00am to 10:00am then the hard work came of unpacking everything.

I cant say thank you enough to all those that came and helped. I think we had close to 40 people there and I don't know how we would have done it without all of them.

I still need to take a picture of the new home and post it on here and promise to do that real soon. (as soon as we find the Camera)

My health has been great. I feel better every day and my strength is coming back more and more as time goes by. I was even able to help with the move.

Thanks again to all who helped.