Dan’s Victory

Tuesday - April 20,2010

Okay - the latest update since I saw the doctor yesterday.
CMV virus test results were negative - That’s good!
My right eye has been blood shot for a while (Jane says 2 months or more). I don’t think you, but….   Doc said I may want to see an eye doctor.
Still have some coughing/throat tickle.
Fever blisters on my lip are gone.
Won’t be taking the chemos for another week - velcade, revlimid, dexamethasone.
Told doc my mouth and gums were real sensitive - he said it is Thrush and gave me a prescription for it (fluconisal).
Blood counts were good and not so good: red blood 3.15 (normal 4.24-5.70), white blood cells 5.5 (normal 4.3-11.0), platelets 66 (normal 150-450). It is the low platelets that caused him to keep me off chemo for another week when I have another appointment.
Had infusion of  zometa today - bone builder.
I dropped some weight - 150 lbs dressed/no shoes

Still took time to shop groceries today, volunteer some time at church, and plant yellow potatoes. Took a nap while getting the infusion of zometa, and 20 minute nap at home before making dinner for Jane and me.

Monday I took a nap from 4-5 pm which didn’t help me getting tired to go to bed at 9:30 p.m. So had trouble going to sleep last night. Got up at 12 midnight and worked on bill stuff etc. until 1:30 a.m. and then went back to bed and slept well until 5:50 a.m when Jane got up. Am tired this evening so expect to sleep better.

Having gotten in infusion of zometa my back gets to aching - which it is, but expect to sleep well anyway!!

An interesting week so far!! Inch by inch, step by step. Once in a while a sideways step but never backward!

Dan

Lessons of Life
There was an Apache man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn not to judge
things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go and look at
a pear tree that was a great distance away.

The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the third in
summer, and the youngest son in the fall.
When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe
what they had seen.
The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted.
The second son said no it was covered with green buds and full of promise.
The third son disagreed; he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so
sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen.
The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping with
fruit, full of life and fulfillment.
The man then explained to his sons that they were all right, because they
had each seen but only one season in the tree’s life.
He told them that you cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only one season,
and that the essence of who they are and the pleasure, joy, and love that
come from that life can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons
are fulfilled.
If you give up when it’s winter, you will miss the promise of your spring, the
beauty of your summer, fulfillment of your fall.
Moral of the Lesson
Don’t let the pain of one season destroy the joy of the rest.
Don’t judge life by one difficult season.
Persevere through the difficult patches knowing that
better times are sure to come some time
Aspire to Inspire Before You Expire!
Live Simply.
Love Generously.
Care Deeply.
Speak Kindly.
Leave the Rest to God.
Happiness keeps You Sweet,
Trials keep You Strong,
Sorrows keep You Human,
Failures keep You Humble,
Success keeps You Glowing,

But Only God keeps You Going!

Tuesday-Wednesday 4/13/2010 - 4/14/2010

Pray as you have and keep it up.

Was feeling weak on Sunday and then again on Monday. Was chilly much of the time but then nights I would wake (somewhere between 12:00 midnight and 3 am)  sweating. Was really tired and some tough phlem of the yellow kind in my sinuses and throat and probably my lungs - especially when lying down. Sunday I had been very, very tired. And on Monday I got some things taken care of slowly and felt like most of the day was kind of a waste. I had flushed cheeks and ears too - but not my forehead. I had gotten kind of cold too. Monday evening Jane said I really looked flushed and not good. So she took my temperature - and it was 103.4. An hour later it was 102.4. So under my wife’s insistence I called my oncologist’s office and was directed to Dr. Blau - Jane’s oncologist - and told her my situation. She said to come to the hospital immediately. So I was hospitalized but the room wasn’t quite ready. So by 11 pm I was in the hospital bed. I was reminded that one of the worst things with someone who has multiple myeloma is a fever. This morning I had a chest x-ray, a CT exam (particularly of my kidneys). The temperature has gone down, but I am still tired - but laying on my butt and back all day does not inspire my body to feel like it wants to do much else. Don’t know any results of the tests. I started the red blood cell transfusion, I think, about 7 pm or later and was doing that well into my going to sleep here for the night.

Wednesday

All the tests turned out good. Dr. McCroskey wanted some more blood samples to check something else - I guess. It looks like I am going to be checked out late this afternoon or this evening. So I have been trying to keep busy all day here again. It is such a pretty day outside - and I have missed the wonderful weather by being inside. I won’t be taking any kind of chemo pills or infusions until after I see Dr. McCroskey on Monday.

Keep praying. I have developed a little thing in the roof of my mouth that the nurse says looks like a blister. So I need that to go away and obviously no more high temperatures.

God is good. No matter what it looks like stand strong and be confident in the Lord.

Dan

They’ve been married forty years this spring. Overall, it’s been a fruitful union — two kids, three grandkids, a sizable contingent of friends and colleagues, and a slate of satisfying accomplishments. Despite nagging worries about health and kids and retirement, they’re more or less content — and proud of themselves for coming this far.
But the fight they had this week was the same fight they’ve had off and on since the week after their wedding.
She likes to talk.
He doesn’t.
She gets her feelings hurt.
He feels pressured.
Both get irritated. Sparks fly.
Yes, they’ve changed over the years. Circumstances have changed them. In some ways, they’ve worked at changing. Certainly they’ve adapted to each other and learned to work through problems. But even now there are issues they have never resolved. For the most part, they’ve learned to just accept — but not always.
In a sense, it’s a little depressing. Surely after all those years, they would have put those problems to bed. But in another sense, they give me hope that it’s possible to persist and forgive and keep hoping even when some issues resist resolution. They remind me that it’s possible to live a satisfying, full live even with unresolved problems and unresolved conflicts.
How else can we flawed human beings hope to live together?

(from  BESIDE STILL WATERS A DEVOTIONAL)

April 10, 2010 - Saturday

Thought I had better tell those who read this how things are going.
Jane and I were able to spend a week at an Oregon coast cabin for a week by the kindness of the owners. We invited my younger brother and his wife to spend of few of those days with us there. We had a wonderful time. Before they came it rained, and rained and the wind howled, and foam blew up the cliff the cabin sits on, but we didn’t care. We had the opportunity to relax and read - and no TV and no computer! It was great. Then the days that my brother and his wife were with us it was great weather for this time of year. We were able to comb a couple beaches and shop and play cards. The girls whipped us!
Although I generally had to have an early afternoon nap because of my tiredness, all went well. I realized how little I have been able to walk, and especially up or down stairs - in our case trails down to the beach and back up again. Some really great clam fossils were found and some pretty rocks.
I will be seeing the doctor on Tuesday, as a regular check-up with the usual blood samples and infusion of velcade (a chemo). Probably won’t have anything to indicate the myeloma count at this time, however.
Keep praying! God answers prayer!

Dan

SPECIAL GROCERY LIST ??Louise Redden, a poorly dressed lady with a look of defeat on her face, walked into a grocery store. She approached the owner of the store in a most humble manner and asked if he would let her charge a few groceries.
She softly explained that her husband was very ill and unable to work, they had seven children and they needed food. John Longhouse, the grocer, scoffed at her and requested that she leave his store at once.
Visualizing the family needs, she said: ‘Please, sir! I will bring you the money just as soon as I can.’ John told her he could not give her credit, since she did not have a charge account at his store.
Standing beside the counter was a customer who overheard the conversation between the two. The customer walked forward and told the grocer that he would stand good for whatever she needed for her family.  The grocer said in a very reluctant voice, ‘Do you have a grocery list?’
Louise replied, ‘Yes sir.’ ‘O.K’ he said, ‘put your grocery list on the scales and whatever your grocery list weighs, I will give you that amount in groceries.’ Louise hesitated a moment with a bowed head, then she reached into her purse and took out a piece of paper and scribbled something on it. She then laid the piece of paper on the scale carefully with her head still bowed.
The eyes of the grocer and the customer showed amazement when the scales went down and stayed down. The grocer, staring at the scales, turned slowly to the customer and said begrudgingly, ‘I can’t believe it.’
The customer smiled and the grocer started putting the groceries on the other side of the scales. The scale did not balance so he continued to put more and more groceries on them until the scales would hold no more. The grocer stood there in utter disgust. Finally, he grabbed the piece of paper from the scales and looked at it with greater amazement.
It was not a grocery list, it was a prayer, which said:
‘Dear Lord, you know my needs and I am leaving this in your hands.’
The grocer gave her the groceries that he had gathered and stood in stunned silence. Louise thanked him and left the store.  The other customer handed a fifty-dollar bill to the grocer and said; ‘It was worth every penny of it. Only God knows how much a prayer weighs.’