If its not broke, mess with it for a while and it will be.

First off, thank you to all of those I have ran into this Christmas season and mentioned that you keep up with us by reading the blog.  This made me realize I need to try and post a little more frequent.  This holiday season has been great!  Going back to Thanksgiving, spending time with family, laughing, joking, and sharing memories of years past.  This year Peggy's family made balkenbrij.    With all of her Uncles and Aunt together, it was a lot of fun being with them for an afternoon.  And the balkenbrij was wonderful, especially sliced thin, fried and on toast.  Mmmmm, mmmmm, good!  This recipe was derived from the Dutch Gods who thought lets throw all this in a pan and see if its edible.  Total winner on this one.

With Christmas coming fast and close on the heals of Thanksgiving we had to plan getting the house Christmasified.  It has long been a family tradition of putting the Christmas tree up the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  We missed it by about a week.  But got it up none the less.  We also opted to simplify this year.  We overdid inside and didn't put up anything outside.  I like doing this a lot.  It made the house feel a lot warmer with all the lights up and other nick-nacks setting around.  

We also had some really emotional times this Christmas.  We had some wonderful Angels do a "doorbell ditch" and leave a big box of wrapped presents on our front porch.  It was for the 12 days of Christmas.  The kids were so excited, there was a note that said open now.  So the kids started opening the presents that night.  About halfway through we realized it was for the 12 days of Christmas and discussed what to do now that half of the gifts were open.  They chose to open them all and make sure that we do stuff every night as a family.  The best part of all of this is the realization that through all that is going on this season, that there are still people who have our happiness on the front of their minds.  We also had one other Angel drop some stuff off at our house.  Lets just say, we had some major blessings this year and some prayers were answered.  I can definitely say that God hears our prayers and uses everyday people like you and me to answer those prayers.  I thank Heaven for those who listen to the inspiration from the Lord to have a good impact in others lives.  We took some time this Christmas to discuss how important it is to pay it forward.  Because there may always be a time when situations out of your control put you in a position where others may pay it forward to you.  

As the new year approaches, we have the opportunity to set goals and resolutions for the upcoming year.  I encourage you to set lofty goals that  you have control over.  I will be posting another blog when I get my goals finalized.  I know one of them will be to blog more consistently.  I enjoy sharing things with my friends, and family.  As I have traveled this long path you all have become my family, through prayers, and good thoughts sent our way, we have all become closer than friends.

May the Good Lord bless you and keep you safe.

Merry Christmas and have a Lovely Day,

Love Andy, Peggy, and the Kids.

For those of you still hanging in there.

So........ it's been really crazy for the last few months.   I started a new/old job, selling health insurance.  Its been going slow but consistent for the last month.  So if you need health insurance in Utah give me a call or shoot me an email.  We were supposed to have a follow up scan a few weeks ago, but the insurance company, not listing name, felt they knew how to better care for my cancer than the specialist.  After some phone calls and some complaints we are back on schedule but with some risks.  I had to compromise and have a ct scan, which I am allergic to the contrast.  So lots of pre-medication and lots of post-medication to keep me well and alive.

 I had scans on Wednesday and met with the Dr later in the day.  What we thought was a new tumor isn't and my old tumor is not growing so woo hoo, or WOO HOO for us!

I have dealt with the side effects of having the ct contrast.  I am feeling better today, still have some red flushing but not much.

I am doing well, Peggy is in the final stretches of her schooling.  She graduates in June.  The kids are all well, sort of, Caity and Morgan are accident prone, and have injured their knee and ankle. Both are healing up.  Shaeli is working at subway in Tremonton, so if you get a hankering for a sandwich, stop in and say hi.  Still a little groggy from all the benadryll I had to take over the last day.  So I will end here with a Merry Christmas and have a lovely day.
Andy.

Update on scans

Sorry for the dry spell, but I didn't think you wanted to hear all the goings on in our life without reporting on the cancer.  It has been a long summer.  I was laid off the end of March, Peggy is starting school, and Shaeli graduated, and Caity and Morgan are heading to school next week.

Cancer update:
No significant growth in current tumor.  Possible new tumor in scar tissue of right lung.  This is likely the scar tissue is absorbing the radioactive isotopes.  I will have to have more scans in 8 weeks to verify this.  The doctor seems to be fairly confident that this is the case.  If not there is a new drug out to treat the tumors that has shown to be very effective on killing the tumors.

So this is good news, no treatment for now, and we will check and see if there is a tumor or not by evaluating the differences in the scans.

Merry Christmas and have a lovely day,
Andy 

The sound of my voice, and awesome thing to hear.

Today I had the opportunity to talk at the patient melanoma seminar at Huntsman Cancer Institute.  I was on a panel of cancer survivors.  I was one of five who shared their stories and how they have dealt with the treatments and side effects.  I have spent this last week going through old posts to figure out what happened when.  It was a sweet sorrowful trip.  I laughed a lot and cried a little.  I realized how important you all are in supporting me and my family through our trials.  I read some posts Peggy wrote, that I don't recall ever reading before.  Some making fun of me, and making me laugh, some praising me and making me cry.  I was up late last night reading posts and putting together my talk.  I didn't sleep well and was up early.  I guess sometimes I still get nervous talking to people.  Which is weird because I don't normally have a problem talking to people.  I learned about some new treatments coming down the pike, which are awesome!  They have been able to get some new treatments that inject a cold like vaccine into the tumor and the body creates antibodies which kill the tumors all over the body.  It was a really good seminar with tons of information.  I have a lot of information to digest and get some clarity on which ones might work for me.  So.. it was a great thing to attend.  I was able to talk with the leading specialist on TIL procedures in the nation - Dr. Patrick Hwu.  He had been talking to my Dr. about my situation and had some interesting things to tell me.  We looked a TIL back in 2012, it is the one where they take a sample of the tumor, grow antibodies from the tumor and then reintroduce them back in, where they go and kill the tumors.  He told me that I should try a few different options before looking at TIL.  They are new options and are a lot less intrusive and toxic than the previous treatments I have endured.  So good news all around.  They recorded the seminar and I will be posting a link to it when they make it available.

That is all for now.
Merry Christmas and have a lovely day.
Andy Layne.

Bring it!!!!!

Ok, No news on the cancer update.  But things are going well.  Peggy has about a week left for schooling.  Shaeli looks to be graduating, Caity is still a pill, and Morgan is still dorkus son of dork.  Having said that, the stress around the Layne household has increased.  On April 1st, I found myself unemployed.  I am now looking to better myself through meditation, and trying not to pull my hair out filling out all the stupid paperwork and forms that are required to file for unemployment.  Tell me this, I have a letter from my employer, but I need to give my DNA, put my children up as possible indentured servants, and promise to open my house to occupying troops.  Ok, I am really going off the deep end here, but I see what I have had to go through to get approved for unemployment and can't figure out how people are able to take advantage of it.  And don't even talk to me about food stamps or medical assistance, they make you feel like a criminal and look into all of your friends and their friends, friends.  Ok, me going off again.

But I tell you all of the crap to share one other thing with you.  All things were put back into perspective, last Friday (April 11).  A friend from years ago let us know she had been diagnosed with breast cancer.  I took this opportunity to realize that my current trials are trivial.  I remember what it was like when I was diagnosed.  My empathy for this family has made me reevaluate my attitude and show a more gratitude for the good things I have.  If you have a minute in your prayers keep those who are suffering with ailments to the forefront if you would.
Merry Christmas and have a lovely day.
Love your friend,
Andy

Winner winner chicken dinner

Ok great news!!!!!!!  I feel like I've won yhe freakin lottery!  no new tumors.  Current tumor is stable and the growth value of the tumor has decreased by almost a third.  Scans have ben stretched out to six month increments, and I was invited to sit in on a panel.
So cross that with the fact I just received a lay off notice for the end of march, and it is still an amazing day.   Woo hoo for us.  If you can't tell, I/we are kinda excited about this.  We even had a celebration party with cake and ice cream.  It was neat.  I am looking at a couple of options for work so I'm not freaking out yet.  ok that does it for now.  Merry Christmas and have a smokin awesome day!!!!!
Andy Layne

The only constant is time

I was once told that the only thing constant is change.  I am not sure I believe this anymore.  The only constant is time passing.  The rate at which it passes seems to fluctuate based on whether I am enjoying myself, or something is mundane and tedious.  I have heard another saying, minutes pass like hours, hours like days, days like weeks, months like minutes.  I know there are variations to this saying, but in general, the now seems to take forever and the tomorrow seems far off, but yesterday seems such a long time ago.  As  I get ready for scans again, yep its time again, I can't help but think about the crazy ride over the last nine years.  In case you missed that, it has been nine years since my initial diagnosis on my right ear.  So you can expect another post next week.

On to other things, last week was Valentine's Day.  A day generally shunned and held in disdain in the Andy household.  If you have to have a holiday to show someone you care about them, you have bigger problems in your relationship than you are aware of.  I try to buy flowers on a fairly regular basis, I try to write letters to Peggy and hide them different places on a frequent basis, I even try to form poetry phrases when I get the chance.  So I don't need a holiday to tell me to show my sweetheart I love her.

Have said that, this year I did participate in the festivities, not because I was compelled to by mass marketing and commercialism, but because the opportunity arose and I felt inspired due to recent events.

Background:  I bought Peggy a pretty cool ring a few years ago, a purple almond shaped stone with flecks of different colors in it, well a week or so ago it misplaced itself in the halls of Weber State somewhere.  She was obviously upset, so I took the opportunity to distract her with a new ring, and some chocolate covered strawberries from Sweetly Divine in Logan.  They went over well, and she is happy again, still missing her other ring, but being consoled by her new friend.  If you see her ask her about it.  The ring shines almost a brilliant as her eyes.

All is well, and I need to head to work.
Merry Christmas and have a lovely day.
Andy Layne.

New Year, New Perspective

Howdy all,
Ok, I have some repenting to do coming into the new year.  I am sorry.  I am sorry, I have really sucked at posting on this blog, or any other blog, I even suck at posting on facebook.  I have a new (I don't want to say goal here) ideal about posting blogs.  The way I look at it, You all have stuck by me through all the bad times and the really bad times, and I have appreciated it more that I can express.  I have not given you all the opportunity you deserve to share in the good times as well.  I can justify it away by saying this was a venting, therapeutic way for me to distress, and allow myself to feel better about not posting, but that is a little cheap, and you deserve better than that.  So for the next little while I will be posting a catch up of the last few months mingled with some current goings on.  Some funny, some serious.  So...... Here goes.....

At our last scan ..... wait I have to read what I already posted.......wow that was pretty vague, sorry.

At our last scan we crossed a threshold of goodness.  We have reached the point that a lot of the 'tenyearers' get to (keep in mind, I wasn't supposed to make it this long.)  With this we are really excited, for those of you who don't know it, I have a daily goal of "ten years from today."  That's all I ask.  But for once in what seems like a long time, this is totally doable.  I still have one active tumor in my right lung, but its small and is just hanging out not doing a whole lot.  Prior to this latest scan the magic treatment size was 9 mm.  With the stability and the size 7mmX9mm so 8mm we are now looking at a different treatment trigger.    (Insert drum roll here)  We now need to see a 20% growth in the tumor between scans to trigger treatment, or ( and here is the catch) any new tumors showing up.  Those two thing will trigger treatment, or the new tumors by themselves will be a trigger.  So for the time being, press forward. 

My shoulder is healing up nicely, I still have some soreness, but keep in mind I had my bicep cut off and reattached.  I am surprised my arm is still cooperating. 

Christmas has come and past, as well as new years.  I made a change this year, I normally don't do resolutions, but I thought this year is a good year to start one I can keep. 

I thought long and hard on this and wanted a broad, but specific resolution.  I also wanted one I could write and put up in different places that wouldn't draw too much attention.  So here it is, "To take control of the things I can control."  This simple phrase allows me to focus on simple decisions everyday and give myself the freedom of not setting goals that I will likely fail to complete. 

Thank you for your patience and I will try to update a lot more often that I have been. 
Merry Christmas and have a lovely day.
Andy.