An update in telegraph form

Things are going well (stop)
Dealing with the pain (stop)
walking everyday (stop)
went hunting saturday didn't see any pheasants (stop)
looking forward to the holidays (stop)
Thanks for all the prayers and good thoughts (don't stop) :)
Merry Christmas and have a lovely day.
Andy

Halloween scary story

Once upon a time, there was a creature that liked to dwell in the dark places and consume anything in its proximity. This creature is hard to kill, and is almost always deadly. It is one of natures supreme predators. They are hard to find, and usually once they are located, they are the most dangerous. I am one of the few that have survived an encounter with this beast. I was lucky to get away with my life. I was not able to get away unscathed, but I got away. The bad thing is, once it catches your scent, you always have to watch your back. I recently was put in contact with a team of people who are familiar with the beast and have even killed several of them. They have lasers, xrays, and special chemicals that have been shown to effective against the creatures.

Ok enough of that, my imagination is tired. We had scans and met with the doctor, the outcome was the tumors in my lungs are all Non-detect, and the tumor in my shoulder has shrunk 60%. WOO HOO for us!!!!!!!!!

There was as there always is a small caveat. The one this time is an anomaly that might be tumor, might be a pocket of residual radiation. The way we tell what it is, wait six weeks and do another scan. If its bigger, or more defined, its cancer. If its smaller, then its a pocked of radiation. The chances of it being radiation are about 90% so we are not too worried about this. and if it happens to be a tumor, it is extremely small.

All is well and we have our party pants on for celebration of Halloween. So bring out the ghosts and goblins, witches and zombies. Tis the haunting season, I hope you get your pants scared off. (in my best Vincent price laugh) he he he ha ha ha he ha he ha ha ha he he ha ha ha.

Merry Christmas and have a lovely day.
Andy

Shhh, don't tell Peggy I'm at it again

Ok, She doesn't know I am typing. I will let you know that I went hunting a while ago, and didn't get anything. ok I made a long story short. I also went fishing with the kids at Mantua resevior, we didn't catch anything there either. I am starting to think if I was to have to rely on my own doings to survive, we would have to become vegetarians. Except for the HUGE turkeys we have in the back yard. I am doing well, we have scans in the near future then we will know more. There you have it, precise, boring and to the point.
Merry Christmas and have a lovely day.
Andy.

Are you serious?

I just looked at the blog for the first time in what seems like forever. Are any of you still there reading this? I have been so busy lately I left the blog up to Andy to inform and write about the insanity we call our life. He is sooo fired from this job. He hasn't updated anything and has left things just hanging out in space. Well, I will do it since I have a whole 2 min. to do nothing.


Okie-day, here it goes. Last month things were not good. Let's use the word horrifying. Andy was seriously in bad shape. He didn't really want to tell anyone and I don't blame him, however, can you say whiner. Okay I admit he has every reason to whine to me or anyone. It's just he only whined to me. No one else. Just me. JUST ME. Let's say that my patience and unconditional love for Andy was seriously on trial from August to October. Andy went through radiation from Aug 1st to Aug 31st. Everyday we went down for 20-30 min. for treatment then drove home. After the treatments were over Andy was starting to have some major problems. We thought it was due to the radiation. The longer time went on the worse and worse he physically got. He was dizzy, nauseous, and had no energy. His radiation burns were nasty on his neck and shoulder blade. They were tender and painful. He finally listen to me and called the Dr.'s down at Huntsman. They immediately had him come down. We went down and talked with Dr. Grossman. He was worried that Andy had a tumor in his brain since that is the "normal" coarse the disease would take. So off to the MRI we go. You know it is a little like the Wizard of Oz. "We're off to see the wizard the wonderful wizard of Oz." (That would be Dr. Grossman) We are even told to ignore the man behind the curtain, well sort of. There are "wizards" in the room behind the glass. Thankfully there was no tumor or ear infection or hypothesis (there was another possible problem that's name sounds like hypothesis I just can't remember what it was called. He doesn't have that either.) As we talked to the menagerie of Dr's, Andy and I started to think that his Cardiologist changed his cholesterol meds at the beginning of Sept. So, we call the cardiologist Dr. Jack(can't pronounce or spell his last name, we just call him Dr. Jack) and he tells us to stop taking the cholesterol meds for 2 days then take them again and see what happens. Guess what? Andy was having severe side effects from the cholesterol meds. Huh, go figure. We suffered for just a little over a month and it had nothing to do with the cancer thing. Laughable isn't it. Well, it is now. Andy is doing so much better. I'll let you in on a little secret... don't tell anyone...he feels so good he even helped me with yard work. I know, can you believe that! Shocking!


Andy is now enjoying the wide world of hunting in the Uinta's with my family. Yup, my family. Not me and the kids (however Morgan went with him), just him, Morgan, my brothers, and my dad. They are playing great white hunters. I just hope he gets a stupid elk. All he has talked about forever is this stupid hunt. We really didn't think he was going because he was so bad off last month. But it is amazing what the correct dose of medication will do for the body.


Well I need to finish this blog, so here is the last update for now. Andy will have scans on the 26th to see the progress or reduction of the tumors. We are hoping for reduction and possibly nonvisable to stable. We are really hoping for no new tumors. That is what most don't understand about this cancer. It is a cluster bomb that goes off in the body. You can stop one, two, maybe three tumors, but more start to grow somewhere else. It's never ending and always stressful. However, I want to remind you all. There is life during cancer. Cancer is not who we are. It does not define us. We define ourselves through our attitude and actions. Cancer can consume the mortal body, but we are more than flesh and bones. We are eternal beings with intelligence. We are designed by a powerful creator. One that loves us and is merciful to our imperfect selves. Remember that when life seems to overpower you. He is there. He listens, holds, and cares for you. He is the Lord of light, the Redeemer of man, the Almighty. He is Jesus Christ, the son of God.


I hope that didn't come off preachy. But...I want to help you remember, Andy and I are not alone. It is not our strength that has sustained us. It is you and your love and prayers, and the Lord that has given up hope and help. Thank you all.

Perspective changes everything.

A DISCLAIMER FOR THE FOLLOWING POST--- I DON'T HAVE A TUMOR IN MY BRAIN!!!


Doc: Andy we have some bad news for you.

Andy: Ok Doc what is it I can take it.

Doc: Well it’s really not good news.

Andy: Well Doc, you’ve already told me I was going to die once. How much worse can it get than that?

Doc: You might have another tumor, this time in your brain.

Andy: If there is a tumor, wouldn’t that mean we caught it early?

Doc: yes.

Andy: So we can treat a small tumor right?

Doc: Yes.

Andy: So where is the bad news? We might have a tumor, but if we do it is treatable, I am having a hard time seeing the not goodness here.

My conversations don’t really go like this, my doctors are awesome and are always upbeat. I have only had one doctor tell me that I might not make it, and that was a long time ago. After scans, that doctor changed their tune as well.

All in all, cancer is not a fun thing to have. Treatments cause side-effects, cancer causes side-effects, and stress causes side-effects. All of which I have, but I will only admit to two of them, which in turn increases the side-effects of the third.
But I have been having some problems lately with dizziness and nausea. If I didn’t have melanoma, it wouldn’t be a big deal and most likely we would wait it out to see what comes of it. But because my Doctors want to be proactive and keep ahead of the cancer, we are doing scans. One of melanoma’s favorite places to spread is the brain, which causes dizziness and nausea. But so does about fifty other things.

Bottom line, I am doing ok, and life is good, just a little fuzzy right now. Oh and Morgan is playing soccer we have some video, as soon as I figure out how to cut it into small pieces I will put some up.

Merry Christmas and have a lovely day.
Love Andy.

Pain, stress, and getting your tricycle kicked in the ditch. I know, a typical day for anyone.

This may sound odd, but this is a good day, and I am happy to be a part of it. It is strange how when you get a chance to realize that we truly are mortals, it only lasts a short time (in perspective). I am feeling a lot better than I was last year at this time. My energy level is up, I am not in near as much pain, just annoying things going on, like not being able to wear a shirt because my radiated skin hurts (don’t worry Alan, I won’t post a picture). I don’t think anyone would appreciate me wandering around the country-side topless. Other than that I am doing exceptionally well.
We went dove hunting the other day, yes I kill little birdies and eat them; because they taste good, that’s why. Anyway, no doves so far this year, they all just disappeared, maybe because they knew I wanted to eat them. I will keep my eyes open for some more legal fowl to hunt and eat.
I don’t know what else to tell you, other than we are all doing well, having the same problems that you all have, school, work, family, you know, that thing called life. We laugh when we can, cry when we must, and try not to whine. In the words of the genius Red Green, “ remember, I’m pulling for you, we’re all in this together.”
Merry Christmas and have a lovely day,
Love your friend Andy

Have you ever had deja vu?

Well, we made it. Sort of. If surviving the first week of school(for the kids), going back to work(with kids), and ending a long series of radiation treatments making it, I guess we did okay. I was thinking that we would just go back to the schedule we had before summer vacation and things would be calmer, quieter, and more stable. Boy am I delusional. This has been the week from... I won't end that sentence. I think you can put in any expletives that you feel would be appropriate.
As I went back to work in the elementary school, I found that what I left in June was waiting for me with gusto, just the only difference is location. And trying to help my kids through the whole shift of new schools has made me learn more patience. Andy finished his treatments at Huntsman and has a break until we have scans again in October.
We really didn't slow down or stabilize. In fact, we have cranked it up. My classes at WSU for this semester have turned into my worst nightmares. Let me think about this, math is frustrating and difficult. Public speaking is HORRIFYING!! Yes, that's right I have public speaking as one of my classes. This was an accident. I thought I was signing up for interpersonal communication. What I got is PUBLIC SPEAKING. What have I done. Don't answer that.
Morgan has soccer on Tue.,Thurs., Fri., and Saturday. On Wednesday the girls have music lessons in Logan, then we scream home to make it to Young Women's just in time. I have scholarship meetings on Friday and gathering time (public speaking class) on Tues. We all have homework, housework, yard work, and have I said we are fixing the fascia on the house this weekend, and possibly painting the house as well.
Okay we are over doing things. Oh well, that's where the deja vu comes into view. I feel like we are exactly where we were in the spring. Crazy schedule and chaos surrounding us. There a platypus controlling me...what...a platypus controlling me...gotta stop...don't stop...