It’s been a
while since I have written and I apologize. It stays fairly busy here, one week
we’re in Houston, one week back in Granbury and then get ready to do it all
over again. In between we’re trying to get packed to move. More on that in a
bit.
Whiner Alert
The one
thing that is the hardest for me to get used to is the overwhelming sense of
fatigue. I know that the heat plays a significant part of how I feel, but just
walking into the back yard can almost wear me out. I am still able to ride
around on machinery, but that is fairly limited here at the Granbury place. I’m
not normally one to sit still for too long, and I find that when I try to push
too much physically, it also wears on my mental ability to handle simple daily
activities. The very fact that I am now limited to what I can do at one time
without rest seems to suck the energy right out of me. I also now have to think
about getting up before I do it. Before this, the only time I would have to
think about the actions needed to get up was when I was exhausted. Now, it’s
nearly every time I get up. The need to rest after the simplest of activities
is just extremely hard for me to comprehend. Two years ago I was still
trucking, twenty months ago my wife and I were on a trip to Alaska and back. Now,
my daily routine consists of TV, solitaire, and a trip outside every hour or
so.
Ok, enough
of my whining. I know that probably within a couple of months I should be back
in better shape. I have one more appointment with the VA for my teeth. With the
last try in they fit great and I’m hoping that they will work better than the
one day wonders that I now have. Don’t get me wrong, these have done really
well. But with false teeth it’s all about fit. If I wasn’t going to get more
teeth I would have to have these relined or something.
We’re
planning on moving almost everything to the north forty in Oklahoma in August. The
date for the actual move is the 22nd. That will be almost three
weeks after my last infusion of chemo, which will be my last. I will still take
Tarceva for the foreseeable future. If anyone would like to volunteer, by all
means email or call me. I think we have the loading team all lined up, but if
you would like to volunteer for unloading we have room to park 10 to 15 trucks,
campers, or whatever. I’m still lining up a grilling crew to feed whoever shows
and the idea has been floated to get a keg to help keep the unloading team cool
and hydrated. We have electricity to supply a hotel load for rigs. We plan to
have landline service in before we move. Be forewarned, the only cell service that
has any reliability there is Sprint. If you have anyone else you will be
incommunicado. AT&T has very limited luck, with mainly text only unless you
want to drive 3 miles to get a signal and regardless of what Verizon says,
pretty much anywhere off of the interstate you’re SOL. Directions are easy, but
if you want to use your GPS, I’ll have to send you the coordinates. We are 30
miles south of the Loves truckstop at MM 200 on I-40 in Oklahoma. There are
plenty of walking trails and a couple of ponds. We miss all of y’all terribly
and would really appreciate your company. We really only have one full room of
furniture to move (all upstairs) so I doubt if it will take all that long. Then
we can get down to some serious partying.
8-5
Left for
Houston Sunday, saw the Dr. yesterday, and back home last night. After
reviewing my blood work, the Dr. said that the numbers in the report on my
blood weren’t good enough for me to get chemo. However, after talking to me
about it, we decided that another round wasn’t really needed at this time. I’ll
stay on the trial drug for maintenance. Their position on it is if the cancer
is stable, meaning not growing, then I don’t really need anything else. My next
visit is at the end of the month for more tests and we’ll see then what’s in
store. The Dr. said that even if my blood work had been normal, it would have
been hard to recommend another round due to the fatigue that comes with each round
and tends to be cumulative. As I am now, walking or standing for anything over
15 minutes is a push for me.
Well, I’ve
been told I need to get this posted before everyone forgets how to read it.
