He's Baaack

 I know it’s been a while since I’ve written, but mostly no news is good news, or more correctly, OK news. Went to MD Anderson on the 4^th for a CT and blood work. The nodules are still growing, but seem to be growing slowly. The radiation I had in December did it’s job and stunted the growth of the one that was partially blocking one of the lobes of one of my lungs. The doctor there did put my mind at ease a bit. I had been having my doubts as to how well this was all going, but she assured me that it wasn’t yet time to start worrying. The plan for now is to have my hernia fixed and then to start a new round of chemo. This stuff is methotrexate. The good thing about this is the limited amount of side effects which are mouth sores, although that in and of itself isn’t great for me with the dentures. But, I’ve had my share of side effects and this really shouldn’t be that bad. The doctor at MDA is watching for FDA approval of another medicine that is already approved for a different type of cancer and should be approved this year for my type.

 Thanksgiving is far behind us, Christmas and New Year’s Day has come and gone. Resolutions have been made and broken, and made again. One of my resolutions, indeed the only one I’ve made, is to try to write more. The hardest part of writing is trying to find a time when there aren’t a thousand other things on my mind. The morning when I’m first up seems to be the best, so that’s where I’ll start. On any given day there are literally a hundred things that need my attention and figuring out what the project of the day is includes checking the weather and what needs my attention the worst. I have started several times on this and each one seemed to be a good start, but then I would be called away to look at this or fix that, and my train of thought left without me. Of course, the train leaving without me seems to be a recurring theme nowadays, although the doctors have assured me that it’s equal parts old age and chemo. And memory seems to be a recurring theme. I will think of something to say or write and before I can get it out, it’s gone.

 Things here at the north forty are progressing, mostly slowly, but time is one thing I seem to have a lot of for now. The weather slows us down, but after looking at the news at what’s happening on the roads, I can truly say for now I don’t miss it that much. Blizzards, traffic, etc. What I do miss is some of the people that we got to know in the past couple of years at Trailer Transit. We’ve been to 49 states and 7 provinces of Canada and I still miss the friends more than the road.

2-4

Went in and had the hernia repaired. It took me quite a bit to be able to get up after I came back out, although it has been easier getting over this than having the feeding tube put in. Strangely enough the tube was only about a quarter inch incision and the hernia is about a 5 inch incision. You would think that a bigger cut would hurt more. At any rate, it was way past time to get it repaired. It had been giving me trouble for over a year and the doctor said it had developed quite a bit of scar tissue, which is why it hurts as much as it does. Once I heal up from this I’ll be doing chemo again.

I’m going to post this now and maybe I’ll go through some of the false start stuff that I had written and see if any of it is worth putting out there. If any of you get through this way we have room to park about 10 trucks or so, so don’t let that slow you down.