Continued Shrinkage

Just got back from the radiation oncologist.

After examination, he said that the tumor has shrunken quite a bit and has receded up, away from the end of the canal, both of which are things we have been praying will happen...

This is very welcome news!

I have a CaT scan tomorrow morning at 6:45 which will tell us more when I visit the medical oncologist next Tuesday...

Appointments up the Wazzoo

So I have 4 doctor appointments in the next 7 days. Hopefully by the end of this we will have a better idea what the next step in the process will be.

Today, March 25, 10:00, Dr. Hanson...radiation oncologist...follow-up
Thurs, March 26, 6:45am, St. Vincent's...doing CaT scan to see if the tumor shrunk and if there are any other hot spots...
Tues, March 31, 3:15pm, Dr. Chang...medical oncologist...discuss and interpret CaT scan...follow up
TBD, TBD, Dr. Patrick Lee, colo-rectal surgeon...to discuss possible surgery

Will post more as I know more.

The Beavers play Stanford in hoops for the fourth time this year tonight...hoping for another exciting win!!

Feelin' Groovy

This week I have felt pretty well. I have decided to give-it-a-go and go into the office to work on Monday and see what that feels like. I suppose the only real difference there is being 150' from the bathroom rather than 15', but we shall see.

We had the first realtor show our house to a client on Saturday. That was exciting, and we are praying for an offer, but trying not to be over-anxious.

I have several Doctor appointments this week as well as a CaT scan, but I need to call on Monday to find out the specific times and days because in all the clean up around our house I have misplaced the appointment cards.

Thanks ya'll for you continued support and prayers!

It's Pure Madness

No, I'm not talking about March Madness, although that wondrous event is about to start.

I'm talking about so many people I know right now going through transitions, changes, difficult times, and saying the end of '08 wasn't one to remember.

We're nearing the end of the first 1/4 of '09 and it seems like a better year so far!!

I'm healing nicely...at least on the outside. I can't...um...really see on the inside...(thankfully I'm not that flexible). I'm feeling more energetic and more "normal" than I have in the last couple months. There's still some skin flaking, but there's not really any pain anymore (itching sometimes).

Visits to the little room becoming less urgent and less frequent...almost normal! Woo Hoo!

Will post again when there's more news...love ya'll

When Life Gives Lemons, Buy a Beetle

Life is short and there's nothing like a bit of the "butt cancer" to make ya realize that. Jeanah and I were talking about ways we can make sure we can live life to the fullest and make sure we do everything we want to do on this side of eternity.

I think Jeanah came up with a great idea...make sure we drive a "fun" car. We decided to buy a VW New Beetle this weekend and will be selling the "mom rocket" (Ford Windstar). We got the Diesel TDI that gets 49+ MPG because Jeanah is practical too.

The Bug is definitely a fun car (it's a manual tranny) to drive and just to look at. We had to go to Redmond, WA to get the right color (Batik Blue).

As for me...we found out that the gas stations in downtown Seattle don't have public restrooms...don't worry, we chose not to give them our fuel business either, but it was touch-n-go there for a while! Thank goodness all McDonald's do have public restrooms still.

I was a bit weary driving up Friday and back Saturday, but after sleeping in on Sunday, I'm feeling OK.

My Shoes Smell Like Gym Socks

Today I worked from 4:30 to 10:30, not the normal 4:30-1:00 because the realtors had to kick us out to do a realtors walk-through. They had 16 local realtors come through...they said that was about 1/2 of the realtors in Canby...a good turn out...

All the realtors gave good reviews and liked the house. The only negative was that one closet smells funny. Come to find out. a pair of my particularly well worn shoes is the culprit...thankfully we have a burn circle in our back yard.

Well, we hope some of those realtors have clients!! In case you know somebody interested in a house in Canby, or you just want to see our house...here's the link: Canby House

Now that the house is ready to go, Jeanah has started looking more thoroughly for a job in the Tigard area. She is the best receptionist in the world, so if you know of somebody looking for a receptionist or administrative assistant type, give her a yodel!

Now, as for my health...still struggling with having to visit the little room...which is a bit frustrating, but hoping this subsides soon! No new "sunburn" to report, still trying to take care of the old. Am trying to get rest and eat right, etc., which are two huge parts to the healing process. Haven't shaved in days...probably need to (?TMI?)

A couple OSU hoops wins in the SoCal area this weekend would do well for my spirits as well...

Work Days part Deux

We had a bunch more wonderful people out in the last 2 days to help out around our house. Got a bunch of painting done inside and out and the place really looks sharp. That was great because although Thursday and Friday I felt pretty well, Saturday and today I felt/feel pretty lousy. The "sunburn" continues even though I'm not currently getting radiation. Hoping that subsides soon... Also, still struggling with "going" fairly often and that can really sap you after a while!

Jeanah has done a phenomenal job getting our house ready for Open House at 1:00 today. We are going over to my parents' house this afternoon and handing our house over to the realtors. Go, Sell, Sell, Sell!!!

An interesting experience we had this week was when we wanted Chinese food Thursday night, but we knew our standby Chinese restaurant in Canby (Hoi Tin) has recently closed down (we assume due to the poor economy). There are several other Chinese restaurants in town... There is one called "Wally's Chinese" which quite honestly looks like (inside and out) nobody has done maintenance on the building in 20 years and I've always been afraid to try it. Jeanah looked it up online and it has very good reviews. We braved the building and went. It is now our new standby. In fact, we probably enjoyed it better than Hoi Tin. Just goes to show you that outward appearances aren't everything they're cracked up to be!