Time for another update. I'm up late tonight... mind's been running around and just can't get to sleep right now, so I thought it would be a good time to write. I'll get back to the mind wanderings later. The visit with Dr. Hurwitz went well last Thursday, other than it was an all day thing again. But as I've said before, I'm not going to complain about that too much. He gives me plenty of time when he comes in, and he's doing the same with everyone. Dr. H didn't seem overly concerned with the new minor pain in my side. I think as long as I'm handling it OK (pain medicine handles it or doesn't bother me enough to take pain meds), then it's no major problem. He said everything seemed to be going well. Blood work has been looking OK and I seem to be handling the treatment OK. We told him about the plans for the cruise and he thought that was a good idea. He mentioned that there would be a major cancer conference the week that we were on the cruise, and that we would be hearing lots of new things. He said they will be new to us, but old news to him. He said there's lots of interesting things and that we'll probably have lots of questions. He said we'll go over the questions at our next session, and that it may take two sessions to get all the questions answered. I really like Dr. H. and think he's a great doctor. A couple of examples of how dedicated Dr. H is... he gave me his email address for non urgent issues. Don't remember exactly when I had a question for him, maybe the 2nd week of chemo. Anyway, on Thursday night late, I sent him an email with a question about supplements. I figured I may get a response a couple of days later, and even then, that it would probably be from one of his nurses. At 8:30 the next morning, I had an email back from Dr. H. (signed it Herb) with an answer to my question. That was a surprise to me. Also, this past Friday night, I had one of the symptoms that's listed on the chemo sheet as a call immediately. We called, and they paged Dr. H. (about 6PM) and we were talking directly with him a few minutes later. Turned out to be nothing to worry about in my case, but it's nice to know we can get to him when needed. We've got a CT scan scheduled for the Tuesday after the cruise. A CT scan is something we'll do every couple of months to check the tumor.... hopefully for control of the tumor and maybe even shrinkage. He said that shrinkage and size of the tumor is really not as big a concern as is how well I handle the size of the tumor. As for right now, I think I'm handling it pretty well. But I still hope for good news from the CT scan and blood work for PC markers. Dr. H. scheduled the next series of chemo starting after my visit with him and extending through to the next visit with him on Thursday after the cruise. The chemo this past Thursday went well. No major problems with the needle or with the treatment itself. It did do it's usual number though and put me out of commission about 6 hours after the treatment. Just took the nausea medicine and went to bed. Friday morning was not bad. I had a little nausea, so I took the medicine and felt OK. Our department at work had a luncheon scheduled for Friday, so I went to that. Had Thai food. As spicy as that was, I handled it OK, which was good, because we had Mexican for dinner that night. I must be crazy for putting both of those type foods on my stomach the day after chemo, but I didn't seem to have a problem with it. A little nausea Saturday morning, so I took the medicine again. I think I'm at least getting a little smarter there. The nurses told me early on to take the medicine at the first sign of nausea, but I didn't listen to start with. Now I'm taking their advice, and I think that works better. We had a block party planned for Saturday night. It was kind of cold, but we had it anyway. The party shut down earlier than our last block party. We wrapped up around 11:00 PM this time.... last party ran until 1:30 or maybe even 2AM (at least a couple of hours after the police showed up). No police this time.... not sure if we had a successful party, since we didn't get a police visit, but we did have fun. Sunday was pretty much a do nothing day... including not going to church. We couldn't seem to get moving since we were up really late Saturday night. We hung around home all day and watched a couple of movies. Back to work for Monday and today. Nothing too exciting Monday. Today we had a functional area outing at the Durham Bulls for an afternoon game. A good time, followed by our regular Tuesday golf after the game. Not a great round of golf, but we had fun anyway. So, that catches us up on how things have been going physically. Now back to the mind ramblings I mentioned earlier. I guess my thoughts were kind of running in circles tonight. I think I'm about to the point that I'm ready to face the prospects of this cancer. I'd really like to ask my doctor what to expect from this cancer. What kinds of things to expect as it progresses. But then following that, I think that would be admitting that I expect the cancer to win. And even as strong as the odds are against me, I will not entertain those thoughts (although, I've got to admit, they slip in once in a while). I know, with God and with the support of my family and friends, that this thing is beatable. I'm not saying that I think it will go away, although I know that is possible, as anything is possible through God (remember the bumblebee). What I think is more likely, is that I can live with it, beating it in that way. I'm planning to fight this all the way, and planning to win. As laid back as everyone sees me, I'm really a competitor. If there's a win/lose situation no matter how small, something changes in me to want to win, even if it's a situation in which I might be better off losing.... just can't stand to lose. So, I plan to be around for a long time to come, and making these updates all along. I guess if there's any cancer progression issues, I'll ask them as they come up. I'm not going to ask what to expect, because then I'll expect it. Abby's big school play is this Thursday and Friday night (two night run... she's in the big time). We're not going to be able to make the Thursday night show, my chemo is scheduled for 5:30 Thursday, which means I'll probably get out of there around 7PM (showtime). Meme and Grandad are coming down Thursday to go to the show, we'll catch the Friday night show. I feel bad that we can't make opening night, but I think she understands. Sunday we're going to church with some friends and then to their parent's house for Sunday lunch. We've not been to see them in a while. Karen used to work at the daycare that her friend and her friend's mom owned. They've been really good friends to us and have been giving Karen a lot of support through this. Should be a good time, and I also will get to drive a 57 Chevy Sunday afternoon (the Dad owns a used car business and deals in classics a lot). A 57 Chevy is a car that Abby and I have been talking about for a long time. Had planned to buy one and restore it when we built a new house with room for something like that. That's on hold for now, but we'll look at it again in the future. I think it's bedtime now.... talk to you later. Greg