09-28-2011

  I test drove my teeth today, man they looked great. I hated to give them back or take them out. Dr Stelzman (spelling ?) said they looked good and Christy (Yellow Hair :) ) liked them too.  They actually felt good. I think the bottom partial will need relining though when I get the uppers. I get them Monday and doc said I'd probably figure on coming back through the week for alignment.

  Monday I also find out the results of my sleep study and also Rathfoot will probably scope me, he usually does. Now that the scopes are farther apart they have gotten harder to do where I'm not use to them. I look forward to the day maybe things can go back to normal and the only thing up my nose is the air and my finger. :) Hopefully too, Dr Rathfoot will known something else to try and get rid of the yeast infection. I went back on 5mg of Prednisone, think I quit a bit too quickly.

  Denise is getting better, talked her into Vit D since she won't go to a doctor. I talked with Sally. She is having a hard time with her radiation. Please remember her in your prayers.

09-27-2011

  I took 5 mg of Prednisone tonight. I think I made a mistake just stopping cold turkey. I'm passing quite a lot of fresh blood again and cramping in my stomach. I go next week to Rathfoot and maybe I will not have to tell him I've stopped. My throat feels better some though, seems the other meds are fighting off the thrush mouth and yeast infection in my mouth and throat.

  Denise has been sick for the last few days now. I've hovered just right above  getting sick, but I've stayed on about 6k iu of vit D. I get my first trial frame fitting of the top plate tomorrow. I'll not stay inside much due to the massive CME in the region 1302 here all week.  

  My friend Sally isn't doing to well with her radiation. She is in pain and the stress of her mother has taken a bad turn. Please pray for them.

09-27-2011

I went and got my impression made today. I go back Wed for a fitting. Then Monday for the finished product... TEETH! I may bite myself to see if it's real.

  I quit the Predisoine (spelling), we could  not get the yeast infection to die down, so I stopped taking it. I go Monday and will tell Rathfoot that I stopped. I don't think it will be a big deal. If it is I'll apologize and go back on it. I've got a few other pills in mind too. Denise will catch on but if she sees I'n fine without them she'd be ok with me not taking them.

  Matt is working his butt off, I glad for him and proud of him. Annie is in nursing school and Megan will go to Graphic Arts.

  We've 2 garage roofs to put on and some soffit when Michael gets me the price.. Oh yea, the shutters for both houses.

  Denise caught a cold and I think she is sharing the wealth. :)

Fitness Can Be A Lifeline For Cancer Survivors - David Haas

  Fitness Can Be A Lifeline For Cancer Survivors

Mental and physical stress is definitely two everyday factors in the life of someone who has been diagnosed with cancer. Though a cancer diagnosis of any kind (including common cancers such as breast cancer and even rare cancers like mesothelioma) can cause anxiety and stress, there is something that cancer survivors can do to help improve their day-to-day well being. Cancer patients who exercise consistently have been shown to have lower mortality rates and better quality of life than those patients who are inactive. It may not be the first thing on the mind of a survivor after they come home from a chemotherapy session, but maintaining a fitness routine is vital to living the best life possible.

An informative brochure put out by the Cancer Resource Center at the University of California – San Francisco states that clinical trials have revealed some significant gains for cancer patients who decide to keep exercising while they undergo cancer treatments. For example, the conductors of the clinical trials discovered that prostate cancer survivors who exercised not only reduced their risk of developing incontinence, but they also were able to diminish the side effects of treatments like radiation and hormone therapy. For women who had received a breast cancer diagnosis, those who exercised lowered their chances of dying by 64%. These results show the importance of exercise in the lives of those people who wish to do more than just sit by and wait for cancer to take their lives. Even with just a little exercise, the quality of life and the life expectancy can be greatly improved for cancer survivors.

Though exercise may not be the cure for cancer, society can no longer deny that it significantly helps those who may be going through the mental anguish of a cancer diagnosis or the physical pain of cancer treatments. In the aforementioned document, clinical scholars at the UC-San Francisco found that all that colon cancer survivors had to do was set aside 6 hours per week for walking at an average pace to achieve a “47% improvement in disease-free survival" compared with their inactive counterparts. This means that, for some cancer survivors, a little exercise has gone a long way in helping them to stay alive. Not only will developing a fitness plan help cancer patients ease their mental stress, but it can clearly help them with the physical fight as well. There is no doubt that exercise takes care of both the body and the mind, helping survivors achieve a well balanced life.

By: David Haas

This was submitted and asked that I post this information up and is not an advertisement but info to help those with cancers. Thank You David Haas for sharing this info. 

09-18-2011

Tomorrow I get the molds made for my upper teeth. Not sure just how long it will be after that, but it's getting close now. I'm too excited to go to bed. Michael and his crew will also be back to finish the windows, they look great so far. Tomorrow will be a good day again.

   My knee is pretty much shot, has some Arther in it, actually knees, shoulder, elbows, ankles, and neck, from injuries and stresses all those years at UPS. It does this every year until the seasons get changed and the just flair ups. Got my bottle of Tylenol Arthritis ready. :) The right one was pretty bad today, plus the yeast infection, but it is leaving slowly... Denise says. So I hobbled around just a little.

   I watched how to do Vinyl Siding on, pretty cool demo. I'm going to try that just as soon as we're finished with the concrete. I fell yesterday and bruised up a few things. Part of the neuropathy I guess, part clumsy. That might be part of the knee thing. A pony cart is pretty solid, the roll of wire wasn't too soft either, lol. Luckily the ground broke my fall. I did install and finish a plug in in the carport.

   I visited Dr Long and Jody Long's site, just in the special board that isn't public though. I go there and talk to others who've had NDEs. We have a place where we can just talk, no worries about questions, no worries what we say. It's nice.   http://www.nderf.org  I go there for what I call a refill.

  Ordered a Framing Nailer finally, decided to get a new one, and ordered Denise's blinds. Caught up on the figures for the repairs on both houses and the lists we have left to do. We're slowly getting there and the folder is slowly filling up. I gave up and went out into public finally. Nobody seemed to notice, well, maybe a few did. We will have to wait until at least Tuesday to start back n the concrete so we don't get in Micheal's way. They have done a superb job so far.

  As such another day ends... and I say Amen 

09-14-2011

   Back down again. I slept most of yesterday. It's not that I am sick I'm just run down. Perhaps the concrete me and Megan went at hard for a couple of days or the allergy I have to it before it dries. Denise says it's a yeast infection, my tongue is coated with white stuff. Today I slept late and other than entering a thing on Purina for some kind of coupon or free cat and dog food voucher, that is about it. I have no idea what that was but Denise said to do it, so I did.

  Denise killed a snake a day or so ago. Those things creep me out. I thought something was up since the Peacocks seemed to stick to me like glue lately. It's that time of year again.

  So today I want to do what I said I was going to do yesterday, build a gate for Matt & Misty's new back deck. I'll have to do some modifications though since Rick and Al made no provisions to add a gate or a rail even to one side. So I'll add posts and build a rail in a tight spot. Been thinking of getting a framing nailer, but not so sure I want that expense, my building days are at end and limited now. Still, it would be a new toy, :) Megan wants to build her own Chicken Coop even though we have some empty ones open, but I can see her point.

  I've done a lot of research and reading, save yesterday when I couldn't stay awake. I've lost over 10 lbs and hopefully will keep it off, due to the teeth extractions. I go the 19th for my molds to be made and hopefully I'll have teeth by the end of the month. When I get them I told Denise we'd thaw out some steaks, get some potatoes, onions, and other stuff and I'd grill a meal fit for a king. Then we start all over again with an appointment to Rathfoot and get the Sleep Study report back. I had her cancel the appointment until I have teeth.  

  I'm gaining strength back decently, look healthy as a horse and have more good than bad days... now if I could just get the stamina back. Oh well, one step at a time. In a way that isn't a bad thing. Most of my life I used brute force to accomplish things where now I have learned to improvise and actually think. Now if I could just remember what I thought, lol. 
 

Why people share difficulties

There just isn't much more I can say. This is why people share their experiences. Their trials and tribulations. This guy is my hero.

And just 1 more.

09-09-2011

  I got my stitches out yesterday, it hurt a little but only briefly, then it felt much better. Sidney said that it was impressive how fast and good my gums were healing. Denise said she gets the credit for fussing at me to constantly soak my gums in warm saltwater. :) I can eat soup now, but only soft soup, I'm slowly toughing them up. I think if I had eaten anymore soft scrambled eggs I'd have grown feathers and crowed. If I ate any more Tuna and Mayo I would grow gills. :) I went from the 231 to 221 now which is a good thing, but I want about 200. I go a little later than I wanted to get my impression for my teeth. Not exactly what I wanted, but then again I want a good fit. In the meantime I've avoided going out.

  Me and Megan moved and stacked the old lumber that was in the yard to the field where the Chicken Coop is. Megan wanted to target shoot for some time now and so today I thought about it and she asks for little, so we decided to target shoot. Megan picked her 2 guns out and I picked out 2 about 100 rounds and had a blast. Megan wanted to shoot the bigger guns so we took those back and got a few other ones. Matt and Josh came back and Denise came back too, and we took about 100 or more rounds that time too. Even Josh shot. Then Megan wanted to drive a little, she hasn't learned yet though she took Driver's Ed and passed. So tonight she drove a bit before dark. I'm kind of anal about driving techniques. I had 20 plus years at UPS with no tickets or chargeable accidents.  All in all we had fun.

  Tonight we discussed about Megan going to school. She is 19 now. So she looked at what the Voc Tech school has to offer, she said she didn't want College. The Voc Tech school has a fancy name now but I don't recall what they changed it too. Wonder if my degree from there is still a degree, lol. We've sheltered her quite a lot. She got so use to hearing that she had limits in high school so tonight I had her watch a guy named Nick, then come back and tell me her limits. I'm going to place one of the videos he has up. She thinks autobody since it involves paint. She has a talent for paint and drawing, not to mention photography. She first said electronics, which I smiled and asked if that was because of my degree, and I think it was.

  All in all, that is about it. I have to wait probably another 2 weeks before I get teeth. So I'll play hide and seek until then. Here is the video.

09-03-2011

  Well the first day was rough but the second wasn't too bad, nothing like I had expected. I think I took two pain pills yesterday. So far today, one. I've been soaking with warm salt water and using hot whatever that thing is on my face, just not as much as I should have. I've been reading on the web and wrote an article. I come close yesterday to going out and doing a little but I found out pretty quickly as I stirred around that wasn't too good of an idea. Hence the first pain pill, lol.

  My face is still swollen a lot and I think I may have messed up the stitch in the front with my tongue. So far, no dry sockets, thank God. I go next week and Sidney will check it out and then the next week for a mold to be made. By the 23rd I hope to have teeth. Until then, my butt is staying home. When I get healed up a bit more I bought enough concrete and stuff to keep me busy without going out.

  Megan, in her usual way, has been extremely attentive. She must have ran in and out of my room 100 times yesterday. She finally, when Denise was heading home asked if she could go play with Josh. Today Denise has stayed near and Megan not far off. They've enjoyed watching the Hummingbird eat out on the front porch.

  I can't wait to eat normal again. Ever since the Chemo I've had to be careful what I ate, how I ate, and kept Gorilla Glue near by. Man this is going to be good. I just gotta wait.

Teeth Gone 9-01-11

  Denise took me to Dr Boyd's office this morning and he pulled the top teeth out. I was a coward this time and requested to be put to sleep, unlike when he took out the bottom ones. I woke up and felt some pain but not the worse I've had. After the numbing wore off, man what pain. So now, with the exception of the bottom two teeth, I'm toothless. If I understood correctly, I have one huge stitch that goes from one side to the other. lol, it grosses Denise out to look at it.

  If all goes well, in about two weeks Dr Steltzman will make an impression and by the third week of this month I'll have my plate made. I've no idea how long it will take me to get use to it. I've stayed inside today, except to feed the chickens and stray cats. With the hydos I've went in and out, I'm not use to them anymore. Clots have formed and just a very little bleeding now, so maybe I won't have to do the pain pills long.

  Me and Megan worked on the wall Tuesday, we got 41 block laid. It's the same wall I started earlier this year, still not done yet. Megan took to the trowel pretty good patching head joints. We backed off of it Wednesday, I lost my voice and my throat swelled up. I forgot that the anti-inflammatory meds would have to be stopped before surgery. I'll start them back tomorrow. We spend the day running errands. I bought enough chicken food to last a month and concrete to mix so I won't have to go out in public much, least that's the plan. Mom's toilet tore up in dad's bathroom so I fixed that yesterday morning, then fixed her plumbing to the toilet where her and or Annie attempted to fix the toilet before they called me. So now both are fixed.

  Denise has stayed home with me today and waited on me. I'd milk it but I'd be pushing it, lol. I figure I'll stay in another day and goof off, I haven't been on the computer much lately. Rick and Al got our porch done and me and Megan built a new gate to match it. I'm going to build Mist and Matt one to match their porch too. Mom's gate has a cracked elbow, so that needs fixed too. The garden is pretty much done until Garlic planting time, save for gathering the seeds.