August 15th 2019

   I've been doing the breathing treatments and they seem to be working, better than I thought they would. My lungs are opening up and I'm coughing up some of the fluids and blood-tinged spit. That said my breathing is still labored. Without O2 my stats run sometimes in the 80s but most times in the lower 90s with my heart rate going fast. I start that next leg of treatment soon.

   Tomorrow I'll pay Mark and Zac to catch and load the calves. I'll be there but not as active as I usually am. I'll work the gate. We get them loaded and sold that money will buy the last of the hay. Hopefully, we will have some leftover for gravel but the market ain't good on cattle here. The only people making money on cattle are the sales lot and grocery stores. 10 years from now small cattle farmers like we are will be driven out and replaced by Factory Farms where they will say how much and how they want to raise their cattle. Mark's hip is gone and I'm not in good shape, so we're both considering a lifetime without cattle.   

August 14th 2019

  Tuesday was my last radiation treatment so I get a break until the end of the month when I start the new drug, which I'll do for a year.

  Dr. Anderson said he heard the congestion in my lungs, which I already knew it. I told him it was either sinus or pneumonia but it felt like pneumonia. He just kind of blew it off and when Denise called his nurse she said nothing even remotely was discussed. So one of the doctors Denise works for setting me up for a chest X-Ray. I was right, fluid was gathering and it was the start of pneumonia. So she called Dr. Flanders nurse who was defensive and wanted to know who ordered the X-Ray and was rude. Anybody that knows Denise knows that won't last long. His nurse asked for the X-Ray and Denise faxed it to her and demanded a call back after Dr. Flanders reviewed it. Denise said she was nicer when she called back. They ask that I increase my breathing treatments.

   As a doctor, if I count Dr. Anderson's staff they rate a 4 star but that is raised up because of the people working there. Every Monday he examines you yet not 1 time did he examine my back. I have 3 places that are burnt so bad they are bleeding. Most radiation doctors are like that, but why?

   Why would Dr. Flanders nurse be on the offensive? Is it always going to be this way?

   Note to Doctors: Most of us know our body and when something ain't right.     

August 8th 2019

   Well, another day another fall. I stepped up on a step and missed, not sure how that works. M y left foot is black from bruising. Thankfully it didn't break. I showed the ladies in Radiation the place on my back where the radiation has broken through the skin and began to bleed a little. They said that wasn't unusual at this stage of the radiation, I have only 3 more left. Finally, the bleeding has almost all the way stopped from the scaring over. Will this cost me in the long run? Probably.

Humana called today and wanted to know about my Colon, if it has been tested and how long ago. I ask the lady "seriously, with all I have going on". We both got a laugh out of it, she said she had to ask. That is getting almost as bad as the Liberty Mutual commercials, except Humana is at least honest.

The Esophageal Spasms continues full force. I have added Nitro to the list of what stops them.     

August 7th 2019

   Right now I'm only doing Radiation, but the markers and numbers have changed. I'm bleeding less, almost stopped completely. I asked what the CT showed from last week but never got a straight answer. I'm not sure what that was about. My back is painful and red, very red. The radiation is taking its toll and maybe that is what is suppose to happen.

  So today I messed up, taking on way more than I should have. My heart rate is still over 100 and will not come down. I washed the dishes like I do pretty much every day, then it hit me, I need to do more. So I took the lawnmower and mowed back at the chicken pens, then over at the Tractor Garage. These are things I normally do when I feed the chickens, except I'm not feeding the chickens. I got the lawnmower stuck and decided to unstick it with the tractor. I was using the front spear instead of a rope, mistake 1. The spear went through the grill and almost into the engine and also the hood broke. Then I pulled the tractor close to the garage door and tore another hole in the door... mistake 2. A friend asked a while back if I wanted firewood, sure I said. Well, he brought his 14 ft trailer full of wood and we unloaded it. Mistake 3. Then Mark (my cousin) called and wanted to know if I would buy his hay rake that the tongue broke off and needed to be welded back. Sure, so he brought it back here and we put it in the barn lot.

  I have 4 radiations left and I thank God for that. I got about 2 weeks before starting the Rx called Infinsy (spelling ?). Next week I will get Mark and Zac to load my calves to take to the market. They are not bring well but that is just how things are. I still want to catch them up, they know me and the way things work.

   Oh I am sooo paying for this day. :)      

  

August 6th 2019

  I had a follow-up with Dr. Rathfoot today and it went well. He said those 2 tumors disappearing was a miracle. After the appointment, Denise brought me home and I went to Radiation, only 5 more left to go to. It will be the end of the month when I start Infinsy? I have to do that for a year every other week.

  My bleeding is mostly just spotting now and I seldom run a fever. Denise still doesn't want me in public since my blood work is probably next to zero now, the last one wasn't good at all. I'm still tired but I'm finally pulling out of a 3-day slump. Hopefully, from here I will grow in strength. I did walk to the mailbox one day, about 400 foot.     

August 4th 2019

   I woke up at 5:30 this morning and by 6:30 put my teeth in and ashed the dishes. I felt extremely tired so I went back to bed. I slept until about 4:30pm waking up only long enough to take a pain pill. I washed my hair and removed the bandage today, I have 4 holes in my skull from the frame they put on me. Seeing how the tumors were gone it was worth it, I do believe a miracle just happened. It felt good to bathe and wash my hair, what little I have left.

  Today and tomorrow are the worse two days after chemo Wednesday, so I was expecting this. It has once again hit the kidneys despite my increase in water. I'll go back the 16th to have another MRI done and make sure they are gone forever.    

August 2nd 2019 Tumors AWOL

So we went to the Thompson Cancer Survival Center and was going to burn out 2 tumors that 3 doctors saw. They put the basic frame on my head, screwing it as best we could figure 1/4 inch into my skull. The shots hurt and there was pressure even with being numb that was a dull pain which didn't last too long. I was ready to go to get their extremely accurate MRI. I laid on a table and the thing on my head locked into place and back into the MRI I went.

   That thing was loud. For the surgery you can bring CDs to listen to, I brought Casting Crowns and Mercy Me. I never got to listen to either of them as the Surgery did not happen. The doctors could not find the Tumors. They simply were not there. I take it as a miracle. So I came home wrapped up with the bandages covering 4 screw holes in my skull. I'll take that any day.   

I'll take that any day.