News worth waiting for!

All good news!  No lung cancer!

We finally had the dr. appt. today to get results of the biopsy.  Dr. Aklilu reported that the spot is kidney cancer which means we continue treatments as before.  Therefore, probably tomorrow, we'll start the next round of chemo.  It was great having 4 weeks off (especially while having the grandchildren here) but now back to business as usual - scans again after two rounds of 4 weeks of treatment with a 2-week break in between.

Waiting develops patience!

Some of you may have been wondering about the results of the biopsy I had last week.  I had told some that I would get the results at the Dr. appt. on monday.  Well, the Dr. appt. was rescheduled to Aug. 1.  But the doctor called to tell me about rescheduling and told me he would call Mon. or Tues. when he got the results and share with me.  He hasn't called and his nurse is unaware of his plan to call.  Therefore, I think we will get results on Mon. Aug. 1 at my 10:45 appt.

I'm fine with that.  I continue to have time off chemo which I'm enjoying!  There's always something to be thankful for.

Eleanor has her follow-up Dr. visit tomorrow.  Her vision is improving slowly - looking forward to hearing the doctor's report on her progress.

Thanks for continued prayers!

Praises!/Confined to home!

Eleanor and I have both completed our procedures for the day and are both confined to home for the remainder of the day.  She had a cataract removed from her left eye and seems to be doing well - so far her vision is still blurred as expected and she has these nice big shades she must wear when she goes out.  She was aware all during the process and even got play-by-play description.  She will have a checkup tomorrow.

I had a lung biopsy via a needle through the back with ct scan taking place throughout the process.  I was aware though out the process but thankfully did not get play-by-play.  They did share some info during like 'we're almost finished' which were appreciated.  The only discomfort was having to lay on my stomach with my head turned to the side without moving for approx. 40 min. - my neck hurt.  All was well once I was allowed to change positions and get up.  Overall, no biggie!
I hopefully get results on Mon.

We both plan to just relax the rest of the afternoon.

Good Report with ?

Today we got the results of last weeks scans.  Dr. Aklilu reported that the chemo continues to do its job - some spots had disappeared, others had gotten smaller or maintained as before - all this is good and means the drug is working well.  The question has to do with a spot on my lung which looks different.  Since he's not sure about it, they will be doing a biopsy some time next week and we will see the Dr. July 25 for the report and what we do next.  He thinks the possibilities are that the spot is lung cancer (different from other spots which are kidney cancer) or kidney cancer acting strangely.  Lung cancer could be treated with radiation and if it's kidney cancer probably no action would be necessary.  After either conclusion, we would then continue chemo treatments.

The good news with this (besides continued progress of course) is the fact that I will not be taking chemo until this little side trip is complete hopefully on 7/25.

No news is good news!

Today was scan day all day at Baptist Hospital.  All went well ... e x c e p t ... we did not get to see the doctor and results.  We had the doctor's last appointment of the day and he had a meeting at 4:00pm.  My MRI was scheduled for 2:30 which should have been plenty time to finish and get to doctor appt. by 3:45.

However, there was a delay with the MRI, (something about a backup due to an emergency) so they took us to another lab in the main hospital building.  They started my test after 3:15 making it after 4:00 when I got out and the doctor was not available.  Thankfully, we didn't go to the doctor's office expecting to see him - they called to tell Eleanor that the appt. was being rescheduled to Mon. @ 2:45.  Oh, well.  Good news will be even better after we wait a few days.  We don't always like or understand God's timing but we know He is in control so everything will be alright.

Results to follow here late Mon. afternoon.  Thanks for continued prayers!

Life goes on!

I haven't added anything lately because there hasn't been much happening that I thought anyone would be interested.  Since it's been hot and dry, I've tried to play golf earlier in the day (2 or 3 days a week) to beat the heat and I've had little yard work to do - grass is dying or has brown patch - frustrating.

We did participate in some interesting events this past week:

One night a group from Sunday School and others met to pray for our nation - our nation and leaders need your prayers to make decisions in God's will.

Our Calvary community group met at the Butlers for a social and prayer/praise time.

Our Bible Fellowship class met for ice cream social.

Now that I see this in print and remember that I washed windows,  I guess we had a pretty busy week.  I have completed week 3 of this round of 4 weeks of treatment and have felt fine.  I do get a little tired quicker than I'd like and I've gotten a couple mouth sores this weekend.  Thankfully, just one more week!  Then, we spend all day July 7 at Baptist hospital for scans again.  Thank you for continuing to pray that the scans will again show improvement.

Week of praises!

We have a lot to be thankful for:

We returned from a good trip to Ky. celebrating Eli's 4th birthday and visiting with the rest of the family.  I watched Batman on TV with the children and watched NBA finals game with Jackson (Jackson is amazing with his interest in the game and knowledge of players, etc.) and David.   I also got to play golf with David twice (hot weather, fast greens, deep rough).

Chris returned safely from a trip to Equador after an exciting and beneficial learning experience.  As with most mission trips, I think he and his group gained more than he gave.

I've completed week #1 of the fourth round of chemo with no problems with side effects thus far - still drinking pepsi!