Saturday, August 17, 2013

Beach Trip August 2013

Cannon Beach has always been one of our favorite places to visit.  Our visit here this weekend holds special significance.  I never thought we would be here--together--ever again.  After all, we were divorced in mid May!  I'm feeling especially grateful today for being married (again) to the love of my life.  Life is good; God is great.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Quite a week

This is actually the first time I have posted anything to a Blog, so be patient with me.  Honestly, it feels kind of weird to write about myself, Believe it or not, I don't like attention, and writing seems to be asking for it!

So here is an update of the last week or so.  The last couple weeks I have been more tired than previously.  Not surprising as fatigue is a common side effect of both radiation and chemo.  Last Wednesday was a bad day.  Staarted out good.  I showed up for half of the district administrators meeting, and it was nice to see everyone.  But then things turned south.  Headaches and vomiting.   Kind of scary as that's what was going on for my first trip to the ER back in June. Now that I think about it, that was also the same day as an administrator's meeting!  Now things are starting to make sense.  (Smiley Face!)  So back to the ER we went.  Got some IV fluids, pain medication and anti-nausea medication and felt better pretty quickly.  Finding a balance of steroids seems to be the tricky part of this drug cocktail.  The steroids make it hard to sleep at night (I seem to have no problem at all falling asleep in a comfortable chair)!  But they also keep headaches under control.  I think we are getting closer to that balance. Most of my headaches are dull aches behind the eyes kind of in the back ground.  Those have been much better.  I'm a little wobbly but other than that feeling pretty good.  I get restless and need to get up and walk once in a while.  Been riding my bike a little, especially enjoying rides when Kelley is right there with me!

Emotionally it's been a mix.  Lately I've come face to face with some of my limitations, and that's been hard.  Biking, Driving, running, reading, doing my job, for examples.

Last Saturday, Noah, Kelley, Noah's friend Jesse and I went to the Tillamook County Fair.  The Andersons, Kuenzis and Zenchenkos weren't too embarrassed to sit by us!.
 We had a good time at the horse races, even came out a few dollars  ahead.  Of course, the Pig N' Ford Races were entertaining, too.  It's an annual event!

Yesterday I finished 33 days of radiation treatments.  Nice to have that over with.  Not exactly sure what's next, although I think I'm getting a short break from radiation and chemo, then it will be chemo only for a while.  If you're looking for details, you're going to have to wait because I don't think the docs know them yet.

This weekend Kelley and I are celebrating the end of radiation with a trip to Cannon Beach.

I've been working a little bit via email from home.

Thanks for your continuing thoughts and prayers.  There is tons of evidence that they are working!

Friday, August 2, 2013

Our Story ( a link to Our Town article)

Thank you Kristine Thomas for the article written for the Silverton Our Town newspaper.  Here's a link to our story:
http://ourtownlive.com/ourtown/?p=3824

Sincerely,
Mark & Kelley