After I made it home in September, it got VERY busy here trying to catch up on all I missed…like the “House that Sheila built” (picture attached…we’re almost there!!!), 6-8 Year old Soccer and 4-6 Year old Soccer (AKA “Herding Cats”…kudos to Aidan’s coaches…that is NOT easy, but it IS appreciated). I made it home in time to see Aidan actually score his first goal yesterday in the last game of the season! He struggled through, didn’t get into as much as the big boy, who scored 10 goals and wants to play in the World Cup someday. You can see how they each approached games and uniforms.

I took my first 5 day cycle of chemo mid-October and started my second cycle today…it is 5 days on, then 23 days off to let my body recover…I definitely need the recovery time…the blessing is the chemo (Temodar) is in pill form, so I don’t have to go through the IV push type chemo. But this stuff is so toxic, no one is supposed to handle it but me…makes sense, we’re trying to kill part of me off! But it makes me extremely nauseous (I’ve got two different anti-nausea meds) and really tired…I can still sleep after 16 hours. So I’m on a 28 day cycle…Sheila and I are competing to see who sets the cycle! Right now, I’m most regular…every third quarter moon I start my misery.

I just got back from my first check-up at NIH and WRAMC in D.C. for the last week. Appointment times were changing right up until I left on 2 November and then, you know my luck, during my first day of appointments at NIH on Friday, I got the mother of all stomach flu, was barely able to finish my MRI (which WRAMC couldn’t read anyway), and I spent the rest of the weekend in my hotel room and bathroom. My buddy Scot Angus took care of me with runs to CVS and bottles of Gatorade, although those just provided ammo for the puke machine. I couldn’t eat more than dry toast and tea until Monday.

Tuesday I got to see my oncologist at WRAMC and then Thursday, I met with the “WRAMC Neurology and Neuro-surgery Peripheral Neuropathy Clinic” to try to figure out what is wrong with my right arm (luckily it was chaired by my tumor neuro-surgeon; who has a vested interest in me).

I told you in the last message that for the last 5 years I’ve seen progressive atrophy of my right arm triceps and forearm; I’m right-handed but my left arm is 1.5 inches bigger than my right! I started complaining to the flight docs about it in Okinawa, but didn’t get very far until this spring, when I insisted on a referral since I’d had the left arm seizure and needed my right arm to work. A good flight doc paid attention, sent me to orthopedics, then physical therapists, who suspected spinal damage. I then went to a very thorough neurologist who listened closely to my symptoms (headaches/left side numbness) and decided to order a brain MRI along with the spinal MRI. You may remember that this is how the tumor was found…not even looking for it.

Bottom line is that the entire panel of neurosurgeons and neurologists couldn’t figure out what is wrong with my arm by poking and prodding, they want a new spinal MRI, and further tests; also I may get to get some more surgery…yayyyy! If I wasn’t having a hard time picking up my four year old I probably wouldn’t care, but I need some help here…Declan I’d need a forklift to pick up, so he’ll just have to deal with it. It is so good to be home and alive, especially standing in church listening to Declan sing “Glory to God in the Highest”…makes me cry just thinking about it…I can’t believe he turns 7 years old on Thursday. Thank God for my family and all the support we’re getting. Speaking of which, we’ll be moving to the new house soon, so we’re planning on having a “moving party”…we’ll need help but will buy all the beer.

In every update I think I’ve talked about our young wounded military men and women…I’d be remiss if I didn’t remind y’all again. It really affected me while up there. This trip I met the family of another young man who just lost a leg from just below the knee down. He felt fortunate, however, because his driver lost his legs mid-thigh. If you get a chance, checkout the Wounded Warrior Project link below. The stories are very inspiring and enlightening. Our soldiers need support after they’ve sacrificed so much for our country, and these people are supporting them. Like I mentioned before, you can also see which companies and celebrities have stepped up and in turn reward them for their loyalty to our soldiers.

http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org

All my love,
Dan