Howdy folks!  You might not believe it, but I just left the emergency room because of “non-defined testicular pain secondary to chemotherapy”.  In other words, chemo makes my boys hurt.  Yes that’s right.  It’s not enough that chemo makes me feel like manure for several days after getting off the pump.  Oh no, it goes straight for the family jewels now.  I just think that it’s great just great.  At least now I know how far this treatment thing goes.

It has been exactly one year since I started on chemotherapy.  What a year of changes for me.  I’ve had to adjust my lifestyle several times to adapt to my new status as a chemo patient.  The things I used to do with ease now make it feel like I’m moving a mountain, and things that seem so inconsequential before are taking precedence in my life.  I don’t know what else to say but it seems like the roller coaster I’ve been on for a year will have to keep moving on.  The nurses I see every other week are great to me and the doc’s are the best.  I really think I’ve gotten lucky with them being on my side.

In other news, Christmas was a complete blur.  I got some really nice gifts that I’m not going to list in detail, but some people really put some thought into what I would like from them and I got some really nice gifts, so I want to take the opportunity to thank them publicly on this blog.  They know who they are.  I spent Christmas eve with Sarah’s family and her sister’s in-laws.  They are some nice people.  I felt right at home instantly and look forward to seeing them again soon.  Christmas day was spent with my family, and I think I was sick for at least part of the day, because I was sooo tired all day long, I slept practically the whole day away.  I did take time out to prepare my hams for the big dinner though.

Healthwise, except for the jewels, I’m doing pretty well. I found out that I can drink sodas, as long as I’m willing to take the risk of getting gas pains from drinking them too quickly.  “C’est la vie”, I guess I’ll just have to live with it, because I am freaking sick of drinking practically nothing but water every day.  There, I said it.  I’m tired of drinking water day in and day out.  Ha!  Whatcha gonna do about it???  Huh???

Mom, Dad and sister are all doing fine, I think.  I don’t see my sister all that much.  She’s busy running back and forth, to and fro, doing whatever it is she’s doing. 

Mom had surgery on one of her shoulders, so she’s pretty much dependent on those of us with two good arms to drive.  Plus it’s amusing to watch her get up after laying down for a nap.  An image of a turtle on it’s shell comes to mind when watching her rise up to her feet.  It really is funny to watch.  Dad and I do it for hours, until she yells at us to help her, then we’re rolling on the floor laughing so hard, tears are streaming down our faces.  Seriously folks, we’re not really that insensitive.  Usually.

Dad’s getting grayer and grayer.  Soon his salt and pepper hair will be just salt, I think.  He’s also losing his hearing.  You have to tap him on the shoulder to get his attention before you speak to him.  Maybe he’s just trying to ignore us.  He seems happiest when he’s doing that, I think.

Sarah’s doing great.  She just finished phlebotomy school and is getting ready for her internship at a local hospital.  Just what she needs I think.  A bit of a raise, full time hours and a change of scenery is just what the doctor ordered.

School is going well for me.  I only have four more months to go and then presto! All done!

Let’s see, is there anything I’m leaving out?  I don’t think so, but one can never be too sure.  I hope all of you enjoyed their Christmases just as much as I did.  May all your family be blessed with good health and good fortune all year long, and remember, give loving affection to your family jewels.  Who knows how long it is before they start hurting you for no apparent reason.  Bye for now, everyone!

So it’s been almost a month since I’ve updated my blog.  I could mention how difficult it is to write something new every time, coming up with interesting things to say all the time.  The truth of the matter is that I just couldn’t motivate myself to write anything. That’s not to say that nothing happened since Thanksgiving, just that I was always feeling just a little too tired to write anything.  I really don’t have an excuse for it or anything, I was just tired.

So rather than try to recount how I’ve been doing the last month, I’ll just recount recent events.  To be honest, nothing much has happened lately.  My cousin has come to stay with us.  It’s made it a little bit crowded at the house, but he’s great to be around and doing pretty good.  I’m not sure exactly why he’s down here, since he lives up north with his mom, But we’re happy he’s here and hope he enjoys being here too.

Healthwise, I’ve been doing okay.  Like I said, except for the fatigue, I really haven’t had much of a problem with anything.  No constipation or diarrhea, no neuropathy or anything.  The only trouble I’ve had is sleeping, hard as it is to believe.  It probably explains the fatigue, but I can’t seem to sleep the night through.  I always seem to wake up for about an hour or so at about 3am.  That’s every night.  It sucks.  Sometimes I’ll switch the TV on and get involved in a show, but then I get interested in the stupid program and end up staying awake even longer.

Anyways, I think I’ve written enough for today.  I promise I’ll make more of an effort to write nore often when I lack motivation, but I really don’t think I’ll be that far between updates from now on.  Promise.  Bye for now folks.

Hi folks, this is probably going to be a long post, since I really don’t have anything to write about, so I’ll ramble lol.  Thursday night, I paid a visit to my home away from home.  That’s right, I went to the hospital.  The reason for this was simple.  I had a pain in my lower chest that would not go away, so I went to get checked out.  They put me in a room with the youngest nurse I think I’ve ever seen.  She knew her stuff, but God, she seemed young.

They took a chest x-ray and a CT scan but didn’t find anything.  They took a blood test to see if it might be a heart attack, which came back negative, which is good.  Basically, they didn’t find a reason for the chest pain.  They think it was just referred pain from my abdomen, but they weren’t absolutely sure.  What they ended up doing is giving me a couple rounds of Dilaudid, which started me itching, so they gave me Benadryl, which pretty much knocked me out for the rest of the evening/morning.  By the way, they told me to consider myself allergic to Dilaudid, so there goes one of my painkiller friends.  So long Dilaudid, it was nice while it lasted!

What made it so long was the fact that my blood pressure was sky high and they wouuldn’t release me until I got it down some.  They gave me two pills for my blood pressure and a dose of Lasix before my pressure came down.  By then, it was almost 6am and I was the only one to get anything amounting to sleep, although that was questionable in and of itself.  The end result was I slept until 1pm and so did Mom and Sarah, I think.

I haven’t really done a whole lot this weekend, except for going to my friend Pam’s b-day bash in Riverside and watch the Steeler’s defeat the lowly Charger’s by the skin of their teeth.  It was a great defensive game, though I wish the Steelers had been able to do something offensively.  I know, I know, defense is their strong point, but it’s a slow game to watch if defense is all you see on the field. 

Well, I’m pretty much out of topics to chat about, and Sarah’s on her way over, so I’ll sign off for now, but never fear, I shall return!

Last week was a lot of toiling for me.  I felt like crap most of the week and when I got feeling physically better, I still felt mentally drained.  I felt blah and listless most of the week and it really didn’t get any better until yesterday.

Yesterday, I started twitching a bit and was dehydrated a little.  I rehydrated a lot thanks to Sarah and got to feeling better, but my neighbor decided to turn on his light of the midnite sun and subsequently, I got zero sleep.  There’s nothing like trying to sleep with a million watts coursing through a single lightbulb aimed directly at your window.  I wish my neighbor would be more considerate of others, but after 16 years living next to him, I don’t hold out much hope. 

Healthwise, I really don’t have anything to report other than what I’ve already said.  Saturday, I escorted Sarah to her ten year high school reunion.  Everything went as planned for a change and Sarah and I had a good time.  Less than a hundred people showed up, which I guess is typical for a ten year reunion, and every one seemed to be competing still.  Everyone was broken up into cliques still and no one talking from clique to clique.  Seems a little shallow to me but I guess everyone has their comfort zone and at this point aren’t interested in roaming outside of it.  Still Sarah stayed for a while and enjoyed herself, which was the main objective for the evening, so mission accomplished.

That’s about all that happened last week.  Stay tuned for more on this week.

HOwdy everyone and how are you this fine night?  I must say that the next benefit night is finally shaping up.  If everything works out with the Cucamonga Service club, we just might have our first of what I hope can be an annual casino night there.  I know the plans right now are for blackjack, poker, roulette and craps, if anyone has feelings one way or the other about this, feel free to let me know.  I don’t know anything about pricing, that’s not my department, but I can probably find out easily enough.  what I’m looking for is how popular the games I mentioned are, so that we have the right number of tables for each.

There’s also a silent auction planned so if you have something marketable and would like a tax exempt donation on your record, feel free to contact me at fightcancerwithjeff@yahoo.com and we can get the wheels rolling on that.  So far things that have been donated are massage therapy sessions, Disneyland tickets and life planning sessions, to name a few.  There’s also going to be a raffle of a plasma tv, although I don’t know the size offhand.  When all is said and done though, it’s sizing up to be a pretty lavish affair, Don’t forget!  I’ll update you all on this as time goes on and details become available to me.

Healthwise, I’m still a little blah.  I slept the clock around last night, except for getting up every couuple of hours to go to the bathroom, which didn’t help with the restful part of sleeping.  No constipation or diarrhea issues, that flaxseed oil mentioned by my Aunt Pauline was a Godsend.  If she’s reading my blog, which she promised she does, I give a hearty shout out to my family.  I only need to take it once every other day and it has me regulated like the other stuff only wishes it could.

Sarah and I continue to roll on like any other couple.  A couple bumps in the road here and there, but pretty smooth sailing overall.  I just approve a message from one of her aunts in Michigan, saying she hopes she gets to meet me and from what Sarah’s told me of her family back east, the feeling is mutual.  They sound like a great loving family, which is what I’m used to.  I just need to get Sarah acclimated to my own family which is large and somewhat intrusive sometimes, but loving nonetheless.

I say somewhat intrusive only because they care, so they’re always around and they ask a lot of questions.  It’s not like they’re sticking their nose in where it doesn’t belong.  For God’s sake, I’m posting everything on the internet, for everyone to read.  The only difference is, they see how I’m doing real time and so they get concerned if my color is a bit off from day to day, so I get the inevitable, “How you doing?” questions all the time.  I don’t lie about my health.  If I feel crappy, that’s what I say.  They just get a laundry list of things I feel crappy about, is all.

Because of the flu like symptoms I’ve had the last few days, I haven’t done much.  Laid down, watched tv, slept.  That’s about the most I’ve done the last few days.  Not exciting I know, but I’m not the internationally known rock star anymore, so no bad publicity stories for me lately.  I promise to make up for it though once I’m better, which probably won’t be at least until Wednesday at the earliest.  I go in early Monday for a blood test and hopefully later that day for chemo, which means I’ll be on the pump until Weds. We’ll see.

Sarah and I are planning on attending her (gasp!) ten year reunion this weekend, so I might let you guys how that goes.  It’s semi-local so we can stay longer and not have to worry about a long drive home.  Nothing is really hammered out in stone just yet.  It’s about $100 a person, which I think is a bit extravagant, but that seems to about normal for a ten year.  That’s what both mine and my sister’s cost, so I’m thinking that’s what’s considered normal now.  At least it’s not at the high school gym for that price.  I’d definitely feel cheated then.