Status: Not quo

For those who have not yet heard, the results from the last cancer test came back very encouraging. The M-spike is 1.1, much, much lower than at any point since diagnosis, now 20 months and counting Again, this is almost a 50% reduction since last month, or down to 1/3 of what it was two months ago when I began the Revlimid. My oncologist is "thrilled," and Carol is "very excited." I am little excited, and will be very excited if it continues this way another month.

Thanks for your prayers, caring, and expressions of concern!

Update

I saw the back doc yesterday, and he took a look at me and at the MRI pictures from Thursday evening. He declared that I had a nerve getting some pressure from the spine in my neck which was causing pain from the neck through the right arm, and I also have some bursitis in the right shoulder. To fix things, I got an Acme At-Home Do-It-Yourself put your neck in traction kit to relieve some pressure on the nerve (sounds nuts to me, too, but you should hear what they do to you if it gets so bad you have to go to the hospital for treatment), and take some medications for the bursitis. For now it is treat these things at home and keep an eye on them and take other action if things get worse. Frankly, I think a crawling baby is cuter, scroll down one blog entry.

Holding

Today was Grandma Saturday. After their grocery shopping expedition, Carol brought Alyssa to the house, and we had some fun time that included crawling camp (I hold the baby by a towel, or in the olde days, a cloth diaper, while it learns to crawl), as shown by the video below.



We are also holding right now so far as medical information on me is concerned. This past Thursday evening I had MRI's done on my neck and shoulder to determine the cause of some serious pain I have been having in the neck, back and right arm for the past 2 months. I'll see my orthopedic surgeon on Monday afternoon to see what he can see. On Friday morning, I had a blood sample taken regarding the cancer, and will see my oncologist on Tuesday morning to learn the results of the new chemotherapy drug I've been taking. We'll keep you posted on what we find out.

New Flower Bed

This weekend our next door neighbor expanded the flower bed spanning our two yards. Friday night, they were planting flowers in the new bed, so we went to Lowe’s to get a new garden rake and some more plants, and the four of us had a nice evening planting plants in the new bed. The new bed has begonias, impatiens, sweet potato vines, Mexican heather, geraniums, red hot salvias, some ferns, and more. Here are some pics.

The Great Texas Pony Ride

Here are some pictures from Saturday’s great Texas pony ride.

 

cowpokes waiting

cowpokes don’t like waiting.

This guy looks like Stinky Pete..

 

Austin, Texas -

Ride ‘em, Austin

 

and Hannah

and Noah

and Ellie.  Although she did solo, Ellie preferred to ride with an older sibling.

Stinky Pete liked the miniature horse, Cherokee.

 

“Does this horse use a 3-compartment sink?”

 

Emily Rides Again!

The spectating crowd -

    

Ya’ll come back now, ya heyah?

'Nuf Said

5/2/09

Grandkids Visit

Our grandchildren from Illinois (and their parents) are visiting us this week. Our son is in town to speak at an adoption conference, and they all came a few days early for some additional visiting time. On Tuesday afternoon, all of my sons and I went skeet and target shooting at a local range. On Thursday, Carol and I took the day off from work to take care of the grandkids while Daniel and Whitney went to the conference. Here are a few shots from Tuesday afternoon, the only day this week it was dry enough for the kids to play in the back yard, and from Tuesday night, the only time the whole family was able to get together.