Thursday, November 27, 2014

Survived the Summer of 2014 in ARIZONA.........

We did indeed survive the Summer and are now almost into the winter. Here it is THANKSGIVING already.....    Although we really missed our place in South Dakota this summer, we are quite lucky (blessed!) to have our neighbors that looked after it so well for us. God Bless them, I sure don't know what we would have done without them.  Also thanks to all of our friends that were in the area and offered to look after the place for us...  It was a trying summer, but we came through it.  We are now looking forward more than ever to get up to the BLACK HILLS next summer.

I know a lot of you follow our Careingbridge site, for those of you that don't here is the latest post from there:

"This past Tuesday 11/25/14, the Mayo clinic called me back for my 2nd monthly check up.  It was a more thorough checkup than the first month was and included the 2 bone scans again plus the regular blood work. It was also time for my 3 month Lupron shot, along with the monthly Xgeva bone strengthening shot. So it was a FULL DAY. This is normally a 2 day procedure but since we live so far away (85 miles), we talked them into completing everything in ONE day.  We had to leave our place in North Ranch at 5am.  It takes right at 2 hrs. to make that 85 miles and the last 30 miles are high speed 75-80 mph interstate 10-12 lane traffic driving.  It's almost bumper to bumper at that time of the morning, quite hectic and a little nerve wracking. Thank God for the HOV lane(2 people or more in Veh) or we would never have made it. The worst part is you never know when an accident may plug the entire system up and make you late. We thought about going in the night before and staying in a motel but we both hate motels and they had no place for us to park the motorhome, so we decided to just drive in that morning. We're kinda getting used to the hectic drives....there has been a lot of them in the last few months!

I will cut right to the important stuff and not bore you with all the details of this long day. My first appointment was 0730 for blood tests. They took eight separate vials of blood for testing. Good to get those out of the way as I had been fasting since midnight.   A quick trip to the cafeteria for a cup of coffee and a Ham and cheese omelet was in order. I had to fast 4 hours before one of the bone scans and I had just enough time to work this omelet in. By the time we were done eating and I went to my next appointment to have some nuclear fluid injected 2 hrs. before a scan, they had posted the results of my blood work.  WOW, we checked the PSA and it was 3.8, YES, 3.8!!!    DOWN from 10.2 last month and 124 when I started on the program. We were elated to say the least.  That good news made it so much easier to go through all the rest of the scans, shots, etc.   Our last appointment was at 4pm. The Doctor discussed the blood work with us and changed a few of the vitamin supplements I'm on and told us all the other items looked great. We reviewed the bone scans and I was happy to see there hadn't been much change there. They had stayed about the same.

The trip home went well as we were in such a good mood from all the positive results.......although it was dark all the way and I'm not used to driving after dark.  The oncoming headlights all seem so bright.  We were both tired puppies when we finally got home.   I decided that during those times in the scanning machines would be a great time to pray to our Father in Heaven and thanking him for all the positive results and wonderful treatment. I am so blessed and have so much to be thankful for. I also asked that he please help Ms. Pat and give her the continued strength to keep fighting her ordeal,  I asked Him to bless her Doctors and give them the answer to correcting her problem. She is still in a lot of discomfort from the numbness in her legs and feet. 
Our great friends", Jim and Ellie, are preparing a Thanksgiving feast for us.  Smoked turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, Jim's special Pecan Pie and Ellie's Pumpkin pie.  Ms Pat is preparing a fruit salad and spinach casserole to go along with the wonderful dinner.  Makes me hungry just thinking about it.
 
Thank you again for all your thoughts and prayers.  They are definitely working!!"

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Mike