September 22, 2008

Hi Friends,
Joe got chemo today and although his white count was down his Hgb. was 10.4 and his platelets were OK. Dr. still considers him stable. Our time in Phoenix was not great as Joe was pretty much exhausted and depressed the whole time but last week was a much better week. We seem to have to get used to a roller coaster life, celebrating the good days and praying for grace to get through the hard ones. Dr. did switch his antidepressant so maybe that will help. He has lost 10 pounds since last visit and it looks like it is the edema in his feet and the ascites that has gone down so he is decreasing the diuretic a little. He felt really good today. Tomorrow he has his last golf outing with the mens group. He has missed a lot this summer but will play the scramble tomorrow and then go the final luncheon for the year. This past weekend we spent with friends who came in from out of town from Mass. and North Carolina. We have been friends for more than 30 years and it was great to see them again. We had a lot of laughs and enjoyed remembering great times we had together.
I forgot to mention Joe started walking last week again after no exercise for quite awhile. He wants to be strong enought to dive again in late October if possible. Our specific prayer requests are that the diuretic would work during the day so he can sleep and that he can regain some strength. Thanks so much for being on this journey with us. God Bless. Mary Anne

September 4, 2008

Hi Friends,
Joe is getting chemo right now but we met with the doctor and saw the cat scan ourselves and it truly does show no progression of the disease. His liver enzymes are coming down also, and his CA 19-9 which was up as high as 200 is now down to 42 (normal is 37) so labwise it looks really good. He has been having some days where he just has no energy and sleeps all day and then the next day he feels pretty normal - no queasy stomach. Who knows! Tomorrow we leave for Phoenix and spend a week with Karen. She will have the week off as she is changing jobs this month. We will also stop out and see our friends the Sullivans on Saturday. We thought we lost the pump to our pond this week and we lost the frig in the basement last Saturday - now we discovered it is the whole circuit that is out so hopefully that will get fixed this afternoon. I am at Cassie's right now to drop off the dog for the week and guess what - I locked the keys in my car for the third time in 4 months. Well our son locked them in the first time, the second time I had had a new key made but it didn't work and now I am 45 mintues from home where the spare key is sitting. Joe will drive up here after the electrician fixes our problem and then we have a small group dinner kick off for all the small groups in our church tonight. Busy day before we leave tomrrow and I just made it even worse. Do you have trouble forgiving yourself for stupid things? I'm glad God doesn't have trouble forgiving us. I should take a lesson from that I guess. Anyway have a great day - we are, in spite of the problems. God Bless. Mary Anne