Getting Old is not for Sissies

This past year, I have had more medical issues than the combined 66 years prior. Everything seems to begin falling apart all at once. I really have no right to complain, since I have been so healthy for so long, but it definitely hard to accept. It is my opinion that some, not all, but some of the problems I am experiencing are related to the chemo pill I must take for 2 years following my cancer removal. The majority of the symptoms, I can handle, but the weak muscles is the worst. I have always been strong and had boocoodles of energy. Those two symptoms are the hardest to accept. I have had my one year scan and check up with both my surgeon and my oncologist and got good reports from both. During my visit with them, I voiced my thoughts about the weak muscles and questioned whether my heart would be affected since it is a muscle. They are now recommending a stress test. I have been having several episodes of chest pains. Nothing major, but enough to get my attention. The heart is the first thing to pop into my mind. Could this be a warning of worse things to come? Hopefully, with this, test, we will be able to see what is going on. I pray it is only stress causing the chest pains.

Now I am dealing with another totally different issue, unrelated to the chemo pills, as far as I know anyway.  I have been doing a lot of reading and feel the thing I am dealing with now is a Baker's Cyst. There is a swelling in the back of my knee and it makes bending my leg or using the muscles in my leg very painful. From the reading I have done, it must be a fluid that has built up around a joint. The more reading I do, the more frightened I get. It says it can heal and go away on it's own, but then there is a chance it may require surgery. I have an appointment with my family doctor next week for my routine checkup. I tried to get in earlier to no avail. I think I read that the fluid sac could rupture and the fluid could run down into the calf muscle and cause more problems. I am already experiencing the sensation on the soul of my foot of standing on a couple of small water balloons.Could this be the fluid from the ruptured cyst? I hope not, but it does sound logical. The entire thing makes it very uncomfortable to walk, so hopefully I will get to the bottom of this issue before too long. The rains have hampered my work in the yard and gardens nearly all Spring and Summer, so far. I have had to spend a lot of time indoors. I am ready to pull my hair, or someone's hair, out over it all. I pray this, too, will pass, as have so many other hurtles in my life. 

Potatoes in my Bed

early stages of my raised bed... 30 X 5 ft.

a sampling of my new potatoes

We bought a bag of red potatoes at the local auction this year, and I decided I would plant some of the eyes in my new raised garden bed just to see how they do. We have had the wettest Spring I can remember in awhile. It has been extra cool and rained more days than not. I suppose it was just what the doctor ordered for my potatoes. I harvested a full 5 gallon bucket from only a dozen hills. They were amazing. I cooked up a batch of potato soup for a gathering we were having a couple of weeks ago and they were such a hit, I have decided to cook another batch for our outing at the lake on Sunday. I have a few tires remaining with the last few hills that have not been harvested yet. It, too, was an experiment, so having such good luck with the potatoes this year, I will definitely be trying it again next year. With potatoes though, one just knows it is a hit or miss thing. A lot depends on the weather and other factors, as to whether or not you have a good crop. My raised bed is young yet, so I'll need to add a lot more soil and other things in order to make it better. I am so pleased with the results, I can't imagine it being any better. My tomatoes are doing great. I have sweet peppers coming on. The watermelons are growing good. I had a few strawberries earlier this season.. I have a few strawberry corn nearing maturity.  I've had loads of onions, My cucumbers are bearing good. And, oh yes, my potatoes. I dare say, I have impressed my own self with the abundance of veggies that I have grown in my new raised bed. I have planted some beans lately and they are coming along nicely. Who could ask for more in such a small space. Having a place to raise your own food and enjoying the process as we both do, is truly a blessing. We are so blessed, and we thank God, daily, for this wonderful life we are living.

One year later, no sign of Cancer

Here I am once more, grateful for the opportunity to tell the world, I am alive and feeling so blessed. One year ago. After a lengthy heart examination by Dr. Mehta, an Elizabethtown Cardiologist, it was determined that there was something out of the ordinary, showing up in my exams and scans. With the insistence of Dr Mehta, we engaged another doctor q,Dr. Marshall Johnson, for his assistance in determining exactly what it was they were seeing . After a few more tests, Dr. Johnson felt it was something that required a specialist. He immediately hooked me up with Dr. Charles Scoggins at Norton's Hospital. We then made arrangements to have it checked out, whatever it might be, as soon as possible. Within a week. I was meeting with Dr. Scoggins when he expressed to us, it was indeed cancer. A GIST cancer. He had seem enough to know. Our next step would be to take it out, send it off to determine other factors. Fast or slow growing and in what stage.Within another week, I was headed for surgery with Dr Charles Scoggins at Norton's Hospital. At 5:30 in the morning of June 17, 2014 .I was being rolled into surgery. After roughly, an hour later, we were informed that a mass the size of an orange, was sitting directly on top of my stomach, not in the lining as was originally thought. Now the waiting. Four days later, about the time I was ready to be released from the hospital, the results were in. Dr. Scoggins came to my room to tell me and my family the results of the tests we had been waiting for. The Gastro Intestinal Stromal Tumor was a fast growing tumor in the 3rd stage. We were indeed blessed. Had it gone into the fourth stage, it would have metastasized and went to my liver and my brain. There would have been no stopping it. So, here I am, one year later, having just recently got the results of my one year scan. All Clear. Praise, God!  Although it has been a somewhat difficult year for me, adjusting to the fact I do not have the strength I once had, I do feel I am so grateful. I feel I am getting my strength back gradually. I have been on the chemo pills for the last year and was told I will need to be on them one more year, if all goes well, and they do not change the guidelines on that order. There has been talk of moving the time on the pills up to five years. I feel tthe chemo pills are holding me back from regaining my full strength, but I am trusting that with the help of God,my Oncologist, Dr. Vivek Sharma,and my surgeon, Dr. Charles Scoggins, I will be just fine. 

Step back Facebook. I'm blogging today.

Since joining the Facebook world, I rarely get around to posting on my blog anymore. I tend to write about much of the same things on my FB posts and folks seem to enjoy my daily entries, but since the things I post about on my blog will eventually end up in my little books, I need to get back to posting here as well. I will try to keep them both up to date, if possible, but this time of the year is a busy time for me anyway.  We'll just have to see how it goes.

bed covers to deter cats

1 of 2 compost bins and compost strainer

more space for small chickens

my raised garden bed

volunteer tomatoes

The cats awakened me  at 5 am  and after feeding them and letting them out, there was no way I could fall back asleep. I lay awake, thinking of a project I had been wanting to undertake for some time. It was just turning daylight, so I had to get to it.  We no longer use one of the enclosed dog/chicken pens, so I have been gradually disassembling it. We, at one time, had multiple sections of woven wire, given to us by Cousin Keith. Pop has since hauled most of it off for scrap, much to my dismay, since I used and loved that wire. It came in so handy for so many of my projects. I use it to make compost bins, strainers for composted soil, small cages for various uses, wind and frost caps for my plants, temporary fencing for the chickens to have extended space to get to more bugs and grass. So many uses. Now that I am down to only a very few sections of the wire, I had to disassemble the old pen in order to reuse that last section that was used overhead to keep the varmints out and the chickens in, but I got it done. A lot of trimming of honeysuckle and wisteria vines, but I managed to get it done much quicker than I had originally thought. My flock of smaller chickens, bantam and silkies, now have more space to scratch and eat. No where near the trouble I had anticipated. Much to my surprise, I found a lot of volunteer tomato plants growing in the abandoned pen. Most likely they are cherry tomatoes. They reseed more readily than most tomatoes and since I had chickens in that pen last, the seeds were, most likely, left from the table scraps I had fed them.  No matter. They were a welcome sight. I'll let them grow where they are. Who knows. That pen may make an excellent greenhouse after all.  That was a plan I had for it sometime back, anyway. Now I know. It will work as a greenhouse, but that is another project for another day.  

Is this what they mean by "Noodling"?

Hershell and I got a call this week from our friend, Budco, who was filling in a pond for a field tiling job he was doing. He called saying the number of fish coming out of the pond was unreal. Would we like to come and save a few more for our pond. We jumped in the truck and headed that way. No thought of how things would be when we arrived. Thank goodness I had enough sense to pitch a net in the truck. Hip boots never entered my mind. When we arrived on the scene, we found a couple of hog wallow type streams that we needed to cross. Not even the 4-wheel drive truck would help. It was a trip we needed to make on foot. The muck and mire where we needed to cross was too wide to jump, but we had to try. Hershell made it across without getting too muddy. I attempted to jump to what I thought was a solid spot, but you can guess the rest of the story. My solid spot target turned out not to be so solid. My foot slipped, bringing me down, flat on my back, in the mucky hog wallow of a stream and since he had tried to help me, down he went, too. We were both laughing so hard, it took what seemed like forever to get ourselves up and out of the muck. After we got over the embarrassment and humiliation, we proceeded to dip up many fish to take home to our pond. 21 blue gill and 6 bass. Not a bad days fishing. I hope my former classmate, Nelson Burnett, is following my story. I'd like to tell him, "If this is anything like noodling, I want no part of it ever again. Sorry." Many years ago, he informed our eighth grade class that he had been dubbed with the nickname Noodler. When asked why, he replied, "Because I love to noodle."  I never knew until that day what noodling was. I have since learned that it means getting in the water, feeling around under the water, and catching fish with only your hands. I, personally, don't see how that could possibly be any fun, but hopefully, you don't need to get down and wallow in the mucky mud to noodle.
Above are a few pictures from our trip. Hershell had rinsed my back side off a bit with the ice cold water from a nearby creek. The water was too cold for much rinsing off. It's a wonder we both didn't catch pneumonia.

Energy and Motivation, Don't Leave Me Now!

I guess I could put an ad in the local paper, but I am afraid the things I have lost, cannot be found that easily. I have a long list of excuses as to why I have gained several extra pounds in the last year, but the plain truth is, I have been snacking too much and not getting enough exercise.

The Cancer ordeal of this past year did have a tiny bit to do with it, but it was not the only factor. It took the better part of the summer to heal from my surgery and I did tend to stay in and do as little as possible during the healing process. Then there was the Iron ordeal. I had to go to the James Graham Brown Cancer Center once a week for a 2 hour session of intravenous iron. Louisville being 60 miles away, and the traffic being so bad at times, I was a nervous wreck each time we had to make the trip. Pop does the driving, and he scares me as he is much older now, not to mention, he thinks he is still 25 and driving on the racetrack, which he was really good at, back then. But age tends to change a lot of things, and he doesn't accept change easily. Many times when we'd make the trip, one of his two daughters would go. Most times, they would drive, but occasionally, they will let him drive. They truly want to believe he is just as capable as he was when he was much younger, and do not want to hear me say he does not need to be driving to Louisville.  I've lived with him for the last 37 years, so I feel I know his driving habits a little better now. I would rather one of them would drive. They are both good drivers, although they do drive faster and take more chances than I ever would. I guess it's a case of choosing the lesser of the two evils.

Nevertheless, the Cancer and the Iron ordeals are behind us, for the most part. I am still taking the chemo pills daily, and I still need to have a CBC once a month, regular check ups with both my surgeon and my oncologist, once every 3 months. and a scan every 6 months. Both doctors are in Louisville, so that's a pain, having to make the trips backup there, but when you consider my alternatives, it's not that bad.

The Winter was really rough on me this time. Over and above the other issues, I have been experiencing a lot of troubles with one of my shoulders. Both tend to bother me a lot, but the right shoulder froze up completely. It, too, was possibly brought on by inactivity. During the time I was recuperating from the cancer surgery, I was doing a lot of work on the computer, planning my big 50th class reunion. I was on the computer the better part of every waking hour for much of the Fall and Winter. I was the number one, search and find, person, for locating our 169 plus classmates.
I enjoyed every minute of it, but I do think it may have played a big part in my shoulder joint freezing up. I went through a few weeks of physical therapy, and it helped somewhat, But I still do not have the complete mobility back in that arm. Mom had a similar problem with her right arm and shoulder. They would not do surgery on her because of her age, but I do not plan to have surgery at any age on mine. I am hearing too many stories of bad results for folks who have had the surgery.

Now,back to my topic. Spring is here now. My aches and pains seem to diminish with more activity and a change in the weather. It will take me all summer to clean up the mess left from my inactivity of the past year. Things tend to get out of hand in the yard and gardens, without regular routine care. I have been working with these things for a few days now, and I do feel I am rebuilding my strength and stamina a bit. It's a slow process. I am struggling with low energy and weak muscles, but I plan to persevere. Hopefully, I will get back to my usual self before Winter hits again,along with the long spells of inactivity which accompanies it. I have never been one to do my exercising indoors.

I do believe the fresh air and outdoor activities tend to play a major part in how one feels, but diet does play a huge part in it, too. Thus, I have just today, ordered Dr. Phil's 20/20 Diet Book. I have never been one to follow a diet, and do any good, but hopefully he will have a few pointers that I can use in my own routine.I'll check in, in a few days to post an update on how I am doing.

Our Family Grows

One day, this past few months, Pop and I were working with the winter's wood supply, when we heard the 3 dogs barking incessantly at something they had treed. We investigated and found it was a young calico cat. It didn't appear to be a full grown cat, but maybe 3/4 grown. We called the dogs away and between Pop and I, we coerced the kitten down from the tree. It seemed to be comfortable with humans, so we went about convincing the dogs that it was not a varmint, so they,too, become  comfortable with each other, right away. It seemed to be a well kept cat. It was healthy and friendly, but it was determined to follow us, every step we made. We'd go inside. It would follow. We'd go outside. It would follow. It knew exactly where to go inside the house, for water, To the commode. That told us that it must have been a house cat where ever it had come from. We continued on with letting it be a house cat, but it definitely wanted to go outdoors to do it's business. It would use the litter box if it had to, but we could tell, it preferred to do that outside in the dirt.We noticed it getting fatter and fatter, or so we thought. It only took about 60+ days to figure out it was not fat that was making her appear much bigger. Pop was worried she had a tumor, and sure enough 60+ days later, she had 5 little tumors. We have spoiled them all rotten now, and it will be hard to let them go, but we are pretty sure we have found homes for most of the babies. We plan to have Callie, the Mother cat, neutered as soon as possible. She is a darling pet. It is hard to understand who would have dropped off such a great pet, but with the economy being as it is nowadays, we figure they could not afford to feed her, plus most likely knowing she was bred, did not help.  Our male cat has been neutered so we know he was not guilty of fathering the kittens.She had to have been bred when she was dropped or shortly thereafter, by a neighboring male cat. They do tend to travel great distances, when in season, to find a mate. No matter. She is our cat now, and we love her dearly. The babies are all precious. Each with it's own darling personality. They will make great pets for their perspective owners soon, although we will miss them terribly. It is so easy to get attached to a tiny kitten, as we are learning, all too well.

Back in the Saddle Again

This has been a very rough year for me and I am hoping with the arrival of the Spring season, to be able to get things back on track. My muscles have deteriorated over this past Summer and Winter, due to inactivity. The Cancer scare, hopefully, is behind me. I had it removed and I am now taking 300 milligrams of Gleevec, a chemo pill, once a day.The healing from the surgery took about 6 weeks, but then we learned that my iron levels were bottomed out, so that took another 6 weeks to get the treatments for that taken care of. All in all, I have had very little outdoor activities to keep my muscles built up as usual. One of my shoulders froze up, probably due to the same reason, and I am convinced that age and the weather had a bit to do with it also. I went through a few rounds of therapy which helped to a great extent, but I am sure some of the pain and discomfort will be with me always. I have kept myself busy as always, through this lengthy recovery from all of the above. I have busied myself doing lots of my many craft interests, but the one that captivates me most often is making the little pincushions.This is only a few of my pincushions as I have been giving them to friends and family as gifts this past few months.I enjoy making the little pincushions, although they are very tedious and time consuming. The process does seem to have a calming effect on me, so when I am stressed, they are the perfect distraction and remedy.

So Life Does go on

It has been nearly seven months since I have last posted and life does go on. I have been taking the chemo pill for roughly six months now, They first had me on 400 milligrams, but that appeared to be too strong for me. They keep a close watch on the blood levels for all sorts of things. It seem the 400 milligrams were affecting one of the components they were watching. They backed me off to 300 milligrams and that is where I have remained up to this point. I was told early on, that I would possibly be taking the chemo pills for at least two years, but the last trip I made to my Oncologist, Dr. Vivek Sharma, I was told that they are studying these cases and are considering moving the length of time to five years. Evidently, the cancers of some have returned after stopping the pills after only 2 years. I don't seem to have any side effects from the pills. None that stand out anyway. Many of the side effects mentioned in the literature they provided, I was already feeling from age.

I have had my first 6 month scan on the cancer and all seems to be clear. Thank God. I must continue to have my blood monitored once a month. I went to my family doctor this past few weeks for my regular semi annual check up and all of my numbers are great. That was no surprise though, since I was in excellent health when they discovered the cancer and am today. That is why it was so hard to understand how there could be a third stage, fast growing cancer, inside of my body. The only symptoms I ever had that there could possibly be something wrong was an occasional change in my heartbeat. Sometimes it would act up and do weird things, but I have dealt with that, for my entire life. My heart has always concerned me. That is why I keep a good heart check up every ten years or so.

The last time I decided to have my heart checked was in early 2013. I had been eating a bit more chocolate than normal, so I figured that was the problem,  To be on the safe side, I went to my family doctor and she put one of those halter monitors on me and sent me home, telling me to wear it for 24 hours. Upton returning the monitor, they read it and informed me that they had seen some irregularities in the rhythm of my heart. That called for more tests, so I was sent for an electrocardiogram with Dr. Mehta. He checked my heart over and decided my heart muscle was strong, but I did have a leaky valve which would not kill me,BUT he had seen something else that concerned him and he felt I needed additional tests to determine what it was. I chose and was sent directly to Dr. Marshall Johnson. Carmen and Pop had used them and they trusted his judgment. Dr.Johnson recommended an endoscopy. it appeared to be a tumor in my stomach, and possibly in the lining of my stomach,so he could not get a good read on it. He suggested I go on to a specialist in this field, Dr. Charles Scoggins, who worked with the Norton's Hospital, University of Louisville, and the James Graham Brown Cancer Center.We felt if Dr. Johnson trusted him, then we would trust him. Dr.Johnson went out of our examining room directly to the phone and hooked me up with Dr. Scoggins/ Within a day or two, we were at Norton's, having surgery on June 17, 2013. Dr. Scoggins looked at the tests that had already been run on me, and he stated up front. It is a cancer. That was for sure . A GIST cancer. A Gastro-Intestinal Stromal Tumor. It needed to come out asap to be tested to see if it was fast or slow growing and in what stage it was. The Brown Cancer Center and the University of Louisville both came to me with papers to sign, requesting me to relinquish to them, a sample to be studied. Evidently the GIST cancer is not that common, possible 3-4 thousand cases. found in the U.S. per year. I willing agreed to both studies. I remained in Norton's for four days while they sent the tumor off and had it analyzed. The surgery only took 45 minutes since the tumor, which was the size of an orange, was sitting directly on top of my stomach instead of in the lining as they had first thought. Dr. Scoggins was only 45 minutes removing the tumor along with five percent of my stomach. He had anticipated being in there two and a half hours. Thank God once more, it was a much simpler procedure than they had expected. We waited for the result and four days later, Dr. Scoggins informed me that it was a fast growing, third stage cancer. Thank God again, they were able to get the entire cancer out in tact. No surrounding lymph nodes to be affected, so that was another good thing. On the fourth day, Pop and the girls came to take me home. Pop had a room at the motel where they provide rooms at a reduced rate for family of patient, so he was close at hand for the most part. He did go home a time or two, to check on things there, but for very short visits then returned asap. There was a bit of confusion about my check out time, but nothing to really get concerned about, since all else had gone so well. We headed home and didn't realize the trip was a bit rougher on me than we had thought. Upon getting me into the house, I collapsed in the living . I felt myself going going going, but was able to get to a chair before passing out. Thank God, once more, Carmen was there and took control. She knew exactly what to check for. She called her husband,David, who is a paramedic, to bring oxygen and whatever else she deemed necessary to revive me and get me stabilized. In no time I was better and in my bed. I guess the activity of getting me home from Louisville was more than my body could stand after having surgery and being in bed for 4 days. The healing time from the incision was roughly four to six weeks and that was rough, especially since I had never had any kind of major surgery before, but being in such good health anyway, it was not that bad. We did learn during the next few doctor's visits to Louisville, that my iron was below normal and needed attention. That would require four trips to the Brown Cancer Center in the next four weeks. Once a week. Each time I went, I would take a 2 hour session of intravenous iron. It turned out to bring the most wonderful results. I felt like Super Woman. My levels were 6 when I began. The normal range was 11-60, so I was definitely low on iron.  I have always known my iron levels ran low since I was never able to give blood on that account. I tried to eat liver at regular intervals, but evidently my body was not absorbing it correctly. Not taking in enough vitamin C with it could have been a contributing factor, considering I have learned since that iron absorbs much better when taken with  Vitamin C. It's been 7 months now, and I have had so much going on in my life during these last few months, I have had no time to dwell on the fact that I ever had a cancer inside my body and had gone through such an ordeal. I am so blessed and I know it. I am so grateful and thankful for the help I have had from my entire family. They stayed beside me through this entire journey. I am thankful for the team of doctors who worked with me and brought me through this life altering saga. 

BRO. ART SAYS NOTHING JUST SO HAPPENS

We have learned in the last few months that Pop has a second aneurysm. This one is in a much worse location than the first. The first one was in or around the abdomen and Carmen, our Nurse Practitioner daughter, makes sure he has it checked yearly. IT JUST SO HAPPENED, this one was found when he was having a CT Scan on his lungs. Pop is a smoker and Carmen wants him to be able to smoke if he chooses to do so, but she also wants him to keep a close check on his lungs. As they were checking the results of the CT Scan, they found the aneurysm in the main aorta coming out of the top of the heart. That was scary, for sure. Immediately, Carmen made him an appointment with a doctor in Louisville who specializes in this type of surgery.  We met with him. He explained the dangers and the risks of smoking and lifting, but he recommended we wait a few more months and have another scan run, so we could see if there was any change. We waited until his birth month to run the second scan, them we made the trip back to Louisville to meet with Dr. Ganzel. In the meantime, Pop was put through some heart test, just in case.We were all very anxious about this meeting, since they had already had Pop to do the heart check up, just in case they needed to do emergency surgery. We met with Dr. Ganzel in mid July and IT JUST SO HAPPENED there was no change. Thank God! Talk about a bunch of happy people. We were all so elated.

Now that that was over, and since we were already in Louisville, we decided to track down the folks who were working with me and my business with the cancer. They had not gotten back to me about connecting up with the Oncologist, the chemo pills that I would be taking, nor the cancer insurance paperwork I had left with them. We were getting a bit anxious about it all. Sure enough, the James Graham Brown Cancer Center was just a couple of blocks away, so we set out to find our way there. When we got there, we found it was our lucky day. IT JUST SO HAPPENED, my doctor was scheduled to be at that location on this very day. We were directed to his cubical and found that my doctor had signed me up with two different Oncologists, hopefully, he was comfortable with both, and which ever one could see me first, would be my new Oncologist. I only knew about the one, but it turns out the second Oncologist was able to get to my case sooner, so we set up an appointment with him.  I was a bit leery about just now hearing that there was a second Oncologist lined up for me to see, but after returning home that day, IT JUST SO HAPPENED, I learned that a dear friend of mine had been using this same Oncologist for years and thought he was exceptional in every way. Such a relief to hear that news. Now I could rest easier. It is so scary having to go to a doctor without any knowledge of his work. They set up an appointment for me, and we returned to Louisville a few days later. Pop and I were on our own this day. Neither of the two girls were able to go with us. It has been so wonderful having one and sometimes both of them with us to hear and help us to understand everything that was said. Neither Pop's nor my memory is the greatest nowadays. but we got through it just fine. We were there from 9 to 12, meeting with all sorts of folks, each having different issues to go over with us. Much of the topics discussed with us, we felt was just a formality, since they are working with cancer patients, impending death, and/or long term health care. I have felt so good right up to the day I was told I had cancer, and I have continued to feel so good, it seemed useless for them to go through all that they did, discussing topics usually saved for the dying. Hopefully, I am not in that category just yet, but with cancer, it's not an exact science, and anything can change at any moment. Nevertheless, after all of the talks regarding all of the different issues we might be facing, they drew more blood and another doctor came in an discussed what they had found and the upcoming procedures they would be using regarding my cancer. They would be scheduling a couple of body scans to be sure there were no other cancers lurking inside my body. The process was started toward getting the chemo pills set up for me, and the blood test I would be taking weekly for a few weeks, to make sure my body was accepting the pills. The many side effects from the pills are scary, but I have spoke to one person who is taking the same pills and she says her body adjusted quickly to them and the symptoms leveled out. Hopefully, that will be the case for me. One symptom that worries me, is the disturbances in the heart rhythm.   Since I have learned that my heart is so sensitive to some things, I fear the pills may cause some problems in that regard. Caffeine sensitivity and the irregularities in my heart is what helped me to find the cancer in the first place. IT JUST SO HAPPENED, my heart doctor, Dr. Mehta, found the cancerous tumor while running an echocardiogram on my heart.

There has been a mix up in scheduling this last few days. I received a notice in the mail that said I was to have the necessary scans in Louisville on the morning of July 24. The notice did not reach me until shortly after noon on that same day. I was able to call and reschedule the scans to be done in our local hospital next week. That would be much better. The only bad thing now is that our local hospital requires you to drink that awful drink in preparation for the scans. Yuk!

So that's where I am at this point. My chemo pills should be ready to pick up on Monday. Then I must do blood work every week until they see how my body is accepting the chemo pills. I will offer updates as they occur. I have been posting daily on Facebook about my journey with this cancer, but I wanted it to be documented in my little books for future generations to see, so that is the reason I am posting about my journey, here on my blog, too.

With God's help and the support of my friends and family, WE will get through whatever is to come from this day forward. I say WE, because cancer affects the entire family in one way or another. Not just the person with it.

Update on the new twists and turns in my journey.

Echinacea from my garden 

A lot has happened around the Nugent household, since my last post.  Dr. Marshall Johnson felt I needed to see a specialist after viewing the results of my endoscopy. He immediately referred me to Dr. Charles Scoggins of Norton's Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky. We wasted no time in getting an appointment set up for a consultation, and Dr. Scoggins wasted no time in scheduling me for surgery.  June 17, 2014 would be my surgery date.  5:30 am in the morning.  Eager to have it over and done, we took a room at the Hospitality House near the hospital, so my family could be near me. Dr. Scoggins had taken one look at my medical tests that had been run before I met with him, and he said, without a doubt, it was a cancerous tumor, and it needed to come out, ASAP. I went in on the 17th, Dr. Scoggins did the surgery, and came to talk to us immediately after. He said the surgery took less time than he had expected. From all of the tests, it was not real clear just where the mass was situated. At first it appeared to be in my stomach. The doctors ran the endoscopy on me, and found it was not in the stomach. It appeared to be behind the lining of the stomach. They could not be real sure of the size of the mass either. The earlier tests had said approximately 5,7, or 9 cm. but with it not being inside of the stomach, they would only know once they went in to get it out. Looking at it via the endoscopy was like looking at a ball under a rug. Not a clear visual. Dr. Scoggins went in, and low and behold, the mass was sitting there on the top of my stomach, in plain view. It was bigger than he had expected. Closer to the size of an orange.  He took out 5% of my stomach and the mass, and sent it off to be evaluated.  Dr. Scoggins had already prepared us by telling us that he was convinced that it was a GIST which is definitely a cancerous tumor, a Gastro Intestinal Stromal Tumor. Now we must wait for the lab results to tell us whether it was composed of fast growing or slow growing cells. He felt pretty confident that the cancerous cells were confined to the area which he had removed.

my pickings today

I spent the next four days, lying around, recuperating from the surgery. Liquid meals, then soft food meals, and IV meds, a catheter, monitors of all kinds around the clock. Nurses and aids, in and out checking this and that. Family visiting as they could. Friends dropping in occasionally. Four days in bed was the roughest part for me, although I was very weak and couldn't do much about it, at the time anyway. I tried to exercise my arms a bit to help myself get up and down better when the time come. It was helping. They soon took the catheter out and let me come and go as I was able. I liked that better, but the room and the hall outside my door was so small and crowed with medical people, I didn't venture out of the room that much. The doctor came in to check on me each morning, then finally on the fourth day, he came by to tell us, the tumor was fast growing, and I would most likely be on chemo pills for the rest of my life. If I don't take the pills, the chances of it returning is 50/50. If I do take the pills, the chances of it returning drops to 20%. I will be meeting with Dr. Scoggins on July 3, 2014 for my 2 week check up. I understand, at that time, we will discuss placing me in the hands of an Oncologist. That is tomorrow. Pop, myself, and the two daughters will be making the trip, once more to Louisville for that meeting. And that's where we are at this point. The first day home, was rough. The long trip from Louisville took a tole on me. I got a bit squeamish with the pain meds and the rough ride. I fainted as soon as I got up the stairs and into my house. Thank God, Carmen was there and knew what to do. My vital signs all began dropping. She got on the phone and called her husband who is a Paramedic, to come with oxygen. Between Pop rushing to the store to get Gatorade, and the wet towels on my head, a bite or two of crackers, David getting here with oxygen, and getting me in bed, all began to level back out for me. I guess I was simply exhausted from the trip. I have learned that I will be getting exhausted real easy for awhile, from very menial tasks. Two weeks have now gone by, and I am up and around the house quite a bit more, but I still must be very cautious about moving quickly, bending to low, or how I pull myself up from the bed or chairs. Every move I make requires the use of my core muscles, and that is the area where the incision was made. Moving to quickly or the wrong way may rip out the stitches, and I don't want to do that, for sure. They have taken long enough to heal, as it is.

Pop taking up the slack while I'm laid up

I have been able to take short rides on the gator with Pop. I even drove myself to the duck pond once or twice, during the last couple of days. I get winded real easy, so I try to pace myself, and take naps at regular intervals to recharge my body. I feel confident about my progress. I hope the doctor feels the same way tomorrow. My next entry should shed some light on my progress in choosing an Oncologist and whatever follows. I am so ready to get back to my normal life, or as close to normal as humanly possible. I pray to GOD that this is all behind me, but no one truly knows that, but HIM. 

The Waiting Continues

These last two posts were written a couple of weeks apart, so I hope there are no discrepancies in the two.  I just found that I  had not posted this one, so I am posting it the same day as my next entry.

I can't really say that I have had a lot of time to dwell on my new found problem. I am too busy with my life to do that. I had no problems all the while the mass was growing inside of my body, so I have no problems relating to it now, that I am aware of.  I do, occasionally, have a feeling of something pressing against my breast bone from within. I have had a sensation of having a rock or some hard article behind my upper back when I lay back in the recliner, and at times.  Then, at times, I feel like my skin has grown to my backbone in a tiny spot. A strange description of the feelings I get at times, but it seems like something is stuck to one spot in my back and won't let go. These sensations are not constant, so I don't relate them to this problem, but I guess it is possible they are related. Nevertheless, I am hearing through my older step daughter and Pop, that the surgeon mentioned calling in a specialist. Possibly because of where the mass is located. When they ran the scope, they found the mass was much larger than they had once thought. More the size of an orange, and located behind the lining of my stomach. I will meet with the surgeon tomorrow to learn what they are planning for me next. Therefore,the waiting continues.

I have been working on a lot of different things, in the meantime. My rock painting has consumed a lot of my time. I have been getting more requests than I can fill. I doubt anyone is in a great hurry, so I will get to each one sooner or later.

 Pop and I finally got around to putting up my new laminated fence display.  I found it at the auction for $20.00. It was new and still in it's original packaging. The owner said it was $159. new, in the store. No one seemed to know what it was or want it, so I got the final bid at $20.00. We have just recently acquired new property, so we have a new corner to our piece of land now. An ideal spot for the new display.  As I was mowing the right of way on the new yard section, the mailman stopped to see if I had lost it. Meaning my mind. He said my yard was on the other end of the property. Then I explained to him that this area was now, a new extension to my original yard. I keep moving the lines further out on the property, thus, expanding my yard. I drove around the fields yesterday, and found my Stella D' Ora lilies and a few other flowers, in full bloom where I had planted them last fall. Can't wait to see my burning bushes grow and brighten up the fields with their red leaves in the Fall. I have big plans for many more sites around the property filled with flowers. Pop amazed me this past few weeks. He had me to hop on the Gator with him so he could show me some wildflowers blooming on the property. Little did he know at that time, that I had planted them there. But it was so sweet of him to want to take me and show me the flowers. He knows how I love all flowers, wild or otherwise.

I wake up each morning, with a mental list of things I want to get done that day. Today, my plan is to go to Sonora, about 10 miles away, and get a trailer load of red mulch. I try to do this once a year. It deteriorates over a years time, so I must replenish it yearly. The plastic mulch would not break down so fast, but the chickens scatter it so badly when they are roaming free, it gets expensive. The regular seems to break down and help to build up the soil in the yards, somewhat, when they scratch it out of the beds. My plan is to use the red mulch under and around my new fence display. I have a red rose in mind to put in the center of the bed. The new one that requires little attention. If there is such a rose. I have had a few of these roses over the years, and they do still seem to have their own set of problems.

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. When it gives you rocks, paint'em!

I have become obsessed with rock painting lately. It is a very peaceful and calming project.

 It has proven to be a Godsend to me, since I have learned that I have a mass in my stomach that requires surgery. I am petrified of having any kind of surgery at all, whether it be for myself or my family. The staph that is running rampant in the hospitals these days is unreal. If you live through the surgery, you could be laid up for weeks and in some cases, months with the staph. If you are lucky and don't die from one or the other. Then there is the worry about blood clots. That is a common problems nowadays, too. You hear of more people dying from blood clots after surgery, than ever before, and folks wonder why I am scared of having surgery???

I have so many friends and family on Face book who are praying for me, there is no way things could go wrong. I just have to resign myself to the fact that all will go well, and it will be over and done quickly, and I will be back to my regular routine. I just need to have faith.

I am gathering up lots of small rocks to keep me busy while I am recuperating. No lifting, tugging, bending, stooping. I guess I'll be lucky if I can even paint. We'll just have to play it by ear. I am scheduled to meet with the surgeon on May 29,2014. He will tell me more about the procedure he will be using, and answer any questions I might have at that time. I hope he has the time. I have many questions.

 I will be using Dr. Marshall Johnson. Hershell had him for his colonoscopy and he trusts him.  Carmen knows him well from working closely with him at the hospital. From all of the comments I am receiving on Face book, I think I have made a good choice. So many of my friends have used him and had great results. Now the waiting game begins.


P.S. I visited with Dr. Johnson and he wants to do an endoscopy on 6/4/14. Will update as I know more. Please keep me in your prayers as this is not over yet. Thanks, all!

One Step Closer to the Truth

A lot has happened, since my last post. Even if it is in my mind. So let me begin at the beginning.
I have always had concerns about my heart. It does weird things at times and I have no clue what triggers it into doing these weird things. I do know only with experience, that my heart is extremely sensitive to certain things. Some of these things are normal everyday things like coffee, tea, and chocolate. Others are products with certain ingredients in them. I am not even real sure what the ingredients are, but I do know that certain diet drinks are a problem for me and my heart. Green tea, which is suppose to be super good for you, causes me discomfort with my heart. Energy drinks. I learned really quick. I don't want any part of them. I lost a nephew a couple of years ago, in my opinion, due to the energy drinks. He had definite heart issues ever since he had open heart surgery at 2 weeks of age. These are a few of the things that cause disturbances with my heart. Then on occasion, my heart would give a big abnormal jolt in my chest, and go on for years with no more such occurrences.Nevertheless, I had the doctors to check my heart a few times over the years. On three different occasions, they sent me home with a heart monitor strapped to my body to record  it's rhythm and such over a 24 hour period. Nothing significant showed up the first two times I wore the monitor home. These heart monitoring cases took place over a period of years. Then the third monitoring which was done this past 3 months showed up some irregularities. Thus triggering the need for me to have more testing done on my heart. I was put through an echocardiogram and a stress test. The results were that my heart muscle is strong, but I do have a leaky valve. The leaky valve should not cause any problems, but if I was still concerned, he could recommend a medication to help with it. Not wanting to go on more medication, I chose to watch my caffeine intake and go from there. It was sweet relief just knowing all was well with my heart other than a sensitivity to caffeine. I could work with that along with regular exercise throughout the year, not just during the summer.  No problem there.

Then......out of the blue, as I was checking out, from my visit at with heart doctor, Dr. Mehta called me aside with more news, and it was not good news. He said they had seen something on my echocardiogram that concerned them, and he recommended I follow up with a CT Scan. I did so, and sure enough, it appears there is a 5 cm. mass inside of my stomach. I didn't panic....yet. I would go through the scan first. Maybe it was a shadow or an air pocket. It could be something, but then it could be nothing at all. I was a bit uneasy, but I kept telling myself, "Don't panic just yet".
I stayed busy painting and mowing. Two things I do to relieve stress. I got a lot of both done over the next few weeks. Now the day has arrived. I go in this morning for an endoscopy. From what I am hearing, it is a camera they run down your throat to see what we are working with. Once again, I must tell you. I am a bit frightened. I think more for what they may find, than for the procedure itself.
I am a strong, otherwise healthy, optimistic person, and I feel confident, it will be something easily corrected. At least I am going to keep telling myself so.

I am a Christian. I have been saved. Now it is in the Lord's hands. I pray for a good outcome. Other than that, I pray for peace to get me through it, no matter what we find. I have had a great life. Lots of pleasure and joys. A great companion to spend my life with up to this point. So whatever comes from this day on, I can handle it, with God's help and the support of my friends and family.

I will have an update as I learn more, if all goes well today. So until then........

Have a good day! Life is too short.Cherish Every Moment! 

Sue

Great Expectations!

I awoke this morning with a question from one of my followers, still on my mind. I know this person, and I know his sense of humor, so I can expect anything, when he responds to my posts. Most times, his responses gives me a little chuckle, and I go on with my day, but for some strange reason, this comment, made me feel foolish, and of course, no one likes to be made to feel foolish, especially, in the eyes of their peers.

His question was in regards to my post about my ducks. I had been working with the ducks for several weeks, in a sense, training them to eat on a regular schedule, to recognize the sound of my voice, and to expect food when I come near, shaking the container, letting them know I have food . I was confident they were ready to be released to the open pond, and when night fall grew near, I would go to them, shake the feed can, and call them up to eat, and they would go straight to their feeding spot, which was inside the pen where they were to spend the night, hopefully safe from predators.That is what I expected to happen. How was I to know, being my first experience with ducks, that they would find huge amounts of food of their liking, in and around the pond. They were in heaven. Eating something ravenously around the edges of the pond, for most of the day. We have no idea what they were eating. Possibly tadpoles or tiny fish. Heaven knows there were plenty of both. I don't know for sure what they found to eat, but that first day out, I am convinced they were to stuffed to care about the feed I was offering them to draw them into their pen. It worried me so much that they were still running loose in the night, that I went out a few times attempting to call them in, to no avail. Finally at midnight, I felt I would give it one more try.

I don't know what their reasoning was, but they seemed to be a bit more willing to come to their shelter. Possibly the darkness and not knowing what wild things might be lurking in the night. It was pitch dark, my flashlight batteries had run completely down, so in the very dim light of the moon, after numerous attempts, I wadded out in the edge of the pond, petrified as to what might be lurking in that dark water, with a long cane pole and corralled them into the pen. With a big sigh of relief, and the clock now well past midnight, I headed back to the house to rest easier for the remainder of the night, knowing they were, hopefully, a little more safe from harm.


So now Homer Hornback, if you are reading this you will know what I expected to happen.

Moving Fabric and Blankets Along in Small Quilts

A good friend of mine and I have a lot in common. He nor I can stand to see anything wasted that has any life left at all. This last week he brought me a few blankets that were headed for disposal, knowing I could do something with them. I laundered them and made shop cloths from one. I am using one as a cover for my baby chicks on these cool nights. Another one, I have cut into four quarters, and have matched each piece up with enough fabric for a small lap type quilt or baby quilt. Heaven knows, I need to move some fabric. These little projects will come in handy on those days when it is too wet or too hot to work out doors this summer.  There is always a need for a baby blanket, whether it be a new baby in the family or community, or an auction, for raising money for some worthy case.

2 New Ducks On Our Pond

 

 

Life never gets dull when you're married to Hershell! I usually go out and check on and feed my 5 remaining ducks, 2 or 3 times a day. Hershell had mentioned the day before, that there were a couple of wild Mallard ducks on our pond. No biggie. They do that often, but they never stay long, so I didn't think any more about it.
Yesterday morning, I headed out to the pond to feed the ducks their morning meal, and I see 2 ducks from the porch. It appeared a new type of duck had ventured in, since the ones I was seeing this morning were more of a bluish color. I got my camera and headed that way. Slowly, one step, click, two steps, click, three steps, click. I just knew they would fly away before I made the 130 steps to the pond. I wanted the best shot I could get before my presence scared them into flight. After about 6-8 steps and clicks of my camera, I realized they were not moving their heads at all. Their whole bodies just drifted around continuously, in the same small area. The joke was on me. They were decoys Hershell had bought the day before at the Flea Market to fool me, and it definitely worked.

Deviled Eggs

I have always known why they are called Deviled Eggs. It has always been,for me, a devil of a job getting the eggs from the shell.

I cannot believe I am 66 years old and writing about the fact that I have always hated making Deviled Eggs, simply because I could never get the shells to come off while leaving the egg intact. The reason I choose to write about this today is because of the experience I just had with this same ordeal.

We have about 30 chickens, give or take a few. All ages and kinds. We simply love having chickens around the farm. The eggs are probably cheaper in town, although not as healthy and nutritious,when you consider the cost of feed, but we keep on,keeping our chickens, regardless. We don't use them for meat, since it is unbearable for me to eat one after having raised it, fed it daily, called it by name, then decapitated it. No way could I do that.When I was young, it did not bother me quite so much.

We go through long dry spells when the hens are not laying, but when they do lay, we are bombarded with eggs. I try to rotate the eggs stored in the extra fridge in the basement, keeping the older eggs to the front to be used next or given to friends and family. Today I brought up a dozen of the 'next in line' eggs and put them on to boil. Boiled eggs are so handy and nutritious for a quick snack.

I brought the eggs to a boiling point, then turned the burner down to medium and let them continue boiling for another 20 minutes or so, although I was not really timing them. I turned the burner off, let them set for a few minutes then drained the hot water off and covered them with cold water. I then used a method my Father had taught me when I was very young. I take a spoon and peck on the eggshell, making sure the shell was totally cracked all over.Then dropped them back into the cold water. One by one, I grabbed and gently twisted each egg with both hands, as though I were twisting the lid off of a jar of face cream. The entire shell slipped right off. No pick, pick, picking, nor torn up egg. I may try this procedure again, just to see if it works every time. If it does,making Deviled Eggs may not be such a devil of a job after all.
 

Be Careful What You Wish For

Mennonite farm

(This post was written a few weeks back, but I am having a new book published, and wanted it included.)

Today I was wishing for some reason to get me out of the house. It's still a bit cool and early for yard and garden work. Low and behold, as we were planning to go by Flint Hill Grocery for our breakfast, we got a call from Pop's Cousin Larry. He was stranded down in Hart County with his logging rig, where he had taken the wrong road, and had his log truck in a real predicament trying to turn around and get back onto the right road. We grabbed a bite to take with us since I was already trembling with low blood sugar from the late breakfast and the scare of not knowing what had happened on the other end of the phone conversation. Pop was getting pretty torn up on his end. Needless to say, we headed out to see if we could be of any assistance. Sure enough. It was an ordeal, but between the three of us we got the rig and its trailer turned around and headed out to it's original destination. ****

The view of the country in those parts is spectacular. I think a lot of the land in that area is owned by Mennonites. They are quite different from the Amish around our home. The Mennonites have the most beautiful and immaculate farms. Every aspect of life for them is neat and organized and orderly. The difference is unbelievable. The homes are huge and most of all, neat, as are the out buildings and barns. Neat is the best word I can think of to use when describing their farms. The fields and pastures run forever across the cleared and rolling hills. Even the fences are as neat and well kept as their homes and pastures. It's hard to imagine a farm being so beautiful , but the neatness and the simplicity of it all is breath taking.*****

Most of the Mennonites have a business of some type. They have huge businesses doing and selling other things that benefit us English folks, as well. Many of the discount grocery stores are owned by Mennonites. There are more and more of those types of grocery stores popping up everywhere lately. The cedar mill where we take our cedars is owned and operated by Mennonites. Some build log homes for the public. Some build furniture. One we know of one who has a store selling Redwing shoes, boots, hats, belts, various leather goods, etc.

The Amish, for the most part, live off the land. The do have businesses that are used by many folks in the communities in which they live, but for the most part, they have businesses that benefit their own people, like shoeing horses, training horses, making tarps, repairing buggies, running sawmills,etc. Many raise huge gardens and sell to the public. They also make money by selling their crafts from their homes,along the roadsides and sometimes flea markets and the like. The Amish do not care about pretty things. They live simple and unadorned in any way, whether it be on their person or their homes.

It was such a nice treat to ride through that beautiful country as the day was shaping up a bit. We stopped at a little restaurant, The Bacon Creek Cafe, in Bonnieville, and ate a leisurely meal, before heading out, only to find the log skidder was in need of some repairs. Again,we three, worked on that project for about an hour,before Cousin Larry could proceed on to Bloomfield with his load. He had been hired by one group of Mennonites to haul the log skidder from one location to another.

The sun had come out by the time we got home and warmed things up enough for me to work in one of my raised beds. Pop carried me up, a bucket of rich soil with the tractor before he headed out to work up another load of cedars. I raked and shoveled the new soil into one of my beds, getting it ready to plant. I am not sure yet,just what I'll plant in this particular bed. I have three beds now so I can plants many things. Pop will most likely have his traditional garden, although I am hoping he will downsize it a bit this year. Those huge gardens are getting to be too much for us to care for.

Since Pop had headed out to the woods, I decided to stop what I was doing and go help him for awhile. I hate for him to be back there alone. Considering his age and the danger of using the tractor and chain saws, a second party needs to be present at all times. We loaded the trailer with cedar posts and headed back to the house. Time for the coffee drinkers. I worked on my seed bed a bit more before heading in to start supper while he entertained his guests. After awhile,he made the rounds, feeding the chickens and one more trip through the woods before night fall, to check out one more tree he had planned to cut. This has been one busy day. I wanted help staying away from the fridge, but I think this was a little extreme for two older folks. We should sleep good tonight.

Something Else To Worry About

During the last few weeks, I have had a new issue to worry about. My Heart.
I've had some unusual disturbances in my chest for most of my life, but it seems to be more noticeable here lately. I guess even a heart gets old and worn out, and then, too, with all of the junk we have run through our bodies during our lifetime, what do we expect. You hear so much today about folks having irregular heart beats and all sorts of weird things going on with the heart. You hear about it constantly on the TV, advertising medications for heart issues. You talk to folks on a regular basis, who have or know of someone who has a heart concern, so you have to know, they are a common thing nowadays. Why should I be different. But I have been as strong as a horse for most of my life with no major issues. That is why I get concerned, and worrying about anything, as we all know, makes it worse. I try to read anything I can find regarding the issues I am having, but there again, we have all heard those words, many times, too. A little knowledge can be worse than no knowledge at all, especially when it comes to our health. This is very true in the medical field. You can read and read some more, and only get yourself worked up about something, and in the end, it turns out to be something totally different from the problem you thought you were having. We are at the mercy of the medical folks to diagnose and treat whatever it is that ails us. If that is even possible. The human body is a very complicated thing. There is so much going on within our bodies, I fear man will never know everything there is to know. Then he would be as smart as the Man upstairs, and we all know that will never happen. Man may be able to calm some of our ails, for a short while, but only Our Creator has the ability to truly fix things, and His way may not be the way we would have chosen. We should let the doctors do what they can, and in the meantime, have faith that God knows exactly what we need.

I am waiting now, after wearing the heart monitor, once again, for 24 hours. I have went through this procedure three different times now, and nothing major ever shows up. I had a thorough heart check up in 2005, just before I retired, and once more, nothing major showed up. I guess with that many tests, one should forget it and accept the fact that it might be my imagination, but some of the episodes I am feeling will not let me do that.

While waiting for my appointment with the heart specialist on May 14, I have been doing some more research on possible supplements or nutrients that might help regulate and strengthen my heart. If I can find a vitamin or supplement to help me overcome these strange feelings I am having in my chest, I definitely would rather do that than to have to go on prescription medications. I hate the thought of being dependent on prescription medicines. Anyone with one eye and half sense, knows by reading the literature that comes with the prescription drugs, that they are not the best route to go. While possibly helping one thing, it could be killing you in another way. I feel we are definitely at the mercy of the doctors, and I have heard too many times, that the doctors are being taught nowadays to simply keep the patient comfortable and ease them on out, after they have reached a certain age. It sounds like the modern day form of genocide to me. I will keep my appointment in May, but in the meantime, I will be doing more research and trying a few things on my own to see if I can alleviate some of the discomforts and worries I am feeling involving my heart. I am convinced that anxiety plays a major part in the many problems that I have been experiencing during my entire lifetime. I will be doing some research on that, too. Who knows. I may learn to fix the anxiety issue and all of my other issues may disappear. One can only hope.