Another Monday

Dan did not lose any weight last week. He stayed the same, which is good. He is eating a lot to compensate for the steriods and treatment. I wish I could eat like he currantly is and not gain weight. He had me completly shave his head last week. The patchy look just wasn't him. Good thing he has lots of hats.
Today one of our local tv news reporters came and interviewed him. They wanted to know how this had affected his life and such. {Twentyeight years with Franklin County Sheriffs Dept., then being told you have a permanent disability and can no longer work. Sorta hard to swallow.} We watched it on the news tonight. I think they did a good job. It was KNDU channel 25. They even showed our alpacas.

Halfway Point

Today was the halfway point of radiation. Starting to cut down on the steriods. The guild at the cancer center gave all the patients a bag of goodies today. There was even a Christmas sock filled with little treats and such. It was so sweet. I work on a puzzle while I wait for Dan. He has lost more hair, hic-ups are under control, he is sleeping really good and feels really good. Lots of energy. Right now things are going very posetively. Now if I can just get some energy and good sleep.

more meds

More meds to take care of side effects of meds. Seems like a ferris wheel. Yesterday Dan had major hic ups. Every six seconds starting in the afternoon and lasting till he went to bed. My sure fire cure didn't work. If he ate something they quit for a while. They also quit if he layed down. Can't eat forever or lay down forever. {Even though we all secretly want too.} So today he gets yet another perscription to fix this side effect of one of his other perscriptions. Most likely steriods. {Why anyone voluntaraly takes steriods is beyond me.} Tomorrow we are doing the "Cable Bridge Run". He is doing the 5K with me and Max.

down the drain

It has begun. Dan lost a patch of hair in the shower. I told him if it was me I would have cried. Meet with the nurologist yesterday. She told him what he experienced last week was to be expected. He has had no voices this week. Other than hair loss and a few voices once in a while he is doing good.

ready for third week

The weekend went good. Due to the major steriods they have Dan on right now he has TONS of energy. So while it is lasting - do as much as he can. Start third week of treatment tomorrow. What will this week bring? The local quilting ladies gave him a warm quilt. The thought touched him so much. Now he is like Linus with his blankey.

voices

Dan can be quite entertaining right now. For some unknown reasons he is hearing voices. Very vivid dreams too. OK, a lot of us have voices in our heads, but do we admit it outloud & talk about them? Another thing, his hearing has turned "superman"! No more wishpering around him. He will hear it now. Might not understand it, but he will hear it. When he went to treatment today I made sure the Dr. knew about this. So we get to go to the hospital at 8:15 for a MRI. Meanwhile if anyone wants to contact Abraham Lincoln or ????? let us know. For a small fee we will set it up. At least Dan is able to do chores and such. Today he moved a dog house with the tractor.

weekend

A bit of a rough weekend. I should be grateful though, it could be a lot worse. Starting slightly Friday evening Dan started being a little confused and having a hard time expressing himself. Sunday it was bad enough that I called the cancer center, they suggested taking him to the E.R. room. So I did. One I.V., some meds and a priesthood blessing later we went home.
Every Monday before Dan's treatment he meets with the Dr. He was aware of what had happened on Sunday. Most likely what is causing this is some inflamation and the tumor getting a little shook up. Add to the med list. Hopefully Dan will be a bit back to normal soon.
I have told him no driving till I say so. So friends and family are taking turns driving him to his appointments. I hope we both survive this week. In the meantime my favorite, opps I mean Dan's favorite treat is M&Ms.

better

Today went well. Nausea pills must of worked. No barfing. In and out for the radiation. Only takes about ten minutes. No waiting today. We even got some Christmas shoping done.

barfing

Already the puking has started. They gave him some pills that will hopefully help. What does Dan want for Christmas? Maybe barf bags. Hey, if I don't laugh I might cry.

Treatment Starts

Dan goes in for his first treatment today. He takes a cemo pill in the morning then a few hours later has radiation. This will go on every day for six weeks. Weekends and holidays off. Hopefully won't have many side effects. A good note. He is off one of his prescriptions. It made him very tired. Now he isn't tired like he was. Wait a few weeks and he might get tired again from the treatments. Hopefully Christmas lights get put up before then.

info

Here it is: Slight problems started a year ago. Visit to dr., then nuerolegist, nuero surgeon. First MRI showed fuzzy area on left side of brain. Futher MRIs same thing. No change. Had a biopsy done in early March 2009. Results came back somewhat inconclusive. Not cancerous cells though. Follow up with MRI every three months to keep an eye on it. Around August, Dan started getting some numbness in foot. Went to doctors about it. Did some tests. Was told it was related to the back. Sept. MRI showed nothing new. In October Dan went to Doctor and told them he wanted to go to Seattle to see what they thought. So off we went to Virgina Mason Hospital. Met with a Dr. Taylor there. Within ten minutes she was able to tell us what was happening. On Sept. MRI she saw a new definite spot. I even saw it. Everything indicated a gleanoma [tumor] of the brain. She pointed out the area on a brain model. Explained everything very well. She recommended a biopsy. Now had a definite spot to aim for. Next meet with the nuero surgeon. He agreed with Dr. Taylor. Scheduled a biopsy. Had the biopsy a week later, than results a week after that.
Results were: Grade three gleanoma. As the surgeon said "A hell of a lot better than a grade four." So then a plan to take care of this. Six weeks of radiation and chemo. This can be done in the Tri-Cities. It will be monitered by Dr. Taylor.
Since this is a "brain cancer" it put Dan on a permanent disability. No more work. He has enough years in with the sheriff's dept to retire, but he did want to put in a few more years and then pick up another job for a bit. Not an option anymore.
So I hope I didn't forget anything.
Right now Dan is doing really good. The fact that he can't work anymore was a surprise. Unless you live with him day to day you wouldn't know there was anything wrong. As the treatments continue he might get tired. I plan on getting as much work out of him as posible before that happens.

minutes

Dan is doing good. Getting all the blood work and othe stuff done before starting radiation. I think he has met with all the doctors that he needed to. Make some phone calls tomorrow. {the ones who were suppose to call today and didn't} Since it is Thanksgiving weekend radiation probably won't start till Monday. Hey, cancer doesn't take holidays off, start it NOW! I find little things will really irrate me. When something I've been waiting for in the mail didn't come today I wanted to throw the mail. Really hard.

Pika

learning?????

testing, testing, 1 2 3 testing

Let's see if I am doing this right.

In the Begining

Nov. 22, 2009

Where to start. I am Sheryl Gayda, commonly known as Sam. Dan is my husband. We have been married 29 years. Most of them happy. Majority rules, right? We have two boys. Kris 28 & Jacob 24. Kris is attending BYU Idaho majoring in geology. Jacob has the degree in business management & production. He works at Con-Agra. We live in Burbank, WA where we can see the Columbia River. Things we enjoy to do are, horses, camping, backpacking, nature observation, scuba diving & motorcycle riding. We have 2 horses, 3 dogs, some farm cats, bird, fish tank, goat and 8 alpacas. Starting to get into the alpaca fiber business. All in all, Life is Good.