Been a While

Well, I am good at one thing in life and that is stating the obvious so here goes; it's been a while. I must once again apologize for not doing a better job of keeping everyone updated. I have had several people contact me either through emails, or my parents, or by the phone inquiring about how things are going. Hopefully I will answer those questions. We, like everyone else in the world, have been extremely busy. Rebecca and I were laughing the other day because we couldn't wait for the kids to be out of school for the summer so the schedule would slow down. But quite the opposite has happened. They are, and will continue to be, even busier than they were during school! They are having a good summer though and that is what matters.

On the cancer front. All is clear! I continue to go to my tri-monthly doctor's appointments with the Oncologist, Dermatologist, and regular doctor. If I have never written before about my dermatologist visits I will now. They aren't fun. Since my initial diagnosis and surgery, I have had three different moles removed and tested. All came back fine. And it isn't the four or five shots they give you to numb the area, or the sawing, cutting or burning of the mole that I dislike. What I don't care for is the exam itself. Simply put, it is me, in my birthday suit, with at least three women in the room while the doctor (female doctor) goes over every inch of my body. Uncomfortable for me to say the least. Yes ladies I know it isn't comparable. But I must admit, I am not a small guy and it is just not something I look forward to. I digress. In all seriousness, we are extremely grateful that I am clear so far. And I know that all the exams, tests, blood work and doctor's visits are vital to my health. We are very grateful that we have such tremendous doctor's. I will say that it has been a rough first half of the year otherwise. While not directly dealing with cancer, I have however been dealing with a lot of other health problems. As I stated in my previous blogs I have had very high blood pressure. With medication that seems to be under control. I have adjusted quite nicely to the CPAP (breathing machine at night) and am sleeping very well. I have had pneumonia, along with numerous other small health issues. While those are not large issues in and of themselves, what has been frustrating is I used to never get sick. And as I stated before I am not a great patient. A few weeks ago I notice a "bulge" by my belly button. I had my suspicions and went to the doctor last Tuesday and confirmed that I have a hernia. A umbilical hernia to be exact. I saw a surgeon on Wednesday who told me it needed to be fixed. He also told me that if it filled up with waste could make me septic, or cause an infection, which would lead to bigger problems. So the bottom line is I cannot wait and will have surgery next Friday, July the 9th. It will be out-patient, but will be a fully under, incision in my stomach kind of surgery. What really got me is there is a six week recovery time where I cannot lift or strain that area in anyway. Which is bad for me in my line of work. Not to mention I was hoping that I would be able to spread out my next surgery time to like, oh I don't know, ten years or so! But I guess this is the next adventure that life has laid in front of us.

If anyone has been wondering how I have been doing in reference to some of the things I blogged about before like, patience, perspective, and attitude, let's just say some good, some not so good. It has been easy to allow myself to get caught up in life again. Work, for both Rebecca and I, has been challenging in a lot of ways. But thankfully we are both still employed! There have been other things that have been stressful, but for the most part we continue to stay focused on what is important and that is family and friends. And I have a great wife and family who do a great job of bringing me back to reality at those times I lose my focus. I told my wife on the way home from the surgeon's office that maybe I didn't learn my lesson the first time so I get to spend another six to seven weeks on the couch like a kid in time out! No, just kidding, I think this is just another issue in life. And the most important thing, we are not dealing with cancer. And we thank God for that. I will also have time to do more blogging, and I know you just can't wait. I do want to again say thank you to all of you who have asked how were are doing and for your thoughts and prayers. We simply couldn't have done it without each of you. I will try and post another blog this weekend and let everyone know how the surgery goes.

Remember each day to drink a lot of water, put one foot in front of the other, and don't forget to breath.......