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A Break for Spinal Problems

I'm taking a break for a few days while some significant spinal pain subsides. My extensive spinal injuries (two herniated disks, four bulging disks, six compressed disks, a broken up vertebra and disk in my neck, osteophytosis, and two areas of stenosis) are inflamed and screaming. The little bit of work on the house may have caused this inflammation or it is due to some other reason.  My primary illness, Systemic Mastocytosis, is known to cause inflammation throughout my body, one area at a time, so that could cause this spinal inflammation too but I'm thinking it makes more sense that perhaps I overdid it working on the house. It has been a long time, however, since having such intense spinal pain.  I still have a little bit to write about pertaining to Sheila's new cancer finding. I have a little bit to write about pertaining to our fun cruise with the grandkids and Sheila's parents. I have a little bit to write about pertaining to the home renovations. You

Official Positive Biopsy Results

Although the doctor who spoke with us after Sheila's ultrasound had already told us that he was absolutely certain that what was found in Sheila's imaging was indeed cancer, we did receive word today from the Breast Care Center that the biopsy results from the other day are definitely positive. So, there are no surprises at this point. We expected the biopsy to indicate this outcome. After all, we already viewed the imaging ourselves in real time and know what we saw.  Regardless, it was still a little difficult for Sheila to hear the nurse say "the results are positive". Nobody wants to hear that even if you are already prepared for it and well versed in hearing it. What is more important in these particular biopsy results is not whether the results are positive or negative but finding out more specific information about the type of cancer and available therapies after surgery for this type of cancer. We'll be discussing these specifics with the Oncology Surg

An Attempt At New Living Room Furniture

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About a year ago, Sheila and I were out browsing in a store in Burlington and came across a small sectional couch that would be great in our small home. It was on sale but the price was still a bit more than we could handle at that moment so we passed on that couch. After seeing that little sectional couch, however, our slightly larger sectional couch was looking a bit worn and out of style so we've been keeping our eyes open for other options. About a month ago, we were again in that same store in Burlington just browsing around and we found a very comfortable couch and armchair. The armchair was smaller than most so we thought that maybe it would fit in our living room. The couch was just a straight sofa-bed couch so we figured that would fit as well. Both were very comfortable and we had a large selection of fabrics to choose from so we were pretty excited. We were told that these pieces would be on sale within the next two weeks so we excitedly started looking for fabr

A Quick Visit

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Liza and the grandkids came to visit Gee yesterday. It was definitely a visit that Gee needed! It was a short but sweet visit. Although short, they managed to squeeze in a few hands of Uno, playing with some trains, opening a box full of new school clothes, and Kenzie got to see her flowergirl dress for mommy's fast-approaching wedding.  We have a day set aside for the grandkids this week... no medical appointments... just fun. If the weather cooperates (a rarity this summer) then we will take the kids on a day cruise. If not, then we'll do some fun indoor activities instead. We're looking forward to it!  

A Fun Distraction

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Sheila was in need of a few laughs and a distraction... actually, so was I... so, yesterday, we invited Frank, Christine and Sheila's parents over for dinner, a few drinks and a few laughs in the comfort of our own home. (I had already moved all the building supplies for a new living room and kitchen to a different section of the house to make things a bit more comfortable for Sheila so we were ready for a few guests as well.) We had a great time and are very thankful that everyone could squeeze us in at the last moment. Sheila and I were definitely entertained and had a great time!  That was much appreciated. Today, Sheila is digging through her medical insurance handbooks and we are discussing each thing she comes across that may apply to us. So, I'd say a little bit of the anxiety and tension is back again today... a little bit of reality, I suppose. Liza and the grandchildren will be stopping by to see Gee sometime this afternoon so that will allow us to push aside the

The Biopsy

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The following morning after we sat down with the doctor to discuss the results of Sheila's mammogram and ultrasound imaging, we were headed back to the hospital for a biopsy. Sheila has been down this road before. Her first biopsy was 11 years ago, then surgery, radiation, chemo and the years of follow-up testing, imaging and exams. But, this morning, we were back at square one again. I have to say that it was not a pleasant feeling to be back at square one again. We both were so anxious that we thought we couldn't eat. We sat down to eat but we both commented that we had no desire for food whatsoever. The funny thing is... once we started eating, we pretty much finished our meals. I think the food absorbed some of the stomach acid being pumped into our empty stomachs due to our nerves. We felt a bit better after eating. On the drive to the hospital this morning our conversation changed from a pep talk type of thing giving positive reinforcement to someone who has already

A Significant Increase in Hospital Visits

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I've said this countless times before, with my voice and on this blog, but I'll remind everyone anyway... Just because a cancer patient may appear to be cancer-free at any given moment, this in no way means the patient "beat cancer" or, an even sillier notion, "kicked cancer's ass".   The fact is... and, yes, this is a fact and not just my opinion... that cancer patients have a significantly higher incidence of a recurrence of cancer compared to the incidence of a person who has never had cancer getting cancer for the first time. Until there is a true cure for cancer, the statistics show that the cancer patient is only buying time in getting beyond the first occurrence of cancer.  Unfortunately, the time that Sheila bought (or perhaps "earned") by getting beyond her first occurrence of cancer is suddenly up.  This all started last week, Sheila and I traveled up to Burlington last week for a mammogram. This is a standard, typical, repet

A Few Lake Photos

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Not much has been getting accomplished on the house lately. My health and the weather are not cooperating with each other in the least. I've been feeling absolutely miserable on some rare beautiful weather days and I've been feeling halfway decent on some rainy days... and, even if I were healthy, we've had a lot of rainy days this summer so getting much accomplished on the house would be difficult anyway. Regardless, I'm not too pleased with how little I've accomplished and how much it affects my health. At some point, I need to feel very well on a few very nice days! In the meantime, I'm trying to keep busy in the house. Most of my down time has been spent sketching plans for various projects around the house, researching building products, and even sitting at the piano whenever I'm feeling up to it. This evening, however, I decided to sift through some of my latest photos to see if I could find anything interesting. The first photo that captured my at

Sailing With Papa

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Lukey really seems to enjoy sailing and I definitely enjoy our time out on the boat together. We went sailing a few times this summer, as always, but this summer I managed to capture some video of one of our outings with the intention of sharing it here. Well... okay... the real intention was to add this video to my large collection of videos of the grandkids. I did, however, want to also share it here. I shot about 30 minutes of video on this particular outing but I miraculously edited the video down to about 12 minutes so it is a bit more bearable to watch... especially for those of you who aren't Lukey or me! It is still a bit long but I wanted to keep all the minutes of footage that showed some interaction between the two of us. There was plenty of time when we just enjoyed the sailing in silence but, as Lukey gets older, there is more and more talk between the two of us when we are on any of the boats. We both had a great time... Lukey was a pleasure on the boat and it

Slow Intermittent Progress

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Slowly, and in between health issues and medical appointments, we are making some headway on our summer home renovation plans.   Our latest project is to paint the house. Well... to at least paint the part of the house that is mostly finished!  We plan to finish another part of the exterior this summer but we wanted to get the design and colors right first. I think we are moving in the right direction but this little exercise has pointed out the need for some minor adjustments that weren't in the original plan. This current project is going well and it involves designing, building and installing some new architectural details for the exterior which match our new renovations on the interior. Between a drastic color change and adding these architectural details, the house is beginning to show some character! In this photo, below, we can see the new lighting at our front door... The weather has been rather wet this summer so I had to set up a little workshop outdoors under