OUCH !!! - Second Degree Burn

Ouch ! Is to say it mildly... On Saturday I was making smore's from a box mix. The directions said to spray a 9" x 13" baking pan with pam. Empty the package of graham crackers and chocolate chips into the baking dish. Place the marshmallow package into a glass cup and cut-off a corner to let the steam out. Cook in the microwave for 45-60 seconds. After 45 seconds, I opened the microwave door and decided it needed a few more seconds. When it was finished I grabbed the handle of the glass measuring cup and removed it from the microwave. Once the marshmallow sauce was outside the microwave it began spilling over the bowl like a volcano. My immediate reaction was to place my hand under the marshmallow sauce to capture it from spilling on the kitchen floor. BAD IDEA!!! I placed my hand under running water to try and ease the pain, but the marshmallow sauce had stuck to my hand. The pain was excruciating. Jerry was outside, so it took me a minute to be composed enough to go out and ask him to come in to help me. He came in put some ice cubes in my bowl of water, but that made the pain worse so he removed the ice. The pain was so bad I couldn't stop crying or move. Jerry asked me if I wanted him to take me to emergency, but I wasn't ready to go. He gave me some hydrocodone to ease the pain. The rest of the day I continued to hold onto an ice pack and throughout the night keep my hand wrapped with an ace bandage to keep the ice pack in place. By the next morning the palm of my hand had a huge blister on it.

Adventure City Amusment Park - cont...

After the boys finished riding all the rides and playing with Thomas the Train... We walked over to the petting zoo and then the reptile farm. The boys enjoyed feeding the goats and sheep and then looking at all the animals in the reptile farm. But, they mostly enjoyed touching frogs and the opportunity to feel a snake, for the first time. Of course I had to entice them by touching the frogs and snakes, myself. The frogs were sticky!

After a day of fun...

Jake and Zack were pooped out and fell asleep on the way home.

Adventure City Amusment Park - Anaheim CA

Yesterday, Dawn (Jake and Zacks mom), and I took Jake and Zack to Adventure City Amusement Park for a day of rides and fun. This amusement park is for the younger children only and doesn't have any older kid or adult rides. It is a great place to take the toddlers and younger children. As you can see, from the attached pictures, Jake and Zack had a great day.

Happy Halloween

Jerry and I arrived home on Friday 10/26/07 to find a note on our front door. Jake had stopped by and taped (and taped and taped) this note on our front door. What a heart warming feeling it was to come home and see the note from Jake, and to know he had stopped by and was thinking of us during the day. We are so blessed to have Jake (7) and Zack (3) (will be 4 on November 24th) in our life and living so close to us. Jerry and I walked down to their house and thank Jake for the note. We spent about an hour playing with the boys. They were a little rambuntious because they have been cooped up in the house because of all the Orange County fires in the area and the smoke in the air.

Doppler Ultrasound - Update

During our consultation with Dr. Duke Bahn after the results of the Doppler Color Ultrasound, Dr. Bahn recommended will consider participating in the Cryo Immutherpy clinical trail. Unfortunately, this clinical trial is not available at this time and is several months out. Therefore, at this time, Jerry's treatment will continue on the same path with the Hormone Therapy. Since, Jerry platelets are very low the doctor has prescribed Procrit once a week. We have still not heard what the results are from his bone scan and today Jerry completed his CT Scan on his abdomen, pelvic etc. It will probably be a few days before the results are available. Jerry's regularly schedule appointment with the oncologist will be on November 8th (my late father's birthday).

Bone Scan - Full Body

Today, Jerry is having a full body bone scan. Which will indicate if any of the cancer has attached the bone. Will give an update when we get the results.

Dopper Ultrasound of the Prostate

Jerry and I had the appointment for the Dopper Ultrasound on Wednesday in Ventura. It was certainly a long drive, leaving our house around 7:45am and arriving on time for our appointment at 10:30am. The actual ultrasound took approximately 2o minutes. Once the procedure was completed I was called in along with Jerry for the consultation. Dr. Bahn had the ultrasound pictures, of the prostate and surrounding areas, and explained what the finding were. He also sketched out some pictures to help us understand where the cancer is and where it has invaded outside of the prostate. Since I am a novice, at this, I will try to explain it as best as I can. The cancer in the prostrate is approximately 3/4 on the right side and about 1/2 on the left side. Therefore, most of the activity is on the right side. The cancer has gone beyond the prostate from the right hand side. The tumor has invaded the seminal vesicles which are attached to the prostate. It is common for prostate cancer to spread from the prostate into the seminal vesicles. Spread of prostate cancer from the confines of the prostate into the seminal vesicles is a second form of locally advanced prostate cancer. When the disease has spread into the seminal vesicles, it is classified as stage T3.

However, because this is the first dopper ultrasound performed, we do not know how long this tumor has been invading the seminal vesicles. Jerry will probably have a biopsy of this area in the near future which will help determine how much cancer has invaded. The biopsy will consist of approximately 7 samples.

Dr. Bahn has indicated that he is a candidate and is recommending that Jerry participate in a clinical trial "Cryo and Immuntherapy". Since Jerry works for a cryo company he will discuss this clinical trial with people he knows at work to see if he thinks this is something that he would be interested in participating in. He will also discuss this with his oncologist, as well.

Oncology Appointment - October 11th

Today we were suppose to first have an appointment in Ventura for the Doppler ultrasound and then proceed to his oncologist appointment. The doctor scheduled to do the Doppler ultrasound was called away to perform cryosurgery (BTW Jerry works for EndoCare, Inc. which provides the cryosurgery equipment. Also, Jerry's company is very familiar with the physician Dr. Duke Bain who will be doing the Doppler ultrasound) and our appointment had to be rescheduled for next Wednesday 10/17/07. Jerry went to his oncologist appointment... and it was a very long day. Jerry's not sure what the trouble was there but his appointment was at 2:00pm and after sitting in the room for over 2 hours waiting... he started roaming around the office and asked what the trouble was. The nurse said she was waiting for the orders. Jerry finally arrived home around 10:00pm. Thursday night into Friday Jerry's side effects were pretty normal in comparison to his other appointment. However, Friday evening Jerry started to take a turn for the worse. Jerry's tummy was gurgling and before too long, Jerry was finding himself farting pretty consistently. On Saturday morning Jerry woke me up and told me that he got very little sleep because his stomach was upset and he was farting all night long. Saturday Jerry's stomach was continuing to bother him and he was extremely fatigued. We did join Randy and Stef for dinner Saturday night, but didn't make it a late night. Sunday morning Jerry woke up still feeling poorly. He again did not get a very good nights sleep. He was miserable trying to get himself ready for church. He drug himself to church and immediately after church he said he was hungry and wanted to stop and get something to eat. Jerry acted like he hadn't eaten for weeks... he gobbled his food down before we even got home. Jerry has been telling me that he's filling hungry all the time now. Sunday afternoon, we joined Debbie and Stig to visit with Stig's daughter Malin from Sweden. We had a nice afternoon visiting with them along with other family members, but since Jerry wasn't feeling well we made it a short afternoon and left early. About the time we arrived home, Jerry was feeling very constipated and was miserable. Finally, around 10:00pm Jerry was finally able to have a bowel movement and felt somewhat better. Jerry's oncologist has ordered him to have a full body bone scan along with a CT scan of his abdomen, pelvis etc. Jerry will be scheduling these tests this week.

Aunt Doris Allentown, PA

Elderly Woman Killed in Allentown Accident

The Lehigh County Coroner's office says an elderly woman involved in an accident in Allentown has died. The crash happened just before 4pm yesterday in the area of South 12th and Lehigh Streets.

The Lehigh County Coroner says 86-year-old Doris Lobach of Northampton was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital where she later died from her injuries. Two other people were also hurt in the crash.

This is my Aunt Doris, my dad's sister. Because of the distance between California and Pennsylvania, I didn't see her very often. But, have very fond memories of her. I particularly remember when I was young (maybe 9 or 10) we were visiting the family in Allentown, PA in April and my birthday (04-18) fell on Easter, that year. She had bought me a yellow bunny on a lollipop stick... and it was yummy! We spent hours playing Tripoly, with our Aunts, Uncles and Cousins. I also remember walking across the street and swimming in the community pool. It has been year's since I last saw Aunt Doris, I remember stopped over in Allentown, PA during a business trip. Aunt Doris asked me how she would recognize me because I had grown up. I deliberately, wore a bright hot pink jump suit so she would know who I was. I was one of the last passengers off of the plane and ironically there was another passenger who also wore a hot pink outfit. But, Aunt Doris didn't think it was me because she was very tall with blond hair. My last visit with Aunt Doris will always be in my heart and memory. We had a great reunion.

My thoughts and Prayers go out to Doris' children (my cousins) Cheryl and Darrell, as well as her grandchildren and all the extended family.

May Aunt Doris rest in God's Peace.

Dopper Ultrasound of the Prostate

On Thursday, Oct 11th Jerry and I will be driving into Ventura to see Dr. Duke Bahn. Jerry will be having the dopper ultrasound of the prostate. Dr. Bob (oncologist) has recommended this procedure. Once we have finished with this appointment we will be heading over to Dr. Bob's for Jerry's routine appointment with his oncologist. Dr. Bob wanted this dopper ultrasound to be in conjuction with his regular appointment.

As you know, Jerry's PSA has been steadily rising over the last several months. Also, Jerry's CBC (complete blood count) has been poor, causing enemia and his ammune system being comprimised.

Once we have more information regarding the results of the dopper ultrasound, I will update the blog. Until then, this is the link to Prostate Institute of America where the procedure will be done.
http://www.pioa.org/bahn.html

UPDATE ON IDAHO PROPERTY

Wanted to update on the Davenport property in Idaho that we were hoping to purchase. After we extended on offer on the property the owner (Mike) left on vacation to Alaska for a month. The 1st prospective buyer of the property had a contingency on the house and had 72 hours to lift the contingency or back out of the offer. Well they lifted the contingency and went into escrow. Even though our offer fell through, we haven't completely lost the house, at this time. Our realtor explained to us that the original buyer (Jill) has until March to purchase the house. If she can's come up with the purchase price (because he house hasn't sold... or any other reason) the house falls out of escrow. If that happens Mike (owner) will let us know and we can go back to the negotiating table.