December 31, 2009 - New Year's Eve

Our heavenly Father, thank you for all the blessings you have given Jerry and I this year. We thank you for giving Jerry better health this year. We thank you for helping us find our beautiful new home in Dalton Gardens, Idaho. We ask that you will watch over and protect us as we pack up and move from California to Idaho. We ask for your continued blessings as we begin our new life in Idaho. We pray that you will help us to continue our wonderful friendships that we leave behind as we learn to build new friendships. We pray for our family and friends that you will protect them and bless them with good health and happiness in the coming year. We especially pray for Aunt Betty as she celebrates her 87th birthday today. We ask this in your name. AMEN.

CHRISTmas Eve, CHRISTmas Day, 2009

CHRISTmas Eve started visiting Randy & Stef (Orange, CA) and exchanging CHRISTmas gifts. Randy is recovering from surgery (mid Dec.) so we didn't want to stay long. The short time was nice, but too short. We will catch up sometime in January, 2010. Then off to Debbie & Stig's in Old Town Orange. Stig's daugher, Malin, is here from Sweden along with her husband, Lars, and daughters Emma and Sofia (born 08/01/09),
Deb's daughter, Yvette and grandson, Jake, Deb's son, Scott, and wife, Stacy. A wonderful dinner (Ham, Swedish meatballs and all the trimmings). Later, we celebrated with a Swedish tradition of GLUG! Then enjoyed exchanging gifts and opening stockings. CHRISTmas day started with 10:00AM mass at Church. After Church we walked two doors down to celebrate with Jake (8), Zack (6), Dawn & Mike. We took pictures with the boys and then let the boys open up their gifts from us. Of course, Jake & Zack were excited and thrilled about the Lego sets they received. Zack's best gift was a bike from Santa (pictured)! Lime Green! We'll be able to spot Zack a mile away!!! Our CHRISTmas day ended at Deb's sister, Denise and husband, Pat's home in Cypress, CA. Where about 20-25 of us gathered for fellowship and dinner. The evening ended with a $20.00 gift exchange where when your turn came around you could either grab a gift from the table or steel a gift from someone who went before you. It was crazy fun! I ended up going home with one of the two gifts I brought... a "CHOCOLATE" basket which included a $20.00 gift card to SEES candies, chocolate sauce, hot coco mix, chocolate covered pretzels and a large hershey's chocolate bar where I removed the original wrapper and decorated it with a festive CHRISTmas card, ribbon, glitter and rinestones. It was a fun basket to make... but, I can't eat any of the chocolate inside. Maybe I'll share it with friends on New Year's Eve!!!

Classic 1973 Datsun 240Z car * * * SOLD * * *

It's hard to believe the this car has been sold. I remember driving it off of the dealer lot on 17th Street in Santa Ana... Everyone driving next to you or driving by you gauking at the beautiful sports car. At the time, the demand for this popular car was so great that you had to order the can and wait six (6) months for delivery. There wasn't even even one available to test drive. You had to order the car unseen. We waited six months, but the wait was worth it when you sat in the car and drove it around town. Well those years are long gone. As I got older and with the increasing foot pain, it was more difficult to drive and enjoy. For so many years the car has sat in the garage with stuff piled high on top of it. It certainly has alot of wonderful memories and I hope that the person purchasing it will take as much pride in it and enjoy it as much as I did. It certainly was a wonderful vehicle in the 70's.

ZACK TURNS 6 - November 24, 2009

Family and Friends enjoyed the day with Zack as we celebrated Zack's 6th birthday, yesterday. Zack couldn't decide on the theme of his party so the invitations and paper items were Mickey Mouse and his cake was Sponge Bob. But, right away when his dad picked up and brought the cake home Zack knew that Sponge Bob had the WRONG pants on. Another character (not familiar with the Sponge bog characters so I don't know his name) had Sponge Bob's pants on and Sponge Bob was wearing his. WOOPS! Jerry and I surprised Zack with his first Razor scooter. He was so excited... by his reaction is was his favorite present he opened yesterday!

Happy 6th Birthday Zack

Our New Address in Dalton Gardens, Idaho

6776 N. 16th Street
Dalton Gardens, ID 83815

Medical Appointment - November 11, 2009

Jerry continues to visit his oncologist once a month. Yesterdays appointment was fairly routine as it has been since February. Jerry's PSA remains at 0.07. We are so delighted that Jerry has been doing so well.

Jerry has had a little bit of a set back... but, we are hoping it turns out to be nothing. Jerry started having pain in his mouth similar to when he was experiencing pain before being diagnosed with ONJ (Osteonecrosis of the Jaw). He started having the pain around Thursday and by Friday the pain was getting worse. Saturday I contacted our dentist who started him on an antibiotic. You may remember what Jerry went through last year when he developed Colitis when he took antibiotic's. The antibiotic started curing the infection and the pain has subsided.

We will be following up on with UCLA who cares for Jerry's ONJ.

It's going to break my heart

Leaving "the boys" Jake (8yrs) and Zack (6yrs) will be the hardest thing we have ever done. Those two boys came into my life during a dark time in our life. Jake and Zack brought so much joy, laughter, companionship and love to us that our life was so much brighter once they stepped into it. What a gift Mike and Dawn gave us letting us share in the joy and love that those boys give to us and everyone else in their life. They certainly became a BIG part of our life.

The other day, Dawn, Jerry and were discussing our move and about packing, selling on craigslist, polishing up the Z Car when Zack jumped in and said "We'll never see you again". His face was sad and his voice sounded like he was about to cry. I explained to him that he would be able to get on a plane and come see us. That mommy and daddy would take them to the airport and make sure they were on the plane and then the flight attendants would be responsible to make sure when they landed that we were there to pick them up. Zack's busted out saying "I don't even have a wallet"!!! I explained that he wouldn't need a wallet to come visit us. I also told him that mommy and daddy were planning to bring their trailer and stay with us. Zack wasn't happy when I told him it would take at least 2 days to get there.

A couple days later, Mike and Dawn were planning a weekend get away without taking Jake and Zack. Jake and Zack would be staying with grandma in Fullerton. Jake told his dad... "I know you are going to Jerry and Karen's even before we get to go"!!! Of course his dad told him they weren't leaving to go to Jerry and Karen's.

We are going to miss those two boys!!! I don't know how I am going to be able to leave them!!!

Preparing Garage... preparing for the move

Jerry has started preparing the garage in preparation for moving all the stuff from our 2 car garage to his wonderful 48 x 50 shop in Dalton Gardens, ID. Yesterday (Saturday) we spend washing, polishing, cleaning and armor all'g the 1973 Datsun 240Z getting it ready to put on the market for sale. Looks Nice !!!

Today, (Sunday) Jerry has been working on throwing some stuff away, getting stuff sorted for our upcoming garage sale and putting items aside he knows he wants to take with us.

... it's a start !!!

October 1, 2009 - Medical Catching Up update

In this case... NO news is good news! It's hard to believe how well Jerry has been feeling since February. It's so hard for me to remember how bad Jerry was this time last year. If I look back on the blog a year ago it's so hard for me to believe what he was (and we were) going through. Thank God he has been doing so well. When we go for his oncology visits they are pretty uneventful so there really isn't much to blog about. The last visit he was slightly anemic so they gave him an IV of iron to help boost his system. But, other than that... the nurse draws blood, his blood goes to the lab, lab results determine what IV's he needs and the nurse starts whatever IV's he's going to have. The doctor comes in, proceeds with reviewing his medications list, asks questions and does his examination. Then when all the IV's are gone, we make our next appointment and head home for what may be a 1.5-2.5 hours drive depending on traffic. We go once a month up to Century City and our next appointment will be the 14th of October.

October 1, 2009

I am so anxious to move up to our new home in Dalton Gardens, I can hardly wait for the time to pass. On the other hand, I can't believe 3 months have already gone since we bought our new house. Then we were saying we would be moving in 9 months. Now we can saying we are moving in 6 months... Jerry's official termination date is 03/31/2010 or sooner! Jerry feels that the date will probably be much sooner than 03/31/2010. Of course, he's hoping that it won't and that he'll be able to work until 03/31/2010, for Insurance purposes... So far, I have 94 boxes packed. A lot of the boxes are smaller (12 x 9.5"), but most of the boxes I have packed have been smaller to medium size and just a few large and very few extra large. I need to make sure that I can handle the boxes myself, so they can't be too big or too heavy!

Last weekend, we picked up new bedroom furniture for our guest bedroom. When I was in North Carolina for Jerry's niece Dawn's wedding I really liked her choice of furniture in her guest bedroom. I asked Dawn and she told me where I could find the set and the name of the collection. I went online and was deciding on the pieces I wanted. Since I am spending a lot of time posting classified ad's on craig's list I decided to search on craig's list for the collection. I actually found someone selling a brand new set. They purchased the set for his wife's 85 yr. old mother. Unfortunately, she suddenly passed away before she had an opportunity to enjoy it. The son/daughter were paying her mother's mobile home mortgage and rental space fee during her mother's hospital stay before she passed. Her mobile home had been sold and they needed to get the set removed from the house. They sold a dresser, mirror, nightstand and metal headboard for a full size bed for more than 1/2 price. We purchased the set with the intention of selling the metal headboard and eventually purchasing a poster head and foot board.
We were both delighted with our bargain!!! It was worth a 100 miles round trip and moving it up north along with everything else. We will wait until we are up there to purchase the rest of the set. Here is a picture of the collection:
http://www.ashleyfurniture.com/Showroom/Showroom.aspx?PageId=Showroom&CategoryID=17&ItemNo=B219-77&SetDomTab=1&SeriesNo=B219&CollectionId=&style=&PageNumber=1&IsClicked=1&CatPageNumber=1

GHOST WHISPER starring Conner & Aiden Gibbs

Here are the boys, yesterday celebrating Jake's 8th birthday. (left to right Conner Gibbs, Jake and Zack Poland, and Conner's brother Aiden). Do you recognize Conner and/or Aiden Gibb's? Both boys have had several acting parts in commerials as well as TV shows. Aiden is currently on Ghost Whisper. Conner's red hair has been died black for his latest role on this season's Ghost Whisper. The picture of Conner and Jake was taken at Christmas time in 2007... Jake and Conner have been friends since pre-school and they remain friends now. Conner's acting career is taking off after doing many popular commercials, including Baskin Robbins and Kodak commercials, as well as, acting on the Monk and now his most recent job will be on this seasons Ghost Whisper. Zack and Aiden are also friends. Aiden is following in his brother's footsteps and does some acting parts, as well. Below are a few links to see Conner and Aiden in action!!!

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2720952/

http://ghostwhispereroncbs.wetpaint.com/page/What+Aiden+Lucas+Looks+Like

JAKE TURNS EIGHT - September 4, 2009

Happy 8th Birthday, Jake. It's so hard for us to believe that Jake has turned 8 years old. His special birthday present from mom and dad was to see the Jonas Brothers in Concert! He loved it. So it seemed appropriate to give him a Jonas Brother's backpack for this school year. He's also into Star War's lego sets and was excited to get another to add to his collection.

Moving to Dalton Gardens Update

Every day I try to pack one, two or three boxes. So far I have packed 60 boxes of varied sizes. Unfortunately, I still have a lot to go. On the other hand, Jerry has ONLY packed one small box. However, he has been working hard in the yard cutting out some of the maintenance.

Camie explores all the boxes empty and not ... she's taken up sleeping on the pile of stacked boxes. Right now I have boxes stacked all over the house.

I am advertising some furniture on craigslist, but to date have not sold any of the pieces. I have a sofa bed, oak entertainment center, as well as, a sectional couch advertised for sale. As soon as one or all of these pieces sell, I will have a lot more room to store the boxes that have been packed.

Medical Appointments

Last week, Jerry and I went for his monthly oncology appointment. Jerry is still feeling well and his lab work (blood work) is still showing numbers that are not too out of line. Jerry's PSA has risen from .02 up to .05. But, is still on the low side. Please continue to keep Jerry in your prayers so that he can enjoy continue feeling better than he has ... in a long time. Thank you all for your love, support, thoughts and prayers.

OUR NEW HOME IN NORTHERN IDAHO

Most of you know that since around February, Jerry and I have been seriously looking for property to purchase in Coeur d' Alene, Idaho. I have been spending countless hours on the computer looking at houses on the MLS (multiple listings), for sale by owner, as well as, short sales and foreclosures. We had some homes in mind when we took off for Idaho on July 1st. We made arrangements with our realtor to physically view some properties on July 6th, after the 4th of July holiday. Jerry and I were anxious, but because of the holiday we did some boating and jet skiing and also drove around to see the area's where the houses we were interested were. Because we fell in love with the Dalton Garden's area when we put an offer on a house on Davenport we drove around the Dalton Garden's neighborhood. Up and Down all the streets we were so familiar with from Google Earth. One of Jerry's main criteria was a shop, but most of the houses we were looking at didn't have a shop and we would need to build it. Jerry's brother-in-law was driving around Dalton Gardens and saw a shop that he thought was AWESOME! Someone was roaming around near the shop and being curious and friendly August (Jerry's brother-in-law) stopped and asked the man how big the shop was. The men's conversation went on and the man told August the house was for sale. We turned around a grabbed a real estate flyer. Once I saw the flyer I realized it was a house I had seen many times on the Internet but, didn't consider the house because it was built in 1961 and we were looking for a house in 2000 or later. I never really read the description too carefully because their was ONLY 1 picture on the Internet and I figured there were no pictures because the house was do out dated that they didn't want us to see the inside. Well I called the realtor and added the house to the list of houses we'd already planned to preview. When we got to this house I told the realtor "This won't take Long" Well the minute we entered the front door WOW! None of us could believe it. We learned that even though the house was built in 1961, it was practically tore down in 2003 leaving ONLY 1 wall standing and was beautifully removed. It seemed PERFECT for us! Well the next day, we made an offer. Well they countered our offer with minimal changes and we accepted. As it turns out the owners Larry and Sharon are wonderful people and were gracious and welcomed us into their home another couple of times. Each time we went back into the home it seems more and more perfect for both Jerry and I. Jerry and I are so excited about our new home and are anxious to move up to beautiful Dalton Gardens, Idaho. Jerry's still nervous about the winter's but, with a heated shop... he thinks he'll try it!
You can visit the Picasa link to see all the pictures we took of the house by using the link attached.

http://picasaweb.google.com/klschomer/OurNewHome#

Medical Appointment - June 24, 2009

Jerry still doing well. PSA is 0.2 and holding.

Mom visits California from Arkansas

After living in California since the early 1950's my mom moved to Arkansas two (2) years ago. One of her three (3) grand children (Kimberleigh) married a man from Arkansas and moved there several years ago. My sister, Vicki (Kim's mom) and husband retired and followed Kim and relocated in Arkansas, as well. Since my sister, Kathy and myself plan to also leave California my mom decided to jump on the wagon and leave California herself. My mom relocated to Arkansas August 2007. This was her first trip back to California. My mom is enjoying Arkansas, particularly the changes of the seasons. However, she has missed the shopping and dining she loved in California. My mom arrived on Thursday June 18th. Kathy picked her up and we meet and took her to the Citrus Grill for dinner and got a little shopping in after dinner. Friday, mom, sister, Kathy and I shopped and started preparation for Kathy's 60th Birthday Party which would be celebrated on Saturday June 20th. On Saturday we enjoyed great food and drink, wonderful fellowship and a live band ... and partied into the night. Sunday, mom and Kathy headed for our house... first stop was a visit with Jake and Zack. After visiting the kids we headed for lunch at the Olive Garden. After lunch... more shopping. Monday and Tuesday we took mom to the Wine Country of Temecula where we stayed at the South Coast Winery. Our two days were spent visiting the local wineries, shopping, eating and relaxing by the pool. We all had a great time. Wednesday Jerry and I had to go see Dr. Bob in Century City and mom and Kathy did their last minute shopping before taking mom to the airport for her Thursday departure. We enjoyed her visit and are looking forward to seeing her again soon.

Minor "set back" for Jerry

Sunday Morning Jerry was snacking on some fresh cherries when he bit down and the cap on one of his front tooth breaking the tooth under as well, leaving the root remaining in the gum. Jerry is now missing one of his front teeth. Not one of the two, but one right next to it. Jerry will visit our dentist this afternoon, but because of his ONJ it will require special treatment to repair the tooth. They will probably not be able to remove the root of the tooth that remains, but will need to do a root canal first, less invasive. Not sure how they will be able to replace the lost tooth???

Jerry continues to feel well...

Jerry's most recent PSA was .01 the LOWEST it has been in 10+ years !!! Jerry continues to feel better than he has in the past year or so. Please continue remembering Jerry in your prayers and pray that he will continue feeling well.

Wedding in Durham, North Carolina

I left for Durham, North Carolina 3 June 2009 to attend Jerry's neice Dawn Howard's wedding. Jerry just recently went from working part time on disability since last July, 08 to full time after finishing chemo therpy in December 08. ... so he was not able to attend the wedding. The trip was so enjoyable seeing some of Jerry's family who we haven't seen in several years. The reunion was terrific! The wedding ceremony and all the activities around pre-and post wedding were terrific. Our time together was short, but so enjoyable to be together. We had an opportunity to visit Duke University, one day. The setting for the wedding was actually held at the Gardens at Duke University which were absolutely gorgious. Enjoy all the pictures I took during my stay by visiting my Picasa Albums. Here are just a few of my favorite pictures.

Saturday May 31, 1980

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Jerry and I celebrated our 29th Wedding Anniversary.

05.28.09 Monthly Oncologist Appointment

Jerry and I drove all the way to Century City for his appointment and all Dr. Javadi did was an examination. Jerry's blood test was good and Dr. Javadi didn't feel like Jerry needed any infusions!!! So, it was a short visit, we picked up $220.00 worth of prescriptions and $75.00 worth of nutrition supplements from the gastroenterology doctor and we were on our way. Short but expensive visit!!!

04.30.09 Monthly Oncology Appointment

Jerry's oncologist appointment this month was routine. Jerry has been doing fairly well since he finally got rid of his sinus infection. The exception is though that he continues to be anemic, as well as, he is having water retention in his ankles. His ankles look like... actually he has no ankles they're so swollen.

The map on the wall at Dr. Bob has push pins indicating where all his patients come from, Dr. Bob has patients from all over the world.

The other picture I took is an award Dr. Bob received as America's Top Oncologist 2007! Congratulations Dr. Bob, you are a wonderful oncologist and have so much knowledge about prostate cancer and how to treat it. You have helped Jerry and so many other people around the world to live a longer life.

In Honor of Haleigh Nicole Dickerson

A PRECIOUS angel was born April 28, 2000. Twelve PRECIOUS days gave me a life time of memories. Haleigh touched my life in the few PRECIOUS moments I shared with her and are held close to my heart. Words cannot express the heartache felt and continue to feel over the loss of Haleigh. May God's peace continue to bless Haleigh in heaven.

4321 E. Burchell Haydon, IDaho

This property is my favorate property found so far. Over our budget and without a shop is a negative, but the home and neighborhood are beautiful. Joni (Jerry's sister) and the realtor will be viewing the house tomorrow.

The link below will take you to the information about this house and all the photos available.

http://www.flexmls.com/cgi-bin/mainmenu.cgi?cmd=url+other/createlink/link_receiver.html&no_html_header=true&i=jeaqxqebh5g,7

2240 Mountain Vista Coeur D'Alene, ID

This property is PERFECT in consideration of location. The property is only 0.9 miles from Jerry's sister Joni. The house 3,490 sqft. house only sits on a .33 acre lot. Jerry and I are hoping to find a house on at least a half an acre. There is NO shop, but the house is probably going to foreclosure, so the money we save on the house would go towards adding a shop. Problem is the shop would take up alot of valuable acreage. The other negative about this property is that its sits up close to Canfield mountain which would cause the house to be in too much shade. This is definately something we would want to consider since we are coming from Sunny Southern California.

The link below will take you to the information about this house and all the photos available.

http://www.flexmls.com/cgi-bin/mainmenu.cgi?cmd=url+other/createlink/link_receiver.html&no_html_header=true&i=jeaqxqebh5g,7

2398 N. Mountain Vista, Coeur D' Alene, IDaho

But, there's no trees... This house is still under consideration. There are no pictures on the internet and we are waiting for a video from the realtor. This house is the same builder as the Cuprum home. Lot size is also the same. However, Jerry and I are not too excited that there are NO trees!

4863 Cuprum Coeur D'Alene

Jerry and I were so excited about this house, that we were considering making an offer without even seeing the house, for ourselves. Jerry's sister, Joni and husband August walked through the house while narrating to us. The items mentioned that made us decide not to select this home was: Main Living floor looked out into the backyard of neighbor, decking was not trex decking and would be high maintenance, five (5) steps from house into garage and back into the house.

The link below will take you to the information about this house and all the photos available.

http://www.flexmls.com/cgi-bin/mainmenu.cgi?cmd=url+other/createlink/link_receiver.html&no_html_header=true&i=jeaqxqebh5g,7

12715 N. Yearling Circle Hayden, IDaho

This is a really beautiful home and we would be really interested in the property except that it is 8.3 miles north of Joni. We are still considering the home, but ideally want to be closer in to Coeur D'Alene.

1446 E. Bruin Loop, Hayden, IDaho

This home is bank owned, but has not been completed. In addition needs Landscaping, sprinklers etc. Jerry's sister Joni has viewed the property and said it was very nice. If this property is still available when we visity in July we will want to see the property and make a determination if we want to consider it. The property is a little further north of Joni than we really want to be. However, Joni says... it's closer than we are right now.! She has a point.

Coeur D' Alene, IDAHO - House Hunting

As many of you know for years Jerry and I have been planning to someday move up to Northern Idaho, Coeur D'Alene, ID. After a difficult and rough health year, for Jerry, we have decided it's time for Jerry "wind down" and retire. I was forced into early retirement when I was laid off in September, 2008, from my employer of 11+ years. After supporting Jerry through chemo therapy, having shoulder surgery myself we are now working towards downsizing (California) and preparation for moving sometime around this time next year. We decided to take advantage of the recession and purchase our home now, while prices are down. It doesn't make sense for me to try to find a job in California. Unemployment at a record high and trying to compete with the younger people and the competition also looking for a job. I will wait until we have found a home in Idaho, have numerous garage sales getting rid of 30+ years of accumulation and Jerry needs to dig into the boat port, his garage and all the other places Jerry finds to hide his treasures (aka junk). We are planning to head up to Coeur D' Alene the 1st of July and actually physically look at properties. In the mean time, I am looking on the Internet, Jerry and I are carefully reviewing the properties and Joni and August are going with our agent to preview the properties and report back to us. There are a few properties that we have really liked, but there have been things we didn't like so we continue to look.

Zack (5) and Jake (7)

Easter pictures of the boys holding their See's Easter Bunny and a bucket full of plastic easter eggs with a surprise for the boys in each egg.

Have a Blessed Easter - April 11, 2009

Wishing you and your family a Very Blessed and Happy Easter

Post Surgery Physical Therpy - April 8, 2009

I started Physical Therapy on my left shoulder today. I will be having PT (physical therapy) three times a week. My doctor indicates that my shoulder will not be fully back to normal for about 3 months after surgery. Slowly my range of motion and use of my arm and shoulder are coming back. I am still having a lot of pain below my elbow and above my wrist with a feeling of pins and needles and numbness. If I extend my arm in a certain way, or pick up something heavy an excruciating pain occurs. Once I endure the pain, it's hard to get rid of.

Medical Appointment - April 1, 2009

Jerry's appointment today with the oncologist was fairly routine. Jerry has been fighting with a serious sinus infection. He started taking a Z-pack and that did not know out the infection. When they took Jerry's temperature, he was running a fewer. They took his temperature a second time and continued showing a fever. Dr. Javadi decided he wanted Jerry to give some additional blood to test for an infection in his blood. They took two additional vials of blood from his port as well as blood from his arm. The results should be available in a week. Unfortunately, Jerry's PSA is slowly creeping back up every week when they draw blood for a CBC (complete blood count). Overall, Jerry is feeling much better on a daily basis than he has in a long time. Even though he's been on antibiotics, Jerry's diarrhea has been pretty much under control. Jerry continues having sinus problems and Dr. Javadi is prescribing Avelox to continue fighting with the infection.

03.24.09 Post Surgery

A week ago tomorrow since my rotor cuff surgery, on my left shoulder. Jerry accompanied me to the surgical center for my surgery. Once they called me into surgery Jerry took off. Stef would pick me up after the surgery around 45 minutes for surgery and 60 minutes in recovery. I was wheeled into the operating room around 10:20 am (they had a clock on the wall). My discussion with the anaesthesiologist prior to administering Anastasia was that I did not want to wake up after surgery feeling nausea and vomiting (I remembered that from my previous surgery) from the Anastasia. He explained to me he could give me a neck block which should help prevent the nausea and vomiting. However, he would need to keep me awake while he gave me the neck block because he would need me to give him the indication where the proper placement on the nerve was. He gave me a mild sedation in my IV and proceeded. I remember being in the operating room and him poking me with the needle and some twitching, but after that... I really don't anything until I woke up in recovery without feeling nausea, no vomiting, no pain and alert enough to talk with Dr. Stauber. Dr. Stauber told me the surgery was worse then he anticipated from the MRI. The MRI was done last year and the tear had worsened, he was glad we proceeded with the surgery even though it took twice as long as expected. Stef brought me home and stayed with me the rest of the day until Jerry returned from his doctors appointment. The first few days weren't too bad since I was constantly on pain medication every 4 hours weather I needed it or not. I was starting getting constipated, so I took my last pain pill at 1:00am on Friday. Since then have only taken Tylenol PM or Ibuprofen 800 mg, as needed. The arm sling and ice machine have been on 24/7 until Sunday. Since then I have been using the sling and ice machine, but have to take breaks from both. I removed all the bandages and dressing on Saturday, as directed. However, have blisters all around the surgical area. Contacted the doctor's office about the blisters, they say they are probably from swelling or maybe I had a reaction to the latex tape. Using aloa vera plant to help heal the blisters. Every day I am feeling a little better and am feeling the healing progress. I have my follow-up visit with Dr. Stauber on March 31st.

03.17.09 - Happy St. Patrick's Day

Tomorrow I am scheduled for surgery to repair a partial thickness tear along the articular surface of the critical zone of the supraspinatus tendon. I don't know what all that means by I am having surgery on my left shoulder. This is an outpatient procedure and the surgery will take about 45 minutes. Jerry will be taking me in tomorrow at 9:30 am and my friend Stef will be bringing me home early afternoon. I will keep you posted on my progress, as soon as I am up to it.

03.14.09 - Swollen Eye

This morning Jerry woke up with his eye looking like this...

As the morning went on Jerry said his head was hurting and his eye continued looking worse. I went over to Wal Mart to pick up some Visine A thinking maybe he had an Allergy effecting his eye, but the shelf was empty. I talked to the pharmacist and she said that it probably wasn't an allergy since it was only one eye and not both. She recommended I purchase a lubricating eye drop to lubricate and hopefully push the infection out of his eye. She also suggested I take him in to see a physician. I arrived home and put a few eye drops in his eye. Waiting awhile, it didn't seem to make a difference. So Jerry and I proceeded to the local Urgent Care. By the time we arrived at Urgent Care Jerry's eye was swollen shut with only a slit. The physician on duty said it didn't look like anything she had seen. She didn't think it was an allergy, or pink eye and thought perhaps it might be some type of insect bite. But, didn't really know what to do about the situation. She suggested cold compresses, Benedryl and gave us a prescription for Methylprednisolone. We stopped to fill the prescription and headed home. Jerry took a nap for about an hour and felt better when he woke up. But, his eye didn't look any better. By late Sunday 03.15.09 afternoon his eye looked a lot better and the headache Jerry had this morning next to his eye was gone. Hopefully, his eye and him is recovering.

03.11.09 - Color-Doppler ultrasound

Today was our appointment with Dr. Duke Bahn at the Prostate Institute of America. About every six (6) months we drive to Ventura (about 97 miles one way) for this procedure. Dr. Bahn is well know in the industry.

http://www.pioa.org/bahn.html

Today Dr. Bahn was very impressed with the results he was seeing on the Color-Doppler ultrasound with tissue harmonics which are related to the recent chemo therapy Jerry just finished in December, 2008. Jerry has this test routinely performed where a probe is placed inside of the prostate itself. As the doctor moves the probe around in the prostate the patient can see on a colored screen the black and white images and the red which indicates the blood flow. After the procedure the doctor provides us with the colored pictures, along with his handwritten report. During our meeting with Dr. Bahn he made three (3) specific points: 1) Significan Cancer Volumn reduction; 2) Signifigant Neovasculaity reduction and 3) Cancer became less Hypoech... (can't read doctors handwriting).

Gland Volumn: 23 (was 34 july, 08)
Lesion # 1: 1-2 blood flow = - (none)
Dimension: 28 x 7 mm (was 40 x 13 mm July, 08)
Lesion #2: 3-4 blood flow = - (none)
Dimension: 30 x 6 mm (was 40 x 12 mm July, 08)
Lesion #3: 5 blood flow = - (none)
Dimension: 12 x 5 mm (was 14 x 5 mm July, 08)

Lesion #3 5 was first diagnosed last July, 08 and was the newest growth.

Even though Jerry's cancer is beyond the prostate and evidently metastasized to his bones the chemo therapy was suppose to slow the cancer down and it appears that it has done that. This is the best news that Jerry and I have heard about his cancer in a very, very long time!

Thank you all for your continued support and prayers.

Danya at 6 months old

Isn't see too !!! CUTE !!!

Morning, Noon, In-between, Night and at Bedtime... and then some !

Ketoconazole. Jerry takes two (2) of these 3 times a day... first thing in the morning and without food... and then two other times during the day ... it's quite the scheduling task to get these pills taken without food.

To help Jerry with his digestive system he also takes Herbulk, Ultra Flora Plus DF and Proboulardi. All these have been recommended by the Gastroenterologist. $25.00 for each bottle... not to mention the Vancomycin and Flagyl for the C-diff when needed.

Jerry takes another hand full of pills at noontime. Of course, the purple pill is Nexium ... which anyone would need after taking all the other pills.

After dinner Jerry takes all these... this takes about 3-4 handfuls to get all these down !

Before bedtime, Jerry takes two (2) inject ables routinely.

Then depending on Jerry's blood work sometimes he also takes additional inject ables like Intron, Neumega, Procrit and/or Aranesp.

Additionally, he'll take medication for diarrhea, such as immodium, Kaopectate, and/or Pepto Bismol.

Diarrhea . . . again!

Lately, Jerry had been having an increased amount of air (aka gas). I call it air because fortunately it is not smelling like the typical gas passed by Jerry. Yesterday, Jerry only worked until 11:30am and once he arrived home he was all geared up to work in the yard and around the house. Unfortunately, he started having diarrhea and it continued almost non-stop throughout the day and night and again throughout today. Jerry hasn't been able to eat and/or drink anything without it literally going in one end and out the other. I told Jerry tonight that we should probably go to the ER so that they can start him on an IV, get some blood tests and check for Clostridium difficile (C. diff). Since Jerry was taking Cipro (antibiotic) for Escherichia coli (E. coli) a few weeks ago he could have C. diff again. But, at this point, Jerry is not ready to take another trip to the ER.

Oncology Appointment - 03.05.09

Jerry had his monthly appointment today with Dr. Bob (Javadi is the physician we typically see). Jerry's CBC (complete blood count) showed that his platelet count was a low of 115. He received his premed's IV, Iron IV and a Procrit and Lupron shot. Our appointment in Century City (Los Angeles) was at 12pm and we left at around 4pm. His PSA today is 0.043 today which is lower than the past 2 appointments. Our next scheduled appointment is 04.01.09.

We've Got Talent

Crescent Elementary Students Present "We've Got Talent"
Talent Show Acts 12. Jake Poland - Siging, Play My Music (as Joe Jonas,The Jonas Brothers).

Jerry and Jake, before the performance.


Dawn (Jake's mom) and Jake waiting to "go on stage"

Jake and his Nana (Dad's mom, Liz), Carol (Great Grandpa's SO) and far left Grandma (Mom's mom Mary Ann)... not pictured is Jakes Adopted Grandparents Jerry and Karen also in attendance... and wouldn't have missed it !!!

Mike (Jake's dad) filming the Talent Show.

Jake giving Jerry his autograph after the performance!