Statistics

We went to breakfast and then came home and watched funny DVDs all day. Then I spent more time researching and came up with the following that I really like:

How reliable statistics are
No statistics can tell you what will happen to you. Your cancer is unique - for example, the same type of cancer can grow at different rates in different people. The statistics are not detailed enough to tell you about the different treatments people may have had. And how that treatment may have affected their prognosis. Many individual factors will determine your treatment and prognosis.

Remember - statistics are always slightly out of date. As with all statistics, do remember that it takes quite a long time to bring them all together. So they don’t always reflect newer developments in treatment. Specialists now use treatments such as chemotherapy and bisphosphonate treatment for advanced prostate cancer. Most statistics are unlikely to take these new treatments into account. Our specialists tell us that the outlook is improving all the time.

An active and tiring day

We are both exhausted!  We went to the open house for the new veterinarian this morning and were able to pass out flyers for Pet Project's spay/neuter program.

Then lunch.

Then over to the Share Center where we spent the afternoon distributing cat and dog food to people who are on hard times.  It was sunny, cool and very windy so we were outside on a beautiful day.  I think we distributed about 400 pounds of pet food today.

Then we stopped at a martial arts place in town that works with Wounded Warriors.  We wanted to see if they taught tai chi because I've read that tai chi would be very good for Marshall's bone strength and balance.  It turns out they don't teach tai chi but they offered him a stretching program which we may sign up for once the oncologist tells us what type of exercise he recommends.

By the time we got home Marshall was having some back pain and some rib pain in the areas where the cancer is but he said it didn't feel like bone pain, just more like twinges.  So he probably just needs to rest.

Now we are just being couch potatoes for the rest of the evening.

Animal rescue volunteer work

For the past two months, we have been unable to keep up with our volunteer work with Pet Project, but Marshall has been feeling pretty good, so tomorrow we are going to resume our pet food distribution to people who are having trouble feeding their pets.  We do this on the last Friday of each month. 

And we are also going to attend the Open House of a new veterinarian who just moved to Westcliffe and we will hand out flyers for our low cost spay/neuter vouchers.  Marshall has been getting a little nervous about his upcoming visit to the oncologist on Monday so tomorrow should keep him busy enough so that his mind won't wander too much.

We also did a little advance planning (yay, advance planning is a good thing) and made reservations to spend the 2012 Christmas holiday at Gaston's Resort in Lakeview, Arkansas, on the White River.  We've done this for 5 or 6 years and we always have a great time.  My family joins us and the menfolk go out and fish and then they cook a delicious fish dinner on Christmas Eve.  The weather has always been mild and we have such a good time.  Here are some photos:


Ed fishing near the steps to our cottage's deck



Ed with a small part of his "catch" -- and part of our dinner



Marshall and Ed coming back from fishing



Liz and Tricia

(1) Patient Advocate for the VA; (2) Greenhouse

We are starting to get our first bills for the emergency room and hospital stay, and we see that instead of the bills being covered by the VA, like they were supposed to, the hospital billed Medicare.  When we were on our way to the emergency room back on March 14, Marshall had called the VA and they agreed to cover all costs.  We reminded every provider along the line (emergency room, hospital, etc.) but still, the bill went to Medicare.  So we went to Pueblo today and Marshall visited with the VA's patient advocate.  She is going to do her best to get this straightened out.  It really doesn't matter as far as what we will end up paying, but it's the principle of the thing.

While we were in Pueblo, we stopped and bought a few tomato plants and when we got home, we planted them in our greenhouse.  We got the greenhouse last year and we couldn't keep anything alive in there last year -- the temperature gets up to 160 degrees.  So, as you can see from the photo, we got creative and took sections of a doggie enclosure and made sort of a "screen door" out of them so that there is more air flow.  We also now have a thermometer in the greenhouse that we can monitor from the house.  So if we open the doors in the morning and close them at night, we are hoping we can control the temp -- there is also a pane in the ceiling that opens automatically based on the temp.

In case you are wondering, we haven't installed any electric fans or thermostats because we use solar power and need to be careful with our power usage.  And we can't simply open the doors without a "screen door" because the deer would gather there for dinner every day.  We learned that with our roses.

We are going to need to really watch what we eat.  According to the oncologist, Marshall's diet will be more important than even exercise.  And the more produce we can grow ourselves, the healthier it will be.  And my hours and hours of research tell me that tomatoes are a wonderful food for the prostate.  So we are starting with tomatoes.

PS:  Marshall wants me to mention that the Beauty Contest he was in for the Viking Lodge was for charity!

Viking Lodge - Tinley Park, Illinois

We have been hearing from our old Lodge buddies in Tinley Park, Illinois, and they are reminding us of the fun we had over the years at that lodge.  We may have lost a few brain cells in the process, but boy, it was fun.  Belly laughs galore.

Pictures speak louder than words -- see if you can find Marshall in these photos!


Luau



Western Night



Beauty Contest

A lovely Sunday

We went to breakfast this morning with some neighbors. A new restaurant opened in town called Maverick's and so far we are really liking it. They are experimenting with serving breakfast to see if they get enough business to make it worthwhile and we sure hope it works out. The choices down here are slim.

When we got home Marshall did some more Internet searching for a motorcycle (trike) and found a Harley that sounded good. He called the owner, who lives near Denver in Westminster, and the owner is waiting on one other person to come and look at the bike. They are coming from Utah so it will be a few weeks. He will call us if they don't buy it.

We also did more planning with our greenhouse and will probably get some tomato plants this week and see if we can actually grow something in that greenhouse. We have a LOT to learn about managing the temperature! Marshall felt good today ... except for the ever-present fatigue ...but the fatigue is better than pain.

Small meltdown today... :)

Marshall woke up with back pain this morning and a bit of incontinence ... put us into a small meltdown.  But we realized that occasional incontinence is a side effect of the hormone shots and back pain is something that he's been plagued with for years.

So we tried to calm down, took a nice walk and felt much better!

PS:  Another side effect reared its head today -- hot flashes!!  (I have a hard time being sympathetic towards that one....)