Rich back in hospital...

Got a phone call from my poor Mom earlier this afternoon and Rich is back in the hospital. It started early this morning and he couldn't breathe again. I guess his ankles were really swollen, not good. Hard to hear my Mom so scared, wish there was something I could do. Hoping for the best, hoping they can finally figure out what in the hell is going on.

Hard to muster up any good cheer for St. Paddy's, no big deal. It'll be here next year...

Back to somewhat normal

Well, good news for now, Rich is out of the hospital and seems to have a game plan with his doctors. He and they think it's a problem with his pacemaker so hopefully Medtronics can get it right.

As for me, I've just been enjoying life down here in Soflo while continuing to work on my place. I've had a couple of visitors from up north which was fun. Had a chance to drive up to Lakeland again with my buddy Todd to see the Tigers at Joker Marchant Stadium. It was fun but a pretty long day with an almost 4 hour drive each way! It was pretty crazy coming back, had the top down rolling along when all of the sudden we drove into a massive rainstorm (while the top was still down!). It was pretty weird as the rain really didn't hit us until we slowed down or stopped. If I was a physics major I'd probably be able to explain why the rain didn't hit us while moving or you can google it if you'd like but have to say it's pretty neat driving through the pouring rain in open air and not getting wet ;) The next scene was pretty scary though... The rain had stopped and having a chance to get a grip on practicality, I decided to pull over and put the top up. After getting back on the road and driving around 65, I looked in my rear view mirror and saw a blackish looking cloud behind me and what looked like a funnel cloud coming down from the sky. It wasn't completely connected with the ground but was swirling around. At first, it didn't register as I think I was still recovering from the driving through the heavy downpour incident. About 5 seconds went by and I looked back again and this time yelled over to my buddy and he saw the same thing I did. By now, the reality had set in and I started to freak out having visions of this tornado coming up on us and ripping us right out of the car! I mean, those things travel over 100 miles an hour right?! I asked Todd what we should do and his response was "find a ditch", I nervously proceeded to laugh my ass off... Luckily, the GPS told me to make a turn and when I did, looked in my rear view mirror and the storm was now going the other way and it was clear behind us, whew...

After taking the next day to recover, had a chance to see my good friend Bekah and her crew, Katie, Melissa and Karen who are all sweethearts. We went out on Atlantic for dinner and some drinks/live music after and it was pretty neat as there was a cycling race happening on Atlantic Ave. They closed off the street and made a loop, maybe a mile not sure but those bikes were whizzing by at some pretty high speeds. They were bunched up pretty tight too so when they rode by, you would feel the breeze so to speak... I didn't see it but there was a crash where some guy got jacked up pretty bad, I don't know how I missed that. Anyway, it was a fun night and glad to see my fellow Hodge warrior Bekah :)

So, I guess the annual Delray Beach St. Paddys parade is happening tomorrow. Gonna be a zillion people packed in, but it's a blast and you have to see a parade on St. Paddys right?! I missed the parade last week in Detroit in Corktown but judging by all the pictures on Facebook and knowing it was a nice day, I wish I could've been there, it's been a while since I've been to the parade on Michigan Ave.

So, that's about all I have time to write about for now. Going back to refinishing my cabinets. Bought this kit made by Rust Oleum called Cabinet Transformations and so far, it looks pretty good. I already used the countertop kit which turned out ok and if this works, I'll have a new kitchen for around $350, not bad.

I have my PET/CT coming up on April 5th. If all goes well, it'll be my one year aniversary on RAD001 or Everolimus. Feeling pretty well still, taking it 4-5 hours at a time mostly. I've figured that this is the amount of productive time I can have before getting tired and having to lay down or relax. Think I'll put off the cabinets for a bit and go out by the pool and do just that, it's such a beautiful day :)

Happy St. Paddy's!

Chris

More prayers Requested

Rich is in the hospital again just found out. It was 5 am and he couldn't breathe again. Tracy his daughter took him in to troy Beaumont where hopefully a different doctor may be able to figure out what is wrong. If anybody knows a great heart specialist in the Detroit area, we would greatly appreciate any referrals. This is getting really scary, keeps getting worse. I dont think his heart is doing much, its mainly the pacemaker working rt now, ugh. My poor mom too, as if she doesn't have enough already to worry about. She's having the cumulative toxicity effect from her chemo now, remember it well. Once it builds up in your body, it really wears you down and makes it even hard to think (chemo brain).

Thanks for thinking of us,

Chris

Stolat Mom!

I just quickly wanted to wish my Mother Cindy a late happy birthday! I wanted to add a pic but my computer is down, sorry Mom! Anyway, I just wanted to say how important you are to me. You are my number one advocate and feel so lucky that you're my Mom :)

Your light shines brightly, you are loved by so many... You always put everyone else's needs before your own, especially Nicole Rich and myself. Your have the biggest heart that I know.

I love and appreciate you very much...

Wish I could've done a better job of this but its not easy posting on this phone, doh!

Your favorite son ;) Chris

Good Update

Well, Rich is out of the hospital and back home, things are back to "normal" if there is such a thing, haha...

As for myself, I just wanted to say for the first time since I've been going down the C road, I can honestly say that it's gone or is taking a long break. For the first time in what seems like an eternity, I feel like a normal person (relatively speaking) again. Yes, I still do have issues like a messed up back and chronic fatigue but I've somehow found a way to weave these things into a normal life. There is a caveat to the above statement however but to me it's irrelevant. I might very well have small active disease in me (scans next week, will find out for sure) but even if I do, it really doesn't matter. What matters is that I'm once again looking ahead (in a healthy way, still living in the moment of course) and making plans for myself. I think I'm going to finally get my real estate license down here in Florida and Michigan as well. Since I've been in sales my entire professional career I thought real estate would be perfect as I'd work for myself and could ease into it as conditions dictate. I think it's going to be a fun new endeavor and a good way to dip in and out of being a professional and also a cancer survivor. I've mostly remodeled two houses now and as I'm finishing up, think it's time for me to once again pursue a somewhat normal career. We'll see what happens...

So, tomorrow I'm going down to Miami to see one of my all time favorite bands, Radiohead! I've been really fortunate to see some great shows this winter down here like My Morning Jacket and G Love and Special Sauce and looking forward to seeing the Black Keys in Detroit next week. Last week, I was invited to see Electric Light Orchestra at the Seminole Casino in Coconut Creek. I remember their music as a kid hanging hanging out at my Auntie Vi and Uncle Felix's place during the holidays. We'd be up in my Godfather Pat's room (I think, long time ago) and remember them playing ELO albums and everyone would be dancing, what a trip...! When I heard the band playing some of those songs, it was pretty cool and surreal. I have to say, they sounded really good for a bunch of old farts, haha.

Looking forward to a great night tomorrow and a continued fun winter down here in Sofla!

Cheers,

Chris

Prayers and Good Vibes Requested

My stepfather Rich had to be taken to the emergency room again within the last hour. He's having trouble breathing again and was just in the hospital for the same thing a couple weeks ago. This is getting pretty scary and my Mom is really upset.

He just can't seem to get better... They put a another lead on his pacemaker hoping he'd have more energy but it seems as if things have only gotten worse. His lung keeps filling up with fluid, ugh...

I hope they can figure out what is wrong and he can get back to feeling better because it's been a while.

For my family who reads this, I'll make sure to try and update as the news becomes available.

Thanks,

Chris

Smooth Sailing :)

Hork and me at Binks Forest in Wellington FL

Just wanted to quickly check in as realized it's been a while. I'm still feeling pretty well, so well that I just finished playing golf three days in a row with a buddy who came down to visit from New York. It's amazing how much better I feel this year compared to last and I'm so grateful. My back is getting stronger and stronger as well as the rest of my body. I'm still gaining weight which is great. Things quite frankly haven't been this good physically in a long time :)

I'm sad to say a fellow Hodgkins Warrior and legendary blogger Hillary St. Pierre sadly passed away I've just learned. She was very influential not only as an advocate for Hodgkins but for the problems we still have with our Health Care in this country. To highlight her impact, Hillary had 5000 hits on her blog when she passed. I'll miss her passion and fight not to mention her entertaining and enlightening posts. My sympathies for her husband and son... please feel free to check out her blog link below "Baldies Blog". Hillary will definitely be missed.

I also wanted to give a shout of support for my friend Marsha who is again struggling with her fight. Unfortunately, this is another sad insurance story. Because Marsha has been so tired and overwhelmed by her treatment, she missed a deadline turning in paperwork to her disability carrier and they canceled her insurance. Believe me, when you are feeling like crap, the last thing you want to deal with is insurance issues or administrative issues period. Why should a sick person have to deal with paperwork, phone calls, follow ups (because God knows you don't always hear back from people promptly when you leave a message). My Mom has just recently dealt with this when she first started. It makes you think that there has to be a better way we as a society care for sick people. The everyman for himself/herself shouldn't have to apply here, in other words, I just have serious issues with capitalism being combined with medicine. There has to be some kind of hybrid system where sick people aren't falling through the cracks. We aren't animals, we're humans. We should be taking care of each other. We're the greatest nation on earth, we should be able to figure out how to do this... So Marsha, I hope that you get word soon whether they'll pay for your Revlmid.

Stepping down from my soapbox, I wanted to share a creepy story, or a story about a creepy critter. Last night after getting in from grabbing some food after golf, my buddy went to put his clubs in his travel bag and as he looked down, the biggest ugliest spider I've ever seen decides to pop out of his bag. The look on his face was blank mixed with sheer terror. Because I was a little nervous myself, I do what I sometimes do in situations like that and started to laugh hysterically! Thinking on my feet however I just told him to drag the bag outside (the spider was still attached) and eventually the thing will just walk away. So, he drags the bag outside and it slips out of his hand and the spider, like a small dog jumps from the bag to the ground and bolts off over to my old oven fan. I had to get a picture of this thing, it was the biggest spider I've ever seen! Turns out it was a banana spider and apparently they're harmless. Lots of creepy critters down here in sunny Florida ;)


How would you feel knowing this guy was sleeping in your house!

Thanks again for reading and keeping up with me. I had been wanting to do a post regarding starting over and think I'll talk about that next time. Think it's time for me to take some steps to hit the reset button so to speak. Look forward to talking about that...

BTW, I almost forgot to say how good it was to see my cousin Ken when he stopped by a couple of weeks ago (I guess time has really flown...). Him and his dog Nathan made a pit stop down here on their way down to Key West for the Month. Hoping you guys are having a blast down there!

Ok, time to rest this sore body and get some sleep.

Chris