Roger passed away at 6:40 am on August 30th, 2007.

He was loved by many and will be greatly missed.

We love you Dad.

Paul, Jenny and Rose

No creativity found ...

I am posting this only under duress...I haven't been able to find the creative juice since the last post so here is some uncreative cancer status.

I started chemo yesterday. It took form 8:30 in the morning until 7:00 in the evening. Of course that included blood test and doctor exam and a lot of waiting. The chemo is a combo of Carboplatin and Paclitaxel. The Placlitaxel comes first and has some major side effects in about 20% of patients and I hit the lottery. After the first few minutes my chest felt like an elephant was sitting on it and my lower back felt like an ice pick was being stabbed in with every heart beat. The nurses were right on it and had all that under control with IV Benedril and a steroid. After that everything went fine and after three hours the Paclitraxel was finished and they started the Carboplatin. With all this we got home just in time for American Idol ... well we missed the first babe..... I take some meds to control nausea and other stuff so I feel pretty much the same. Rose says that I look really red which I guess is the process of loosing my hair. That's really the worst part .... being bald!!! ;-) I got the study drug which I take every day between the chemo treatments. I don't know if it's a placebo or the real thing.

Things are starting to look like spring here on the farm .. already had 3 new baby cows and someone has purchased new fruit trees for spring planting. It's time to move Jim-bo back to the bachelor field (poor guy).

Home again

I've been home for a little over a week after 7 days of IL-2 treatment. I had a little more trouble shaking off this round (six doses vs four the first time). I've gotten rid of a lot of fluid and am beginning to feel better. I go back later this month for some scans to see if the IL-2 is working and if it is, will do two more rounds in about 3 months.

Jenny and Lou are visiting on their way back home from Disney World (honeymoon). Jazz, Jenny's faithful dog, stayed with us while they were in Florida. She did really well. The AmeriGas guys are coming out today to install some gas logs so we have lots of activity right now.

I think it's time for some pictures and some content other than cancer so I've decided to let the creative juices flow for the next post

Well here I am in the hospital (since Wednesday) I've gotten 4 IL-2 treatments and another to come in a few minutes. Will probably stey here until next thursday. I seel to be tolerating the treatments better wirh the protocol. (Although there black letters do look green ;-). So he plan is to get seven or eight IL-2 doses....we'll see. I feel pretty good except for 2.5 hours after the treatment, get the shivers. Then I sleep for about 4-6 hours because of the Demerol.

Well there is the latest from here.

Roger

Jim-bo (pictures censored) & Annie

Well Jim-bo got a Christmas present. He was placed with his girls a week early. He is one happy camper! The cows have eaten down all of the hay fields on this side of the farm and so have been moved to the last of the hay fields. We typically begin feeding hay in the middle of January so we are right on track.

Bill is still busy taking care of his beautiful wife Annie. Her operation went well and she is getting around OK. But I have not seen her on the tractor over the past few weeks! Don and family are doing well with Don in dialysis 3 times a week it is truly a labor of love. Mike and Jan have had family in for the holidays. I met Jan's son Chad and he is OK...knows all the old bluegrass guys. And Santa brought Mike a new HDTV. Peggy and Ray are still volunteering and spending a lot of non-farm time with family. Too bad about Peggy's "skins" this year ... go Ravens!!!!! Smith and Theresa got a new roof for Christmas. And of course the Higgins family is very busy with kids activities while Darcy is overloaded with work at work. Dorothy and Peggy and the boys have become a real part of the farm family ... it's nice to have health care workers right here to bug me :-) And the holiday entrance decorations are GREAT! The dogs still meet daily in the orchard for their daily romp. The garden has been put to sleep for the winter and we all are expecting great things from Irene (she actually knows what she is doing).

So things are looking good for the Farmcolony community for the coming year.

Christmas and Anniversary

After five days in the hospital I came home just in time for our 40Th anniversary on Saturday. We had a quiet day with my brother and his wife. Christmas came this morning and everyone did well. Santa is a good guy!

I go back for the second round of IL-2 on January 3.

The first round: I only could tolerate 4 doses because of my blood pressure dropping so low. I did not really have many of the dreaded side effects but did gain 30 pounds of fluid and have a rash on my head and face. The shivers started exactly two hours after the dose was administered but the nurses were quick with the Demerol which stopped that problem quickly. The biggest problem was sleeping on my back so the blood pressure cuff would work.

The doc plans on a little different protocol on Jan 3 that may allow more doses.

What's Happen'

Well, I went back to the doc yesterday and I am really healthy based upon all the tests that they have done. So looks like I start the Interlukin-2 on Monday. This stuff is so toxic that they will keep me in the hospital infusing it every 8 hours until I can no longer tolerate it. I then come home for a week (40 th anniversary and Christmas) and go back to doc on 3 January for evaluation and then back in hospital for another round of the same. I then wait 3 months for another PET scan and if the tumors are unchanged or smaller I do the above dance again. I am really looking forward to getting this done and moving on! So I guess I can't wait until the last minute to do my holiday shopping this year ;-)