Good Days, Bad Days...

Well, yesterday was a pretty good day. We started with church, then lunch with my parents. Then, for dinner, I smoked a pork butt and we had our nephew, Michael Cooper, and wife, Megan, and their three kids over for pulled pork sandwiches. The three kids are 3 years, 2 years, and five months. Wow! What a handfull. But it was great to see Angelique playing with them.

Lately, Angelique has one good day, followed by a day like today, when she slept virtually all day in quite a bit of pain.

Hopefully tomorrow she'll feel better.

Wyoming Update

Danielle calls to report that Glenrock, Wyoming has 1 store, 1 laundromat, and 7 bars. Sounds like fun, no? Stay tuned...

New Beginning

Well, we just heard from Danielle (20-year-old stepdaughter) and Spencer (boyfriend). They have arrived in Glenrock, Wyoming. Spencer works for the construction company that built the new peaker plant for the LCRA here near Winchester, Texas (TIC, inc). His dad is a suit for the company, but when the project here was completed, Spencer was laid off. He decided to draw unemployment, and I suppose that was close to ending, so he got on with the company's next construction project, which is in Glenrock, Wyoming. Wow!

Danielle has never before lived far from home, so this is quite an anxious time for all of us. They will be setting up housekeeping in Spencer's 5th-wheel travel trailer. Thank goodness there are other TIC personnel there to help them get set up. I'm certain Danielle will stay in close contact with her mom and update us as to their progress. Stay tuned...

Cancer Update

In July 2006, my wife, Angelique was diagnosed with cervical cancer. After a radical hysterectomy and several rounds of radiation & chemo, it has metastasized to her lungs and recurred, or returned, to her pelvic region. Both instances are inoperable. The pelvic tumor is affecting her bladder & colon function. It would be possible to remove the tumor, but bladder, colon, and basically everything south of the belly button would have to come out too. She'd be a month in the hospital, might not survive surgery, and still have nodules in her lungs. The nodules in the lungs are not operable either. It would be like trying to remove the seeds from a watermelon, while keeping the watermelon intact. It cannot be done.

The tumor's recurrence was discovered in February of this year. Since then she has been on a 3-week protocol of a drug called Taxol. For one day every three weeks she gets an infusion. The Taxol zaps 90% of her energy. The early part of the day is better than later in the day. Also, she has lost all her hair. Although she can't understand how she can still have all that hair in her nose!!

The tumor is the cause of a great deal of pain too. She stays on Morphine 24/7, has a souped-up vicodin, called Norco, for breakthrough pain, and a liquid Morphine for episodes of extraordinary pain. Believe me, too often it takes all three medications to get her comfortable.

The last CT scan, May 1, showed the nodules in the lungs remaining stable (good news); the pelvic-area tumor grew slightly (bad news), and the kidneys both look ok (good news). So, on balance, that's two "goods" vs one "bad"--"good" wins! Yay!! She will remain on the Taxol regimen for the foreseeable future. Her next infusion is Friday, May 29, at South Austin Cancer Center. It takes about four hours. They usually give her Benedryl, so she sleeps most of the day.