Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks!

Well here goes nothing - I figure with all the things happening in our lives right now it would be a perfect time to start a blog to help family keep in touch.

After a year of ups and downs like this last one here's a little recap.

JANUARY 2008 - The start of a new year, blissfully unaware of the things to come. I've had this stupid cough going on for 5 months now. I guess it is going on a little long for just being allergies. The doctor says "It's probably just "Adult Onset Asthma", but just to be safe, go get a chest x-ray." David is an official teenager this year, he turns 13 this month!

FEBRUARY 2008 - Niels comes home from his mission in Northern California. How can 2 years go by so fast. Jeb turns 19 this month and Owen turns 17. Still coughing, and the inhaler the doctor prescribed isn't doing anything for me. At the insistence of friends and family, I guess I'll go get that x-ray the doctor recommended. Surprise, it's cancer. There is a tumor a little over 5cm by 6 cm in the middle of my chest. It is wrapped around my trachea (thus all the coughing), and arteries.

And so it begins - Doctors appointments, tests and more tests.

MARCH 2008 - Well the needle biopsy they did isn't definitive, so the doctor is going to deflate my right lung and using a scope, go in and take a sample of the growth. I wake up in Surgical ICU, they couldn't deflate my lung, so it was on to a complete thoracotomy. After several days of being on pins and needles, the doctor comes into my room to tell me, "If you're going to have cancer, this is the one to have. You have Hodgkin's Lymphoma"

APRIL 2008 - Chemo starts, this is the start of a long journey, every other week for the next six months - Here Goes Nothing!!

MAY 2008 - There goes my hair! I had no idea how much I look like my Dad until I went bald! Flood graduates from college!!!!!! I am so proud of him, unfortunately I am too weak to go to the graduation ceremony, so after all his hard work, he isn't going to walk and get his diploma, we just have it sent to the house. Niels turns 22 years old this month, and I felt like crap on his birthday. He told me "I bet you don't feel better today than you did 22 years ago this time". He was so right. I had some pictures taken to remember how bad I look bald this month. Won't do that again!!

JUNE 2008 - I get the results from my first PET Scan, and the results are great. There has been "significant" shrinkage in the tumor. Finally, something else to think about besides my cancer, Niels and Laura announce they are engaged!! Life is good.

JULY 2008 - We have another great 4th of July, everything is the same old same old. The chemo treatments continue.

AUGUST 2008 - It's been getting harder and harder to catch my breath! I can't even walk from the living room to the bathroom without having a coughing fit, and spending the next few minutes trying to catch my breath. They can't get me into a lung specialist, so they check me into the hospital. My lungs are shrinking and getting scarred. One of the cancer drugs I'm on is having a bad reaction, and they have to take me off one of the 4 cancer drugs I'm on. After a week in the hospital and a good scare, they put me on a high dose of steroids, and my lungs start working again. That was a close call, and quite a scare, but once again we have been blessed by the Lord and by the prayers of friends and loved ones.

SEPTEMBER 2008 - I don't know which I am happier about: the kids are back in school, or the fact that I am done with Chemo!!! As with everything else this year, when we have good news, it is followed by news to keep us humble. I am done with chemo, but because I have been on such high doses of steroids to keep my lungs functioning, it has brought on Steroid Induced Diabetes. If you don't laugh, you'll cry!

OCTOBER 2008 - We are blessed yet again. After being off the steroids for a couple weeks, and being on diabetes medication, my blood sugar levels are finally getting closer to normal, and I can have my final PET Scan to find out how all the chemo treatments did. I AM IN REMISSION!!! I have to go back to get tested once every three months for the next 2 years, but life is great. Now that I have been off the steroids, I am no longer diabetic. The lungs are still improving, it may take a year to get my complete lung function back, but I am feeling great. We get to take a beeline trip out to AZ to have Laura meet the Porter side of the family. It is sssssoooooooooo good to see everyone again!

NOVEMBER 2008 - Well that catches you up on our year! So far in November we got great news from my mom, her surgery went well, and they got all her cancer! FLOOD TURNS 50!!! I don't know how I can be married to such an old man!

Now that you are up to date with our family hopefully the rest of my entries won't be so long or so boring. Great news to follow: The wedding, complete with pictures. Our trip out to AZ, etc.