Farm Update and Medical Update

  Look carefully and you can see the stock trailer leaving the driveway with our bull, 5 cows and 3 babies. We do miss them but we got a fair price and greatly reduced the workload. I have also sold the last 7 round bales of hay, both hay rings, the 3 point hitch bale spear and the cattle feeding trough. All through word of mouth or Craig's list. We sure enjoyed seeing the first 3 baby calves. That is the best part of owning cattle.
  Still to sell: the tractor, bush hog, lawn aerator, lawn thatcher and various fence posts.
  Here are a few more farm pictures.

  And here is Rita's beautiful Christmas cactus and a couple shots of Caleb:

  Here is the latest medical update:

    Yesterday was my first chemo treatment and it was uneventful. No side effects and all was well.

 

    Several things to be praying about. My original CT at Vanderbilt showed a nodule in my lower lung. Dr. Parikh referred to a pulmonologist who said it was nothing to be concerned about. I had another CT at St Thomas Rutherford 2 weeks ago which showed my entire lungs and a second nodule near the top was seen. Again, referred to a pulmonologist and he said they are too small to be biopsied; probably nothing to be concerned about but he will monitor it.

 

    I saw Dr. Gian, my oncologist, yesterday before the first chemo. I have been having terrible lower back pain. Hydrocodone didn’t help and had side effects. I was taking Tylenol and it helped but I couldn’t take it often enough to cover 24 hours. Dr. Gian took me off Tylenol (hard on the l liver) and put me on Ibuprofen 3X / day. It has virtually stopped all pain and last night was the best night I have had in weeks. He said the pain is likely from muscles still healing from my surgery.

 

    The biggest concern is that the blood test from 2 weeks ago saw a greatly elevated Ca19-9 level. This generally means a metastasis, but can also be still a reaction to my surgery, as the pancreas, liver, stomach, small intestines and ductwork were all cut into during surgery. The test will be run weekly to see if it is rising or falling. A sample was taken Wednesday. We are just trusting that it is not a metastasis.

 

    I felt better today than I have for a long time. My weight loss bottomed out at 90# and I have regained 6, so that is positive. I sold the 3 point hay spear today and was outside for 30-40 minutes loading that and visiting. I found that I didn’t have the strength to lift myself up onto my tractor seat! Going to have to pace myself. 

 

    Specific prayer requests:

            * That future tests show the CA19-9 coming down indicating no spread of cancer.

            *  Please pray for Carol, a blogging friend in Washington state. She has a vigorous return of cancer after 5 years from her original colon cancer Please pray for strength and for God's touch.

 

    Once again, thank you all for your prayers and all expressions of concern.

 

Love,

 

Ray