Felt great today going "clean" with the exception of the Decadron for the next while. Went on a long walk today and then a nice lunch with Chelsea and Tracy. Looking forward to more days of normal again.

Ric's Pic : Keb Mo - A Better Man

I am very proud of Ric, he has now finished the second phase of his treatment plan.  Today started out like all the other days.  We went to the Tom Baker for Ric's appointment this afternoon to find some of his co-workers Angie, Gail, Judy and Sheila there to celebrate his last day of this phase in Ric's journey.  We really appreciate all the support and kindness we have received throughout.  Thank you to all Ric's work family for all the support throughout this journey.   
Ric will now be off treatment for the month of October.  He will start to taper off the Decadron in a week.  He will continue with his antibiotics throughout the month of October, and will continue throughout the next phase of the treatment plan. 

Scheduled appointments this month include a meeting with the oncology team on the 21st, followed by a MRI on the 30th.  Will also have to get regular blood work done.

Ric's Pic:  Sly & The Family Stone - Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)

Well, tomorrow is the day I've been looking for. Last treatment, finally! Still feeling well and ready to get this over with. It will be great to begin the adjustment off of the treatments starting Thursday to see how the body will react.
Not much else to report at this time. Had a good day. Exercise and eating was all good. I'm continuing to read various items on benefits of diet and exercise for cancer fighting. Eat your fruits and vegetables kids!

Ric's Pic : Maceo Parker - Off The Hook

A little closer to the end with just two more radiation treatments remaining. They were doing maintenance on Unit 1 today, so I had to go to Unit 10 with a bit of a delay, but it went fine. Blood work done today as well.
I'll be remaining on the antibiotics for the month of October in between chemo treatments, so I had to pick up some more today.
Felt great today and went for a long walk with some exercise at home afterwards.



Ric's Pic : Ruthie Foster - Heal Yourself
 

Ric had a good weekend...we were kept busy with going to the market and taking the kids to Calaway Park one last time.  Ric was up for the adventure, so it was a good thing for all.  Ric went on a couple of kiddie rides with the girls...and discovered he had a bit of ear pressure.  Not sure if we will be able to do some air travel until a little later after radiation due to the pressure in the ears.  We will "play it by ear." 

Tomorrow Ric will be doing his blood work then treatment as usual.  So far all the blood values have been fine.  We have had some sick kids running around the house lately...Ric is good about extra handwashing, and has managed to avoid picking up those bugs so far. 

Ric's Pic:  Tower Of Power -What Is Hip?

So I was in the garage the other day doing something and happened upon something that gave me pause. This was something that I had done several years ago when still living in Ontario.... Appears that in around some time of being very organized with labelling, that I came across a couple of important discoveries. Not only did I come up with the "Meaning Of Life" but also the currently more personally useful, "Cure For Cancer". Somewhat mixed emotions here as I guess that I am smarter than I thought to be able to come up with such revelations to begin with, but dumb enough to forget these discoveries when the Cure For Cancer could have been explored further and perhaps used most recently....

Had another great day. Felt good with good energy levels throughout the day. Quickly approaching a nice sense of accomplishment to finish up "Week 6 of 6" on the chemo pills Sunday and now I only have 3 radiation treatments left next week to account for a few missed sessions due to holiday/ equipment maintenance. I do have 3 more days of chemo pills to take for those days to line it up together.
Starting to look forward to having the month of October off from treatments and chemo. This will be a nice break for the body and time to rest before starting up the chemo again.

Ric's Pic : Stevie Wonder - Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours

Ric is on the home stretch...Ric is feeling great...which is shocking, considering what is actually taking place, an "insult" to the brain!  Met with the nurse today and discussed tapering off of the meds after treatment is finished.  May take a couple weeks, but will be good to get off another medication as well.  Ric exercised today...didn't notice too much swelling in the knees.  He was really busy at home, as I was busy with taking the girls to school and appointments.  Ric may not be able to drive for a couple more months...will be determined after the second MRI...won't have the first MRI until the end of October.  All in all Ric is doing well and feeling well...which is important.

Ric's Pic:  The Neville Brothers-Fiya On The Bayou

Had the day off of radiation today due to maintenance of the equipment at the Tom Baker. Felt really good all day today with good energy levels and managed to get some things done around the house. Back to it tomorrow with 5 treatments left.

Ric's Pic : Poncho Sanchez - Hitch It To The Horse

The countdown has begun.  Ric has 5 more days of radiation therapy and chemo.  Then he will be off treatment for 1 month...in which we will then meet with the oncology team once again to discuss future steps.  At the end of October Ric will have another MRI.  As far as we know Ric will be on chemo (taken orally) for 12 months starting in November.  This is to be confirmed. 

Ric continues to amaze me!  He has a lot of energy for someone who is undergoing radiation and chemo.  I guess I expected to him to be laying around the house more...and ringing the bell...since he has 4 girls waiting to wait on him hand and foot, if needed.  Surprising he is not taking advantage of the situation...especially on NFL Sundays!!  I am confident Ric will continue to feel well throughout the next phase, on which we will embark in a months time.  We will just have to find a new balance. 

Ric's Pic:  Just To See Her...Smokey Robinson

Hi. Figured I would weigh in here and add my two cents today.

Having another great day. Started out with our regular routine here and went out for a good long walk this morning. It feels really good to keep active and get that heart rate elevated for a period of time. I didn't jog today due to the swelling issue in the knees as I don't want that to become a problem while on the meds. As it turned out, I did have some tightness after I returned, so it was a wise choice. Just got back from treatment a little while ago and had a bite to eat. Final days of radiation now. I have the rest of this week with the exception of having Wednesday off and then Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday of next week to finish up.  Almost there!

Other thoughts:
As I was walking today, I was exploring my relationship with music not just through this ordeal but throughout my life and the importance of music really hit me today. I'm always listening to something and certainly take the iPod with me whenever I exercise. The right kind of music at the right time can really take you places. You can either put on something to further yourself in the mood of where you are or put on something to take you to a place where you want to be. Certainly through my ordeal, I having been looking to supplement my frame of mind with good, positive vibes and music can certainly take you there.

Henceforth, I think I'll drop some musical nuggets here that I find solid recommendations for the interest of you readers. I figure, if you're here reading this............. I gotcha!  You may find this interesting and I'll feel that I am sharing a bit of where I'm at mentally. These tunes are giving me specific, positive energy and although will no doubt prove to be "all over the place", they will have a common thread somewhere as some of the best out there... in my opinion at least. OK, and I like playing DJ too! ha ha. I'll spare you all the "music trivia" games that I torment my lovely wife with on a regular basis..... You should be able to google some sort of sound bits on these or iTunes allows you to preview any songs that they have for a free 20 second bit. Kind of handy.
Thanks for reading and we enjoy any comments. Ric

Today's Ric's Pic : The O'Jays - I Love Music

We have had a busy couple of days...Ric is doing good.  Had a doctor's visit yesterday,  he said Ric is doing good.  His blood values continue to be good.  He does however, have swelling in the knee's.  Maybe from overdoing it with exercise...and not enough stretching.  Ric will just listen to his body and try to take more breaks if necessary.  Doctor also said the adjevent phase of  Ric's therapy (the chemo part) will likely be 1 year, starting in November.  Ric felt good picking up the "week 6 of 6" meds today.   Almost there.

Another day much like the last.  No headaches to report, for over a week now...that appears to be behind us.  Ric is noticing some stiffness in his knees however.  This is likely from the medication used for swelling (decadron).  It appears to come on after exercise.  He is trying to rest a bit more...I think this is hard for Ric, he really likes to help out around here, and be active.  I am encouraging him to sit with his legs elevated sometime throughout the day.  He is using some hot beans tonight to see if that helps somewhat.  Ric has a very interesting hairline these days...very patchy in the right and left temporal regions.  This does not bother Ric...we may shave it down a bit further.  Tomorrow is doctor day...we hope he will be on time.

Another good day for Ric.  Started out much like the others...Ric is starting to exercise more, either doing some jogging, or using the stair climber.  He is also doing some weights...I am very proud of him.  He continues to help out around the house.  He does need to slow down with all the help...or else I may expect him to go and build me something (ha!ha!ha!).

Ric is eager to start doing some work...he has started to log in to work.  I think this may be good for him...get his brain active again.  Not that it's not active already...you just use your brain differently when working (hopefully I dug myself out of that one!) 

The girls continue to enjoy having daddy home...especially Carly!  She gets some daddy time when I take Ashley to school, her and dad usually have a game of "go fish."  Lets face it they love their daddy beyond belief. 

Ric is enjoying some time with his buddy Mark tonight...they are watching the movie "The Hangover."

Back to the routine...Ric had another good day...as good as can get anyway.  He is becoming a pro at getting his blood work done.  He used to very timid of the needle once upon a time...needless to say, I think he may overcome his timidness.  Before Ric's radiation treatment today they took some x-ray's.  This is done from time to time...just to make sure everything is lining up correctly. 

Ric's appetite continues...which I am thankful for.  He just weighed himself today (which I am surprised that no one has done during Ric's treatments)  He is down 5 pounds, so altogether he has lost 20 pounds.  He lost about 15 pounds prior to and after surgery. We will try to keep his weight stable...I just don't think this is a good time to drop a ton of weight.

Ric is watching Monday night football with a friend tonight...Ric is in his glory that the NFL is back.  He was getting tired for choosing the loosing teams...wait just a minute...hopefully those RAIDERS won't suck as bad as last year!!!

Ric had a good day today.  No headaches!!  It appears that the headaches have now levelled out and we hope to not  have to worry about them anymore. We went for an excursion up at Bragg Creek today, checked out the Elbow Falls.  The girls had fun...would be a nice place to visit again, very calming.  The town wasn't too busy.  It's nice to get out and about a bit.

Ric is really losing his hair now...just at the target sites though.  The back of his head is still there. He thinks it looks pretty weird but kind of funny also.  I expect Ric to continue to feel good for the rest of the weekend.  We will be back to the "routine" on Monday.

Ric just picked up week 5 of his chemo meds.  This is a good feeling!  He continues to feel well, and mostly headache free.  Some times he is going on about business at home here, and you forget what he is actually going through.  Ric is doing awesome...and we are very proud of him!!  He still continues to exercise and sometimes does a light jog as well as some weight lifting.

He continues to surprise me...I am really enjoying having the extra helping hand...no I am not getting sick of him yet...although I know part of him is itching to get back to work.  I do know he is ready to handle some tasks of the working world...but not yet to the degree from before all this went down.  He could handle some "work from home"  type stuff...this would give Ric the "sense of accomplishment" he received from work.

Ric's appetite appears to back up to speed...I don't see a real loss of appetite any longer.  I hope this will continue...as well as the pain free days.  We continue to be hopeful.

Today was by far one of the best days Ric has had since he started his radiation therapy.  He had a slight headache this morning...then for the rest of the day he felt really good.  We don't want to jinx anything here, and we are hopeful the meds are working.  Hopefully he will continue to feel as good as he felt today for the rest of his treatments.  Ric spoke with the Doctor briefly...he was running late, but got wind that Ric was going to leave, so he came out to the waiting area to meet with Ric briefly and touch base.  We were very happy that he did this for Ric...although Ric is doing good, and did not really need to meet with him...only for a renewal for some meds.  Still a very nice gesture.

Ric is actually enjoying some meals...more so than usual.  I am very pleased with this...as Ric needs all the energy to kick cancer in the butt.  I am hopeful  that we can report such good news for the days to follow.

Today was a good day for Ric.  He had a mild headache this morning...however, the rest of the day was great, without any headaches.  We are hopeful that the Decadron is working.  Ric felt the best today than any other day so far...that is terrific...we are hopeful that this will continue. 

We saw the surgeon today as a routine follow-up to the procedure, and had a good meeting.  Everything is fine.  He told Ric where the rivets are located in his noggin.  So that was interesting.  We were also wondering what the procedure would be to go through airport customs with regards to metal detectors.  Doc just explained  to point at the scar and say "DUH"...ha ha we'll go with that. 

Ric wasn't overly fatigued today...partially due to the lack of headache...which is a good thing.  I can't imagine how much energy that would take out of a person, suffering from headaches for a good portion of the day, as well as fatigue from radiation.

It was a good day today...we are hopeful that it will continue.

We have now reached the half way point!  I am very proud of Ric...he is doing very well.  He is still exercising, and doing odd jobs around the house.  Today he tackled a project I created to make all our lives run more smoothly.  Just some more organizational stuff for the kids school gear.  Ric increased his decadron(or dexamethasone) to the full dose today.  We will know in a couple of days if this helped his headaches, and managed some of the swelling.  We are hopeful, as this same medication did help alleviate headaches and swelling after surgery. 

I was able to accompany Ric today to his radiation treatments, for the first time, as the kids are now in school.  This will be our new routine, with the exception of Ed driving Ric on Fridays...Thanx again Ed!  We talked to the nurse today.  Ric had some questions and she was very helpful in answering all the questions.  This was a very interesting experience for me...we even had a little lady come around to offer tea and cookies.  I should have taken her up on the offer and put my feet up for a while!  Ric also had his weekly blood work done today.  They were extremely busy...not sure if this was due to the long weekend. 

Ric had a couple of headaches today...for which he did take Tylenol.  Again, hopefully the decadron will help and he will not have to take any more Tylenol. 

Due to Ric's continuing hair loss in patches we decided to take it all down today.  I decided to shave Ric on the back deck, and burnt my suppper in the process!    I think it looks okay...if I do say so myself...still waiting for payment!

The girls continue to take care of daddy, making cards and bringing daddy treats and snacks.  He is really loved!!

Another pretty good day today although the low-level headaches are persisting. I had to take some Tylenol a couple of times today just to be comfortable, but it appears that I will be increasing the Decadron to the full dose (1 tablet) tomorrow as recommended by the doctor/ nurse to control the swelling around the radiation site. The terminology that they use is, "the treatment site is insulted by the radiation".... kind of peculiar, but strangely fitting.
Other than that, we went out for a bit and my energy level was OK. Got a few things done around the house as well. If we can just get these headaches under control, it should help a lot.
Yesterday, we went out for some bowling with the kids and had some fun doing that. Ashley was the big winner for the day!
Back to the routine tomorrow and with the kids all in school, Tracy will be able to accompany me to treatment for the first time... Mucho excito!
Peace out. Ric

Ric had a pretty good day today.  He took Tylenol twice today for some headaches that seemed to hang in there.  He is now taking a new medication...which should help relieve pain due to the swelling.  He is on a very low dose, so maybe by tomorrow or Monday he will notice the difference.  Ric had an old band buddie over this afternoon, Kris was in town doing some gigs...Ric really wanted to go see him play.  Maybe next time.  It was good seeing you this afternoon Kris!  Ric's energy level is moderate today...he did manage to get out for a short walk this afternoon.  Ric's appetite at dinner was light.  He is getting used to eating smaller meals more often.  We think this helps with overall managing of his appetite and taking his meds.

Week 3 is now complete.  I am very proud of Ric...he is doing very well.  He is still continuing to exercise everyday, however, he does tire more easily.  Ric did have a few headaches today.. which he took Tylenol for.  He is now taking a new medication (decadron, or dexamethasone) for the swelling, and this will relieve some of his headaches.  He did take this medication in the hospital and after his surgery.  It is also used to prevent seizures.  We just noticed today that Ric has just started to lose some hair around the site that they are doing the radiation.  Not sure if he will lose all, only time will tell.  Ric had a fairly good appetite today.  I made him his favourite soup...and he did enjoy that.  Anyone care to venture a guess what Ric's favourite soup may be?  As it is the long weekend...Ric is off treatment on Monday next week, will resume on Tuesday.   

Ric did not have radiation therapy today.  He does still however, take his chemo, and other meds.  He is still getting little headaches throughout the day.  He does manage to cope with his headaches for the most part...as they only last about but 10 minutes or so.  When they do last longer, he is taking his Tylenol, and that seems to help.  Ric's appetite is still not all that great in the evening...maybe it is just my cooking!  I do know what he feels like though...I did have nausea when I was pregnant with all three girls,  not fun.  He is having trouble opening the fridge...with all the smells and all the food.  Even opening the pantry door gets him going, sometimes.  He is going to have to figure out how to cope though...this is just the tip of the iceberg.  When he is in the adjavent stage...he will be on chemo for about 6 months.  We were very busy in our little house today.  The girls started back to school.  We did discover that Ric seemed to get a few headaches from the tension, or little stresses throughout the day.  Perhaps that irritates the swelling in the brain, caused by the radiation.  Something to keep an eye on.