In between the plans and funeral for Ken I had a few doctor's appointments. On Wednesday, I met with my ophthalmologist and had another injection in my eye to try and clear the blood from it. I am scheduled to return to her in September to see if the hemorrhage can be seen well enough to be lasered closed. In the meantime, I wear the eye patch to help balance out the light and relieve the stress on my other eye.
I met with my surgeon who did the TACE procedure in July. Due to the harsh recovery I had with it, he wants to hold off on attempting to do the procedure on my right liver lobe and the two tumors there. I have another set of blood work ups this coming week and a CT scan set for Thursday. If they look good then I will restart the immunotherapy on Wednesday, September 6th. Once the surgeon reviews the CT scan results, he will decide on when to do the second TACE procedure.
I continue to struggle with balancing blood sugars primarily with being on the steroids. Hopefully as I can taper completely off them then the blood sugar controls will be able to be more helpful. I had to go to Urgent Care last week in Las Vegas because of abdominal and back pains. The doctor did not find any indication of infection. However, he did find extremely high levels of sugar in my urine,. He said it looked like I was urinating maple syrup. He said patients with these high levels in their urine often have abdominal and back pain. Drink plenty of fluids and get lots of rest. He said he suspected it would clear up once I got off the steroids. Lets hope so......
Sunday, August 27, 2017
Death Knocks Again.....
On Monday morning, August 14, 2017 at 2:15 am, Mary received a call from the floor nurse at St Mary Hospital in Livonia to inform her that her dad, Kenneth Ureel had just passed away during the night. We spent the next day on the phone with the funeral home and the church making arrangements for his funeral the next Friday. We had just talked to the doctor at the hospital earlier and were told he was doing better. However, we all knew he was ready to pass on and he wanted to be with Colleen.
Having just gone through planning Colleen's funeral in March it made all the planning for Ken's funeral so much easier. Mary told me that if I did not want to preach at his funeral she would understand. She knows how emotional I have been with fighting the cancer and being on the steroids. I gave it a couple of days of thought and decided to preach at the funeral. Once again I do not know how you prepare to preach at the death of a close family member but the Holy Spirit leads you to where you need to go.
What an emotional time this has been for all of us.......
Having just gone through planning Colleen's funeral in March it made all the planning for Ken's funeral so much easier. Mary told me that if I did not want to preach at his funeral she would understand. She knows how emotional I have been with fighting the cancer and being on the steroids. I gave it a couple of days of thought and decided to preach at the funeral. Once again I do not know how you prepare to preach at the death of a close family member but the Holy Spirit leads you to where you need to go.
What an emotional time this has been for all of us.......
Life keeps beating along.....
It has been so long since I stopped by these pages and so much has happened. I do not know where to begin.
Mary had suggested we should go back to Bar Harbor and spend some time in the Acadia National Park. It has always been a favorite place for us. So we flew out with Chris and Michelle in tow. Brian and Megan met us there the next day. We spend 6 days exploring the various places on Mt Desert Island. We ate lobster and ice cream and spent a night our watching for asteroids in the darkened sky. We went out into the ocean and saw some wonderful whales. Brian and I got a chance to ride in an old B-17 WWII bomber that was in town and had a great time together.
Some things I learned however. On steroids you sweat profusely. Even when it is cold you sweat cold sweat! It doesn't take long to get exhausted and winded when trying to keep up with the small crowd. Naps are needed no matter what you do and sometimes those are taken in the car in a parking lot while the others are out looking around.
I had to wear my eye patch and Christopher and Michelle said they would do the driving in Maine. So at the airport when we arrived and when we left Christopher took over the car and drove us everywhere we needed to go. It is a humbling fact to know that now you need to rely on your children to get you around!
At the airport in Bangor Maine I had an encounter with a little girl that I found fascinating.
I was siting charging my phone at a station in the airport. I little girl about 6 years old was sitting with her family next to me. She stared at my face for a few minutes. She walked away and leaned into her mother's ear and whispered something.
The mom said, "Well just ask him if you would like." The mom turned to me and asked if it was all right if her daughter asked bout my eye.
I looked at the girl and said, " What would you like to ask honey?"
The girl said, " what happened to your eye so that you have a patch on it?"
I said, " Well I have cancer in that eye and sometimes it bleeds inside and makes it very difficult for me to see. I wear the patch to block out the light in that eye so that I can see better out of my other eye."
She said, "Oh thank you."
The mom asked, " will you ever be able to see out of the eye again? Will they be able to cure the cancer there?"
I said hopefully soon I would be able to see as the blood cleared my eye. However the cancer has metastasized and there is no cure for it."
The mom said, " I am so sorry."
I said, "thank you but right now I just had a week with my family to make some new memories and to remember some old ones."
She said, "Good for you. Living life each day as best you can,"
Later the little girl came up to me and sad, "My mom ad I are going for a walk."
I sad, " have a great walk and you stay close to your mom."
They came back later and the little girl came up to me again. I asked, "Did you haev a fun walk?"
She said, " yes and lifted her sleeve for me to see and said, " I got someting too."
There was a roll of life savers in her sleeve. I said, " I love life savers what color do you like?"
She said, "Shsssss, I can;t let my brother know I have them." In the background the mother smiled at me and I put my hand over my mouth.
A few minutes later the family was called to board their plane. The little girl said, "Good bye sir,"
I said, " have great flight home."
The mom came over to me and said, " thanks for being so kind to my daughter. I will remember you and pray for you."
I thanked her and the walked off.
This encounter reminds me of the innocence of children and the kindness that can be shared between strangers, If only we could learn this earlier in life I believe so much of the hatred and division in our world could a be avoided.
Mary had suggested we should go back to Bar Harbor and spend some time in the Acadia National Park. It has always been a favorite place for us. So we flew out with Chris and Michelle in tow. Brian and Megan met us there the next day. We spend 6 days exploring the various places on Mt Desert Island. We ate lobster and ice cream and spent a night our watching for asteroids in the darkened sky. We went out into the ocean and saw some wonderful whales. Brian and I got a chance to ride in an old B-17 WWII bomber that was in town and had a great time together.
Some things I learned however. On steroids you sweat profusely. Even when it is cold you sweat cold sweat! It doesn't take long to get exhausted and winded when trying to keep up with the small crowd. Naps are needed no matter what you do and sometimes those are taken in the car in a parking lot while the others are out looking around.
I had to wear my eye patch and Christopher and Michelle said they would do the driving in Maine. So at the airport when we arrived and when we left Christopher took over the car and drove us everywhere we needed to go. It is a humbling fact to know that now you need to rely on your children to get you around!
At the airport in Bangor Maine I had an encounter with a little girl that I found fascinating.
I was siting charging my phone at a station in the airport. I little girl about 6 years old was sitting with her family next to me. She stared at my face for a few minutes. She walked away and leaned into her mother's ear and whispered something.
The mom said, "Well just ask him if you would like." The mom turned to me and asked if it was all right if her daughter asked bout my eye.
I looked at the girl and said, " What would you like to ask honey?"
The girl said, " what happened to your eye so that you have a patch on it?"
I said, " Well I have cancer in that eye and sometimes it bleeds inside and makes it very difficult for me to see. I wear the patch to block out the light in that eye so that I can see better out of my other eye."
She said, "Oh thank you."
The mom asked, " will you ever be able to see out of the eye again? Will they be able to cure the cancer there?"
I said hopefully soon I would be able to see as the blood cleared my eye. However the cancer has metastasized and there is no cure for it."
The mom said, " I am so sorry."
I said, "thank you but right now I just had a week with my family to make some new memories and to remember some old ones."
She said, "Good for you. Living life each day as best you can,"
Later the little girl came up to me and sad, "My mom ad I are going for a walk."
I sad, " have a great walk and you stay close to your mom."
They came back later and the little girl came up to me again. I asked, "Did you haev a fun walk?"
She said, " yes and lifted her sleeve for me to see and said, " I got someting too."
There was a roll of life savers in her sleeve. I said, " I love life savers what color do you like?"
She said, "Shsssss, I can;t let my brother know I have them." In the background the mother smiled at me and I put my hand over my mouth.
A few minutes later the family was called to board their plane. The little girl said, "Good bye sir,"
I said, " have great flight home."
The mom came over to me and said, " thanks for being so kind to my daughter. I will remember you and pray for you."
I thanked her and the walked off.
This encounter reminds me of the innocence of children and the kindness that can be shared between strangers, If only we could learn this earlier in life I believe so much of the hatred and division in our world could a be avoided.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)