Hello to you all,
 
Yesterday was my next appt. schedule for my doctor visit and chemo treatment, and I was looking forward to it.
 
We’d had company most of last week, and that helped take our minds off the coming visit, although it was there in the subconscious, I guess, because I found tension across my shoulders which I hardly ever have anymore. 
 
This last three week period between appointments was another great improvement, so we had no reason to think there would be anything bad to report, but you just never know, sometimes.  Dr. Ahmann had said that unless I’d felt bad, or there was a bad report on some of my tests we’d not do an X-Ray this time.  He was waiting for professional diagnosis on the comparison of the last two X-Rays, to confirm what he felt about there being quite a bit of improvement in the size (shrinkage) of the tumors and fluid.
 
Although it was quite a struggle at first after this last chemo treatment 3 weeks ago when I had to fight hard against the desire to rest a lot when I came down from the steroid at the beginning of this period of time, once I worked through that it set a precedent, and the rest of the time I had fewer or greatly reduced side effects in all but one area (upset digestive system), and was able to keep on the move and get a lot done.  I even spent several mornings outside weeding, something I’ve not been able to do for several years now.  That was a real treat.  I had some strong motivation, however, as spring always brings on the need for spring cleaning since that was the way I was raised, and I wanted to get a lot done to prepare for the summer season which is starting very soon this month, and we were expecting company this last week, and again in another week or two, and I wanted to be as prepared for that as possible so we had maximum time to visit, especially since it takes me a long time to do things with my continued oxygen restrictions.
 
I can go quite some time without it if I am just sitting, but if I move around it creates problems right away.  There has been improvement in that also this last month, however, that is noticeable.  That’s what allowed me to go outside and work.  Previous to that, any time I had to bend over double it brought on a coughing spasm that exhausted me, since I don’t take the oxygen outside.  Air is better out there, and I have a limited amount of portable bottles to use outside.  Since I can’t get down on my haunches, or on the ground, I have to take something to sit on that I can get back up from, and then have to move it very frequently, also making it more difficult to breathe, since I am rolling it over rocks and gravel in the walkway, and that’s not exactly a smooth surface.  Each day I went out I had an improvement in the breathing, although the unused-to physical activity made me feel like I’d strained every muscle in my body.  All in all it was very good for me.  We have to look all around us carefully each day now.  It has not rained in more than two weeks, and the beautiful weather has things growing so quickly that there are big changes all around us every single day.  All the redbud trees alongside the highway, mostly in the Hamburg area, are full of bloom and are beautiful this time of year, all the dogwood is in bloom, and there are so many more than you thought they were, that coupled with fruit trees here and there, Madrone sporting hanging clumps of white blossoms, and unknown other trees blooming, it is quite breathtaking, along with everything else that is deciduous changing as they leaf out for the summer.  Our little glen around the house is encircled by wild dogwood in full bloom all along the slopes, we discovered two camellia bushes that are blooming profusely behind the two large hydrangeas, and one peony, something I’ve always wanted but haven’t ever even seen except in magazines so far.  It has two large blooms in bud which will be pink, but don’t know yet what form they will have.  They are large buds, and I hope to get photos when they bloom.  Since they are in shade much of the day there are not more blooms, as this does best in full sun, but I’m not complaining.  The huge hydrangea bushes are leafing out nicely, despite the deer all thinking they look good and munching here and there on the new growth.  This is the only thing we chase them away from, and we’ve had a lot of deer lately.  Last Sunday we had three buck deer out there for a couple of hours taking a nap on the lawn after having lunch, and after they left, a couple of doe munched their way through, too.
 
Yesterday morning we had an interesting incident (which slowed us down in getting ready to leave, too).  Two doe had come into the lawn to browse, and then a cat that frequently comes by to try to catch birds feeding at our feeders came down the path of the slope in front of us.  The nearest deer stopped to watch her closely, and when she began coming down into the lawn she stamped her foot at the cat.  This is a large part-Siamese cat with long hair that has evidently spent much of her time outdoors for a long time, as it did not deter her, and she actually began to stalk the full-sized doe as she turned back to feeding on the lawn.  The doe turned back toward the cat and made a false charge at her, who reluctantly turned away and began a “what deer – I don’t see no deer,” attitude while studiously looking in the opposite direction and then, they did a cat-deer thing, I guess, with first one and then the other making false charges, then backing off, but the deer grew tired of this quickly, and the cat immediately backed off, but in trying to get under the deck ended up having to creep along the front edge, and the deer could easily have stomped her there as she had her cornered, but chose not to, and the cat got to an opening and freedom underneath it.  The two deer went back to browsing, and the cat remained out of sight or left through the other end opening in the trellis, as we didn’t see her again.  It was quite interesting to see this cat stalking something as large as a full-size deer.  I don’t know what she thought she’d do if she caught it!
 
I’ve been trying to gauge what parts of our area I can plant things in and reasonably expect they’ll get enough sun to grow things like a couple of tomato plants and some salad veggies and a few plants that need mostly full sun with some partial shade.  A great deal of our area has all or mostly shade, and there will not be many things I’ll be planting in those areas, just a few special items I’d like to have if I can find them easily.  It’s not easy when I am not supposed to shop, and Jim is very unknowledgeable about plants.  I have to be able to describe things very clearly to have him buy them with any success, and since Wal-Mart in Yreka has a good-sized garden department, I’m going to try that out, as he has to go to that area to DMV to change his driver’s license and registration.  We have been here four months now, and he was stopped by a local trooper the other day, and has only ten days to change it all over.  We also paid off our trailer, and Wells Fargo lost the title (again, this is the second time), and it is evidently going to cost us $90 to have DMV replace it.  They say we have to because we now own it, so we’re going to try to get them to pay for it.  She told us how to go about it, since they lost it.  Between changing all three things, it will cost a pretty penny, I’m sure, since the truck is still only about a year old, and a full-size pickup, although it does have a short bed, which may help, I hope.

We were late getting there for our appointments yesterday morning, as they are working on a bridge on I-5 between Ashland and Medford, and traffic was backed up to the base of Mt. Ashland, mostly due to people continuing to rush down a lane that was closed ahead, and then backing up a lot of traffic when they can go no further… we were almost an hour late we had such a long stop/start line of traffic to negotiate, so we were concerned that we’d still be able to keep our appointment, but it was just a few minutes before noon when we arrived for the doctor’s appointment, and he took us anyway.  It was so near lunchtime that we didn’t have to wait anywhere.  There was no one at the lab ahead of us, and we had the fastest service we’ve ever had in the infusing room, so it all worked out pretty well. 
 
Dr. Ahmann was very excited at the results of the X-Rays, which he said showed in the professional report “significant improvement” in the tumors, and a continued lessening of my fluid.  He also gave us more information about this Alimta, saying that he has only used it on two or three other patients so far, and I am having the best results already of those who have used it, so he was very pleased about that.  I told him I was sure a lot of my improvement had to do with my altered outlook which has improved a great deal with better news, and with the work I have taken to lessen the side effects, and bring myself from the deep depression I went into at the news of this new outbreak of aggressive cancer.  It has made a big difference to both Jim and I, and he has noticed changes in my looks, my way of walking and many things I overlooked, but which he has noticed, and that news has helped too. 
 
Part of the reason that more people aren’t using Alimta is that it is very new, and you have to have specific types of lung cancer, not all kinds can take it, as it has only been tested so far for these two types.  I believe it is only used with malignant pleural mesothelioma, and for non-small cell lung cancer only, and for non-small cell patients, they were all stages III and IV, and had all had other chemotherapy prior to taking Alimta.  The test information in what they gave me indicated only about 283 people of the non-small cell type were tested, for perhaps a year at most.  I am not part of a clinical trial, because you must agree to that before beginning one, since you may be given a placebo (in other words, no Alimta, just fluid) so that only half receive the medication, the others receive nothing, for comparison.  The non-small cell participants in the study done were compared to patients who had previously been given another type of chemo, for comparison results, but since it was a small study, and some of the things hoped to compare were not possible because there were not records for this historically kept with the alternative previously used, some things were not conclusive.  All in all, however, the Alimta did well overall.
 
Studies and statistics for cancer are difficult, because it has always appeared that attitude, outlook, and the mental makeup of the individual patient has varying effects that are difficult to measure, or to even know are there when studies are sometimes initiated.  Cancer and the patient and how they are able to manage their case, cause effects not measured by medication alone, etc., make these statistics difficult to standardize, and to gauge the results with a group of any patients.  I try to remember that when reading any of them, and even if I forget, the information given along with results make this abundantly clear before you are through reading it.  You can see how limited the studies are so far, since it is such a new medication, but my results and the others taking it are being charted for present and future statistics to help doctors in evaluating whether this medication is right for a particular patient.  There are further limitations placed at their discretion, for individual contraindications, due to personal health, allergies, reactions or other types of qualifiers that would prevent all of the two types mentioned from being able to take it, or to having it recommended for their particular case. 
 
It is so wonderful to be feeling good enough to be able to do things and feel productive again, that it’s hard to describe.  I still am very weak, as my muscle tone all disappeared again with the added inactivity of the last few months, and I have a lot of work ahead of me, but yesterday for the first time I went into the hospital walking, and did not use either oxygen or a wheelchair during my entire day, except for a few minutes two times on my return to the truck in the parking lot.  My oxygen level was down because of it, dropping from the low 90’s to 82, but it was good enough to get by, and if we can open the truck windows when driving I don’t need it for that, as the fresh air provides plenty of good oxygen in the open country, once we get over the pass, and have little traffic on the road.
 
The canyon walls from the Yreka turnoff to about the Tree of Heaven Campground are now filling up with blooming wildflowers as they do each May.  They’re not all blooming yet, but it’s beginning to look like someone went to a whole lot of work planting a very large rock garden in clefts of bedrock and boulders, and filled up all the little spaces of soil.  Some grow from very small cracks in the boulders and bedrock, so small you wonder how they survive.  Lupine is out in full splendor there and on down the road almost to Happy Camp now, and cultivated lilacs at most all the homes and where homes have been, is all in full bloom as are Iris, which helps you to identify where homes have been since they live an incredibly long time up here with no care.
 
Everything is now lush and green and the leafing out of trees, and blooming trees has completely changed the winter look, so much that Jim just marvels at it, it is so changed in looks.
 
The river is still high, but does not look like flood stage any longer.  There is still snow in the Marble Mountain Wilderness to the south of the highway, so snow melt is still coming in, but most of the small seasonal waterfalls have stopped flowing now that the rain has stopped and things are drying out well.  There was smoke from Hamburg to Seiad on our return home about 5-6:30 pm yesterday, but couldn’t see if it was a prescribed burn or a fire, and it thinned out before we got to Happy Camp.
 
I am sleeping little right now until I finish my steroid for this period this evening, so I am getting things done, but it will be a struggle for the next few days as I come down from that medication, but I think I have the worst of it whipped now, and am hoping to get a lot done in the next few weeks, Hurray!  We are really enjoying sitting out at our new table and chairs on the deck each day, whether we’re alone or have company, and watching all the changes, while I try to figure out just what some of the plants are.  Most are deer resistant and require little care, other than some water when needed, except for the lawn, which does require mowing and trimming at this time of year, and a few things need a bit of pruning at times.
 
We’re looking forward to having a lot of you visit us this summer, when you can enjoy it with us.  Since we get so much shade here it will be nice out there all summer.
 
We are looking forward to having a wonderful summer with a much better outlook than earlier this year, and we want to thank all of you who have added prayers to ours, and who have been so helpful with suggestions and offers of help to us.  All of this has a profound effect on our outlook, and is very much appreciated.  It has helped a lot in turning our situation completely around, with a more normal outlook for the coming summer than we have faced in quite some time. 
 
Marcie and Jim

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