Not so happy return

Barb and I had a wonderful 10 days away to Idaho and then a road trip to South Dakota June 6-15 with our family. We spent a few days in downtown Boise, took a bike ride along the greenway, enjoyed the betrothal of our nephew, Eian Schrag to Heather Smith and met her family. Also had two great meals at my cousin Flora and husband Bill's beautiful home on Warm Springs Avenue. We also saw/visited Barb's brother, Mike Baird, and family.

From Boise we took a 3-day road trip to South Dakota to visit my mom and other family and friends. Our first night was in Green River, Wyoming. The town that first enacted (1931) an ordinance regulating door-to-door peddlers, known as the Green River Ordinance.

Near Green River, Wyoming, the Schrags take a break from looking for wild horses to pose for a breezy, big sky, timed photo off the hood of the car. l-r, we are: Annie Schmidt, husband Adam Schrag, dog, Patton, from Fresno, CA, myself and Barb and younger son, Charles from Seattle.

Our next stop was beautiful Spearfish Canyon near Spearfish, SD where we stayed at some cabins right up the canyon. We hiked to Roughlock Falls and were amazed at all the walkways and viewing platforms built after Homestake Mine donated the land to the state. When I was last there umpteen years ago you could walk across parts of the stream or go down creekside.

Spearfish Canyon in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
Taken from near our cabin in the woods.

On to Freeman busy visiting numerous Freemanites. My brother, John, and wife Sara, from Santa Fe, NM, also came to Freeman. We had a blast w/excellent food and fellowship. I packed some chislic, Dimock fresh colby cheese and "Freeman bologna" to bring back to PA. Oh, yes, and some Twin Bing candy bars. Midwesterners know about them. We can't find Dorothy Lynch dressing here in PA, but I didn't pack any this trip.

Bridal Veil Falls in Spearfish Canyon

Altogether the trip has been the highlight of the summer.

Cancer update: The Monday after getting back I had bloodwork and an appointment with my oncologist, Dr. Yee. It turns out my blood tumor marker, CA19-9, crept up some more to 339.5. This was enough to trigger Dr. Yee into recommending (strongly, I might add) that I start a new chemo regimen: Abraxane via infusion. He is recommending 8 weeks with one infusion per week for three weeks and then one week off. Harumpf!!!  This was NOT encouraging news. I did cause me some anxiety. Neither Barb or I slept very well the night following this new development.

On the positive side, Abraxane is proving to be effective in treating cancer. It is fairly new on the scene and was originally used to treat breast cancer but has been found useful in treating other cancers including pancreatic and recently FDA approved it for lung cancer.

This Wednesday I go to Hershey medical center to have a porta-cath or medi-port thing placed under my clavicle to allow for blood tests and infusion without sticking me every time. My doc said the chemo was too hard on veins and tissue to infuse through a venipuncture in my arm. That was scary to hear.

Roughlock Falls in the Black Hills

Of course, my main concern is which side effects will I experience and how severe will they be. Neuropathy of the hands and feed seem to be a common theme. Bummer. But, who knows, I may not experience that, but will be vomiting instead. It's hard to know. My first infusion is Tuesday, July 2. Then two more Tuesdays up at Hershey Cancer Institute. Barb plans to drive me each time, but we will call for help if something comes up where she can't drive.

I was so happy to visit my mother, Verda, age 91, while in Freeman, SD.

One of the most annoying aspects of chemo infusion at Hershey when I had it earlier was the length of time it takes for the infusions to be completed. Every time I arrived on time, but never was seated within 5 minutes, but rather 30-45 minutes after the appt. time. And then I waited in the "recliner" (uncomfortable) to get stuck and then waited some more to get the chemo from the pharmacy and after the chemo runs out it seems to take so long to for a nurse to unhook. Also, the visiter/driver chairs provided are also very uncomfortable as is most all the furniture in the building. Hershey definitely needs to ramp up their service in the chemo infusion department/waiting rooms/exam rooms. We'll see. Maybe they have.

This graph shows the escalating CA 19-9 cancer tumor marker number. It kinda sucks.

Thank you for adding an extra short sentence for me in your next prayer as I plow into something new.