2009 Winds Down

One would think that as the years go by I'd have more to say. I was just looking over my blog stats and 2009 may be the year with the fewest posts.

Interesting... I would guess that I'm either more complacent, becoming more comfortable with my situation, or that there just haven't been a lot of changes, and subsequently, less news to share. The reason doesn't matter, I'm going to enter 2010 with the goal of posting more frequently.

I'm in the midst of two weeks off and it sure is flying by! A week from today I have my monthly appointment with Dr. V. I'm still feeling the same with little to no pain for the past several weeks which leaves me in my usual predicament of not knowing what the heck to expect.
At some point in 2010 I'm going to have to move on to another treatment regime. It could be another round of chemo. Perhaps we'll find a clinical trial we are comfortable with. Maybe we'll take the conservative path, again, and move on to DES/Estrogen.

At this point in time, I do not have a preference and am not leaning one way or the other. Mary will elect or prefer to take the path that is most conservative and has the least impact on my, our, overall quality of life. She is a saint. I can't say and don't mean to imply that her choices are
wrong, it's just at times I'd like to be a little more aggressive. However, had we taken a more aggressive path over the years it doesn't mean my current condition would be any different. Once again, perhaps she's right.

Peace be with you all, have a Happy New Year and may 2010 bring you good health, joy and happiness!

Joe had to go!

In just over an hour I'm going to have lunch with a really, really good friend.

Our friend Joe is off to Tucson next week. It's a great career opportunity and what is sure to be a life changing event.

I'm not sure what I'll miss about him most? Here's a sample of some of my blog posts that mention Joe. Disc golf on Saturday mornings will never be the same without Joe, Sadie and Pete (his dogs). My mind goes back to road trips and overseas trips with Joe.

Sweden the summer of 2006, my how three years has just flown by! Followed up by the British Open. A trip to Des Monies and Omaha in April of 2007 for back to back tournaments. Perhaps the most fun was the day Joe, Rich and I went to Marshall and Columbia Missouri and played 72 holes!

A picture from this years FLHW Golf Tournament captures his personality perfectly!



So long my friend! Be safe, stay in touch and come back often!

There is an app for that!

It took some time to develop, but the final version of the FLHW iPhone App is complete and ready to download. If you are using an iPhone or iTouch, click the image below to download. You can also go to the iTunes store and search for 'FLHW'. It's free, please go download today and let me know what you think. There is a lot of information on FLHW as well as on Prostate Cancer in general. You can also share with friends, etc. via Facebook and Twitter.

I owe all of this to a company here in Kansas City, MTB Mobile. Jeff and Andy put a lot into this little app, and they did all of it out of the goodness of their hearts. Thanks to both of you for all your hard work and persistence through the Apple approval process.

2009, you were good to us!

2009, where have you gone?

It seems like just a few weeks ago we were wrapping up 2008.

Today we closed the year for the Faith, Love, Hope, Win Foundation by making our annual donation to the Prostate Cancer Foundation. I am proud to announce that for 2009 our donation is the same as 2008, $32,000!

To raise that much money, in the midst of this economy makes me so proud of all that have helped throughout the year. Two poker events, a disc golf tournament, the greenhouse event and of course the golf tournament.

I'm a little speechless right now. In just four and a half years FLHW has raised over $132,000!!

We couldn't have done any of it without the help of all the players, sponsors, friends and family.

God bless you all.

Lucky Sevens

Monday the 7th we held our 7th FLHW Texas Hold 'em Poker Tournament. We started these in 2006 as another way to spread the word about Prostate Cancer screening as well as to allow people that may not play golf to come out for a good time and to help support FLHW.

Over the past three years the poker tournaments have raised approximately $10,000 of the overall $132,000 we have raised for the Prostate Cancer Foundation. I was rather proud when I added this up on Monday before the tournament.

At this week's event we had 42 players and raised slightly more than $1,500! It was really great to see a number of first timers. I hope they enjoyed themselves and will come back for future events! The room and tables were packed! In the end Brad took first and Tim second.

I really enjoyed the evening and am looking forward to our next poker event in February!

Also on Monday I had my monthly doctor visit, Lupron shot, PSA test and quarterly Zometa infusion. The meeting with Dr. V was rather quick. My PSA rose to 108.8. We decided to maintain the current regimen through the holidays. I am feeling great and the other tests were in the normal range. When I return next month, on January 4th, as long as I remain pain free and my PSA remains somewhat stable, we will just continue on. (All of the pictures are here).

Hold 'em or Fold 'em?

Mary, Brad and I saw the movie "The Blind Side" last night. What a fantastic movie. I sure wish Hollywood would produce more movies like this instead of some of the junk they churn out. I highly recommend this movie. It is based on a true story. Sandra Bullock turns in a very good performance and Tim McGraw is quite surprising as well.

Even with the cold weather we are experiencing, I played disc golf both yesterday and today. Yes, it was about 28 degrees yesterday and 33 today when we started, but with very little wind it was beautiful, perfect weather for a round. More importantly, I played pain free and remain that way 10 hours later. Next weekend will be my last opportunity to play with one of the regulars before he moves to Tuscon. I'm a little sad to see him go. He will be missed a lot.

Tomorrow is day 28 which means it's time to go see Doc V. I've been feeling really good since a week after my last visit, however we just never know what's going to happen.

Finally, tomorrow night is another event for the FLHW Foundation. We will be playing a Texas Hold 'em poker tourney at Johnny's Tavern in Overland Park. Click here for details, for those of you in town I hope you can make it!

Shooting Blanks

I'm suffering from writers block lately. Nothing seems interesting enough to write about.

So what do I share? I have my monthly doctor appointment on Monday. As usual, I have no idea what to expect. I have been feeling great the last few weeks so one would think a lower number is in store, but as I have come to realize, there are few times when how I feel dictates the result of my PSA test.

Yesterday I had to see my General Practitioner. It's probably been at least a year since I saw him. The visit was not related to PCa, just a minor foot issue. So as I'm sitting there waiting for him, it occurred to me that the five year anniversary of my first PSA test was coming up on December 10th. As I mentioned to Dr. S, it seems like yesterday while it also seems like a lifetime ago. I wasn't 'officially' diagnosed until early February, but this marked the beginning of what has become my crazy life. Five years have passed, so much has happened to me, to us.

My dad had a birthday last week and turned 78. It seems strange, there is no way he's almost 80 years old, is he? Sorry Pops, don’t mean to call you out here, but I did.

Christmas is only three weeks away and I have no idea what to get Mary. Wow, I'm up the proverbial creek this year!

Wish me luck, I'm going to need it!

Finally, Monday we (www.flhw.org) are having another Texas Hold 'em Poker Tournament. All the details are at the website, just click on 'Events'. I hope to see some of you there!!