9-23-09 Wed

I want to take this time to explain to you, what was explained to me yesterday, by two of the brightest most intelligent men I have ever met. I first went to see Dr. Cummings. He is a man about 45 to 50 who is a Orthopaedic Oncologist Surgeon. How the hell long would it take to get three different specialties. He is as down to earth as you can get. He is friendly and will sit and talk to you until you understand everything he is going to do, and what the risks are, in what he is going to do.

He told me yesterday that I had one of the largest tumors of it kind that he has ever seen in a man's arm. He also told me why he had to take so much of my bicep. What he needed to do was to take as much bicep as he could see that had been touched by the tumor. He needed to make sure that none of the tumor was left behind, because that is the cancer. If you let the smallest piece behind, you have not solve the problem, you have hidden the next problem. This kind of cancer is unique in the fact that if it is to come back, it comes back in the same spot that it once was. It doesn't take much explaining to figure out why that may happen. If you let a small piece behind, it just might grow into another tumor.

This all made a great deal of sense to me, and answered any question I had as to why so much of my bicep was taken. He also explained why it looked like it did. He was forced to take much of the skin that was on the side where the tumor was. He had to take the skin from under my bicep and pull it to meet the skin that had not been touched by the tumor. It doesn't show very well, but if you look at my scar you can see the large dent in my arm and how the skin has been pulled together.

After talking to him and getting a very good prognosis from him, I had one more appointment to keep. That was with the number one doctor in the country on soft tissue sarcomas. Actually I found out yesterday he is an expert in all sarcomas. His name is Dr. Rushing from the IU Cancer Center. Lance Armstrong says, in a plaque on the wall, the best Cancer Center in the World.

Dr. Rushing is a man of my age plus or minus a year or so. He has spent his career studying sarcomas. He loves to explain how they differ from all the other cancers there are. First of all, they are the rarest of all the cancers. The only study that has ever been done on them was 20 years ago and it only covered 1450 cases of every different kind of sarcomas. As he said, there are over 100 different kinds of sarcomas, and they grouped them all in the study. What they were able to conclude was almost nothing because of so few subjects had the same sarcomas. There are also 12 different kinds of chemo compounds that were used in the experiment. There findings as to the best use of chemo where as follows. It seems to work best on Men who are between 30 and 60. Men as apposed to women, Soft tissue in a limb. High grade as to low. Healthy as apposed to sickly, good positive mental attitude. As he told me I had all but the 30 to 60 but that I was close enough to the 60 not to matter too much.

That was the only real thing that had been studied about sarcomas. He has spent the last 20 years trying to add to that base of knowledge. He then explained how the high grade sarcoma is actually better in some ways than the low. It is more difficult for the high grade to spread because it does not stay in a small state long enough to spread into the blood stream. It's not to say it can't, but it is more difficult. The place that it can spread from the arm is to the lungs. At he told me in the beginning, you don't want it in your lungs.

We had the radiation doctor, Dr Chang tell us that what he did with the chemo was very controversial. What Dr. Rushing said about Dr. Chang is that he is like most Dr's that don't understand about high grade soft tissue sarcomas, they don't even know what they don't know. Of course Dr. Change thinks that radiation is the only way to treat a sarcoma. He is half right, as Dr. Rushing says. The chemo is to kill any microscopic sarcoma that might have spread into the lungs as this cancer first grew. Once it started to grow the chances of it spreading are diminished, but you do the chemo for insurance sake. As he told me, the sarcoma in the arm will not kill you. That can't be said about your lungs or any vital organ.

That is the reason for the chemo. Now the reason I didn't go the entire way on the chemo was the fact that it was growing to fast, and starting to hurt the arm itself. He did not want it to wrap around any nerves or arteries, so it was best to take it when they did. If it did wrap around the nerves and arteries, they would have to take the entire arm.

As I told you yesterday, I had a CT Scan last Tuesday to see if I had any cancer that was detected in my lungs. The answer to that question is a resounding NO!!!!!!! Both doctors congratulated me on the fact that, at this time, there is no detectable cancer in my body. I'm clean and cancer free. I was so relieved, Sharon just looked at me and said, "I knew that all along." I knew since the first CT Scan that you were clear. I love her attitude, she is my strength, and for the past month she has had a pinched nerve in her back and has done nothing about it because she has been so busy. Thank God today she had her own MRI. We head for California tomorrow, but next week she is going to have it looked into. She is my age, and takes no pills of an kind not even aspirin. She has not seen a doctor since she broke both wrists three years ago. I'm sure she will breeze through this also.

Well that's it kids, I started this to keep track of what it would be like to fight cancer. I sure as hell found that out. For this part, and time in my life, I have won my battle with cancer. I hope never to have to do it again. I hope none of you ever have to face it either. It ain't fun, but it can be beat. Prayer and the best doctors you can find is the best way I know to beat it. Thank to all who have stuck by me and kept me going. Especially my entire family. I always knew you loved me, I just didn't know how much, and what you would do in my time of need. I love each and every one of you more than you will ever know. Even you Margo. Speaking of Margo, she told me I should put picture of what I look like now on the blog. so here they.

This ends the BLOG for good, I HOPE!

Thanks to all for caring.

Tom

9-21-09 MONDAY MAURA'S BIRTHDAY

It is now 9:20am and I have already had my radiation treatment, and worked out at the gym for 45 minutes. I'm so happy to be the first person to get radiation. They can no longer have any excuse as to how long someone took to have their treatment. The doctor can't be busy with someone else. It was great, I got there and found them eating McDonald's. There was then a quick call and all of a sudden they were ready for Mr. McLaughlin. When I got there the cast was actually on the machine and in the correct position. It was my friend Tony, who was the man that was with me the first week and really knew what he was doing.. Of course that's not to say that there are those that don't know what they are doing. I would never be that judgemental.

He did a few minor adjustments and presto the x-rays started to happen. I was in at 7:40 on the nose and in my car and ready to cleave at 7:55. I also met Diana, a lady that eats at the Essen House almost every day, and we have become friends because she would have chemo with me and now she too is going through radiation. I've meet quite a few people during this adventure. One was Cate's 5th grade teacher. I was overhearing a discussion as I came in one day and herd her say she taught at St. Charles and I said I had two that went to St. Charles. She did not know Thomas, but she did have Cate and said she was such a nice young lady. She then had me tell her all about how she has been since leaving 5th grade. She is one of the fortunate people that caught breast cancer early and only has to have a lumpectomy and radiation to cure her cancer. She is doing just great.

I will know tomorrow how I am doing. I see Cummings the Surgeon at 12 noon and rushing at 2pm. I will see what the CT Scan shows of my lungs. If all is clear, I should be in great shape and only have three more weeks of radiation before it is all over. I will still have to go for quarterly check ups, but no more treatments. If all is well tomorrow, I will probably not do much more on the blog. As you all know, it was for the cure of the cancer that I started this crazy thing. Not a diary on Tom and family. I love that you all were so kind as to follow my journey, but hopefully it is over for now. If all our prayers come true, I should be good to go tomorrow.

Thanks again. I'll let you know tomorrow.
Tom

9-19-09 Saturday

Well the second week of radiation is over and I want to highlight the week. Now that I've finished that. No not really. These people are very nice but very different at the same time. They have a large number of tecks that do the set up of the machine and me on the machine. My first week I had the same people most of the time. However this past week was quite different. They had the second machine break down last Friday and were not able to get the machine fixed until Thursday late. That meant that everyone had to switched to the one machine. That also meant that us Ginny pigs got to deal with people we had never seen before.

Every time I come in thay have to find the cast that fits me. The first week they were the one's that made the cast, so they knew what it looked like or at least where they put it. This week not so much. I would normally have at least one person that I had at least seen before in the x-ray room with me. However the past two day's none of us knew each other. It would take a few minutes for them to find my cast and then the fun began. They have to put it on the machine just right so that when I lay down I'm under the x-ray part just right. The entire machine can move in almost any direction so there I am laying down and them playing with this machine like a video machine. That is exactly what it feels like. Having been through this now 10 time, I've got a pretty good idea as to what it should look and feel like when they have it lined up correctly. However they don't want to hear any of my suggestions an more. The first week it took about 20 minutes for the entire procedure once I got back in the room. The last few days it has taken some what longer. Now the kicker yesterday was, I'm asleep on the couch when the telephone rings and a voice says "Mr. McLaughlin, are you coming for your treatment today?" I look at my watch to see that it is 4:10pm. I sheepishly asked if I could come right over, she wanted to know how far away I lived. I said I could make it in 10 minutes. She then said OK, come right over. I got there at about 4:25 and there was no one in the lobby so I headed back to the waiting room for radiation. No one there either, I then walked back to the x-ray room. It too was empty. So I figured they decided it was too late and they left. As I started to leave I hear this soft voice saying, "Mr McLaughlin?", I said yes, I'm Darleen and I will do your treatment if you are ready. So I walked back into the x-ray room with her and started to take off my shirt and get ready for the treatment. About that time another person who I didn't know came in and introduced herself and said she would be helping, she was an intern. That brought back memories of my surgery and all the good things that happened during my stay in Indy.

It got funnier from there. They couldn't find my cast to save their their soul. I finally ask if they wanted my help, they said they did. I had remembered watching the one nurse put it away once and went over and grabbed it, sure enough it was mine. The intern asked how I knew that was mine. I told her I was a Psyche. She just looked at me and said OH.

Now I had to show them where to place the cast on the table because they have only certain areas where it can be x-rayed. I now lay down on the table and they start trying to line up the machine. When you lay there you can tell when the machine is in the correct position because they have pictures on the ceiling of leaves and trees and things. The only problem is that I can't move once they have laid me down and they can't hear me anyway because they are in the other room. I just have to lay there until they get the lazer beams lined up correctly and start the procedure. After all that I did get out at about 5:15 and I did thank them for waiting after hours to give me my treatment. They then told me that this was the earliest they had gotten out this week. It seems today they actually fixed the second machine and I was the last person, but that the rest of the week they had people up to 6pm. They usually close at 4:30. Next week, thank God, I start my treatments at 7:40 am. So I should not have this problem again.

I did see the Dr. briefly and he thought everything was looking good. He did apologize for the crazy week as he called it. He told me not to take naps during the afternoon if I could help it. He said it is much better to go as long as you can each day and then sleep at night. He said he knew that I would feel tired and not have much energy, but to try not to give into it. He said to try to do something that would take my mind off being tired. I told him sleep usually did that just fine for me. He looked at me sort of funny and then saw me start to laugh. He said."You very funny Mr. McLaughlin".
He then did say that the arm is starting to show signs of burning but that it does look OK for now.

Sharon and I are excited to be leaving for Carlsbad. We both could use a break, Sharon maybe even more than me. She just works way too much.

More later, thanks for being here.
Tom

9-17-09 Thursday

Not a whole lot to report. My blood sugar is so much better. It's hard to describe the difference you feel when you are not constantly hungry and craving sweets. I know the radiation causes me to feel tired and run down, but the other side of that is that I feel so much better than I did before. It's almost a wash.

I'm now working out each day on the bicycle-rowing machine and a full circuit on the Nautilus for my arms. I'm able to do most of them OK, but there are a few that still limit my abilities. When I got into the cast to have radiation last night I could sure feel the fact that I had worked out. I was stiff and it hurt. I know it will be better soon, but right now it does let you know you have not done that for a while.

I had a nice talk with Randy, the general manager of the Carlsbad Inn. He learned a very painful lesson about corporate life. He had a great assistant name Mandy who was a real winner. However he let corporate know about it and before long they found a general managers job for her at Sea Point. He was then left with Yvonne who was somewhat on the same level as Mandy, but not near as competent. After 45 days he wanted to let her go, but corporate said they didn't have anyone to replace her and neither did Randy, so she had to stay for another 30 days. Yesterday was the end of her 30 days, and after her talked to me he was going to let her go. She had told him she was not going to quit, so he only had one direction to take.

It's a great feeling to have one of your people promoted, but it's another feeling that takes place when you have to let one go. As I told him, she knew she couldn't do what was asked of her, but she still needed a job. It's not a good feeling either way. We do have a great guy that Randy is going to move into that position on a temporary basis, but the search will be on for another Mandy.

Sharon and I leave next Thursday for Carlsbad. The Board meeting is on Saturday, so Maura and Thomas get ready to see Mommy and Daddy. It's OK if Myles, Peter, and others come also. See you all next week kids.
Tom

9-15-09 Tuesday

I guess no one wanted to get into the renter situation. Well neither did I so I sent Brian over to fix her damn branch and still have done nothing on the plumbing bill. If I don' think about it, will it go away???????

On to the real meat of this blog. After only one day on insulin my blood sugar is back in normal ranges. My high yesterday was 365 when I started on the insulin. I had to take a very large dose at first to get everything started. I took the evening shot with 15 units and went to bed hoping that it would be fine in the morning. At 7am it was 133. That's lower than it has been in at least three months. I had two eggs and two pieces of bacon and one piece of toast plus a 20oz class of water for breakfast. At lunch my sugar was as low as it has been in three months, 111. For lunch I had a salad and some Chicken-ala-king from Nutra-System. I'm supposed to have snacks at mid morning and mid afternoon, but I was not hungry at all so I had nothing. This evening I was again in the low hundreds and had a N.S. dinner of potatoes and roast beef and another salad. I also have had a cookie for my snack. If I'm around 120 tomorrow, that should show that the doses that she has prescribed have done their job. I betting on the fact that she is correct.

I felt so good today that I started back on a full workout on the Nautilus machines. I was clear up to 155 lbs on most of the arm exercises, so I started at the 70lbs level just to see how it felt. The things I like about their machines is that they show you in pictures which parts of your body are getting the workout. I was amazed how many other muscles you have in your arms that they work on. I could actually do the same weights that I used to be able to do. I seem to be as strong on the bottom side of my bicep as I ever was. Not so much on the front side. I can still see a little flex in what is left of by bicep. It doesn't hurt any where near what it did at first. I've been working every day with a weight that Sharon got me to keep my elbow and shoulder limber. I've noticed that after I get the radiation I can now actually get my arm out of the cast myself. The nurse was very surprised today when I did it. She actually made me put it back in because she was not finished. I said I just wanted to show you I could do it on my own. She had not bin in the room since the first day when I farted when I got up. I wanted to show her I could do it with farting from now on. She wasn't all the impressed, I could tell.

The other thing that happened today was a CT Scan. They were taking pictures of my chest to see if this cancer has spread to my lungs. That's the big question and concern. If it goes to the lungs it is very serious and that can spell lots of trouble getting it out. If it is in the lungs, you don't have lung cancer, you have a soft tissue, high grade, sarcoma, on your lung. It can be operated on, but he said I would not want that to happen. That's why I still need the prayers. I will find out on the 22nd when I see rushing in Indy.

Another nice thing happened to me today. Two friends sent me messages and wished me well. Peter Cutler, he was right out of college in 1986 and I had a territory open in Century City that was rated as one of the tough places to sell our product. It was filled with mainly large law firms and big eight accounting firms. I was told that a young man just out of college would be killed in that territory. I was told that if I did that I would be placing my job on the line. I had already had a "Professional Older Salesman" in the territory and he just would not work the territory. He kept telling me how hard it was to get appointments. I finally had to let him go. I figured this kid who had all this sales experience, He used to sell stereos out of the trunk of his car in Boston, How could he loose. The long and the short of the story is, he won Rookie of the year, and made Presidential Board his first couple years in the territory. He ended up in New York, the home office of the company, and has recently married and moved back to his humble beginnings of LA. I'm hoping to see him next week after the board meeting in Carlsbad.

I also got a nice note from Arie, a man that we meet in Cabo in 2007. He and his friends looked after Cate and her tribe of 11 each night as they covered the bars of Cabo. I'm hoping to see him in Indy this spring at the 500's. He knows his way around that place, and has some fast times there.

I keep you up to date as best I can, take care
Tom

9-14-09 Monday

Remember back when I was telling everyone about my trouble with my blood sugar. Well I finally find out today why. I was given insulin, but not the proper instructions on how and when to take it. I was supposed to take 10 units with each meal and then to add more units depending on the results of the blood test. I was given the graph for the additional units, but never told to start with the ten units. So all I was doing was taking not even 30% of what I should have been taking at each meal. I'm now forced to go on insulin full time for at least the next quarter. I have two different types. There is a once a day type that is 15 units and then the one I have had that starts with 10 units plus the additional depending on where my blood sugar level is. So that adds up to four tests and four shots. God I love being stuck.

I usually go to Carol Burns for my diabetes, but because I was on an emergency basis, I took another nurse. I'm not sure why she did what she did and Carol does not know either, but she screwed up big time. What is it I always say "They practice medicine and if you let them, they will practice on you." I told Carol the new nurse is not even as good as the last one. She was going through all my different meds, and couldn't pronounce any of them correctly except aspirin. But she went to Brown-Mackie college here in Fort Wayne, I forgot to ask her for how long. I love Carol, and as she says it is very difficult to find somebody that is good these days. All the good ones stay where they are. It's the new and bad old that you have to choose from.

As for the radiation treatments, again today the second machine broke down so we got to wait while we alternated out times. I finally got out a little after 5pm. The good thing is they are going to take me from next week on at 7:40am. That way I will be no more than second. I should be first on the regular machine that I'm on, but if they haven't fixed the other one I should only be second at worst.

I've got a tenant that is 83 years old and a very nice lady, but she is driving me crazy. I'll accept any one's feed back on what they think I should do. First of all she called me last Friday late and I didn't get the cell phone call until Friday. So I had Brian go over to see her and see what needed to be done. She had two branches that she said needed to be removed from her yard. The one Brian agreed with, but it would need two people and a large ladder which I don't own. He said he would see what he could do and get back to her next week. It was 8am this morning and she wants to know what our scheduled time will be to fix the branch. I told her we were working on it, but we had no plan yet. It wasn't an hour later and she tried to call me when I was on the phone with the person who might be able to fix the branch when she called again. When I got off the phone I tried her back and got her answering machine. I didn't leave a message because I had just talked to her. Now it's 4pm and she calls to tell me that she has called a plumber to fix her toilet. She paid the $360.00 bill but wants me to pay her back because he found roots and that should be my cost not hers. She also said Brian was told about the toilet. When I ask Brian he said she did show him the toilet and it was slow and just went round and around and did not flush fast. He told her he was sure we had a roto-router and he would let her know next week, which was today. He said she wasn't really that concerned and didn't ask to have it fixed now!!!!

My feeling is she called the plumber before she asked me about it. Her lease stated she is responsible for backed up plumbing and she has to pay. She says the plumber told her it was more my problem than hers and I should pay because of the root problem. He now wants to send me an estiment as to how much he will charge to put in all new pipes. Good Luck ASS HO++. So what do you think I should do???????

You didn't ask to be judge and jury did you. I'm taking it a day at a time so let me know.
Tom

Sept 12 Saturday

I had a very sad news day yesterday. A very good friend of mine from all the way back in grade school, Linda Williams Young, died of brain cancer. What is the most upsetting it that I didn't know about it until it was too late. I saw her last summer at a school function, and we had a chance to chat. In grade school at St Charles, she was one of the hotties. She also was one that had parties quite frequently. I guess I was the other person that had a lot of parties. We started by remembering some of the parties we both had and some of the crazy things we had done together. The one thing that she said stood out in her memory was the fact that she was the queen of the 8th. grade dance and I was the king. She also reminded me that I was the one that said we should have crowns and I should make them. I had forgotten all about that until she brought it up. I did remember doing the crowns once she mentioned it. I actually went to the 5&10 and bought plastic jewels and holders that you could put through cardboard and hold them on like diamonds set in a ring. I think I now remember why I tried to forget that memory. What was I thinking. Well anyway, that was all going through my mind when I heard the news. I decided I had to drive to Lima and say my good buys. I saw her husband Paul and he assured me that she was in a much better place. It had taken her rather quickly, but she was in a lot of pain etc. Everyone loved Linda, she was a teacher, and spent most of her teaching career at St. Charles where she and I were King and Queen of the 8th. grade dance. I will never forget her.

I had my forth treatment today and the first time that I saw Dr. Chang since I started. He looked my arm over and said he was happy with all the X-rays and wanted to know I how felt. I said it definitely hurt when I had to hold my arm above my head for very long and that I understood that some of the time was spent waiting for the Dr. to look at the X-rays. He laughed and said he was always very busy and tried to get their as soon as he was notified. He then looked to see I had any burns on the scar. He didn't find anything yet, but said that before it was over that there would be burns and that I would need some creams to make them less uncomfortable. He also wanted to know if I felt tired. He said that if I wasn't yet, that most likely I would be starting to feel the effects of the radiation. Again he said it will tyre you out and you will not have the energy you are used too. I told him I was working out each day and doing exercises to to keep my elbow and shoulder limber. He said to keep that up now, and for the rest of my life.

We are having some friends over for drink and then dinner tonight. It's been a long time since we have had the opportunity to do anything like that. It's great to have the family here and party with them, but it is also nice to be able to just go out to dinner and let someone else cook. No dishes, no cleaning, just talk and eat, and come home and go to bed and get up to a clean house.

Just four more weeks of radiation and I will know how I stand. I have to get a CT SCAN Tuesday and see Carol Burns on Monday. I'll let you know how all of that plays out. I will not know anything about the scan until the 22nd when I see Dr. Rushing. More later. Have a good weekend
Tom

9-10-09 Thursday

Day two of radiation: I went early so that I could have them schedule all the other things I have to get finished before I see Dr. Rushing on the 22nd. It seems they want more of my blood and I don't mind giving if I haven't already done so. They had to check with three place to see if I have given the right kind of sample and that it's not to long ago. Apparently when you get a CT Scan they give what they call contrast in an IV and your kidneys or something have to be able to handle it. I know I had a Scan before I saw Dr. Rushing the first time, but apparently that was too long ago to count. The next trick I just learned is to have the blood drawn at the Park View Hospitals. That way they don't have to look all over the place to get the information. This time I'm going to use my port because you have to keep it active at least one a month or so or it goes bad. The actually wash it out so to speak so it does not close up. The only place that can do that is the chemo lab that I went to when I was have my chemo. Fortunately it is in the same building that I get my radiation in.

The reason I bring all this up is that I asked the receptionist at the radiation department to help me get all of this accomplished. I went into the radiation at 4pm and when I got out at 4:25 she was still trying to get it accomplished. They are so nice, she didn't have to do this at all, but she said she was not busy because I'm the last appointment of the day and she was happy to help. This entire experience has been filed with people like that. They all must have a deep concern for people who are going through this kind of ordeal.

Now for the radiation treatment. The good news is they only took one set of x-rays this time so it only took twenty minutes or so. The bad news is that they will have to do the same thing they did the first day every fifth day. That means every Monday I can expect the 55 minute treatment. Even yesterday after only twenty minutes my are would not come out of the cast part without help. He said that it was normal not to be able to move your elbow after it was like that for so long. He said sometimes the people get used to it, but many times the older people never do. I asked him what he meant by older, he just look at me and said I qualified.

I've been very tired both yesterday and today. I was told that might happen. I'm usually up at like 5:30 or so but don't have to get out of bed so many time I get out of bed at about 7:15. Today and yesterday it was past 8am before I felt rested enough to get up. I'm still not full of energy and want to go work out. I'm going to do it as I did yesterday, it will just have to wait a while.

I have been very hungry however and it is difficult to stay on the diet I'm trying to maintain. My blood sugar is still screwed up, but I see Carol Burns tomorrow and hopefully she can give me some ideas to help the situation.

I keep you informed tomorrow.
Tom

9-9-09 Wed.

What a date, and I was there, when it was 9-9-09 at 9:09, so there. Well I have not been as active on this blog as I would like, but I now have some good thing to talk about. This past weekend was wonderful. I had Margo and Don, Larry, David, Moe, Jesse, Cate&Klye the .com stars.,Jan Bowler the long lost cousin from Colorado, Brian and Sammy, better later than never, all here for my birthday party. They all started to arrive on Sunday afternoon. David came first to get ready for the rib cook off. Then came Margo and Don with all the side dishes. A few hours later Cate and Kyle showed up as did Moe and Jesse.

David and I had a real competition going. I have a formula for cooking the ribs that I've used for many years, but David seems to think it's just about low and slow. I had to let him think that so I could kick his ass at the end. Sharon loves my ribs and other parts of me I'm told, but she doesn't like BBQ sauce on them. So I have always just had dry ribs and then add your own sauce as you like it. In the past however I have cooked them with a killer sauce that is added one hour before you take them out. You also have to turn up the heat so the sauce will caramelize on the ribs. As Larry said, I've not had ribs like that since you were in Marmion and we went to that place in Aurora that had this kind of sauce. You never forget the taste of something that good. It also helps to listen to the cooking channel. Any way, I won the cook off according to the family.

I also have to mention Moe's great ham and Margo and her beans and her salad and her red skins. Thank too all that make the weekend great. That doesn't count for you Jessy, swimming nude in the pool Monday morning.

I should also mention the pool tournament that started after Sharon and I went to bed Sunday night. I guess it went on until 1:30 or so on Monday morning. I did not hear an official report, but Jesse told me he kicked ass.

It was also great to see and hear from Jan Bowler. She has recently married and man from Colorado and just returned from a great trip around the world. Oh, and by the way Bob, she invited all of us to go with you on the next one.

Now to Tuesday, and the reason for this blog. I went to the first day of radiation. I had been told by a lady that we met in chemo that it only took about 5 minutes for radiation. So I walk in thinking this is going to be a piece of cake. They are so nice when you come in. Hello Mr. McLaughlin, My name is Danyell, and I will be with you today to get you started on the radiation procedure. You can sit here in the waiting room and I will come and get you as soon as we are ready. Within five minutes she was back and escorted me to the room where they sit while you get the treatments. It has five different monitors and it had a picture of my are in an x-ray. She then pointed out how they had taken half my bicep, and placed little metal markers in my arm as to where there the tumor was, for the radiation procedure.

I was then led into a large room with a very large x-ray machine in it. They had the cast of my head and where I had to place my head and arm so they could pin point where the machine would take the radiation pictures. So I lay down thinking this would take five minutes and then they started to move me first, then the table, then move me again and then had me sit up again while they moved the cast to another position. They then laid me back down and started to move the x-ray machines all around me and taking pictures etc, Now when I lay down I have to have my left arm up behind my head and to the side so that it is not close to my head but still up and behind it. You try that position for fifty five minutes. When they were finally finished she had to personally remove my arm from the cast. I was so sore I could not able to move it at first. I laid their for a minute or so before I would let her try to get me up. I had to fart so bad I was embarrassed, but I didn't know what to do or say. I then told her to let me try to do it myself like I do when I get out of bed. I locked my leg under the machine to get some leverage and then pulled myself up to a sitting position. As I did that I cut a fart that sounded like a lighting burst. I had had to do that for the last half hour, but they kept coming in and out and I didn't want them to have to smell that. I'm sure now that she would have rather smelled a small one, rather than the one I let fly at the end. I can't say I'm looking forward to the next visit, but they said the first one is always the longest. They had to take all the x-rays to make sure they were lined up correctly. I'll keep this more up to date now that I'm back into treatment.

I also want all of you to know I am feeling much better and hope this will come to a healthy conclusion. Keep up the prayers.

September 3rd. Thursday

Just a quick update. I will be starting my radiation on Tuesday next week. the crazy thing is I had to start on Tues. for my chemo because it was Memorial Day week. How well did that crew my summer. I don't think I will forget this summer for a long time. At least I hope to hell it will be a long long time. I asked to have the treatments at 7:45 if possible, they have me down for 4pm. It's close but no cigar. They say they will try to do better, but no guarantees. You put down your money "or life" and take your chances.

Unfortunately yesterday I had to go to a funeral for Larry's father-in-law, George. He had been fighting cancer for a few years and finally lost the battle. He was a great guy and he and I felt much the same about the world. If you ain't a Conservative Republican you have not lived much of a life. If you don't watch Fox News you don't know sh++ about the real world. And if Ohio State is playing you got to be rooting. Even if your daughters went to michigan and indiana. They are great schools, and deserve to be capitalized when you talk about academics, but not so much for football.

I'm looking forward to this weekend when the Pud and Nan clan get together. We are also including Jesse, if he doesn't fu++ with uncle Don's computer, and maybe even his girlfriend. Jan Bowler is also coming from Colorado to see all of us. And David and I are having a rib cook off, or as Hope Strong once wrote in the Lima News Cock Out.

Cate and Myles look good for the Condo. Cate actually met one of the guys who used to live in her new condo. His brother is the other person, but he died of an overdose of his medicine in the unit last October. He had some disorder and took too many pills at one time I guess. The guy did say she is getting a very good deal on the condo. It's much less than they paid for it two or more years ago. Cate is also knocking them dead in sales. She had a quota of $20,000.00 her first full month on the job and sold $37,000.00. So far this month she is at $13,00.00 and had a $16,000.00 order ready to have the check picked up. They do demo's and if the people like the machine, they just let it stay where it is. She just has to be a chip of the old block. Thank God one of my kids decided to take a chance to make some big big bucks. She is the youngest, but watch out for her. She love the fact that she has some say as to how much she can make.

That's enough for now, talk to you later.
Tom