Not Good

Mike had his three month PSA test yesterday.  We're in trouble.  His PSA has more than doubled for the second time in 6 months.  You recall that we got it down to 1 at the beginning of the year.  Then three months ago it had risen to 2.5.  I was worried, the doctor was not.  As of yesterday his PSA is 7.5.  Now worried has given way to frantic.  This thing is determined.  But so are we.

We are consulting with his doctor to figure out what is next.  I'm sorry that I couldn't post better news for everyone.  Mike is doing very well after his surgery and says he feels fine.  He's still working and looks great.  So those are good things to hold on to.

Like a Racehorse

So the old man is peeing like a racehorse.  Or as he says, "like a 20 year old."  (Like he can remember.)

Anyway, we are all very happy.  He still has a couple of days on the antibiotics and there may be a few clots but overall the doctor is happy with his progress.  He will not have to go in to see the urologist again for three weeks.

In two weeks he will be going in for his quarterly PSA test AND some other scans to see where we are now.  He has a full day of testing and scans on the 8th of October.  As usual, I will keep updating.

A huge thank you to my mom and dad for coming out to help with everything.  It was a HUGE help.

Doctor's Appointment

Going to see the urologist tomorrow at 1:50 p.m. Many thanks to Dorothy Reynolds for picking up Gregory from school! These schedules are killing me. If only I could sleep well.

Home

We're home and Mike ate dinner. He will be on some pain and antibiotic meds for a few days. It took the doctor and nurses to convince him that he should not be thinking of going to work for a few days. "But it's outpatient." Yes, dear. That doesn't mean you can drive and go to work.

In Recovery

Mike is in recovery. He will be there for about another hour and then they will move him to a room for another hour or two. He seemed to be doing OK on the morphine. I will update as I have info.

Surgery

We will be at the hospital early and surgery is scheduled for
10:30 a.m. I will have my phone and computer but there is
no guarantee of a wifi connection. It's an older hospital.

I will update everyone as soon as I can.

Recent pictures

Philip's costume for Anime Vegas.

I also made two more costumes for his friends.

Can you say

"sucker?"

Picture of Us at the House of Blues in Mandalay Bay. When did we get old?

Who Me?

Sometimes people ask how I'm doing. My standard answer is "eh." Not today. Today I need to vent. Today, the best thing that happened was my meeting with the Feds who came to interview the Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities in order to make sure we are doing our job. Yes, that was the BEST part of my day. Clients cutting me off at the knees by giving me files that are SO wrong they kill 4 full pages of a magazine with the inaccurate page count. Little man's school calling me 30 seconds before I go into my meeting to tell me that he is refusing to enter English class and can they count on my help to talk to him tonight? After I brought in a desk for him to school so he could be isolated, and ordered a set of textbooks for use at home, and just talked to him last night about this very thing? You know what? No.

Not to mention my hand is still killing me from where I punched the headboard Monday at 2 a.m. I am so stressed out that I've been having some pretty bad nightmares. It was a particularly bad dream about someone who made me very upset. In the dream I punched this person. In reality I almost broke my hand. The hand I use to lay out the magazines that are all late now. Did I mention that the headboard is carved hardwood? Like this only in dark wood. Those vines hurt like hell in a head on collision with a fist. So I guess you could say I don't sleep well.

So I leave the meeting early, telling the lovely people from the Federal Government that I must go see to one of the very people the council serves, my autistic child. I drive the half hour to get there to have a transportation worker tell me that I cannot park near the busses that take the disabled kids. I explain to him that my son is with those kids and it has been a very bad day for him and sometimes he does not recognize my car so I parked close. He tells me it doesn't matter and I had better not be doing this everyday and the Deans would be out to talk to me. So I did what any sane woman would do. I very calmly told him that I did not do this every day, and turned my face fully to him so he could see the tears rolling down my cheeks. He ran away. (Wuss.)

When the child finally made it out to the car I was informed that tonight's homework was out of the textbooks that I ordered but have not arrived. Lovely. At home the phone rings so that the school can send me a recorded message saying that the boy had an unexcused abscence in English class. No kidding! I'm expecting the truant officers at any time. I think they may show up before the textbooks. And yes, my hand still hurts.

Pre-Admit

Today was the pre-admit paperwork and tests. They took the usual samples of blood and urine but also did a chest X-ray. Chest X-ray? I asked if hubby was sure that they knew what surgery he was having. He said, yes. He asked too. So I guess this is to make sure he is OK for surgery. Fingers crossed.

On another note:

My heartfelt sympathies go out to Lisa Anne Niemi (Swayze).

Surgery

What a fun day yesterday was. Not. Sorry, haven't had my coffee. I'll just stick to Mike. The meds for enlarged prostate are not having a pronounced effect. An effect, yes, but not nearly good enough to prevent further complications. So now we are headed for surgery. It's an outpatient procedure.

Message from John Vesely

Sent a link to the blog to John Vesely thanking him and letting him know his kindness was broadcast to the whole family. Thought I'd share his reply with everyone.

You have a new direct message:

secondhandjohn: Thats awesome!!! Thanks for letting me know.

Secondhand Serenade Concert

I cannot believe how fantastic the Secondhand Serenade concert was! I was able to upgrade our floor general admission tickets to the table/seated area so that Mike and I could sit and put less of a strain on him after his recent ER trip. I explained to the security gal the situation and not only did she get us a table, she took care of extra drinks and then... wait for it... went to talk to the backstage security to apprise them of the situation. The next thing we knew, John Vesely himself came out from backstage to meet us! I could not believe it! I told him how much his music meant to me and was helping me throught this difficult time. He wished us all the best, hugged me and shook Mike's hand. I cried the rest of the night and sang to all the songs. Thank you John, from the bottom of a grateful heart. To hear John's amazing music, head to www.secondhandserenade.com or hear one of my favorites here: Your Call.