December Blog

Since I have been a very naughty boy and haven't kept up with the blog, I figure I will do a December blog. Sally thinks it will take hours for me to write and another hour or two for my fans to try to understand what I have written. Honestly, my wife over estimates the excitement in my life. Really my life isn't that interesting and there really isn't a lot of blog moments in my life. It just seems a lot with the condense version of my life written on the blog. I know everyone doesn't want to read about an ordinary dull life.

So I will begin the blog the same way we began the Christmas season with a parade. To be exact it was the Santa March. It wasn't very crowded like the typical 4th of July parade. In fact it was only about 15 minutes long versus the hour plus long 4th of July parade. Which is good because by the time the parade finally arrived it left my fingers and toes numb. There were some bands, candy thrown and yes my girl friends, the clown posse(not to be confused with the insane ones), had a float as well. My kids gathered a fair amount of candy(as in not enough candy bars). Zachary was in charged of holding the bag. They gathered the candy and waited with anticipation for the very last float which of course was the big man himself. Near the end Zach got a little bored and started to swing the bag of candy around.I had told him a few times,"Zack your going to loose the candy".I turned around to check on him a few minutes later, and he we bending over picking up all of the candy which he accidentally scattered all over Highway Ave, while swinging the bag. He continued to pick up the candy as Sally, Kaity, and I stood there waving at Santa as he passed by and laughing at Zach. When Zachary realized he missed Santa, tears started to flow. Sally and I being the compassionate parents we our could not help but laugh even harder. I finally walked over to help him while his dear mom stood there still laughing. When all the candy was gathered up, Sally told Zach that if he ran he could catch up with Santa. So Zachary started running at full throttle to catch up with Santa. Sally and I were still able to keep up with Zachary's fast speed, by walking a brisk walk.

Speaking of Santa, I was able to full fill my life dream of playing Santa. The family and myself will give our time to help out the Missionary's of Charity. This is a charity that Mother Theresa founded. Well this year after wanting to play Santa for a few years, I got my chance this year to do so for there Christmas party for families with hardships.I got to the party, went next door to the church got dressed up in the room were the priest get ready for mass and fixed myself up to look at act like the best Santa I can be.I looked in the mirror and did my hearty HO HO HO. Did the "Are you talking to me" line. After I was satisfied with the way I looked and sounded I left. As I was leaving the room, there at a pew was a lady kneeling and praying, staring at me and trying not to laugh.I was thinking to myself, this is a great start to a otherwise special day. I got to the secret location and waited for the Ok to come and greet the kids.Finally came the word to release the Santa. I walked out and there was a loud sounds of hysteria. Now I know how Justin Bieber must feel. I walked and waved at all the little kids. You can see the looks of awe in there little eyes. I got to my Santa throne, which was just a...........chair, I peerd at the table I was sitting by and saw the kids knowing all the question that they would ask. Asking what they wanted and that there brother or sister was bad and didn't deserve any thing and what was I going to do about it. Then came the question that most Santa's fear throughout the world. What are the names of your Reindeers. I looked at little Jimmy and said " now lets see, there is Dancer, Prancer( now a lady walks in front of me and obscures my view of him, now here's my chance.So I go into charlie Brown's teacher mode) whaa whaa whaa whaa whaa whaa and Rudolph. The kid just stared at me in amazement. I knew he was trying to stump me and I passed, sort of. Then a sister whisked me away to the kitchen. She said that Santa must eat. I looked at the cookies and pizza and then I looked down at the full beard hanging on my face. I struggled thinking how it is, eating without fronting a beard. I pictured myself walking back out with pizza sauce and punch stains on beard and cookie crumbs hanging on the beard and costume. So I decided to pass and returned to the kids. Then the families wanted pictures with Santa. I can be outgoing with people I know especially after a couple of drinks but people I do not know I tend to be introvert with. There was one family in particular that took at least 10 pictures with me. Then the mom hugged me while pictures were taken. I got a lot of hugs from the kids which made me feel good. I felt like a rock star that day.

Hope you are enjoying the Christmas season with your family and friends.

God Bless,

Bill

Who likes Garlic raise your hands and an update.

Sorry it's been awhile. I have been busy working and attending to life's demands(aka Sally's). I am doing well. I have decided to wait until February (after another cat scan) to make a decision on how Sally wants me to have the cancer tumors treated. Hopefully, by the grace of God, there will be no cancer come February.

I am receiving an infusion at this very second. I go to work tonight, then I will be off for the next two weeks. I am looking forward to spending time with my family. Hopefully, I can catch up on the blog as well. I still haven't finished about Halloween. Zachary and I are planning on baking some cookies. I am still trying to lose weight and working out at Omni so I am only making calorie free cookies.

Zachary has taken a liking to cooking. I am sure he will add his special touches to the cookies, like garlic cookies. Which is a scary thought. It's not surprising he tries to make things because he loves food. We never have to worry about him starving. His inventions though, are less to be desired. His latest invention was mac & cheese in a hot dog bun. Pepper and garlic is his condiment of choice. Last week we have left over potato soup. Zachary decided to have it for breakfast. He also decided it needed a little something extra .One of his down falls in cooking is he has NO concept of what is a small amount and what is a lot. He found a jar of freeze dried minced garlic and thought why not. The next sentence will explain the why not. Because he smelled for the next four days is a reason to not. He smelled bad. Not little bad but really bad.I don't think a Vampire would come within three states of him. It was like an old man who spends his days bathing in and eating garlic instead of grapes. It was so bad that we couldn't take it while he was in the car and I stopped the car and made him run home. I thought the 4 blocks left to the house would be long enough for him to run and sweat the garlic out. WRONG He smelled even worse. I don't think the neighbors that were left with dying trees and bushes appreciated it either. I'll tell you though if you have a weed infestation, I got the cure. Luckily, for his class mates, the school was closed for 2 days due to a water main break. Heeyyy, wait a minute. By the time school was back in session the stench was tamed. Honestly, if school was in session, Zachary would have been sent home from school. He has promised from that day forth (after using a tube of tooth paste, a liter of mouth wash, 3 showers, running home naked, just kidding about the naked part and still smelling) he will be sticking to garlic powder. Sally has not yet to cook with garlic since. She made garlic free garlic bread the other day. The thought of garlic still makes our eyes water.

Chemo is almost done and the battery in the lap top is almost out of power so it's a good time to end. Stay tune. I came up with a brilliant the most brilliant pole ever. I have to get a picture posted for it but I am sure you will love to post your opinion in the next pole.

I want to mention something quickly before I go. I hope no one is offended about how I tend to make Sally look like a Battle axe, power angry, do what I say, I am always right, War monger and you talking to me type person. I only say the things I do to add a little a very little in some cases humor to the blog. It is all done in fun and Sally does read the blogs before I post them. I sure hope I wrote this the way she told me too.

Take care and God Bless,

Bill

Update by Sally (his wife)

Bill had to work tonight and the following 3 nights. So this is the reason I am posting for him. Today, we went to UIC to meet with the radiologist. It's didn't go as we expected. Not that it's a bad thing we were caught off guard a little. We were under the assumption Bill was going to have the tumor ablation. It would be a simple out patient procedure and he would be able to resume normal activities the following day. We found out today the radiologist wants to do a different procedure. He recommends selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT). Instead of using radio frequency energy(which is the RFA procedure) to attack the tumor, tiny radioactive beads are inserted directly in the tumor/tumors.

The reason for the SIRT is because there are two cancerous tumors on the liver. One is about the size of a quarter and the other one is about the size of a pea. The smaller one is near the wall of the liver which can't be treated by the RFA procedure.SIRT will be able to treat both tumors in the liver. SIRT is not as simple to perform as the RFA though. SIRT requires two procedures. The week prior to the SIRT an angiogram is done to map out the vessels. If everything looks good then the SIRT procedure will be performed 7-10 days later. The angiogram would require Bill to be in the hospital for at least 12 hours. He will have to be off work for 48 hours and on light duty until a week after the SIRT is done. He will have to be off work for another 48 hours for SIRT procedure itself but the hospital stay would be much shorter as long as there are no complications. In order for the SIRT to be performed, chemo has to be stopped 2 weeks prior to the angiogram.

A concern which we have about the SIRT is the stopping of chemotherapy. Even though the tumors in the liver will be treated, he still has the cancerous lymph node by the heart. Since September, when chemotherapy was resumed, he still has not had a full dose of the chemotherapy. Which is concerning. Could delaying treatment longer increase the chances of the tumor from spreading or growing? Which is one of our major concerns. The oncologist seems confident the chemo will attack the lymph-node so we don't see why it wouldn't attack the tiny spot on the liver as well. Plus the RFA procedure seems a lot less complicated and a shorter recovery time.

If Bill had to pick of course he would pick the RFA procedure. Spending 6 plus hours flat on the back without moving after the angiogram wouldn't be fun. However, Bil wants what is best to fight the war with in his body. Tuesday, we are going to talk to the oncologist. Hopefully he will be able to answer our questions and give us his honest expert opinion on which one he thinks is best.

Please pray that he is guided to the right procedure for him. Thanks you.

Another visit to UIC and than again.

It's been a busy week to say the least. Went to UIC on Monday and spoke with Dr. Warso, the cancer surgeon. He discussed treatment options and what he felt was best for me. He didn't recommend surgery. He thought right now surgery isn't the best option. The location of the lymphnode will pose a great risk to remove. Right now my oncologist feels the best option is the chemotherapy. If the chemo doesn't work then radiation will be the next option and surgery will remain the last option.

As for the cancerous tumor , the surgeon recommended radio frequency ablation (RFA). Tomorrow I will be going back to UIC to speak with an radiologist and to make an appointment for that. It's an out patient procedure and I should be able to return to work the next day.

As for me, I am feeling well. Tired goes with out staying but I am still able to keep up with life's demands. I still haven't had a full dose of chemo therapy yet which might be one of the reasons I am feeling good. The first round of chemo pills there was a misunderstanding I was only taking half of the dosage. Second round of the chemo pills were cut short because my liver wasn't tolerating it. Today I went into start my third round. There was an error with the infusion medicine and treatment was stopped. I go back in Tuesday and start all over again. Stinks I have to have it on Thanksgiving week but mistakes happen especially to me and I make a couple every now and then.Just a couple mind you,But than again It's usually Sally's fault I make them,I think.

A good thing came out of today though. I had to go into work for a couple of hours this morning.We had a fire drill and I was a auditor, but anyways. When Sally picked me up we went to have lunch which is something we normally do before chemo. It's the only time we really get to spend time alone with each other. Sad but true. We have my mother in law watch the kids for my treatments, appointments and when ever we need a sitter so we feel guilty to have her watch them so we can have a night out. Like I was saying we went out for lunch, there is a new Italian restaurant across the street I have been wanting to try. It's called Ciao Bella Ristorante. I was told this is as authentic to Italian cuisine as it gets.That was told to me by the Italian workers that are working on our new Metallizer machine and they should know. I will say it was very good. I highly recommend it if you want a true Italian meal.

I know I said I was going to write part two of my Halloween adventures but with everything going on I haven't had a chance. I was going to write it today but Sally demanded I write about me. I am sure though the Halloween blog would be more entertaining. The real reason she wanted me to write about me is because she still does not have the Halloween pictures ready for the blog. Bad wife. A punishment is forthcoming.

Will try to write again as soon as possible. Take care and God Bless.

The turtle and the butterfly Part 1, and No, I don't mean the Turtle and the Hare

My favorite time of the year has always been and still is Halloween. If I were a wealthy man I would have a huge display of grimace decorations illuminating the neighborhood( I don't mean that McDonald's character either). Unfortunately my fortune doesn't even come close to being wealthy or even poor, it's closer to destitute. Which makes me have to decorate on a budget. However, this year I am ashamed to say I didn't decorate at all. Not one solitaire decoration was up. Not even a Halloween cling on the window, but there was a plastic spider in one of Sally's flower pots left from last year. The time had gotten away from me and going back on chemo didn't help matters.

However, the kids were in the Halloween spirit. Or should I say Zach was in the spirit to dress up and get candy. He doesn't fair well with scary things. Kaity on the other hand, loves everything that comes with Halloween. In September Sally asked the kids what they wanted to be. Right off Zachary's tongue, without any hesitation, rolled out "a turtle". Not just any turtle but he wanted to be a Mary river turtle. Kaity blurted out she wanted to be a witch again( I guess dressing up like mommy once wasn't enough). Through out the weeks, Kaity was a typical female and kept changing her mind. From witch it turned into a ballroom dancer, super girl. Zachary's response to that was , Kaity could protect him since he will be a lonely old turtle. She finally decided she was going to be a butterfly and stuck to that. Zachary was determined to be a turtle. I laughed every time Sally asked Zachary if he was sure. Sally kept trying to get him to change his mind but he wouldn't budge. Devilish me was glad he didn't. I just wanted to see how Sally was going to pull this one off. Zachary had high hopes he would turn in to an exact replica of a turtle. That Sally was the Betsy Ross in costume turtle making. I expected it to look more like something Charlie Brown would wear.

What was also funny about costume situation is that for years Sally has been wanting to sew a costume. Every year Zachary has insisted he would rather have a costume bought from the store. This year though, now that she is going to school full time, he wanted her to make his costume. As Halloween approached, Zachary continued to talk about what he wanted his costume to look like. He even took out the turtle book to look through and show Sally which turtle he wanted to be specifically.I had to tell poor Zach that there wasn't any Merry river turtle in my book(obviously a over site). He should think of another turtle. Ok, Dad I will be A Mississippi Map turtle. I thought that Zach and I may have gone through the turtle book one to many times. Most kids who wanted to be made up after some sort of wild life animal would be happy just looking like a turtle ,bear,lion ect. Not Zach he wanted to be a specific turtle,a Mississippi Map Turtle. I was enjoying his persistence to be as close to looking like a turtle as he possible could be and the fear Sally had on her face every time Zach would discuss his costume with her. I looked in the book with Zach at the Map turtle he wanted to be. I mentioned to him that this turtle has a lot of intricacies in the face. Dad, what is intricacies,never mind, the face would be to hard. Do you have another turtle you want to be, Red Eared Slider Dad!!!! Ok Sally get to work , you heard the boy. I must admit when Sally showed me the costume I was impressed except she left out an important part of the costume, I had to rescue her. I was delegated to make the Plastron(turtles under shell). Sally did the Carapace(the turtles top shell) and it looked very close to a Red Eared Sliders carapace. Of course it's nothing near what you would see on tv but it did look like a turtle. Everyone could tell he was a turtle but they kept asking him if was a teenage mutant ninja turtle which annoyed him. Which really got me going after the hard work that was done making it. One time I had to say something. "Look lady it's obviously a Red Eared Slider costume. I guess you don't know your turtles. "She was just staring at us with her mouth wide open. That is probably when she realized yeahhhh, I see it now, A Red Eared Slider.

When it came to Kaity's costume, Sally had started making it this summer without ever realizing it. My wife through the years has bought many craft projects which she barely started and never finished. She has a sewing machine which has been rarely used. She did have a brain storm this past summer. She was going to start making and selling tutus and hair bows. They are in great demand along with all the beanie babies that are shoved away in totes throughout America and taking up my garage space. She did finish making one. Kaity was so proud of it. I told Sally she shouldn't bother going back to school because she can make millions if not billions selling tutus. I could just see all the Ballerinas lining up at our door, I want a red one, I want a blue, will you autograph mine? Sally just gave me the look and never made a tutu after that. The tutu did manage to reappear for Halloween. Kaity did have one demand for her attire. She wanted a butterfly on her face as well. For all the painting and house projects Sally has made me do over the years, I just felt the kids costumes this year was a tiny payback for all the grueling things she had made me do. When Sally showed me the butterfly wing and said she was going to pair it up with the tutu, I couldn't picture it working. However, Kaity looked really cute and she was proud of the way she looked. Her preschool teachers mentioned a couple of times how they loved her costumes.

Having home made costumes for my kids this year brought back a lot of memories from my youth. I took a lot of pride in my kids this year. Even though I was getting annoyed when Kaity was continually being asked if she was a princess or a fairy godmother. When I was a lad, it was rare to see someone wearing a store bought costume. Now it's rare to see a child in a home made costume. I think kids today's are missing out on a lot of fun. Part of the Halloween fun was making your costume. Now it seems like all the kids are wearing the same costumes. Kids have lost their individuality except for my kids. They didn't mind being unique and for that I loved that about them.

As for trick or treating there is a lot more to write about that. My fingers are getting tired and I am sure your eye balls are getting tired from reading my ramblings. So I will give us both a break and continue tomorrow.

Another Bump

I am doing well. So far the major side effect I am experiencing is being tired all the time. I am sleeping more which helps. If I could I would sleep all day. I am trying to live my life like I did before "D" day or should I say "C" day. I want life to go on as normal as possible. We elected not to tell Zachary about what is going on. If he catches on and ask we will be honest. When I was initially diagnosed we told Zachary but it's been a lot for him to handle. Even though it's been over a year that we told him the cancer went away; he still worries. So much there are times he breaks down and cries. He had an anxiety attack not so long ago.

It's been almost 2 weeks since I found it's back. I said it was a set back and medically speaking it is. However, it's not a set back for me in how I live my life. It woke me up again and once again I had to reevaluate my life and the important things. Since the last time I posted I joined Omni. I am making better food choices and Sally went and bought a bunch of healthy food. A friend I use to work with at Sterks mentioned to me about vitamin D and sent me a link to read. I found out in a study colon cancer patients who took vitamin D supplements during treatment up their chances of survival 48%. Even though I am not suppose to take any vitamins I started to take vitamin D. It's worth a shot.

I had the PETscan last Tuesday and finally received the results today. Sally talked with the doctor this morning over the phone. He said the scan showed 1 and not 3 cancerous spots on the liver. It also showed some positive lymph nodes around the liver. Not great news but he didn't make it sound like a major set back either. He feels the chemo therapy will take care of the lymph nodes and his main concern is still the liver. I go see the surgeon at UIC in November. He might want to remove the tumor in the liver and the effected lymph nodes. I am praying chemo will take care of everything and no surgery is needed. I found out today that the human body has between 500-600 lymph nodes. Over 20 of mine have already been removed. If I continue to get cancerous lymph nodes and I have to have surgery every time, I am going to look like Frankenstein. Not that there is anything wrong with Frankenstein. I find that he is a handsome fellow.

Honestly, I don't feel defeated since hearing this. Of course I am not happy more cancer was found. However, I feel thankful and blessed it hasn't spread to any other organ or bones at this time and praying it won't. I was looking at a cancer support group site that had other blogs from cancer patients posted. I saw the title "Every Problem Has A Gift For You In It's Hands". Without a question I know this is true. I was a blessed pre-cancerous man and now I am an abundantly blessed man who has cancer. On one hand it's sad to have to experience a life changing event to learn some of life's greatest lessons. On the other hand, most likely, I would have missed out on some of life's greatest lessons if it wasn't for cancer.

God Bless

Forge ahead

Today has been a very long day. Actually the week has been a long week. Not one of the best weeks I have had. The call on Monday from the doctor's office helped set the mood. Then there was a couple off rough days at work. During the quiet times my mind wondered about the impending CT scan results. I tried to convince myself the reason I was called was to come in for an appointment was just to let me know everything was fine. Deep down I knew something was up though. Sally thought maybe the tumor in the spine.I was having some back pains.

Then today came. It was a torture. Waiting and waiting for the results. Not that I want to hear bad news but the news that is given is always easier to deal with then what is playing in your mind. In the waiting room I had a hard time breathing. I am sure it was a near encounter with a panic attack. Then I was called into the doctor's office and that's when the real fear took place. After the nurse took my vitals and information we sat there and waited and waited and waited some more. We had to wait over an hour. In the mean time Sally and I try to keep our minds occupied. We watched the people walking in the parking lot making comments(making fun,old habits are hard break). about them. Finally the oncologist walked in and as soon as I seen his face I knew it wasn't good news. This is the part where I was hoping to write everything is fine and we were worried for nothing. Unfortunately, I am not able to say that. I knew the chances of cancer coming back was great. I knew that the doctor wanted to see me wasn't a good sign. Yes the cancer is back. It's back in the liver. The same spot where it was before but there are two more smaller tumors next to it.

What does this mean? Obviously it's a set back but that's all it is a set back. I have all the faith and hope everything will be fine. My prognosis hasn't changed. It's the same as the first day I walked in to the oncologist office. All the options I had then I still have now. The obvious I am going back on chemotherapy. I began treatment today. I am receiving bi-weekly infusion treatments of Avastin (which isn't a chemo drug), followed by infusion treatments of Oxaliplantin every 3 weeks, and I am taking an oral chemo drug called Exeloda. I go in every week for blood work. Also, I am going to be seeing the cancer surgeon at UIC. The tumors are all on the same lobe in the liver which means he might be able to remove them. He also mentioned last time about zapping them out with a laser type thingy. Tuesday I am going in for a PET scan to see if the cancer has travel else where. Which means more fun in waiting for test results.

The waiting for the results is actually worse then getting bad news. Once the news is out in the open it is easier to deal with. The not knowing is what takes years off your life. I am not looking forward to dealing with the side effects from chemo. But dealing with the side effects is a lot better then not having the option of having treatment. As long as there is treatment available there is hope. I have this thing about people having to blame someone or something for their misfortunes. I do not blame God, or evil, or fate. I blame Sally my wife. It's her fault. She jinxed me when she went back to school.So there I said it,I feel better now.

As I am writing this, I am reluctant to post this. It's not that I am ashamed , embarrassed, or want to be secretive. It's the fear of being pitied. I don't want people to feel sorry for me or treat me with kid gloves. Even though I know people have good intentions and mean well I just want to live my life like I did before the "C" word was mentioned. I am a guy who happens to have cancer, cancer does not have me.I may have lost this battle ,but I will win the war. I am confident of that.

Thank you all for your prayers,but we still have work. Lets get it done.

Feel like I am being discriminated

Update

A brief update. Kaitlyn's appointment at Riley's went well. The doctors still feel her pains are more or less "growing" pains. Sally and I are not so convinced but respect their expert opinion. Right now they are going to watch and wait. Which I agree, is better then putting her through more blood work and test. She did test positive for a marker that is linked to lupus and arthritis. However, she doesn't have enough symptoms to make the doctors believe something else is going on. She goes back in March for a follow up visit.

We had a nice day when we went to Riley's. We took the kids to the zoo. Kaitlyn really enjoyed looking at all the animals. Zachary had a good time as well but was disappointed because he didn't see many turtles. Also, he wondered why zoos don't have turtle shows. More about that in another blog.

Today was the day for my colonoscopy. It was the best one so far. It was the best one so far because we canceled it. More insurance woes. I really miss having HMO. I didn't have to go through all the hassles that we are dealing with now. Routine colonoscopys are covered 100% by my insurance. Mine isn't considered routine since I had a tumor. Even if they found a polp it wouldn't be considered routine any longer. Now it's considered a procedure. Procedures have a $250 co-payment. I feel like I am being punished by my insurance company for having cancer. First it was the pump not being covered and now this. I will have the colonoscopy done but I am going wait until January. In November, my work has open enrollment for insurance and we can switch insurance plans. Hopefully, there will be one that will be more accommodating for me. Right now it feels my insurance company would rather have me die from cancer instead of helping me with my care. Now I am wondering if I am going to be charged $250 for having the wax taken out of my ears. I was told to go to the ENT Doctor before I got retested at work( I failed miserably the first time).

I had my cat scan over a week ago. It left me a little nervous because the tech needed to take some more pictures after viewing the X-rays. I found out later that is very normal which eased my mind. I go Thursday for the bi-weekly Avastin treatment and received a phone call that my doctor wants to discuss the results of the cat scan with me that day to.I am nervous about this one. I will keep everyone posted on the results. In the meantime, I will be a cooking up another post and praying a lot.

Ozz Fest

Yep that's right. I went to the Ozz Fest. Not the Wizard of Oz fest but the Ozzie Osborne one. I have always been curious to go but I have never seen Ozzy perform live. Michael was given tickets (Thank you Ron) for the concert. Poor kid couldn't find anyone to go with (at least that is what I think even though he said that's not true) and asked me to go with. Motley Crue as well was playing too so I was excited to go. There were a lot of other bands with strange names. Which will remain nameless.

When we first got there we pulled up next to a car that had two stuffed animal in the Driver and passenger seats. I thought that to be quite odd. Michael and I just sat there staring.(I know its not polite to stare, but you had to see this). All of a sudden they started to move about. I was thinking man this is crazy. I could only imagine what must be going through Michael's teenage head. Then I saw his face,with the look of I think we need to go NOW! They started to remove themselves from the car. " No way," I thought. Then they started to what looked like talk to each other. They looked like a Care Bear experiment that went terribly wrong. There hair was very tall and red. They were both wearing hairy looking shoes/boots, that went up to there knees. A rubber band for shorts and a plastic grocery bag for a shirt. That is when they noticed us staring. I quickly picked up something that can posed as a cell phone,acting like I was talking on it. Little did I know it was one of Kaitlyn's dollies. So who is the goof here. Michael and I slithered out of the car hoping not to encounter them again unless we went to the zoo.

We finally went inside and walked around to gawk at the scenery. Surprisingly the crowd looked half and half, half drunk or half high. All ages ,shapes and sizes were there. There people there almost twice my age, at least that's how they looked (hard life I guess). Oh and the sweet smell of ,that smell.I can't quite figure out what it is, but I smelled it before. It seems it always at these musical get togethers with a lot of people. The more people the stronger that sweet smell. I'm thinking its a reaction to all the different perfumes and colognes in the air floating around. I then noticed this crowd forming just to the side of us and people snapping pictures, not sure of what at this point. I moved closer to the location of the commotion, thinking Ozzy came out to say hi to everyone. I got closer and people started parting the way for me (they must know who I am). I made to the destination and I immediately said "OH HEEEEEEEL NO". Needless to say it wasn't Ozzy or anyone else performing. It was the Care Bears and people were taking there picture like they were the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders. I quickly put my arm over my face because I didn't want them to recognize me and run after me.

Michael and I then went somewhere else to check things out. We saw a circus tent and decided to check it out. It was human oddities and we had to check this out. They had a guy who swallowed swords and he also let you staple money to his body. Depending on the denomination you can put it on different parts of his body. I thought of a spot but, didn't have that kind of money. There a midget lady who danced on glass, no comment, another guy who was able to put his body through a tennis racket. I could barely remember when I was able to do that. I think I was about 6 months old. The highlight of the show was a scantily clad lady who danced around. I think her special talent was she was a scantily clad lady who danced around. I paid 5 bucks to see that, I could have gone to parts of Gary to see the same thing for free. I got to see the most famous oddity of them all, the Cat man. Cat man was featured in a lot of shows including Ripley's. His face is totally tattooed looking like a cat and his teeth were grinded down to be pointy like a cats. I like turtles but, your not going to see me shaving my head,wearing a turtle shell from a hapless turtle, laying on a log naked and eating raw fish.

This blog is getting long so I am going to end it soon.The main acts like Ozzy and Motley Crue did a good show. Ozzy actually did better than expected. I thought he would be stumbling around the stage. He did not fall off the stage not once or forget his words. Thanks for reading and Bless you all.

A Tale Between Two Families

This summer we went to two family reunions. As I sat at the latter one I pondered the similarities and differences between the two families. I will never say which family is better. That is just down right mean. I will share my observations so you as a reader can make in informed decision on which one you think is better.

The first one we attended was for my mother's side at my brother Mike and his family's house. He and his wife have been gracious enough on many summers to host the family reunion. So the setting is in their air conditioned house with a huge display of delicious food set up in a bug free home (for the most part). The outside has a little lake for those who want to go fishing or turtle hunting, a pool, a swing set, bag game or as they call it corn hole. There is also clean bathrooms and a pool table and air hockey game in the basement. Along with nice comfy couches and a large TV. Not that it really matters because we are outside for the most part. Mainly in the pool.

Sally's family reunion is on her mom's side. It is a yearly thing. Done on her grandmother's birthday no matter what the day falls on. It is held at a park. It's under a pavilion.It always begins at 3pm but we never get their until after 5ish. Usually the kids are in school at that time so we make sure their homework is done first. There is a huge set up with what appears to be delicious looking food. We don't eat because it's usually hot out and the food has been sitting out for awhile when we get there. Plus Sally does not eat outdoors because of the bugs and there is often times we see flies on the food. There is lake for fishing but you have to pay for fishing. We have to pay to get into the park as well. At least it is only 5 minutes away from home as for my brother it's a 45 minute drive. At the park there are 2 play areas which is away from the food. One of us has to go and watch the kids (it's usually me).

I will admit I don't spend a lot of time with Sally at my family reunion. I am busy playing corn holes, talking among relatives, sneaking food when Sally isn't looking and trying to avoid the look.When she turns and is talking to someone, I will cleverly make two plates. One is healthy food the other is sweets. I will put the plate of sweets by someone,so she will think its their's.The perfect plan, it works every time. Hey,what a minute, never mind. I was just kidding. Every time I do see Sally she is always talking to someone so I am not worried about her feeling uncomfortable. My family is very out going and easy to talk with.

Sally's family reunion always involves her Aunt Barbara and her children and grandchildren. I think she said her aunt had 10 kids. There might be a cousin or two from the other families thrown in there somewhere. When Sally's sisters go they usually sit and talk among themselves. This year the sisters were not there. Which made it for no one except for me for Sally to talk with. At least that is what I thought. I wondered off with Zach for a bit to look for turtles and Sally was at the play area with Kaity. When I went to the play area Sally was a little peeved at me because she couldn't mingle with her cousins because she was watching Kaity. So I stayed and she walked back to the pavilion. I was bored and I went to spy on her. I saw her in the pavilion. Sitting at a picnic table and talking with NO one. Yes you heard me nobody. The pavilion was filled with her cousins but she was talking with NO one. Just sitting at a picnic table all by herself,talking to no one! She got irritated with me because she wanted to sit alone and talk to NO one???? As for my family reunion we are there for several hours but for Sally's we stayed there maybe 2 hours.

Like said I would never judge the two families. Just stating the facts.
Thank you for reading and God Bless.

Current updates

The blog started to keep my family and friends updated about my health condition. How has it turned into the "Ceiga's Circus Life" I never know. I know everyone is more interested about my life them they are with me, Which I know I am a boring old man. Sally keeps telling me I do not have to write "I am doing well but tired" in every post. She did mention that once in awhile to write about current updates. I hope that is OK with all my fans.Unless you like reading "I am doing good but tired all the time" then let me know.

Big drum role everyone............. I am doing well but still tired all the time. I will be having a CT done in the next couple of weeks. I still have to schedule it. I will let you know the date. I have a colonoscopy scheduled for October 4th. Kaitlyn has an appointment in Indianapolis tomorrow(the 21st) with the rheuthmologist. We are actually making a day out of it. Taking Zachary with us and going to the Indy zoo before her appointment.

Because of Kaity's appointment I will have 5 days off from work in a row. That's a vacation for me. It's been probably at least a year I had that many days off in a row. I did manage to hang up a book shelf I was going to do 3 years ago and other odds and ends that needed to be done. I also have new blog material to write. Boy do I have a good one coming. It's not that I look for blog material it always finds me. Living with Sally and the kids help. It helps a lot. I really appreciate them more and more each day for that.

Please keep in your prayers my dad. He had out patient surgery this past Thursday. Everything went well. He has to take it easy and no driving for several weeks. That is going to be hard on him. He is the type (unlike me) that always has to have something to do and does not like staying at home.

Hope everyone has a great week.
Thank you for all your well wishes. I am greatful for that.

Found My Lost Love

Another adventure we had this summer, was taking the kids to Indiana Beach. Honestly, it wasn't something I was looking forward to, but I was looking forward to seeing the smiles on my little ones' faces and spending the day with the family. The heat and rides isn't my idea of fun though. I use to be a wild man when it came to rides. I would ride all of them and never feel queasy. Now that I am older I can't handle them as well. My kids on the other hand. love rides. Even when they have the most serious look on their face as they spin around and they become pale after they hop off it's always followed by "Again!, Again".

I did go on one roller coaster with Zach. It was either going with him or going on a spinning ride with Katy. The roller coaster I knew would be easier for me to handle. So instead of the queasiness,I came off with whip lash. Now, I knew as the day went on I had to reevaluate my discussion's or convince Sally to make better ones for me. We did manage to pick one of the hottest days of the summer to go. We kept filling up on drinks. As I stood around bored waiting for the kids and Sally to get off the ride, and looking at the clock on my phone wondering if we stayed here for a total of 4 hours if the kids would mind. Then I looked up and couldn't believe my eyes. There it was, the sign that I have sought for , for over 25 years The rare and elusive"Dog-n-Suds" sign. I haven't been to a "Dog-n-Suds since the one I worked at closed in the mid 80's I have had many sleepless nights dreaming of the scrupcious Coney Dog. I have been to Indiana Beach before but never saw Dog-n-Suds there. Sally must have seen it and led me a stray. Oh my I was positively hippity, hop pity, skippy by now. I would have clicked me heels but, peoople were staring at me by that point. Dog-n-Suds was my very first job. I loved their food. I was very upset when they closed down and the building was torn down. It has been over 25 years since I had one of the most delicious Conney dogs. Did I mention that already? Then I remembered the kids were having fun on the rides and Sally doesn't eat hot dogs. I would sell this to them. I needed to be clever and charming. When the kids and Sally came walking towards me after the ride, I told Sally we should take the kids to eat. The kids didn't seem that hungry but she did agree(score one for me). She mentioned about getting them some bread sticks and I told her there is a restaurant right here as I pointed. She looked up and saw the sign and I knew she wasn't happy but she agreed(score two). We walked in and I couldn't wait to share this experience with my kids. Corny dogs was my very first love. We went to the counter and I ordered 2 corny dogs. I would have order at least 4 if Sally wasn't with me. Then Sally orders fries and my kids well...... they both ordered dots. Dots the ice cream! Come on! They can go to the mall and eat dots but this was once in a life time chance to have a corny dog, but they were not open to that at all. Everyone did order root beer which made me feel a tad better. When we sat down to eat I couldn't believe my eye. We received two extra corny dogs.( He throws the long one and touchdown) 2 EXTRA!!!!!! It was a sign from heaven. I'm gonna be OK. The kids enjoyed their dots, I was loving my 2 dogs, and Sally's Cheese Fries were terrible.(Fumble) I told her that Dog-n-Suds didn't have Cheese Fries when I worked there, that is why they were terrible. You have to have something there know for. I really didn't feel so bad about the fries( she'll have to learn) because my corny dogs were so dang delicious. So on the tray sat the 2 extra lonely corn dogs. I tried playing cool. Asked Sally if she wanted one which I knew was a no. Then asked Katy and she said no to but Zach did not fail me. He ate one and he loved it to. By the way the I couldn't let the extra one go to waste so I finished that one(Game winner).

After that, I was a happy man. The kids wanted to go on the water log ride so we went as a family. The lady that was working the rides was an older woman. She looked very grumpy and you could tell she hated her job. We went on the log. Zach and I sat on the front half. When the log went down really fast I lifted up my hand and nooooooooooooo I knocked Zachs Cubs cap off. When we got out of log we looked for the cap. A lady told us it's in the water and if we wait it will becoming down the stream shortly and soon there was the Cubs cap floating in front of us. I quickly bent over and snached it right up. While I was saving the Cubs, but not there year, the worker started yelling at me. I walked away and said it's a Cubs cap and it was worth the sacrifice. The kids wanted to go right back on and I was to chicken to face the crab again, besides I had to use the facilities. So Sally took the kids as I stayed behind and guarded the cap. After they were done the kids walked back almost in tears. As they were getting on the log the crab yelled at Sally. She said what I did was very wrong. I am sure Sally didn't keep quiet. In fact after the altercation, Sally found a manager and complained. The lady is lucky I wasn't there. I would have laughed and yelp with delight as this lady was getting tatooed from my wife and as I was getting escorted off the premises.(Goal for the mean lady)

We ended the day by riding the bumper cars like 20 times in a row. That is our mentality level, thinking its fun to ram our cars into other people and laugh when they get stuck and can't go. As we were walking out we just had to stop at the gift shop. Sally told the kids they could get one memento. Katy had no problem deciding. She quickly grabbed a pink Indy Beach cap. Zachary on the other hand took an hour to decide. During the process he accidentally knocked off a ceramic shaped boat soap dish . It landed on the floor in a couple of different pieces. I quickly told Zach that was his memento as stood there in embarrassment and tears. The kids put theirs things on the counter and I added mine. Sally gave me that face. Well.........I like mementos too. She handed everything back to me except for an Indiana Beach pen which I was allowed to buy. She did mention I have enough mementos from everyone else's trips. Since we can't afford to travel I live vicariously through others. I have a drawer full of collectible spoons others have picked up for me from their travels. I should display them and invent stories about all my travels.

On the way home we were trying to find a place to eat. By this time we were hungry. To make this day complete for me was dinner at Shakey's. Why in the world did they ever close Shakey's? I am still crushed 10 years later.Not as crushed as D-N-S. Sally googled and found one that was 200 miles away. I would have tempted if I knew they would be open when we got there. We stopped at a KFC because they had a buffet. When we walked in we heard "Sorry the buffet is closing". So we drove some more heart crushed and hungry. We found a truck stop that had a buffet. We ate and left hungry and heart crushed again because it was terrible. It took almost three weeks for my belly ache to go away(score for Sally,game over).

Thanks for reading my blog and God Bless.

A Day at the Beach

It was a day at the beach but no picnic in the park.

One Sunday, we decided to take the kids to the air show in Gary after church. This is our second time to go. The first time we went Zachary was 1. We didn't stay very long because Michael was more interested in the food and Zach was more interested in how much sand he could throw at Sally. We were hoping this time would be a tad better.

This time we decided to park at the beach and from there take the shuttle to the other beach where they were flying at. When I went to pay the parking fee the gentleman at the gate told me that we would be able to see the jets from our location. The kids were happy because they have been wanted to go to the beach all summer long. Then they realized they didn't bring their swimming suits and cries were followed. Giggles were followed after the cries when my wife and I knew bathing suits were secretly shoved in a very over sized purse. The adults (being my wife and I) had decided earlier that morning we were not going to go in the water. Sally told me I should wear shorts so I could be quote more comfortable unquote. So I did, which was my mistake. Sneaky wife. She keeps following in Eve's footsteps and I continue to be the loyal gullible Adam.

Zachary had been asking for a couple of years if we could take them to the beach. The first and last time he had went was with his Aunt Stacie when he was 3. Obviously, this was Katy's first experience at the beach. At first she was fascinated with all the sand and Zachary drove right into the lake. Then Kaity discovered the water and loved that as well. Did I mentioned we went to watch the air show. Apparently, the kids forgot as well. For they barely noticed the jets that were flying above their heads. Zachary look another jet coming. Yeah , OK thanks Dad. Back to his turtle shaped sand sculpture. Zach a turtle plane, look over there! "Where Dad Where, show me, show me NOOOOOOW !"' Oh, I'm sorry Zach, you missed it, hee hee hee" ."Maybe next time "hee hee hee ". While I was trying to watch the jets the kids kept going from the water to the sand. Both couldn't make up their minds on what they liked best. We had to tell them several times not to run. Then when we were about to scream it again, Zachary made sand fly as he was running all over a family that was sitting near the lake. I think that was the first time in my entire dad hood where I wanted to disown my child. I said, "Lady you really need to control your kids better",than I walked. away . Not forever but at least for the day. I looked back to see Sally staring at me. At least I think it was her. It was hard to tell with the hot sand resonating off her skin, made her look like a fire ball. Luckily, the family was nice about it. At least they seemed nice. I am sure when we walked away they talked about us for awhile. I know I would have not been to happy if I was them.

After we found another area to be at ,we decided it was best, after that, to keep the kids in the water. Sally was with Katy but Katy decided she wanted to go further in the water. The problem was, Sally wore pants that were folded up to the knee. However, I had the shorts on because she told me to. Now I realize she is evil and plans my every move even when I don't realize it. So I grabbed Katy's hand and went further into the water with her. Then I realized I had the car keys, wallet, and cell phone in my pockets. I went to turn around to hand them to Sally and poof she was gone. I was a little annoyed. My feet were killing me because of the rocks. The chemo made my feet very sensitive and walking on the bottom of the lake was very painful. I need to buy a pair of water shoes for the next time I go.

I gathered the kids out of the water so we could find my wife. It didn't take long when we saw this huge glow coming from where we had our towels and blankets at.There was a crowd that was forming there. There was a glow that was blinding, then I realize the glow was coming from my very very white wife laying on the blanket. Maybe the crowd thought she was a crash landed UFO. So me being the loving husband that I am had to say," Don't be afraid she comes in peace". She didn't think that was very funny but, I did and that is all that mattered to me. Not only is she pasty white she was laying there with her jeans on. It was a funny site to see. I should just leave it at that so you would think Sally is really bad. The truth is, she was not feeling well that day. She had been fighting a sinus infection for a few weeks this summer. It was still funny to see her laying there. Everyone around her tanned and wearing bathing suits and shorts then there was her. To this day I still laugh about it and she still doesn't know what was so funny.

The kids had a great time. They never mentioned a word about the jets though. I enjoyed watching the jets. It was awesome to have a front view. As the beach was clearing out by people it became infested by seagulls. We took it as our sign to vacate as well.

Thanks for visiting and thanks for all the prayers and thoughts,

It's Not like its Hiroshima, or even Nagasocki!!!

First off I have had two of the Preventative infusions,since taking about a month off. I don't have the normal chemo anymore.So now I am only there for about 1 and a half hours as compared to about 4 and a half before.Now I don't have enough time to watch all my court TV shows. As far as the side effects go, I don't really have anything major except I got really sleepy during the session. I felt some fatigue as well when I was at work but,still managed pretty well.

Warning this entry might be offensive to some or even to most or all. If you continue to read you are advised that you are reading at your own risk.

Most of the time I do not have a clue what I will write about until I actually sit down and write. The other day while we were in the car I announced "It's not like its Hiroshima!" and Sally thought it would be a good title for a blog. In order to use it as a title I need to explain why my comment was warranted. Do I dare explain is the other question I am pondering at this very moment. For I know if I elaborate, this posting will take a turn, a turn that might make a few never want to read by blog again. But then again, do I even have a few readers? I am a guy and I really don't see the up coming subject matter to be offensive. For the average person does this about 14 times a day( yes,I actually looked this up for this blog).So don't ever think you won't learn anything be reading my blog. You may want to wash your hands after reading this blog. Here it goes.

So the other day, I was in the car with the family. All of a sudden I heard an "ewww", followed by "grossssss"and then topped off with "Daaaaaad!". I am thinking so what's the big deal I farted. It's not that bad and that is when I replied "It's not like it's Hiroshima".

So I decided to be brave and dedicated this blog to farts. With a little, OK a lot of encouragement from my wife. Maybe if more people talk about it, it wouldn't be so embarrassing when it happens. Just like in America burping is impolite and frowned upon but in other countries it's an compliment. Maybe I can start a new trend.

I never understand why people over react when I pass gas. I don't mind the smell of mine. I guess they don't mind me either because when I try to walk away the smell always follows me. I once had an incident at work where I leaked one out( I mentioned this in an earlier blog). Everyone blamed the other person while I remained hidden and laughed at the commotion I had caused. Then there was the time when Sally (who was pregnant at the time) vomited in the hallway after an encounter with my ghostly fumes. I felt really bad at the time but, did get over it quickly. Why dwell on it?

I thought about it for awhile and realized each person in my family has their own way of releasing themselves. I will start with my mom. I can because she doesn't read this blog that often and if anyone in my family tells on me they are subjected to me writing a dirty secret about them on a future blog. So my mom.... Here is the best way to describe hers. Take your hands and slap them together like a quick clap.Not to be confused with the clapper they sell on TV. She does this all with no special gadgets involved. That is exactly what she sounds likes it.

I can always tell with Sally because hers is always followed by a giggle. Unless we are out in public then the giggling is replaced by a red face and a quick pace..

Then there is Michael. Not sure if you really want to know about Michael. Michael laughs when he hears the word "fart". All you have to say is "fart" and Michael will laugh. Yep, at almost 20 years old he will laugh at the word "fart". Michael has no shame when it comes to this subject matter. You can hear him from another room in the house. If for chance he has the urge and you are in the same room with him, you will see him lifting up a leg before hearing a "rumble". Usually in the direction of Zachary's face. Followed by Michael I'm going to get you. Usually Zachary does what the do on to others as they have done to you,and he does with pride.

Now there is Zachary. Zachary has mastered this skill. He takes after his dear old dad and I am proud of him. He is silent and someone else is usually blamed for his. Or sometimes he is blamed for mine. Ir's kinda like a game with us. I usually win.

Katy is more like her mother. She laughs and announces "I farted". She takes pride and ownership with what she has accomplished.God Bless her.

In case you are wondering I have not ran out of material to write. I was thinking about how I could make the title my wife chose fitting for the blog. So if you were offended or disgusted blame Sally.

I have a question that maybe some of you would like to put your two sense in on. Why when Sally yells at Kaity, Kaity says " Mommy is mad at me ""sob sob". When I yell at her,for usually the same reason its," Daddy is mean""!@#%$^?**&^%$#." I don't get this and probably never will.

Thanks for visiting and God Bless you all

Pierogi Fest veruses Corn Roast

This summer we were not able to take a family vacation. Not that we have ever taken a family vacation but it sounded better saying it that way. We tried taking the kids to different things this summers. Places they haven't been before. Somethings I haven't done before either.

One place we took them was to the Pierogi Fest. To be honest I was looking forward to the food but not the fest itself even though I have never went before. On the way there we kept seeing signs for PR Fest. I was thinking Public Relations? I thought it was a little weird to have that type of fair especially in East Chicago Indiana, but stranger things have happened. I drove on pass the signs listening to my new "Kings of Leon" CD when I noticed a car with a Puerto Rican flag hanging from it. I told Sally whats with all the cars with these flags on them. Just then Sally started to laugh .Whats the problem,ooooooooooooooo never mind.I guess I was just thinking about all the Pierogi's I was going to devour and all the buttery goodness that will drip on my freshly pressed shirt. I later thought about going to Wal-mart on my way home and get a huge American Flag for my car. Then we can up to a 4 way stop lights and saw a line of cars with Puerto Rican flags hanging from them and thought otherwise.I might be a little slow but eventually I do catch on to things or Sally helps me to catch up to speed. I know the Sally helping me part is scary too.

We finally made it to Whiting to the Pierogi Fest. Of course my dear wife had to start making Polish remarks about me. Even though I am not Polish. Slovak is nothing near being Polish ,I told Sally . We finally get there and the food lines were really long. A guy could starve waiting in these lines. There was lots of vendors though. We finally got our delicious food( fried mac and cheese) and pierogis. Wait I only had one pierogi and the one I had was good. Katy took over the pierogies and ate them all. It was hot and the kids were miserable. I was kind of glad because walking around and looking at food booths was kind of boring and I figured we would eat and leave. It would be different if each booth gave out free samples then I would be at my glory but seeing almost every booth selling pierogies is ludicris to me. As we continued walking there was a sign for a craft sale. Yikes! There was no way to hide the sign from Sally. So we ended up walking around there. The kids were miserable and complaining so she didn't look very long and bribed them and me too with desert if we behaved. So on the way out there was a booth for chocolate covered fruit on a stick. I love frozen bananas dipped in chocolate so that was an easy choice for me. Katy wanted strawberries. She took one bite of her then a bite of mine and then the next think I know she took over the entire banana. Oh she did manage to save a forth of it for me, without the chocolate of course. Which by that time was squishy and slimy.

I went to school at Bishop Noll and spent time in East Chicago because of family and friends. On the way I decided to drive past some of the areas I would hang out. Sally was annoyed when she finally after a half hour of my driving we weren't close to being home. That is what she gets for snoozing in the car.

I have never been to a corn roast before. Sally said she had went to a few when she was younger. I was looking forward to it. Especially when I found out the ticket price included unlimited corn. I love corn on the cob and so does my little ones. It was a corn lover's dream come true. The corn was really sweet. I have to have butter and salt on my corn but this time there was no reason for the butter. It also came with 2 hots dogs or sausages but I really wouldn't have cared if I didn't get one. My family and I sat on bleachers eating our corn and watching everyone else at the picnic tables eating theirs with bits and pieces of corn on there faces.There was corn pieces flying everywhere and that was just where we sat. There was this older couple sitting behind us. It was a great experience. If I never go back to the Pierogi Fest I will live. However, I must go back to the Corn Roast every year until I die or until I lose all my teeth.

I took over a month off from infusion treatment. I started back today. I will only be getting Avastin and no more pump. From what I read it can still make me tired but It won't cause the other side effects( I still have the tingling in my hands and my feet are very sensitive). Not sure how long the infusions will be. I am hoping it will only be for a couple of hours. I will blog again sooner then this time. Lots of stories to tell.
Take care and God Bless you all!

Up date on me

It's been awhile since I posted. I have been enjoying summer with my family. Zachary started school last week and I have a feeling things are going to start getting crazy around here with us trying to juggle everything. One good thing (at least I hope it's good) I am not receiving chemo any longer. If I knew how to do a cart wheel I would be doing them all the time. I am so over joyed not having to wear the take home pump any longer. Originally, I had until February for chemo but because of insurance coverage caps the take home pump was no longer covered. There were other options but my oncologist felt comfortable with me ending treatment now. I am still going in every 2 weeks for Avastin infusion. Avastin is just a preventative medication so the side effects are mild. I go in September for a CT scan and will still be having scans every 4 months.

Today I am off. Once again (Yeah!) I found a way to avoid my honey to do list. Michael was given tickets to the Oz Fest and invited me to go with. I hope I don't cramp his style having his old dad at his side. I have a feeling though,, he is going to cramp my style though having my lad at my side while I rock to Motley Crue. By the way,thanks Ron for the tickets, I feel really bad (cough cough) you couldn't go. I actually would have felt a little bad for you if I wasn't going to be benefiting from it.

Sorry no funny stories about my family or a long blog to make you tired and help you sleep. Don't fret there will be plenty to come.

Enjoy your day!
God Bless
Bill

The Big Sleep Over

I am still alive and doing well. Nothing new to report about my health. I have been busy working and have been picking up extra hours to help pay the bills.

We had a big event at our house last week. Zach and Katy were invited to spend the weekend with their Aunt Dawn and Uncle Dave. Dawn is my big sister and their God mother. When we asked the kids if they wanted to go they were both jumping and screaming with joy. I wanted to do the same but I knew my wife wouldn't find it so cute since she always has a hard time parting from the kids. I on the other hand look forward to the alone time with Sally. It proves that I love her more then she loves me.

Friday, the kids and Sally packed their bags. It looked like they were packing for a week stay. I was thinking to myself that was good. Maybe I would get lucky and the kids would have that much fun and my sister would enjoy them that much to keep them awake. After the kids were packed we took the kids to one of their favorite places to eat, Panda Express. When we got home, Katy took her suit case and sat on the porch outside waiting for her ride. Zach on the other hand started crying and kept saying he didn't want to go. Dawn and Dave were on the way here. They were coming from Illinois and were stuck in heavy traffic. It took them 2 hours to get here so Zach was going with them if he wanted to or not. We figured once he is with them he would be fine. We ended up meeting them by Teibels to hand over my pumpkins. On the way there Zach sobbed. Sally and I were trying to be silly and make him laugh but it didn't help. Once we got there, Zach sat on Sally's lap and cried.We gave him my cell phone and told him he could call us when ever he wanted.He seemed a little better. We sent him on his merry way with his aunt and uncle. Katy on the other hand. said "bye" and jumped into their car without looking back. When I drove off I almost had to take a double look. I thought Zach was back in the car when I heard crying, it was my wife. At that point I felt a little bad because I was happy and felt like dancing the jig being a free man without kids for awhile.

I am not naming names but who ever was the master mind of giving Zach the cell phone was a fool. Zach called us about an hour later. Then there was no phone calls for a couple of hours because he went to a Hip Hop party at their church. When they got home, the sad and pathetic phone call began. Zach kept calling crying. He sounded very pathetic. We knew if he made it through the night he would have a fun day on Saturday. I have to admit even though this might damage my manly ego, I did miss not having the little ones in bed. The phone calls continued but we thought it would be better not to answer. So instead, Zach left us the saddest messages ever. We knew once he fell asleep he would be fine. Wrong! 4:45am he called crying again. This time he said Katy was awake crying too. If she was awake crying it was because he woke her up and he was crying. Sally told him to lay back down with her so she could fall asleep. The next phone call we got the kids were happy and excited to be going to the water park. The phone calls thereafter were from 2 happy kids. Even though Zach was happy again he still wanted to come home that night. When I got off work, Sally and I went to Olive Garden for dinner. It was so wonderful to go out for dinner without the kids. The food was really good as well. I talked about the delicious dinner all the way to my sister's. I had Chicken Parmesan and Sally had the Egg Plant Parmesan.They were both excellent.

When we got to my sister's and I knocked on the door in anticipating for the little ones to run and jump on me and hearing the words "I love you and miss you daddy". I heard little feet running before the door opened. Katy ran out and jumped on........... Sally. She had nothing to do with me. Every time I tried to touch her or talk to her she got mad. As soon as we got in the car both kids were talking about how much fun they had. They had a blast at the water park. Zach met a friend and talked all about her. They both talked about how good dinner was. They both loved the chicken and the corn on the cob that was on the grilled. Zach wants Sally to make chicken and corn on the grill like Uncle Dave did. I was a little upset to find out they had ice cream cake for desert and Dawn didn't offer me any. Before we made it to the express way Katy had fallen asleep. Zach continued to talk all about his adventure. A little while later it got quiet in the car. I turned around and saw Zach's sleeping as well. Kaity was so exhausted she didn't wake up until 9 the next morning. Zachary slept until 11.

The next morning when Katy woke up the first words that came out of her mouth was "I want to go to Aunt Dawn's". It continued through out the day. Now she says she wants to go to Aunt Dawn's with mommy. At mass on Sunday Katy started clapping during a song. She must had picked that up at Dawn's church, It was cute but know one else was clapping. I am glad they kids had a lot of fun. Thanks Dawn and Dave for being brave enough to take them.

I have to admit it was nice to get a break from all the turtle question. I am sure you must be thinking I am over exaggerating about the turtle questions. Believe me I am not. Here is an example. This morning I was woken up by the following questions"
Dad....... "Which is the slowest turtle?" "What turtle is the smallest?"'What is the fastest turtle?" "Do turtles have belly buttons?'" "Do turtles grow there arms or legs first?" "Do soft shelled turtles shell's get hard when they die?" "How do turtle's hold their heads? Up high? Down low?" "What kind of turtles did you have?" "Did you ever feed turtles people food?"Are there yellow turtles, red turtles orange turtles, the questions went on and on.

Zachary went to day camp this week which put a hold on the turtle hunt. I am going to take him Saturday morning so I am sure I will have a lot to write about.I was just informed that Zach doesn't want to go to his day camp next week. He wants to go turtle hunting all week,ARRRRRG.

Turtles, turtles, turtles

One must take time out for the little things in life like writing in my blog. I am doing well. I feel about the same as I normally do which is tired all the time. I started to get cramping in my hands again for a couple of days as well. I am sure if you are checking my blog, it's to hear about me complain how I feel. Even though the blog started off to keep an updated on how I was doing. Has now evolved into embarrassing ramblings about my family, myself, and others who I have encountered along the way.

I spent the last two weeks working midnights. Friday morning was my last midnight for two weeks. I went to bed Friday morning thinking about having almost a 4 day weekend. Looking forward to a few hours of sleep first before the fun began. Sally was fighting another headache and laying in bed with me. The kids were up destroying the house. I heard Katy go in the room and get Sally. A little bit later Sally was back in the room waking me up. When I finally woke up enough to realize what was going on, I heard Zach crying and moaning. He was fine when I went to lay down but he said all of a sudden he got a sharp pain in his ear. He wanted to go to the doctor and didn't want to wait for Sally to get ready. My little boy was hurting and all I could think about was making him feel better. Less then 2 hours of sleep was enough for this super hero dad to the rescue. Sally went on line to check where I can take him since our family doctor wasn't able to see him. She told me to take him to an express care that was located in a small hospital. On the way there Zachary was groaning. I get there and drive around the hospital. I saw signs about express care but didn't see an entrance. We get out of the car and I walked inside to ask. I was told there was no longer an express care there. I told the nurse that she has to be kidding and that there were signs stating otherwise. I said its not like I was looking for the bread aisle at my local Stracks store(the official grocery store of Bill's life with cancer), but that I was looking for medical care for my son, that your hospital states outside that it could provide, "Sorry sir" seemed insignificant. I was frustrated and decided to take him to the Hammond Clinic. Not sure if the insurance will cover but at this point I didn't care. It seemed like forever just to have him registered. We sat there and waited for another 2 hours. With me sleeping( I am certain my head was bobbing and I was drooling and snoring) and Zachary sitting there with sporadic out breaks of moaning( like the moaning you hear from the beginning Scooby-Doo cartoons ) we were sight to be seen and heard. At last we were given prescriptions for Zach's inner ear infection. Once again my only goal was to making him feel better. I jumped on the express way to get to Walgreens as fast as I could. I knew only meds would help me achieve my goal of making my son get back to his old self (not sure if that's a good thing or not). As soon as I get onto the express way I realized it was backed up. I couldn't catch a break at all. Since everything I was doing was being defeated, I left it up to Zach if we should stay on or get off the next exit. He made the bold choice of getting off, I stayed on. Eventually we made it to Walgreens, had the meds filled and he was back to his self.

The other day I was doing some lawn work. Once again, Sally forced me away from my husbandly duties and demanded me to go shopping with her. Actually, she asked if I wanted to go and I needed to take a break. The first scenario sounded better though, because it makes her sound like a Brut and me a hard working husband . While we were running around I realized I was hungry. Seeing lots of restaurants usually provokes me to have a hungry stomach. We went through the Taco Bell drive through . Zachary wanted cheesy potatoes. We forgot they put sour cream on it and Zach does not and will not eat anything with sour cream. Sally gave Zach money and told him to go inside and order them without sour cream. Us being the good parents we are, sat in the car to eat our nacho supremes. A couple seconds later Zach came back to the car asking for more money. We gave him more money not realizing that we already gave him a little over a dollar (they are only a dollar and nine cents). and shooed him away so we could eat. He comes back to the car with a burrito in his hand and tears streaming down his face as he is saying that he's going to die, and that he is so hungry. He said they gave him a burrito instead of potatoes. Hence the reason why he came back for more money. How they got a burrito for cheesy potatoes minus the sour cream still leaves me confused. Although the burrito was beefy with potatoes and cheese,but hey no sour cream. With Zach being my main concern, I grabbed Sally's nachos and sent her inside to get my kid his cheesy potatoes minus the sour cream, damn it. By the way we still have the burrito in the fridge if anyone wants it.

Zachary has been fascinated about turtles. Endless questions about turtles he has been asking. Just when I think he asked every question possible he comes up with a new one. Zach is like me. When I was younger I loved turtles, snakes, birds, etc.... In fact I have a collection of books about them somewhere in the garage. After the shopping trip I decided it was time for me to go into the garage and try to find the books. Not an easy task though. There is some force of nature that happens in my garage. Like a huge magnetic force. Every time I clean out the garage everything seems to migrate to the front of the garage. It's so bad, that I can't walk in there without tripping over something. As I am pulling everything out of the garage the neighbor kids run back there to play with everything. After everything calmed down and the dust settled, I was able to scare the kids away. I was finally able to get into the totes. I found the totes with all the turtle books. Zachary was very enthused about the books. I took them in the house for him and continues to sort though the totes. I found a tote that was marked "legos" on it. Opened it up and it was full of legos. Zach's snatched up the box and ran off. We haven't seen him since. My awesome books took second place and now it's all about the legos. At least I don't have any more questions to be answering at this time.

Talking about Zachary getting into turtles and all the questions he was asking me. It really makes me feel good to know that he has such an interest in what I love. It really brings back the great memories I had being in the Calumet river up to my waist in polluted water. Oh the memories.... So any way, I took him and Katy to a lake in Merriville .On the way he was asking me all sorts of questions about the different ones that I have caught. One of the questions was "Dad what do turtles do?" My reply "They swim, They swim a lot." I thought that was a good answer. Zachary replied "OOOOOOH Dad, what do turtles drink?" I paused for awhile and said with most certainty "Margaritas!" His reply "OOOOOH,Whats a Margarita?" I finally replied "Zack, I was kidding. Turtles swim in lakes, ponds and rivers,etc... They drink the water silly boy." We are planning another excursion to happen soon. More funny stories I am sure to follow.

Take care and God Bless you all.

Wax anyone?

I need to get back into the habit writing my blog at least weekly now that we have a computer running thanks to Mr. Kern. So the last of couple weeks not much out of the ordinary has been going on. I have been feeling good. Tired but good. Sally read an article that said the tiredness from chemo can last years after the treatments. Goody, that was a breath of fresh air to hear. There has been a little friction in the Cummins/Ceiga house hold. My dear wife reminds me on how much work there is to do in the house. However, every time I decide to take on a task she sabotages it. For examples, I planned on mowing the lawn before work the other day, and she suggested I go with her to the mall instead, or last Sunday, when I was getting ready to put together the armour for Zach's room and she decided it would be a good day to take the kids to Fuddruckers, or the couple days later when I told her I was going to try in the evening to assemble it and she gathered the neighbor's and had a bon fire. Yet, I know it's going to be a matter of time she is going to start complaining about the things I still haven't done around the house. I can never win with her but what is a guy suppose to do?

As I am typing, I am thinking about all the the things I could be writing about. I decided on the most recent and will shortly write about the others. A couple of days before chemo I woke to a spinning room (reminds me of my younger days). I was dizzy and felt nauseated. As long as I remained still I was OK. I couldn't remain still thought because I had to leave for work in less then an hour. I managed to get to a point where I was able to get myself out the door and into the car. As the evening went on I felt better. Not sure what caused it. Sally thought maybe it was my ears since my ears have been bothering me sometimes. At my chemo appointment Sally mentioned about dizzy me and my ears as well. The doctor said he would check out my ears. I was waiting for him to say "Your ears are fine" or " You need to see an ENT specialist". I never expected the response I got though. As soon as the doctor looked in my ear he jumped back and almost fell out of his chair in shock. Which shocked me. He said I have so much wax build up he couldn't see into the canal. Both ears are like that. I turned to Sally and said "See, I really can't hear you", so I wasn't kidding. Which the doctor said that not hearing your wife is a married thing and not a wax thing. I said I know that but, she isn't suppose to. I was a little embarrassed by the reaction of the doctor and all the wax that are in my ears (I wonder if I have enough to make a candle or two). Sally was trying to comfort me by saying "At least it's wax and not a ear full of hair". That is one of my biggest fears is getting hair in my ears. I replied to her "There is to much wax for the hair to grow". I wasn't trying to be humorous but Sally and the doctor got a good laugh out of it.

Talk about laughing. Sally has asthma and sometimes when she laughs she sounds like smidley, that cartoon dog from my youth.The other night at the bon fire, for some reason Sally decided it was pick on Bill night. She shared some personal information about me which everyone thought was funny except for me. What was funny was the way she laughed. She has to catch her breath and has a delayed laugh in between her laughter. I couldn't help myself but to copy her. She didn't think it was funny but the neighbor next door, Laura did. I didn't think it was to funny of her story telling about me either. The other night after chemo, I was hungry and Sally and I went to Purple Steer at 1 in the morning. Her laugh came up again but this time she video recorded me with her cell phone and told me I had to watch myself make fun of her laugh. Well,,, while watching it I realized I am a very ugly man when I am trying to mimic her and I bet Laura is actually laughing at me, not because I am making fun of Sally but how I look doing so.

That is all for now. I have a lot going on in the next few days and a lot of stories to share. Hopefully, my next blog will be sooner.

Kaity's day in Indianapolis

Today we took Kaity to the long and awaiting appointment with a specialist at Riley's. They did a series of arm and leg stretches with her. Did a thorough looking over. Their conclusion was that she is my daughter and will have to live with that. Actually, they believe her not to have anything serious, except that her joints are loose and her hamstrings are to tight. The doctor said 15% of kids have this problem. They will have to live with it but, will have to do certain stretching and strengthen exercises to help make easier to manage( some do grow out of it). It was also recommended we get her into swimming, buy shoes with high arches, and have her take a warm bath before she goes to bed. They believe her previous labs was a false positive so labs were done again and hopefully this time the lupus results will be negative. We will get those results by a week from this Friday. She will have a follow up appoint in September.

The day as a whole was very enjoyable otherwise. The trip up was quick with no traffic(eat your heart out Chicago). Sally and I chose Riley's because, we knew the traffic would be a lot better. Riley's has more doctors offered to help with treatment plus there is always one on call. It has better accessibility to the facilities and the surrounding area has a lot you can do with the kids in a closer proximity to the hospital. Last but not least, when it comes to the best treatment, I want my kids to have the best and I and Sally thought Riley's to be the best after our thorough investigating of both Chicago and Indianapolis hospitals. I am only saying this because some people thought we made a mistake taking her to Indianapolis. Sally doesn't allow me to make mistakes. So I(we) know we made the right decision.

I was a nice experience for Kaity, because after every check-up and test she took there, she got a toy. I thought what the heck, after all the test, surgeries and check-ups I had, I received nothing (but the best medical care). If I was Kaity I would have my own toy store by now. I didn't say anything to her, because I didn't want to hurt her feelings.

A few weeks ago we all were going to Albanese candy store. I was driving along with family in tow. When I started to smell a very stinky smell. I casually looked to me right and there it was, A cattle hauler that hasn't been cleaned in weeks or months. I started to gag and swerve all over the road. There was a car in front of us, not allowing me to go past this diesel fart. I could just see the guy in the car ahead of us saying ,"look honey at that guy, what do you think is wrong with that drunk." He did finally move over and I flew by him as he and wifey were staring at me. We did have the air off and thought it safe to turn it on after being a mile down the road now,wrong. The smell finally went away just before we got to the candy store. I tell this story because it happened again, today. On the way to Indianapolis another cattle truck was pestering me. This time he got the best of me with the help of my loving? wife. Driving behind one you can't tell if its a cattle hauler or a garbage hauler. I started to smell this smell ooohh that smell. I looked at Sally and said not again. I went through the process of some more hacking and coughing. There wasn't anything to do because we were in a gaper and couldn't get around the stinky and smelly truck. I looked at Sally and said how am I going to get around this thing. A light bulb went off in her head and she preceded to turn on the AIR CONDITIONER.

I looked at her and said no way you didn't just do that, do what, try to kill me. My face had to of been beet red. This can't be happening to me, were is the damn camera. Finally some movement and we started to go a little faster. I felt like I wanted to go out and push some cars out of the way. I knew this would be stupid not because I knew I wouldn't be able to push any of the cars but, because I would be out with the enemy with no protection. I did finally get past the truck and maneuvered with the grace of a seasoned race car driver to save myself. I told Sally not to touch the air conditioner(ever) until we were totally out of harms way.

I will try and post a little more frequently. I have been very busy, sick and had computer issues. I have been doing very well otherwise except always feeling tired. Thank you all for all the prayers and kind words that I have been receiving. God Bless you all!!!