Here we are, back in Rochester again.  I tell you, we should have bought a condo for all the time we spend here.  Oh well, a little late for that I hope.

We arrived on Sunday evening and started appointments bright and early Monday morning.  Sunday night I noticed for the first time that the gums behind my lower right molar are bulging upward.  I'm certain that this is from tumor growth.  Perhaps it was there before and I didn't notice but it startled me.  I spent a sleepless night on Sunday worrying about how fast the tumor is growing.  I need to simply have more faith but sometimes doubts creep in.

Monday morning I was tired but feeling a little bit better.  One of the challenges that they are facing is deciding what is cancer and what is burned tissue from my former radiation treatment.  To help them decide they had be get a PET scan on Monday morning.  I was pretty sure this involved a cat or a rabbit but I was wrong.  Instead they hook you up with an IV and inject your body with radioactive glucose.  (They warn you in their instruction sheet that you will need a letter to fly in the next 24 hours as your body will set off airport detectors).  Anyway, you then lie in a dark room for an hour while your body absorbs the glucose.  I guess the idea is that cancer tissue will absorb more glucose than regular tissue.  Then they put you in a CT scanner and scan your body then you lay on this table full of radiation sensors for another hour without moving while it maps out where the radioactive isotopes have gone.  They then lay the map over the CT image.  In my case they needed me to stay absolute still so they bolted me to a table with this mask thing that they made for my face.  It was much tighter than the one made in Utah.  It was so tight that I couldn't move my eyelids.

Next we went over and had a core biopsy done of the area that was hard to distinguish.  I have a fair amount of nerve damage in that area so the pain was very minimal.  Every cloud has a silver lining

JoLynne and I together always

Our radiation oncology surgeon called back later in the day to give the results of the PET scan.  Gratefully no cancer in the lungs.  Some of the areas of question also appear to be cancer free.  One lymph gland in my throat had some suspicion.  The radiation surgeons have decided to include that area in the gamma knife surgery.  The biopsy results should be back on Wednesday.

So, today we have no appointments.  I think we will drive to Minneapolis and go to the temple.   Tomorrow the party begins.  I'm not too nervous, mostly just anxious to get things moving and to destroy this cancer once and for all.

Last week was supposed to have been our family vacation until my health altered our plans.  We had a few days between our visit on Tuesday and our return on Sunday so we decided to go camping close by.  We took our motorhome up to Wasatch mountain state park, about 40 minutes from our house.  Some of our children had to work so they came up when they could.  Shanelle and Vivian came along. Mike was at a nurse practitioner conference in Vegas.  It was only a few days but we enjoyed it.  Nice to sit around the campfire, go for a few walks, play games and just enjoy being together.  Hopefully we will be able to get out again sometime later this summer.

biopsy pending

Family at "Mecca" (Tillamook Cheese)

"Mohanna"

We are just home from our trip to the North West.  It was a wonderful trip.  So nice to have all of our children but one together and Grandpa as a bonus.  It was beautiful, sunny, cool and relaxing.  We also got to see Eileen and her husband Kelly.  Their home is lovely and Eileen seems so happy.  I still miss having her as an assistant in my office but seeing her so happy more than makes up for it.

Part way through the trip I was finally able to got my doctors from Mayo to talk to my doctor in Provo and agree on a biopsy.  It looks like it will be performed on this coming Thursday morning and I will get the results back on Tuesday afternoon.   A lot hinges on the results of that biopsy!

It's good to be busy so that I don't have too much time to think about things.  On Sunday the other counselor in the Stake Presidency was kindly asking me how I was doing and I said the first thing that popped in my mind, "I can't let tomorrows storm ruin todays sunshine"  I felt like those words were inspired and wiser than I am.  Everything will be okay, I am certain of that.  In the meantime I am very grateful for prayers offered in my behalf.

Behind every storm cloud the sun is waiting to shine forth