It's been a while since I have posted, have not had a lot to update you with.  I have been doing quite well, still having some side effects but overall doing well.  My saliva production is limited, I get tired periodically, I still have some issues with spicy food (like good ole' ketchup....) but overall doing well.  The tumor on my neck is now very hard to find.

On January 7th I had a PET scan, it took a few days to get results, but Dr. Coster left a voice mail... It turned out GREAT, the tumor on my tongue shows no residual activity.  The mass on my lymph node is detected by the amount of sugars this area is consuming.  The goal at this point of my treatment is a value of 3.5 or so, with a value of 3 or below being 'normal', the level detected in my residual tumor is 2.  If there is still cancer that is very small it cannot be detected- but overall Dr. Coster is very pleased with the results of the PET scan.  YIPPEE!

We met with Dr. McKittrick, the Chemo Doc on January 7th.  My blood tests are mostly normal- with my white blood cell counts still low, but doing well considering the treatment I went through.  He is continuing to monitor blood levels periodically and we have ongoing visits with he or his staff over the next few weeks and months.  He said that my overall health will continue to climb to normal, specifically my saliva production should ramp up in another 6-9 months.

This news certainly overshadows so many things in Jess and my life- and we are so GREATFUL for this news.   We are also greatful for all of your support, prayers and well wishes!

Our house project is continuing to progress, with some slowdowns waiting for delivery of siding and insulation, but both have arrived in the last few days so Denton and his team now have plenty of work to do, and have started to work on the Hardy board siding. 

The roof and windows have been complete for some time, with the temporary exterior doors finally arriving after 4 weeks delay.  Insulation has begun today, as well as the solar system was completed today also- now waiting on the electric Co-op to come inspect the work and change out the meter to a 'Net' Meter so the system can go live. 

Our well and cistern are almost in operation, with leaks in the cistern pumping system needing to be repaired before the system can go 'live' full time.  We took water samples to a lab today for evaluation and discovery of what we will need to do for filtering and treatment of the water.

On the fun stuff-

My nephew Randy Stark and his wife Dedre came down to the Kansas Deer hunt for a few days.  Randy harvested a nice 8 point buck and I took a nice 10 point buck.  We also harvested a nice doe.  These three deer filled the refrigerator for aging while I was in South Dakota.  Jess and I estimate we put up 170 lbs of venison when I returned.  We had our friend Shane Rushik come down during the rifle season and he harvested two nice does.

I returned to South Dakota in mid December for another week of pheasant hunting.  The weather started out VERY cold (5-8 degrees), but warmed up through the week to 40's.  Ron Lee and I went up on Sunday and the two of us hunted until Wednesday when Keith Bowman, Dan and Andy Dale and Mike Hutchison joined us.  Having more guys was quite helpful, but the birds did not cooperate through the entire week- we harvested 12 Roosters total through the week.  It was tough hunting but we had a good time.  Ron brought his Labrador, Lucy, and I brought Sunny, Juno and Sadie.  All the dogs did well, with Sunny and Juno working amazingly hard- with pointed birds and great retrieves.  Lucy did very well also.  Poor Sadie has not figured out the pheasant hunting yet...she needs more birds to get up in front of her.  All four labs were related to our fine dog Milo... was great fun seeing his offspring at work!

My friend and neighbor Ben Weddle and I recently purchased 20 Chukar and worked our labs on them.  It was fun working them over two afternoons, then we have been enjoying Chukar dinners!

The Kansas Doe season has also been successful with Sam Bowman and his girlfriend LIlly coming down.  Lilly harvested her first deer. then they both came down the next weekend and we butchered and packaged their venison.  I harvested a nice young doe (a 'dessert' deer) a couple days ago and will try to harvest one more for my sister Bunny and her son Charlie.

So life is GOOD, and GOD is GOOD!  Praise he LORD for all the good things he blesses all of us with!