It has been a whirlwind of a year - Time is funny, in some respects this last year has flown by and in others, it feels like is has drug on forever.  1 year ago today our lives were forever changed with the news we received about Kevin's diagnosis.

In this year we have celebrated so many positive things:

Kevin's amazing response to treatment, his lack of debilitating side effects, and his continued positive outlook and drive to keep the monster tamed!

2 weddings - Kalyn and Garrett in August then Mason and Emily in December.  We didn't think we could be any happier with the additions to our family...

Until Kevin and I became GRANDPARENTS to the newest addition, Georgia King Rohan on June 4, 2022.  She is perfect -  Parents and baby are doing AMAZING!

Treatment updates:  

1.  December 28th Kevin had surgery with Dr. Clark the colorectal surgeon to determine what was going on - NO CANCER.  It was determined he has a fistula caused by the prostate biopsy.  She placed a seton drain and the hope is, the infection will clear and use the opening made by the drain to escape and the "wound" will heal from the inside - out.  

Fast forward to April 2022 (a few follow ups prior) but this most recent follow up with Dr. Clark - seton drain left in place and healing is going well, will recheck end of June but probably another surgery and removal of the drain will be the plan. 

2.  March was crazy - we all (Me, Kevin, Kalyn and Garrett) got hit with COVID.  I was patient zero aka "typhoid (COVID) Mary".  I got hit the hardest and was down for 2 weeks.  Kevin also got hit pretty hard but was able to get on anti-viral meds right away and only had 3 rough days.  Kalyn and Garrett had milder symptoms and in the end we all fared just fine!  

3.  From October (Kevin's last chemo) until March his PSA began to creep up - each month when we had the labs drawn it was a bit higher (we are talking hundredths of a point) but still not settled and our stress  level was raising at a much faster rate!  Dr. Cheng (oncologist) suggested starting a new med Nubeqa.  

Here is where I began a month of fighting with insurance - still floors me that a specialist can prescribe a medication and an insurance company with NO specialized knowledge can refuse it?  So messed up!  We battled with appeals from the Dr. of medical necessity etc... still denied.  We then  wrote to the company that makes the med to see if they could help - this medication costs $3K per pill and he takes 4 pills a day!!!  No way we could afford to do this.  We initially were denied by the pharmaceutical company for any help - then after the third or fourth appeal they granted us 1 full year of medication!  We are BLESSED!

There are other medications in the same class that he could have done, but the research on all of these meds showed over and over how difficult some of the side effects are.  We are working hard to balance quality of life and effective treatments - Nubeqa has given us just that - Kevin has had NO side effects and his first PSA after a month on it came back LOWEST EVER - we are riding this wave of good news and pray it lasts (forever)!  

The last few months have we have learned first hand what the saying "the circle of life" really means.  A very close and dear friend passed three days after our granddaughter was born. We have struggled with our emotions, trying to be happy and excited about the new life we welcomed and grieving the loss of life that we will forever miss. 

We are looking forward to summer, warmth and sunshine - lets hope we all don't mold before we see it!  We finally bit the bullet and are having AC installed - I am beginning to have second thoughts, wondering if it was money well spent... will we actually ever turn off the heat?? 

Wishing you all health and happiness -  Kevin and Michele