Hello folks,

Where the heck has the time gone??? Covid…am I right? I do not remember July at all as the whole month was 90+ degrees.

First of all, thank you all for the kind words, your thoughts and your prayers. Cancer continues to be a royal pain for me…but there are many, many other warriors who have either lost their battle or had it much worse than me. I am not complaining, but I am approaching dealing with this for 9 years (approaching the 10-year anniversary…which is freaking TIN! Or Aluminum…well…either way that sucks), so cancer has been an unwanted dance partner for quite a while. Whoda thunk a stupid grape-size tumor wrapped around your spinal cord could cause such a ruckus….dang…

As said before, I am an open book as far as what is going on. If you have questions, feel free to ask me anything. If someone that you know is dealing with cancer, and you feel they need a moron/survivor to talk to them about it, then I’m your man!

To my dear friends and family fighting their own C-fights: All the power and prayers to you! Let’s all beat this shit together!

So, here is the update for those of you who don’t know when to hit the eject button and move onto other websites:

This month, I am on my 6th treatment of Bendamustine/Revimid. It’s my last cycle of this with Bendamustine, as it really beats the snot out of one’s bone marrow…which bone marrow, I think, is needed to live (I’m no doctor, but I think that’s what I heard, or I saw it on Gray’s Anatomy).

These really (really) old treatments remain my silver bullet, as I found out two weeks ago, that I’ve been in remission for 3 months (Hey doc…thanks a lot for telling me THREE MONTHS after the fact!). This is my third jaunt into the remission thing…let’s hope third time’s a charm!

After this month, they will put me on some sort of maintenance plan to try to keep my levels low. Fun Fact: Right now, my cancer level is probably lower than anyone reading this! Bizarre, right?

So, for now, all is good. My right hip and its chewed up bone (due to cancer), is a source of almost constant pain, and has caused me to back out of America’s Got Talent as a solo Country line dancer, but whatever…If that’s my only complaint, I’m fine.

Unfortunately, before I get the hip replacement done, the doctors want me to go through Car-T therapy (DNA marker modifying to kill cancer cells, see previous posts for further info on this truly cool breakthrough). The reason is my reduced immune system will make healing from hip surgery a much longer ordeal than normal. If my cancer levels creep back up during this time and I have a wound not fully healed…no Car-T

But in order for me to be eligible to get the therapy, my cancer levels have to ramp up again…which means I drop out of remission…which is what they call a Catch-22.

My friends, co-workers, family and especially my wife Bonnie, remain my source of strength, and keep my desire to stay above ground and live life. As I believe: Everyday above ground is a great day…unless you are a laid off coal miner…

I have so many great people surrounding me, and I will soon be a grandpa yet again (Raegan is getting a brother!). So life is great.

That’s all for now folks. Keep up the kind thoughts and prayers and I will do that staying alive thing.

Much Love,

Rayban