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 A blog of no uncertain musings. What goes on in my mind is often a source of wonder to me. |
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My mind and my life are wonderous things ... as are yours, I'm sure. I have more slips of paper and pages of notebooks with musings and thoughts than I really know what to do with. Someone, actually several someones, have suggested I start a blog ... or a journal as a means of focusing some of this mental energy. To be honest, I don't even know what the difference between a 'journal' and 'blog' is--or if there even is a difference. Read on, my friends, and you can judge for yourself whether it even matters. And so....  I'm JACE. Yep ... that's me! And somewhere in all my writings my last name may be posted. But I'll just leave it at Jace for right now. I'm 70 years old and heading full tilt to 71. It's strange that while I'm going through some rather serious medical issues, I still consider myself to be in the prime of my life--pretty good shape physically AND mentally, though I don't run for competition anymore  . I love to ... dang, if I put this stuff here, I won't have anything for my blog.Guess you just have to be patient until such stuff leaks out.  Perhaps 2025, having embraced my retirement, will see more participation in my journaling efforts. Well, one can hope.... |
| Every morning for the past 79 days, I've taken a walk as part of myn recovery from cancer surgery. I started walking around our acre and a half yard until going in circles got old. Then I walked the dirt road on which we lived. In both cases, I walked past a huge Mimosa tree in our front yard. This tree, full of blooms this year, spanned more than 70 feet in the shape of a large umbrella. It was very much a centerpiece in our yard. And every day as i passed it on my walk, I'd think 'I need to take a picture of this tree with the sun shining through the leaves and flowers. And every day, I'd pass it by, content with the aroma of the flowers. Yesterday, a huge thunderstorm blew through, high winds and almost 2 inches of rain in three-quarters of an hour. Now our tree looks like this:  No longer will it display that magnificent presence to everyone passing by. Only time will tell if it survives such a loss of limb. I shoulda taken a picture coming home from one of those walks. I coulda taken that picture very easily with my phone. I woulda taken that picture after my walk ... but I got busy. I always tell myself if I don't write it down, it doesn't happen. I relied on my memory to go back and take the picture. It didn't happen. Don't let such moments pass you by. |
| Have you ever started a writing project and finally gotten it to where you're ready to post it ... and a thought occurs to you that you can't seem to ignore? This thought is going to take you to a place in the project you hadn't considered. It will involve some additions, several re-writes, and much more time before you can post your desired document. Of course, this diversion cannot be dismissed; it will enhance your project. That's where I am with my project, So, You Want a New Kitchen. I figured I could explain the concepts regarding remodeling one's kitchen simply. But simply leads to more questions. It's like a Hydra--cut off one head and two more grow back. The project certainly won't get done with me writing here. Time to lay down the sword and pick up the pen. Later .... |
| My wife loves watching cooking shows, especially the ones that pit chefs against other chefs. I suppose that's most of those shows. Anyway, she never cooks any of the dishes that are made ... thank God in most cases. One show had a chef telling the judges that she had over-seasoned her dish because her palette was exhausted. I happened to mention to my wife that I'd have to remember that excuse the next time she cooked liver. I know now that was the wrong thing to say.  |
| Good morning, and Happy 4th of July! Despite the current turmoil happening around us, I still believe in this great country. This morning as I went for my daily 2-mile walk, the day was perfect. Temp was 72, humidity just under 50%, and the sun was shining. And no cars were kicking up dust as usually happens when folks head in to work. We live in the country on a dirt road. The County Commissioners send a grader out once a month to smooth the road, getting rid of the potholes. Yesterday was that day. So, no cars raising dust and no potholes to avoid. Great day for a walk. Yeah, not an overly interesting post today, I suppose. But as my walks generally take about 35-40 minutes, I have lots of time to think--about completing the kitchen pamphlet I'm working on; about fulfilling the judging duties for June's official WDC Quotation Inspiration contest; about writing my monthly Noticing Newbies newsletter; and after kicking these topics around, spending my remaining walk with Gordon Lightfoot and reminiscing about the old days. I spend every walk listening to music. Today I enjoyed one of my favorite albums--Gord's Gold, a 1975 double album by Gordon Lightfoot. I figure many folks listen to music as they exercise. So ... what music do you listen to when you work out? |
| I went to my Clinical Trials consultation Monday with a number of specific questions to ask. I’d heard about both horror and success stories that had come out of such trials, though the horror ones stuck with me. I wanted to be sure what I was getting into. A very good friend, Ms. B, whom I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, had gone through such treatments and offered some questions to ask. Sad to say, I didn’t get to ask these questions as I decided not to pursue the trials. But, I’d like to offer her list on the off-chance someone reading my blog might be faced with the option of undergoing clinical trials (or some other medical procedure) in their future. 1. Why should I consider a clinical trial? 2. What makes clinical trials better than alternative treatments? 3. Are other treatments available? 4. Is this a placebo-controlled trial? 5. Will my insurance cover the costs? Will I have other costs in the future? 6. How will treatments affect my every day life? 7. Will I have a primary contact throughout the trials? 8. Will all the doctors handling this treatment/case keep in contact with each other? 9. Will I be able to leave the trials before they are completed? 10. What specific reasons are allowed for leaving early? 11. How often would blood tests, scans, and other procedures happen? 12. How will the trial affect current medications I’m taking? 13. Will I need to be hospitalized at any time during the trials? 14. How long is the trial? 15. How long are individual sessions? 16. What would be my commitment after the trial is ended? 17. Will the results of the trial be made available to me? Substitute your procedure for 'clinical trials.' And, you may have additional questions for your specific circumstances. Best of luck with any medical endeavors. Drop me a note if these questions helped you out; I’d love to know. |
| June is over, a month never to be repeated. And we're now on the downward slide to the end of 2025. I wish to thank StephBee and Ẃeβ࿚Ẃỉtcĥ for sponsoring a Blogging contest in June as part of "The Bard's Hall Contest"  . While I've been using my blog to document my journey with kidney cancer for more months than just June, your encouragement fostered more entries in June than any previous month. Thank you. And a huge THANKS to all the members, friends and family who have frequented my blog, sending your encouragement. I hadn't been a regular blogger before. I have to say, it's growing on me. Plus, these entries are something I can leave for my kids--who knows, they may even like reading them. On to my news of the day. I met yesterday with an Oncologist with the University of Kansas Cancer Center to determine further treatment plans for me. I arrived thinking the consultation was to see if I qualified for any on-going immunotherapy clinical trials for my specific strain of kidney cancer. It turns out I'm part of a very small group of only 15% of folks with my strain of kidney cancer. My doctor strongly advised me not to pursue the rather new trials for that 15% group. Her reasoning made absolute sense. Those trials are designed for persons who have Stage 4 kidney cancer, which has metastasized (or spread) to other areas of the body, especially lymph nodes, lungs, bones, etc. I'm at Stage 3 as determined by the successful surgery to remove a lone, though large tumor and the right kidney to which it was attached. My cancer has not metastasized. She explained the history of the more than 20 years of trials for the 85% group. Big Pharma is loath to put large sums of money into testing and developing drugs for such small groups. That's why all the testing has been done for the tens of thousands of patients (85%) over those 20-plus years, thereby making big bucks for the pharmaceutical companies. (This is me paraphrasing; my doctor was much more diplomatic with her explanation.) She concluded by saying the breakthrough for treatment of that 85% has only come in the past two years. Side effects, some extremely severe, plagued those trials for many years. She believed any benefits I might receive from the newer trials for my strain would be far overshadowed by potentially severe side effects. My best course of action would be to implement a series of CT scans every three months for the first couple years, moving to twice a year for a couple years, and then, if scans were still warranted, annually. My situation would be reevaluated after each scan. It's not that "do nothing" option; but it allows me to continue living without ill side effects, while checking me out periodically. I've not been pronounced cured, but I am more hopeful for the future. |
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