The good times, but three years and three months ago I woke up to the fact there was trouble in River City.

So many ways it could have gone, good thing my head was screwed on straight. I could have given up but I chose to fight.

Whit the help of my friends, prayers from a lot of people, and skill and dedication of the doctors, nurses, and helpers at Texas Oncology, we fought back and kicked charleys ass.

Towards the end, it was rough. And the recovery wasn't very pleasant either. But as I said, all the support I got from family, friends, and sometimes, complete strangers, I made it.

For a while, I was going back in every two months and then I graduated to once every three months. two years of that and we moved to a six-month schedule.  Once a year we do a PET scan and so far those have come back clean.

Today was the regularly scheduled visit to the radiation oncologist. and I got the following news:

With the type of cancer I had, being cancer free at two years, there was a 95% chance it wouldn't return. Being cancer-free at three years, it is considered to be cured.  The doctor used that word, CURED.

Not throwing the bucket list out, I got things to do, places to go, and people to meet.  I have a compassion for others fighting the battle, I want them to know they are not alone in their battle, myself and other survivors stand with you.


I hate charley and charley hates Hawaiian shirts.

Laissez les bon temps roulez 

I hate charley

I hate charley

I’ve been pretty lucky. My battle against that bastard has gone in my favor.  You can’t let your guard down. He is a sadistic bastard that is always lurking in the shadows ready to attack.

Since my trails, my hunting buddy fought the prostate cancer and his bride battled breast cancer. They join me as survivors.  We aren’t cured, we are cancer free but we remain vigilant.

A co-workers wife fights a new round, her ‘s came back and has attacked the brain. We support her with words and deeds and prayers but she is fighting a mighty battle.

Tomorrow I see the oncologist for my three year checkup and get the results of the last               PET scan.  Wish me luck.

Laissez les bons temps rouler

P51 Mustang!

Yep. That what is was, a P51 Mustang, or maybe a F86, ore maybe the new B-58 Hustler.

It was Christmas eve, the magical night before. 

The older kids went to midnight mass with mom, we stayed home and if we were lucky we got to open one present, a little one, to help stave off the hunger.

Shake the present, enough noise and you knew it was a model airplane, take a couple of hours to assemble and then it would be night time and Christmas was just hours away.

Christmas is for the kids, my kids, now my grandkids, but that magical moment just before, I miss it. . .

Merry Christmas all

Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler

Crap, I hate Technology 

Using science and electronics to screw up my life, stuff I can do without any help.

I am fighting off a cold, Started up Sunday morning with a runny nose, progressed to a sore throat with a dry cough by Monday noon. Left work early to self-medicate. 

So last night it’s off to bed early with a dose of Alka-Seltzer and NyQuil. Ah, the sleep with no dreams. 

Alarm goes off at 4:45 and I just lay there, So hard to get up for work. Almost nobody in the office. I lay there till 5:45 and it’s like, Crap I m going to be late if I don’t get a move on.

So I hit the head, quick shower and get dress. Running late, grab my phone and wonder why the backup alarms hadn’t gone off. 

Maybe it’s dead, power it up and nope not dead, just 4:05 in the morning.

Damn electronic alarm clock by the bed got set to Pacific Time zone.

I hate Technology, at least I won’t be late for work.

Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler

Whoa, whoa, Mr Telephone. . . .

Three years!  World was turned upside down. Three years to the day tomorrow, Dr Evans had the results of the needle biopsy.

Cancer, the big C, the death sentence, the life changing event;  I was pragmatic about it, I mean what the hell what could I do.  I could fight Damnit!

I figured the Docs had my back I just needed to get on board with the program. Dr Evans referred me over to Texas Oncology where I teamed up with the good doctors Dr Derrick Nguyen,(Chemo),  and Dr. Ilahi,(Radiation).  These two set about to save my sorry carcass in spite of my self..

It’s been three years, My new radiation oncologist, Dr Lee informed me last week that by being in remission, symptom free for three years I have a 99% chance of not having Charlie return.

I think about the journey, and am humbled by those that stood by me and supported me in the fight.  Some may not have realized what they did, but I recognized support when I got it. The kind word, the fact you cared, it helped me fight the battles.

I was blessed with some true friends whose support was instrumental n helping me get through it, Ron, Brandon, Laynette, Josh, April, Marvin, Ron, Ben, Ms Dee next door and countless others. I survived and you helped heal me.

This Christmas is one not shadowed by fear and doubt, but one of thankfulness.  I have been given the greatest gift of all, health and good friends.

Merry Christmas to all, thanks again for all the support you provided and remember I now stand ready to fight the bastard charlie, wherever, and in whoever he appears.

Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler

Grass Be Gone In Action

I told you I was going to tell you about the guinea pigs, and I am.

Four legged, hyper active, furry little lawn mowers.  And you thought they were children’s pets.

These things can eat their weight in all things green or if necessary anything they can get their teeth around.

Friend of mine bought a half dozen or so to see if they could control the grass in some of his aviaries.  He raises some high dollar exotic birds. Exotic not erotic, get you brain out of the gutter.

Anyway, the grass lets snakes hide from the birds and then that snake can sneak in to the nest and steal eggs, or worst case,snack on some young fledglings.

But I digress, anyway he bought a few and threw them in one of the pens. Wow talk about efficient they cleaned that grass up. All of it, roots included. We talking West Texas dry dirt, bare, grass begone in action.

So it was a choice between feed them or move them to another cage. Move em, just watch so that they don’t destroy the savanna in the next location.

One thing about Guinea pigs, they dumb, you can catch em easy. So Gary grabs up the twenty three pigs and transfers them to site number two.

Now I never said you were dumb, the guinea pigs are dumb, and yes the 6 or so are now twenty plus, and in only a few weeks.

These things are worse than rabbits. Looks like their little lives involve eating everything in sight, making little pellets and making more guinea pigs.

Gary now has over a hundred, well over a hundred.  Did you know a round bale of hay that would last a cow over a month disappears in less time under the attack of a 100 plus guinea pigs.

But they are good to eat, national dish of Peru,  I kid you not, a lot like preparing a rabbit, smoke ‘em, deep fry ‘em, BBQ, it’s all good.

Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler

Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler

And roll they have.  My apologies to all those that followed the blog,  I got better, am still getting better, and the need to vent passed.

But it’s not all fun and games, struggles against chemo brain(or is it old age?) and the fact my priorities changed.

Was amazed to find it’s been two years. But what a ride.  My weight has made an astounding comeback, I’m up to 210-215, dang it, those 34x30 jeans are getting dadgum tight.

In the past two years charlie has attacked the wife of a good friend, my mom, a brother and the mom of faithful minion Ron.  Three out of four held their own, but my mom’s was found way too late to do any good.

So now I’m back at work looking to get retired so as I can live the good life.  I took up the sport of competitive marksmanship again, that was one of my bucket list items I decided to do while sick. Made the great expedition to Colorado to fish and plan to do it again this year.

And I am going to try to keep blogging, after all, what would you do with the free time between facebook games?

Next post I'll tell you all about the guinea pigs

Thursday Teeth

Good day today, got me some new choppers.  Now I’ll be able to do more than gum the heck out of everything. Look out steak, look out apple, look out hotdogs, pedro’s got some teeth.

Got to give Dr Stover the dentist his due, he pulled these together and got them fitted in my mouth in record time.  A great fit and they are looking good.  This is another big step down the road to recovery.

I can not put enough emphasis on the medical teams that have worked to resolve all the issues that I have faced in these past few months.  Heck, I’m in better shape than before. 

The fact I lost 50 pounds has meant that my high blood pressure isn’t and the type II diabetes is also under control.  I’m looking good and standing proud.

In twenty-four hours I’ll be headed to Colorado for a week of trout fishing and enjoying the cool mountain air. High on the list of things to do is to enjoy myself. I plan on taking a few to reflect on how lucky I have been and to be thankful for all the support I have received over the past few months.

And to show my thanks I won’t rub it in that the weather up there is going to be soooooo much nicer than Texas.

Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler

Cool Mountain Air

 Yeah buddy, that’s right, chances are that when you read this I’ll be in the cool mountain air of Southern Colorado.  Fishing, trout fishing, and the forecast highs for the week I’m there, 69.

You guyas can suffer in the summer heat. The local temps in the North Texas area are to be in the 100’s. But I’ll be staying cool and macking on the trout.

Tomorrow I have the chance to get my new choppers.  They were supposed to be ready today but the dentist didn’t like the fit so he’s sending them back for a tune up.  I can live with that.

Only bad part of the great expedition is the fact my boys couldn’t make it. In fact several guys dropped out due to other commitments but the core of the great expedition group are true to their values and will be attending.

I’ll be styling in my new teeth and Hawaiian shirts and shorts. Pictures will be posted on my return. Picture of the ff the fish, I’m sure you seen enough of me over the past few months.

This trip is important as it was a milestone I set when I was really in the dumps and sick as a dog, it was something to look forward to and work towards. I intend to enjoy it even though my drinking abilities are still severely diminished.

At least I might be able to do some real eating with my new TEETH.

Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler

Look out Platoro, Colorado, Pedro is on the way and he's bringing some of the Pope's finest home brew!!

Insurance Games

It’s like a reality show!  I was contacted by our HR department about submitting a claim against the medical insurance for the initial dental work.  That’s several thousand dollars worth of bills. What will happen? Will they pay or will I be voted out?

There is an exception to the not covering dental work.  If the work  is necessary to prepare the victim for radiation treatments, its covered.  So now I have to gather up all the statements of work that I have had to pay out of pocket for and get it submitted to Blue Cross-Blue Shield.

Ya gotta love it when a plan comes together.  Hopefully this will be a one time submittal and not one of those back and forth issues.  Also I am wondering if the need for the partials is going to be covered as well; after all I need me some teeth in order to be able to eat right.

Anyway, I have another visit to the dentist office tomorrow and they are going to want money so I guess I got to suck it up and pay it out. But I might even have teeth by the trip to Colorado.  I’ll be macking on some trout.

I might even post a picture of what ever shirt is worn tomorrow.

Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler