Sid Bacon

Well, as you might have gathered from my lack of writing, we had a great visit with Paul and Carter.  They are so much fun and are so easy to have around. Their visit was definitely too short, though we’ll take what we can get.
 

I have had some pretty decent days eating.  I still do not have much of an appetite, so I don’t eat all that much at any one time, but I am trying...  I seem to have an affinity for mint chocolate chip ice cream!  And, of course, Cathy has baked a large number and a wide variety of delicious cookies, so there is no shortage of calories hanging around the kitchen just waiting to be eaten.  I just need to watch my sugar intake a bit. But I’m happy to be consuming the calories.
 

On Tuesday night we went to see Las Noches de las Luminarias at the Desert Botanical Garden. It was absolutely stunning.  The paths throughout the garden are lined with luminaries and the numerous palo verde trees throughout the garden are lit with white lights.  Those trees are so sculptural … it was absolutely stunning.  I have included a picture of us from that evening … you can see a palo verde tree in the background.  We were dressed warmly because it was rather chilly that night, with forecast for rain (it didn’t come).  The outing was a Christmas gift from Cathy’s sister, Mary, and her husband, Kevin.  It was a great gift.  In addition to just strolling around and enjoying the scenery, there were performers located throughout the garden to enjoy, which definitely added to the festive atmosphere. 

Laura would have spent the week with us so she could see Paul and Carter. But unfortunately she has a bad cold and didn’t want to expose me to it (very thoughtful).  I hope she is feeling better and can spend time with us starting Saturday, when Dan and Liz arrive.  Dan and Liz will spend the first six days of their vacation with us and the second six days with Liz’s parents.  It is going to be great to have them here.

On Monday Cathy and I spent some time at Piper; we were there for a blood draw and an exam.  During the exam, we talked a bit about modifying my pain patches.  I was at a dosage of 275 with a replacement every 48 hours. I asked if it was better to reduce the dosage or extend the replacement (e.g., to 72 hours).  About that time, Cathy sheepishly said she had to fess up; she already had been reducing the dosage without telling me. I was already at 200, with no significant change in pain level (still pain-free or essentially pain-free). I am now at 150 (I think! J), and still feeling fine. Cathy was a little concerned that I would be upset with her clandestine nursing.  On the contrary, I thought it was brilliant. Had I known she was reducing the dosage, I might have focused on my back and imagined that I had pain.  This way I didn’t know any better.  (That is true about so many things …) I am really quite happy with the way things are working out.  That I am able to tolerate a reduced dosage most likely means that the radiation reduced my tumor. Great news! 

We are still walking in the desert, and enjoying the beautiful scenery there. We didn’t walk on Tuesday, but made up for it that night, walking around the garden for about 2.5 hours.  I feel it is important to stay with the routine of walking.  It is important in my fight against this cancer.

It has been nice these past several days to not write a blog while trying to entertain guests. The disadvantage is that I don’t, in turn, hear from you in my guestbook.  Cathy and I really enjoy and cherish the comments we receive. I’m sure I’ll take a few other days off around Christmas, but will try to post at least short blogs whenever I can.

Thank you for your continued love and support.  It means so much to us. 

May you all have a peaceful holiday season, full of joy and time with family.

We are getting ready to celebrate Christmas with Laura, Dan, and Liz.  It will be the first time that we have celebrated Christmas with just our immediate family.  Although we enjoy bigger gatherings, we look forward to this more intimate celebration.  It is going to be special. I am going to enjoy every minute of it.

We have been going on hikes in the beautiful desert. My favorite ones are where Cathy goes the whole distance with me.  That happens on the rare days she doesn’t run or on days she runs before our walk.  Today she ran first, and then we walked a bit later after we spent some time visiting our dear friends Mary and John. Walking later in the day also had the advantage of it being warmer outside (I need to gain weight to keep warmer).

I am feeling pretty well, certainly better than I had been feeling last week.  I still do not have much of an appetite, but it feels as though I will have an appetite soon. I don’t eat all that much at any one time, but I try to eat small amounts throughout the day. There is no shortage of good things around the house to eat.  It takes me a long time to gain significant amounts of weight, but I’m in this fight for the long haul and will just keep plugging away at it. I have done it before. I am confident I can do it again.

Thank you for all your support. It means so much to Cathy and me. 

We had a great Christmas celebration.  It is our family tradition that we open presents on Christmas Eve, and sometime during the night Santa comes to deliver presents to the good children in our house (this year that was Laura, Dan, and Liz); those presents are waiting by the fireplace on Christmas day. We each received a plethora of gifts from one another and the rest of our family, and we had a great time visiting and celebrating the holiday together.

Cathy has been preparing wonderful meal after wonderful meal, and each time she seems to be preparing for 15 people rather than 5.  We thus have lots of leftovers! It is definitely time to start digging into those leftovers.  

We are starting to enjoy our days after Christmas.  Yesterday we went to a movie (Guilt Trip … not as good as I had hoped).   Before that, Cathy and I went to Piper for a routine blood draw.  This is done weekly as part of my getting TPN.  I’m still doing that nightly, getting 1400 calories intravenously.  I don’t know how much longer I’ll continue with the TPN, now that I am starting to eat a little better and am keeping all my food down.  It has certainly been a wonderful thing to have, as who knows how much weight I would have lost without those calories.  As it is, I gained a couple pounds over the past five or so days. I need to keep it up!

I don’t know what we’ll do today for fun, but I’m confident that we’ll have fun, as it is fun just hanging out together. It is nice that we can enjoy each other’s company as much as we do. 

‘Tis the season to share, and we are taking that to an extreme at our household. Dan arrived with a cold; he got rid of it quickly.  But Laura has had a cold for lots longer, and now Cathy is coming down with a cold, too. I’m trying my best to keep healthy, as I don’t think I can start chemotherapy until I am feeling good and strong.  I’m certainly anxious to start chemo as soon as possible. Right now I feel as if I am getting stronger every day, so perhaps I’ll be able to start soon.

The high temperature for today and tomorrow is only supposed to be 57 degrees. That is about as cold as it gets here (although we haven’t had a frost, and we sometimes get those), so of course we think it is cold!  Cathy and I went on a nice walk this morning, but not before we bundled up.

I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season with family and friends. Here is to a wonderful new year, full of love and hope.

This is a time when people look back over the past year as well as look forward to the coming year.  We certainly had a lot happen during the past year. The diagnosis of stage IV pancreatic cancer was certainly a low point in the year, although the outpouring of love and support was a high point, and one that I’ll cherish forever. I feel we also won lots of battles in our fight against this pernicious disease, and I’ll remember those as high points as well. The past five months have had their share of challenges and bumps in the road, but I think we are ending the downslide on a high note: Today we reduced my pain patch from 100 to 75 mcg/h; before I started radiation, I needed three patches to get my dosage of 275 mcg/h.  We don’t yet know the right dosage, but we know I do not have pain when I have a patch of 100 mcg/h. Although we probably won’t do a scan for another few weeks, the fact that I am in less pain certainly suggests a reduced tumor size.  Looking back, it was well worth the daily trek to – and side effects from – radiation.
 

I look forward to 2013 with tremendous hope. I continue to have an incredibly supportive group of friends and family, collectively known as Team Bacon.  I have wonderful and highly competent medical professionals at Piper who will care for me and do all they can to extend my life as far into the future as possible. I am also starting the year on an upswing. I am feeling good, with little or no fatigue and, as mentioned above, reduced pain.  Moreover, I haven’t been nauseous for some time now, which helps a great deal. I know I need to eat more and gain weight. And although it is a challenge to do that, given my rather anemic appetite, I am ready to face that challenge. 2013 will be the year of weight gain (for me, anyway)! It definitely will be a good year, with many more ups than downs.
 

We are having cool weather today, with a predicted high of only about 53 degrees.  It is currently sunny, without much of a breeze, so this morning’s walk in the desert was a delight. Cathy is now running in the desert with Dan and his dog Nashley.  Cathy is finally just about over her cold.  She has been extremely careful not to expose me to her germs, so I have remained healthy (well … at least cold-free).
 

Cathy and I took our Christmas tree down a couple days ago, as it was extremely dry. We may take some of our outside lights down as well, especially with Dan here.  He volunteered to help, so we’ll probably take him up on his generous offer.
 

Thank you for all you do to support Cathy and me; we greatly appreciate it.
 

I hope you all have a wonderful New Year, and that 2013 brings many blessings to you and your family.