So far I have no side effects except having to pee a little bit more than I used to. I'm told by the veterans that you either have to pee a lot or have problems peeing. Hopefully I don't end up with the later.
My treatment times have been consistently at 8PM with the exception of Friday's treatment, which was at 7:25 AM. I requested the morning so I could get my treatment and head to AZ if I wanted to for the weekend.
Unfortunately I did not go to AZ this weekend. The cost of Diesel plus the extra cost of living here makes it kind of tight for now. Besides Jeanette is coming here for the 4th of July weekend.
So far the worst part of this whole thing is being separated from Jeanette. It gets lonely here without her. I really miss her a lot.
"Make Man Whole"
The proton treatments that I'm receiving at LLUMC are only a small part of the healing process. The Seventh Day Adventist believe in and live according to the philosophy of "Making Man Whole." Making Man Whole means to restore man to wholeness, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
They encourage you to participate in the Tuesday night potlucks and Wednesday night support group meetings. They also encourage you to work out at the Drayson Center, which is provided to you for free while you are here. It's all part of the healing process.
Last Tuesday I went to the potluck, that was held at the Loma Linda Springs club house. The newbies aren't required to bring anything the first time and they get to eat first. Some announcements were made along with some jokes to liven things up a bit, then we all chowed down. After dinner all the newbies had to introduce themselves. After the introductions a few of the guys got up in front of the crowd and told jokes, sang songs, and read poems. It was a nice time but I kind of felt out of place. I was the youngest guy there and most of the others were old enough to be my father. We all had one thing in common though, and that was prostate cancer.
Some of them were there for their last potluck because they were ending their treatment. They are called the graduates and each of them stood up and gave a short speech about their time at Loma Linda. All expressed how blessed they were to be there. They were all glad to be done with the treatments and ready to go home but at the same time they were going to miss the comradeship and the time they spent with people they had met during their stay at Loma Linda.
Wednesday night was the support group meeting that was held at the Student Cafeteria on the LLUMC campus. The meeting was conducted by Lynn Martell, Vice President of Advancement at LLUMC. The meeting was much like the potluck. All the newbies got to introduce themselves and the graduates made their speeches. This meeting is for all cancer patients and not just for ones with prostate cancer. There was one lady in the group that introduced herself. She had breast cancer and was there for a clinical study for treating breast cancer with the proton beam. There were also alumni there that had gone through the treatments years ago and were there to share their experience and success with their treatment.
Listening to all the introductions and speeches at both gatherings reminded me of when I was in the military. It made me think back eighteen years ago when I was in the same area attending the NCO Academy at the now former Norton A.F.B. in San Bernardino, California near Loma Linda.
It was the summer of 1990 and Iraq invaded Kuwait. Norton A.F.B was a Military Airlift Command base and after the invasion, thousands of Marines, Airmen, and soldiers staged on the base to deploy to the middle east for what was later designated as Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm. War was in the air as all these brave men and women were finally going to do what they had always been trained to do. They were ready for war!
Little did I know that almost eighteen years later, I would be back in the same area experiencing almost the same thing. Only this time it was a war against cancer and much like the brave men and women who were ready for war eighteen years ago, these brave men and women were preparing to fight a war of their own. Each person there had experienced the shock of being told they had cancer and each person wanted to fight their cancer with the best weapons available so they would hopefully someday be liberated from the enemy within them.
Lots of time on my hands.
Okay enough about cancer! Since the treatments take up only an hour of my time at the most each day, this leaves me with a lot of time to do whatever I want.
Thursday I drove to nearby Redlands, which is a quaint little town east of Loma Linda. There is an area downtown that looks like something out of the 50's. It is lined with shops and restaurants and lots of shade trees. Every Thursday night they close off the street for a street fair/farmer's market. By the time I arrived they had just closed the street and all the merchants were setting up their tables to sell their products. I didn't get to stay because I had to get back to Loma Linda for my treatment.
Downtown Redlands
Saturday I drove to Los Angeles and visted the Petersen Automobile Museum. I would recommend anybody interested in automobiles to visit this museum. It's a top notch museum that had something there for all ages. It even has an extensive Hot Wheels collection. The main attraction for me was the new exhibit of Recreational Vehicles dating back from the 1920's to just before WW II. If you're an RV'er like myself then you need to see this exhibit.
1929 Gilkie Tent Trailer
1935 Curtiss Aerocar (First Fifth Wheel Trailer)
The oldest known travel trailer in existance
I also made a visit to March A.F.B. just 15 minutes away in Riverside. The base is now a Reserve base and almost a ghost town. They still have a small BX and Commisary there but most of the buildings that were once busy with military men and women, were now boarded up and deserted. It was kind of sad to see.
What used to be the Base Hospital
Deserted Burger King on base
The BX
1 comment:
Mike,
HOW IS IT GOING. SOUNDS LIKE YOU NEED SOME COMPANY OUT THERE. AS YOU HAVE READ, JULIA HAS GIVEN ME THE "KITCHEN PASS" TO ROLL OUT YOUR WAY.
ALL THE GUYS AT WORK SAY HI AND THEY WANT YOU TO KEEP FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT.
MAKE SURE JEANETTE KNOWS THAT SHE IS IN OUR PRAYS AS MUCH AS YOU. SHE IS GOING THROUGH THIS TOO AND IT CAN'T BE EASY ON HER. IF SHE NEEDS ANY THING SHE CAN CALL ON JULIA AND I.
IT SEEMS WEIRD NOT HAVING YOU AROUND FOR C-7 AND THE INFAMOUS "CATCH AND RELEASE" AFTERWARDS. HAHAHAHAHA
HANG TOUGH BRO
SCOOT
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