Last Friday I had blood drawn as part of my 12 week check up. [12 weeks, is that all?]

Mary just got the call from the doctors office and my PSA number is down to 0.55!!!!
I’m “normal” again!

On a related note, this diet has also effected other areas: my cholesterol is 155 (it used to be in the 210 range)
I keep telling people, and I mean this, I haven’t felt this good in many, many years!

This Thursday is the first meeting of the FLHW board. We are going to begin developing the goals and plans for the next year. In our future endeavors we hope to receive continued support from those of you who are readers of this blog. As I have mentioned in the past, I did not “get” cancer, cancer was “given” to me so that I would find a way to help others.

The website is up and running but we will continue to update it over the coming weeks and months. We are interested in your feedback, for more information go to: www.flhw.org

A friend passed the link below my way. It says a lot, without saying much about what I am going through. Click here, have your speakers or headphones ready….
http://www.thesurvivormovie.com/

Someone asked me the other day “Have you been able to put it out of your mind for long periods of time?”…..my reply, “If you consider an hour a long period of time”.

Tomorrow morning I go in for my second Lupron shot, and to have blood drawn for a PSA test. Mary and I have a wager; I’m guessing 0.5, she thinks 1.2 (last test 4-19-05 my number was 2.1).

It’s only been four months since I was “officially” diagnosed, it seems like a lifetime ago (pun intended).

Go visit www.flhw.org and let me know what you think? We still have a lot of work to do, but I think it is a good start.

God bless all of you, thank you for your constant prayers and encouragement, we couldn’t do it without you!

NEXT UP: more details on the foundation and what you can to do help.

Background: on Sunday (the 12th) I was driving home from Home Depot and heard an ad on our local sports talk station (810 WHB).
They were asking for people to send in an email and explain why your foursome should play against Kevin Kietzman’s foursome. For those of you not in KC, he is the king of afternoon drive time, and has been for the past 6+ years.

Being a caller to the show 2-3 times a year (they know me as “Redbird”) Kevin and I would go back and forth about KC versus St. Louis. (I am a Cardinals, Blues, and Chiefs fan and occasionally have to straighten him out on why St. Louis is a better sports town but KC is a great place to live and raise a family).

So I sent in an email, bragged a little about the group of ringers that I could assemble and how we would kick their butts! I was pleasantly surprised when I received an email on Tuesday notifying me that I was selected. The only potential hang-up was we were to play Friday and I hadn’t even asked my potential teammates! It all worked out and on Friday morning at 8:00am Mark, Sean, Scott and I met Kevin’s foursome on the first tee at Loch Lloyd Country Club.

It was a beautiful morning, high 60’s with a slight breeze when we tee’d off. I won’t recount our round shot by shot but by the time we crossed paths with Kevin on the 13th tee, we were up by one stroke (at -8). We went on to birdie number 14 but could not convert again until 18 and went on to finish at -10. On the other hand they birdied 13, 15, 16 and 17 to beat us by one (-11).

In the end, it was all for fun…my team enjoyed a nice morning of golf and received many nice prizes which included a generous selection of certificates to local restaurants and several rounds of golf. We also were treated to a wonderful lunch at the club.

This alone would have been a great day by any stretch of the imagination but it wasn’t quite over. Next we drove to a driving range about 5 minutes up the road where the four of us each had a chance to win a loaded Chevy Tahoe. The shot was from about 220 yards and with a slight breeze from left to right it was nearly impossible to get the ball within the two foot circle! None of us came close but it was fun to dream about making it, even just for a few minutes.

For my partners, that was they end of the event, for me I still had about 20 minutes to prepare for my next step, a live interview on the air! It was a good thing I still had my notes from the Knights of Columbus meeting in my briefcase, so I reviewed those and made a few notes based on the days events.

The actual interview is a complete blur. I don’t remember much of what was said except that Kevin agreed to donate $810 to the FLHW foundation and offered to play in a golf tournament for the Foundation, which is still being planned. My objective of my brief time on the air was to introduce listeners to the foundation and provide some general information about Prostate Cancer. Since the show, I have been told on several occassions that the interview was heard and the listeners were not aware of prostate cancer, and/or its prevalance. Additionally, a couple of the men who were listeners have scheduled appointments for check-ups, which makes my time on the air very worthwhile. I am trying to get a copy of the interview to post here or at www.flhw.org. It was a wonderful opportunity and I can’t thank Kevin and everyone at 810 for the great day and the opportunity for the free PR. You guys are great!

As if this weren’t enough, Saturday we were invited to a new restaurant (the 810 Zone – 119th and Roe). It is the ultimate sports bar with LCD TV’s everywhere including one in EVERY booth! It is a very cool place with good food, great service…I can’t wait until football season, it is sure to become THE place to watch college football and the Chiefs!

After all that, Sunday was Father’s Day and after working today, I need to get to bed early – I’m beat!

Until Tuesday night, I was doing a pretty good job of keeping my emotions in check. I had found that I could talk about my condition, about prostate cancer in general, and about the foundation and keep it all together. What I discovered is that in situations when I am speaking to a small group with 2 – 4 others, I’m fine. As some of you know, I have been known to talk about this topic for an extended period of time!

Something different happened on Tuesday evening. I attended the monthly meeting for our Knights of Columbus chapter. Before hand, I was asked if I would be comfortable providing an update on my condition. I thought I would take advantage of the opportunity to education other men on prostate cancer, provide some insights into this disease and encourage my brother Knights to get check up’s, etc. I created a mental outline of the topics to be discussed. As soon as I stood up, I found myself incredibly uncomfortable and immediately had to fight back the emotions. I’m not sure what it was? Perhaps it was because Fr. Bill was in the audience, and maybe it was the fact that I have such respect and admiration for the men assembled in the room? Whatever it was, I rambled on for 10 minutes or so, got a few of my points across and it was relieved to sit back down, still fighting overwhelming emotion.

As I write this, I realize it doesn’t sound like such a big deal. If you know me well, you know that I am very emotionally balanced. It was a very odd experience. However, I realize that in order to help others, I’m going to have to share again and speak again in front of groups, my presentation will get better and I will continue to try. I continue to have a positive attitude, I have every intention to beat the odds and I maintain a personal mission to provide awareness and education to as many men as possible regarding prostate cancer.

This was sent by a friend today, very timely, very appropriate:

When the world says, “Give up,”

Hope whispers, “Try it one more time.”

Next Update: Golfing with local radio celebrities!

It’s raining, again, this makes about the 5th or 6th straight day. After a very dry May, June has been a drencher.

So it’s Monday morning, and I fill my short commute with something new via the iPod. OK, it’s new to me, old in it’s origin, Miles Davis – “Kind of Blue”. I almost turned the car around and crawled back in bed, very spell binding, smooth, mellow but electrifying and the same time. Good change from the usual selection, a good book, a cup of coffee, turn it up a little…..

The weekend was busy, as usual…we were childless on Friday so we went out for a nice dinner, just the two of us.
Something we don’t do a lot of anymore, we should and will make more time for it in the future. What a great evening!

Saturday was time in the yard after a monsoon in the morning rained out disc golf. Last Wednesday night we had a storm that knocked over part of our fence so I was trying to clean that up while we wait for an estimate for repairs. I’d do it, but last year I had to replace a fence post and it was a project I have no desire to repeat, an all day back breaker.

The Senior golf tournament was in town and they were playing less than a mile from the house, across the street from St. Michael’s. The morning rains washed the round out on Saturday, but did not put a damper on the party. It was a great time! In yet another example of how people go out of their way when you least expect it, the host and hostess made sure there were “David dishes”. While everyone else was eating ribs and brisket, I was devouring shrimp and a wonderful spread of side dishes! The evening was filled with numerous games of “washers”, a few adult libations and great conversations.

Sunday the rain waited until later in the afternoon, so I was up early and off to disc golf. The “home” course was closed due to a tournament so we ventured to a newer course just north of downtown KC. It is located in “Cliff Drive Park” and it is a beast of a course. A mostly just LONG holes but the middle 6 are cut through woods that could easily be mistaken for parts of the Amazon. On top of that, the humidity was hovering near 100% all morning, we felt like we were in Vietnam for awhile! It was still a good time and we only got rained on briefly during the last two holes.

As if sweating off 5 pounds in the morning weren’t enough, I built a small flower garden all afternoon. My favorite Darwinian gardener passed on a few new flowers (among the mix were Moonflowers!). Moonflowers open at night and apparnetly the aroma is to die for! So having no place to plant them, I dug up a spot by the air conditioner, made a trip to Home Depot and 3.5 hours later, ta-da!! I seem to have this habit that when it comes to a project in the yard, I always turn them into half day projects! Oh well, the results are almost always worth the effort. Mary was pleasantly surprised.

So all of that and I’m paying for it today, I’m a little tired and sore, though my back is showing no signs of recent aches and pains……

Last week we had dinner with some friends. The night was great and the conversation went on and on for nearly three hours (the restaurant was glad to see us go!). It took a while for the full extent of the discussion to sink in, but I walked away with this; when you think about the “big picture”, it’s not about ourselves, it’s about others that we assist, help, touch, encounter along the way. I have mentioned something similar in earlier passages, but after hearing this story and the success of this organization, it made me stop and think.

The lady we had dinner with is fascinating. She was born in Colombia and in September 2000 she started an effort to help educate children living in poverty in Juarez, Mexico. I became familiar with her work in 2002 when I helped her develop her first website (www.compassionfoundation.net). The site has evolved since then and will be revised once again in the coming months. More importantly, the foundation is now a 501.c.3 and is growing exponentially. Their annual fundraiser is in September (http://compassionfoundation.net/news.asp) I know they would appreciate any help you could offer, you should all come ~ we’ll be there!!

The Compassion Foundation of Kansas City, Inc. is committed to the belief that all children should receive the gift of education, regardless of socio-economic status. We seek to inspire a passion for lifelong learning and encourage students to became role models and give back to their communities.

In my opinion, I think for the most part, we are a pretty spoiled society in America. We take a lot of things for granted in our daily lives. I ask you to consider taking out few minutes of your day to help someone who could really benefit from your assistance. Wishing you a happy, blessed day.

Many years ago I had a college literature professor whom I connected with immediately. It was a summer school class, I was in my late twenties, the rest of the class was made up of 19 and 20 year olds. We talked often after class about both what we were reading (Nathaniel Hawthorne, Willa Cather, Washington Irving, and other 19th century American authors) and about life, family, etc. It was during these discussions that he mentioned something that has stayed with me since; after one of our discussions about family health, he asked “What would you do if something happened to your wife? Was I prepared? Had I ever given it a thought?” In the end, he suggested I should go through the routine mentally, not to obsess with it or worry about it, but ask myself “What would I do if something ever happened?”

In addition to these discussions, Mary and I have joked back and forth for many years about outliving each other. We were always firm that we were truly soul mates and would go on alone. I still plan to outlive her and the actuary tables will need to be adjusted!

Never, during either of these “mental exercises” did I imagine I would be at this place.

I have been trying to put myself in her shoes lately, it’s unimaginable for me. Many of you have commented on my strength and inspiration, you too cannot imagine hers. She has never wavered from her positive attitude, she encourages me on a daily (sometimes hourly) basis. She is my rock, she is my Gibraltar!

Furthermore, as I have discussed before, after first being diagnosed, I looked down the road, saw the fork and with her help we took the path we are on today. There have been many other forks in our lives together, and she was instrumental in my choice so many other times. She has been there and will continue to be for many, many years and through many, many choices! We both believe in fate and predetermined paths, God blessed me with her and I am eternally grateful to him for doing so! He drew the map and blessed me with her as a navigator/co-pilot through my life journey.

My grandmother had a stroke yesterday. She’s 99 years old, lives in a home but is still very alert, of a sound mind and delightful to visit. Apparently it wasn’t too severe, she was awake and talking to my dad yesterday afternoon. She was much better by today, awake, up and dressed, eating, etc. We only get to see her 3-4 times a year when we go to St. Louis. She is my last surviving grandparent.

If you to describe a grandparent as faith-filled, kind, loving, giving, gentle etc., then that would be perfect for her. She has had a heck of life! She visited King Tut’s tomb in the early 1900’s on a trip that included a steamer across the Atlantic, she lived through the Depression, raised two wonderful sons, lost her husband over 35 years ago to cancer and then traveled extensively for several years. One of my favorite stories she tell is when she was about 10 years old and her best friend and her crept into the Catholic church and put a kitten in the Baptismal font! If you ever met her, you’d never believe she was involved in such a thing. I blame it all on the friend! She’s quite a lady. I’m not ready to say “I miss her”, I pray she hangs on until after November 11th, we plan to celebrate 100 years with her!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bracelet Update: We have sold over 800 bracelets to date and raised almost $2,500. Part of the money paid for the application fees for the IRS 501.c.3 designation, some shipping charges and web hosting for the soon to be launched website. We have also placed a re-order for 1,000 more bracelets. At some point next week Mary and I will either decide how much the initial donation to the Prostate Cancer Foundation will be or we will wait until the foundation board meets for the first time. Everything will be fully disclosed at www.flhw.org by early June.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Other quick notes:
> Cardinals vs. Royals this weekend, go Redbirds, I’m predicting a sweep. We’ll be there tonight.
> 1st camping trip of the year tomorrow (weather permitting).
> First week of work in the bag, really liking it and getting back in the flow.

Yesterday I rode my mountain bike for the first time in about 12 years.
It really felt good. For those of you in KC, did you ever notice that on windy days it doesn’t matter which direction you face, the wind seems to always follow you!

I only rode for and hour, slow and steady, I didn’t want to pull something. It was so relaxing, return trips are a must. So the numbers above mean:
1015 = the number of songs on my iPod, I listened the whole time
60 = the number of minutes, didn’t want to go overboard
5 = the number of miles
2 = wheels
1 = person

Today was my first day back at Sprint, not real eventful but there is a lot of work ahead, I’m pretty excited about it!!!

Next weekend Brad and I are going camping out near Lawrence, KS. It should be a lot of fun. I’m praying for good weather!

Not much else to add today…….