David Emerson

Five thousand reasons to say thank you!

Charity Disc Golf, David Emerson, Faith-Love-Hope-WIn, Johnny's Tavern, llywelens pub, tallgrass brewery -

The events of this past weekend were absolutely exhausting! I wouldn’t however have it any other way based on the outcome!

We raised over $5,000 for advanced prostate cancer research!

On Friday night we held our second annual Friday Night in the Greenhouse event. It was a great time and not only did I run into some old friends, I met a few new ones as well. Words cannot express how grateful I am to the people at Suburban Lawn and Garden and specifically to the Stuecks. You are unbelievably generous with both your time and resources.

Saturday was our third annual Prostate Cancer Doubles Shootout, disc golf tournament. The event has grown each year and in 2010 we continued the trend. 42 teams registered for this years event. We had sponsorship from a regional micro-brewery, and the weather was perfection and the FLHW Board came through with another great lunch!

My day began at about 6:00am and I was out the door by 6:45 in order to get things started. I was well rested and still reeling in the events of the day before; the greenhouse and the fact I got another hole in one… details and an update to follow. It was a chilly 41 degrees as the golfers began to arrive, but as the crowd increased, so did the temperatures. We were able to get the first round started about twenty minutes late, but we had built a little flexibility into the schedule.

I was partnered with my friend and the co-tournament director Gary and we played with a few other friends. Our round started out normal; Par-Birdie-Par and as we approached the short forth hole we were greeted by the owner of the course and fellow FLHW board member Mark. These two, along with the five others I was playing with began to lightly jab at me regarding my hole-in-one on this very hole the day before. Cries of “Come on hot shot, let’s see it again” were never ending as I walked to the tee box. I grabbed the same disc, and let go what immediately felt like the exact same throw. The result?

Another ace! Same disc, same hole, two days in a row!!

This is my disc sitting in the basket on Friday

As I’ve shared with others, I was mobbed! I’ve never been high-fived, back slapped or hugged so much in my life! It was unbelievable!

It was a personal highlight for the day but the success of the event overall was even better! Once again I met many new people and hopefuly convinced a few to get tested for PCa. We raised a lot of money for the cause and enjoyed some awesome disc golf on a beautiful, private course.

I would be remiss if I did not close with thank you to the following:
Pete
Gary
The FLHW Board; Rich, Mark, Steve, Chris
Mary
Katie
Cathy
Kathy
Bill and Bo
All the players
Tallgrass Brewery
Innova
Gorilla Boy Bags
Avery Jenkins
Johnny’s Tavern
Llywelyn’s Pub
and all the others sponsors

Quite memorable

Advanced Prostate Cancer, Charity Disc Golf, David Emerson, FLHW, PCa -

I heard this on television last night; “The things you do for yourself die with you. The things you do for others lives on forever”

I did paraphrase this, and although I searched for the original source, I could not locate it. However, it remains my unwritten mantra. Even before I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, I was the type of person to jump in and help others without anticipation of reciprocal favors. This idea lives on in Faith, Love, Hope, Win. The foundation is not about helping David, it is and will remain about helping others battling this disease by supporting the research for better treatments and perhaps one day a cure for advanced prostate cancer.

Isn’t it sad that so many people in our society live with a mindset completely opposite, the old, “What’s in it for me?” approach to life. The gift of life is too short to live that way. I continue to believe I was put here for a reason and given prostate cancer in order to help others. “It’s not all about Me”, as I have said many times in the history of this blog.

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I am looking forward to Friday and Saturday’s FLHW events. I know they will go well, but I always get nervous leading up to our events. Once again the weather is forecasted to cooperate. Saturday will be a chilly 42 when we get started in the morning, but perfectly sunny with temperatures climbing into the mid-sixties!

I walked the disc golf course yesterday with the owner and his wife. They are truly good, generous people. Even though I have played the course a dozen times I couldn’t help express my gratitude to them for the use of this piece of property. To repeat an earlier description; where the subdivisions end on the south end of Overland Park is where this property and the ‘country’ begins.

With that thought, I close by repeating the quote I started with because it applies to these people as well as to myself: “The things you do for yourself die with you. The things you do for others lives on forever”.

This is big, this is REALLY big!

Advanced Prostate Cancer, David Emerson, hrpca, PCa, Provenge -

Today the Federal Drug Administration approved Provenge for use in certain men with advanced prostate cancer. Here is the press release: http://bit.ly/bgfhul

This is the first new treatment for advanced prostate cancer to be approved in something like 15 years.

With an estimated 192,280 new cases of prostate cancer each year, and with approximately 27,360 men expected to die from the disease in 2009, this is significant. Just to be clear, this is NOT a cure. Provenge is a new treatment that has shown a survival benefit of four months

over the current treatment, Taxotere. Additionally, it is given over three treatments spanning a month and the side effects are significantly less than those associated with chemo (Taxotere).

There are a lot more details to be released from Dendreon such as availability, cost and where it will be available. Dendreon has provided more information at: http://www.provenge.com

My ability to use it in the future is uncertain. I’m not sure I will qualify and I’m not sure how much and/or where I can even get it for some time. The important thing is that it is now another viable option in my very narrow inventory of future treatment options.

All in all, a good day, no a great day for the cause!

Wa, War. He gonna fight but he don’t know what for?

Advanced Prostate Cancer, David Emerson, U2, Uninversity of Mizzouri -

Again, with the lyrics, so where do you think I’m headed now?

Well, for once in this battle I wage, I have planned an event further than a month out. I have been discussing with my friend Mark for months and months the fact that I have never seen U2 in concert. While I may not be the biggest fan in comparison to Mark and my other friend Gary, I have been a fan since the early 1980’s.

For me, my first U2 exposure goes back to the University of Missouri, 1983. Though I only attended Mizzou for the fall semester of ’83, the memories are vivid nearly thirty years later. Before you ask, no I did not flunk out. I left for others reasons that are too long to include here. Fortunately, I did continue my education and eventually earned a bachelor’s degree as well as an MBA, but it would have been nice to complete my undergrad program at Missouri. Leaving is one of my few regrets in life.

Now, back to U2, Bill and I were assigned to a dorm floor that turned out to be party central, imagine that!One of the guys we came to know was a guy Jay. It turns out Jay worked at the campus radio station and therefore had access to some fantastic music. Twenty-seven years later I still have the mix tape Jay made. It contains XTC, Big Country and many of the Alternative Bands of the early 1980’s. The one that stuck with me most was of course U2. The three songs he included were: Sunday, Bloody Sunday, Gloria and Refugee. In case you were wondering, the title of this blog is a line from the U2 song “Refugee”. I wonder if that tape even plays anymore?

Last week I took a big step and made plans for July. While this may not seem monumental to you, as I often mention here, looking even a few months ahead is something I do not do very frequently, due to the battle with this disease. Concert tickets and plane tickets have been purchased and the hotel is booked. Mark, Gary, myself, and a few others will be at the Soldier Field event in Chicago!

So now that I have taken care of a personal event, next up on the ‘planning’ list is the ultimate family vacation! Oh where do we go?

drawing a blank …..

Advanced Prostate Cancer, David Emerson, metastatic -

If you are one of the fans of this blog and you happen to have advanced metastatic Prostate Cancer, there is a group that needs your help. Oxford Outcomes is conducting a survey and is struggling a little to find participants. Not only can you help the cause, you can earn $50 just for spending an hour on the phone answering questions.

I completed the survey the other day. It was very easy.

Just call Shadi and she’ll let you know if you qualify and how to participate.
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Shadi Gholizadeh
Research Associate
Oxford Outcomes 7315 Wisconsin Ave., 250W Bethesda, MD USA 20814
T: 240.482.0034/ Fx: 240.482.0043

No Foolin’

Advanced Prostate Cancer, David Emerson, hrpca, PCa -

I received this from a fellow PCa survivor. So instead of April Fools hysterics, I thought I’d include it here.

In particular, this goes out to Brian.

To all my brothers out there trying to win the battles!

Be the kind of man that when your feet hit the floor each morning, the devil says “Oh crap, he’s up!”
Brother, life is too short to wake up with regrets, so love the people who treat you right.
Love the ones who don’t, just because you can.
Believe everything happens for a reason.
If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands.
If it changes your life, let it.
Kiss slowly.
Forgive quickly.
God never said life would be easy, he just promised it would be worth it.

Today is Brother’s Day. Send this to all your brothers, fathers, sons.

If you get back 7, you are loved.
Happy Brothers Day!
I LOVE YA BROTHER!!!

To all of the cool men that have touched my life. Here’s to you!!

A real brother walks with you when the rest of the world walks on.

We Got To Get You A Woman

David Emerson, DES, estrogen, PSA, Todd Rundgren -

As funny as I thought I was being with the Helen Reddy post, I promised Mary to lay off the references to the whole ‘woman’ thing.

With this post I am hoping for little leniency, or forgiveness? However, come to think of it this has nothing to do with being a woman or feeling like one.

Being a Todd Rundgren fan it just came to mind and I wanted to share.

Why? When your PSA goes down 40% in 10 days you have to sing about something!

One final note, as we have in the past, we are cautiously optimistic for long term results. Yes it’s good news and without a doubt I am going to enjoy the next 28 days!


What’s going down?

Advanced Prostate Cancer, David Emerson, DES, PSA -

Tomorrow is my monthly check-up, you can probably guess I’m a little nervous.

After five years, close to 75 PSA tests, and I would guess over 100 doctors appointments, you might think I would be used to this routine. While the routine is old hat, the anticipation and lead up to the results are something I can’t ever imagine getting use to.

This subject is a topic that gets bantered about on some of the Prostate Cancer message boards. I can’t express to what extent the quality of men’s lives are impacted by this disease. With my case this might sound like a very obvious statement, but there are millions of men out there that have surgery, radiation or just choose to monitor their condition, that go through this anticipation periodically as well. Whether it be every month, quarter or year, these men go through a similar period of time leading up to their test results that mirrors the monthly anguish that I experience anticipating my PSA tests. This is one of the aspects of our experience that the general public may not be able to completely understand. It’s very taxing.

I usually do pretty well with this and probably will do so tomorrow, but I do wonder what the results will be. After starting estrogen (DES) ten days ago, this will be my first test. My last test indicated my numbers were increasing rather quickly. On March 14th my PSA was 193 and I didn’t begin the Estrogen until March 18th, so my PSA before starting DES was probably over 200. Tomorrow, well we’ll see. I don’t know how quickly we will see a response to this new treatment. I am struggling to make a clear, concise point and that IS my point.

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I was able to get out today and play disc golf. It was good to see and play with Tim and E again. Eric, it’s been far too long! I played pretty good, nothing great, but it was a pain free round. Since starting DES, overall my body feels much better. My hips hurt less and my legs are better and I am still able to avoid the Advil.

Finally, tonight was a good, quiet family night. We caught up on a few things we had recorded and basically just enjoyed the relaxation and each others company. It’s Easter week and I look forward to the emotions of the week.

Peace be with you all.

What tomorow has in store for me

Advanced Prostate Cancer, David Emerson, DES, radiation, Wafarin -

Time changes many things, including treatments for my Stage IV Prostate Cancer.
Five years later, we face a new course, a new direction.

With my PSA climbing considerably over the last 6 weeks and limited treatment options to chose from, we have decided that I will start DES, a form of women’s estrogen. My friend Howard has a good write up here at hrpca.org (http://hrpca.org/estrogens.htm)

There are two potential side effects, DVT aka Deep Vein Thrombosis (blood clots) and/or Gynecomastia (breast enlargement). The former can be managed with Coumadin (Wafarin). The latter requires a one time treatment of radiation to my breasts.

So tomorrow begins the next step. I pray for good results. I pray for the longevity of this treatment. I need a mental break, I need a beach.