disc golf

Spring and a break!

Advanced Prostate Cancer, David Emerson, disc golf, PCa -

Spring found KC in a big way! The weather since last weekend has been wonderful, and we couldn’t have asked for better timing since we stayed home for Spring Break!

Oh course there has already been four rounds of disc golf and Saturday we helped some of the guys from the local club out by orking on the course in the woods. It was only two hours,but back breaking work!
Monday Brad and I played 9 holes of ball golf and he did really well. He showed much improvement from last year at this time.
Yesterday I played disc in the morning, washed and detailed cars for two and a half hours then played another round of disc golf. This year the FLHW disc golf tournament is being held at a private course, just two minutes from the house. It’s long, there are a lot of trees that come into play, and it took two of us two hours to play. We primarily went out to determine how to lay out the course for our event on May 9th. It’s going to be great, a real challenge, and I really hope the local disc golf community (and others) come out to play and support the cause!
Well, that’s really it for now, I’m really tired after yesterday and I still have two or three basketball brackets to fill out!

180 Needles later

Advanced Prostate Cancer, blood thinners, David Emerson, disc golf, Lovenox, PCa -

This morning was a good morning, I gave myself my last injection of Lovenox! (see this post http://flhw.ddmpreview.com/im-not-lovenox/)
Six months of daily injections are over, woo-hoo!! Now it’s just a daily baby aspirin to control clotting.
The mention of baby asprin reminds me of when I was young and one of my brothers liked those orange Johnson’s Baby aspirin so much, he ate the whole bottle. I bet the thought of the stomach pumping that followed still gives him chills!
Four years ago today I sat at work and wrote how frightened I was about the results of the biopsy I had experienced the day before. As it turned out, I had good reason to be concerned. Those thoughts, that fear, feels like it is from another life, one that I no longer lead. Not that I am naïve about the road ahead, but dwelling on the negative does no good.

Spring is going to tease us once again for the next few days with temperatures climbing well into the sixties. If the wind cooperates, we’ll be spending a lot of time outside both in the yard and playing, what else!

A brick wall

Advanced Prostate Cancer, chemotherapy, David Emerson, disc golf, PCa -

I was able to get almost all of the way through the week without much day time fatigue, just in the evening and over night.Today on the other hand I am beat. It’s just after noon and I am contemplating heading home for a several hour nap!

I am hoping this does the trick because tomorrow it is supposed to be 60 degrees and disc golf is calling my name! I’ll have to see how things go this afternoon and tonight.
In addition I was hoping to go out a have a nice dinner with Mary tomorrow night, since we spent my birthday at home. I’m not upset with that, I was tired, it was freezing out and my brother-in-law was still getting over a cold. So maybe with the warm weather tomorrow the four of us will find time for a nice meal?
Not much else to share today, other than the fact I pine for spring!

The end is near, the end of chemo!

chemotherapy, David Emerson, disc golf, Ice Bowl, PCa -

It’s been a long road, not too terribly difficult of a road, but long and arduous.
With today’s events, this post is a milestone. It is also the first of many significant posts in the upcoming days.

There are birthdays, anniversaries, and a number of key markers in this journey that are to be recognized. I hope you check back to live and re-live the events with me.

What a long, strange trip it’s been……and will certainly continue to be!

P.S. – It was 17 degrees when we started the Ice Bowl yesterday and 20 degrees when we finished at 12:15. We chose not to play the second round because they were running so far behind that it would have been after 3:00pm. The good news is they were running behind because they had an estimated 300 brave souls out to play Disc Golf!! Great news for this year’s benefactor!

The Dirty Dozen

chemotherapy, David Emerson, disc golf, Ice Bowl, St Peregrine -

On Monday I will undergo my 12th, and let’s pray, final chemo treatment. I am really looking forward to it’s conclusion.

The past 7+ months have flown by quickly. As my overall PCa experience over the last four years, the chemo experience has been full of ups and downs. I must say, that as I sit here tonight and write this, I feel great.

After slacking off my exercise regime over the holidays, I worked out four days both last week and this week. This week I even got back on the exercise bike three times. Though I only rode 10-12 minutes, it felt good to once again get my heart racing. However, even after 10 minutes or so, I can rarely get my heart rate over 130 beats per minute. This has always been a problem for me, I guess I’m just too laid back!

It’s that time of year again for the Ice Bowl (here are some previous posts about the Ice Bowl)
pain-in-neck

ice-bowl-video

i-am-such-wii-knee

The forecast this year is calling for a high of 26, but it looks like it will be 18 degrees when we get started on Sunday morning! Remember the motto of the Ice Bowl “No wimps, no whiners”!

Monday will be here before you know it and with that thought, I ask for your thoughts and prayers as I end one stage and enter another.

Prayer to Saint Peregrine ~ Patron Saint to cancer patients
O great St. Peregrine,
you have been called “The Mighty,”
“The Wonder-Worker,”
because of the numerous miracles
which you have obtained from God
for those who have had recourse to you.

For so many years
you bore in your own flesh
this cancerous disease
that destroys the very fiber of our being,
and who had recourse
to the source of all grace
when the power of man could do no more.

You were favored with the vision of Jesus
coming down from His Cross
to heal your affliction.

Ask of God and Our Lady,
the cure of the sick whom we entrust to you.
(Pause here and silently recall the names of the sick for whom you are praying)

Aided in this way by your powerful intercession,
we shall sing to God,
now and for all eternity,
a song of gratitude
for His great goodness and mercy.
Amen.

Ace times three

chemotherapy, David Emerson, disc golf, PCa -

That’s this morning, January 11, 2009 after getting a hole-in-one on the 5th hole!

After a long tiring, post chemo week, I was feeling great this morning so I decided to join a few of the guys at a new disc golf course. The baskets aren’t in yet so we aimed for trees marked like the one next to me. The object was to hit the tree below the ribbon. My shot was 300+ feet from the tee pad and hit the tree right smack in the middle.

Better than my accomplishment, my brother in law Rich got two!! He started the day with one on the first hole and finished the round with another on the 18th! It was only 24 degrees when we started but with no wind it quickly reached 40 degrees.

This afternoon we took down the Christmas tree and put the decorations away. Now football has ended and it’s time to finish the book I started yesterday and get a good night sleep before I start working out again tomorrow morning.

Life

Advanced Prostate Cancer, chemotherapy, David Emerson, disc golf, PCa -

I saw this quote and because it’s so appropriate, I thought I’d pass it along.

Life is not the way it’s supposed to be.

It’s the way that it is.
The way you cope with it,
is what makes the difference.
Played disc golf this morning, 28 degrees when I left the house, but it was 45 degrees when we finished at 10:30.

Monday is treatment #9, more thoughts on that over the weekend!

A premonition?

chemotherapy, David Emerson, disc golf, Rosedale -


The title is just me kidding, I was going to add a joke about my mind being in a fog after tomorrow, but I’ll spare you.

I had to share this picture from Saturday morning’s round disc golf. (click the photo for a larger view) It was around 55 degrees yesterday, shorts, long sleeve t-shirt and a light pull over. When we arrived at the first hole, we could only see about 50 feet in front of us. We encountered the same on hole two. The fog slightly lifted for holes 4-8 but #9 was a blind shot as well. My drive on #9 disappeared into the fog and we found it 320 feet later, under the basket!

The picture above is hole #11. The tee shot and the fairway are covered by trees, thus keeping the fog at bay. However, as we approached the basket this was the scene.

Needless to say, it was fantastic Saturday morning!

7, 617, 54…sorry

Advanced Prostate Cancer, David Emerson, disc golf, Marshall MO -

First and foremost, sorry for not posting for the last week!

Everything is fine, everything is ‘normal’.

Being week two, my tongue returned to normal and work returned to being hectic.
I spent Wednesday and Thursday in Boston, MA (617 area code) for work. It was a quick but productive trip.

I spent yesterday playing 54 holes of disc golf with most of the members of the Saturday morning gang.
We left at 6:00am for Columbia, MO where we played two rounds; one as individuals, one as two-man teams.
During the first round my brother-in-law almost made a hole-in-one – the disc hit the front rim of the basket from about 275 feet away.
250 feet over water then, BANG! Would have, should have, could have……

Both yesterday, and this week in Boston, were absolutely gorgeous fall days. The trees have turned, the days are cooler and crisp
and winter is right around the corner. With winter’s arrival will come my longing for spring. I have five more chemo treatments, lasting until late
January, a mild and short winter would be a welcome treat.

In the weeks ahead I have treatment #8, new bone and CT scans, a long overdue trip to St. Louis and ……?

54? Let’s make it an even 72!!

Advanced Prostate Cancer, Albert Oakland Park, David Emerson, disc golf, Marshall MO, PCa -

Yesterday was a little more that a typical Saturday in August for David. Why let Prostate Cancer and chemotherapy keep you down when you love disc golf?

Joe, Rich and I decided we had talked about a disc golf road trip long enough, it was time to act. We decided we would make a day of it and play in Marshall, MO and two different courses in Columbia, MO.

So yesterday morning Rich and I left my house at 6:00am, picked Joe up and headed 60 minutes east on I-70 to Marshall, MO. They have a great little disc course there, Indian Foothills Disc Golf Course. When we tee’d off a little before 8:00am it was damp, due to heavy dew overnight. Our feet were instantly soaked, and they remained that way for the next 12 hours. This had no impact on our day however! The course was new to Rich and myself and the three of us really had a great time, despite the face full of spider webs each us experienced multiple times. Eww!!!

By 10:30 we were in Columbia, MO at Albert Oakland Park. I love this course. It had been almost four years since I played in Columbia, certainly – BC (before cancer). The threat of rain had long passed, the sky was still overcast but the humidity was typical for an August day in the heartland! Joe shot a nice round at even par and Rich and I finished equal at +3.

Next it was off to the campus of the University of Misssouri and lunch at Shakespeare’s Pizza.
The pie was delicious and with little delay we were off for our next round at Indian Hills Disc Golf Course. The previous time I played this course I really liked it. This time, by the time we reached the back nine we couldn’t wait to leave. I’m all for a challenge, but this course is in need of some serious trimming! There was at least one tree and multiple limbs on every hole that needed to be removed. I even questioned at one point whether the Columbia Parks and Recreation Department owned it or knew how to operate a saw. I’m not whining here, but the condition of this course was ridiculous.

By the time we finished it was only 4:00. We agreed we couldn’t finish on a bad note. A quick phone call to Mary and we were on our way back to Oakland for round four! 72 holes of disc golf in one day!

The last round was perhaps the most fun. We played in less than 90 minutes and finished the back nine in 28 minutes! Joe and I barely missed ace’s on number 16. His shot went right over the top, mine cut right across the front of the basket!

In total, it was an unbelievable day! I haven’t had that much fun playing disc golf since Europe in 2006.

Here are the scores for the day (Par is 54)
Joe – 53, 54, 60, 50 = 217 or +1
David- 61, 57, 64, 57 = 239 or +23
Rich – 57, 57, 70, 57 = 241 or +25

One thing to note – I definitely had an advantage over Rich in one aspect. I had played both courses in Columbia previously. Due to the layout, my experience did not provide an advantage at Oakland however, at Indian Hills, due to the number of blind shots, I had a leg up.

In the end, the scores really didn’t matter. We had a fantastic time, a nice trip and great conversation on the trip home. Thanks Rich and Joe for sharing this day with me. You both are great guys. I wonder where we’ll go next?

EPILOGUE: I was slightly concerned that after all that activity I’d be a little sore today. And of course, Mary shared in my concern. Well I was not fatigued or hurting in the least bit! Take that chemotherapy and PCa!!