The Blah, Blah, Blah, Blog

Just going to get you caught up with the last couple of months.  Should have something really good to share soon, as a week from Monday (Feb. 6th)  I'll be back in SF for the radio frequency ablation on my spinal nerves that are giving me pain.  So until that story unfolds, you'll just have to listen to to the blah, blah, stuff.

I probably told you that chemo makes your skin photosensitive.  Well, when you're a very white person who has already been through the melanoma thing, the chemo can apparently really cause them to pop out.  Understand, the skin cancers that we get are from exposure and damage decades ago.  Well, just like with my cataract and gall bladder, chemo speeds things up.  I went to my regular dermatologist mid-December.  I saw him a year ago and only had a couple things frozen off.  This time he was not so happy.  16.  That's right.  I had 16 little pre-cancers that had to be frozen off.  I now have to wear long sleeves pretty much all the time, and I have to wear sunscreen on my face, and especially on my hands, every day!  It's like having to wear makeup!  I had 2 on each of my hands at the end of the thumb near the wrist, and 1 on the top of my left hand.  Why you ask?  From having my hands on the steering wheel and the sun beating through the windshield.  3 on my left arm.  1 pretty big and bad.  Sun through the drivers side window.  The rest on my face and ears.  So just remember kids, too much sun can kill.

Throughout December and January every time I walked out of the house I caught some bug.  It was funny having my monthly interview with the pharmaceutical company that supplies my chemo pills.  We chat about side effects, and infections, and rashes and things since my last interview.  You know, just like girl talk.  So as I'm explaining what's been going on the representative taking the report asks: 'So any infections this past month?'  "Yes.  A bad sinus infection.  A bad bronchial infection that we kept from becoming pneumonia.  An ear infection that my Dr. deemed a very angry ear.  And eye infections in my right eye which was bad enough to close it up with swelling and green gunk that would become crusty requiring me to wash the eye with warm water in order to try and flush it with saline, and left eye that wasn't quite as the right eye."  'Wow, you've had quite a month", she exclaimed.  "Month?  I had all of them at the same time over a two week period.  I still have the bronchial and sinus infections, the ear ache is mostly gone, and I can see now out of both eyes."  The girl freaked.  'What?!  Wait while I get the pharmacist on the line please.'  The pharmacist and I had spoken many times over the past 20 months that I've been in the daily chemo trial.  She was cool.  'Well Mr. Richards.  I hear that you're carrying on with your tradition of either being really good or really bad.  I think you may have set another record.'  That's the way it is when you have very little of your immune system.

Here's the other thing about being on chemo, and then starting a antibiotic series:  they don't play well together.  Now the antibiotics chased the infections away, and for that I'm truly grateful.  It also made me sicker than I have been in a very long time.    I will put it less delicately, over a period of several days, I broke records for nausea trips to the bathroom.  It was coming and going.  I was very glad when the 10 day treatment ended.  I think our water bill was double for a normal month.

Now I want to say a special thank you to Dr. Sandy Tulanian.  My internal organs have been protesting the pounding of chemo that they received during my treatments up to the transplant. They have been also getting tired of the long term exposure to the daily chemo process as well, and rebelling.  Dr. Tulanian diagnosed my physiological needs to combat the damage, and provided supplements.  Well, after two months they stopped the downward spiral.  My oncologists were impressed.  My last tests showed that in fact things are actually getting better inside.  Way to go Sandy!  So, it will likely be a recurrence of the cancer that will kill me, and not from organ failure.  At least they're still working on better drugs with less side effects and less damage to other organs, or perhaps even a cure.  Till then.  Pills.  Lots of pills.

Here's the latest report. I had a test that showed that my IgM level had doubled in a month.  Usually, this is an indication that the cancer is coming back.  Not for me.  The chemo is designed to suppress the production of those IgM cells, which is where my cancer was.  But my body produced an increase of those cells, with them being GOOD cells, not bad.  I take this as a good sign.  It could also mean that the cells are adapting to the chemo and that the chemo is becoming less effective, but I don't see it that way.  As a matter of fact, Dr. Wolf discussed with me at our last appointment Jan. 15th, that he might take me off of the Revlimid altogether, or reduce my usage, in May or June of this year.  He said that by doing so it would allow my organs, and particularly my neuropathy, to improve and get healthy again.  We have learned that the Revlimid works for me, so when the cancer comes back we just start the chemo again and knock it down.  SUWEEET! 

Many have asked about what side effects I get from the chemo.  Let me 'splain.  No, there is no time.  Let me some up.  Extra credit if you know the reference.  I take the pill before I go to bed.  About 20 or so minutes after I take it, the fun begins.  First, you know the feeling you get sometimes when you feel like you have bugs/things crawling all over your body?  That's the chemo affecting the nerves.  Crawlies for about 2 hours or so.  I try and read to distract me, but I do itch them every so often.  Second, after about 30 minutes, the body aches and bone aches start.  I really try to be upstairs within that time or it's actually a chore to get up to bed.  Unfortunately, the body aches make the back aches from the spine issues worse.  Then there is some nausea.  There are a few times a night when I feel that I have to get up and throw up or have diarrhea.  Usually I just pee.  And usually I don't have to throw up or sit on the Fritz (German john), but there have been times when I thought it was  false alarm, and well, it wasn't pretty.  Especially at 2 or 3 in the morning.  Fortunately the side effects begin to wear off around 4:30 to 6 a.m., depending on when I took it the night before.  Those that know me best know that I WAS a morning person.  I would get up at 5:15 to go play basketball and to teach seminary.  Now, if I can sleep until 9 or so, it's heaven.  Today, I woke up at 9:40.  I stayed in bed re-re-reading my Gospel Principles lesson and jotting notes until  about 10:30.  I don't mind 1pm church.  I trade a nap for sleeping in.  Another side effect is the neuropathy.  The chemo kills the nerves.  I have very little feeling in my fingers, hands, toes, feet and brain!  While having the missionaries to dinner last month I was slicing some pieces of beef stick for them.  Elder Sorenson brings it to my attention that I've got blood all over my hand.  Pretty good slice.  I told him that if it weren't for the neuropathy that would really hurt!  I can't open bottles with caps very well. I drop everything because I can't tell if I'm gripping it tight enough.  I did have a golf club go flying out of my hand during a swing. My toothbrush drops out of my hands all the time.  Think about it.  I HAVE CHEMO BRAIN.  It's like chemically induced dementia.  My skin is paper thin, rough and crusty.  I'm lizard boy.  You could blow on me and I'd bruise. Thanks to a wonderful and beautiful young lady in our ward by the name of Kim Engard, who happens to be a Mary Kay distributor, she has provided me with an array of lotions and scrubs that make my skin soft and less objectionable.  The chemo's turning my hair gray! Can you imagine!  At my age! Dang it.  How about being tired all day every day?  See, with 1/3 the normal number of red blood cells in my body there's 1/3 the oxygen and energy getting to my body.  With very little immune system your susceptible to every thing that's out there.  Then there's the digestion issues.  Assimilation of nutrient issue.  My goodness, it just goes on.  I'll stop here.  For those that asked, well, you won't make that mistake again, will you?  For those that didn't, well, TMI.

Please, don't get the wrong idea.  I am not complaining.  If it comes off that way, I don't mean for it to.  I am grateful for what I have, any life at all.  I can do so much more now that I could a year ago.  Two years ago I was at UCSF hospital doing chemo loading prepping for the stem cell transplant.  I made it through 3 hours of church.  I taught the Gospel Principles lesson.  We had 6 or 7 investigators at church today and I had the opportunity to bear my testimony of Heavenly Father's love and power.  I was able to give a sister in our Ward who is struggling with her cancer treatments a blessing.  I have received 21 blessings through my treatments.  I will get my 22nd next Sunday before my trip Monday to SF.  But this time I was able to give the blessing, not just receive one.  I made dinner.  I love my life.  I'm grateful for my "new normal" as we call it.

Well, you didn't have to get to the end to figure out the title, did you.  If you made it this far, and even if you know someone who tried but just started hearing blah, blah, blah, I love and appreciate you all for what you've given me.  My new normal.  I'm wishing all of you a great life, full of new and improved normals, without the side effects.

PAIN (YOUR PAIN) IS FUN TO THESE PEOPLE

Sorry for not getting to this sooner, but that's the way my life goes.  No bad, but good.  I'll share for those who may still be interested.

Due to the continuing pain in my back, despite the improvements from physical therapy, something had to be done.  At the end of the day when I would lay down in bed I would still have throbbing in my entire lower body.  My left leg was not only numb, but tingly.  Right leg only numb.  Left hand numb and tingly too.  Can't do Aleve or ibuprophen due to kidney issues, so you just live with it, right?  Wrongo.  Thanks to the wonders of UCSF medicine, brought to you by the people who kept me alive, and a referral by my orthopedist, Dr. Shane Burch, I finally got an appointment with the UCSF Pain Management office.  So, on November 5th, I, along with Darrell and a good friend Wes Castro (a most interesting fellow, if you ever get the chance to visit with him), headed north to SF.  We had some difficulty getting there, but thankfully, after not a little fret on my part, which annoyed Darrell and Wes I think, we got there with time to spare.  So as I got settled in the waiting area, Darrell and Wes headed out into the streets of SF until my return from the inner sanctums of the Center.  Here we are in front of the very low key office in the shadow of the big UCSF Mt. Zion hospital.

I will now introduce the supporting characters by order of appearance.  First was Dr. Ramana Naidu, a Clinical Fellow of anesthesiology and pain management.  He asked a lot of questions but never actually said that he was going to be the one inserting the needles into my back.  Next to him is Jackie Weiss, a 4th year medical student (she made sure I knew that she was a 4th year student), who was there to observe.

The next participant was the nurse, who only wanted to be identified as 'Nurse Kelly'. What her real name is I don't know.  At first she didn't want to be photographed but after I assured her that there were no law enforcement people tracking my blog she agreed to be photographed.  I didn't pixelate her face either.

Now behind us you can see a couple screens where MRIs of my spine are being shown.  It was from these pictures that Dr. Naidu planned his work.  To the right of Nurse 'Nancy' was a portable Cat-scan machine that they use during the procedure.  He was supervised by Dr. Melanie Henry, MD, MPH (whatever that means) and Assistant Clinical Professor and Attending Physician.  You can just call her Doctor.

So as I understand it (I was there but face down on the table to the right of Dr. Henry so I didn't get to see much), they rolled the portable Cat-scan machine over me while the rest of the cowards stayed back away from the deadly rays it produces while Dr. Naidu began to stick needles into my back to inject some steroid that I think starts with "D".  The steroid then reduces the pain and pinpoints the problem area for future possible oblation of the actual nerves.  The injections last 2-6 months.  The oblation can last 8-10 years.  The only hitch was when Dr. Naidu would stick the needle in me and then I'd hear, "I'm hitting bone. I can't seem to get between them."  The object is to get the needle between the two rubbing facets in order to inject the steroid at the offending spot.  Dr. Henry would respond, "Just back it out and try it at a different angle."  So in again he would stick the needle, unfortunately, with the same result not infrequently.  I stopped counting how many times he had to stab me.  That's not the important.  He got it done.  The pain from the injections themselves was not so great for a few days, but a couple days later my spinal pain was much better.  So far it has worked, somewhat.  It doesn't relieve all pain, but a lot of it.  So thank you to these wonderful people at UCSF for making my life better.  Can't wait to do the bottom one & the right side.

Of course the most important reason for me recovering from the procedure was so that I could play golf with my UCSF oncologist, Dr, Jeffrey Wolf.  That's right, my Dr. invited me to play golf with him at a pretty famous golf course there in SF.  He arranged his schedule (and mine) so that we could golf at Harding Park.  Most of you won't care, but, it's been a regular PGA Tour stop, the course where the President's Cup was played in 2010 and 2011, and hosted the final Senior PGA Championship tournament of the season just a few days before we played.  Another patient was supposed to play with us, but had to back out at the last minute.  It was meant to be as we were paired with a young couple who had a 10 month old baby girl.  Some people deal with stress in different ways.  I loved her way.  Just that morning she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and decided to try and relieve her stress by playing golf with her husband.  As I introduced myself to her husband, Dr. Wolf shared that I was coming back from cancer and walked back to the cart to get something.  Her husband shared her diagnosis from earlier that day. with me. I told him that Dr. Wolf (who just introduced himself as Jeff) was an oncologist and that we were paired together so that she could get some advise and comfort from Jeff.  Dr. Wolf then returned and I informed him of the young woman's diagnosis.  He smiled and walked over to her, pulled down the neck of his turtle neck shirt, and showed her his car from when he had his thyroid removed due to cancer when he was 28.  It was way cool, and they talked quite a bit and thanked him as they left feeling so much better about the whole thing.

Now to answer the question that is on everyone's mind, "But how did you do?"  I did OK.  Started out too sore and stiff from 2 days in SF and triple bogeyed the first 2 holes.  Got looser and by the last 2 holes we were tied.  The clouds had come in and it was drizzling.  Dr. Wolf chipped in a shot out of a greenside pot bunker, with a downhill break that hit the flag dead center and the ball jumped in.  It was a great shot!  For the last hole it was so dark that we couldn't see. Fortunately there were a couple of guys from Ireland playing behind us that asked if they could play with us so that they could finish the course.  I said "Of course", as Dr. Wolf hesitated, but I reminded him that we needed their young eyes to be able to see our balls in the dark.  They helped a lot.  We all finished as it started to rain.  I shot an 89, which isn't too bad for my first time on the course and starting out with 2 triple bogeys. We both determined that we were going to break 90 as we were tied at 46 after 9 holes, and we did it.  Would it have been bad form for me to win?  I guess I'll never have to worry about that anyway.  Then we had dinner at a great little Italian restaurant.  Home by 10:15.

My last thank you go to Joan and Dan Murphy.  Remember my friend Dennis Lozano from my very first stay at UCSF?  Well, his wife Marie, is a sister to Joan Murphy.  They live about 3-4 miles from UCSF and about 1-2 miles from Harding Park.  They invited me to stay at their place on Weds. night, so that I didn't have to get a hotel and would have a place near the hospital for my early morning appointment with Dr. Wolf.  It was a wonderful stay.  It was so great to be able to learn more about them and their beautiful family.  Marvelous food.  Great and very interesting company.  A great bed with all the comforts of their home.  It was wonderful.  Thank you Joan and Dan for your hospitality and care.  I apologized to them and to the rest of you for my failure to take any pictures.  Next time, Joan and Dan?

Gullible's Travels

I know it's been a long time since I last posted, but there just hasn't been too much that I could share going on.  But after a couple of months I'll try and make your visit to the blog worth while.  As for the medical news... Do ya'll realize that it's been just over 2 years since I went to UCSF's ICU for the first time?  It's been a long time, yet in some ways it seems like yesterday.  Oddly enough I don't remember much of that first visit. I just remember that while lying in the ICU unit I over heard all of the doctors and nurses planning the hospital's production of Guys and Dolls.  I was so out of it that I couldn't respond.  After a couple of days, I was able to let my nurse know that I could help them out by doing the "Nicely Nicely' part and that I already knew the words to the song "Sit down your rockin' the boat".  He acted like he didn't know what I was talking about.  I figured they just gave the part to someone else while I was recovering and he didn't want to hurt my feelings.  I missed my chance for fame and glory.  Some say I haven't fully recovered from my medicated psychosis.  Others say I've always had it.

Who are these people and where is this beautiful place?  The first part of Sept. I was able to visit some clients (just in case the IRS is monitoring my blog) and friends in the Seattle area of Washington State.  I'd never been there before and it was fantastic. It really reminded me on southern Germany from my mission, with fields cut out of forest and rivers and lakes everywhere.  Lush and green.  And for me, it didn't rain a single second.  Actually, it didn't rain for a month.  I did get to stay with my great buddy and lifelong friend, Dan Stuart and his family.  Here's a picture of them, except for Ethan, who for some strange reason was already asleep, and Carly, who at 2, was just uncooperative.  Dan, Cynthia, Aveson and Brady.  I had a great time with them.  They live just north of Seattle in the Marysville area.  Their yard is one-half yard, one-half forest/jungle.  Wild berries grow everywhere and people there will go out for a day with their families and pick enough to can for the rest of the year.  Here's Dan in his backyard.  Finally got a picture of Carly, when she didn't know I was coming.

The trip turned into a visit of high school and long time ago friends.  I didn't get any pictures, but I was able to visit with Butch and Chelli Pogue, who Dale & I knew in Long Beach, and then they moved to Tacoma.  They gave us some wonderful support during the last years, and I needed to visit with them to say thank you face to face.  But only I got to see their faces and you don't because I was so excited to see them that I forgot to take a picture.  Where was Hillary when I needed her?

Dan & Cynthia have lived in the area just 1 year, so they didn't know the places to explore & see.  But thankfully, I had another lovely high school connection, none other than Colleen Sweeney, my high school sweetheart, who's lived in Seattle for many years and knows all of the places to see in the area.  Her ex London Smith was also present and we became BFFs over Astin Martins (he owned one) and many other things. So with Dan & his family we loaded up the vehicles and went exploring thanks to Colleen and her impromptu Pacific Northwest Pixie Tours.  I can't show everything, but you'll get a flavor for the city and surrounds, including the city views, views of the truly spectacular Puget Sound, waterfalls just minutes from the city, and importantly for me, great places to eat with fabulous views.  Thanks Colleen and London for so much fun!

 Then I headed east towards Spokane, where I was to visit another client. But on the way I was able to visit another great friend from high school days, Frank Portera and his family.  Did I ever tell you the story of how Frank sank his new motorcycle?   Lots of good stories with Frank.  He reminded me of the time...well, we'll save that for another day.  Frank lives in Selah, which is just outside Yakima, the apple capital of the country.  It's high desert, but I was amazed at the amount of water that still was flowing through it all.  We went to Red Lobster because it was the first night of "all you can eat shrimp" promotion.  Frank can eat a lot of shrimp.  His adorable wife Cindy less so.  His step-daughter Erin also.  We included our waiter in the picture.  I think his name was Travis.  It was his first night working there and he did great.  We hit it off and had to include him in our group picture.  Former Marine. Great guy.  Erin's not interested, however. Erin didn't want to come listen to 2 old guys talk about the good ol' days.  Mom convinced her and she admitted that she hadn't laughed so had for so long in years.  That Frank was really a wild & crazy guy.   She just never knew it. If you can imagine this, I was the voice of reason in our group!  So you can imagine what Frank was like.  To take liberty with a line from Guys and Dolls, spoken by Big Julie, "Thirty-three accusations. Not one conviction."

 

While in Spokane, where I visited another client, I also was able have a visit with these two wonderful ladies.  The younger of the two, and daughter, is Kendra Player.  She was my oldest brother Mark's girlfriend in high school.  The fiestier of the two, is June Smith.  She was the wife of the only scoutmaster that lasted more than 6 months with our group.  His name was Lamar Smith.  He and my dad were good friends, and they died from cancer within 2 weeks of each other about 6 years ago.  Lamar was the scoutmaster when Jeff was bonked on the head with the 22 lb. rock on Navajo trail at Bryce Canyon, and when one of the Rangers at Death Valley asked him to make sure that I never came back.  What?  Another time another story.  We had a wonderful time and thank you for finding me a restaurant (Old European in No. Spokane) where I was able to get real German potato pancakes with applesauce.  Takin' me back 37 yrs. ish.

To wrap up my WA trip just a couple more pictures and stories.  Of course with Dan and I we fanagled in some golfing.  The courses are cut out of the forests.  There's nothing 'man-made' but the course itself.  If you are prone to hitting out of bounds, bring lots of balls with you.  I lost 4, and that's very low.  I don't hit it that far either.  But once it's in the woods, you'll never find it, or get torn to shreds by the thorns on the wild berry bushes that grow right up to the tree line. That's a pond with water lilies on the right of the trees. Beautiful.

                                          Got back in time for a beautiful Paso Robles sunset.

Below is a picture of Dale, I and Susan Ibbetson, another former high school friend who came and visited us this weekend.  She's wonderful and really enjoyed the quiet of our humble commode.  She lives in Newport Beach and been an Orange County girl for many years.  After her divorce she went back to school at 35 and played basketball for Santa Ana College, even becoming the Co-Captain her 2nd year!  She's over 6', which really bugged me in high school.  Now that I'm a shrimp, she's really rubbing it in.  Very nicely.

So here's the scoop on my physical situation, for those who are still awake...
My body's not liking the buildup of the chemo in my system, so it's affecting my red & white blood cells, kidney & liver functions, neuropothy, symptoms, etc.  They're trying to figure out what to do about it.  Can't stop the chemo 'cus the cancer will come back.  Cutting back on it some won't help the symptoms.  My monthly infusion of Zometa has been changed to every other month, but other than that, it's "We'll just keep watching it until it becomes serious."  GOOD NEWS:  Physically I have been doing well.  I even graduated from physical therapy and will be working out at the gym now to keep me from blimping out again.  Thanks to all of the staff at San Luis Sports Therapy in Paso Robles, especially Dr. Jennifer Seay (pronounced 'see') and of course my own Candice Joy Richards.

Thanks for all of your continuing love and support.  As you can see by the pictures of me I am more upright than I've been in over 2 years.  Still fairly weak when it comes to stamina, but my frame is stronger.  Actually, my Dr. wants me to lose 10 lbs.  Ouch.

Every Visit An Adventure

This wonderful young lady is Cheryl.  She is the clinic coordinator.  She is the one who keeps the clinic running smoothly from 8 to 6.  She loves me and gives me special treatment.  I learned the secret of being treated like a king.  I bring them goodies every time I come.  This time was fresh baked tollhouse chocolate chip cookies.  Brownies.  Pumpkin pies.  Assorted Christmas cookies.  Almond cookies from China Town.  It's like Martha Stewart always says, Never go to an oncology/ hematology clinic empty handed.  I never wait long for vitals or for labs.  I rarely wait for the Doc.  I always get the room with the recliner.  I'm not the only one who thinks food is good.  All of the nurses and front desk staff do everything possible to make my stay a lovely experience.

These are the 7 vials of blood that they take through my port ev4ry time I come to do all of my blood work.  The report covers 48 different tests.  The good news, I'm still cancer free nearly 16 months after my stem cell transplant.  The bad news, I will be taking the daily chemo pills for another 10 months, "at least", instead of 4 months, and my neuropothy is getting worse due to the buildup of the chemo in my system.  I have very poor feeling in my fingers, hands and feet.  My chemo brain, which was compromised long before this as everyone knows, has gotten worse.  I still drool really well though.  My metabolism has caught up with me too. After months of not retaining much food, I now have to loose about 10 pounds!  Oh my. Whoda thunk it. Then, after, I was supposed to visit with one of my early UCSF experience doctors who is now working on a cure for my cancer, but he had to go to the other UCSF hospital at Mission Bay for a research meeting.  So I had a few 2 1/2 hours to kill.  From my hospital room I would look at Golden Gate Park. Tour #1. The west end. Quickly

The fantastic Conservatory of Flowers.  The grounds around it are almost as impressive as the inside displays.

This very impressive monument on the left was honoring Francis Scott Key, who wrote the Star Spangled Banner. In the background is the de Young Museum of Art. They were having a Picasso showing.  I didn't have that much time. but I made it up to the 9th level and observation deck. For some pictures.

View from the de Young Museum at the California Academy of Sciences.  To the left the Francis Scott Key memorial.  At the top middle of the picture is my alma matter, UCSF Medical Center, Long and Moffett Hospitals. My rooms were on the 11th and 14th floors, with a view of the park and the Golden Gate Bridge.  I REALLY  like this view better.

This is the view from the de Young to the north-east.  You see the town and buildings of San Francisco, with the hills in the distant background being on the far side of  the bay.  If you've never been around San Francisco, take a very small and narrow car with good brakes.  I have found no level spot in the whole town.

I will now regale you with photos of the Japenese Garden, which I found very interesting, and in fact, relaxing.

This is the "Peace Lantern".  I didn't realize that the US and Japan didn't sign a peace treaty until 1951.  This 9,000 lb. solid brass peace lantern was presented to the people of the United States by the Consul General for Japan in San Francisco on January 9, 1953.  It was from the 'children of Japan. In hope of peace.'

Everywhere you look were wonderful rock landscapes, bonsai gardens, streams & waterfalls.  Picturesque. I won't bore you with any more pictures, but I spent quite a bit of time walking around here. Feng Shuy

.Stow Lake is a favorite of the locals.  They have paddle boats and row boats available to rent.  People bring their own kayaks and canoes.  It's pretty big.  The gazebo-ee thing on the left is a Chinese building.  The waterfall is a big draw for the tourists, as you can hike to the top of it. If you love green water, this is for you.
As I needed to be heading back I saw the Shakespeare Garden on the map and thought to myself, 'To go, or not to go. That is the question."  But because I have chemo brain, I forgot the question and just walked to it.

A quiet little park within the park.  Several students just lying on the ground studying.  Other people just sitting and thinking.  No computers, ipods, cell phones etc. were observed, or heard, here. This park is a cool place.

Then back for a quick visit with Dr. Burch's office to present a report from my physical therapist, and a chat about my lack of progress with the injections in my back in preparation for the anticipated oblation, and an authorization to play tennis IF I didn't do something stupid (moi?) and hurt myself.  I assured him that I hadn't with the bicycle riding and the golf so far...so he said go ahead and try it.  Report in the near future. 

Then the highlight of the trip.  A friend from Paso, John Adams, "knows a guy who knows a guy that can get us tickets to the Giants games.  The next day was my physical therapist's birthday, but she had to work all day, so I was able to get us some tickets to the Giants - Dodger game that night.  She's a big Dodgers fan.  I am a big fan of goofing off.  So it was a fit.  She and my daughter Candice, who is her aide and is now a certified trainer (health fitness specialist), got off work in Paso at 2pm and headed north.

Dr. Jennifer Seay (pronounced 'see') is in the Dodger cap.  Neither of the two guys are my daughter Candice. As usual, I have my mouth open, just this time I hadn't put my foot in it. Yet.  Wait a minute.  Who's the big goofy looking guy with the Provo T-shirt on?  Yep, it's my youngest brother, Brian, who just happened to be in SF for work conference and was flying home the next morning.  We all converged and had a great time.

Aren't them guys about the brightest lookin' guys you've ever seen?  The Dodger fans weren't very bright either.  Their 'Go Dodgers' sign was upside down. Dodgers lost 5 to 3.  Got home at 1:35 am.  So there you have it.  The update that both of you have been waiting for.  Thank you for your love and prayers. I still pray at least once a day for all of you too. 

UTAH IN THE SPRINGTIME! (End of May - early June)

Dale, Hillary & I were able to make a trip to Utah to see some family and friends, and what a wonderful trip it was!  I shall now regale you with a pictorial recollection of events and relations:

The primary reason for going was to visit with mom again.  She's been having a very difficult time with her back & sciatica, but we were able to make the short trip to visit dad's grave and clean up the plot and headstone.  Mom's a stickler about weeds and grass on dad's plot.  Her back's no good, but her eyesight is like a hawks!  She could see weed sprouts UNDER the grass.  It was wonderful to visit dad's grave and reminisce.  Anyone that knew him heard the stories of his amazing childhood and life.  It's been over 5 yrs. since he passed away. He will always be in our hearts and conversations.  By the way, that's Dale hiding behind Grandma.  That's the closest we got to getting a picture of her during the trip.  She doesn't mind.

We love his headstone.  He grew up in a small coal mining town in central Utah.  We used to visit it when we were young.  My Grandma & Grandpa R lived there many years after it was closed down, and we LOVED  to visit there.  Grandpa's stories were so much fun to hear.  I think it was my oldest brother Mark's idea to get one of the stones that everything in Spring Canyon was made from and have it engraved.  What a great and personal tribute to the man who loved rocks.  Do you know that he wanted to name me Rock?  Me, Rock Richards!  They just would have called me swirly Richards.  Thanks mom for not letting that happen.

I know all of you are sick of looking at me, but I wanted you to get a good look at my little cancer buddy Spencer and my stunningly gorgeous niece Becky.  I won't go into much detail, but we all went through cancer at about the same time.  Spencer, just before his 8th birthday, found out that he had a rhadomyosarcoma tumor in his face.  This giant of a hero went through 54 weeks of chemo and radiation at the Salt Lake Primary Children's Hospital, and was determined to be cancer free just before our visit.  Becky was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma about 1 1/2 yrs. ago.  She went through many months of treatment/chemo at the Huntsman Cancer Center in Salt Lake, and, other than a different hair color, looks just like her old self.  I however, am still working on the hump on my back.  3 generations of cancer survivors.  If you're interested in learning more about their experiences, Spencer's blog is "The Journey of A Superhero", and Becky's is "Don't Panic Roger! I Have A Plan".  When Grandma R's mother asked Grandpa R's mother at the wedding "Are there any morons or idiots in the family?"  Great Grandma R's response was, "No, but we're damn mean!"  Needless to say, that was the last words spoken between those two.  But besides being mean, apparently we're also pretty tough. We're smiling.

This was taken at Spencer's home.  That's his little sister, Isabelle, or just Belle. We're learning about the universe.  A day or so earlier I took them to Der Wienerschnitzel because I was having a hankering for a corn dog.  It was a very interesting ride.  Spencer looks up at me and asked: "Did you throw-up a lot from the chemo like I did?"  Here's an 8 year old taking about cancer and treatments like an adult. It was heartbreaking, but also you have to wonder what great things he's going to do in his lifetime.  The conversation turned to what foods we missed while sick, and we both  agreed that bacon was really high on that list.

When I told him that we could get bacon wrapped hot dogs, his eyes got as big as my stomach.  He then took it up a notch, "What about a chili dog?", he asked.  My response was, "What about a bacon wrapped chili cheese dog?"  So here's what happened: Spencer, Belle (little tiny Belle) and I all ate a bacon wrapped chili cheese dog, a corn dog, and a soda, EACH!  Belle was done before Spencer.  The owner of the establishment had overheard some of our conversation and invited the kids up to the counter after their meal.  He gave them a huge ice cream cone, which of course they finished as well.  I got one too.  We then went home a decided to take a walk to try and wear off some of our lunch.  We had a wonderful time.  There are some pictures on Spencer's blog, but I don't know how to get them onto mine.  Spence, Belle & I held hands and strolled along.  We were joined by Dale, Hillary, Spencer  & Belle's mom Holly,  their little bro. Gavin, my niece Laura that lives with her husband Caleb and her daughter Evelyn at Grandma R's house. It was a beautiful day with blue sky & white puffy clouds.

Speaking of Evelyn, she is so cute, but apparently she hasn't had much experience with nuclear zerberts (sp?), so uncle Kevin volunteered to administer the training.  As you can see by the picture, she was screaming in agony.  I just kept reminding her that it was for her own good and would make the zerberts of life so much more bearable after living through the experience.  We then spent the next hour or so playing "Over".  Where she lays on my lap with her head over my knees, then on 3, she gets flipped 'over' onto her feet on the floor.  Great fun.  It wore me out.  She not so much.

 Of course what would Hillary's picture collection be without one of her famous 'pouty model face' pictures.  This time with Belle.  I think Belle's got a great future.  When we were on our walk and her mom Holly would ask Belle to stop for a second so she could get a picture, Belle would pose like you would not believe.  It was so funny to watch.  Spencer, on the other hand, had to be physically threatened before he would stop for a picture.  All of the kids LOVE Hillary.  She is so much fun and spends a lot of time with each one while we're there.  She's also amazingly good with adults.  For those that may not know, Hillary's still in Orange County and having way too much fun.  She keeps saying she's gonna get a job, but just hasn't gotten around to it yet. She does have a lot of new friends and better yet, doesn't ask for any money.  You'd have to ask Holly about Belle, but I bet she asks for money all the time.

The dashingly handsome young man is my nephew, Mason.  My brother Jeff & Mandy's youngest.  He works at the world famous Purple Turtle in Pleasant Grove.  We saw him a couple of times during the week.  One night I asked mom if there was anything she wanted for dinner.  She thought for a minute and responded, "Onion rings and a coconut cream pie tornado from the Purple Turtle".  I asked if she wanted any food to go with that, but she assured me that she did not, so off I went. Mason was doing fries and rings that night, so of course they were perfecto.  Well, there it is.  I'm sorry I don't have any pictures of the whole clan that got together just after we got there.  I'm not sure of the count, but I think it was about 29 of us.  Thanks to my family who make it so fun when we come.  See ya in a few months.