More MD appointments

Pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever

Josh had two doctor appointments on Friday.  His first appointment was with Dr. Schertz. His second appointment was with Dr. Buck.  Since Dr. Buck’s appointment went better I will begin with that.  His head is healing well; his hair will start to grow back very slowly.  Since the radiation kills the hair at the root it takes it a while to grow back.  We asked once again about the disorientation/lack of coordination which Dr. Buck said was normal and normally only lasts 3-6 months.  Dr. Buck wasn’t sure how much longer if any it would last for Josh since he had 2 brain surgeries along with radiation but we are hoping it will being to subside as we are now 3 months since his last brain surgery.  Since he has another follow up with Dr. Harron next month he won’t see Dr. Buck until September.  Dr. Buck said if Dr. Harron doesn’t order an MRI before then he will order one at the appointment in September. 

Onto the first appointment, Dr. Schertz.  The appointment didn’t go quite as well as we had hoped.  Dr. Schertz did more lab work and discussed the next ct’s which will be the first week in May.  We already have them scheduled but I can’t remember which day.  Josh asked how his prognosis looked now, before the brain tumors we were told that he had about a 70% chance of becoming cancer free.  Dr Schertz said that due to the recurrent brain tumors and the aggressive tumors that did not respond well to chemotherapy his percentage has decreased considerably.  Josh remains upbeat, like nothing has changed.  I am a little down but I will be fine.  Once again, we have been reminded how fragile life is.  We have decided to take a vacation this year.  We had decided against it earlier this year due to finances and vacation time, and the fear of getting somewhere and Josh getting ill. Due to the recent changes medically we have decided that there will never be enough vacation time or money or certainty that something bad won’t ever happen and we both think that we need a family vacation together this year so if you have any ideas email us! We have also decided that it would be best if Josh remained out of work, we will reconsider him returning after his next CT.  Dr. Schertz said that it would be best if Josh stayed out of work, due to his lack of hand-eye coordination.

            I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter; ours was good despite me sleeping/working.  When I got home from work this morning Kobie had just woke up so we woke Josh up and went though the basket.  Then we hid eggs and found them then I laid down to sleep and Kobie hid more eggs…real eggs…and neither Josh or Kobie remember where they hid them.  So…hopefully we will find them before they rot.  After all, he is only 5 he couldn’t have hid them that good right?

 

I got this emailed to me, I loved it, and it reminded me so much of Josh.

John is the kind of guy you love to hate.   He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say.  When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, ‘If I were any better, I would be twins! He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, John was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation. Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, ‘I don’t get it!’ You can’t be a positive person all of the time.  How do you do it?’ He replied, ‘Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today.  You can choose to be in a good mood or…you can choose to be in a bad mood I choose to be in a good mood.’ Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or…I can choose to learn from it.  I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or…I can point out the positive side of life.  I choose the positive side of life.’ Yeah, right, it’s not that easy,’ I protested.’ Yes, it is,’ he said.  ‘Life is all about choices.  When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice.  You choose how you react to situations.  You choose how people affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood.  The bottom line:  It’s your choice how you live your life. ‘I reflected on what he said.  Soon hereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business.  We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it. Several years later, I heard that he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back. I saw him about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, ‘If I were any better, I’d be twins…Wanna see my scars?’ I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place.

‘The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter,’ he replied.  ‘Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices:  I could choose to live or…I could choose to die.  I chose to live. ”Weren’t you scared?  Did you lose consciousness?’  I asked. He continued, ‘…the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine.  But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared.  In their eyes, I read ‘he’s a dead man’.  I knew I needed to take action. ”What did you do?’ I asked. ‘Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me,’ said John.  ‘She asked if I was allergic to anything ‘Yes, I replied.’  The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply.  I took a deep breath and yelled, ‘Gravity” Over their laughter, I told them, ‘I am choosing to live.  Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.’ He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude…I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.’  Matthew 6:34.

Picture of Amanda

Amanda

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