September 21 to 26

Over the weekend (September 22/23) we drove to Louisville, Kentucky, with Nik and Debbie Tressler to witness the wedding of Naomi Parsley. We have known Naomi since she was a small child, as her parents Dan and Judy have been dear friends to both Susanne and I for many years. It brought tears to my eyes seeing Dan walk Naomi down the aisle. During the drive down and back (about 6 hours each way) we had a wonderful time talking with Nik and Debbie. They have been close friends of mine for 30+ years but really only acquaintances to Susanne until we married. This was our first road trip together with them. Again, it was great to be empowered to travel in spite of needing to work around the twice-daily IV infusions.

Monday afternoon (September 24) we met my mother and cousin, Ann, and her partner Pat for lunch. My mother was in town visiting a long time friend and my cousin was in the area visiting her mother, who is in a nursing home in Oberlin. It was a delightful and needed break from ongoing medical appointments.

I got back into the swing of some of my civic activities, which felt good:

1. For the local Bahá’í community, I am part of a team that coordinates local activities. The group met Monday evening, and I was able to participate for the first time since June.

2. I also serve on a committee for the city of Euclid that is working to promote the positive aspects of city, particularly the racial diversity. The committee met Tuesday morning, and I was also able to participate for the first time in several months. The committee is planning a major public meeting for October 20.

3. Our local neighborhood association met Tuesday evening. They had sent me a fruit basket when I was in rehab, and the president had prepared several dinners for us. They were pleased to see me. I encouraged them all to attend the October 20 meeting.

On Tuesday (September 25), I had my final pre-radiation/chemo bloodwork and checkup done, and Dr. Nock declared me to be in fine shape. He also willingly worked with us in looking forward and scheduling treatment around leaving Thanksgiving open to be with family and part of December open to travel to Florida to speak at a conference in Orlando and follow that with a family visit with Susanne’s daughter Jennifer in Ft. Lauderdale and her relatives for Christmas.

Wednesday evening (September 26) I experienced my first hypnotherapy session that was structured to support the plan I describe on this post. This was done by my good friend Dan Clark, who provided the Energy Healing session described on this post. The National Institute of Health (NIH) recommends this type of treatment to assist people to eliminate or reduce side effects from treatment, and I expanded its use to also create powerful healing and cancer elimination during treatment.

This is a good to time for an update on the facts from the Fact-Based Spirit-Guided Path I have been on since July 19:

• You may recall that the incision became infected, so further surgery to clean out the infection was carried out on August 28 (Susanne and my 8^th wedding anniversary). The surgeon deemed the wound to be fully healed and infection-free on September 26. This allows radiation to begin.
• Preparation for radiation and chemotherapy have been completed and treatment will begin on October 1. This is a picture of me in my radiation mask. There will be 2 phases to the treatment:

1. A 6 week period of combined radiation and low level chemotherapy, which have been found to be the most effective for my Glioblastoma Multiforme diagnosis. The radiation will require trips to the hospital Monday through Friday for an 11 AM treatment of about 15 minutes duration. The chemotherapy will be a pill that I take 7 days a weak an hour before the radiation or at the same time on weekends.
2. A 12 month period of a week per month of a stronger dose of the same chemotherapy drug.

• You may also recall that, following the initial surgery, the front shin muscle (anterior tibialis) for my right foot was unable to function. This resulted in a condition called “drop foot” because I could not raise my foot as I walked. The rehabilitation therapy, home exercises, and an anti-inflammatory herbal remedy (started when I sprained the right ankle on September 6) have successfully restored nearly full movement to that muscle. The right leg is still weak, however, so therapy and exercises are continuing.
• The doctor’s have cleared me to return to work on a part-time basis. I am developing a plan with my supervisor to work, largely from home, as I feel able to do so around medical appointments and treatment.