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Straight From My Desk !...

Hello everyone,

My name is Don, and I recently moved to Knoxville, TN. I am here with my girlfriend, Stephanie, and we relocated here from New England. Shortly ( 2 days ) before we closed on our house here, I was diagnosed with colon cancer. Life has been a c… Continue

Entry for June 24, 2006

After spending about 30 years in the northwest hills of Connecticut, I took a transfer with a one year commitment to Long Island. Well, that year is up, and it's time to move on. I miss the mountains, lakes and rivers in Connecticut, but not the cold temps and tons of… Continue

Greetings From Tennessee

We are settled in Knoxville, Tennessee and we love it. The first thing that struck us was how friendly the people are. They smile, and tell you that they are glad you're here and are anxious to tell you just how nice it is here and how you're going to lov… Continue

Getting Settled In

Just an update. We've both been very busy lately. I recently received my insurance license for Tennessee, and I've been very busy working with my clients. The little lady is now managing a portrait studio and also putting in long hours. We still try to get out once in aw… Continue

And now for the bad news...

After much prodding, I finally went to see a doctor and got a physical exam. He said he wanted me to see another doctor and scheduled an appointment for me on March 16. He had discovered something he wanted checked out, and examined further. So , OK, no bid de… Continue

Test, test and more test...

OK, so to continue... this brings me to Thursday. I thought I'd do some work, and try to clear my mind. I delivered some policies and went to see a client for a sale but it had to be rescheduled. I accomplished some administrative work but didn't do anything to… Continue

Wait, wait and more waiting...

So we showered at the apartment and then returned back to the house. We called it an early night because we had to get up early for the PET Scan. We arrive for the scan, and I get shot up with some radioactive dye, and have to wait an hour. I "Z" out for aw… Continue

Almost ready to start...

Trying to catch up here..., waited for another week for an appointment with my surgeon to go over my test results. No response from his office. Every time I called I was forwarded to a voice mail. Getting pretty depressed and fed up. Still not sleeping at ni… Continue

Dealing With The Chemo and Radiation

Well, the first week of chemotherapy and radiation wasn't that bad. Not as bad as I expected it to be. I had a pump for the chemo, a constant 96 hour drip, that lasted a week. Plus 5 days of radiation, weekend off for good behavior. I was a little… Continue

It's Not Easy Always Being Right !

Remember how I said that the second week of radiation was more irritating and painful and that I expected it to get worse in the coming weeks? Well, I was right on the money ! I'm about medium rare right now. I was told at this rate I may have to st… Continue

Stuck in a Holding Pattern

Oh well what's a guy to do. Started my 4th week of radiation. After 3 days I had to stop. The radiated site area was becoming too raw and blistered and was only going to get worse. I was given more pain meds, some different creams, and told to skip Thursday a… Continue

Recovering From The Final Doses.

Wow... 2 weeks ago I had the last of my radiation treatments. The booster doses. Started feeling the results right away with the deep tissue discomfort and skin irritation. Added to that was my final week of chemotherapy. A 96 hour drip of 5FU. Within a… Continue

Surgery set for July 24, 2007

I go under the knife on July 24th. Naturally nobody is making any promises. I'm being told that it's going to be a difficult surgery, and that there is a 50/50 chance I'll end up with a colostomy. It depends on how much tissue needs to be removed to get all… Continue

Have a Great 4th of July !

Hope everyone had a good weekend, and is going to have some fun this 4th of July. I'll be spending the 4th with some friends, checking out the fireworks, downtown in Knoxville. Then we're planning a get together at our house on the 5th.

Also on the 5th, my Darlin… Continue

Prep Day !

Just got back from Florida. Had a nice visit with my mother and sister. It was fun getting there, trying to keep track of all he gate changes at the airport due to delayed flights, but everything worked out. Weaving in and out of clouds at 30,000 feet is awesome. Wish I had… Continue

Entry for September 11, 2007

Hi everyone, I'm back. Still hurting, but getting on. First and foremost I wanted to remember all those that sacrificed themselves on 9/11/01, saving others. The firemen, policemen, ambulance attendants, transit workers, people in the street, office co-workers,… Continue

Here We Go Again

Things here have been progressing nicely. The pain has substantially subsided, and ususlly only bothers me when I'm driving. (We need smoother roads ) The Lady and I actually managed to get out a couple of times for karaoke, and do some singing. It felt good to get out… Continue

I'm Back Home, Everything Went Fine !

Everything went pretty smooth this time. Got into surgery on time. The surgery went well, reversing the illiostomy by making an incision at the illiostomy site, rather that splitting me up the middle again, as they thought they might have to if th… Continue

Happy Holidays !

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving holiday, and I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I was fortunate enough to spend this Thanksgiving with my brother and his wife and 3 children, who were down vacationing in Gatlinburg, about an hour… Continue

Our Precious Little Visitor...Steph and her granddaughter, Emily

My sweetie was thrilled to have her daughter and granddaughter stay with us for the last week. They live in the state of Washington, and we don't get to see them very often. The little one is almost a year old. She i… Continue