Time Flies When You Are Having Fun

I am a grandfather:

I cannot believe how long it has been since the last time I updated my blog! So much has happened that it is hard even to know where to start. I guess I will start with the most important thing first. I am a grandfather. My oldest daughter gave birth to a son on July 1 just as I predicted. That means that in a few days he will be 4 months old. His name is James Paul (JP for short) and he is named after his great-grandfather on both sides of his family. The only problem is that he lives 4 hours away from me and it is not easy for me to get there.
My second daughter is now pregnant and will give birth sometime in April 2008. I cannot believe that I will be the first of my father's children to have two grandchildren.

I am disabled:

The cancer has taken its toll on me.

• I have right sided weakness. My neurologist says that the nerves to my right arm and hand were damaged by the chemotherapy and the damage caused by my surgery has caused some loss of communication between my brain and my right side.
• I tend to stutter more. I tied to preach a few weeks ago and could barely get through the sermon. It is very frustrating not to be able to speak clearly. So, I remain silent, communicating by email and sms more.
• I have lost my balance. I cannot climb ladders for fear that I might fall again. I stumble and cannot walk a straight line.
• I have experienced long periods of memory loss. It is not short term memory or even long term memory that is affected. It is gaps in my memory. I do things, significant things, and have absolutely no memory of doing them.

Despite all of this, if you only saw me, you could not tell that anything is wrong with me. I think people look at me and say: "He is disabled? I don't believe him." It is very frustrating to think that people do not believe me.
It is also hard on the budget. I live with the lights off, rarely use the TV, use as little water as possible, all in an attempt to save money so that I can pay the doctor bills and property taxes. I might end up having to sell the house I inherited from my father. I dent to eat poorly and really hate to waist anything. If it is not growing mold, I will eat it.

I am very active on The Cancer Forums:

Until just this month, I was the primary Administrator of the Cancer Forums. Although I am not the owner of that site, I was its most active member and did a lot of the administration of the site. That site has really started to grow into a wonderful community, offering patients, families, and friends information and support. Currently, we have over 15,500 registered members although many of them are not active.

My son has finished his Eagle Scout project and turned in the paperwork:

My son has almost earned his Eagle Scout rank. All that he lacks is to have a Board of Review. We are very proud of him because he did it all by himself.



One regret that I have is that we never had a chance to participate in a large event such as a World Jamboree or the PanAmerican Jamboree. He was too young for the PanAmerican Jamboree and we could not afford the World Jamboree. We did not even make it to Philmont but I think these were more my dreams than they were Steven's.