New Year's Eve Posting

Thank you for your continued prayers and cards. I have been feeling stronger every day. I'm still having a bit of symptoms in the evenings, but my meds are doing a great job of controlling it. We continue to work towards a medical second opinion and are leaning towards Vanderbilt Medical Center since many of the urological oncologists that people recommend have trained there. If you have experience with urathelial cancer/blad

der cancer or have information, please send it to my email account and we'll add it to the mix.

Debbie and I went with Dennis and Brenda Mueller for our annual movie marathon yesterday. We normally see 4 or 5 movies in a single day on or about New Year's Eve - what fun (and eye strain!). We decided this year to spread the marathon out over 2 days to ease the strain and it is working great. We saw 3 good movies yesterday and plan to see 2 or 3 more today and end the evening with family celebrating the new year together as is our tradition. Avatar 3D was a wonderful movie and not overdone with the 3D concept. We also really loved Blind Side - a terrific real story with wonderful acting by all. It was great to see Sandra Bulloch in a good movie for a change!

I hope you all have a safe and fun New Year's Eve and a terrific, blessed new year.

Yours in Christ, Jerry

Monday, December 28th Blog

Debbie and I went out today even though it was cold and blustery. We got our white Christmas a day late (Christmas evening actually) and it has been pretty cold here since, just below freezing during the daytime. Today, however, was sunny, beautiful and about 35 degrees but with a strong wind. We did some shopping and got in some walking, got a leaking tire fixed on the car and got to talk to a number of friends we saw along the way. Judy Lee, who is in bi-weekly chemotherap

y for breast cancer, works at the tire shop and is the sister-in-law of one of my very best friends, Keith Lee. She is still working, though and looked very good. It was nice to talk with her and we encouraged each other.

I am beginning to have some pain during urination in the evening again - maybe 4 or 5 on a 10 scale. It is very manageable with my pain meds, so I'm taking them early in the cycle so that when I go to bed, the pain is gone. We continue to monitor my condition and watch. Dr. Strope was actually very supportive of my dropping my prescribed meds except for Uroxatral for my bladder spasms and urinary symptoms. He told me that this particular medication must be taken over time to maintain a certain level in the system so I'm taking it daily and it seems to be doing a good job. No spasms to date.

We are investigating getting a second opinion. Joe Julien suggested a urological oncologist from Austin who was trained at Vanderbilt (Nashville, TN). We keep hearing about Vanderbilt as a top-knotch urological center, so we may make a trip down there in the future. We are starting the process of obtaining our medical records which is NOT a quick process. Once we have those together, we'll pray for the right solution since we will have to pay a hefty portion of the fees ourselves.

It was so nice having Anna, Adam and Zach home for the holidays. Anna and Adam left for Evansville on Sunday to see their beloved Colts take a nose dive for the first time this season. Zach will be shipping out early on January 4th for UNLV in North Las Vegas. He hopefully has 3 more semesters before coming off the payroll.

I'm feeling a bit stronger and am going to do what I can to get some exercise without fighting cold and wet weather. Maybe I'll actually get some use out of that treadmill and exercise bike this year. We splurged a bit and bought the Wii and Fit platform. We have not yet tried out all the programs since Debbie is fighting a cold (it hasn't found my side of the bed yet, thank God). Tomorrow maybe. I'll give you my unbiased appraisal once we've worked up a sweat.

Thank you all for your continued prayers, support and suggestions. I love you all in Christ and feel so blessed and humbled by your love and support.

Yours in Christ, Jerry.

Christmas Eve Promises

First of all, thanks to all of you for your continued support and prayers. We too are asking for your health and continued happiness now and throughout the coming year. You all have been such a blessing to us and a real source of courage and strength. We will continue to rely on you all as we move forward towards the new year.

Yester

day was a pretty good day - I was up all day and felt stronger which was a good thing. It has taken me a bit longer to bounce back this time than before and that has been a concern. Having the holidays, almost 3 full weeks off, should make the difference.

It's Christmas Eve - the celebration of the great Promise once again. Time to gather with family and friends to share our love, joy and happiness. It is also, and perhaps most importantly, the time to rejoice in God's great promise that has come to pass in our lives. Many out there like in our home are celebrating this year without important loved ones. Our great hope there is that we will someday be celebrating with them in Heaven and have our joy renewed.

The Promise of Christmas, though, should bring each of us believers immense joy and hope. Christ was sent to earth in the lowest of circumstances to share our lives as humans while supplying the sacrifice, forgiveness and God's grace for us who are so undeserving of such a Promise. Think back to the angels singing to the sheapherds on the hills outside Bethlehem. What joy must have filled the hearts of these common men! Peace on earth and good will to those who believe are a powerful message so often lost in the busy holiday schedule and activities, but so important a promise. Peace is here - a promise fulfilled - in the hearts and spirits of believers. We walk in the kingdom of God on earth bravely and consistently sharing the power of the name of Christ.

Take the time this Christmas to share the Promises with those around you. Take the time this Christmas to share the joy and peace that comes from believing in so great a God with those around you. Take time this Christmas to pray and refill your own cup of joy and peace and may this joy and peace overflow in your lives this season and throughout the coming year.

Yours in Christ, Jerry

Post CT Scan and Doctor Visit

Back from the tests and the doctor's office. The CT scans show that the chemotherapy has made major reduction in the affected lymph nodes and prostate which is evidenced by my greatly reduced symptoms. This is really good news. My urological oncologist, Dr. Seth Strope, is a surgeon, but is taking a very studied and cautious approach to my treatment keeping my quality of life as the major goal. According to Dr. Strope, there are issues that make a surgical solution less viable than originally thought. Specifically, my mesenteric lymph nodes that feed into my bowels are still swollen and are not candidates for either surgical removal or radiation due to their proximity to the bowels. Also, any disease may also be transmitted to the bowels which would lessen the chance to create an iliostomy using bowel tissue as reconstructive surgery.

Dr. Strope will speak with the radiologist to make sure they both clearly understand the CT scan results and then may take those results to the Tumor Board at Barnes for a full team review prior to making a recommendation to us. He also wants to talk with Dr. Picus, my medical oncologist. The sense of our discussion is that we are leaning towards another round of chemotherapy rather than a surgical solution since it would not get all of the cancerous tissue in any case.

Dr. Picus has tentatively scheduled a fourth round of chemo starting January 8th and lasting 3 weeks. He indicated that this will continue the reduction of the lymph nodes, but will not result in a cure. Both he and Dr. Strope seem convinced that we will not cure this cancer, but fight it again in a year with more treatments. We will also need to watch for any new symptoms not related to the bladder or urinary tract to detect movement to other organs. Again, this is not what we signed up for.

We know God is in control, though and are relying on His plan to be the best one. In the mean time, we will be celebrating the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ and the coming new year with family and friends and without fear, but with joy and thankfulness for God's promises and faithfulness in our lives.

By the way, I have created a blog site that will be where I will continue to share my thoughts and such once we abandon Caring Bridge.org. In the mean time, I'll duplicate my journal entries there. The url is: JScroggins-Blog.blogspot.com if you are interested.

On the bicycle front, we got a call from the Alton Police Department today and will be taking in about 20 new bikes the first week in January that are supposed to be in good to excellent shape. Thanks Alton PD. Also, more used bikes keep appearing in the hall outside our room at the Hope Center. Crazy, isn't it?

May each of you have a wonderful, blessed Christmas and new year.

Initial Blog and Thoughts

There have been numerous requests that I continue to share my thoughts following the conclusion of the use of the Caring Bridge.org site. After hearing from several suggestions, this Blogger.com site seemed among the most user-friendly and easiest to access.

For those landing on this site for the first time, some background is essential. I'm a 60 year old midwesterner who was has been suffering for several years from bladder and urinary issues. Without the details, just know that we were saddened and shocked on September 17, 2009 to be diagnosed with urothelial bladder cancer. Since I have been seeing several different urologists over the past 3 years or so, this diagnosis was a shock. Even more so was the prognosis: very low percentage of cure with only a 35 percent for survival for 5 years. This was NOT what I signed up for. Debbie, my wife of 37 years, and I were very disturbed and disheartened by this prognosis. We started chemotherapy treatments the same week at the Siteman Cancer Center associated with Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.

I have now completed 3 full chemotherapy cycles and most of my symptoms have been resolved. It is clear, however, that some symptoms are better, but not fully resolved. We will be taking more CT scans tomorrow as well as meeting with our urological oncologist, Dr. Seth Strope, to determine a forward plan. We tentatively have a 4th round of chemo scheduled beginning January 8th, but that will be determined by decisions made following our CT scans.

One of the greatest blessings to come out of this diagnosis has been my increased focus on my faith in God and how He uses us to accomplish His objectives. Not only that, but I have learned that interceding on others' behalfs is a great way to keep myself in check and to make sure I'm focusing on what is truly important in my life - faith, family and friends.

That's where we will start this blog. Where it takes us in the future is anybody's guess. I'll try to be faithful in blogging, but this is new to me so we'll play that by ear too. Thanks friends, for joining the adventure.

Jerry Scroggins