Alan’s Army

Greetings dear friends,

I have been remiss in updating you however life has been very full. I am once again at Frankfurt airport with a longish layover so I am taking this opportunity to write. I have had some trouble with my Blackberry since yesterday but hopefully it will limp along enough to get this written. Snow and Ice delays with de-icing procedures have cost about an hour and half of time this morning in Nuremberg and many people on my flight have missed their connecting flights but luckily my flight will not board for another two hours.

Alan’s last set of chemo 3+ weeks ago did not go so well. He has reached the upper limit of 500 mg of the Temodar. On Monday night he was up all night sick. On Tuesday we got a better anti-nausea drug and he was OK Tue - Thur evenings. On Friday night he was sick again and he was sick all weekend as well. It is not clear if the illness was due to the chemo or if he may have had a stomach bug.

This coming Monday is the next set of chemo, again at 500 mg, so we shall see how it goes.

Back on November 18th we saw the eye doctors again in Newark. Alan’s sight has shown some slight improvement again, and although it is too slight to make much difference in what he can do, it is a continued improvement and we continue to hope and pray for some meaningful restoration of his sight.

We have heard from the NJ Commission for the Blind and once Alan’s chemo is concluded in February he will be eligible to enter into an occupational program where they will assess his abilities and work with him on computer programs to work around his blindness.

In the meantime Alan is filling his time with Books on tape and an occasional mobility training session using his cane.

Unfortunately my business trip cut short a planned weekend with our friends the Enmans in Maine, but we did get to spend last Saturday there with them and Alan and I played a round of doubles on the beautiful Pleasant Hill course in Scarborough. There was no snow this year so it was an easy round for Alan to get around and he really enjoyed the round and although he could not see much, we used his throws quite a number of times and on one hole his drive off the tee was so awesome the disc golfers on adjoining holes cheered and applauded. Although a short weekend with only one day in Maine with a day of driving on either side, it was a wonderful time regardless.

We look forward to the Ice Bowl Tournament on January 3, when hopefully our friends will be able to come down and spend time with us in NJ and Pennsylvania.

All our best to you all and God Bless,

Andrew

Dear friends,

Greetings from Frankfurt, Germany! It is about 10 AM here and I have flown in from Nuremberg and am awaiting my flight home to Philadelphia. I have unexpectedly received a Happy Birthday present and been upgraded to First Class! This will make the 9+ hours of flight more enjoyable, but will undoubtedly spoil me for future trips.

I am very happy to report that Renee’s operation on Thursday has gone well. Please continue to keep her, Ritchie, Andrew, and Roy in your prayers.

Just a quick note about the Alan’s Army updates and a new feature on the alansarmy.org website.

Alan’s Army Email Updates:

Did you receive this update directly via email from me? If so, great! If not, would you like to? If this reached you through a prayer chain or someone forwarding it, would you like to get your own copy sent directly to you? If so, please drop me a note in reply and we will add you to the direct email. If you’d like to send me a note about who you are, where you are from, your congregation name, how you get the updates, etc. that would be interesting to and I’ll happily read that info to Alan.

New feature on alansarmy.org website:

For several months now an idea has been brewing in the back of my mind. As you know, on occasion I receive a prayer request and have included it within the updates to Alan’s Army. This is good because I know that the updates are reaching many prayerful people. I’ve had people tell me that the updates are going to church congregations and prayer chains not only locally, but across the US and in Europe, South America, and Africa. Since I believe in the power of prayer, I got to thinking about all those prayer warriors out there, the power of their numbers, and how we could use that power to help others besides Alan. I’m sure that many people who read the updates about Alan have prayer concerns of their own. I also recognize that there are many folks on the Alan’s Army list who wouldn’t want to receive lots of updates concerning prayer requests for people all over the world. Some folks simply want to know how Alan is doing and would consider a flood of prayer emails to be spam. So I thought, why not use the website? We could have a separate page on Alan’s Army just for prayer requests. By its nature it is an opt-in, if people don’t want to read that page, they don’t have to. The broadcasted email Alan’s Army updates would continue to be about Alan.

So I spoke with my wonderful wife Ginny about it (Happy 27th Anniversary dear!) and also with our wonderful Alan’s Army Webmaster Larry Squitieri. Ginny would love to moderate a page for prayer requests and Larry now has the website set up so you can click on a “Prayer Request” link and type in your info. Ginny will then check the requests and add them to the prayer page.

Its a work in progress, so we shall see how it goes.

Please go to www.alansarmy.org and check-out the prayer page and link. Please also get this info out to anyone you think would be interested in either adding a prayer request or being a prayer warrior in Alan’s Army.As always, thank you for your time, your love, and your prayers for Alan.

Hi all!

Last week Alan had his blood pressure checked sans-Hydrochlorothiazide. It was “perfect” so he now has one less daily pill to take.

Today we saw the neurosurgeon in Philly, who removed the tumor and installed the shunt way back when, for a check-up. All is well, he wants another MRI at the end of November, and then we can go to a 3 month schedule. We can also start weaning Alan off the Cymbalta and if he feels OK we can drop it entirely which would be a second daily pill to get rid of.

Alan also asked the doctor about alcohol consumption as he’s been wanting the occasional Guiness. The doctor said that in moderation it was fine and probably actually good for him and a beer a day would probably make him feel just as good as the Cymbalta.

Tonight there is a disc golf club meeting that I will miss (I’ll be at Philly airport waiting to fly to Germany) and I suspect there will be lots of friends vying to buy Alan his first Black and Tan in 8 plus months. (Remember folks, just one.)

That’s the news; and as always thanks for your prayers and support!

Andrew

I’m happy to report that Alan has now finished chemo set #3 without incident other than on Monday night where he said he didn’t sleep very well.

It is Saturday afternoon and we are at the church right now for our “directory” photo. We’ve had the photos taken, now we are waiting for the sales pitch. Anyone who has done this before knows that the photo for the Church directory is free, but then they confront you with a dazzling array of photo packages which you need to purchase for your friends and family. Some of these packages are roughly the same cost as buying a new washing machine.

Last time we actually got one of those big oval pictures that looks like an oil painting. Not sure who wanted it, but it was probably me as I’m a sucker for this stuff.

Alan’s birthday went OK yesterday. The guys at work took him out to Conte’s for a birthday pizza lunch. Prior to that in the morning he made the rounds in Princeton to say hi to everyone. Ginny made his favorite for dinner - meat pie. We went over to the football stadium at about 7:45 to watch Amber play in the halftime show but forgot it was spirit week so all the homecoming King and Queen stuff preceded the band actually taking the field. While standing in the cold on the tarmac at the end of the field somewhere in the middle of the roster of potential home-coming kings, Alan leaned towards me and in his deadpan style said “Greatest Birthday Ever” - we must have laughed for 5 minutes.

(All kidding aside about arcane high school rituals, we heard the name of a daughter of old church friends and were happy to hear she won homecoming queen - yay Mallory!)

__________

<Sorry folks. Ginny’s phone rang and it was Amber who had left 5 minutes earlier for the school for a band competition. I heard “hydroplane” and “hit a tree” and took off like a shot.> Thank God that Amber was perfectly fine, just shaken up.

After stopping at the red light at the end of Griggstown-BelleMead Rd. she pulled out to head South on 206, fishtailed, and somehow ended up 90 degrees to the road with the front of the truck off the road and the rear tires still on the road. If it had all been grass or field right there the truck would have been fine but unfortunately there was a 10 inch cedar which pushed the bumper into the tire, and shifted the front quarter-panel enough to prevent the driver side door from opening more than an inch or two. So the truck was flat-bedded away.

Amber wanted to continue her itinerary of the band competition and then the homecoming dance, so after we finished with the police (who were very nice) I drove her to school and then returned to the church to get Ginny and Alan.

_____________

OK, back to the update, its now Sunday evening. Last night Aunt Dari stopped in for dinner and b-day gifts for Amber and Alan. We had a nice time but she missed Amber who didn’t get home from the dance until after 11pm.

Today was the cut-a-thon fundraiser for Alan. I stopped in at “Beyond the Fringe” this morning, said hello to the owners and stylists and took some pictures. They were all wearing camo Alan’s Army T-shirts and I gave them all wristbands to wear as well. What a great bunch of folks! Ginny, Alan, and Amber went to visit in the afternoon. The courier news had done an article in yesterday’s paper and apparently a towing firm in Somerville called the salon and said they would help if they didn’t reach their goal of raising $5,000. Amazing!

Speaking of amazing, I still owe you all a write-up on a bunch of disc golf events that have done fund-raisers for Alan. Ranging from a fantastic Labor Day weekend tourney and dinner and auction with our friends in Maine to a recent doubles-tourney in Philly.

A lot of busy days lately, but I’ll be returning to Germany for meetings in a few weeks (much to our family’s chagrin as I’ll be away for my 49th birthday and more importantly, our 27th wedding anniversary, and even more important the day before which is Renees operation) so I’ll have time on the long plane rides to catch you all up. I also have a few months of photos to upload and I will pick some out to include.

In the meantime your continued prayers are appreciated for both Alan and Renee.

Also your prayers for compassion and doing-the-right-thing on the part of the insurance company which has now stopped paying all claims and again has Alan’s case “under review” and is making noise yet again about it being a “pre-condition.” “Under review” right now are all 33 radiation treatments at $3600 each and the last few months of doctor visits.

God Bless,

Andrew

A fast update:

Alan did not sleep well the first night of chemo.  He said he didn’t get to sleep until after 4 AM.  Last night he did somewhat better.  So far no nausea issues.

Yesterday was his “in town” mobility lesson with the instructor from the Commission for the Blind.  For his first time out the instructor chose the intersection of Witherspoon and Nassau St. in Princeton. Local folks probably just gasped like I did when he told me.  Alan said it was “fun” in a tone that meant it was anything but.  Apparently at the end the instructor noted it was probably not the best choice and they would pick a calmer intersection for next Tuesday’s lesson.  Thanks for your prayers on this one, he did come home in one piece.

BTW - for local folks:  Many thanks to the good people at Beyond the Fringe Hair Designs located at 1330 Route 206 in the Village Shopper.  They are holding a “Cut-a-thon” this coming Sunday 10/26 from 10:00am - 6:00pm.  Manicures and Pedicures require an appointment, appointments for haircuts are recommended, but not necessary.  Call 609-921-6572 for an appointment.  All profits will go to the Alan’s Army fund.

Thanks all and God Bless,

Andrew

All, 

I made a schedule error.  Alan’s mobility training with his cane in Princeton was not yesterday.  It is scheduled for this coming Tuesday.

Please note the below communication from my sister-in-law Renee:

“Mass emailing is usually not my cup of tea but when you need to reach a large group of people, it will do.  Surgery for my mastectomy is on for Nov 6. We have to be at the hospital at 7:30 AM. They will do a sentinel node biopsy at 9 and begin surgery at 10. The plastic surgeon will take over after the surgeon is done. The whole surgery will be between 5-6 hours. I will be in the hospital for 2 nights. After about 5-6 weeks, I will start chemo.
Thanks for all your prayers! They do truly work!
Love Renee’”

I would very much appreciate it if everyone could get this email out to all the churches and prayer groups worldwide who have been getting updates and praying for Alan.  Please pray for Renee, her doctors, her husband Ritchie, and their sons Andrew and Roy, as they go through this difficult time.

As always, thanks for being part of the Army!

God Bless,

Andrew

OK dear friends, we saw the medical-oncologist today.

The MRI that was done back in September looks perfect.  No tumor, no problems.

Alan’s bloodwork done today at their office is perfect, no bad counts, no problems.

They weren’t at all concerned about the single night of headache and throwing up on day 4 during chemo set #2 a few weeks back.  Since day 5 went fine they figure it was a quick bug or something Alan ate.

The chemo regimen/schedule has now changed, we think probably due to the specialist’s recommendation.  Alan will now have five days of chemo within every 28 days, not between every 28 days.  So 5 days of chemo, 23 days off, 5 days of chemo, 23 days off, etc.  So his next regimen will start Monday the 20th, not the 27th.  And here he thought he’d have his birthday “off” on the 24th.  Oh well, hey - he’s having a birthday, right?  Thank you dear Lord.

So, we need to do blood work next Monday morning the 20th prior to him starting chemo set #3 that night.  We’ll visit our friends at Princeton Radiology that morning and they’ll send the results down to Dr. Stadden in Philly.   If his blood counts are still good, then he will have 5 days of an increased dosage of the Temodar - 440 mg each night.  If for some reason they don’t look so good, he’ll do 400 mg instead.

If his blood counts still look good 4 weeks later on the 17th of November, then he’ll likely get a dosage of 500 mg for chemo set #4 starting that night.

A few folks have sent notes asking about specifics on Alan’s eyesight.  It is definitely improving slowly.  Tonight at dinner he remarked on being able to make out the shapes of the different plates or dishes in front of him.  Contrast is good, white plates or bowls on a dark placemat helps. He does not see colors, just contrasts.   He can make out motion:  If I walk about 5 or 6 feet in front of him he can follow me, but there needs to be no obstacles and again, contrast of my shirt against the background helps a lot.  When people stand in front of him he can see their outline.  No detail though, he still needs a recognizable voice to know who it is.  With the right size font and contrast, he can make out letters or numbers.  When we were standing by the Revolution Disc Golf tent talking with Dave at the USDGC, Alan could make out the large white 6-8″ letters of the marquee on the black tent.  If he really concentrates he can make out the larger numerals on the corners of the newer US paper currency.  So, praise God that his sight is improving, albeit slowly.  Your continued prayers are very much appreciated!

A Note to all our Disc Golf friends:  This Saturday Oct. 18 the Friends of Sedgley Woods are running a fundraiser doubles tourney at Fairmount Park in Philly.  Proceeds are being split between the family of Lefty and Alan’s Army fund.  Come on out and enjoy the fun.  Becky Sonnheim is Alan’s partner (talk about Beauty and the Beast!) and they are challenging all comers!  Bring a partner or pick one up there - but come on out for a good cause and fun!  Registration from 9:00am, Tee off at 10:00am.

And then drive up I-95 a bit and enjoy Moonlight Madness at Tyler State Park!  Glow round starts at about 6-6:30 and then we go to Slack’s Hoagie Shack afterwards for good food, prizes, and of course, Halloween candy!  Wear a costume and get a reduced tourney fee!

Many thanks to all.

God Bless,

Andrew

PS - Please remember Renee in your prayers, and also Sam Covington’s sister who is going through chemo as well, thanks.

Dear friends,

Well this has been a long time coming, but life has been very frantic and the best laid plans are often disrupted very easily - more on that after I bring you up to speed on what you really care about - Alan.

Alan is doing well.  On the fourth night of his chemo regimen the week of September 22nd  at the new 385 milligram dosage he had a splitting headache and was up all night throwing up.  The next night however he was just fine as he had been the first three nights.  We had started the anti-nausea drug on the Sunday before the M-F chemo regimen and continued the same dosage all the way through, so who knows, maybe it was something he ate that Thursday.  We visited the radiation-oncologist for a check-up and he was very pleased with Alan’s progress, lack of serious side-effects (the hair will grow back) and decided he didn’t need to see Alan again until December.  We are slated to see the medical  oncologist this Tuesday in Philly and will learn if the dosage will change for Alan’s next 5-day chemo regimen which is scheduled to start Monday the 27th.  Hopefully we will finally hear if the MRI showed anything at all as well.

Alan has been practicing with his cane and on Thursday a lady from the NJ Commission for the Blind will take him into Princeton and work with him on crossing streets etc.  Extra prayers for Alan, the trainer, and Ginny’s and my sanity that day will be appreciated.  Its bad enough that beautiful Amber turned 17 this past week and is now driving alone.  If my gray hair quotient hadn’t reached 100 percent years ago it would be peaking right about now.

Thankfully Alan’s week of chemo went well enough that we could leave for our week in Rock Hill, SC for the United States Disc Golf Championships.  Kyle Enman came down from Maine on Friday and the three of us plus BOB Graham were slated to leave early Sunday morning for Rock Hill.  Unfortunately, when Kyle and I picked up food for dinner on Saturday night we came out of Bruno’s Chicken Holiday (Best Ribs on the Planet BTW and I’ve eaten ribs all over the country!) and the F250’s brake pedal went to the floor.  So then ensued the discovery process for a mechanic open on Sunday which in NJ turns out to be Pep Boys, and only Pep Boys.  So after 4+ hours at Pep Boys it was determined that the brake line running from the front to the back of the truck had a split in it and a special shaped brake line from Ford would be required from a dealer on Monday.  So the plan to take the big truck with the four us sharing driving (Oh, I guess only three of us actually driving) was scrapped and we ended up with the Jeep and the F-150 making the trip.   So it wasn’t nearly as fun as with all of us together, gas costs were higher, and me getting to do an update for y’all while someone else drove went out the window. H’mm 7 days in South Carolina and I’m also typing y’all, not just saying it. (Like my mom, I pick up on accents quickly when immersed.)

On the way down through Baltimore Alan and I waved out the sunroof as we left a message for Gina wishing her the best of luck on her first day at her new Physical Therapy job on Monday.

The time in Rock Hill was great, the tournament was fantastic, the competition fierce, and we were surrounded by disc golf friends.  I had my usual wonderful time spotting the tricky green on hole 9 and got to see some stellar, and not so stellar, disc golf.

Alan had a lot of practice with his cane going in and out of the Inn at Winthrop.  Joe Mela, Rex Hay, and Glenn Patterson all stayed there as well.  As always it was great to see Rex’s son Ian who attends Winthrop.  Kit Bassett drove down on Friday, was great help on Hole 9 and thankfully was available to drive a very sick Big Dog home as he slept - thanks Kit!

On Thursday, Alan spent part of the day with school buddy Holly Arnesen who drove up from Greenville.

We got to see some dear old friends  - Stan McDaniel, Jim Myers, Dean Pfeiffer, Mitch and Marsha Sonderfan, the Schwebergers, Yeti, Tank, Julianna, Chris Sprague, Avery and Val, Dave Hendrickson, Chris and Bear, Geoff Bennett, Nate Doss, and so many others and an unexpected treat - John Duesler!

We also made some new friends, Dean’s son Justin, the ever helpful Mike Ellis, a true gentleman named John McCray, and many others.

As always at the USDGC it was especially great to see our dear friends from Innova who have been so supportive of Alan’s Army - Harold, Jonathan, Paul, Rich, the whole crew and especially our prayer partner - dear Ol’ Sam Covington - what a great fine godly gentleman he is.

As always we, for a third year in a row, didn’t get to see our favorite custom stamp man - Zeb.  Somehow he always ends up an elusive willow-the-wisp at the USDGC - maybe next year Zeb!

Anyway it was a fantastic trip as always, thanks to everyone that was a part of it!

Unfortunately the back-side of the trip saw me get real sick.  I’m currently halfway through a regimen of three different antibiotics for upper and lower respiratory infections and an eye infection.  I’ll be back to work Monday, but probably only feeling about 70 percent.

So anyway, thanks for listening, sorry for the delay.

Please Note a special prayer concern:

Please pass the word to all to pray for our sister-in-law Renee who is now struggling with her own diagnosis and treatment for Breast Cancer.  We love you Renee, trust in God for He loves you too.

God Bless you all,

Andrew

Whoops sorry - Alan and I are helping Stephen move and it occurred to me that I had not sent this.

OK, we are somewhere over the Atlantic ocean about 5 hours into the 8pm Monday flight to Germany.  There’s no room to get a laptop out so I can’t get any work done, but there’s always room for the Blackberry, so I can get a long overdue update out to you all.  The seating is so cramped and causing me such pain I simply can’t sit anymore so I’m standing in the back of the plane typing this.

We saw the hot-shot oncologist in Philly a number of weeks back.  She is the real expert as she is not a general oncologist but only works on brain tumors.  She didn’t have a new trial or protocol available for Alan, but she said that this wasn’t such a bad thing.  She has been involved in dozens of these trials and to date the only one that showed positive results was Temodar which is the drug they have Alan on.  So it would seem that even if a trial did come available, we ought to stick with the Temodar.  She asked that we get Alan’s checkup MRIs in the HUP system in order that she could seem them if necessary.  Apparently nasty looking things on a scan might simply be dead cancer cells that would eventually be absorbed by the body, but her expertise may be required to recognize it.

<OK - now I’m actually half way BACK across the Atlantic Ocean - sorry for the delay - busy, busy.

We saw the regular oncologist two Mondays ago in Philly.  Alan will start his next round of chemo on the 22nd.  The Temodar is being bumped up from 200 mg to 385 mg.  He will take it for five days then have 28 days off before the next 5 days start.  He will be on it in increasing dosages depending on what his blood tests show.

The next day we were off to the eye doctors in Newark.  The neuro-opthamologist was pleased with Alan’s eyes.  The low-vision doctor did a bunch of testing and Alan’s eyesight has improved slightly.  With magnifying lenses he was able to make out letters to a 20/300 level.  It’s not a lot of improvement, but its improvement nevertheless - praise God!

Many thanks to everyone for their continued prayers!

God Bless,

Andrew

My most sincere apologies to everyone.

Once Alan’s daily treatment regimen finished everything else in my life came crashing in and I’ve been busy beyond belief with cool stuff like 2009 IT budgets (I really mean cool, there’s nothing like a good spreadsheet.)  The trip to the shore was nice, but I saw the ocean for about 10 minutes and spent most of my time on the laptop.

This will be a short note too, sorry.

Alan is doing fine.  We are in Philly at the oncologist setting up his next round of chemo which will be the week of Sept. 22nd.

Tomorrow we go to Newark to see the eye surgeon and the low-vision doctor.

The mobility specialist from the NJ Commission for the Blind is in theory showing up at the house on Friday, but since it’s been three months since first contacting the commission, I’m not holding my breath.  The occupational therapist has been to the house twice now, so I’m not sure why the disparity in responsiveness.

We just found out that we need to come back to Philly early Friday morning for Alan’s MRI because they messed up the appointment for today.

Sigh

Hopefully I can give you all a thorough update on things like the hot-shot oncologist visit and the fundraiser in Maine next week while on an 8 hour flight to Germany for business.

Anyway, I hope everyone is well, thanks for your continued prayers and God bless.

Andrew