Back From The Cruise...

Hey everyone! We have returned and are just getting settled back into the routine of our life and wanted to touch base with all of you. Today is Tuesday the 27th of November and I will be leaving shortly to pick up my father at the airport. He is coming in town to stay with us until Saturday and we are very excited to have him here. We had a wonderful time on the Disney cruise and Leah's folks were great to us and the kids. A big thanks to Lionel and Kathy for taking us on this cruise and for helping out so much during the voyage. I had just finished a round of chemo before we left and was not feeling 100% during the trip. Lionel and Kathy really stepped up and assisted Leah with the kids when I was down. Thanks a lot, Lionel and Kathy.

The details of our cruise were as follows; We boarded the boat mid-afternoon on Saturday and sailed around 4:30pm out of Cape Canaveral towards Key West. We arrived in the Keys on Sunday and boarded the Conch Trolley Tour and toured the largest island of the Keys, Key West. After we were done with the tour we strolled around and did some shopping. (Leah and Kathy shopped while I ate some conch fritters.) Then it was back on the boat for a full day at sea on Monday to arrive in the Grand Caymans on Tuesday morning. We boarded a tour bus and learned the history of Grand Cayman before arriving at a Sea Turtle Farm. We spent the majority of the day learning about Turtle's and other sea creatures. The kids got the attention of our tour guide early and were given special treatment during the entire tour! (Which they absolutely loved!) Ross and M.K. got to hold some Sea Turtles and then were able to snorkel with them in a special swimming area. Of all of our shore excursions I think this one was the best. We spent about half the day at the Turtle Farm before it was time to get back to the boat. From the Grand Caymans we sailed off towards Mexico. Mexico unfortunately did not work out so well. We had to catch a ferry style boat from Cozumel toward the mainland and Leah ended up getting seasick. She was O.K. once we get her back on the boat and rested up for the remainder of the day. After Mexico we had another full day at sea which was relaxing and nice. Friday was spent at Disney's private island in the Bahamas called Castaway Cay. We rented some inner tubes and rafts and spent almost the entire day in the water with the kids. Lionel and I spent the majority of the time resting on the beach in lounge chairs. It was great! Saturday morning we were at breakfast at 6:30am and off the boat by 7:45am. We arrived back in Celebration by 9:00am and we had even picked up Toby at the kennel! All in all we had a fabulous time together as a family and really enjoyed the holidays.

This week is going to be nice with my Dad here. We will use this time to get a Christmas tree and decorate with the kids. Next week I am scheduled for my M.R.I. on Thursday morning. I will also start my next round of chemo that evening. (Yee Haw!) Then we travel to Duke on Sunday for our 2 day appointment on Monday and Tuesday with Dr. Friedman at the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center. Please continue to pray for us as we are still not out of the woods yet. We are very hopeful for some good news from Duke. We are also praying for a clean scan on Thursday morning. Thanks to everyone who has continued to pray for us and we love you all.

Sincerely and with love,

Dan and Leah

Moving Ahead

The race is over and we are starting to return to a normal state of affairs. The last of our family who flew in from out of town returned the following Tuesday after the race. We had a lot of friends and family who came for the race and we appreciated all of the support that was given. The raced turned out to be a lot of fun for all who participated. The majority of the runners did the 6.5k, but I would like to give a special congratulations to those who ran the 13k. These crazy individuals include my brother-in-law Sean Kelley, my cousin Carla Danielson, neighbors and friends Bryce Servine, Sean Kane and Emily and Ross Moore. Those who ran the 6.5k were Amy Lowell, Al Arce, Jeff Pifer, Diann Lowe, Brian and Kristin Merrill, my sister Tracey Kelley and of course my lovely wife Leah Sams. I would like to extend a special note of recognition to my wife and sister who have never run a race before in their lives and were not sure they would be able to finish this one. Leah and Tracey ran together and did a fantastic job of finishing the race! I would also like to say thank you to those who came and cheered us on. These people were Rob and Terry Zollinger, Kim Haynes, Mellissa Pifer (not able to run due to a knee injury), Caroline Kane, Kathry Arce, Will Danielson, Ashley Servine, and Eric and Erin Ericson. Thanks to everyone who came about and supported Team Dan!

Today is Monday and I have been feeling O.K. for the last few days. I start the next round of chemo this coming Thursday (the 8th) and continue for the next five days finishing the treatment on Monday. During my last chemo treatment I got a terrible head cold right on the same day I received my medication. Although I got a Z-Pack, I still had the symptoms for about 3 weeks! Unfortunately, Leah and my son Ross got the same cold a few days after I did. We were a household of joy for a few weeks! My point in telling you this is that I have no idea how the chemo is going to affect me. Everyone asks me how I feel during the chemo process. The answer is that I do not truly know yet. My friend Dion told me that he really did not feel the chemo until he was almost done with the treatment. I am suspecting, based on what Dion has told me, that I will experience the side effects sometime toward the end of day 5. What I expect are fatigue and nausea.

I see Dr. Nick this coming Friday to finalize everything for our Disney cruise and our trip to Duke in December. Apparently with the Disney cruise I am supposed to have all of my medications on me in their original containers. I do not think that Disney knows I take about 10 different medications a day that equal about 40-45 pills a day. That should be a fun bag for security to go through! For Duke I am supposed to gather a lot of medical information that only Dr. Nick and a lab out in California called OncoTech have. Apparently Dr. Freidman and his staff want to look at the original frozen section of my tumor that was taken during the surgery. I also had to fill out a lot of paper work for my medical work up. This was all done via e-mail, thank God! (I received about 10 different forms that were a few pages each!)

As we approach the date for the cruise we are growing very excited. I am looking forward to some quality time with my family that I feel I missed on our original cruise. During our first Disney cruise I was not right in the head due to the tumor. I was sleeping a lot, and when I was awake I was not myself. (Little did we know at the time that I had a golf ball growing in my brain.) Some quality time with Leah and the kids and my in-laws is much needed at this point in my life. I still thank the Lord every day for answered prayers and continue to pray for total healing. I know what has happened so far could not have happened without His help and guidance. Thanks to all of you who still pray and think about us. We love you and look forward to hearing from you soon!

Love,

Dan and Leah