The old and the new

Of course we have been preoccupied with Ken’s health issues, but we have learned a great deal in the past few days.

One of Ken’s former co-workers at the hospital told him that her stepfather had had prostate cancer, and he was treated with proton therapy at Loma Linda Medical Center. From everything we have been able to learn, it is just as effective as other treatments, but its accuracy alleviates all the side effects caused by traditional radiation.

This is a treatment that has been in use for over ten years, it is not experimental, and we have yet to find a negative about it. But isn’t it interesting that if you weren’t looking for it, you would not even come across a discussion of this treatment in any of the usual information? The gentleman Ken spoke with said he even went to the upper levels of administration at Loma Linda to ask why it was not better publicized, and the response from this Seventh Day Adventist institution was that if God wanted him to be there (Loma Linda) he would find out about it!!!???

If you want more information:

http://news.adventist.org/data/2006/03/1144961805/index.html.en

We will be interested to see if it is even mentioned at the appointment at Madigan on Wednesday. The other good news is that the treatment is covered by Medicare.

Next weekend is Ken’s 50th high school reunion. We will drive to Liberty Lake on Thursday and stay with Bob and Sharon. They are hosting a get-together on Friday night and then the classmates will ride in the back of somebody’s truck in the parade in Davenport on Saturday. Then another get-together at Daryl and Jan Ziemer’s Saturday afternoon and the dinner and dance in the evening. My what a social swirl.

Speaking of Liberty Lake, we learned today that the house we owned there is going to be rased within the next few days. The current owners (who purchased from the woman to whom we sold) found the foundation could not withstand the renovations they wanted to do. I must admit that it is with a heavy heart that I learned this. It was unreasonable to believe we would ever return, but it was the most grand and wonderful house I have ever lived in.

Have a good week, and I’ll be blogging again later this week.

Ciao