Thirty Day Check Up

At breakfast this morning I read an article in the Wisconsin State Journal entitled “A Plan for Cancer Survivors.” I am not a survivor yet, and that's not caught my attention. But something else caught my attention. The article stated that “Half of all men and on-third of women in the United States will develop cancer in their lifetimes. Thanks to advances in early detection and treatment, the number who survive has more than tripled over the past three decades.” Something to think about, right? Both the number who will get cancer and the survival rate. The key to surviving cancer remains early detection.

Now that I have your attention.

Yesterday, I went to see my oncologist for my thirty-day check up. It has been an extra long wait since my last treatment in October. Needless to say, I was and have been apprehensive about what the outcome would be. Remember, I told you earlier on that my two PSA tests were 12.1 and 9.9. The original test in early June I scored 12.1 and the follow-up test in late July I scored a 9.9. I was hoping for a score of anything less that 9.9. A PSA score of less than 9.9 would at least mean that something positive had happen with the radiation treatment. But I still have to go six months before I’ll know for sure. Then, after that some kind of after treatment program.

Anyway, I took the test minutes before I saw the doctor and had to wait until the afternoon before I got the results. I know, more waiting. I was suppose to call after 3PM for the results but didn’t call until well after 4PM. (I think subconsciously I made myself busy so I wouldn’t remember to call. Maybe I was afraid to call to learn the results) Before I met with Dr. Ritter I met with the nurse who had me answer a follow-up questionnaire about my symptoms, weighed me and took my blood pressure. (I was thinking to myself, “Why do I have to be weighed? “Did my prostate gained or lost poundage?”) Dr. Ritter’s intern came in and asked me specific questions about some of symptoms I am having. He specifically wanted to know about my stream. (You know, urinating) I told him that sometimes when I have an urge to go and get there nothing happens. He said, “What exactly do you mean?” I said “It feel like you are going but when I look down nothing is happening.” So, now I’m thinking, “Okay I know it were there a minute ago, where did it go.” I’m standing there thinking all kinds of thoughts. “Did it go inside me someplace?” “Where did it go?” I told him it was a weird.

My PSA results are promising. It was 6.7. It’s still in the high range. But based on what the doctor told me and on my understanding it should continue to decline. I’m happy with the score. Like I said before, anything less than 9.9 would have been good. I still have about six months before I will know the final results.

Dr. Ritter was pleased with the few symptoms I am having and didn’t feel that I need to take any other medications, besides the Flo-Max that helps me do #1. While all is not perfect, its close enough for government work, horseshoes and grenades. My next check up is two months away, January 5.

Besides the PSA test, I visited with my technicians while I was there. They were happy to see me and I was happy to see them. I had seen them for a while. We all gave each other great big hugs and kisses. I had gotten use to seeing them every day for six week and then you are done with treatment and you don’t have to go anymore and so you don’t see them anymore. They look the same, still good natured and taking care of people. Jessie is letting her hair grow, Stephanie is pregnant but don’t look it, Justin moved to another unit and Mary is still charming as ever. It felt weird and wonderful at the same time being there and not getting treatment. Wonderful was seeing the technicians who took care of me and weird because I had to use the bathroom where I sat after many treatment sessions. Only this time I was using the bathroom in an upright position.

Caity, my new chocolate lab, is adjusting very well. (Rather I’m adjusting well) I took her to Iowa when Milt and I hunted there last week. Took her out with Ron’s dog, Zoie, her sister and she did really well. She and Zoie played like there would be no tomorrow. I was worried that she would be afraid of the shotgun noise but she wasn’t. This is good. She has a really good nose and loves to retrieve. This girl can really eat and is getting really big. She is good company.

I have been working on the house for about four weeks now. All the carpet downstairs in the living and dining area was removed and oak hardwood floors were installed. The floors got done last week. Now everything has to be moved back and I have to get some painting done before everyone arrives on the 22nd.

But before the rest of it gets done Caity and I are taking another trip to Iowa to chase more pheasants and quail. Patty’s brother, Mike, is there from Canada. We will hunt with him and Ron a few days before Mike has to head back home on Sunday. We should get some really good hunts in if he and Ron haven’t shot up all the birds already.


Later, I’m Up!

Tracing My African Roots

I have always had in interest in African American history for as long as I can remember. But it was during my first teaching job in Racine in 1968 that I became a devoted learner of African American history. I was hired to teach Industrial Arts at McKinley Junior High School but convinced my principal to let me teach a black history class as an extra teaching assignment. During the next three years, in preparation for class, I learned all that was available about slavery and black people who helped make America the great country it is today.

Like many other blacks, I have always wondered about what part of Africa my ancestors came from. But I am not as fortunate as Alex Haley to be able to trace my family roots back to a specific family member in Africa.

I watched the phenomenally successful television mini-series “Roots” during the 1970’s. Alex Haley told of his own family’s saga beginning with an African ancestor named, Kunta Kinte. Since then thousands of African Americans have traveled to West Africa hoping find out more about their African lineage. However, many returned from their trips frustrated by the absence of specific information about their roots.

But now as science races forward, DNA testing will allow thousands Americans to trace their genealogical ancestry back to Africa and other European countries. It will allow them to take a step into the past. Professor Rick Kittles, a Howard University geneticist, has developed a DNA test that allows African Americans to trace their African heritage. The test gives blacks an opportunity to find out where their African ancestors came from. Professor Kittles co-founded a company called African Ancestry out of a personal endeavor to find out his own African linage.

African Ancestry sends you a kit containing two swabs. You rub them along the inside of your cheeks, and then use an overnight delivery service to get the samples to the company’s laboratory. Your samples are compared to an African Lineage Database. The exclusive database contains the DNA maps for over 9,000 African individuals from 82 population groups drawn from across all the regions exploited by the trans-Atlantic slave trade, from Senegal in the northwest of Africa to Mozambique in the southwest. Most blacks came to the United Sates from the West Coast of African areas that are now Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana and Sierra Leone. Smaller numbers of slaves came from Senegal, the Gambia, the Congo River basin and Angola.

For $349 African Ancestry Inc. will test either your female or male lines. The Male line is the one in which your name is passed down. The test to find out where your father’s father came from relies on the male Y-chromosome.

The oldest member of my family on Daddy’s side is Horace Fountain. Horace was born in 1820 but I haven’t figured out his relationship to me yet. My family research has been stuck in the year 1820 for a few years now and I have been trying to figure out to get it moving forward again. Maybe the DNA test is just the needed jump start. A trip to Africa you say? Well I do plan to visit Africa in the near future but not until I take that test. (I was just thinking. They’ve been looking for me for a while and once I take this DNA test they will surely find out where I am. They’ll probably be sending their “peoples” and the car around for me, heh, heh, heh). I don’t expect to find out a lot of detailed information. Generally, if the test can determine what area of the African West Coast my ancestors came from I would be happy. Then a trip to Africa would be in order. But I have to save some money first though.

About 3,000 people have been tested by African Ancestry according to figures from the company’s website. Good Morning America did a report on the DNA testing on October 21. GMA reported that several celebrities have taken the tests, including talk show host Opra Winfrey, director Spike Lee, actor Isaiah Washington and ABC News’s Ron Claiborne.
The idea and possibility of finding out what part of Africa my ancestors came from is one of the most exciting breakthroughs since I began my family research project some thirty years ago. I expect that I will be ordering that DNA kit real soon.

Later!