MARCH 24, 2018 - A Cancer Patient feels like they are alone on an Island 
  
It has been said that no man is an island. The person who said that, likely never had Cancer. Because as a cancer patient that is exactly how many of us feel. Well, how I feel sometimes.


Friends and relatives that used to stop or call or email for no reason suddenly find excuses or reasons not to. I know that for many it is the allusive thing of what can I say and what can’t I say,  my friend has cancer.



Guess what? We know we have cancer. That means you really don’t have to say anything about it. We live with it 24/7. When we wake up we are reminded it is not a dream and the daily trips to Radiation and the weekly Chemo all give us no choice but to know it is there.
PHOTO IS MY 2ND CHEMO TREATMENT BUT FIRST TIME GETTING CHEMO IN MURFREESBORO LOCATION WHERE I GET MY RADIATION!
So if you have a friend or relative with cancer, just call and say hi. It can be all about better days you’ve had, or something great in your life. It does NOT have to be about what we are going through.


I personally feel alone a lot of the time. Not because I do not have a very supportive wife. I could not ask for a better partner in this battle than Donna. But the truth is as the male of the species we have a built in desire to help and protect.



That means that (at least for my specific type of cancer) I find myself having to get up 1 – 4 times an hour to visit the porcelain location. If I were doing that in our bedroom she would be awakened every time I did so. The logical solution there is for me to relegate myself to the spare bedroom where my comings and goings allow her to sleep as best she can.


She works from home so if she has a crappy night’s sleep that means a bad day at work and less money coming in to cover the household bills and medical expenses. She also needs to stay as healthy as possible to keep everything going. I won’t do that to her.


So my little island which used to be our full house is now down to one room.


Not that I mind. We spend as much time as we can together when I am awake and cognoscente enough to be an adult. I’ve been helping her with the evening meals sometimes and we watch some TV together.


Then we get to video chat with our grand children in Australia which is nice and I have constant visits from my Nurse, that is Dori the four legged duty nurse that has been comforting me since I got sick.

​

RADIATION AND CHEMO TREATMENTS 
I have just finished my first FULL week of treatments. My first Chemo was on the 13th of March and then ALL TREATMENTS started full tilt boogie on Monday the 19th of March.


This is what this looks like. A typical week for me until May 10 is like this. UP at 9:00 a.m., get cleaned up and dressed and out on the road by 10:15 to drive 55 miles to Radiation therapy. I am there for about half an hour or so then back out to the car and another 55 mile drive home. That is 5 Days a week and on every Tuesday I have a consult with my Radiation oncologist who is checking to make sure everything is right and there are no issues he needs to address.

Then on Wednesday's after leaving Radiation therapy, I get to go up 3 floors to Tennessee Oncology for my Chemo. That involves having a driver because they get you a little stoned.  This takes between 3 & 4 hours for them to infuse you with all the steroids, Benadryl, and various other items which are about 9 – 10 different things including two completely different chemo formulations made specifically for my body and the targeted tumor.


The end of week one leaves me a little pooped and grateful that I am still feeling well enough to be a little snide about things. I know it’s going to get worse before it gets better. But it IS going to get better. With the help of my medical team and Donna I am going to kick the living shit out of this knot in my bladder. I will come back stronger than I have been in a long time.



This photo is what the actual chemo looks like when it arrives at my car.  This is 2 different kinds of chemo!!  


I have places to visit and show to my wife Donna.  Please that I have been when I was a touring musician. I have grand children and (someday) great grand children to see. So I look at it like this. Today I am an island, but the waters will recede with every passing treatment and soon that Island will once again be a firm and stable land and I will become part of my entire house again.


So the next time you talk with someone with cancer. Remember, we do NOT need to hear you say how sorry you are. If you feel like saying that it is okay, it’s the human thing to do but it is not needed. Mostly I think what we would all appreciate is just cross the bridge to our little cancer island and sit and just talk. Normalcy is something that has left our daily routines for the most part and it is something we crave.
Well, if I’m well enough next week-end, you’ll see the recap of week two. If not, I am sure that Donna will fill you in. Stay safe my friends. If you are healthy PLEASE listen to your body and check on anything out of the ordinary. If you are sick, please do what you can to be well. And if you know someone that is suffering from something life threatening. Even if you are not a firm believer, say a prayer. I know that the big guy is listening. I have had such an overwhelming amount of prayer support since this started and I have SEEN some things come about from those prayers that are unexplainable.


Just think, our Local Drive in Theater opens on the 30th of March. Maybe Donna and I can catch opening night on Good Friday since that is a NON Treatment day at my Radiation Doctor (his office is closed for the holiday.)


May peace be with you all - until next week.


Greg

March 13th, 2018 - First Chemo Treatment - It was an experience 
So the 13th of March I got to have my first Chemo Infusion and so this is a little update as to what happened and how I managed.



When you first walk in the office for every visit you go let them draw out 2 – 3 vials of blood to make sure that you are well enough to have the procedure.


Never having had a chemo infusion, I was a bit nervous as you might imagine. What was going to happen? Was I going to get ill or one of the other horrible side effects? But I got to tell you Dr. McDuffie my oncologist said he didn’t expect that I would have many if any issues. His words were that I would be underwhelmed with the whole thing. He was right.


I sat down and the ran the needle into the Bard Power Port that I had surgically installed two weeks prior and it was breath in and breath out and that was done no pain. We put a Lidocaine cream on it an hour before the procedure which I am sure helped.



Then they put in some saline to flush the port and make sure it was flowing correctly. The Power Port is basically a direct line into the main artery into the heart from the neck. It is places only a portion of an inch above the top of the lung. It acts as the access point where the go in rather than putting an IV in each time which over the course of putting chemo in for a full run of 9 or so weeks could blow out the veins.


After the saline she put an anti nausea drug in the IV port and then flushed it again with saline.


Then they gave me the wonderful injection of thick warm 7 day anti nausea meds which is done with a needle in the stomach. Not pleasant but not terrible either. But if it keeps away the pukes for a week as planned then I’m okay with it.  


Next they gave me liquid Benadryl at a very high dose. HIGH being the way it makes you feel. It was like a nice little 60s contact high. Slurring words feeling like Timothy Leary was going to appear. You know good times. Then they gave another saline flush.


After that comes the first round of chemo. By that time the Benadryl was doing its job and I was snuggled under a warm blanket going in and out of consciousness.



I assume they flushed the line again but the next thing I remember was them hooking up the second type of Chemo (I get two different ones every time).


It was time for another short nap. Then they were done and flushing out the line once again and making sure everything was still good and then it was breath in, breath out and the needle was out of the port and they were letting me out.


We got there about 9:45 am and we walked out on the way home at about 4 hours later. I was still groggy from the Benadryl and when I got home some intermittent naps were the order of the day.


So it was not at all an unpleasant day. I had been dreading it but the staff was wonderful and here we are now 38 hours removed from the start of the treatments as I write this and no nausea or unpleasant side effects. I think the Chemo has pissed off my tumor in my bladder because I’ve been peeing a lot of blood last night and a little today and that is going to get worse next week when we add the daily radiation into the mix along with more chemo on Wednesdays.



That’s going to be my life for the next 8 to 9 weeks. They want me to stay away from people to limit the possibility of germs. And then 8 – 12 weeks after the end of the sessions they want me in for scans and another wonderful
Cystoscopy to see what happened from the procedure and if the tumor has gone away or if they need to do anything else like more chemo or radiation.


I am obviously hoping that it goes away and stays the hell where ever it ends up and NEVER comes and visits again.


Our team of doctors has a handle on this and I know we have the right people on the war wagon to beat it and with them fighting and Warrior Donna pushing me and making me stay busy, healthy and positive. I don’t see how it can be anything less than a home run.


As near as it plans out now, last Radiation AND Chemotherapy should be on 5/9/2018 if I manage to remain healthy and no unforeseen issues from the treatment. Then tack on another 8 to 12 weeks until the recheck and we should be somewhere around 07/04/2018 or 08/01/2018 before we know whether it was a success.
So I hope that we can do the 8 weeks out (July 4th being Independence Day would be a great time to find out that your body has been freed from cancer).


A few things that you may not know about the chemo is that it makes you VERY susceptible to sun burns so you have to try and stay out of the sun. Since my treatments are an hour away then an hour back and we are going to be entering the sunny part of the year it may be interesting. But we’ll do what we have to do.


I’ll give another Greg update sometime during the first week of Radiation. Likely it will be the Saturday after the next Chemo. I will have two days of Radiation then I have radiation at 11:30 then the Chemo for 3.5 hours at 12:15 on that Wednesday and then two more days of Radiation so I should have the full effect of it and get an idea of what’s going to happen after a full week of treatments.


I have a feeling it’s going to knock me on my ass so I anticipate that Saturdays should be a good day to sit and vegetate in front of the PC and put down my thoughts. Then I can relax on Sunday before kicking in to week two of the same stuff.
Okay ya’ll that’s it from B.C.C. (Bladder Cancer Central) today, now let’s all get some sleep.  The video below is ME doing a DEMONSTRATION VIDEO of how to take your INR at home.  We do this EVERY THURSDAY SINCE MY STROKE 9 YEARS AGO!! We did it today and my numbers were good.  We weren't sure if the CHEMO would mess with blood thickness but so far so good.  

MARCH 2ND, 2018
It was a Happy Birthday no matter what 
Okay so I went in to have my “port” put in on Monday the 26th of February, two days after my birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!! Why do they schedule things at 8:00 AM? The Wilson family does not do mornings. I never have and never will like them.


Let’s say it was an interesting experience. Had a nice private day surgery room and more nurses than an episode of Marcus Welby. Got the dreaded gown (although you can leave underwear of for this one) and an IV inserted and then we waited and waited and waited. The piece of my Bladder that they took out for the biopsy was the size of 3 full sized SD cards stacked on top of one another. That is pretty large when you consider that the bladder is about 2” in diameter empty and about 6” when full (or so they say). Anyhow, suffice to say that peeing several times while waiting for surgery was needed.



The time finally came around 11:00 AM and two nurses came and wheeled me towards the O.R. Look, it’s a relatively minor operation but still a big deal. I was fully awake when they parked me outside the OR and asked some more questions. I watched Donna walk by the door (but she didn’t know it) and then they wheeled me in. She had things to get done like arranging things with the oncologist and banking so I am glad that she had something to do to keep her mind occupied.


Into the O.R. we went and they set up the mundane things like sliding me from my gurney to the table, setting up the oxygen and lighting and chit chatting.
Next thing I knew I was in recovery talking to a nice nurse that said everything was fine and did I want anything to drink or anything for pain? I was still a little up on whatever they gave me in surgery so I declined. Also passed on the drink when she said it would be about 30 minutes before I was taken to my room (back to that having to pee thing).


We finally got out of the Day surgery around 2:00-2:30 PM and Donna drove me home. The port is on the left chest so I couldn’t use a seatbelt so I get to be chauffeured for a while.
It is now Friday morning, the chest area is a little sore (I once had a rotator cuff injury, the pain is similar but much less intense). It is bruised and swollen but things look good all things considered. Oh, one bright spot. In today’s mail we got a “Hope You Are Doing Well” card from everyone that was in the O.R. that day. Made us both smile a lot. It’s the little things these days.
On this coming Tuesday I go in for my first Chemo infusion at the local office. It looks like the treatment in the chemo chair is about 3.5 hours each time. Then we have a consult later in the week with the radiation guy in Murfreesboro and I would guess the following week if all was good, I will be full steam ahead on the treatment.
What that means is Chemo and Radiation on Monday then Radiation on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday that week and every week for the next 3 – 4 months. To put that in perspective we will be driving to Murfreesboro daily (110 mile round trip). That means when we are through with the treatment the car will have driven 8,470 miles for treatment, we will have been out of house 156 hours on the road, I will have gotten 192.5 hours of Radiation into my bladder and 56 hours of Chemo infusion in the chair. So yeah, this is a bit of an involved deal. And that doesn’t take into account the other appointments to make sure things are going well and that I am stable. So hopefully I can stay healthy through it all so I can ring the bell at the end of it all and say that I beat this shit.
Yes, it is going to suck, yes I am likely going to lose anything that resembles hair on my body, yes I will likely be sick but I am going to beat this damned demon and get back to what I want to do. Live my life with the love of my life and make some music.  Speaking of music, make sure to check out our music pages, our contact page and our video page.  For more about our 20+ years together (we were writing together almost 2 years before we were married) check out the About Us Page. 



I wrote this song during that first summer we lived together as HUSBAND AND WIFE -  THE SUMMER OF 1998!!
I'll be back soon, 

February 27, 2018 - Bone Scan - Chest scan and other not fun things 


We really want to be optimistic about things and are trying but it can be tough.  Just as you think you have jumped a hurdle, you see another one in front of you. This is probably happening to all people that are battling cancer and other life threatening diseases.  So we went to a St. Thomas Hospital testing building in Murfreesboro.  They had to hook him up to an IV so they could inject him with nuclear matter for the bone scan. With this test, they inject you and then they scan you 4 hours later so you have a little time to kill while waiting.  In Greg's case, he had to go across the hall to the Pet scan - Cat Scan which is really CT scan but I think calling it Cat Scan office to get his chest scanned.  


The oncologist was making sure that even though the cat scan he had in December showed that the cancer had not spread outside the bladder to lymph nodes and other organs in that area, it did not reflect whether it was in his lungs or his bones.  


Greg lives with daily back pain from herniated discs from a back injury dating back to 2007.  As he gets older, the pain has gotten worse because the discs continue to degenerate.  One of the signs of bladder cancer can be lower back pain. Since Greg's back pain has gotten worse over the past year, the oncologist wanted to make sure that Greg's spine and lungs were cancer free.  Cancer in those areas would still be bladder cancer that spread (as he explained to me) but it would dictate how we would go forward and whate treatment would be recommended.  



We knew that he was having the tests on Monday and would get the results on Tuesday when we saw the oncologist.  By the way, both Urologists and the Oncologist had mentioned that they saw "something" on the original cat scan done in November without contrast but didn't think it was anything to worry about. 


Well we were worried about it.  Anyhow, after the scans, we went home and neither one of us got a good nights sleep. We waited in the oncologists office literally holding our breath.  When the doctor walked in, he didn't make us wait. He immediately said the "scans were clear." I busted out in tears and he handed me a box of tissues.  I was so relieved that the staging was not being changed to a higher stage.  
Stage 2 Bladder Cancer is still bad but it definitely ups the odds of being able to beat this monster.  We were still walking options and we told Dr. McDuffie that we wanted to talk to Greg's GP, (we call him Tim.)  He may even be reading this and if he is, hi Tim.  You see Tim has been taking great care of Greg for over 7 years and we value his opinion so much. 


The next step was setting up an appointment to see Tim and to set up an appointment to see the surgeon who would be installing a port for chemo into Greg's chest. No matter what we decided on for treatment, the port was necessary.  We met with Tim and had a great albeit emotional conversation. Both Tim and Dr. McDuffie who's first name is Jeremy agreed on the treatment plan we were leaning toward. ​

We met with the surgeon and schedule the procedure for February 26, 2018.  That was yesterday. We had to be at the hospital by 8:00 a.m., yeah, I know, the Wilson's don't do 8:00 a.m., like ever. We were both so nervous about missing the appointment that we have terrible broken sleep all night.  We got up on time and made it to the hospital. We chose to have this done at our local hospital.  Dr. McDuffie works closely with a surgeon there and has total faith in him. We trust McDuffie and after meeting the surgeon, we felt comfortable with him too.  
He made sure to put the port on the left side so it wouldn't interfere with Greg playing guitar. We explained that there are very few things left that Greg enjoys doing so he made sure Greg still could.  The installation went well and we were home by 2:00 p.m. yesterday.  Greg napped a lot today but so far so good.  He is schedule to have his first chemo next week.  A battle plan has been created and we will go forward next week after a little healing of the port happens.  Please keep the prayers coming and please feel free to share this blog. I started a fundraiser on Facebook because as you can imagine, the bills are coming in fast and furious.  
I want to thank all the people that have contributed and shared so far.  We appreciate and need every single dollar!!  Please check out our CD's, DVD's & Books page right here at our website.  They may make a great gift for you or someone you know and you know the money will be going to help us fight this battle.  


We love you all for reading.  Take care and we will be back soon.


Love Donna & Greg - a/k/a Nolan Wilson

FEARING THE BLINKING LIGHTS INDICATING YOU HAVE A PHONE MESSAGE WHEN YOU HAVE CANCER - February 4th, 2018
The above probably applies to anybody that is sick and awaiting test results 


I knew for 2 weeks what my husband's biopsy results were.  I couldn't tell you before I had told him. I kept this to myself as everyone inquired and it was hard as so many of you asked. Also, once I said the words out loud it made it more real and I wanted, in fact needed to digest it a little bit more on my own so I could be stronger before sharing it with him and you all.  You see, the doctor called me less than 48 hours after the surgery had been completed and told me the pathology was already back on his biopsy.  When I say the doctor called me, he did but he didn't get me because he called at 8 in the morning. Instead he left a message on our home machine.  

So after being exhausted and up on and off all night checking on my husband who wasn't adjusting well to a catheter, I awoke to see the light blinking on our machine.  Keep in mind, there is a phone on my nightstand so before I even got out of bed, I notice the light blinking and hit play.  I never thought that it would be the doctor already. After all, he told us it would be at least a week before we would have the pathology back.  
After hearing what he had to say, I hit redial to try and get him but instead got the pre-surgical area at St. Thomas Hospital and was told the doctor was in surgery.  



His message said that the pathology was back and that "the cancer is invasive, into the muscle of his bladder.  He also said that he does not handle this but that his partner in his practice did.  He said that his office would be calling to set up an appointment with that doctor.  I sat up in bed shocked and scared, for him, for me, for us.  


My husband was in extreme pain and we were having trouble getting his stronger pain med prescription filled because of the snow storm. It was still snowing out and I finally got ahold of the pharmacy.  They agreed to hold his latest pain meds for an upgrade that the surgeon wanted and told me to drive slowly and careful to come pick up his meds.  
I made it to the pharmacy slip sliding away but safely.  Living up north dealing with slippery road conditions in my past got me there and would get me back home to so I could get my husband some pain relief.


When  I was at the Pharmacy, I was looking for sugar free cookies for hubby.  There were none and I was shocked. How could a pharmacy not have sugar free cookies. Sugar free candy YES, sugar free cookies NO. I asked an employee and she looked with me but we found none.  At that point I started telling her that I am out in a snow storm to get my husband pain relief while he was recuperating from bladder cancer surgery and I wanted to get him cookies he could eat. 


Greg is Type 2 Diabetes and we keep him off diabetic meds using diet.  In fact, he is on a sugar free diet.  At that point I lost it with the clerk much like the Mom did in the movie "Terms of Endearment" when all Shirley MacLaine wanted in the hospital was for someone to get her daughter pain meds.  When you have a loved one suffering, you do what you have to do to get them some relief.  


I never forgot that scene.  In this day and age and time, there is never any reason why anybody we love should ever have to be in pain.  
I will never understand why we are more loving and kind to our pets and put them out of their misery but our loved ones are left to suffer. 


Anyhow, that is how I felt that day in the pharmacy where all I wanted to do was get my husband pain relief and a couple of cookies he could eat.  


I told the clerk about the phone message left on my machine that morning and that I was doing all I could do to hold it together and at that point I lost it. I cried, she cried and she grabbed my hands and started praying for my husband and for God to give me strength to get through all that was ahead.  I found great comfort in her prayers.  There was a pharmacist, a pharmacist assistant, me and the cashier/clerk in Rite Aid that day.  Just the four of us. The snow kept everyone else off the roads.

 
This Rite Aid has been fillings my husband prescriptions for 5 years so they are pretty familiar with his health ailments.  They do however know that the cancer is a new addition to his already complicated and life threatening conditions.  I know I have yet to tell you all of that but there seems to be so much to say right now that doesn't even touch on his history of Stroke, A-Fib and Congestive Heart Failure..  




People have asked me what they can do to help. We are proud people and have always taken care of ourselves.  What I would offer up at this time is there is a way you can help us while helping yourself.  If you would like to make some spare cash, you can do that by taking surveys, listening to music and watching video's at home in your spare time.  When you sign up using my referral code, I get a referral fee.  If enough people do this, it can really add up. It can be a way that people can help us while helping your own family and that would make me feel good.  I am never sitting in front of a TV without taking surveys or doing something to earn extra cash.  We have so many medical bills now, many more than 6 months ago. It was tough then, it will be tougher now but we are not quitters and we won't quit now.  Here is a place called Swagbucks where you can earn extra cash for your own families.  My referral code is: http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/BlueEyedSongLady

Bladder cancer update from Greg: January 31, 2018


Okay so I’m sitting here. Just two weeks ago I had my surgery and they cut a large tumor out of me and sent it off to biopsy and I was home starting the first of seven days of pain dealing with having a catheter in so that my body could rid its self of the debris from the surgery and I could heal.


I know that Donna needed her rest so we moved me into the spare bedroom where I could get rest as I needed it. Where I could get up and down and to the rest room as needed on a 24 hour cycle and hopefully let Donna get as much rest as she could given the circumstances.


I was under the impression that we would find out on my post surgery follow-up appointment what stage the cancer is/was and how successful the procedure was. Silly me.  Donna tells me today that she got a call from the doctors office on the Wednesday after surgery telling her that the mass what quite large and that the guy that did my surgery was referring me to a senior member in his office who could better treat the cancer.


Donna was doing me a favor by letting me have a couple of weeks of hopes while she kept that information inside as it ate at her. I love her for that but it has taken a toll on her as I know that she is not sleeping well because she wasn’t able to tell me the details. Hopefully tonight she can sleep better now that it is off her chest.


So, now we are scheduled to go in to see the specialist and figure out what is what, find out for sure what stage this piece of shit inside me is at and figure some sort of action plan to combat it.


Apparently this type of cancer is insidious and keeps coming back like a boomerang.

The options because of the size of the tumor (at least until we know more from the doctor) are either removal of the bladder or a fairly aggressive regimen of Chemo and Radiation.


I do have to tell you that I do NOT like those particular options so I hope we can find some middle ground that is something I can live with (pun intended).


We will post more after our meeting with the new doctor after we have had a chance to review and digest what is happening.


We both appreciate everyone’s thoughts, kind words and prayers and hopefully we can post some better news here on the blog in the near future instead of all this bad crap.


Greg


​

January 25, 2018 - Convenience for patients and their families 
We have been taught that you should never make it public when you are going to be away from your house over night or any length of time. Greg's surgery was scheduled for Monday, January 15, 2018.  We were expecting bad weather.  We discovered that the hospital actually has a hotel room floor inside the hospital for patients convenience.  


They call it THE INN.  The Inn looks like an average affordable hotel room.  Each room has two double beds and there are even adjoining rooms if a family is planning on staying during their loved ones surgeries.  The Inn is primarily for patients who live more than 50 miles from the hospital. They charge $72.00 a night which includes tax.  You can't get a hotel room downtown Nashville for that kind of money.  

We booked a room for two nights, the night before the surgery and the night of the surgery.  We managed to miss the snow on the way in but on Tuesday when we were supposed to go home, it was snowing and the roads were terrible.  On top of that, the snow was heading toward our town and was expected to be much worse there.  We thought about trying to get another night, rather than drive all those miles on slippery, icy roads.  When we inquired, we were told that other patients were coming in for surgery so we had to check out.
They said we could hang around the hospital and see if someone canceled their reservations. If there was a cancellation, we could grab that room.  After packing up and loading the car, checking into a different room, unloading the car and unpacking into a different room just didn't seem ideal. On top of that, we had 3 cats waiting at home for us.  I can't remember the last time they were alone for more than one night and we knew we were going to get CAT-A-TUDE from them.   

About the surgery 
I was in the Chapel praying when the surgeon called and told me he was done with surgery.  He said the tumor was large and we would have to wait for pathology for the results.  He said they were sending Greg home with a catheter and that the catheter had to stay in for a week.  I had to get my husband home on icy roads sporting a catheter all the way.  He was having pain and spasms so I knew this was not going to be a fun trip home for either of us.  Rather than waiting around for hours while the snow piled up outside, we decided to leave and were on the road by 9:00 a.m. 

The side roads were dreadful.  People, especially pick up trucks were fish tailing all over the place.  I was more concerned with someone sliding into us than anything else.  We drove 40 miles per hour on the Interstate all the way home but made is safe and sound.  Now it was time for us to get Greg settled into our guest room.  The catheter was on his left leg and normally he sleeps on the right side of the bed.  He was having restless sleep and was up and down constantly, moaning and groaning so he figured I would get no sleep.   WE both knew I would need to get as much sleep as I could so I could take care of him. 

​We had trouble getting some of the meds Greg needed because he had just had similar prescriptions filled.  Our home pharmacy cooperated and once again I was in the car on the way to the Pharmacy on icy roads to get his meds.  That was last Wednesday.  The surgeon also prescribed some anti spasm meds for Greg because the spasms were awful.  


I will try to do another update tomorrow to get you caught up to the present.  I think there may be some photos on Greg's phone that I need to get on here.  The pictures are of and from the room we had at THE INN at St. Thomas.  On a light note, we had told a few people we were going to be staying at The Inn at St. Thomas and some folks thought we meant in the Caribbean.  Gee.......wouldn't that have been nice to be at a HOTEL IN THE CARIBBEAN than in a hospital having CANCER SURGERY.  


Here is our song - THE PRESENT- We wrote this song when my sister was battling cancer.  We all should remember that nobody is promised tomorrow, that is why today is truly a gift we call THE PRESENT.

January 14, 2018 - Eight years on blood thinners 
One of my biggest fears leading up to the surgery has been hubby being off blood thinners for 5 days.  We are now on day 4 off blood thinners and so far so good.  We will be checking him into Admitting in the morning.  Pictured is a typical blood clot.  
Hubby is a nervous wreck and I have somehow managed to make myself numb.  It must be something my mind is doing to protect my heart so I can function the next few days. Greg has never had any sort of surgery in his life other than a hernia surgery when he was a baby.  Of course he does not remember that.  
I have had 2 babies, a kidney biopsy that I had to remain awake for, one ectopic pregnancy and both of my falopian tubes removed at separate times so my experience with medical issues are different than his.  We both agree that I come from a place of surgery experience so I know he can get through this.  I keep telling him this and that dwelling on it only makes the fear worse. I know, easier said than done. 

 
Look, this does not mean I am not scared. In fact, I am scared of it all and scared for him but if I let myself fall apart, I can not help him. Point blank, surgery is foreign to him. To make matters worse, the surgery involves the removal of a tumor.  There will be bleeding, lots of post op bleeding.  We have been told to expect that and that won't be fun for him either.  Everything is told to us kind of matter of fact-ly.  Our bladders are designed to not clot or they couldn't do their jobs. Their job is to push out liquid. If they clotted they couldn't do their jobs.  

You now, even with his stroke 8 years ago, it did not require any surgery.  EKG'S, EEG'S, MRI'S AND BLOOD WORK GALORE but no surgeries.  When he strokes, he clots he does not hemorrhage.   

Snow is expected in Nashville tomorrow into Tuesday.  Here's hoping the snow fall is short lived so we have no trouble getting home.  

I will update this blog after the surgery.  Prayers are always welcome.  Below is a song Greg wrote about his parents relationship, love and life story.  'ETERNALLY YOURS"

January 11, 2018
​Here is the UPDATE as promised. The cardiac clearance came in and the surgery has been schedule for Monday, January 15, 2018. Now we have to get through the next 5 days of NO BLOOD THINNERS without having a stroke or a heart attack. This is the first time he will be off blood thinners in 8 years so prayers are appreciated.  

The surgery will take place at St. Thomas West in Nashville.  They will remove the tumor and put chemo directly into his bladder and let it stay in there for 2 hours while rolling him over to make sure the chemo coats the entire bladder. He will be asleep for the surgery but should be awake for most of the rolling over to coat the bladder with chemo part of this 2 tier procedure.  

This was a sunset from our brief time up on the farm in Liberty, TN.  We were there for 1 and 1/2 years. This was a 56 acre farm up on a mountain ridge.  After the stroke and two years of medical stress, worry and doctors in Georgia, we really needed a break, even a bit of isolation and this was the perfect place for it.  It turned out the farm house had black mold so we had to move.  The mold sucked but the sunsets where phenomenal.  I will talk more about our time up on Pea Ridge and how we got there. 

I am just not up to it tonight. It has been a long day of trying to get things done (work tasks) so I can be there for my husband when he needs me most. The black mold caused Greg temporary Asthma. It also caused our cat Dori permanent Asthma which she still suffers from today.  We have now wondered if the black mold  contributed to the cancer. We will probably never the know the answer to that question. One doctor has said smoking can cause this kind of cancer but Greg quit smoking in 1989.  That was a very very long time ago. 

His GP says when you get to near 30 years post smoking, it is hard to blame any medical problems on it.  I will be back in a day or two to let you all know how he is doing off of the blood thinners.  I am going to have to try and keep the house totally stress free until this is over. Wish me luck as life sometimes gets in the way and doesn't allow us to live stress free.   I will continue to share our music with everyone as it is a look into our hearts and souls.  See below. 
This is the Title Cut to Greg's CD "Take It Slow."  We wrote this song about boy meets girl, boy and girl get in over their heads but make a life together. ​

January 6, 2018
The year 2017 is in the books. For some it was a decent year for others not so much. A lot of us had stress infused from the election of a person that is beyond unqualified to hold the position. That being said we are ushering in a new year with 2018.    There will be many changes that my family and friends will note on my page here on Facebook. Yes I still have a disdain in my core for the current leadership of our country. Yes I still feel that they are leading us down a path that we will find it difficult at best to return from.
The difference is that I have a fight ahead of me that I have to let take precedence over my love of country and my hatred for those hell bent and determined to take us down.
At the end of 2017 I was diagnosed with cancer and at this point in time both Donna and I have to focus our energies on staying positive and trying to win the fight against this disease.

I know it won’t be an easy journey and I know that there will be good and bad days in the year ahead. We are hoping to find more positive than negative and it is to that end that we are going to be trying to be as upbeat as we can.

We are not going to update everyone individually because doing so means reliving the pain with every conversation. However we have turned our website into a place to get information and Donna is going to update the blog there to keep everyone informed of the good, the bad, and the ugly that is going to be happening to us on this trip.

If you want to know at any given time what the status is you can go to www.NolanWilson.com and read the blog. We are selling our wares there that include Donna’s books and our CDs and music. That will help us financially and spiritually as well so if you feel so inclined feel free to buy some. If not, it is not mandatory and we still welcome your visit and thoughts and prayers.

The insurance will cover a portion of the expenses but co-pays and out of pocket expenses will no doubt mount up. We know it’s going to be a fight both physically and financially to keep our heads above water and our wits and sense of humor about us. I pray that we are successful on all those fronts.

We have already had friends that have done so much. One offered to start a Go Fund Me and take care of running it to help us cover expenses. We don't feel right about doing that, at least not yet, not until the bills mount so high we can't cover them ourselves. Also, the problem with Go Fund Me is that they take so much money as a fee leaving less of a donation.  To that end, Donna has put up two Paypal donation buttons on our contact page of our website. If you donate via family and friends, PayPal takes nothing and 100% of the donation would come our way to pay co-pays and the 20% that isn’t covered by Medicare.   Things are not at the point where we are drowning in medical bills but we are getting ready just in case.  Three out of four of my doctors have said, "Prepare for the worst but hope for the best."  I think it is the montra when someone is diagnosed with cancer.  

A way you can help is to click the ads you see on this website and listen to our music video's on YouTube.  If you see items you would use and buy anyhow, please buy them from ADS on our website and our YOUTUBE page.  We will get a piece of that and it won't cost you anything. 

We had a wonderful surprise, a dear lady and friend of Donna's sent us a check in a Christmas Card that ironically arrived the same day as the hospital bill from the initial visit.  She knows who she is and she is an ANGEL. 

Yes it’s going to be a tough journey. It’s going to be an uphill struggle but with the prayers and thoughts of our family and extended group of friends, we’ll make it to the top. We will stop once in a while for a breath but we will keep on chugging away until this too is behind us.  Below is a song I wrote inspired by my wife.  This song is "Crazy Over You." on my Forgetting to Remember.  ​

​Thank you for your thoughts, concerns, prayers.  Every one of them is helpful and mean so much to us.
​Love, Greg

January 4th, 2018 - It wasn't a kidney stone - It was Cancer 
We wanted to wait until after the holiday's before we made this announcement because we didn't want to bum anybody out.  That word, "CANCER" scares white off of rice.  We are coming to terms with it and plan to fight the good fight together.  Prayers are appreciated. 
Here is what happened.  He we go!! It started back in October.  October 11th to be exact.  My husband informed me that he thought he had a kidney infection.  I took him to the doctor. 


We informed the nurse that we thought he may have had a bladder, kidney or urinary tract infection.  Husband was experiencing some lower back pain and pain across his groin.  They gave him the cup to pee in for a sample.  As soon as I saw his urine,  (I had kidney disease for 3 years) I knew it contained some blood.  
As soon as the doctor walked in the room, I informed him that I thought there was blood in Greg's urine.  The doctor confirmed it.  My husband has been on medication for near 8 years since his stroke.  Some of those meds can cause kidney stones so that was the doctors first choice of ailments.  

He put him on an antibiotic in case there was an infection and two other meds to help him pass a kidney stone.  We went home and waited and waited and waited.  I kept telling my husband that if he had a kidney stone he would know. After a few days of meds, he was no longer uncomfortable and his urine had cleared.  STILL NO STONE.  We had even discussed a name for it, Earl and then Clyde but no stone was delivered. 
Since everything seemed to be back to normal we shrugged it off as a kidney infection.  We went back to the doctor in early November for Greg's regular 3 month appointment and told the doctor that no stone had passed so it must have been an infection.  Then on November 21st, 2017 my husband passed a blood clot into the toilet. I rushed him to the hospital.  They tested his blood and said that the blood thinners had made his blood too thin.  They told us to stop the blood thinners for two days to get back into safe levels.  We had never had trouble with blood thinners before.  During that ER visit, they did a cat scan and said that he needed a follow up with a UROLOGIST. The on call doctor said that the cat scan showed a thickening up of part of his bladder wall.  I asked her what could cause this and she looked me in the eye and simply said, 'CANCER."  I was shocked.  I said, "so you are telling us some really bad news right now?"  She said, "no, what I am telling you is that he needs to follow up on this and if he doesn't the  results could be dire."  
We left armed with this shocking news and I called his GP the next day.  Everyone was closing early for Thanksgiving weekend.  I left a message at the doctors office.  His doctor (we call him Timmy as he has been Greg's doctor for 7 years since we moved to Tennessee) called us that same afternoon.  We told him what was going on.  He called daily through the holiday weekend to check on him and help keep me calm.  He set up an appointment for my husband to see a local UROLOGIST on November 29th, 2017.  
It was a sunny day. I will never forget how sunny a day it was.  We entered his waiting room. It looked like time had stood still in circa 1975.  Quite frankly that made me a bit uncomfortable. He had tons of files on the walls in the reception room so he seemed to be the only horse and pony show in town.  His nurse was nice enough but he had no bedside manner.  We were very soon to discover that this man was probably in need of a vacation. 
He was to perform a procedure on my husband.  I want to be honest with people in this blog so if you are bothered by body parts or medical terms, it is probably a good time to stop reading.  This procedure is called a cystoscopy.  They literally take a tiny camera up through the penis and take a look at your prostate and the inside of your bladder.   When he was done with that, he came back into the room where I was waiting and where my husband had returned and bluntly told us that my husband has cancer. We were stunned.  I said, "Don't we need a biopsy before you can make that statement?"  He responded with a southern drawl, "I have been doing this for 30 years.  I know it is cancer."  
He then said he would get him schedule for surgery and ushered us out of the office.  We both felt like we had just been run over by a truck. This doctor might be used to telling people news that would change their lives forever but we sure weren't used to getting that kind of scary life altering news. We spoke to Timmy and told him of our terrible experience. We said we wanted a 2nd opinion. Timmy agreed. I call the insurance company Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee to make sure they would help for a 2nd opinion. I told them why we needed a second opinion. Unbeknownst to me, the insurance company filed a grievance against the doctor. YOU GO BCBST!!  I remember that sunny day. Both me and my husband remarked that it should be raining, pouring and stormy on a day you get such news. It felt as though the weather was mocking us. Who gets a cancer diagnosis on a sun shiny day?  It just felt so out of place. 

​We went in for the 2nd opinion in Nashville in mid December.  The Urologist ordered a cat scan with contrast, something that first cat scan didn't have.  Another $200.00 co-pay later for 2nd cat scan but same day so we didn't have to drive back into the city, the cat scan was done.  The 2nd opinion doctor said he was checking to see if the cancer had spread.  He did inform us that you can tell if it is cancer in the bladder by viewing it through the scope. He agreed that doctor #1 should have been more compassionate.  He also told us that what you can't tell is what type of cancer, what stage you are in and how to treat it until you remove the tumor and have it biopsied.  



Waiting those 24 hours to find out if the cancer had spread was awful.  To be perfectly honest, until that doctor received the radiology report, we still were in denial about it even being cancer.  Oh, another thing I should mention is that the bleeding had all but stopped but as soon as we got to the hospital in Nashville where the specialist has his practice, the bleeding started in again profusely. I asked the doctor if stress can bring it on and he said it could.  Anyhow, the doctors assistant called us the day after the 2nd cat scan to tell us that the cancer was contained in the bladder (HAS NO SPREAD)  and that she was going to obtain cardiac clearance from my husbands cardiologist and they would schedule his surgery/procedure.

What they do is they go in the bladder and they remove the tumor.  Then they put a liquid chemo into the bladder and make you lay there rolling you over and from side to side like a rotisserie chicken to totally coat the bladder with chemo.  Then they use a catheter to get the chemo out.  He will then have to be rechecked every three months.  

Our first hurdle is to get through 5 days of being off blood thinners without having a stroke or a heart attack. My husband just celebrated his 8th year post stroke. He has been on blood thinners all these 8 years.  We are going to need some pretty major prayers during those 5 days. If we can get to the surgery/procedure without incident, we can live with the rest.  Another thing to note is that for most people, they do this out patient.  They are going to try to do it out patient for my husband as well unless his cardiologist wants him in patient and he might.  Depending on the time of day, like if they want early morning, we may have to drive into Nashville the day before and stay in a hotel. We do live an hour and a half outside the city but we are not taking chances.  At times like this, you must get the best and most up to date medical treatment you can find. We will keep you updated via this blog as it is just easier than talking about it all the time and over and over again.  It is so draining and we must reserve all our energy for the fight. By writing this blog, we also are trying to bring awareness regarding bladder cancer.  
We are told that bladder cancer is pretty common but you never really hear anybody talking about it, the signs, symptoms or what comes next. If we can help one person spot the signs early, it would be a wonderful thing.  


Another thing I want to note is that we have been told by several doctors that the blood thinners may have caused the bleeding to alert us to the cancer.  If it hadn't been for the blood thinners, we may not have found out about this until it was advanced.  For now we are keeping our fingers crossed that it is an early stage and that the prognosis is a good one. Until next time.....
 

DECEMBER 25, 2017 - It was a nice, quiet and uneventful Christmas Day.  We watched movies and listened to music. We took some selfies that literally vanished from my phone. That was weird.  The picture I am featuring in this blog post was actually a photo shopped little goody that Greg put together many years ago.  He thought it would be fun to put us in various different places around the world.  There were actually people that thought we had really gone to Venice.  We have never really wanted to go anywhere in this world but here, right here in Tennessee.  We do want to go to the Grand Canyon.  Greg's want to show me the Grand Canyon.  He has been there, he has been all over the country.  He got to see so many places when he was playing music and touring. Me, not so much. As they say, I have never been west of the Mississippi. 
​The Grand Canyon
So we have talked about the Grand Canyon. Greg can't fly because of his stroke. It is not safe for him to do altitudes like heading into the great blue skies so we have avoided plane travel. He also has a CPAP with OXYGEN at night and he can't go without his nightly routine so it limits where we can go and what we can do. We have thought about renting an RV, this way we could bring his medical gear.  I could work from the RV so I wouldn't have to take a lot of time off from work and we could travel across the country leisurely, probably bring our old girl (Dori the Cat) with us.  The other two cats could stay home and maybe we could hire a pet sitter for the two cats that won't kill each other if left home alone.  I guess I am thinking out loud.  There are things we want to do before one of us leaves this great big blue ball but that is top of the bucket list.  
​Enjoy the music video/song I have attached to this blog post.  It is a song Greg recorded years ago. It is a duet with Alison Krauss created with the magic of electronics. I love it. I have always loved it. I think their voices sound great together.  


We hope you all had a great, wonderful and joyous Christmas together.  WE got to speak to our granddaughters in Australia for quite a few hours and that was wonderful.  WE hope you had some wonderful moments too.       Love, Donna & Greg                          

Christmas Eve 2017 - ​Christmas Eve 
Getting to know the new blog 
On this Christmas Eve and while I am getting to know this new blog and website, I am posting this here to see how it works and how it looks.  One of the first things Greg sent to me when we were first writing together was a cassette that contain 4 of his originals songs.  This song was on that cassette.  I fell asleep listening to this song many nights that first year writing with him.  I suspected then I wanted to spend the rest of my life with the man that wrote and sung this song.  

Our very first blog post was on December 23, 2017. We simply featured a picture of Dori our Tortie. We lost her last July.  It is shocking that almost a year has gone by without her and her love.