February has been a month of ups and downs and turns in the road. In the middle of the month, we had a wonderful week+ vacation to the Hawaiian island of Kauai. It was everything you could wish for - great accommodations, no agenda, time with Annie and her family in a locale with long family history, great food, huge HDTV screens to watch the Olympics. At the same time, much of the time we dealt with new meds and pain management.

This was sandwiched in by two weeks of intense grant writing for work. I'm sure this stress is still being worked off in my body. But since returning and finishing off the last week of work, I have been worn down. Nausea has become a factor in addition to the others. This has interfered with the food and exercise routines that we had developed. We would appreciate it if you would pray as we try to reinstate these habits.

Because the PSA count continued to climb (134), we are now looking at a revised plan. In the second week of March, I will have a consult at the UW Urology Dept. On the 15th I will have surgery to cut the testes and take a biopsy of the prostate. This is supposed to bring down the PSA and the testosterone levels. Shortly there after, I will be looked at again for consideration into the Cancer Care Alliance clinical study. There is no guarantee of entry, but the oncologist feels that, the other avenues having failed, this is a hopeful way to go. Again we would appreciate your prayers for this course of action.

Thank you again so much for your willingness to lift us up in prayer.

-Cal-