"For What it's Worth"

Thursday, January 30, 2020

I Will Wait For You - We Are Not In This Alone

When I received my cancer diagnosis, it was devastating. It still is. It was a death sentence, likely still is. My life as I knew it came to a halt. I was frozen, scared, not ready to die, and I'm still not. Not only was by body under attack, but so was my mindset. I took a very long time to get past the death sentence thoughts. I still have countless number of negative thoughts, feelings, and they have been relentless.

However, the overwhelming support, messages, visits, cards, and just support and care from so many ... I can't tell you how much that helps me mentally, physically, and has changed much of my outlook. My outlook on how we treat each other, how we support each other, and how we help each other. What really matters in this short life we have.

How does one feel positive when nothing feels positive? I don't know, I've been trying for nearly 2 years now. Obviously, some days are easier than others, some days I just want to give up because I am so tired of the fight. But, then I try to refocus and stand up to the fight. I try to do what I have always done most all of my work life. Do a great job, be the best I can be, and most of all, try to lift up others, especially those that worked for me... and it was not always easy, I want to feel normal again.

A while ago, I heard Andy Grammer sing "Don't Give Up On Me" ... it was a shot of adrenaline to my mental health ... it made me feel good, it told me there were many standing by me. It really rang out to me and made me think "I hope this is how all my supporters feel. I had never written to anyone like this before, I didn't realize how big Andy was, but, I knew I wanted to tell him what his song did for me, and most likely patients everywhere ...especially those with cancer.

I did some research and located his tour managers and told them my story and what his song had done for me. I also discovered he would be at Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut in December 2019. I asked if there was anyway I could meet him, shake his hand, and tell him thank you. She was more than accommodating. The week before the concert, she connected me with his On the Road Tour Manager, we met him at the casino and he took us in to meet Andy. It was awesome.

I told him I didn't know if his song was written for those in love or those facing challenges as I had. I was very impressed how he asked about me, my treatment, and future. Today, I found a new video of him singing the song which was obviously made for patients. I wanted to share with you, it means so much.

Want to learn the lyrics, watch this second video, and I'll wait for you! Same song with lyrics scrolling. Read them listen to them, and reflect. This is what is most important in our relationships.

I know I have a ton of support out there and I so much appreciate it! ❤️ I'd hope you might want to help? Just “join” my Relay For Life team, donate of few bucks if you can, it’s not required ... I just want to lead a large group of loving and caring people to the aid of cancer patients everywhere, and you joining is critical. Click the link below and feel free to share, lets make this big, life is too short.

Love you all.

- - -

Join and support my Relay For Life Team at: http://bit.ly/RelayTeam2020
Check out my Scentsy Web store at: https://DanGreeley.Scentsy.us
Want to join my amazing team of consultants? http://bit.ly/2JoinDan

Never, ever, forget how amazing you are and can be!

Monday, January 27, 2020

It's Chemo Time Again

I haven’t been online much and haven’t written much. I’ve had a very difficult past 2 months, perhaps more so the past 2 weeks ... but that’s my issue to work through.

Headed to Boston and Dana-Farber for a host of appointments Monday and for what I’ll refer to as my 26th round of chemo (every time they change the cocktail, the docs start counting at 1 again, this is my 4th concoction). I don’t even feel recovered from the last round yet.

I know I have a ton of support out there and I so much appreciate it! ❤️ want to help today? Just “join” my Relay For Life team, donate of few bucks if you can, it’s not required ... I just want to lead a large group of loving and caring people to the aid of cancer patients everywhere, and you joining is critical. Thank you. Check out a video I did make earlier this week that shows I’m not totally gone.

Love you all.

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

It's Getting Harder and Harder ....

I am so under the weather and feel like a loser ...

Much of it may be mental, but the numbers have turned against me.

I'm just not ready.

Having difficulty putting up the fight ...

Feeling its all for naught.

How do I stay positive?

I don't know.

How am I able to get up and move?

I do not know.

How do I put up a fight?

My mind is full of losing the fight.

I can't clear my mind.

I'm so alone, but I know you're there.

I was suppose to start my second 28 day round of chemo (lonsurf) ...

But the doc says I'm not well enough ...

This is when people die from chemo she says.

I'm not ready to go.

My CEA score went from 29.2 on my birthday, December 5th, to 85.1 today.

That is about double my previously highest score ever.

the norm is less than 5 ...

this is not good.

Don't get hung up on CEA they say ...

but when it almost triples in 2 weeks, something is wrong.

Blood counts are low, too low.

I can't get sicker, I have nothing left inside to fight with.

Thanks for not giving up on me, I feel too weak to fight for myself.

We'll test it again next week ...

If you are over 45 years old ...
talk to your doc and get screened if you haven't already.
Don't wait, it can only get worse ...
Find this rat bastard early and sight to beat it ...
but get screened EARLY.

I beg of you.

- - -

Join and support my Relay For Life Team at: http://bit.ly/JoinTeamDan2019
Check out my Scentsy Web store at: http://DanGreeley.Scentsy.us
Want to join my amazing team of consultants? http://bit.ly/2JoinDan

Never, ever, forget how amazing you are and can be!

Friday, November 1, 2019

I'm So Happy October is Over

October was not a very nice month for me. It seemed like one thing after another went sour or downhill. As much as I hate bitching and moaning, I have little good to say about October, it is what it was! Please bear with me and hang with me, I can really use your support.

The Good

There were many good things that happened, but it seems like many of us, me at the top of the list, allow the bad to just overwhelm and erase the good. As a fighter, I at least recognize that and try to use the good to overcome.

Price is Right Contestants

We got away for a couple days to visit you younger sister and brother-in-aw at their home in Maine. A few days of peace and relaxation (headache included)
Had several phone calls and messages from well wishers, supporters, friends, and those that really mean a lot to me. I don't mean to leave anyone out, but for sure that's you Becca, Heidi G and Heidi T, Antoinette, Deb, Doug, Barry & Ruthie, Kevin, Kim, Wendi, Donda, Rebecca, Crystal, Stacey, Catherine, Penny, MJ, Anne, Jill, and so many more of you. I sit here going through the list in my head because thinking of so many of you gives me so much strength and inspiration.
The help and support from Paul at Exotic Motors in Hadley. I had to reach out to Paul several times this month and he is just such a great guy ... always there and willing to help.
Trick or Treating with my grand kids, kids, Carol and other friends.
Watching Carol start with Christmas decorating earlier than we ever had in the past. It such a nice time of year, why not celebrate it more, after all, WalMart does.

The Not So Good

An MRI at the beginning of the month showing us all that my cancer has stopped responding to the chemotherapy ... thus, I have been taken off FOLFIRI. Now just waiting for the next steps. So, I've sat here for a month just watching my tumor markers go higher and higher, and there no urgency to action being taken my the medical community. UGH!!!
I think my car, or the cars I have borrowed while mine have been in the garage, probably a half dozen times this month and who knows how many hundreds or thousands that has cost us. UGH!!!
Mental break down and falling into the pit of worry, and losing the ability to be in control. UGH!!!
Having to write to my kids about topics none of us look forward to talking about. Topics like wills, burial, desires after this journey ends, or just talking about the end of the journey. Which leads me to ...
Lonsurf. The oral chemo the medical team wants me to start taking. Its not a first or second line chemo, it a chemo trying to buy a few extra months. That topic alone is not helping ... I'm looking for 15-20 years, not 5-10 months. UGH!!! This by far has been my biggest issue this month.
The lack of timely response ... excuses of "miscommunication" ... the lack of nothing happening.

So where do I go from here? I've been trying to get in contact with Corrie Yelland, a cancer survivor from Canada that I'm hoping to get some expert contact information from for cannabis dosing experts. I don't seem to have any other options, so I am looking for alternative treatments, especially in the medical marijuana arena. I have a belief that when I did a protocol of Rick Simpson Oil early this year after my liver surgery, it did help me and reduced the growth of my cancer. My gut is telling me I have that and divine intervention to look forward to.

I'm looking forward to a much better November. We are hosting a Scentsy Meet and Greet here at our soon to be decorated home, open to our team family members and guest interesting in hearing more about the Scentsy opportunity. If you're not in this area and want to connect, let me know so I can get you connected to the event.

In mid November we are going to Orlando and I'm attending Mastermind 2020, I look forward to seeing so many of my bigger Scentsy family members, it will be a great few days, then we are celebrating Thanksgiving with Tyler and Zack.
I know there will be many more good things too, including the MRI I am having of my head/brain in about an hour. Thus, I have to so see you soon and thanks for all you do to support me, I so much appreciate it.

- - -

Join and support my Relay For Life Team at: http://bit.ly/JoinTeamDan2019

Check out my Scentsy Web store at: http://DanGreeley.Scentsy.us

Want to join my amazing team of consultants? http://bit.ly/2JoinDan

Never, ever, forget how amazing you are and can be!

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Strange But Interesting Story

Did you know ....

That in the Horror Film Character Freddy Kruger was based on a real life serial killer who lived in Rockville, Iowa in the 1800s. According to court county records of the time, Mr. Kruger was known to have killed at least twenty children within a three mile radius of where he lived. He reportedly murdered most of the children using only a Gardening claw.

He lived inside an old abandoned cement factory north of town where he would bring his victims. Having set up a small living space (and torture area) within the "mechanical room" of the facility. Oh yeah...back then, a "mechanical room" was also known as a "boiler room".

Mr. Kruger was eventually caught by his own recourse by accidentally starting a fire in a portion of the factory where he was burned over 70% of his body. While in the hospital recovering, Police investigated & he was arrested after they found his room of horrors. He was tried, but found to be criminally insane and spent the rest of his life in a Psychiatric Hospital before dying in his sleep at the old age of 72.

But shortly after his death a string of unexpected deaths occurred in Rockville involving young teenagers & children while they were sleeping in their beds. Before they died a few parents said their children would wake up in the middle of the night from the night terrors to what they called a burned & scary old man with a claw was trying to kill them and refused to go back to sleep....we now know why....

To this day (and LONG before the Elm St. films) Rockville has since became a ghost town where all residents have long moved away in Fear that it was haunted by the ghost of Freddy Kruger.

Actually, I just Googled and found these pictures and made all that up....... Halloween is almost here everyone! Boo

The "Pie in the Face" Challenge

If you're randomly seeing this post, you are unofficially invited to take part in the "Pie in the Face" Challenge. If you we sent a challenge with a link to this page, you are officially challenged and we’re hoping you graciously join the fundraiser! It's intended to be a "fun" fundraiser in support of the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life (RFL). This challenge is the same kind of theme as the ice bucket challenge was a few years ago.

I was diagnosed with Stage 3 Colon Cancer in February 2018. After colon resection surgery that removed the entire right side of my colon followed by several rounds of chemotherapy I was declared cancer free in September 2018. In December, it was discovered my cancer was in fact back and had spread to my liver, I was now at stage 4. More chemo and liver surgery in April 2019. I recently completed my 22nd round of chemo in October 2019 and my latest set of CT and MRI scans so improvement in some areas, but growth in others. I've grown resistant to the current chemo cocktail and am now looking for other options to get my cancer under control. More research and new discoveries are needed to help get it under control for me and for others.

I joined Relay for Life as a Team Captain in 2018 just two months before the Quabogg Valley event under the team name "Director Dan", which follows my name as a Scentsy Independent Consultant. PLEASE, feel free to follow the links and JOIN my team! I also joined the Event Leadership Team because I wanted to help, find out more, and to share my journey. We've raised about $11,000.00 in the past two years. My goal this year is to far exceed that total. The funds raised are used so much for all the great programs ACS has to help patients and caregivers 24x7 with whatever they are facing, we support places like Hope Lodge that serves as a place for patients to stay for free when they have to travel away from home for treatments, and for research. They have been some great news in the field of cancer treatments this past year, but more is needed. I need help finding the right solution to get my cancer under control.

Here's a video introduction for how the "Pie in the Face" Challenge came about and how it works.

Make your tax deductible donation to ACS to clicking HERE

The Donation page should look like this at secure.acsevents.org

What to do when you are challenged

You find 2 people willing to make a tax deductible donation to American Cancer Society (ACS) Relay For Life for Director Dan’s team for the right smack you with a “Pie in the Face”. Note: If you have a couple of kids, grandkids, or others who you want to smack you with the "Pie in the Face" , feel free to make the donations yourself, have fun with it, the kids will probably enjoy it just as much, check out the video, my wife and kids loved it and they;re adult children!
Each person who agrees to make the donation, I recommend a minimum of $5.00, but more is totally acceptable. Use only the link above to make the donation so it goes to the right place and is credited to this challenge correctly.
Take pictures and or a video when you get the "Pie in the Face" Post them to social media and link back to this page (you can use http://bit.ly/Relaypieintheface - the name IS case sensitive). Use the hashtag #RelayPieintheFace
Most importantly, you then challenge 2 people to take the challenge themselves. They don't have to be the same two people that smacked you with a "Pie in the Face". You do need to follow up with them, if either backs out and does not complete the challenge within a week, please challenge someone else.

But I Don't Want a Pie in My Face!

Bummer, can't you play along and help us out with the cause? Some may just not want to. Our suggestion is that you buy your way out by making the donation yourself, pie or no pie, however, please try to find 2 others nevertheless.

If you are the one that challenged the person that doesn't want to participate, please try to find two others that will participate, that is how we can really help.

It’s each challenged person goal to find 2 people who will accept the challenge. This can run through the end of the RFL season, ending about Sept 30, 2020.

- - -

Join and support my Relay For Life Team at: http://bit.ly/JoinTeamDan2019
Check out my Scentsy Web store at: http://DanGreeley.Scentsy.us
Want to join my amazing team of consultants? http://bit.ly/2JoinDan

Never, ever, forget how amazing you are and can be!

Friday, October 18, 2019

Some Days are Just Better Days

I'd have to say that yesterday was just one of those better days. Finally a day when more things were right than wrong, and it felt good.It all started when I received a call from my oncology scheduler at Dana-Farber called to say they got me in for an appointment on Monday, that's huge to me. It's been so frustrating trying to get this appointment ever since my most recent MRI suggested changes in my treatment were in order. Still a few days away, but at least we are a step closer to next steps.

We've begun fundraising for Relay For Life 2020 and I have some exciting things planned or in the works, at least I think they are exciting. The best thing you can do right now is just join my Relay team. You can do that be going to My Relay 2020 page. As a cancer survivor and fighter, you know that when cancer strikes, it hits from all sides. It takes a wealth of support, services, and treatment options to fight back. The American Cancer Society works 24/7 to provide all of these, and much more. I would be honored if you would join my Relay For Life team and help us in the fight against cancer. If you'd like to help me with the fundraising, its easy peasy ... just connect with me and we'll figure out what you're best at or enjoy doing. Things you might enjoy could be walking or running in a 5K; baking and hosting a bake sale; hosting a Scentsy catalog fundraiser; bike riding; playing corn hole; coordinating a restaurant dinner event; ANYTHING you might like doing I can help you make it into a fundraiser. How about a paint and sip party?