Steve’s Story

On March 9th, 2008, Steve Werner, long time UFOS member and avid sports fan, was diagnosed with Esophageal Cancer. Today, March 18th, we learned that the tumor has spread and he is not considered a surgical candidate at this time. Tomorrow, we will find out about Chemotherapy and/or Radiation treatments. As you can imagine, this was a terrible shock to everyone and most of us are still numb. What we do know is that the time ahead will be a trying one for Steve. Much is weighing on his mind, not the least of which is the financial impact of this terrible disease.

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Steve’s brother has been visiting which perked his spirits up a bit. They went to a Shark’s game over the weekend and this was also the World’s Greatest Disc Golf weekend so they dropped by Stafford Lake. Pleased to say, the weekend made cash. We also received a promise of some hard-to-find and/or collector’s discs to auction off to help Steve. The auction is scheduled to take place at the KOA Pro/Am Jam tournament held on June 7th and 8th in Willits. The auction will be held on the evening of Saturday, June 7th. The drawing and trophies will be awarded on Sunday evening, the 8th. We already have quite a bit of material, some of it dating from the early days of disc golf. We just have to determine minimum bids and get the stuff sorted and marked.

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Today was the third radiation treatment and Steve hasn’t had any side effects, so far. In fact, he’s been able to eat a little better which is just what we were hoping for. I turned off the lights for a minute, and he hasn’t started to glow in the dark yet. We were hoping to save a little on the electric bill but no luck yet. Maybe he’ll glow a little bit better next week. He has another radiation treatment on Monday, then it is chemotherapy time on the 29th. I’m not sure if he will have a radiation treatment that day or not.

Last week was a fairly good week for Steve in terms of how he feels. He had been dehydrated from the treatments and that made him feel worse. He had a couple of hydration treatments last week and he felt good enough that he actually got out to the course to play. And he felt well enough to hang out at the river for one day. Of course, the back side of that was that there were no treatments last week, which, in terms of the disease, was a bad thing.

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Well, what we hoped wouldn’t happen…has happened. Yesterday, Steve’s blood pressure was so low and he was so dehydrated from the nausea, that his treatment plan had to be altered. Radiation has been postponed for at least one week, possibly two. Read the rest of this entry »

I’d like to thank everyone who purchased discs from George the last two Monday Luchessi matches. He raised almost $100 last week and $135 last night. This money all goes to Steve! It doesn’t sound like much, but now that Steve is on what is essentially a liquid diet, every little bit is appreciated. When you are on a liquid diet, you have to have small meal frequently in order to get the necessary nutrition to function. His blood pressure was so low last visit, they almost kept him in the hospital. This is important! If his blood pressure falls too low, if he becomes anemic, if he comes down with a cold or infection, they won’t administer his treatments. We don’t want that to happen! For the treatments to be effective, they have to be given on the prescribed schedule. We are hopeful that they will shrink the tumor enough that surgery will become possible. The money raised through disc sales will buy a lot of Gatorade, puddings and soups. Be a buddy, send Steve some bucks$$
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Yesterday wasn’t a good day. Steve went Sunday afternoon to have his chemo pump removed for this round of treatments. Read the rest of this entry »

Steve got his chemo pump. He wears the pump four days a week then he will get a radiation treatment. He had a radiation ‘test run’ where they did his body mold and markings. They make a silicon mold that leaves only the area to be irradiated exposed and they ‘tatoo’ a target for the radiation. I believe he has another ‘pre-treatment’ visit on Tueday. Then it will be the real thing. They have already given him a whole array of anti-nausea medication that will hopefully alieviate the worst of the symptoms.

Yesterday, Steve spent most of the afternoon having the pic line put in. This was to facilitate the Chemotherapy treatments which start today. I think this was a good decision. In my mother’s case they waited until they couldn’t find any good veins to use. With the strong drugs that are used in Chemotherapy, the veins become irritated and inflamed. Eventually, they more or less ‘go on strike’ and begin to spasm so much that they can’t find one they can put a needle into. By starting off with a line, they avoid this difficulty later one and there is less chance he will have to miss a treatment. It is easier on the patient. A lot of people say they don’t like Kaiser Permanente, but I’ve always received excellent care. I think, because they are a teaching hospital, you receive the newest treatments and they have the newest equipment.

Yesterday was a kind of ‘throw away day’. I was trying to stay away from the guys because I think I am coming down with a cold (or it might just be allergies) and I know if Steve catches it they won’t give him Chemotherapy. I just don’t want anything to prevent him from getting treatment.