The latest

I went in today for my chemo treatment. The doctow is dropping the dosage on my chemo drug as he is concerend there will be permanent kidney damage. I will have another MRI to check on the lurking beast.
My son Nick has qualified for three events in the state high school meet.
My other son Mason is playing Lacrosse and was hurt in a recent game. He was cross-checked and had his  helmet rammed into his cheekbone cutting the skin. He had some stiches. He was hoping for a scar. He will just have to stay handsome. He said he went down but just sprng up ran to the sideline. It wasn't until his teamates pointed out the bleeding did he realize he was hurt.

Just another great day

I had to undergo a PET Scan yesteday to get a final determination concerning a suspicious spot.

By its very nature the tumor is very aggressive and fast growing. I was not worried because had this spot been tumor tissue I would have experienced some symptoms earlier.

The test revealed the suspect tissue was just treated tumor. All is well for the moment.

I recently had lunch with Mom and Dad and had another insight into the direction of the book Dad and I are composing. I plan on calling Dad this weekend to discuss. One thing I really wanted to avoid was to be overly preachy and I think I found a way to tie everything together without being stuffy.

Finally - another timely epiphany

Thank you Megan!
I have struggled with how to start a book I want to write. I was reading Meg's blog after receiving a link to her impossibly glorious bit of wimsy called Quilter's Shirtless Man and Spicy Burrito Calender.  Like some of the most wonderful moments, I awoke to some small bit of enlightenment.
Now my idea is to actually write two books. One detailing some of the calamities I have faced, what I learned, and developed into axioms for living a good life. This dovetails into the second book that my father and I have worked on and found common ground because we have both formulated similar axioms. I think it important to separate the two books as the second one is more about finding reconciliation. My defintion of reconcilation is finding common ground leads to understanding.
It wasn't the calender in of itself that led to my epiphany, but rather one of Meg's many blog entries.

MRI update

Yesterday I had another MRI on the noggin. The only item of interest is a small spot that my doctor says probably is radiation induced necrosis. There are no tendrils so it not likely to be tumor. He has ordered a PET scan next month to confirm his findings. No other info to report.

Last weekend I went on a ride with the club. I put almost 300 miles on the bike. I was gone for about 8 hours but did not ride the entire time as we made many stops. I was very tired by the time I got home. The weather was absolutely perfect. It was very tempting to get lost. If I had my tent and sleeping bag the temptation would have been too much.

Latest MRI

Apparently doctors are in cahoots this month. Can't give a definitive answer. The MRI shows a small area of concern anterior to the tumor. Could be swelling, growth, or nothing. My Chemo doctor wants to consult with my other doctors - that being my Radiation  treatment doc and my Neurosurgeon. I guess they did as his office has ordered another MRI to be done in a couple of weeks.
My Chemo doc has changed my medicine regimen to accommodate my ever flaky memory.
Kinda on that same note, the Bio-med manager during my most recent review, brought up my endurance level is waning a bit. The other people on our team has noticed as well. He offered to perhaps get me a desk job as Help Desk advisor. I would help via phone other Imaging Engineers from other hospitals that are administered by Trimedx. This could be a real good solution.

Aside from that, the only noteworthy item is one of the nurses at the Chemo treatment office and I have a running joke. Back ealier in the year we were beset by cicadas. One day I went to get a treatment but I needed lab work done first. I was standing on the scale the nurse and I noticed a low volume sqeaking sound. She joked I must have a cicada hidden away somewhere. I was skeptical as I had sat in the waiting room for about thirty minutes withou hearing a peep.
I went to the restroom to give an urine sample. I could hear the sqeaking. I stuck my hand in my pocket and I grabbed a cicada. I dashed off to the find the nurse and show here my treasure. Whenever she sees me she asks if I brought any cicadas with me.
Wednesday Jamie was confused as the was the first time she heard about this.

Another start

I returned to work this past Monday but had to leave early as I ran out of gas around 13:30, I had lost another twenty pounds while in the hospital so not too surprising my stamina disappeared. I have two really large bruises to remind me of my recent downturn. One is from the location where they took my blood but infiltrated a vein. With the Chemo I am taking it is much harder for me to stop bleeding. The other site is in my groin where they inserted the catheter for the angiogram. It is much more florid as they needed insert the catheter into the femoral artery.This was another fine example of needing to shed any ideas of modesty. They needed to shave my groin. I joked I was going to get a bikini wax and of course they brought out the sticky paper to remove any remaining hair. Did not hurt as much as I imagined. I was thinking along the lines of when they remove the tape holding the IV in place.

A time for change

The lab work the chemo office does before I get my drip came out somewhat disappointing. The lab work shows the white blood cell count is very low and there continues to be some protein in my urine. Neither one is directly influenced by the tumor but by the treatments I've been receiving. The drip is perhaps damaging my kidneys somewhat - so I have to supply a twenty four hour urine sample. I don't want to divulge the gory details but I have to store my entire supply of urine from a twenty-four hout period in a chilled container. The other side effect is the pill I take could be driving my white blood cell count down so I am to cease that untill further notice.

All-in-all a little worrisome as I could get a devastating infection but I am taking antibiotics. Stopping the pill is one weapon out of two to fight the tumor. Of course I always have my ever reselient nature and my support network.