Back to work...

I'm back on even keel with no doctor's appointments for the near future. I'm working out again and even took my first golf lesson last week.

Monday was our 41st Anniversary. It's hard to believe that much time has passed. It goes so fast! This last year was frightening and we appreciated our anniversary more than ever as a result.

We are two days from Thanksgiving and, once again, we feel blessed and will give hearty thanks for the good health that seems to be with us after a year long storm of challenges. Sharon and I spent the last two Sunday's at the Universal Unitarian church. We liked what we saw. I'm sure we will join. In my lifetime, I've moved from Catholic to Episcopal to United Church of Christ Congregational to Unitarian. Each religion is more liberal than the last. What could be next?

In another step toward getting settled in Pacific Grove, Sharon attended an orientation session to become a literacy volunteer. When they discovered that she is certified to teach English as a Second Language, they decided to assign two adults who don't speak English. She is very excited to get engaged, again, in the work she loves the most.

Great news...mostly!

The two scans showed no cancer! I'm a free man for another six months! Almost...

While they were looking at the scans for signs of cancer, they found blood clots in my lungs. Pulmonary Emboli. I had an episode of that about 14 years ago that I recovered from just fine. This episode is much less invasive because we caught it early. I had no symptoms, but an ultrasound showed that I had small clots in my calves that were moving through my blood stream and into my lungs. They are small and are not interfering with my breathing. Evidently, the cancer treatments have a tendency to cause blood to coagulate faster than normal and mine has done just that.

I went straight from my doctor's visit to the Stanford Emergency room across the street. I spent Thursday night in the hospital and was released to treat myself at home with a few promises. I can't exercise hard for three days. I'll be on Cumiden for six months and they want to do another scan when they think the blood clots will be dissolved.

Just as I was trying to escape from the hospital yesterday, the surgeon was also catching up to the scans I did on Thursday and said he was concerned about an anomaly in the area that I had the endoscopy a couple of weeks ago. The surgeon wants to see me next week to see what that anomaly is. It's not cancer. It could be scar tissue. I could be a cyst of some sort. They may want to take a closer look with another scan or endoscopy.

So far, I'm surving cancer. I'm not doing so well on surving treatment!

I'm focused on the good news and trying not to notice the rest of the news more than necessary...a few pills...a few shots...a few more scans...missing a great round of golf today on a beautifully sunny day...

...and no cancer! I'll be back to work on Monday.

Silver linings....

I can't believe the difference! That little procedure really helped. I can swallow food so much better. I'm eating more. I think I've started to get some weight back. I'm also able to lift more weight at the gym. I think I'm getting a little muscle back as well.

I'll have two crucial scans this week. On Thursday morning, I'll get a CT dye contrast scan. In the afternoon, I'll get a PET scan. Then, I'll meet with the radiation oncologist who will give me the results. I expect that both will be negative for cancer. The problem with the scans is that there are often false positives that need additional work to make sure that they are not cancer. This will be a regular six month routine for five years.

Sharon and I went to San Francisco for the weekend and took in some great music and great food. Once again, it feels like we have our lives back again.