Yesterday was a basic blur. When you get an endoscopy, they knock you out so that you don't choke on the camera ... the tube ... and any other ancillary equipment that may be going down your throat to get the pictures. That said, I was aware of my surroundings as I went into the Endo Room and got to see Dr. L, who was to perform the procedure. It turns out that Dr. L is the same person that performed the endoscopy last year that proved to be pivotal in finding that I had cancer. Dr. L said that she remembered me from last year too! She's a very nice lady who was definitely rooting for a different outcome this year! Although I have to wonder if she actually remembered me or if she was just playing along. I'll give her the benefit of the doubt though and say its nice to be remembered.
Anyway, I was knocked out and the next thing I know I was being awakened by a nice nurse who helped me to my brother-in-law's car. Chris (my b-in-law) had the pleasure of telling me that the endoscopy showed no visual signs of the beast being present. Dr. L took a couple of biopsies and we're still awaiting the results from the lab. Given the way things are going, I have to say that I'm pretty confident that they'll come back "unremarkable" ... negative ... no evidence of disease (NED) ... clean ... or whatever way you may want to describe cancer free.
So, given the visual results (I'm going out on a limb here), I get to say ...
WATCH ME LIVE and LIFE IS GOOD!
Happy Father's Day to all you dad's out there.
Cheers all!
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Endoscopy Eve
Tomorrow I'll get pictures taken of the my esophagus. I'll get to see the place where this crazy adventure began! Can't say I'm looking forward to it, but I'm glad I'm getting it done. Naturally I don't want a rerun of last year. Actually, I don't feel that there will be one. I'm rooting for some added closure here!
Fingers are crossed!
Fingers are crossed!
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
More "Unremarkable"
Hi!
Yesterday I had the pleasure of visiting NIH again. I really have an affinity for the place. So, my day there consisted of more blood work followed by a PET scan. Then I went for a CT scan (administered by a very proud parent of a just graduated St. Johns College High senior ... SJC is my alma mater and my nephew also just graduated from there ... made for nice conversation and something in common). Then I went off to get another liver MRI. Tests, tests, and more tests ... or rather scans, scans, and more scans.
Today I had the pleasure of going back to NIH to speak with Dr. Sch, Dr. TR and Tricia RN. They first thing Dr. Sch said to me was (and I quote), "Congratulations!" There was further discussions of unremarkable scan results. Bottom line ... The Beast is still not hanging about. A pretty good day!
Thus, my affinity for NIH these days. It seems that every time I go there I'm either tested, scanned or given good news.
By the way, the efforts of Dr. TR, Dr. Sch, Tricia RN, the lab technicians, the PET scan machine, the CT scan machine, the MRI machine and for that matter, the entire NIH facility are your tax dollars at work. I am truly lucky that they are working with me and have a continued interest in me for their research efforts. Because you all have a bit of a financial input here from payment of taxes, I feel I should say ... Thanks for the help all.
Life is Good ... and unremarkable again!
Yesterday I had the pleasure of visiting NIH again. I really have an affinity for the place. So, my day there consisted of more blood work followed by a PET scan. Then I went for a CT scan (administered by a very proud parent of a just graduated St. Johns College High senior ... SJC is my alma mater and my nephew also just graduated from there ... made for nice conversation and something in common). Then I went off to get another liver MRI. Tests, tests, and more tests ... or rather scans, scans, and more scans.
Today I had the pleasure of going back to NIH to speak with Dr. Sch, Dr. TR and Tricia RN. They first thing Dr. Sch said to me was (and I quote), "Congratulations!" There was further discussions of unremarkable scan results. Bottom line ... The Beast is still not hanging about. A pretty good day!
Thus, my affinity for NIH these days. It seems that every time I go there I'm either tested, scanned or given good news.
By the way, the efforts of Dr. TR, Dr. Sch, Tricia RN, the lab technicians, the PET scan machine, the CT scan machine, the MRI machine and for that matter, the entire NIH facility are your tax dollars at work. I am truly lucky that they are working with me and have a continued interest in me for their research efforts. Because you all have a bit of a financial input here from payment of taxes, I feel I should say ... Thanks for the help all.
Life is Good ... and unremarkable again!
Monday, June 8, 2009
Making Memories
Dave left me a comment for my last posting that has inspired me to write about a thought that I've had for while.
After the SNAFU'd diagnosis, a good friend of mine (Mike) offered himself up as my own Make-A-Wish foundation. You see, Make-a-Wish-Mike works for COMCAST TV and can get tickets to many different events. So he took it upon himself to get my kids and me tickets to opening day for the Nats. We had third row seats right by the Phillies dugout on the 3rd base line along with tickets to a pregame party (food, drink, and fun with friends). Emily proclaimed that she liked hanging out with the rich folks. The game was a blast and the Nats actually managed to keep it close, almost pulling off the upset. We had a blast & a great day of memories!
Next Make-a-Wish-Mike went and got us tickets to game 5 of the Caps vs. Rangers hockey series. MaW-Mike gave us tickets that were right behind the goal, 10 rows back. Pretty cool! If you recall this was the game where the Caps were down 3 games to 1 in the series and they need to win the rest of the way to get to the 2nd round of the Stanley Cup. Well, the Caps won, the kids had a blast, and I had a wonderful time with my kids and another set of great memories. The only thing we lost that night were our voices from cheering too much! Mike came with his son and had a few good memories too!
Make-a-Wish-Mike then took it upon himself to get us tickets to a day of soccer. We were treated to a double header at RFK stadium with the Washington Freedom opening the day and DC United finishing it up. Unfortunately Stephen couldn't make the game so Emily had the joy of bringing a friend. MaW-Mike got us tickets that were on the field. Basically we were so close to the field that we could have reached out and touched the players as they performed a throw-in. Very cool! Better yet, as the game ended, we were escorted to the side of the field with the team benches and our escort arranged for the girls to meet the players of their choice. Autographs, hugs, pictures, for the girls and I got to shake a few hands. Pretty cool again!
Good times all! Good memories all! Thanks Make-a-Wish Mike. It's pretty cool to have more great memories and some darn good fun! Life is good! Take that beast, more good living!
PS: Don't tell Make-a-Wish-Mike that the SNAFU diagnosis was reversed. He might come to his senses and stop giving us some really cool tickets!
After the SNAFU'd diagnosis, a good friend of mine (Mike) offered himself up as my own Make-A-Wish foundation. You see, Make-a-Wish-Mike works for COMCAST TV and can get tickets to many different events. So he took it upon himself to get my kids and me tickets to opening day for the Nats. We had third row seats right by the Phillies dugout on the 3rd base line along with tickets to a pregame party (food, drink, and fun with friends). Emily proclaimed that she liked hanging out with the rich folks. The game was a blast and the Nats actually managed to keep it close, almost pulling off the upset. We had a blast & a great day of memories!
Next Make-a-Wish-Mike went and got us tickets to game 5 of the Caps vs. Rangers hockey series. MaW-Mike gave us tickets that were right behind the goal, 10 rows back. Pretty cool! If you recall this was the game where the Caps were down 3 games to 1 in the series and they need to win the rest of the way to get to the 2nd round of the Stanley Cup. Well, the Caps won, the kids had a blast, and I had a wonderful time with my kids and another set of great memories. The only thing we lost that night were our voices from cheering too much! Mike came with his son and had a few good memories too!
Make-a-Wish-Mike then took it upon himself to get us tickets to a day of soccer. We were treated to a double header at RFK stadium with the Washington Freedom opening the day and DC United finishing it up. Unfortunately Stephen couldn't make the game so Emily had the joy of bringing a friend. MaW-Mike got us tickets that were on the field. Basically we were so close to the field that we could have reached out and touched the players as they performed a throw-in. Very cool! Better yet, as the game ended, we were escorted to the side of the field with the team benches and our escort arranged for the girls to meet the players of their choice. Autographs, hugs, pictures, for the girls and I got to shake a few hands. Pretty cool again!
Good times all! Good memories all! Thanks Make-a-Wish Mike. It's pretty cool to have more great memories and some darn good fun! Life is good! Take that beast, more good living!
PS: Don't tell Make-a-Wish-Mike that the SNAFU diagnosis was reversed. He might come to his senses and stop giving us some really cool tickets!
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