Locked Out

I'm baaaaack! Sorry for the long delay, but I've been locked out of my own blog for over a week, and with recent surgery, I'm feeling locked outta life. So much to report, so much to share.

Past few weeks have been challenging to say the least. On March 18th, my dear Mother, at 88 years old, finally left us for her lofty spot in heaven. She was ready to go and at peace, with her sons and her best friend by her side at the very end. Her life was full of love and great memories, and those recollections have replaced grieving. She was a remarkable woman who would light up a room, and her memorial service did just that. A woman of strong faith and commitment to God, she was surrounded by over 40 of her dear Carmelite Sisters and had 9 Priests celebrate her Mass. My youngest brother, 3 years from being an ordained priest himself, committed her at graveside. An amazing celebration of the life of this special woman. Despite never telling her about my cancer, I know she is showering prayers on me now. I only hope she can appreciate my reasons for keeping this from her. Will miss her dearly as she was such a part of my daily life for so long.

 The services for my Mom were barely over and I was back at City of Hope for the first part of a 2-part surgery - I've heard of movies with 2 parts, but never surgery?? On March 24th, a week before my major surgery, my surgeon performed another endoscopy to review the surgical area and confirm his plans. He also performed a laparoscopy, a review of the abdomen that confirmed that area was cancer-free. Lastly, he inserted a feeding tube that would be used during surgery and for the 2-3 weeks during recovery. The process took a few hours and was a little painful for a few days following the surgery. Not a fan of having this tube sticking out of my stomach, as I feel I'm rendered useless until the next surgery. But that was only going to be a week, so suck it up, right?!

Wrong. After several consultations (and a lot of apprehension) with my surgeon (trying to get things done MY way...go figure), we arrived at a compromise in the procedure. Unfortunately, we would need to treat an ulser in the esophagus that resulted from the radiation. This would take about 3 weeks to heal before surgery could be done, but would deliver the best results of the options we had discussed. Wait for THREE WEEKS with a tube sticking out of my stomach?! Really??? 

So for all of you who had targeted April 1st for your barrage of prayers for me, it's still OK to do! But April 26th is the revised date of surgery, so I'll ask you to repeat those efforts on that day as well! The reason for the delay makes sense, but must admit it took a full day for me to really get my arms around it. For those of you who spoke to me on that day I got the news, I apologize. Somebody had to pay for the delay, and I suspect you might have gotten the worst of me. Sorry!

So where to go now? Back on the bike of course! I'm headed to the bike shop this morning, as they MUST sell an accessory to tie that darn feeding tube down. Better still, they might sell an apparatus to connect to it so that I can fuel my body while I ride. I'm certain I can lift up my shirt and use it to determine wind direction and speed. So yes, like my battle with cancer, I will make the best of the situation and continue on with my normal life. The first cyclist to stare at my "speed tube" will be driven into the curb and made to apologize for his insensitivity (jk).

I'm glad I was able to get back to the blog, as I know so many have been looking for an update. I'll be posting a couple of times per week leading up to the surgery and will pay Rose to "guest-blog" for me after surgery on 4/26 to provide an update to all. The one thing that I find so amazing are the number of people who are interested in following this. There is so much love and support, this cancer simply doesn't stand a chance. I continue to ask God to provide his love and blessings for my many friends and acquaintances that are fighting bigger battles than me....Randy, Andrea, Cheryl, Angelica, Bruce, Andrew's mom, Ralph, Mary Jo's son....since I'll be waiting for 3 weeks for my surgery, feel free to prayer for these friends who need your help now! You're all so amazing - thank you for being a part of my journey! 

God bless and Happy Easter!!

 

 

High on News

As promised, I'm firin' up the blog today with the news I received from the Doctors today. The wait since the end of chemo/radiation has been filled with good days and not so good days. Some skiing and mtn biking, but hardly finished a meal and had some tough times. Those days are now turning to memories and things are looking much more positive. I had friends in town to take me riding and spent the weekend skiing. These weren't my best efforts, but it felt soooo good to be out there getting back to shape. I'm 15 pounds lighter than I was in January, so I got the benefit out of cancer that I was hoping for!!

I know, you're interested in the results I got today. Let's start by giving each of you a standing ovation. Your endless prayers and positive thoughts, through the good Lord, delivered the best news we could have hoped for! My Oncologist, who to this point has been stoic & tight-lipped, couldn't wait to show me the PET images from this morning compared to pre-therapy images. The uptake of nuclear glucose in the tumor was only 10% of what it was in January! Meaning they have effectively reduced the tumor to a small mass! They were very pleased with the results and commented that this was everything they could have expected from the treatment plan. My surgeon will see the results tomorrow and we'll soon have the plans for surgery and with God's help, the end to this challenge.

I'm currently set for surgery on April 1st - go ahead and start with the April Fool's jokes! I've been working them all day long! I'm really looking forward to finishing this process and getting back to good health. My body has recovered nicely and I'm prepared to handle the surgery.

There are simply too many people to thank for the amazing outpouring of love, prayers and involvement through my treatment. So please accept my sincere appreciation - I know you know who you are. But my hero through all of this has been my partner of 24 years - Rose. She has been supportive, determined, sympathetic, spiritually-grounded and my encouragement through this battle. She has kept me focused since the day of my diagnosis and these results are as much hers as mine. 

I thank God for listening to your prayers and walking down this road with me. There is still work to be done, but this was a positive step in our battle.