Saturday, 21 March, first day of spring!

(This is an email I just sent out to many of you, so you may have seen this already)

All,

Just wanted to give everyone a quick update from the most recent visits with the docs.

The PET scan came back clean, which is really really good. I take no credit for it, this one was all God's doing. The only place I have a problem is the mass in my right lung. Dr. Zimmerman said that we caught this really early, and he is quite surprised that there just is nothing else there.

Personally, I'm not. I have had God's A-team sending our prayers for weeks now. Powerful stuff indeed, and I am one very grateful man.

Matter of fact, Dr. Z said that I am the healthiest cancer patient he may have ever seen in his practice. Again, I take no credit.

I got my head examined yesterday morning. No joke. Brain MRI. Dr. Z wants to make sure the PET scan wasn't lying or missed even a miniscule blip of anything. His nurse says he is a bit OCD about the small details, which is a good trait in an oncologist.

I will start the first of four rounds of chemo on Monday at 8 am. Each round is three days of treatment, six hours the first day, one hour the second, one hour the third, then stop and repeat 4 weeks later. So that will take 12 or so weeks to complete. I get to keep my hair for about two to three weeks max, after which I will look like:

Eric
Shane
Kojak

and a few more of you. ;-) Nothing wrong with emulating those you look up to in life, that's what Dad says.

Radiation will start sometime next week. I meet with the radiological oncologist on Wednesday, and they get you all semi-permanently tattooed with aiming points. The radiation treatment will be 5 days a week for six weeks.

Best I know so far the side affects aside from saving money on shampoo and razors will be some nausea about three to four days after chemo starts, and that can be controlled pretty well with meds. The fatigue will set in about then as well, but I really don't think it can be much worse than the fatigue of having pneumonia for four months. (By the way, I still have a little of that kicking around as well). Dr. Z did say that on the whole I may actually feel the same or better, as once the chemo starts to shrink the mass, I will start breathing properly, get air into all of my lungs, clear the last of the crap out, and best of all STOP COUGHING! I will rate that as yet another miracle the minute it happens. The radiation will irritate my esophagus quite a bit after a few weeks, which will make eating and drinking a bit of a pain, but again that can be helped with meds.

It would appear that my travel ability will be really restricted due to the radiation treatments for six weeks, unless it is something that can happen over a weekend. I am not real happy about that because that impacts my work, but in the bit scheme of things, I'm not going to utter a peep. And on top of that, the chemo slaps your immune system around pretty good, so two weeks out of every four I can't be exposed to anyone sick, which is really home detention. Small price to pay.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of your thoughts and prayers for me an my family these past few weeks. They have made such a difference in our lives and I do not think I will ever be able to fully describe what it feels like for us. I have been blessed with many great people in my life, and all of you folks are at the top of the list. God bless each of you, and thank you once again.

Mark