Monday, 26 October 09
Friday's MRI has been reviewed as clean! Chemo has been discontinued, one round of maintenance having been accomplished. I had initially thought that I would be receiving a Carbo infusion today, but we decided to spare my system in view of the clean scans. There is no information available as to how long Carbo would need to be in my system to completely eradicate any cancer cells that may have survived the latest treatments. It is not known how many cycles of platelet crashing my bone marrow can recover from.
The first recurrent tumor (6mm in size) arrived on scene six months after I stopped Temodar. Carbo and Avastin knocked it off of the MRI film. The second recurrent tumor (4mm in size) required one year to return. Again, Carbo and Avastin dispatched the traitor. I am seeing a positive trend developing: a weary and disoriented tumor taking longer to regroup and being detected at a smaller size. We will continue to sweep the horizon six times per year.
Friday, 23 October 09
My 39th MRI was performed today. The official report from the radiologist will be provided on Monday, but I already have good reason to believe that the scan is clean! I appreciate your prayers, pages and emails. Please understand that I take note of every bit of encouragement sent my way and I pray that the Lord will bless you even as you have blessed me.
Wednesday, 07 October 09
A brief video clip of this brain tumor story is
available on my church's website. I am not sure how long this link will remain active,
but I am grateful to the creative team at Cross Timbers Church for taking the time to film me and then turn my mutterings into something worth
watching.
Tuesday, 06 October 09
The manuscript for my
pending book has completed the substantive edit process. The book is currently with the copy editor, who will focus more on the finer points, such
as grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc. I hope to have the book early next year for distribution and I plan to donate all proceeds to the Legacy Brain
Foundation.
Sunday, 04 October 09
68 months have now
elapsed since that beast of a tumor was forcefully ejected from my brain. I remember the encouragement I received in those early days (and still
today) from friends, family and brain tumor people. My focus now is to return the favor.
Saturday, 03 October 09
Tonight was a nice
evening with friends at the Legacy Brain Foundation's Stars Come Out
event. This was a time of food, fun and fellowship as we conducted a silent auction to raise money for use by the Foundation to help people whose
lives have been impacted by brain tumors or spinal cord tumors. Articles from well-known artists, such as Etty Horowitz, graced the halls of the Grassroots Imports
establishment tonight.
The musical ambience was provided by the Eymard Furtado Group. What a pleasant surprise to discover that the drummer from my church's praise band is also part of Eymard's group! The band took requests, and it seemed they knew almost every song requested. From Amazing Grace to Linus and Lucy to Hotel California, they played the gambit with a Brazilian jazz flavor. I have their debut CD, and several of these songs have found their way into my exclusive iTunes collection.
