Good News - Bad News

First the good news.

I got a call from my oncologist this morning and he told me (well, he told Roni, I was out on an errand) that the tumor markers have not changed. Although I don't know the exact numbers, and haven't seen the report, I'm relieved to hear that they are normal.

UPDATE - 10/19/05 - I just received a copy of my tumor marker test. The doctor was wrong when he said the tumor markers have not changed. THEY ACTUALLY WENT DOWN!!! That's right, the last CEA level was at 2.5 (the high end of the scale), this one was at 1.9!! That's even better news.

Now for the bad news...


Sad Site, originally uploaded by kevkersey.

That's my bike crushed between the cab to the right and the van to the left.

On Sunday morning, at about 2:30 AM, I woke from my sleep when I heard some yelling outside. That isn't unusual, but usually the yelling only last for a few seconds. This time it kept up. Then I heard loud popping sounds. Gun fire? Well, we do live at the bottom of Spanish Harlem, so I wouldn't be surprised. I thought I'd better have a look.

I looked out our bedroom window, where I am able to see my bike parked. What I saw was a cab pinning my bike to another car. As I was still waking up (after only a few hours sleep), I needed a better look so I went to our living room window where I could see out better. Sure enough, there were cops and the FDNY all over the place and what looked like smoke coming from around the corner.

I got dressed, grabbed the digital camera and ran downstairs. In front of our apt, another cab had run into the bus stop and caught on fire. It was put out by the time I got there. As for my bike, it was originally covered, but by the time I got there the FDNY had removed the cover and was trying to figure out how to disconnect the battery. I told them it was my bike, and would do so. I ran back up for my keys (to turn off the alarm) and came back. Roni came down to see what was going on. I took off the seat and disconnected the battery. I also got all of my belongings out of the saddle bag.

I then spent the next 5 and half hours calling the insurance company, my roadside assistance (to have the bike towed), went with the tow truck to the wreckers, walked about 10 blocks from the wreckers to the subway, rode the subway from Queens back into Manhattan, which left me off ten blocks from my apt because the local subway wasn't running (grrrr...). I finally got back home at about 8:30 AM and promptly fell asleep for about 2 hours.

Today, I spoke to the insurance company who said the bike was totaled and will be taking it from where it is now to their shop to determine the value. I wanted to get a new bike anyway, so maybe this is my opportunity. :-) We'll see.

For more picks of the accident, click here.