Monday, January 30, 2006

And Now Some Good News

Feb 18th will be my 2 year anniversary since my MOAS. Some days I even forget I ever had cancer. Today was not one of those days.

Today I had my bi-annual CT scan. This is usually one of the most anxious times for me. The blood tumor markers are a little anxiety producing, but not as bad as the CT scan. While the tumor markers can flucuate over a period of time, the CT scan shows what is going on in your body.

Anyway, getting to the results, everything is STABLE!! WHOO HOO!!

Now I can breathe again until the next scan in 6 months.

As for the blood tumor marker tests I had last Monday, those came back OK. Not great, but not bad either. The CEA was 3 (normal range is 0-2.5). I'm not overly concerned as it has gotten higher than that before, then went down again after a few months. So, until we see it keep going up, I'm not going to worry. The CA 19-9 was 27 (normal range is 0-37).

So, so far so good.

BTW - Roni and I went to FL for a week's vacation and had a pretty good time. It was pretty windy so we weren't able to do some of the activities we wanted to, but we were able to relax, ride a motorcycle, wrestle some gators (and by wrestling, I mean take pictures of), and enjoy the warm sunshine while it was freezing cold in NYC. I hope to have some pictures up soon.

Thank you all for your prayers and support. I don't know how Roni and I would be able to handle this without all of you.

Kevin

Monday, January 23, 2006

Goodbye Bob...

Our friend and fellow PMP warrior, Bob Peterson passed away this morning. Roni and I had the pleasure of meeting Bob and his wife a couple of weeks ago when we went to Chicago, specifically to meet him. We went because a week or so before, he announced that he was going under hospice care, and that meant only one thing, he didn't have much longer.

Bob fought PMP for over four years, and that was after being misdiagnosed and mistreated for a long time. When he finally started seeing a specialist, his cancer was so advanced and his tumor so cemented to his abdomen, that his doctor put him on oral chemo for years, hoping to soften the tumor enough to surgically remove it. When Bob finally went in for his MOAS (Mother Of All Surgeries), the tumor was not softened enough, and the doctor was only able to remove part of it.

After being on TPN (due to a blockage) for months, Bob finally decided that his Quality of Life was just not what he wanted. He decided that he did not want to continue suffering. He wanted to go out on his terms. And so he did.

Now, he is truly cancer free.

Bob was a friend, a fellow PMP warrior and an advocate for people to get the right treatment. He helped more people than he would ever know, and most likely helped save a lot of lives.

Please say a pray for the family he left behind. He will be greatly missed.

Goodbye my friend. Rest in G-d's peace.