August 13, 2013 (Tues) – Finding NED Devine

OK, as usual I am taking liberties (no, not with my wife) with titles so that they better suit my purpose. This title is a play off the movie Waking Ned Devine. I hesitated using this as my title because, if you know the film, Ned Devine is a dead guy. Not really appropriate under the circumstances. But it is a quirky and fun film with a happy ending. And that is appropriate. But as usual, I postpone getting to the point while digressing.

So look close. This is me choking the crap out of my fuzzy. For those of you “in the know,” the term N.E.D. stands for No Evidence of Disease. To be specific, “The previously noted cerebellar vermis enhancement has essentially resolved. There is no associated vasogenic edema. No abnormal focus of enhancement is identified. The ventricles and sulci are normal in size and configuration for patient’s stated age. There is no mass effect or midline shift.”

Craigspeak: Upstairs fuzzy is history. This is the report I got today on the upstairs brain scan from yesterday. Not 13mm. Not 3mm. Zero. Nada. Zilch. In other words, toast. So yes, I am finding NED divine.

OK, I slightly exaggerate with the term NED since there still is evidence of a shrunken fuzzy in my lung. But that means, of the 4 areas of concern originally identified, only one shows anything left. You know what that means don’t you? If you were observant, you’d see that the title of my overall blog now reads back in the singular tense. In fact it should probably read “fuzzette” to be more accurate. And fuzzy no longer deserves to be capitalized.

So today was a pretty damn good day. Got the results from my onc-doc this morning. Later today my radio-doc called, and thinking he was bringing me good news that I hadn’t heard, was audibly upset that I had already gotten the news. He wanted the glory since I guess he was the one that originally ordered the MRI. Sorry. Hey, you snooze, you lose.

It is a bit weird living your life in 90-day increments. Again, not a complaint. Just a new reality. Hey, as long as the tests keep coming back like this, I’m good. Really more like 85 day increments because scanxiety (remember that?) will kick in about day 85. I can deal with that.

I just got another solicitation from the Trident Society. Remember them? The outside of the envelope has the very enticing teaser: “Free Pre-paid Cremation.” Man, I just tore into that envelope in breathless anticipation. I guess they must not have gotten the results of my test before they did the mailing. Sorry Trident Society, I’m a lost cause.

Got permission from my onc-doc to begin taking some potassium supplements. Hopefully that will help with the jump-out-of-bed-in-the-middle-of-the-night leg/foot cramps. I can only eat so many bananas. Who ha ha ha…

And I finally got around to editing down the Rotary Inspirational Moment I gave shortly after I was diagnosed. For technical reasons this appears as a video but there is only audio:

Lots of good things happening in my life right now. My wife (almost) and son beating me at golf is not one of them. But my health is good, our kitchen is coming along, and my daughter is engaged to a great guy. I had the best Mai Tai in history (OK, maybe more than one – hey, I was celebrating) along with an awesome dinner with the Knights tonight. And Kim and I just celebrated our 34th wedding anniversary. Nothing but net. 🙂

Business as usual. Day at a time.