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| Hi Everybody! First, many thanks to my "guest updaters" Ellen and Joe Paulino, who kept things going during my absence. Yesterday was a big day for the every-day-is-a-bad-hair-day world tour...for one thing, they took the staples out of my head. Unfortunately, I am not supposed to wash my hair until tomorrow. It’s now been nine days since my surgery, and I feel as oily as Michael Douglas in "Wall Street." That shower tomorrow is going to be awesome! The other major development from yesterday is that I got my official diagnosis: a grade 3 astrocytoma. As with so many things in life it was not as good as we had hoped nor as bad as it could have been. My surgery was termed "excellent" by the tumor review board, which, in addition to giving it three stars, noted that it would have benefited from more character development. I’m scheduled to meet with the oncology team next week to discuss treatment plans and options. In the meantime, I’m doing research on ways in which I can prepare for the journey ahead. Likely up for a complete overhaul is my diet. Not that my diet is bad. In fact, Ellen uses pretty much fresh everything in the wonderful food I am accustomed to. But red meat and cheese are likely to join the list of things I used to eat. Oh well, there are worse things than life without pepperoni pizza. I took delivery of a treadmill this week, which I have yet to get on (I’m still building my strength back up after the surgery) although the kids are having a great time with it. In general, I’m feeling pretty good - no pain to speak of, although if I blow my nose I have the disconcerting feeling that the top of my head shoots up and separates from the rest of it, like when someone blows their stack in an animated cartoon. And the steroids I’m taking for swelling make my leg muscles a little sore. All in all, though, things seem to be going pretty well...I’m going for walks around the neighborhood, relaxing and reading a lot ( I read the Lance Armstrong book in one day - highly recommended! If he can win theTour De France after brain cancer, maybe I can win the Dipsea or something. Perhaps the most peculiar side-effect of all this...and something that is probably temporary...is that my typing is now terrible! (This may look OK but only because I’ve fixed a million things.) I’d like to take a minute to thank all the people who prayed for my surgery to go well...You came through! And if my outcome is going to be determined by the number of good wishes and prayers sent my way, I should come out of this just fine! Peace and love, Dan 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 HOME |
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