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No Credible Evidence

What wonderful words!

I didn't have an opportunity to blog yesterday, so for those waiting to hear how my MRI and followup doctor's visit went, I apologize!

Last Friday, I had my first MRI since leaving the hospital, intended to determine how things were going. In particular, the neuro-oncologists were looking for tumor activity. Any activity would have triggered a course of radiation. It was certainly a long weekend waiting to hear the results!

On Monday, we had the chance to talk to my neuro-oncologist about the results.

As we had been hoping, he was able to say: "There is still no credible evidence of tumor activity." Hoorah! In fact, he was able to clarify by saying that my brain has returned to its normal position, and that the tumor bed is only improved since the surgery. The fluids from surgery (like blood, in particular) are being absorbed exactly as expected, for instance. There will always be somewhat of a cavity where the tumor was, but that is absolutely to be expected.

To my great relief, he was also willing to release to me normal aerobic activities and I can actually return to work full time as soon as all of the necessary paperwork is filed and approved, etc. In all, life continues to return towards something approaching normal.

He did actually say that I wasn't allowed to swim across a lake by myself. Some stuff about the dangers of seizures, regardless of how low the chance of that is, and such. :-)

I dunno... I must admit that it wasn't on my TODO list, but now that he mentioned it...
:-D

'Til the next time the spirit moves me...

Happy Mother's Day!

First and foremost... "Happy Mother's Day!" wishes to all of the mothers out there. Here's to hoping that your families appreciate you as much as they should! Of course, it is nearly 11pm local time... so these wishes might be belated. Sorry!!

---

What a weekend!

It was touch and go for a little bit, but I pulled it off. I actually surprised my wife for Mother's Day. Imagine that!

Given her patience with all of us through this year, especially through my diagnosis, surgery, and recovery, I wanted to do something a little bit special. Something she would really enjoy. And as silly as this may sound, I wanted to avoid jewelry as being a bit cliche... I've done that for most special occasions. I was ready to put some thought into this one...

Granted, I didn't actually do all of it myself. Without tipping her off, I ended up consulting with a number of her friends, starting back in April. I had a general idea of what she has really been wanting (some equipment for her scrapbooking hobby), but had no idea where to find it or what exactly to buy. Her pals were more like angels... they helped me pick out exactly what she wanted, and helped me find just about the best deal possible.

There was still the matter of figuring out how to tell her what she was getting. That's where I tried to get a little bit creative. The kids and I sat down one night last week and made a card. We used at least four sheets of construction paper to do it, and it was a blast. The five year old, who is practicing his writing, got to write "Happy Mother's Day" (he got it on the first try, how cool!), and then all three kids drew little pictures to include in the card. I had fun making a little "certificate" describing her gift (it will arrive this week) and hid it in a pocket behind some cardstock I taped inside the card with the "message" from the family. It took us about an hour to get all of the materials together, get the drawings done, and then get everything cleaned up again. And nobody blabbed about it afterward!

Then there was the tricky bit -- would she be surprised, and would she be pleased?

As with many husbands, some of my gifts over the years have been, shall we say, hit or miss. I always try for something thoughtful, but sometimes you overthink things. I think the plastic, cooling gel filled facial mask was one such gift. Eep!

I am very happy to say that this time, things went extremely well. First and foremost -- she had NO idea it was coming. The surprise was a complete success. In fact, she commented over and over for the rest of the day that she couldn't believe I had pulled it off without her even getting a sniff that something was up. Phew!!

Secondly, she loved the gift... and to everyone involved in helping me pull it together, I can't thank you enough.

I've got enough medical stuff to think about later this week into next (the first follow-up MRI and subsequent doctor's visit), so it was fun to have something where I could just focus on being a husband and daddy for a while.

'Til the next time the spirit moves me...

It was late on a Tuesday night, and I was spending some relatively quiet time with my wife, as the kids had all _finally_ gone to bed. It was the first day since surgery that I hadn't had a true nap during the day, and I was bushed. Sitting on the guest bed in our basement, I reached up and over to scratch the back of my head and press my forehead into my forearm -- it's sort of a thinking pose for me.

That's when _IT_ happened.

The following might not be for the squeamish. This is your only warning.

So, here I am relaxing, doing some thinking, when I swear that I hear a little *POP* noise coming from somewhere on my head. I immediately whip my arm away from my skull, thoughts of "What was that?" chasing thoughts of "Keep calm, keep calm" around and around in my brain. Gingerly, I begin probing my scalp with my fingertips. As calmly as possible, I ask my wife, "Say, could you, umm, check out my head closely later tonight? You haven't done that in a while..."... meanwhile, my scalp massage continues.

I'm not feeling anything out of the ordinary... at least, I don't think so. Was there a *POP*? Perhaps I really ought to be checking for fluid buildup... if a hole opened up somewhere, I'd expect a fluid pocket to begin filling. For the next fifteen minutes, I'm trying to casually check to see if anything is getting a bit swollen in my face, my temples, my forehead, behind my ears. What's that... I don't remember that... oh, it's the start of my eyebrows. Well, what about this? My goodness! What is THIS squishy lump?? Oh, it's the same way on the other side... just some fat in my face in front of my ears.

By now, I'm calming down, but I have attracted some attention. My wife, who had been busy, has finally looked at me... and noticed that I am feeling up my head. The short conversation went something like this:

"What are you doing?"

"Not much... I thought I heard something, and I'm checking."

"Checking for what?"

"I'm not sure. Can you see anything?"

"Well... there's that bloody spot on your forehead."

!!!!!

Bloody spot? Since when? I don't think anything hurts... now I'm expecting that somehow I broke a titanium strap on my skull, and simultaneously it has popped a hole in my scalp and left an opening for the fluid that will eventually cause me to head back for more surgery...

"I'm going to run to the bathroom for a minute."

Off I went. Thank goodness I replaced the light fixture with a new one... now there's a cluster of three forty watt bulbs, so the light is good. I lean over, and begin my examination. Sure enough, there is a swatch of dried blood in the center of my forehead. That's got to be new! I looked at that area this morning! I gently rub, and the dried stuff flakes off... revealing something bright red. Fresh. I try to swipe it clear to get a better look, but all I seem to be doing is coloring my fingertips. Blood. Eek! It's in my hair, I'm having trouble seeing it clearly... what is going on??

"Honey..."

"Yeah?"

"Could you come look at this quick?"

"Look at what?"

"Well I heard a *POP*, I think, and now there's blood..."

As she bolts into the bathroom, I can see we are now both on the verge of panic.

"Where?"

"That spot you saw... there's fresh blood. I can't really see it well."

"Let's see..."

"Anything?"

"I can't tell, I have to wipe it."

"Ow!"

"That hurts??!!"

"No, my back is sore from today."

"Didn't they open your head a little further back? Kinda' over here?"

"Based on what they've told me, yeah... but what do I know?"

"Oh... hmm, well I can see it better now."

"And?"

"There's nothing sticking out."

"That's a good thing."

"Nothing feels wrong..."

"I agree..."

"You know, it seems to be coming out of a single pore."

"Hrrm?"

"Yeah, kinda like ..."

My mind flashes back. I've heard that *POP* before. At least in college, if not other times. Every once in a while, I would find that sound would _seem_ amplified when something happened on the front of my skull. Maybe because the layers below the skin there are thin, and the skull acts as a sounding board. Who knows. But I know I've heard that noise before, whenever I've had to deal with ...

My wife and I look at each other. We start to smile. Simultaneous heart attacks have been averted. As the blood stops leaking, and the little pore becomes more and more visible, we realize that my great medical emergency was ...

... A ZIT.

D'oh.

'Til the next time the spirit moves me...