Almost done

Well, I'm done with CT scans. It's been nearly 7 years since my original diagnosis. It's been 3.5 years since chemo. From here, it's blood tests every 6 months until 5 years, then annual until ten years. I can give blood again, so I actually look forward to doing that.

I really thought cancer would change my life. It did, but not how I thought. The one thing is it allowed me to speak into people's lives when they've been affected by cancer, either directly, or a loved one. People understand that I have been there, so I have permission to talk about it.

Thankfully, my time can be focused more on others now, and less on me. I play with kids, go on walks, pet the dog. My competitive nature was pretty much eliminated. Oh, it's still there, but not like it was. If I have a strong day, hooray! If someone else has an even stronger day, hooray!

Oh, and my haircut is way shorter now.

One year clean, hooray!

I went to the CT scan today. Okay, I don't have the results yet, but I am confident it will come out clean. The radiation place is interesting. I am led to a room, asked to change into a toga-like thing, and asked to wait until I am going to have some drug (radioactive iodine) injected into me. Pretty much, it feels like a cult, and I am there for my brainwashing. I then go to the CT scan. It is a giant donut you go through. It feels a little bit like Stargate. It feels and sounds like I could be transported somewhere else suddenly. Anyway, thanks for following my journey.

Using cancer to spread awareness

Okay, now I'm getting carried away with using my cancer survivorhood as a way to reach a lot of people. This blog has been linked from roadrunnersports.com, because my picture and a blurb about being a cancer survivor was in the catalog. Then, I allowed my picture and my story to be used by the blood drive folks as a reason to give blood. Note: if you have received blood, tell people, and give a hearty thanks. If you can give blood, do it. If you hate needles, think about the folks who are getting the blood. More needles than any one person should ever have. Now, I've linked my blog to http://www.re-mission.net, a website designed to help young cancer fighters and sufferers. I plan to keep spreading this blog's locale as wide as possible. That said, I will probably actually post to this blog at least a couple of times per week. Next post: what I've been up to, and how my body is doing since it stopped getting chemo"therapy" (Sounds kinda like "shock" therapy.

Hudson on You Tube!

Well, I finally got the Hudson Chronicles on You Tube. Do a search on Hudson Chronicles, and check out his debut. Episode 1 is big cycling stars warning of his taking over the Tour, and Episode 2 is his work in the wind tunnel.

I must confess, I'm becoming fond of the Colbert Report. One thing I've noticed (okay, among the things I've noticed): He is a total softball interviewer. Not in his questions, but in his guests. Think about it: he only interviews "famous people" and "politicians." If he was a real newsman, he'd interview someone like, say, me; a guy with no major fame points, and requiring him to have interesting dialogue when the interviewee may be entirely uninteresting. So, c'mon, Mr. Colbert, show some courage and interview the likes of me! I'll crush you with boredom! I'll smother you in uninteresting dialogue! Bring it!

Evangeline Joy Mayne

We have arrival! Evnageline Joy Mayne arrived on June 20 at 6:41 a.m. She was 7 lb. 12 oz., 19 inches long. We arrived at the hospital after 5 a.m., so it was a pretty quick event. She's oh so adorable. On Sunday July 10, we were back in the hospital with her, because she had a fever of 101.8. It turns out she had a urinary tract infection, but it was kind of scary for a while. They tried to check for menengitis, which involved poking her in her lower back a bunch of times. She didn't like that. Neither did we.

Well, we are all home now, trying to get into the swing of things. Hudson adores her, almost too much. He keeps saying, "Hey baby" and "Hi baby" and wanting to kiss her again and again. Sometimes, she just wants to sleep, and it becomes quite difficult to sleep when someone three times your size keeps kissing your noggin.

So, here we are, a family of four. Pretty wild stuff.

The Great Arrival is near

Well, the past few months have been wonderful. I got my first haircut in five months last week. My blood levels have gone up, and settled back to their unimpressive norms. Life is fantastically normal. The big news is that Melissa is due on Friday. Last night, she had contractions for a while, but she got up and walked it off. Thankfully, Hudson slept in, and we still got some pretty good sleep last night.

The direction of this blog will be very baby/family-focused. How great is that?

Loving my cold

Well, I had my last non-monitoring event yesterday. I got my final Aranesp shot. Now, all that remains are monthly blood tests, and thrice-yearly CT scans. Yeah! I will continue to blog occasionally, and appreciate all the readers and comments I've received.

Let's look at where I stand today:

• I put on 13 pounds over the past six months. Most of that was during chemo.
• I have my first cold in many months, and am kind of relishing it. I don't like being sick, but it's good to rest in the knowledge that it will run its course, and I'll be fine.
• I don't really have to shave, except my 'stache. If I don't shave at all, I would be a bald man with thinning eyebrows and a fairly dark moustache. My wife thinks it looks, well, not so great. So, back to shaving a portion of my face.
• I am regaining energy at a fantastic clip. I have goen from being unable to run four miles just three weeks ago, to running 7 miles, and carrying on a conversation the whole way.
• My taste buds work well again. Lettuce still has a less pleasant aftertaste to it.
• My wife and I have used that time to develop better habits. We spend more time chatting, more time praying, less time watching TV, and generally building our marriage.

So, was cancer/chemotherapy a good thing? Well, I don't recommend it, but it went fairly okay for me.

One more note: I will be having a celebration for being free of this stuff. It will be on April 29, from 2-5 at our house. You can RSVP by simply posting a comment stating you are coming to this blog. the more the merrier! If you need directions, you can let me know by commenting as well.